InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Closing the Case ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Closing the Case

Chapter 5

Sango slowly opened her eyes, the ceiling slowly coming into focus as she blinked the sleep away. The first thing that hit her was that it was not her ceiling. The ceiling of her room was smooth and a soft cream color. The ceiling overhead was rough and chalk white.

She sat up slowly; her muscles protesting from the awkward half-sitting position she had fallen asleep in on the couch. The TV was on and the pizza box sat open, showing the pie with three missing pieces. Bright sunlight poured through the window. Sango stretched and rolled her neck, listening to it pop and crack.

As she climbed to her feet, her eyes fell on the wall clock and she groaned. She should have been at work an hour ago. As she made her way down the hall to the cordless phone, the incessant buzzing of her alarm caught her ear. She changed course to turn the irritating piece of machinery off, passing her brother's room on the way.

Suddenly, she stopped. The door was standing open, just as she had left it last night. The bed was made, albeit none to neatly. A Game Boy sat haphazardly in the middle of the mattress. From all appearances the bed had not been used recently. Sango felt the bottom fall out of her stomach.

Sleepiness and sore muscles forgotten, she rushed back into the kitchen to look for a new note. He probably came in after I fell asleep and did not want to bother me. She reassured herself. Frantically, she began snatching up each piece of paper she saw, turning them over and scanning each quickly. She came up empty. In the hallway the phone rang. He's calling to let me know where he is. I'm going to kill him for scaring me like this! Sango snatched the phone from the cradle.

"Kohaku?!"

"This is Kaede, dear. Is everything all right? You did not clock in at your normal time."

"Kohaku didn't come home last night! There's no note, no message, and his bed doesn't look slept in!"

"Calm down, dear. He's a young boy and probably just forgot." Kaede soothed, knowing how upsetting the situation was under the circumstances. "If it makes you feel better, I will send Shippou and Max out to help you. Don't worry about work today, I will just take a day from your sick leave and we'll requisition another M.E. from the city."

"Another M.E…?"

"Another body was just called in. Same M.O. as yesterday. Miroku and Inuyasha are already on their way."

"Oh."

"Shippou will be there in a half an hour."

"Thank you, Kaede."

&&&

Miroku held up the yellow tape as Inuyasha ducked under. Uniforms were already combing the area for evidence. A group of people, including several children, were standing off to the side of the taped-off area giving statements. The body was lying on the riverbank, covered in a white sheet. Hojo came bouncing up to them in his usual manner and gave them each a pair of latex gloves.

"Same apparent M.O. as the last body, but this one was tied to a large piece of wood to keep it afloat. The people over there saw the body floating by from the park. The parents are pretty upset and I've already called Miss Gale in case any of them need counseling."

"Good." Miroku waved him off before turning to his partner. "Kaede said Sango hasn't shown up for work yet, so we should be expecting a stand-in ME. I'll go talk to the witnesses and you hover over the body to make sure everything is done right." Inuyasha nodded, and turned towards the body, a uniform falling into step behind him.

Crouching next to the body, he waited for the uniform to prepare his pad and pen before lifting the sheet. It was clean of blood and soaked in river water. Stab wounds decorated the chest and stomach, and bruises dotted the skin. He furrowed his brow, looking for things Sango had pointed out on the other bodies. There were light bruises at the corners of the mouth, indicating a possible gag. As he worked he read everything off to the uniform, who wrote it down in quick short hand. When he finished, he stood and took in the scene as a whole.

From this new angle something about the body struck a chord in him. His face twisted into a scowl. The face, he knew it from somewhere. A friend of Souta's perhaps? Or maybe he'd passed him on the streets. His mind cast about, trying to place the face. After a minute a framed picture came to mind, a picture that sat next to Sango's computer in the morgue. His stomach twisted. That could not be right. He'd never even met the boy in person, they probably just looked similar. In fact, if he squinted his eyes just right he looked a lot like Souta as well.

"Oi, Miroku." The other detective turned away from the witnesses to see his partner looking out over the river, his hands in his coat pockets. Excusing himself, he moved to his partner's side.

"What is it, Yash?"

"Tell me I'm not seeing what I think I'm seeing." Miroku looked down and Inuyasha watched the color drain from his face.

&&&

Sango opened the door to let Shippou and Max in. The dog looked up at her with a happy grin, oblivious to the worry that plastered her face. Shippou held the leash firmly as he took out a pad and prepared to ask the standard questions.

"When was the last time you saw your brother?"

"The day before last. I was at work all the night before last. When I got home last night there was a note on the counter saying he had gone out to get bread and milk, but there was no date or time, so I don't know when it was written. When I woke up this morning, I passed his room and his bed didn't look slept in." Shippou took everything down on his notepad, a grin playing in his mind. One nice thing about working with other people on the force was their ability to anticipate questions. He also noted that she had placed what appeared to be a pillowcase in a plastic bag and a recent photo.

"Well, I think you've covered everything." Shippou stood up and put his things away. "Let's find out if he made it to the store, then we'll work from there." Sango nodded numbly. Grabbing the pillowcase and photo, they headed out of the apartment. Shippou opened the passenger's door for Sango before placing Max in the backseat and getting behind the wheel. The small general store was only a block and a half away, but for Sango the drive seemed to take an eternity.

