Free Web NovelI slipped back into the group just as Detective Bradton flicked the still smoldering butt of his cigarette onto the damp streets. The red light of the pachinko parlor reflected up off said street, and shadowed half of his face. “Either of you have any ideas?”
”Still too early.” Mira shook her head and propped her chin on her arm on the sidewalk’s bench. “I’m not convinced any of them are the killer quite yet.”
“Otori would have the motive. He seemed to have quite the negative relationship with his grandfather.” Seth said. “He’d have the opportunity, too, with the power flickers and chrome malfunction.”
”Would he know about the biomonitor malfunctioning, though?” Mira asked back. “No one outside of the medek and maybe chief of security would’ve known about that kind of thing. I doubted the elder would publicize it.”
”Still…” Seth shrugged half-heatedly. “He’s the only one with clear motive at the moment.”
”I’m with you,” I whispered to Mira. She was right. We needed to ask Fugen who all would’ve known about the biomon to be sure, but she brought up an extremely valid point. Our killer would’ve had to have known about the biomon unless it was a spur of the moment decision to kill the elder. This entire thing screamed the killer meticulously prepared for the crime, though.
Otori was the obvious answer, I’d give Seth King that. From what I could tell, though, he also wasn’t involved very much with the going ones of Kake Street. Chances are he didn’t even know about the power outages, much less anything else.
Vox looked up to the sky with her ears perked up. Whatever she was hearing was still a ways out—at least, enough so I couldn’t hear it. The dense fog rolling down the street also kept me from seeing it. For the first time in a while, the streets of Aythryn City suddenly felt quite claustrophobic.
A minute later, a low hum broke across the clearing. A dark shadow appeared from above illuminated by bright spotlights scattered across its bulk. A sleek flyer dipped down through the fog and dropped down onto the streets. Green Pharmaceuticals sat marked on the vehicles side.
“That should be the guys for the tox test,” Shinobu said. “Got here quicker than I expected.”
”I’ll go with them to check the body one last time before they move it.” Detective Bradton split away from the group, and headed towards the flyer. At Shinobu’s motion, a duo of Fang followed after him.
“Not a bad idea.” Although he said that, Seth made no move to follow the man. Instead, he split off down the street. “I have questions for Otori.”
”What about you?” Shinobu nodded to Mira, and by extension me.
”I’m not sure.” Mira waited for a bit until the other two investigators disappeared before she dropped all pretenses. “What are you thinking, Shiro?”
I shrugged. I had some ideas of my own, but I wasn’t a hundred percent sure they lined up. “What are all the ways he could’ve been killed by?”
“Poison.” Mira ticked out a finger. “That one’s what we suspect, isn’t it?”
”Chek. Just wanna dot the t’s and make sure we thought of everything.” I also gave it a high chance of poison. “Could be some kind of hack?”
”It wasn’t.” Shinobu answered. “The killer would’ve hit our runners. ‘Sides, none of the suspects are any good at that kind of thing.”
”You don’t have to be good to go to a black market and buy some Black ICE or a virus.” Mira lifted a second finger for death by hack. “Shot, ‘course.”
“Of course.” Though I didn’t think any of us actually still thought he died by being shot. “Natural causes could be involved. Maybe some kind of parasite, too.”
Mira lifted four fingers. “Magic?”
”I checked. I don’t think it was magic.” Surely something would’ve tripped Aetherial Perception or Insight if magic had been involved in any way. Still, it could’ve been what killed him. Maybe I should try to find a Magus or Adept to bring into the squad so at least someone could be versed in the stuff?
We went back and forth for a couple minutes spit-balling ideas. They started to become increasingly outlandish after the first five, though. Mira shrugged and went back down to one finger. “Poison is still our best bet, then?”
“Who cooked the food?” I asked. Elder Toro and Mama Akane had dinner just before he died, and we suspected it was poisoning.
“Hanzo Nanashi.” Shinobu nodded back toward the pachinko parlor. “You want to question him?”
“Not yet.” I doubted it was the chef himself. The primary suspect was probably still inside of the diner. Not to mention I knew exactly who pulled the trigger thanks to Vox’s efforts. “We will at some point, though.”
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”Let’s go back into the diner.” Mira led the way back to where we came from.
The sitting arrangements had shifted around since we left. Notably, Mama Akane and Hiiro, the chief of security, sat together in one of the booths and talked in low voices. The rest of the suspects were scattered about the diner.
I glanced through the faces, and stared at the shooter from the corner of my eye. I was highly, highly tempted to just out them and see what chaos erupted. I held back, though. Playing the pig to catch the tiger was a well-known method. Eventually, when we had no other routes to investigate, I’d move on the shooter and see if we couldn’t turn something up.
‘Sides, from the way they went about things, I highly doubted they were involved with the actual killer. Outing the shooter might just make it harder to find the real killer amidst the suspects.
“I hope this hasn’t interfered too much with your schedules.” Shinobu bowed lightly to the group. “Bear with us. It’ll be over shortly.”
“We can appreciate what you’re doing, Enforcer.” Makoto Takahashi moved over and patted Shinobu on the shoulder. “I really do need to get started on paperwork now that the elder’s responsibilities have passed onto me, though.”
