Chapitre 106: CH_4.6 (106)
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The link is also in the synopsis
———
.
"She didn't let her attacker in." Takuma slapped crime scene photographs on Arisu's table. "Whoever it was— they broke in."
Arisu looked away from presumably a file from another case. She squinted her eyes as she regarded the photos that were shots of Machia Hirano's (the victim) front door lock.
"What am I looking at?" she asked.
Takuma pointed at the photo, specifically the scuff marks and scratches around the face of the lock. "It's obvious from the color of the scratches on the lock that they're new. The landlord told us the door was open, so it's clear that he didn't try to break in— and he's the landlord; he would use a key if he wanted to enter— which means it was someone before the landlord. Whoever it was, they weren't good at it, as they tried to force the lock open instead of picking the pins inside."
"You can tell that from… scratches?" Arisu asked, skeptical. "What if she was drunk and made those scratches with her keys when she was trying to enter her house?"
Takuma went silent for a moment. He looked at the photographs, and from the angles he had taken, he couldn't tell if there were damage to the lock. He clicked his tongue̵— he needed to get better at taking images.
"That is a possibility, but I'll go back and take a look just to be sure," Takuma sighed. He had to go check it because identifying the entry of the killer was crucial for the investigation. They could focus their attention on certain suspects if they knew how the killer entered the house.
Takuma heard someone call out his and Arisu's name. They gazed across the room to see Kano exit her office while a file to them as she walked towards the interrogation rooms.
"Ah, they must've bought in the lover." Arisu packed the stuff on her desk as she got up.
"What, who did they bring in?" asked Takuma, confused.
"Hirano's boyfriend," said Arisu. "The next-door neighbor told us that she heard Hirano and her boyfriend often fight when he visited. We called him in for an interrogation. Come on, let's see how he performs."
Takuma didn't know about the interrogation. It turned out that unlike shown in police procedural shows, law enforcement worked on multiple cases at a time. Takuma was involved in three more cases other than the Hirano Murder Case.
'I've got to make sure I'm caught up with what's happening,' Takuma told himself. He had to ensure that he was kept in the loop on every case he was on, or else he would be left behind on every one of them. There was only a limit to what he could rely on others, and it was his responsibility to keep himself up to date on everything.
———
.
Takuma looked through the two-way mirror at the small interrogation room with one table with two chairs across each other and one extra near the corner. The table was big enough to take up most of the room, and the space left around it was only sufficient for one person to barely walk around comfortably— giving the room a cramped feel.
That was by design, of course. There were a few different types of interrogation rooms designated to and modified by Organized Crime— and this one was to make the person being interrogated as uncomfortable as possible so they couldn't relax.
And right now, inside the interrogation room, Kano sat with Hirano's boyfriend while Arisu and Takuma watched them from the viewing area on the other side of the mirror.
From the looks of it, Hirano's boyfriend looked like a usual chap, if not a little blue. But that'd be expected— his girlfriend had been murdered, and from the looks of it, their last conversation had been a fight. A part of Takuma's mind felt sympathy for the guy, but the other part regarded the boyfriend as the potential killer. It was a type of mental conflict new to Takuma. He couldn't say he was a fan of it.
"Where were you last Sunday?" Kano's voice came through the speakers in the viewing area.
"A-At my home," answered the boyfriend.
"Do you have someone who can vouch for that?"
"… No, I was alone."
Kano hummed as she stared at the boyfriend, who squirmed under her gaze. The time of Hirano's death had been determined to be on Sunday, somewhere in the evening. The first step for eliminating from the suspect list anyone was to see where they were throughout the day. The more clarity and detail they could provide about their location and actions on that day, the safer they would be as long as they were away from Hirano's home.
"I aspire to be like her," said Arisu.
She had admiration in her eyes as she gazed at Kano and the interrogation. Takuma looked at Kano, who was his supervising officer, with Yakumi as his commanding officer. He didn't know much about Kano, but he did look up to her as much as one would do if they worked with someone who held considerable experience and knowledge over them about a job or craft.
