Side Two – Detective Kato Reiji
“Well, that was a distinct waste of our ti.” Reiji sighed, pulling out a battered cigarette case from his pocket and removing a dog-eared roll-up. As he fumbled for a match a scolding voice from beside him cut in, causing him to wince.
“You know you can’t do that, Detective.” The young woman said, gazing at him sternly, her eyes cold. “This is outside a hospital, you have to respect the health of the patients. Besides, smoking is a filthy habit.”
Reiji bit down on another sigh, as he looked at the junior officer who was accompanying him. She was young, in her late teens or early twenties, and pretty much fresh out of training. Her hair was bunched up into a short ponytail, giving her a stern look, her suit that she was wearing in lieu of her police uniform giving her a bit of a childish look, like she was still at school.
“So what’s the next step?” Usui asked. “Without any evidence to go on this is going to be a tough investigation.”
“You are not wrong.” Reiji finished smoking. Looking around for a suitable bin he couldn’t find one, so with another sigh he tucked the used end back into his cigarette case. “I managed to get clearance for fingerprint analysis of the weapons, as so of the injuries to the victims appeared to be from their own weapons that were snatched from them. Although…” Reiji paused for effect. “… There were several injuries that have so far defied explanation as to how they were caused. The whole situation is like one big puzzle box.”
“It sounds it.” Usui agreed. She then brightened, having had an idea. “Well, can’t we trace the call to the police to whatever phone made it? That shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Of course. That was covered in your training. That was one of the first things we did. The call was placed from a nearby departnt store. Even looking at around the ti the call was placed the store was quite busy, with people coming and going all the ti. There wasn’t a cara on the payphone either. I suppose they had no reason to have one, they are more concerned with shoplifters.”
“If that’s the case… they must have had so by the doors?” Usui was showing signs of interest, the puzzle getting her excited. “If we checked the footage around the ti of the call…”
Good instincts. “Yes, we did try that. there is a cara pointing towards the doors, though the angle is more suited to view those leaving, which makes sense from a cri prevention view.” He paused, shaking his head. “Unfortunately the angle is not great, and several people around that ti were looking away from the cara, talking to others or on their mobile phones. There were also a few people we couldn’t get clear images of, and those we could match had no entries in our database.”
“Damn, that’s a sha.” Usui pouted. “It would be difficult to get a warrant to pull information on them anyway… have you sent for fingerprinting on the payphone too?”
“Of course. Though expecting clear prints on a public phone is a long shot. I know far fewer people use them now that mobile phones are in widespread circulation, but even so I am not holding out much hope.”
As he finished speaking his phone rang. Excusing himself he took the call.
“Oh, I see. Just matches for the victims. A couple of unidentifiable partials? I see.” He kept listening. “And on the payphone too? I’ll be honest I wasn’t expecting much. Thanks for your hard work.” With a sigh he rang off the call.
“As expected we could only pull so muddy partials. There isn’t even enough to run through our database I’m afraid.”
Usui frowned. “So what now? Unless we can persuade the thugs to talk we seem to be all out of leads. And while the fear that is keeping their mouths shut may fade over ti, even then all we are likely to get is a description. That isn’t a lot to go on.”
“You are not wrong, Officer Usui.” Detective Reiji fished out another cigarette, ignoring her glare. “Still, my gut tells there is more to this case than just a vigilante attack. Still, without further evidence we can’t spend more ti on it. I’ll co back and interview them one more ti before they are released. Other than that, all we can do it keep our eyes and ears open. Sotis a case can be cracked by simple chance or an innocent mistake.”
There is definitely sothing going on here. All my instincts from over twenty years in the force are screaming. I will uncover what lies beneath the façade and reveal the truth!
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