A/N: The next chapter is out now! I had a party last night, so unfortunately couldn't make the post then, but here I am now posting with leftover pizza I've recooked in the oven from Thursday! It's delicious, by the way. Pepperoni. Speaking of food, my friends bought me the best 18th birthday presents I've ever had in my entire life. I'm not 18 quite yet, but I just had to open them once they gave them to me, because I won't be seeing them on my real birthday! They really appealed to my trashy weeb nature, and for that they truly are the best friends I could ask for.
I got: a Hatsune Miku key ring. She's so adorable; I can't stop picking her up to admire her! They focused on the theme of Japan, because I'm a Japanophile! So they also got me a Japanese Puzzle Box, which I think is absolutely adorable, and I've memorised how to open it now! Thirdly, they bought me a box of Sushi Noms. By God, Japanese snacks are delish! There were two little packets of chewing gum, cider flavoured gummy bottles, chocolate Pocky, lychee gummy candy, some delish build your own sushi gummy candy, a wafer with chocolate flavour filling with this little blue seal dude on the front. He's really cute. Finally, there's Hello Panda biscuits with strawberry filling and red bean paste Kitkats. I'm super excited to try all this stuff! And finally, the last gift my friend told me to open last, was a Hetalia bag! It's so cute! I died a bit inside when they gave it to me! There's 24 countries on it as follows:
Italy, Japan, Germany, England, China and Finland - First Row
Russia, France, America, Prussia, Romano and Belarus - Second Row
Holy Rome, Hong Kong, Hungary, Sealand, Austria and Poland - Third Row
Canada, Spain, Korea, Iceland, Taiwan and Denmark - Fourth Row
I couldn't have been happier!
Without further ado: the next chapter of Investigasians!
Chapter 5
Mei turned rapidly, her body stiff and prepared to fight, so Yao quickly held up his hands in defence.
"What was that for?" she folded her arms. "You could've at least warned me you were in the room."
"You seemed in the zone," he replied. "Didn't you hear the piano fall?"
"I guess so," she said. "I didn't realise the pair of you had come down here."
"What's this you've found?" Yao peered over her shoulder and opened the box. "Light bulbs?"
"The lights of this entire floor I'd imagine," Mei replied. "Oh, there were footsteps in the dust down here."
Yao glanced down to see the unsettled dust that had been blown away by the fast movements of Mei turning round as well as him wandering through what could've been crucial evidence.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she frowned. "I should've said something beforehand…"
"If we take a photo of what we have, then Lei might be able to depict something out amongst the various footprints," Yao explained.
Mei pointed her flashlight to the floor and he took the photos on his own phone. Perhaps he should've been a little more careful and called out to her? It was too late to regret, but Yao couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at himself anyway. He had put his guard down and they had lost crucial evidence as to what measurements a person of suspicious behaviour, very well the killer could have.
"I wonder how they cut these lights," Yong Soo pondered.
"What do you mean?" Mei asked. "With scissors?"
"If this is truly the same person who murdered Niklas Edelstein, then we deducted they didn't have scissors of any kind because the piano chords weren't cut, but torn…" Yao mused. "I guess there's a chance they found some scissors whilst down here? We'll take a look around."
Most of the doors down the corridor turned out to be locked, much to Yao's disappointment. However, another janitor's closet could be found down this depressing little corridor. He pushed open the door and found it was the only one not to be locked. Once again, the lights had been cut, but there was someone sitting in the chair. Yao felt a weariness and a coldness forming in the pit of his stomach. He approached the chair was caution, the swung it round, Yong Soo and Mei keeping their phone lights trained on them.
"Oh my…" Mei began, but never finished her sentence.
Sitting before them was the janitor. A pair of chunky metallic clippers were wedged in his gut.
The janitor's mouth was left wide open, a thin trail of blood running down his chin. Multiple stab wounds had darkened his chest to purple-red, a deep colour that almost looked black in the artificial light. There was a terrible smell in the room, probably because his bowels had loosened upon death and he was soiled. His skin had a weathered, papery look to it. He hadn't died in the last twenty-four hours, that was for sure.
"Does this knock our janitor theory?" Yong Soo asked hesitantly, his voice showing an obvious shake to it.