"Kano was part of a jonin team out of the academy. After she was promoted to chunin and her team disbanded, she applied for the Police Force. Because of her medical background, the higher-ups wanted her to continue working as a field shinobi as an iryo-nin, and if she wanted work in the Police Force, she was given a position in the coroner's office because they suited her skills," said Arisu. "Given her skills, it made sense, but Kano wanted to work in the Police Force as a crime investigator— so she fought for the position and started out in Shinobi Fraud and worked her way to Organized Crime, all the while facing a resistance from the higher-ups in the Uchiha Clan and Police Force…"
Takuma looked at Arisu and recalled how she also had done a stint in Shinobi Fraud before moving to Organized Crime. He mused if Arisu was copying Kano due to her admiration.
"She persevered, and here she is,, one of the best investigators and interrogators in the Police Force," Arisu sounded proud. "I heard she got offers from ANBU but rejected them because she wanted to work in the Police Force."
"Is she really that good?" Takuma looked at the interrogation happening in front of him. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough experience with interrogations to differentiate between bad, good, and great interrogations.
"Of course, she is!" Arisu gave him a stink eye before the look of admiration returned to her eyes. "Ask anyone in the Police Force, and they all will say the same thing: You can't lie in front of Uchiha Kano!"
Takuma looked at his supervising officer, and she didn't seem to be doing anything special other than asking questions, writing down the answers, digging through follow-ups, and repeating the process. Her line and direction of questions were sound and solid but wasn't that what one would expect from someone experienced?
"Do you know why she wears those shades?" asked Arisu.
Takuma shook his head. Kano wore her red aviator shades as much as she did not. She wore them both outdoors and indoors, be it during the day or late in the evening— there was no time or place where Kano thought that her shades weren't welcome.
"Because they hide her Sharingan," Arisu said.
Takuma's eyes widened as the realization dawned on him. Daily, he was surrounded by people who could use Sharingan, but because he could look everyone in the eye, he wasn't worried as long as their eyes stayed onyx. But what about Kano? The first time he had seen her, it was with her shades. And he had quickly made it her default look. He could even say that seeing her without her shades was out-of-place— like it was weird to see someone who wore spectacles without them.
"Sharingan doesn't allow the Uchiha to tell lies from truth," Arisu continued, "but it can do so much more, and Kano has figured out a way to use her Sharingan to tell when someone is lying. I once asked how she did it. Kano said that it was cold reading turned up to eleven. Of course, I think she was underplaying it. I've seen it on display— it's like she can read their minds, target and prod their thoughts until they're willingly spilling out their guilt and truth in front of her."
It was known in the shinobi circles that the Fuma Clan was the Uchiha Clan's closest ally. That fact was evident by how many Fuma Clan members were in the Police Force. In the entire village, the Fuma Clan might be the one who knew the most about the Sharingan next to the Uchiha Clan because of how closely the clans worked with each other.
"There's no one in the entire Uchiha Clan who can use the Sharingan like her," Arisu declared proudly.
And Takuma would've been impressed if his head wasn't occupied by the thoughts of his interactions with Kano. Had she used her Sharingan on him? Had he unknowingly divulged some of his secrets?
Arisu smirked, "I'm willing to bet she 'read' you on your first meeting."
That did wonders for Takuma's anxiety. As in, it made him plunge deeper into it.
Maybe Takuma had let his worries show on her face because Arisu slapped him on his back. "Don't worry about it. If she didn't like you, she would've already called you out, and Kano would definitely not still be working with you," she said.
Inside the interrogation room, Kano stood up, exited the room, and walked into the viewing area. She had her red shades in her hands and rubbed her eyes as if fatigued.
"He doesn't seem to be lying. They fought often, but I don't think he did it. The crime of passion doesn't match what we usually see in crimes of passion. He has some alibi, which should clear him out. However, we can't strike him out just yet." Kano turned to Takuma. "Check the alibi out and go ask Hirano's friends if they ever heard or noticed signs of violence on her…. What happened to you?" she noticed how tense Takuma was.
Takuma shook his head, straightened up, and schooled his expression. "Yes, ma'am," he said, taking the notepad from Kano.
Kano glanced at Arisu, who only shrugged.
———
.
Takuma followed his orders and checked the boyfriend's alibi, which cleared him of suspicion. But before returning to the office, Takuma took a detour to Hirano's house to check his lock theory. The house had been released from police custody, and the landlord had already started the clean up on the house while Hirano's family had taken out their late daughter's belongings.
However, according to the landlord, they hadn't changed the locks, which allowed Takuma to photograph the lock and the door for signs of damage.