The bell over the door gave a cheery ring as they walked in. The store had a slight chill to the air, and the bright flourescent lights gave off an unwelcoming glow. Short shelves were stocked with a variety of foods in cans and bags. Along the back wall, foods that needed to be kept cool were held in glass-door freezers.

"Hey! You can't bring that filthy animal in here!" A stout, balding man in his mid-thirties barked at them from behind the counter. Shippou gave him a charming smile he had picked up from Miroku as he showed his badge.

"Don't worry; we aren't going to be here long."

"I don't know what you heard, but I run a clean business here!" The man rose from his rickety chair, his chubby hands forming fists, as if he was ready for a fight.

"Sit down, I'm with Missing Persons." Shippou groused, showing his badge, "And I just want to ask you a few questions. But if you make this any more difficult than it has to be, I've got a few good friends who would be happy to go over this place with a fine-toothed comb." The man sank back into his chair, but still kept a suspicious eye on the two. Shippou ignored the look and pulled the photo of Kohaku out. "Did you see this boy yesterday, perhaps in the late afternoon or evening?" The man took the picture and brought it close to his face. After a moment of squinting, he pulled a pair of reading glasses from his shirt pocket.

"Maybe, I see tons of people every day." He answered vaguely.

"He would have bought milk and bread." Shippou added, trying to keep his temper as the man dug in his heels.

"Like I said, I don't remember." Shippou gritted his teeth and growled in the back of his throat, a trait he'd picked up from Inuyasha. Sango, however, had reached the end of her rope. Before either of the men could react, she had reached over the counter and grabbed the man by the front of his stained shirt and yanked him to within an inch of her face.

"Did you see my brother or not!?" Shippou's eyebrows shot up behind his bangs as he realized she had lifted the large man off his feet. Even if the rickety counter supported most of his weight, it was still an impressive feat. The man sputtered in shock for a moment, before turning again to belligerence.

"You can't do this too me! This is assault and I'll have you arrested!" He shot Shippou a look. "Well! What are you waiting for?!" The young detective gave him a smirk.

"I'm waiting for you to tell the nice lady if you saw her brother or not." The man sputtered again.

"Fine! Fine! I saw him. He was here about 7 or so."

"Did you see anyone with him, or anyone following him after he left?" Sango was bearing down on him, slowly twisting his shirt tighter around his thick neck.

"No, I didn't see anyone!"

"If you are lying to me," Sango growled, "No one will ever find your body." She dropped him so abruptly that he nearly fell face first over the counter. Shippou had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing as he followed the enraged M.E. out of the store. Once outside Shippou composed himself and took out the plastic-encased pillowcase. He pulled it open and lowered it to Max's level.

"Max, find." The dog took a long whiff of the offered scent before lowering his sensitive nose to the ground. The dog took several minutes of pacing the concrete sidewalk back and forth before he caught the scent he was looking for.

The going was slow at best. Thousands of people had walked along the sidewalk since Kohaku had been there and Max had to stop and double back a few times to re-catch the scent. Finally, the shepherd mix turned down a small alley. Even though it was daytime, Shippou had to take out a flashlight so they could see. Not two steps into the alley they found a large paper bag.

Pulling Max to a stop, Shippou took a pair of white gloves from his pocket and looked into the over-turned bag. Inside were the remains of a crushed milk carton, a torn-up bread bag, and a receipt from the general store. The food itself had long since been picked over by strays. The young detective reached into his pocket and pulled out a spare pair of gloves and handed them to Sango.

"I don't have any large evidence bags, so I need you to hold this." She nodded and did as he told her. "Ok, Max, find."

The dog took off again, nose to the ground. But the search was short-lived. They came to a stop again just beyond the alley where concrete met asphalt. Max paced the edge of the sidewalk, whimpering, seeming to know he had lost the scent and would not find it again. Shippou soothed the anxious canine with a "sit" and a pat on the head before turning to Sango.

"I'm sorry, Sango. It looks like they got into a car. There isn't anything else I can do." The older woman nodded numbly, her hands trembling and nearly dropping the bag. "I'll take you home." Sango could only nod again.

&&&

Shippou helped the ME to a chair in the living room. He had promised to do all the filing of kidnapping reports for her as soon as he hit the station doors. All she seemed to do was nod. The young detective knew people could go through drastic changes over a missing loved one, especially if said loved one was a child, but this was the first time he had experienced it first hand with someone he knew.

"Let me get you some water, then I'll go file that report for you." Sango only nodded again. The young woman did not really see Shippou leave; her mind was a million miles away, chasing questions without answers. When the doorbell rang, she did not hear Shippou tell her he would get it. In fact, she did not even realize she had left the chair until she was looking into a pair of sad violet eyes.

Something in her chest seized, and Sango blinked a couple of times, trying to understand why. Miroku and Inuyasha stood in her doorway, the former staring at her with concern, the latter looking anywhere but into her eyes.

"Sango, I'm so sorry." She could see Miroku's mouth moving, but she could not seem to make out the words. The ground seemed to spin beneath her feet before it fell away completely. Someone shouted her name before the world went black.