Yao turned to see how his colleagues were doing. Neither of them had seen Niklas Edelstein's body, which was probably for the best. Yong Soo had paled considerably, but seemed unable to lift his gaze from the corpse before him. He was only sixteen, and yet, Yao thought he was taking it surprisingly well. As for Mei, there wasn't particularly much about her. She hadn't said anything since the discovery of the corpse, she seemed pallid, and there was a vacancy in her eyes that worried him.
"Mei?" he asked.
"Sorry," she mumbled, raising a hand to her mouth and dashing out the room.
He shared a glance with Yong Soo, who gestured down the corridor. Assuming he meant follow, Yao shook his head. If Mei wasn't feeling well, she probably needed some time to think things through. Meanwhile, they had a body to look at.
"Shine a light on him, could you?" Yao said, raising his phone to his ear. "I need to call Lien and get her over here to identify the body. And to bring some face masks…"
He wandered out of the room, making a quick call, and glanced down either side. There was no sight of Mei, which began to concern him slightly. The right thing to have done would be to rush back out to the police. He hoped Mei had done that, but he couldn't say she had.
"Yao?" Lien answered.
"We have another body I need you to identify, Lien," he said. "Could you come to the music theatre quick? The authorities will point you in the right direction. Bring some face masks."
"Got it," she disconnected the call.
"This is real, then?"
He turned to see Mei leaning against the wall of the corridor, her arms tightly wrapped around her waist. The vacant expression had left her face, instead to be replaced by something else he couldn't quite define. She looked tired, yet at the same time, there was an alertness to her.
"I… yes, it is, aru," he said.
"Remember when we were kids and I would just say someone was dead?" she murmured.
"I do," he replied awkwardly. "If you want to drop out, you always can."
"No," there was sudden strength to her words. "No, I can't. Not after seeing that."
"Huh?"
"That man was dead, Yao," she said, determination appeared in her face. "His life has been taken from him, and whilst it was easy for me to say it when I was little, that was a pretend world. This is a real one, and I've seen it with my own eyes."
"Mei?" he blinked.
"I want to help," she said. "I want to help as much as I can. I know I may not have made such a great impression so far, but I want to know what's happened here. I want to find out who killed this man, and Niklas Edelstein, and I want justice. I want to make this world a better place."
Her face expression was fierce, something he hadn't seen in her eyes before.
"You don't have an option to shut me out, by the way," she walked back towards the room. "If you try to, I'll keep intruding on your investigation, and you'll have to include me."
"OK, aru," he said. "I've called our body inspector extraordinaire, Lien. She's perfectly nice; she was sitting with us in the café the other day."
She nodded, swallowing and peering back into the room.
"Hey, you two," Yong Soo turned around to look at them. "I… the janitor's bucket here has been used…"
Yao wasn't sure what he meant by that, but he entered the room once more, bringing a hand up to his face. He could hear Mei follow him into the room. He looked into the bucket that still had its mop dipped inside, and the broom leaning against the wall behind it. There was still liquid frothed with bubbles inside the bucket. Mei held her light directly over, revealing the water was pinkish in colour.
"That's…?" she frowned.
"It was probably used to clean his blood away," Yao said. "Although, they seemed to be in more of a hurry this time. They cleaned the late Mr Edelstein's blood away, or tried to, yet, they didn't even put the equipment here away."
"Unless it was used for both?" Yong Soo suggested.
"That's true," Yao said. "I think we'll need Lien to take a sample of this mixture just be sure. Also, it might help to know where these clippers came from."
It didn't take Lien long to arrive on the scene. She was followed closely by Officer Kirkland, who wore a strange expression on his face.
"Another body?" he exclaimed upon seeing him. "And it's the janitor?"
"That's right," Yao said. "I bet you're glad we came along now, otherwise this wouldn't have been found until weeks later. By then, it would've been too late."
"Shut up, wanker," Kirkland scowled. "We'll have to uphold the tape a little longer, it would seem, as well as alert both Roderich Edelstein and Elizabeta Hédeváry to this man's death."
"It's OK," Yao said. "We planned to speak with them. I can tell them that."