"Knew it," said Takuma as he squatted before the door lock. The door's wood was lightly splintered; combining that with the scuff marks, it was clear that someone had tried to brute force the lock open without a shred of delicacy. It was a miracle that the lock was still functioning, and the damage wasn't clearly visible until closely observed.
He quickly took the photographs so that he could show them to Kano.
But as Takuma was clicking the photographs, a thought passed his mind. Brute forcing the lock would've made noise enough to alert the person inside that someone was trying to break in. If Hirano was aware of the fact, why didn't she scream? Not screaming wouldn't make sense. Even if he assumed she was asleep and was a heavy sleeper, the sound should've been enough to wake someone up.
'What if she did scream?'
Takuma looked at the door beside Hirano's house. Hirano had two neighbors— one on each side. One of them was a couple who were on vacation at their parent's house and hadn't been home when the murder happened. The other one was a single woman who lived alone like Hirano.
In fact, she was the one who gave them the information about Hirano's boyfriend and their fights.
'She could hear them fighting,' Takuma thought— which meant if something went down in Hirano's house, there were great chances she would've been able to hear it.
And if Takuma recalled correctly, the woman was home during the estimated window of Hirano's death.
Takuma stood up and walked to the next door, and pressed the doorbell. He put his ear against the door and listened in. He heard the noise of falling, a groan, and then what sounded like someone getting up and walking towards the door with irregular but rushed steps.
Takuma stepped back from the door. As it slowly opened, Takuma caught the sight of the engaged latch and then a woman peeking through the gap.
"W-What is it?" said the woman.
"… Good afternoon, ma'am. I'm from the Police Force, and I was wondering if I could ask you some more questions about your neighbor, Hirano," asked Takuma as he looked down at the woman.
"I've already answered all the questions you all asked before."
"I'm aware, ma'am. I just have some more questions I quickly need to get out of the way. It won't take more than a few minutes," he said.
Takuma gazed at the woman. She was lightly shaking as if feeling cold even though the weather was warm and the sun was at its peak. From the gap visible to him, he could see her clammy and sweaty, pale skin, unkempt hair, dark bags under her unfocused eyes, and a god-awful smell as if the woman hadn't bathed in days.
Takuma, by no means, was an expert, but he had been a dealer long enough that he had seen most of the stuff that came with the territory. He had been to places, seen people, and knew what the bottom of society looked like when they let go of everything for just one thing, and one thing only that gave them joy.
So, he felt confident when he could tell that the woman wasn't suffering from a ridiculously high fever…
… and instead, she was going through severe withdrawals.
.
———
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The link is in the synopsis!
Chapitre 107: CH_4.7 (107)
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón @
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The link is also in the synopsis
———
.
Takuma sat at his desk, his foot tapping an impatient rhythm on the floor as he stared at Kano's office. After hyping himself about it for a bit, he went and knocked on the open office door.
Kano hummed without looking up from the documents.
"It's about the Hirano case," said Takuma.
Kano heaved a deep sigh of subdued frustration. Takuma understood where that was coming from. The Hirano murder case should've been the responsibility of the Department of Homicide. It wasn't like the Department of Organized Crime didn't see murders; on the contrary, fifty percent of all deaths were directly caused by or related to organized crime. But there were no signs that the Hirano murder case was related to organized crime. The only reason the case had been forwarded to Organized Crime was that Homicide was swamped with other cases. The Hidden Leaf village was the hub of shinobi— and shinobi-on-shinobi crimes were unsurprisingly high for various reasons.
"I believe I have a solid lead to solving the case," said Takuma.
Kano looked up. "What is it?"
Takuma placed the photograph of Hirano's damaged door and lock on the table. "After checking after the boyfriend, I went back to the house to get some more photos. As you can see, someone tried to force it open, which leads me to believe that Hirano didn't let her killer in willingly. We found blood and scratched skin under Hirano's nail, meaning she didn't sleep through it all, leading me to believe there was an audible struggle. Even if we somehow assume that Hirano didn't make a peep, just forcing the door should've made enough noise.
And while I was there, I recalled how Hirano's neighbor was the one to give us the boyfriend tip… and ma'am, the walls are thin. I put my ear to the door and could faintly hear footsteps; a struggle would've been clearer," and he had taken his enhanced hearing into account.
Kano leaned into her chair. Takuma had her attention.
"I'm assuming this has something to do with the neighbor?" she asked.
