[ . # C28 ]
"Ri-ko!" A loud clear voice called out for Risa, which Risa had heard even when she was still at a distance away from the entrance.
"Yuri?" Risa tilted her head. There, at the entrance of the MPD, stood Yuri, in clutches, outside the automatic doors, rubbing her hands together hoping that would gain some heat to counter the coldness she was feeling. "What are you doing here?" Risa continued asking, with Haru on her right and Ai on Haru's right. With Ai having to be away for statement taking, there was no one Risa could turn to for Haru's wellbeing to be taken care of. Therefore, it left Risa only one choice, to bring Haru along with her to the MPD. "How's your ankle?"
"It was just a sprain." Yuri reassured.
"So what are you doing over here?" Risa asked again.
"To see you? I miss you." Yuri looked down and away from Risa's direct stare.
Risa chuckled softly before rubbing Yuri at her forehead. "How old are you already? Even Haru don't say such things to me." Risa mocked playfully.
"What?" Yuri slapped Risa's hand away from her forehead. Yuri had decided to ignore Risa and turned to Ai instead. "What is Nee-san doing over here?" Yuri asked curiously.
"Why are you so nosy?" Risa interrupted, saving Ai the trouble from answering things that she wish not to. "Since you are here, look after Haru for me." Risa continued. "We have some business to settle." Risa finished. "You can bring Haru to the waiting room while waiting for us." Risa informed. Ai bowed and left the group. Follow behind was Risa, trying to catch up with Ai.
"Gaki-san!" Came another voice calling out for Risa just as Risa had caught up with Ai. "Finally. I have been trying to catch up with you since I saw you at the lobby. Why are you in such a rush? Was that Haru-chan I had saw at the lobby? Who that's young girl in clutches you had left Haru-chan with? Isn't Takahashi-san suppose to take care after Haru-chan while you are at work? Are you facing any troubles now? Need any extra help?" Makoto blabbered on, offering Risa her concern and help. For sure, she was the one who knew most of the things other than the two main players of the story. "Ah, Takahashi-san?" Makoto finally realised.
"Which room am I going into?" Ai turned around and asked.
Makoto was puzzled at the question while Risa remained calm and normal. "The third room on the right." Came the simplistic reply from Risa. Makoto turned and looked questionably at Risa. All had knew that what's the third room on the right was for. It was an interrogation room. "I will be there right in a moment, after I had settled down my documents in the office." Risa continued as Ai advanced. Risa turned into the office, with Makoto at her side pestering Risa for explanations.
"Gaki-san, why is Takahashi-san going into the interrogation room?" Makoto enquired, while trolling beside Risa.
"She was at the Tanaka Residence last night." Risa answered simplistically.
"So the lady the eye witness saw was Takahashi-san? Does this means that Takahashi-san is involved in the case? Since . . . " Makoto's sentence was interrupted by another third figure in the room.
"Gaki-san! Thank goodness that you are here. Look at this!" It turned out that the third person in the room who had came in was Eri. "Look at this." Eri repeated, panted a little, before flashing the document she had to Risa. "This letter. . . It has Takahashi-san fingerprint on it. . . There's only 2 sets of fingerprint on it, one is Tanaka Reina-san's and the other set being Takahashi-san's"
"Thank you." Risa said nothing much to Eri. She just took the file over from Eri and leave the office.
"Gaki-san. . . " Makoto followed Risa out. "You are going to interview Takahashi-san alone?"
Risa nodded her head and headed ahead. She stopped again and turned around. "Can you bring Tanaka Reina-san in today for the statement interview?" Risa requested. "You will take charge in that? I will join in with you when I'm done with her."
"Alright. . ." With that, Makoto returned back to the office and made the call to Reina.
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"Ne, Nee-san?" Haru called out to Yuri.
"Yes? Haru-chan?" Yuri responded.
"You are Mama's younger sister?" Haru asked innocently.
Yuri nodded her head at the young girl. "Why are you asking that?"
"So that means that Haru can't call Nee-san Nee-san anymore. . . Since you are Mama's younger sister. Can Haru call you Ba-chan instead?" Haru reasoned while she gave Yuri one of her mischievous smile.
"You little elf~" Yuri was shock at the little teasing Haru made. She reached forward for the girl, tickling her in the process. "I'm going to sound really old when you call me Ba-chan, Haru-chan."
"But you are my auntie, aren't you, Ba-chan?" Haru giggled.