"As a gentleman of professional authority, I will alert them, thank you very much," Kirkland said smugly. "It's one of my duties as Chief of the Police, rather than some Private Investigator whose span doesn't progress beyond the city. It's better if the police warn those in mourning of what may be coming up next."
"And what's that?" Yao asked bitterly.
"You," Kirkland raised a speaker to his mouth and walked out the room, barking orders to his subordinates.
Lien wordlessly handed out masks to each person standing in the room. She paused before Mei, sending a look in Yao's direction, but allowed her to take it nonetheless. He could sense being talked to when Mei wasn't within hearing distance.
"So, this is the janitor?" Lien said, strapping the mask to her face, dark eyes focused on the corpse.
"That's right," Yao said awkwardly.
"He's been here at least two days," she summed up. "You can see by the texture of his skin. The cold air has reduced the rate of decomposition, and his skin has taken on a different complexion. He's been dried out like meat in a cooler."
Yao watched Mei swallow out of the corner of his eye, but she held her ground firmly and remained standing in the room.
"He's taken multiple stab wounds in the chest and abdomen," she deduced. "With these clippers that have been left inside."
Yao watched as she snapped on gloves and removed the clippers with care, resting them in a plastic bag and taking a snapshot.
"Cause of death appears to be bleeding," she confirmed. "There's no immediate wounds on his body to suggest anything else."
"Was he killed in this room?" Yong Soo asked.
"There's a lot of blood on the chair, but nowhere else," she said. "I'd say no. Blood spatters if you stab someone this many times, and this desk certainly hasn't been cleaned in quite a few days – more than two."
"What about the corridors?" Mei suddenly asked. "They were really clean…"
"I think the killer cleaned the blood away," Yong Soo said. "There's still a mop there."
"Ah, yes," Yao said. "We need to confirm if this was used to clean away both the janitor's and Niklas Edelstein's blood."
"I'll take a sample," she approached the bucket, lifting a new test tube and syringe.
"Who would you say was killed first?" Yao asked. "Niklas Edelstein, or this man?"
"His name is William James," Mei said. "According to his label."
"I'd say Edelstein, then James," Lien said. "This scene is very rushed. It also indicates that Niklas Edelstein's death occurred roughly within the time the janitor's shift began. We need to find out his working hours. Speak to Roderich Edelstein and Elizabeta Hédeváry about him."
"We will," Yao said. "If we can determine a time of death, then we can finally start working out alibis."
"That's great, Aniki!" Yong Soo beamed. "We're finally getting somewhere."
"Yao, I need to have a word with you," Lien murmured, eyes downcast.
"Alright," he headed out the room and she followed him halfway down the corridor, before turning to face her.
"Why did you get her involved?" Lien asked. "She's an ordinary citizen-"
"Mei's good at this stuff," Yao shrugged. "She knows what to do and she knows she can always get out when she wants."
"You had better make sure this doesn't have consequences for her," Lien warned. "Because I doubt you've said work like this can become dangerous."
"She made it very clear that she wanted to stay," Yao reflected on the determination in her eyes that had come out of nowhere. "She's an adult, you know? She can make her own decisions."
Lien nodded with a sigh, then hurried back towards the room. Rocking backwards and forth on his feet, Yao only moved when he heard the distant footsteps of Kirkland's squad arriving. His three colleagues were gathered round the crime scene, quietly discussing what was happening.
Yao met Lien's gaze, but neither of them said a word or indicated that anything malicious had transpired between them.
"I'll need to analyse everything I've found here," she said, gesturing to the body and the bucket. "I believe that's all I need to look at."
"Lei reported back to me on the photos," Yao said. "I think you need to take a look at Niklas Edelstein's body again. He saw a mark on his shirt."
"A mark?" she seemed surprised. "Very well. I've finished with the analysis of the first crime scene, but I'll get back to you about that tomorrow once I've had a look at Edelstein's corpse."
"OK," Yao turned to Yong Soo and Mei. "I think we should look around this floor a little closer. I don't understand why the killer would go down here in the first place… After all, we theorised that Niklas Edelstein was attacked from behind. Why not just leave through the front door after that?"