Takuma nodded. "She's a junkie, ma'am. I questioned her, and the signs of withdrawal were clear as day. It seems she hasn't had a fix of whatever she's hooked to." He gave her a description of what he saw.
"And? Are you saying she killed Hirano for money?" Kano didn't sound satisfied.
Takuma shook his head. He hesitated before speaking out his thoughts, "Ma'am… I believe it was one of the enforcers."
Kano's eyes sharpened at the words. She reached for her aviators on her desk and fiddled with the shades for a moment. "And how would you know about the enforcers, Officer Takuma?" she asked.
"… I live right next to the eastern slums, ma'am," said Takuma. "Every third person in my neighborhood is hooked onto something, and most of them can barely afford their… hobbies." He looked Kano in the eye. "Enforcers are akin to regular guests in where I live… I'm well aware of what they are."
It was true. Takuma's residence wasn't in a great place. People lived miserable lives, and drugs were their way to cope with it. But due to the nature of drugs, people tend to indulge beyond their means— and that's where enforcers came in.
When people weren't able to pay up, enforcers were sent to collect debts. Enforcers were symbols of fear, lingering in the corner of people's minds, reminding them of the consequences— and most of the time, that worked. Fear was a great deterrent. People paid up by any means possible. However, there were times when fear didn't work, and people slipped up. That's when enforcers did their job— after all, fear needed to be built.
They threatened, confiscated property… and in some cases, they even killed.
Takuma's knowledge about enforcers didn't end there. Enomoto and Ryuu had their enforcers as well. Enomoto used his enforcers to threaten retailers like Ryuu if they weren't able to pay up for their purchase— while Ryuu used his enforcers against dealers like Takuma and lent them to the dealers to deal with problematic customers for dealers.
Because Takuma didn't reveal his true identity, Ryuu refused to sell to him on credit. Takuma didn't need enforcers because of how he had developed his clientele, his business practices that revolved around customer satisfaction, and because his bottom line was to pay up Sango's bills and not turn maximum profit— he didn't have many problems cutting people off if they refused to do business upfront.
And if someday he needed an enforcer… Takuma preferred to deal with his customers on his own.
"It may be a reach, but I think there's a chance that an enforcer might have mistaken the target," said Takuma. "However, I think we might be able to confirm if we bring in the neighbor for questioning. I'm sure she must've seen something." Takuma didn't push the questioning to be safe because he didn't have solid proof to put behind his conjecture.
Kano stayed silent, leaving Takuma standing without an answer, and with every second, Takuma thought if he had indeed overreached.
"Alright, bring her in; I'll interrogate her." Kano sighed, "It's not like we have any other leads to follow."
Murder cases went two ways. They were either easily solved, or cases died due to the lack of eye-witness to identify the murderer or a lack of clear proof tying someone to the murder. As long as the police had an eye witness, motive, and some evidence— suspects usually broke down during interrogation and confessed to the crimes. But if there was a lack of leads, it became harder with each passing day to nail down the guilty party.
Every cold case was a detriment to the department.
"Yes, ma'am!" Takuma clenched his fist, confidence filling him.
———
.
"You really went ahead with that lock thing, didn't you?" Arisu glanced at Takuma as they stood in the viewing area of the interrogation room.
Takuma watched Kano and Hirano's neighbor in the interrogation room. The woman looked as bad as before, if not worse. It was clear that she hadn't been getting her fix and that she was too deep beforehand for the withdrawal period to pass quickly on its own without help. With her condition, bringing her wasn't difficult. Takuma threatened her a little bit with some drug-related criminal charges, and she had no choice but to comply.
"She's in a bad condition," Arisu frowned. "Perhaps she's the one who killed Hirano for the money and belongings."
"She wouldn't be like this if she were the culprit," Takuma said. Let's say the money and valuables stolen from Hirano's house were used to pay off the debt or a part of it; the dealers wouldn't let the woman go and supply her with some more drugs, and with how the woman was suffering, she would take the drugs, and the cycle would continue. "Whatever it is, I'm sure if Kano is as good as you said, we will have the truth soon."
"Of course, she will!" Arisu harrumphed.