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"Even though I believe you, but the circumstances right now are all putting you in a disadvantage." Risa spoke after Ai finished her recollection to Risa again. "With the fact that you had an uncounted 15 minutes away from Reina-san, and no physical alibis to prove that they had seen you in that 15 minutes, trying to find your way to the bathroom, the police had every right to suspect that something else had happened in that 15 minutes." Risa continued. "I hope you understand. . . "
Ai nodded her head and closed her eyes. "So that means that I have to stay in this room, until there are evidence or alibis to prove that I'm not a suspect, right?" Ai summed up for Risa.
Risa nodded her head. "I need to go over to Makoto's side." Risa finished.
'All these will come to an end, and the justice will be returned to you. ' -------------------------------------------------------------
"Reina-san, I'm really sorry for the loss of your mother, but right now, I hope that you can be absolutely honest to us." Makoto greeted and settled herself opposite Reina. "We have a witness who had claimed that he had seen your brother, Tanaka Juncho walking out of the house at the time of your mother's death. But from what you had told us the day before, you had not seen your brother ever since he had left the country. Can I ask you again, have you seen your brother? Have your brother returned back to the country?"
Reina blinked her eyes blankly. "I was lying previously." Reina confessed. "Some two weeks back, I received a call from an unknown caller, asking me to meet him at the jetty. I knew it was my brother. I went along and met him. He had took an illegal entry back to the country via a boat. He asked me to hide him. He said, with his accounts being tracked by the police, he can't survive in Taiwan. I knew it was wrong to hide him up. But, I can't let him to be arrested. I can't let Papa Mama know what he had done, the number evil deeds he had done for the past years. He begged me. I can't bring myself to turn him in. So I brought him home, from the back door and made him stayed in the shed, until the coast is clear for him."
"Do you know where's your brother right now?" Makoto asked.
"I don't know. I really don't know. . ." Reina whimpered. She believed, with only her brother in the room, there's only a possible person to be the murder. Her brother. "I don't even know why would he beat Mama up so brutally, such that it would cost her life. I don't know. I really don't know."
Just then, a knock echoed throughout the small room, bringing the attention of the two occupants to the opening door.
"It's just me." Risa made herself known in the room, settling beside Makoto. "Let's continue, shall we? Reina-san, Takahashi-san had mentioned to us about the story of receiving threatening letters from an anonymous sender. Do you have any idea who could be the one who had sent it?"
Reina shook her head in response.
"Is there anyone who knew that Tanaka Juncho was living in the shed?" Makoto asked.
"No. No one else. All along, it's only me who had handled with him, bringing him the meals he needs and necessities. There shouldn't be any one else in the residence knew about that."
"Can I speak to the stewards and stewardess in your residence? We are currently looking for alibis who might have seen Takahashi-san when she lost her way in your mansion. " Risa requested.
"You can talk to my butler about that. He should be able to come out with the list for you."Reina replied.
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"Gaki-san! They had found Tanaka Juncho on the streets! They are bringing in him now." Makoto shouted out.
"Really? That's a good news! I have some at my side as well. One of the stewards saw Takahashi while she was trying to make her way to the rest room. It was roughly at the 7 minutes of the unaccounted 15 minutes. She's safe!" Risa replied. Soon after, she walked out of the office and to where Ai was. "You are safe." Risa smiled in relieve at Ai. Ai nodded her head.
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"Tanaka Juncho, why did you kill your mother, Tanaka Miko?" Risa interrogated in a harsh tone.
"I did not kill my mother!" He refuted, pulling his hair in process. He was found running on the streets, in his blood splattered white singlet and black pants, and there he sat, denying the statement made by Risa about murdering his mother.
"Stop lying! You are the only one in that shed. Who else except for you will be the one then. With so many past records of serious crime breaking, there are no way that we will believe in what you still say, Tanaka!" Risa continued angrily. "Abduction of civil servant. Serial sexual assault of your patients under the effect of the medications you had prescript. There's no way you are getting out of this. Just admit it!"
"I really did not!" Juncho groaned in desperation. "Why would I kill my own mother? I got tired while waiting for Reina to bring me my dinner, so I had went for a short nap, trying to counter the hunger. When I woke up from my nap, I found her dead on the floor. I really did not know what had happened !"
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"Ah, Ai-Nee-chan, you are here!" Yuri greeted, limping up to her feet as Ai entered into the waiting room.