"Perhaps they needed a more secure method of escape?" Mei suggested. "I haven't seen any security cameras down here."
"There were some in the storage rooms," Yong Soo said. "But not in this corridor."
"I think we really need Lei's assessment on the camera footage before we do anything else…" Yao admitted. "For now, let's see if there's a flight of stairs down here or something."
Lien left to start analysis on the new evidence, but handed over the clippers, whilst Yao and his team proceeded down the hallway. The authorities flooded into the room of the second crime scene. Yao stopped at the end of the hallway. To his right was a staircase, but a ladder right before him led up to some kind of trap door. He climbed up and pushed up to open it to the outside world.
"Ladies first," he heard Yong Soo offer.
"What, in this skirt?" Mei scowled. "I don't think so."
It was Yong Soo who came up next. They were standing outside the back of the theatre. The sky had suddenly darkened once more. Yao truly began to question where the time had gone.
"These are supposed to be locked," he said. "So why aren't they?"
"I don't know, but the lock's not there," Mei commented as she climbed out.
Yao crouched beside the open doors and closed them, only to open them again. The metal was dented and bent where a lock should've been, almost smouldered.
"This has been shot," he said. "Search for a bullet. It seems to have passed right through."
They spent the next ten minutes or so blindly searching along the ground. However, there was no sign of whatever bullet may have been left behind. Wherever it was, it was either lost to the world, or the killer had taken the evidence with them.
"If they had a firearm, why not just use it on both Edelstein and James?" Yong Soo's brow furrowed.
"Perhaps they didn't want to risk the bullet getting stuck in one of the corpses?" Yao gazed forlornly around the concrete backyard of the theatre.
"What?"
"If we had a bullet, we could determine what kind of gun they used…" Yao sighed. "As it happens, they've thought about this. Which is odd. The degree of whether they're in a rush or not seems confused, and some of their actions are unprofessional, whilst others have been given great thought and planning."
"Not necessarily," Mei frowned. "Yes, the trap with the piano was well thought out in theory, but it didn't work."
"Eh?" Yao blinked.
"Why would you make a piano block an entrance that had another way out?" she gestured around. "Whoever found that was meant to die. Some kind of sinister warning only meant for those witty enough to figure out there was something underneath the piano."
Yong Soo swallowed. "You could've died."
"I didn't though," she said. "And as for this? Taking the bullet out of the crime scene to hide the type of gun is something an avid firearms user would know. Whoever did this, they were wary about using guns, and it's probably because they know a lot about them."
"You think?" Yong Soo glanced at her.
"I would guess so," Mei shrugged. "That's only if we were unable to find the bullet and based on the assumption that we haven't missed it anywhere."
"We've thoroughly searched this entire strip of land," Yao insisted. "There aren't even any stones in this place."
"That's why I reckon they know their guns," Mei said.
"I think we're done for now," Yao gazed around. "There's very little left to do here."
"What leads do we have, Aniki?" Yong Soo asked.
"Our newest leads are tracking down the gun, as well as the janitor's timetable," Yao explained. "That involves speaking with Roderich Edelstein. Now that the janitor's out of the picture, there's a high chance once again that Niklas's son could be involved."
"He was a suspect?" Mei blinked.
"Anyone can be a suspect," Yao answered. "How about that ramen I promised you, then?"
"Great," she said.
"What if Edelstein murdered his own father?" Yong Soo's eyes had grown to the size of saucers.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Yao replied. "Family usually are involved. However, we can't jump to conclusions without solid evidence. As far as we're concerned, Roderich Edelstein is innocent."
The three of them climbed into the car.
"So, what are we doing tomorrow, Aniki?" Yong Soo asked.
"We'll meet at five like we did yesterday, except come to the ramen place we're currently heading to," Yao said. "Lei should have something by then. If not, we needn't worry. Lien said she'd tell us what she found in the first crime. That'll be later in the day, because she works. What we can do before then if Lei doesn't have anything is speak with Roderich Edelstein about the janitor and his father. I think it would also be worth speaking with Elizabeta Hédeváry about Niklas as well."
"What, is she a suspect now?" Yong Soo's eyes widened.
