Part 9 – Trouble in Chinatown…
The area around the Alexandria mall is nothing much to look at, but there are a few decent places, a restaurant or two, just down the street on the south side of the mall in three directions is the only Target in Alexandria, the only Bowling Alley & Laser-tag arena in Alexandria, and the only remaining movie theatre in Alexandria (it's a small town so you won't miss much).
The Chinatown Buffet on Memorial Drive on the west side of the mall is a decent place to sit down and eat as much as you can with family.
At 6:47, one week following the Loomis robberies, however…
Multiple rapid gunshots from some kind of handgun shattered the peacefulness of the morning.
A man with long, black hair, wearing jeans and a baby-blue shirt ran as fast as he could across Memorial Drive, his hand was covered in a thick, paper bag.
Rollcall, Alexandria Police station, 9:00 A.M.
"Morning gentlemen," Iruka said, "Let's begin today. Detectives, Akimichi, Lee, you'll be working Robbery today. The address is 112 Elizabeth Street," as Chōji and Rock left, he looked at Sasuke and Shikamaru, "Uchiha, Nara, you'll be working Homicide today. The address is the Chinatown Buffet on Memorial Drive. Uniforms are already down there, so get going."
As Sasuke and Shikamaru left, Shikamaru posed the question, "Who do you suppose the victim is, one of the customers?"
"After eating the amount of food you usually eat there, you wouldn't be dead," Sasuke said, "But you would need Nasogastric intubation to clear out that much blockage."
"How's the rib coming along," Shikamaru asked.
"It's ok," Sasuke said, "It hurt a lot worse a few days ago, but Sakura's been giving me medication for it."
"You and Sakura seem to enjoy spending time together now," Shikamaru said.
"We're old friends," Sasuke said, "Of course we do."
"Come on," Shikamaru said as he nudged Sasuke in the ribs, "You know what I mean."
"Hey, easy there," Sasuke said, "I already have one broken rib, I don't need another."
"Don't worry about it," Shikamaru said, "You get another broken rib, and Sakura can patch you up."
"Indeed," Sasuke said as they walked down the stairs toward the exit, "She didn't go to Afghanistan with our team, but we are lucky to have her here."
"Indeed," Shikamaru said, "So tell me, your service record says you left a Staff Sergeant, but you were only in for four years."
"Where'd you find my service record," Sasuke asked.
"It's in the database," Shikamaru said, "You entered it when you applied to the academy."
"It was an act of God really," Sasuke said as they exited the building, and walked to Shikamaru's truck, "I was a First Class Private when it happened. We were on a night-time intelligence op in a remote village in the Helmand Province. The insurgents knew the area better than we did, and we were under fire before we knew it."
"Your CO went down," Shikamaru asked as they entered his truck.
"Yep," Sasuke said as he gestured to his leg, "A well-placed round took his leg off below the knee. Our Sarge went down right after, it was me that rallied the unit to fight back. We were able to get our CO out alive, but we couldn't get out yet. We stretched our ammo as far as we could until we were rescued. All in all, we survived about two and a half hours of fighting before backup arrived."
"What kind of backup," Shikamaru asked as he turned onto Masonic Drive.
"Two AH-64s armed with 30mm chain guns, and hellfire missiles," Sasuke said, "For a Private First Class that had only been in the Army for two years to rally the troops and hold off an enemy offensive like that, they were impressed enough to give me a few accommodations, and a promotion."
"Seems you have an impressive background," Shikamaru said as he turned onto Memorial Drive, "You ever think about trying about for Spec Ops?"
"Rangers, Green Berets," Sasuke asked, "I entertained the idea. But dad kept pestering me until I left. I knew if I hadn't stopped, he would have never left me alone."
As Shikamaru turned into the parking lot, they saw the uniforms standing outside, and had already tapped off the area. The outer entrance door which was almost completely glass was shattered, as was the inner entrance door.
"What have we got," Shikamaru asked as they entered the restaurant to find several uniformed officers inside.
"In the kitchen," Officer Park said as he led the men into the back, "Victim's name is Johnny Trang, he's the owner."
"You know him," Shikamaru asked as he looked at Sasuke.
"Not well," Sasuke said, "My family and I used to come here a lot to eat. My dad talked to him a few times. So did my mom."
They walked into the back, Sasuke noticing the large boot-print on the door, and as they entered the kitchen, they saw the owner lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood, and a large cleaver with a 7 1/2 inch blade lying just a few centimeters from his hand.
"Tsunade," Sasuke said as they walked up to him, "What have we got?"
"Victim was shot nine times in the chest and twice in the head," Tsunade said, "Looks like large caliber bullets."
"Can you estimate time of death," Sasuke asked.
"Based on temperature, I'd say sometime between five and seven this morning," Tsunade said.
"Witnesses," Shikamaru asked.
"None so far," Officer Park said, "Security cameras on the advanced payment place next door captured footage of a male with long, black hair breaking in around 6:30 A.M., there were fourteen shoots, eleven in quick succession, three about a minute later, and then the suspect running out of the restaurant at about 6:47. His wallet is missing and the cash register has been cleared out. Robbery gone wrong?"
"Breaking in by smashing a window, and shooting a man eleven times," Sasuke asked, "You don't do that if you're looking to steal petty cash. The only reason you'd shoot a man almost a dozen times is if you have a vendetta. Whoever did this was looking to kill, and they were angry."