“Yosh, ‘course.” Shinobu nodded to the guys at the door. “The rest of you are free to leave the diner, too. Just don’t leave Kake Street till this is over. It’ll be considered an addition of guilt.”
“I’ll be in my clinic, then.” Dr. Fugen was the second to stand up and head for the door. He fixed his white coat and stepped out into the street.
“Three of you tag along with each of them.” Shinobu ordered the surrounding gangers. “Just in case.” ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Hiiro Nishin slid out of the booth and headed for the door. Just before he could push it open, Mira spoke up. “Ah, Hiiro, is it?”
”Yes?” He paused just in front of the door and looked back over his shoulder.
”I can’t help but notice your holster.” Mira nodded to an empty thigh holster on the heavily chromed man’s leg. “Where’s your gun?”
”I…” He glanced back around the diner, and his eyes seemed to settle on Akane. The mechanical eyes whirled and focused back on Mira. “I misplaced it earlier today.”
“Misplaced it?” The tone of Mira’s voice let the entire diner know exactly what she thought of that. I was right there with her. A professional didn’t just misplace their gun. That was rookie behavior.
“Or it was stolen.” The man shrugged and turned around fully to face us. “Why? Does it matter?”
“Did you report it?” My mikata pushed once more.
“… no.” He sighed, and shook his head. “I’m the chief of security for Kake Street. It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence if I, of all people, had my gun swiped.”
”’Course, ‘course…” Mira crossed her arms. “Let me guess, a Shen Kang M35?”
”Yosh.” He glanced around the room once more. “Can I go?”
”As long as you don’t go far.” Mira waved her hand dismissively and turned back to me. Her eyes were curled, and every part of her posture read ‘did I do good?’ like some kind of hunting dog that’d just tracked down their first prey.
“Nice,” I whispered to her. I hadn’t noticed the empty holster. A M35, though… that was the weapon she said shot the elder. Combined with the gunpowder traces that Vox picked up, a clear image was starting to be painted. It still just didn’t make sense, though. Why shoot the elder after he was already dead?
Soon, the room cleared out except for just us. Overhead, the lights flickered again as our suspects split up and walked away. Mira leaned against the back of a booth. “Did you see that?”
”The missing revolver?”
”No. I’m talking about Makoto.” Mira looked out the window toward the shadows disappearing into the fog. Her halo pulsed rapidly like all five of her minds were in overtime. “With the elder out of the way, he’s taking over the responsibilities of Kake Street… could be motive.”
”Some kind of power struggle?” Appearances could be deceiving. He looked like a rather humble guy, but power corrupted everyone equally. “Let’s keep an eye on him?”
”That’s what I was thinking too.” Mira nodded.
I glanced around the suddenly abandoned diner, and rubbed at the crook of my elbow. “C’mon, let’s head back to the crime scene.”
Mira moved to the door and held it open for me. A cool breeze billowed into the place, throwing my hair back. “After you, Skunkstripe.”
”Ugh.” That stupid nickname would haunt me for the rest of my days.
By the time we got back to the elder’s office, the people that came to retrieve his body were just leaving with him on a stretcher. Detective Bradton crouched over where the elder’s body lay. “Figured you’d be coming back by.”
”Find anything?” Mira asked.
”Aside from a time frame? They’ll get results back in an hour.” Bradton waved to the guys from Green Pharmaceuticals. “The lead examiner put the cause of death as suffocation.”
Suffocation, eh? None of us noticed any strangulation marks or anything like that. Maybe some kind of poison to shut down the nervous system? Fent did that kind of thing, didn’t it? Or maybe even a hack that targeted his lungs? Definitely not being shot in the gut.
Bradton pointed to a blood covered spot on the ground. “Check this out.”
Mira moved over next to him. Three holes were blasted down into the ground just below the elder’s body. “He was already on the ground when the shooter struck. That explains why we couldn’t find bullet marks.”
”Indeed. Our shooter must’ve known he was already dead when they fired.” Bradton crossed his arms and looked around the room. “The more I find out about them, the less their actions make sense.”
”Maybe we should ignore the shooter for now?” Mira suggested. “Focus on the other avenues.”
“Poison.” Bradton stood up, and the duo moved over to the table still covered in food scraps. “If he was poisoned, it was probably something on this table.”
Most of the food was various types of traditional foods alongside way too much seafood. There was so much of the stuff that just two people couldn’t have hoped to eat it all in one setting. Alongside that sat a couple bottles of wine and two glasses.
Mira leaned over the food, and looked through it all. ”Looks the same to me. The chef is still here.”
“I’ll go question him.” Detective Bradton moved for the door. “Maybe he knows something.”
While they were working on that, I shuffled over to the safe and glanced through it. There wasn’t anything left. Either the killer swiped everything to hide what they were really after, or the elder barely kept anything in his safe. ‘Course, the safe could just be a red herring to throw us off the killer’s trail, too.
”Good idea.” Mira waved a hand to him. Once he was gone, she pulled Vox off her shoulders and let the little fox get to work sniffing through the food. “What are you thinking about, Shiro?”
”Akane would be a good next stop.” I had quite a few questions that she could probably answer.