"Anyone can be a suspect," he repeated, as they piled into the car, Mei in the passenger seat.
"Um," Yong Soo pursed his lips.
"I'm not going in the back," she glowered. "Kids do that."
"Kids argue about where they're going to sit," Yao rolled his eyes. "Stop complaining, Yong, and just sit in the back."
"I'm beginning to regret inviting you into Aniki's profession," he climbed into the back, but his vicious stare could be seen in the rear view mirror.
"Regret won't get you anywhere," she replied as the car took off and joined the thrum of traffic.
The sudden darkness in the sky made Yao wonder how he'd ever expected to move on to interrogating the couple-to-be that day. Crime scenes always took considerable time to investigate. He was sure both Edelstein and Hédeváry would be waiting for some kind of questioning soon, since Officer Kirkland had definitely contacted them about the janitor's death at that point. The city sky was as starless as it had been the night the Target had blissfully escaped. There were thick clouds in the sky, completely obscuring the moon from view except for its pale glow from behind the murky surface of the hovering grey candyfloss. The brightest things surrounding them in their car in the city were the beacons and banners that called for all attention.
It didn't take long to get to the Honda ramen shop. Yao carefully parked the Old Civic in its rightful spot beside the Land Rover Mr Honda loved so much. He saw the greedy look in Yong Soo's eyes and the curiosity in Mei's as the pair of them assessed the ramen shop. It was only nine; Kiku and his parents would still be working another two hours before the day's shift came to an end.
Stepping out the car with his crew, he locked it and approached the ramen shop. He opened the chipped, wooden door, the creak of its hinges and the chime of a bell the clarity that alerted his high school friend of their presence.
Kiku turned with the ramen sizzling, dark eyes wide, but his expression relaxed when he saw it was Yao rather than any other customer.
"Have a seat," he gestured to the bar and the three of them seated themselves. "How was work today?"
"Interesting," Yao said. "The plot thickened, because the janitor's out of the picture – if you get me."
"Right," Kiku said, spooning the ramen into bowls. "But it's going well, right?"
"Oh, yeah, aru," Yao watched as Kiku served his customers. "I'll have my usual pork ramen."
"I'll have the full," Yong Soo beamed.
"I'd like the chicken ramen, thank you," Mei smiled.
"Oh, are you new to Yao's team?" Kiku looked surprised to see a new face. "I don't think we've met… I'm Kiku Honda; I went to school with Yao."
"It's nice to meet you," Mei shook his hand with a pleasant look on her face. "I lived on the same neighbourhood as him but, yes, I've joined his agency. I'm like a part time member."
"Ah, of course," Kiku smiled. "Three ramens coming right up."
He turned away, but Yao noticed the slightly glazed look to Mei's eyes. She had leant forward and seemed to be noting all of Kiku's movements. That continued throughout the meal, where she appeared to hang upon every word he said. Kiku and Mei had never met once, despite being closely linked to Yao. As she never spoke to him during school, he had never felt the need to notice her, or introduce her to Kiku. With the look on her face, Yao could almost say that Mei had taken an interest to Kiku…
"Do you need me to give you a lift?" he offered her once they'd finished their ramen – somehow, he'd ended up paying for Yong's as well.
"I saw there was a train station nearby," she held up a card in her hand. "I'll use that to get home."
"Are you sure?" Yao asked. "It's late."
"It's fine," she insisted, standing. "Thanks for the ramen. It was delicious."
"No problem," both Kiku and Yao murmured.
"Can you give me a lift home, Aniki?" Yong Soo asked.
"It's late, so call your mother and tell her you're on your way home," Yao said. "I don't want her telling that arsehole Kirkland that I kidnapped you or something bizarre like that."
"OK, Aniki," Yong Soo chimed.
"I'll be here at five tomorrow," Mei promised once they were outside, and then she was gone, heading towards the station.
"Come on," Yao unlocked the car and hopped in. "Let's get you home."
"Sure thing," his sidekick recaptured his rightful seat with a smug expression on his face.
They had a lot of work ahead of them, but Yao was confident that they'd be able track down the killer of Niklas Edelstein.
A/N: That's all for this week, I'm afraid. Thank you for reading Investigasians, and until next time!