"You sit down!" Ai blurted out, in a rather concern way, yet coming out a little angry and aloof. "I don't mean any bad. I mean, you are injured, take a sit." Ai continued hurriedly.
"Nee-chan!" Haru came up to Ai and looked up at her, giving Ai one of her best smile before turning to Yuri. "Ne, Ba-chan, Can Haru spend time alone with Nee-chan?"
"Ba-chan?" Ai repeated and looked at Yuri sympathetically. "She's not that old to be called Ba-chan, isn't that so?" Ai tried to help Yuri out of the situation. "And Yuri has difficulty to move around right now."
"Haru wants to talk to Nee-chan. Just the two of us." Haru looked away shyly, before returning to her seat on the couch.
Yuri supported her weight onto her clutches, allowing herself to get off the couch. "I'm good. Go ahead and talk. I will wait outside." Yuri excused herself out of the waiting room, leaving the real mother daughter pair alone in the room, in slight awkwardness.
"What-" The speaking authority was passed straight over to Haru before Ai could speak first.
"Ne, Nee-chan. . . Can Haru ask something?" Haru asked. Ai nodded her head, making no verbal response. She allow herself to take the seat Yuri took previously while Haru continued speaking. "Can Haru know what had happened in the past? Why did Nee-chan abandoned Haru?" Haru hushed, worrying if she should had asked that particular question.
"That - I - I did not know that I - I was "
Haru sensed the uneasiness of Ai while she was trying to answer her question. "It's alright. . . That doesn't matters after all. . ." Haru interrupted. "Can - Can Haru know who's Haru's Papa?" Haru stumbled a little.
"It's better that you don't Haru. . . " Ai replied honestly.
The room went into silence, until Haru spoke again. "Does Nee-chan like Haru?"
Ai nodded her head immediately, without hesitation.
"Will Nee-chan bring Haru away from Mama?" The younger girl asked honestly, about facts that she had learnt from TV programmes. The last thing she will want to is to be separated from Risa.
Ai shook her head. She had no intention to. She knew that the brat loved Haru dearly right from the bottom of her heart. The brat had gave more than what Ai had gave to Haru. Ai knew that she had no power to bring Haru away, nor had the intention in the first place.
"Does Nee-chan like Mama?" Haru tilted her head, looking at Ai with her puppy eyes. From the first day she had know about Ai, she knew that the relationship between Ai and Risa stayed at the borderline of hate. Trouble, Brat, Thing - all these are often not used on people that you like.
Ai looked away bashfully at that question. Something had definitely changed. The feeling towards the brat. The initial irk and hate for the younger policewoman was no longer in her mind. The gentleness and kindness of Risa had slowly touched her in some ways. The unexpected kiss in the toilet summed everything for Ai. It was something she had never felt. It was something she had never wanted to step into it. Love. Ai nodded her head, almost unnoticeably to Haru.
"Ne, Nee-chan. . . Would you mind staying together with Haru and Mama?" Haru continued her questions.
Ai shrugged her shoulders, unable to give Haru a firm answer. Even she herself was unsure if she was ready to, since she was way too accommodated in living alone.
"Will Nee-chan accompany Haru on the nights of where Haru has nightmares?"
Ai nodded her head at this question as her answer. The young child now looked all away from Ai and started playing with her fingers, tapping them lightly on the leathered couch. "Can Haru ask Nee-chan one last question?"
"Go ahead. . . " Ai croaked, since she had not spoke for quite a moment.
"Can I call you Okaa-san?"
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It was already nightfall when Risa had returned home. Ai had brought Haru back to Risa's apartment when evening falls in, and had fed the young child dinner, hoaxed her to bed before settling down at the dining table, trying to recollect the events of the day. The sound of the keys brought Ai's attention to the door, which revealed the exhausted figure of Risa. Both Risa and Makoto had spent the whole day, trying to get Juncho to admit to the murder. While he had admitted the numerous amount of injustice since the past years, he had firmly made clear that he had no play in the murder case of her mother. That alone had caused headache to both Risa and Makoto.
"Tadaima. . " Risa informed restlessly.
"Have you eaten?" Risa was shocked. She had never expect Ai to talk to her first, let alone asking her such an 'intimate' question. "I can make you some instant noodles, if you are hungry." Ai continued, standing up from the dining chair and headed straight into the kitchen, ignoring the fact that Risa was frozen in her actions at the doorway.