Takuma already had the name of the enforcer. For obvious reasons, he couldn't reveal it due to the source of it. Takuma as Tobi had kept his identity hidden, but that didn't mean he was invisible. Dealers had some level of interaction and awareness of each other, and Takuma was no different. He knew the other dealers, even those who sold different drugs than him. Territory, corners, and customers were an essential part of the drug space, and some 'etiquette' needed to be followed to maintain peace among wholesalers, retailers, and dealers. No one wanted conflict to arise, especially not the people on the bottom rung, most of them who were barely earning a living.
Especially not when conflict would attract the Police Force's attention to them. Unlike many drug organizations that had law enforcement in their pocket, the ones in Hidden Leaf Village operated without any assistance. The Leaf Military Police Force was the biggest enemy.
Takuma had prod around, and the answer had come about. Of course, no one could be sure, and even Takuma didn't have any proof, but the probability of him being right was high.
It was as Arisu said. Kano didn't take much time to get the truth.
"You were right," said Kano as she entered the viewing area. "She was there when the attack happened, she even got a glance of the killer and said she can identify him." Kano looked at Takuma. "It seems you were right. It was most probably an enforcer— which we can confirm after we get an identification— and he indeed mistook the target," she sighed, "to think it'd be so idiotic as mistaking the target."
As it turned out, Hirano's neighbor was in serious debt due to drugs and couldn't pay. When she couldn't get drugs from one dealer, she approached another, offered her body to extend a line of credit and surprisingly did it multiple times— a strawberry, as they called them in the business—the debt continued to pile up. It seemed the people got fed up with her and decided to get rid of her due to her actions.
A hit was probably issued.
Takuma could see where things had gone wrong. He didn't know where any of his clients lived. He knew their general area of residency, but their exact addresses were unknown to him. He never visited their home as transactions happened elsewhere, so he didn't care. Takuma believed that somewhere along the line, the home address had been miscommunicated. Moreover, there were no nameplates in front of the houses— only house numbers. The killer had gone into the wrong house, not asked any questions as it was a hit, and done the deed without listening to a word Hirano might have said.
"As soon as we identify him, bring him in," Kano said.
""Yes, ma'am!""
———
.
"The target is Nakai Gorou," said Arisu, holding a photograph in front of the three people. One of them was Takuma, and the other two were beat officers who were inducted alongside Takuma but weren't given the same training as him. "He's a former genin, left the system three years ago, and since then has been known to be part of the Haru Group, working as an enforcer for them."
Genin were signed to a whopping ten-year contract after they graduated from the academy. Only after that ten years could they leave the shinobi system to pursue other occupations. Every genin was subjected to that contract, and if they were trained after the academy in some technical field, as in iryojutsu and fuinjutsu, that contract was extended. When a shinobi was promoted to chunin, that contract was extended even further, and the same for jonin.
Every year, genin left the shinobi system throughout the nation. Some went to be employed by private organizations or whoever could pay them— and the market existed as these ex-shinobi were cheaper, but they were also less skillful. Others switched their occupation altogether and did something unrelated to the shinobi world.
There were also people who ended up joining illegal organizations who wanted shinobi in their ranks to boost their strength and standing. Especially in the Leaf Village, every criminal organization worth its salt had ex-shinobi (or even current shinobi) in their ranks so they could survive.
Nakai Gorou was one of those ex-shinobi and was employed by the Haru group and was involved in many illegal activities. Drug peddling being one of those activities.
"He comes to the casino every Wednesday," Arisu pointed at the building in the distance. "He's in there right now, and according to the intel, he will be out in some time. When he gets out, we will bag him. Officer Takuma and I will take charge." She turned to the beat officers. "While you two will provide backup…. I don't believe there will be much of a problem with our numbers, but let's be careful nevertheless."
After the briefing was done, Arisu turned to Takuma, who was checking his gear.
"Nervous?" she asked.
"Hmm? Not really," Takuma shrugged. "Well… I'm worried about civilians getting involved."
Arisu narrowed her eyes. She thought he would be nervous about a potential combat situation, but from the looks of it, he looked pretty relaxed. She wondered if he was experienced— and then recalled the rumors about the Land of Frost mission, which had been working its way around the department. She didn't know the details, but from what she had heard, there was a clash. Perhaps that's what gave Takuma his confidence.
"Hey—"
Arisu trailed off when she noticed Nakai Gorou exiting the casino.
"Get ready, let's finish this quickly," she said.
Takuma nodded, his eyes following Gorou like a hunter stalking his prey.
.
———
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The link is in the synopsis!
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