"Yes," Shikamaru said, "But this man was shoot eleven times, and there were fourteen shots recorded by the camera. Where are the other three bullets?"
"They aren't in him," Tsunade said, "I'll try and get him back to the lab and get started on a autopsy."
"What'd he use to break in," Sasuke asked.
"His boot," Officer Park said, "There was a sweep done, and we found one thing," Officer Park held up a bloody piece of glass.
"His," Sasuke asked.
"I'll know once I get it back to the lab," Tsunade said.
"Any of the employees arrived," Sasuke asked.
"Got here just a few minutes before yourself," Officer Park said as he pointed toward the party room in the back, "Left them in there for you."
"Bring them into the main dining room one at a time," Sasuke said, "Maybe it would be best if we interviewed them separately."
"I'll get the booth on the right," Shikamaru said, "You get the left."
Sasuke's first interviewee was the store's manager, "Hello Ms. Wong," Sasuke said.
"Sasuke," Ms. Wong said as she sat down in front of him.
"I'm sorry about your loss," Sasuke said.
"You mean sorry I could be out of a job," Ms. Wong asked.
"Yes," Sasuke said, "How well did you know Mr. Trang?"
"I was his restaurant manager," Ms. Wong said, "I looked over his books, kept his food-costs in check. We would meet from time to time, but that's it."
"Nothing else," Sasuke asked.
"He was a hopeless flirt," Ms. Wong said, "Every woman he saw he would briefly flirt with."
"With you," Sasuke asked.
"Sometimes," Ms. Wong said, "I resisted."
"Do you know of any enemies Mr. Trang might have had," Sasuke asked.
"He was fairly private about his personal life," Ms. Wong said, "But there was an incident a few weeks ago."
"Incident," Sasuke asked.
"Mr. Trang used to have a business partner," Ms. Wong said.
"You remember his name," Sasuke asked.
"Yes," Ms. Wong said, "Adam Marco. Mr. Trang didn't tell us what happened when they dissolved their partnership, but from what I could tell about the incident, it must have been pretty nasty."
"Tell me about the incident," Sasuke asked.
"It was about two weeks ago," Ms. Wong said, "Adam stormed in here during diner service, and demanded to see Mr. Trang. As soon as I called him to the front, and he saw Adam, I swore I had never seen Mr. Trang so angry. As soon as they went into the back, you could hear the yelling from the front desk."
"Did you hear any of the conversation," Sasuke asked.
"Only parts of it," Ms. Wong said, "I remember Adam saying 'you owe me money', 'I want what you owe me', something like that."
"How bad did this argument get," Sasuke asked.
"I heard a crashing in the back office," Ms. Wong said, "And Adam stormed out. When I went back there, Mr. Trang's computer was smashed, it looks like it had been thrown across the room."
"This Adam must have a temper," Sasuke said.
"I guess so," Ms. Wong said, "It left a pretty sizeable dent in the wall."
"Does Mr. Trang keep any money in his office," Sasuke asked.
"Yes," Ms. Wong said, "But only he knows the combination."
"Interesting," Sasuke said, "Thank you Ms. Wong."
As soon as Ms. Wong stood up and left, Shikamaru walked over to Sasuke, "Just go through talking with the Kitchen Manager," he said, "Turns out Mr. Trang had a pretty loud argument with someone two weeks ago."
"A man by the name of Adam Marco," Sasuke asked.
"Yes," Shikamaru said, "It seems that Adam believes that Mr. Trang still owed him money."
"It's defiantly a motive," Sasuke said, "Keep interviewing," he stood up, "I'm going to check on something."
He walked into Mr. Trang's office to see that the safe he kept behind his desk, and what he suspect was confirmed: there were three bullet holes in the combination knob, and a large amount of dents in the knob.
The man that killed Mr. Trang tried to shoot off the safe's knob, and steal whatever was inside.
When shooting the knob off failed, he tried to bash it off with his pistol.
He walked back into the room, and looked at his partner who was finishing up another interview, "Hey Partner," Shikamaru said as he stood up to walk over to him, "I think I have something," he pointed to the man he had just interviewed, "That was the Head Chef. Turns out him, Mr. Trang and Adam Marco went into this together. Adam was supposed to be the Head Chef, he was supposed to be the Culinary Director, and Mr. Trang was supposed to be the owner. Seems Mr. Trang didn't like the way Adam was making the food, and used a loophole in the contract all three of them signed to fire him. Apparently they is also a clause that entitles Adam Marco to every penny he put into this restaurant."
"How much," Sasuke asked.
"One hundred and fifty thousand," Shikamaru said.
"Powerful motive," Sasuke said, "Think you could get us a copy of that agreement that they signed?"
"Way ahead of you," Shikamaru said as he held up his phone to show that he had the Head Chef email him a copy, he then scrolled to a small section that he highlighted, "I think you'll find this interesting."
"In the even that one of the partners is suspended, they will be entitled to getting the full sum of the money they put into the restaurant," Sasuke read, "Should not enough money be available, one member remaining in the partnership will be designated to help raise the remainder of what is due to the partnership."
"Apparently this substantiation was supposed to be paid out by Mr. Trang," Shikamaru said, "And that the payout was in the form of a check that bounced."
"Powerful motive," Sasuke said, "Let's see if we can get a few units down to his house. I think one thing we should do is get into Mr. Trang's safe, there was something in there our gunman wanted, maybe it's time we found out."
What do you think…
