InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Closing the Case ❯ Chapter 16 ( Chapter 16 )

Closing the Case

Chapter 16

 

The next three weeks were a bit of a whirlwind. Kagome went back to work, though Sesshoumaru forbade her from working on Naraku's case. Miroku spent most of his free time at the hospital, especially since Kanna had begun moving around more. Sango divided her time between her job and visits with Kagura. Inuyasha had roped Shippou into helping him get everything in order for the trial to give Miroku more time with his niece.

 

They had spent the last three days sorting and filing the thousands of pictures. The detectives had decided to place them by person and in descending order by the time stamp in the lower corners. It was tedious work at best.

 

Shippou leaned back and shut his eyes as he stretched. “If I look at any more numbers my eyes are going to pop out of my head in protest,” he griped “How the fuck did he take so many pictures? Didn't he have any other hobbies?”

 

“He probably dropped them in favor of his obsession,” Miroku answered sourly.

 

“I'd rather do this than look for witnesses. I'm not looking forward to playing twenty questions with Angel. Our breakup didn't exactly go well,” Inuyasha added.

 

“That's putting it mildly.” Shippou agreed, remembering well the scene that had taken place in the middle of the precinct. Angel had been, in Shippou's opinion, the perfectly wrong girl to be dating a cop. She had expensive tastes, planned her life to the minute, and was more than a little self-centered. She was also as beautiful as her name suggested - and knew it. In short, she was a spoiled bitch with a fetish for `bad boys.'

 

“Hey, be glad you only have three girls to talk to. Even if I narrow it down to girls I dated for more then a month, that's still 22 girls, most of whom are none too fond of me,” Miroku countered.

 

“Why don't you switch,” Shippou suggested, peeking out of one half-lidded eye, “Yash can interview Miroku's exes and vice versa.”

 

“I am not interviewing 22 girls, you can just fucking forget it. I already agreed to interview Sango's exes as it is,” Inuyasha snapped. He glanced down at his watch and yawned. It was almost 7:30, that meant they had been at this for eight hours and the pictures were still piled high on the table. “I changed my mind. Let's get some uniforms to do this and start the interviews tomorrow.”

 

“Probably should,” Miroku agreed as he stood and stretched. “We'll never make the trial date at this rate.”

 

&&&

 

Inuyasha sat calmly across from Kagome in the living room of their apartment. She smiled at him, looking pleasantly confused by his professional attitude. He was thrilled that she had decided to move in with him, it was a big step and one he had never taken with anyone else. It was nice to have her in his bed every night even when it was just to sleep. He took a recorder from his pocket, turned it on, and set it on the table.

 

“Ok, Kag. I just want to ask you some questions.”

 

“Alright.” She answered, folding her hands in her lap. Inuyasha took a snapshot of Naraku from his pocket and placed it on the table.

 

“Tell me, do you recognize this man?” Kagome leaned over and picked up the photo. For a long moment she studied it.

 

“He was the guy on the news who held Rin hostage.”

 

“That's right. But do you remember seeing him before that?” Inuyasha shifted in his seat, as best he could remember, he had never seen Naraku between the times of Kikyou's murder and the day at Rin's school. Kagome looked more closely at the picture, chewing slightly on her bottom lip as she thought. It was an endearing habit she had. Finally, she set the picture down and shook her head.

 

“I'm sorry,” She paused, biting her lip again. “I don't remember seeing him, except on TV.”

 

“It's ok, Kag,” he reassured, “If you think of anything just let me know.” He picked up the recorder and placed it back in his pocket. “I'll see you later; I need to go talk to the other girls, then Sango's old boyfriends.”

 

“What other girls?” She asked as they stood up.

 

“My exes from the last four years. I've interviewed you, now I need to talk to Saya, Cleo, and… Angel.” He sighed, then his lips quirked up slightly, “But Miroku has 22 girls to talk to, and you remember what his breakups have been like. He's got a day in hell ahead of him.”

 

“Inuyasha,” she moved around the table and brought her hands up to his chest, “Be careful.” Inuyasha chuckled and wrapped his arms around her.

 

“Why, Kagome, I didn't know your eyes had so much green to them.” She pulled back and smacked him on the arm, he only laughed harder. “Don't worry, Kagome, you're the only girl for me.” He kissed her forehead gently, before moving down to capture her lips. “I'll be home at the regular time.” He picked up his things and headed out the door with a final smile.

 

&&&

 

Inuyasha walked slowly up the steps. He had decided against the elevator because it would not take long enough. Saya and Cleo had been pleasant enough to question, though not very helpful, but he just did not feel like seeing Angel again, ever. He had even interviewed Sango's exes to put this interview off as long as possible. Angel was the only woman he had ever considered striking. She whined when she did not get her way, flaunted herself more than some hookers he had locked up, and had an unhealthy fascination with his side arm. He had caught her more then once pointing it around the room and making `banging' sounds. After the first time, he would not keep his gun loaded while in her presence. He often wondered why he had put up with her for as long as he did.

 

Inuyasha stopped outside the room number he had been given. He straightened his coat and triple checked that his gun was empty and safely in its holster before ringing the bell. There was a loud giggle, followed by a male voice complaining. Finally, the lock clicked and the door opened slightly, as far as the small chain would allow. A single bright blue eye peeked out with a few locks of straw-blond hair falling in the way. She smiled.