Risa snapped back into reality. She removed her shoes swiftly and went straight into the dining room, where she placed her workbag on the table. "Thank - you. . ." Risa took several brown files out of her bag and began to work through the details in them, trying to find a situation that would work, or would nail Juncho, giving him no lines to breath, denying the charges they were planning to add on.
'Can there be any chance that the murder was done by a third party? How high is that chance? A throbbing headache hit Risa, causing the thinking mind to stop. Risa rubbed her temples gently, hoping that would ease the pain she was feeling.
"Do you need some rest?" Echoed Ai's voice, causing Risa to snap her eyes open, only to find a bowl of warm noodles placed right before her.
Risa shook her head in response. She flipped through the pages again with her left hand, while her right took the chopsticks.
"Do you need some help then?" Ai offered.
Risa hesitated. "I - Tanaka Juncho kept denying that he did not kill his mother, even when he had admitted to his other crimes. I'm trying to reread through all these statements and photographs to see if I can find some evidence to proof that he is lying." Risa explained her situation.
"Can I have a look?" Ai asked and took over the documents, not waiting to see if Risa had really allowed her to do so. After flipping through them and the documents, Ai came out with her conclusion. "He is not the one who committed the murder. " Ai concluded, placing the documents down. "The person who had committed the murder, is most likely the person who had sent the threatening letters. "Ai continued.
"But why are you so sure that it was not Tanaka Juncho ?" Risa enquired.
Ai pulled out a couple of photos from the file. "Look at this. There's a void in the blood splatter pattern at the bed. The both sides of the mattress are blood stained, but not the center. So there's one possible reason. There was someone sleeping on the bed when Tanaka Miko was first attacked. Look at the photographs of his clothing when he was brought in. The blood splatter patterns on his singlet matches the one on the bed. This makes him the one lying on that bed when that happened. So, he can't be the one who had murdered Tanaka Miko. Also, look at the sizes of these blood splatter pattern on the wall. They are generally slightly bigger than those typical medium velocity blood splatter patterns. It can be explained that the person attacking is shorter than the victim, and the velocity she was going was much more slower than typical blunt object attack. The letter itself had too proved that the sender might be a female." Ai explained.
The awe on Risa's face was so obvious that Ai could not miss. "How did you manage to notice them just at one glance?"
"I did blood splatter analysis for my honours project when I was still studying." Ai explained briefly.
"Thank you for this." Risa stood up from the chair and placed the documents back onto her briefcase. "I'm going back to the office." Risa informed and rushed towards the doorway, where she wore her shoes and got out of the house immediately.
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"Have you sexually assault a person 8 years ago, other Takahashi Ai-san?" Risa dragged Tanaka Juncho back into the interrogation room the moment she returned back to the MPD, not wanting to waste any time.
Juncho kept his mouth silenced, refusing to reply Risa's question.
"Answer me! It's going to help in your mother's case!" Risa lost her temper and shouted at him. "You won't want anything to happen to your father or your younger sister, don't you?"
"There is. " Juncho answered, rather unexpectedly. "Hashimoto Naoko, Scholar student from School of Mass Communications. Unlike Takahashi, she had no guts to report me to the police. Therefore, this case remained under the snow."
"Hashimoto Naoko." Risa repeated the name.
'Why does this name rings so much? ' Risa wondered in her mind.
'Oh Right! Her name was in the stewardess given by the butler.' -------------------------------------------------------
At the foot of the hotel where Reina stayed, the MPD had managed to stop Hashimoto Naoko from going up the building. She was brought back to the MPD immediately.
"I wanted revenge. But I won't kill him. I will kill his family members, the ones that were close to him, so that he will live with this guilt forever, because he was the one who had caused their death, both directly and indirectly. . . I want him to be alive, suffering from the guilt forever. He's the only one that I don't intent to kill. I want his family to be dead."
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"I hereby announce that, Tanaka Juncho, guilty for multiple sexual assaults. He shall be sent to the death row in Osaka. Tanaka Reina, for false statement. She shall be sent for a 3 years worth of corrective work order and a fine of 10000 yen. "
[ Epilogue ]
"Are you done yet? We are running late!" Risa shouted to Ai, who was still preparing herself for the big day in her room, a spare bedroom which Risa had cleared out
for Ai.
"Coming!" Ai shouted back.
"Haru-chan? