InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Closing the Case ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

Closing the Case

Chapter 14

Miroku pulled the patrol car into the parking lot of a huge high-rise apartment building. The walls were a crisp white and each suite had a large balcony jutting out of the building. A large Olympic-sized swimming pool, complete with open bar, shaded and open sun seating, and an attached spa stood off to the side.

"Nice place," Inuyasha snorted.

"Yeah," Miroku agreed, "I bet our collective yearly salary wouldn't cover the down payment." He parked the car in the front and the detectives climbed out. The two walked into the building and were immediately greeted by the landlord.  He was a tall, slim man, with greased back black hair and an oversized nose. His nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed in disgust as he looked down at their less then immaculate attire.

"May I… help you?" His low voice had an unfriendly edge. Miroku put on his charming smile and presented the warrant.

"I'm Detective Priest and this is my partner Detective West. We have a warrant to search Naraku Arachna's apartment."

"Master Arachna is not here right now, you will have to return at a later date. Now remove yourselves from these premises."

"Look you snooty little son of a bitch," Inuyasha snapped, this guy was ruining his good mood, "We know Naraku isn't here, because we have him locked up down at the precinct. As I see it you have two options. One, you can open the door for us without further complain or two we can break down the door and arrest you for obstruction of justice." Inuyasha put on his most pleasant smile, as if he was not even thinking about being threatening. The landlord crinkled his nose, but turned sharply on his heels and led the way towards the elevator.

The ride up to the top floor was uninteresting. They only stopped once and the woman who wanted to get on changed her mind at the site of the detectives, her pure-bred, tiny fuzz-ball of a dog barking protectively at her feet. When they did reach the top floor, the landlord led them to the specified apartment, took a ring of keys from his pocket, and took his time finding the right one. Finally the door swung open to show a clean, neatly kept living room.

"This is Master Arachna's abode." The landlord's voice was edged with irritation.

"Thanks." Inuyasha smiled at him as he pushed the door open and they walked past the landlord. The man followed them looking thoroughly putout.

"In the absence of Master Arachna, I will have to supervise so that you do not destroy anything."

"We aren't going to break anything." Inuyasha huffed and rolled his eyes. "Ever head of the elephant in a matchbox rule?" Inuyasha asked as Miroku handed him a pair of latex gloves.

"No." The landlord snorted.

"It is a rule of thumb, if you will, about searches." Miroku provided, "Basically, it is exactly what it sounds like. If we are looking for a television the jewelry box is not covered by our warrant and anything we find therein would be illegally seized and could not be used in court, no matter how incriminating."

"And the smallest item on our list," Inuyasha grinned at him, "Is a pen. That means we can look through anyplace that a pen could be hidden and if you get in our way it will be obstruction of justice."

"Shall we?" Miroku asked.

"Where do you want to start?" Inuyasha asked.

"Here's as good as anywhere else." Inuyasha nodded in agreement and they began. The landlord watched in horror as they pulled the cushions off the couch, empted the magazines from their holders, removed everything from the entertainment center, and even over turned some chairs to look underneath. While they did not damage anything, they left a big mess. From there they moved to the kitchen, then the dining and the sitting rooms, and finally the study. They carefully searched each room and left each strewn with their once neatly arranged content. All without finding a thing.

"I hope you are satisfied." The landlord huffed crossly, "This is going to take housekeeping hours to get this back in order."

"Not until we search the bedrooms and bathroom." Miroku snapped back.

"No one is allowed in those rooms. Master Arachna won't even let house keeping in there."

"Really?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow in interest. The two detectives looked at each other. Without another word they turned and made their way back out into hallway. The nearest door was the bathroom, with the two bedrooms at the ends to the left and right. The door was closed and, when Inuyasha turned the knob he found it was also locked. He wrinkled his nose at the smell coming from inside.

Inuyasha shrugged and took a step back. Miroku put out an arm out to keep the landlord back as Inuyasha settled into a fighting stance. The landlord barely had time to sputter a protest before Inuyasha struck. His foot slammed into door near the knob and the simple lock gave way with a loud crack. The door swung open, banged against the wall, and bounced off. Miroku easily caught it before it could close again.

Both detectives stepped into the room and instantly the smell of bleach hit them. They coughed and sputtered, backing out of the room. Inuyasha covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, while Miroku used a handkerchief.  After recovering a bit they stepped in again.

The room was clean for all appearances. There was a tooth brush sitting on the counter near the sink, along with toothpaste, a wooden hair brush, and a nail cleaning kit. The curtains around the bathtub was drawn and the tile floor practically shown. Miroku moved over to the sink counter and picked up the hairbrush and nail kit.

"What do ya think, Yasha, circumstantial?" It was a rhetorical question, because he did not wait for an answer. Instead he knelt down and opened the cabinet. Inside he found several industrial sized bottles of bleach, one of which of which was open. There were also several lengths of rope and a rolled up piece of cloth. Inuyasha had moved to the bathtub and pushed the curtain back.

"But this isn't." The tub was had a thick, reddish brown stain covering most of the bottom, and smelled so strongly of bleach it brought tears to his eyes. The landlord made a gagging noise and rushed from the room. Inuyasha took a small digital camera from his pocket and began to snap pictures. He also got some pictures of the cabinet, and the obvious red ring around the sink drain. "We'll need to call in forensics to come in for this."

"Let's see what he has hidden in the bedrooms." Miroku stood and walked out of the room. He took a right and headed towards one of the bedrooms. This time the door was not locked and opened easily. Miroku's eyes widened as he took in the room. It was in distinct contradiction to the rest of the immaculately kept house. Papers were scattered across the floor and small fold-out card tables. The walls, that Miroku assumed were creamy-gold like the rest of the house, were covered in thousands and thousands of snap shots.

Curious, Miroku moved closer to the nearest wall. It was covered in pictures of Shippou. Shippou as a beat cop, Shippou with his first K9 unit (a Bulgarian Shepard named Sam), Shippou at a crime scene. Moving further down, there was a picture of Shippou retiring Sam, Shippou receiving Max, Shippou and Max in training, Shippou being promoted to detective. There were also tons of picture of Shippou with different women; witnesses to crimes, dates, random people at stores and markets.

As he moved down the wall, the picture began to turn slowly to pictures of Shippou with Kirara; Shippou and Kirara at the park, at school, and even a few of Shippou picking her up from the adoption agency. The most disturbing picture though, was taken just outside of Inuyasha's apartment less then a week ago when Shippou had brought Kirara over.

He moved to the next wall to find it was covered in pictures of himself. There were a lot of him and Inuyasha at crime scenes or having drinks after work. There were also tons of pictures of him and every woman he's ever dated in the last four years. Some were even overlapping. Then the pictures turned to ones of him and Kanna, just as they had done with Shippou and Kirara. One picture, showing him reading her a bedtime story, was taken through the window of his apartment. There was even a picture taken of him and Kanna in front of Inuyasha's apartment, the time stamp showing it had been taken this week.

"Yasha! You better come see this!" Miroku called over his shoulder as he moved around the next section of pictures. The third wall was divided into two sections. One was covered in pictures of Sango, the handful of men she had dated, and Kohaku. The other half was solely of pictures of Sesshoumaru and Rin, due to the fact he had not seen anyone after the death of his late wife.

The last wall was covered in pictures of Inuyasha. Some were duplicates of the ones on Miroku's wall, but most were of different things. There were a few pictures of women he had dated since they had become partners. But more then anything there were pictures of Kagome, with and without Inuyasha, and a handful of pictures of Souta.

"What is it Miro -shit!" Inuyasha's mouth hung open as he stared around the room. "What the fuck?!" He moved closer to Miroku's side and scanned over the many pictures of himself. Miroku pointed to one picture that was faded and had a light coating of dust. It was of Inuyasha, himself, Rin, and Kanna in the park. But the girls were much younger, four and three respectively.

"I remember this day," Miroku commented idly.

"Yeah, you wanted us to use the girls to pick up women. My brother nearly castrated me for going along with it. But this was nearly four years ago."

"But this one was this week." Miroku moved down the wall and pointed to a picture of Kagome reading to Kirara and Kanna. "I'd say this guy has been stalking us."

"Like he was waiting for something."

"Look at this." Miroku moved around the room with Inuyasha on his heels. "Every section ends with pictures of the kids. Remember what Shippou said: He blamed the loss of his fiancée on everyone involved. And what he yelled while holding Rin hostage; that nothing could replace what he lost. What he did, it was a reenactment of what happened to his fiancée. He wanted us to suffer the same way he had."

"He's getting back at us through the kids. That's sick!"

"His fiancée didn't deserve what she got either," Miroku replied sourly. Both fell into an uncomfortable silence. The photos were all happy memories, pictures that would be welcome in frames in the comfort of home. But here, they felt out of place and surreal. "Wonder what all these papers are?" Miroku muttered trying to fill the silence. Inuyasha grunted.

"I'll take some pictures. You check the papers," Inuyasha said finally, Miroku nodded. Inuyasha lifted his camera and began. The first pictures were of entire walls so they could see the lay out of the pictures on each wall. Then he moved in so what was on some of the pictures could be made out. It took three frames from ceiling to floor and five from left to right, to get an entire wall in.

Miroku picked up a handful of papers off the fold-out card table and began to flip through them. His frown twisted darker and darker. The stack of papers was about Shippou; bills from dinners, vacations and other pleasurable activities, as well as other bills like electric, and water. The top most paper was a copy of Kirara's adoption papers. How Naraku had gotten such a thing, Miroku did not even want to know. He was just reaching for another stack, when a loud yelp from the landlord rung through the house. The two detectives looked at each other before bolting from the room.

They found the man leaning against the wall at the other end of the hallway. His had a frilly handkerchief held to his mouth as if to ward off sickness and his other arm across his eyes. They could hear him muttering the Lord's Prayer. The door to the other bedroom stood slightly ajar behind him.

"Sir?" Miroku touched his shoulder and the man flinched.

"Tell me-tell me that isn't what I think-I think it is." The two detectives looked at each other for a second before Inuyasha huffed, straightened his shoulders, and pushed open the door to the room.

Unlike the rest of the house, this room was decorated in blood red and fine gold. There were no light fixtures or lamps, instead a number of candles were set up around the room, most had burned out, but two or three still cast enough light to see by. The room had no furniture with exception to a large king sized bed. It was covered with an expensive looking comforter of dark red with intricate designs in gold. Rich cherry wood posts held up a red canopy that sparkled with gold when the candle light hit it at the right angle.

But the thing that held him transfixed was what was on the bed. Dressed in a blood-red silk nightgown, was a woman. Her long, neatly-cut black hair, fanned out across the pillow and her small, fragile hands folded on her chest. Here eye were closed as if she were sleeping.

"Fuck…" The word escaped his lips without his notice. Miroku moved to his side and his mouth fell open.

"Is it… is she…?" Swallowing hard, Inuyasha walked to the side of the bed. He noted the slightly crumpled comforter next to her as if someone had slept there not too long ago. Not wanting to pursue that thought any farther, he concentrated on the girl. The surreal feeling was back as he carefully reached out and touched her hand. It gave way easily to his touch and he let out a breath he did not know he was holding.

"No, it's just plastic. Very real looking plastic."

"This guy needs some serious help."

"I'll take the pictures, you call for help with evidence collection. I want to get the fuck out of here."