 

“Well, well, well.” The door closed, the chain rattled, and then the door opened again, this time all the way. Standing in the doorway, dressed in little more than a tan bed sheet she held up with one hand, stood Angel. Perfect, straight blond hair fell around her face in a bedraggled sort of way, perfectly framing her stunning sapphire eyes. A coy smile decorated her face. Now he remembered why he stayed, she was hot. “Look who came crawling back.”

 

“Don't read too much into this; it's business,” he growled, flashing his badge for effect.

 

“It was always business with you, Inuyasha.”

 

“Bite me.” He growled, “Look, Angel, I just need to ask you some questions. Then you can get back to…” He gave her the once-over, “whatever it is you were doing.”

 

“Hey, Chica, who's at the door?” The male voice called from the back of the apartment.

 

“Just a dog looking for scraps,” she answered. Inuyasha flipped her off. “No thanks, you weren't that good anyway.”

 

“That makes the poll three to one,” he retorted just as a man - dressed similarly to Angel - came around the corner. The man had a mess of shoulder length black hair, dark skin, and dark eyes. He was tall, definitely of Latin descent, and had a barbed wire tattoo around both biceps.

 

“Who are you?”

 

“Detective Inuyasha West,” he flashed his badge, “Homicide.”

 

“Hey, I didn't kill no one.” The man answered defensively. Inuyasha pinned him with a cool look.

 

“I didn't suggest you did. Or is that a guilty conscience I smell?” Inuyasha asked with a raised eyebrow. Angel elbowed the man in the ribs.

 

“What do you want, Inuyasha? As you can see, I'm busy.” Angel growled.

 

“Just a few questions, and to remind you that prostitution is illegal.” He replied smoothly and took the snapshot from his pocket. “Do you recognize this man?” Angel took the picture as if it were contagious and held it up to her face. For a moment she screwed up her face in thought.

 

“Did I sleep with him?”

 

“I wouldn't think so, but I've been mistaken before,” Inuyasha snorted.

 

“Can't say that I have.” She shrugged and handed the picture back. “Was that all?”

 

“Are you sure?” He pushed the picture back into her hand.

 

“Yes, I'm sure,” she huffed, letting the picture drop to the ground. Inuyasha picked it up and put it back in his pocket, withdrawing a pad and pen when he did.

 

“This is not the time to be difficult, Angel,” he reprimanded, ignoring her glare, “Now, while we were together did you notice anything strange?”

 

“Like the fact you were never around?”

 

“Like threatening phone calls or letters,” he snapped back.

 

“Nope.”

 

“Did you see anyone that was suspicious, or someone who looked out of place?”

 

“No! No, no, no, no! There was nothing strange about the time I spent with you, besides your overprotective, overbearing attitude, and the fact that you were always running off at the beck and call of Muriko. I swear you two were gay.”

 

“Miroku and I are not gay. We just have a job to do.” He pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to her. “If you think of anything give me a call.” He paused for a moment, “At the office, not the house.” He turned and walked away without even a good-bye.

 

&&&

 

When Inuyasha got back to the precinct, he found Miroku with his head down on the desk, looking exhausted. The dark-haired detective seemed to be holding a small bag of ice to his nose. Inuyasha laughed.

 

“What happened to you?” Miroku lifted his head to show that he had two twists of tissue in his nose. Inuyasha howled.

 

“I had a few doors slammed in my face. It's not funny!” Miroku griped.

 

“How many girls do I have to talk to in your place, Casanova?”

 

“Five.” Miroku laid his head back down on the desk. “By the way, Kagome's here.”

 

“Why? Where?”

 

“Said she remembered something, and she was talking with Kaede the last I saw.” Inuyasha left his partner to his sulking and moved to the chief's office. Sure enough, Kagome was sitting in the chair opposite the chief of police sharing a cup of tea and a plate of muffins. A large man in a security officer outfit stood near the door trying to look intimidating.

 

“Kagome?” The girl looked up and smiled. “What are you doing here?” She stood up and hugged him.

 

“I remembered something. When I told Sesshouma… er… Mr. West, he sent me straight here and sent Ronny to escort me.” She indicated to the security officer.

 

“That's good. Come on, I'll find us a place we can talk.”

 

“Don't bother, Inuyasha,” Kaede said as she rose slowly from her chair. “You can use my office. I have some things to take care of anyway.” She shuffled out of the office, taking Ronny with her, and closed the door behind her. Kagome took her seat again and Inuyasha took Kaede's chair. He got a silly sort of smile on his face and spun around in the swiveling leather chair.

 

“What do you think, Kag? Chief Inuyasha West?” He grinned and settled himself deeper into the plush chair.

 

“Should I leave you and the chair alone for a moment?” she asked dryly. Inuyasha stuck his tongue out at her.

 

“Ok, what did you remember?” He pulled his pad and pen out.

 

“I thought about all the times we ever went out and I remembered that I was always seeing this… man. Not the one in the picture, but another one. I don't remember seeing him before I started dating you. I remembered when I saw him outside the office this morning.”

 

“Wait! You saw him this morning?! Where?” He was around the desk in an instant and holding her hands, “Did he try to hurt you.”

 

“Inuyasha, calm down. He didn't do anything. Just took pictures, he always took pictures.”

 

“Do you think you can describe this man?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Good, let's go find the sketch artist.”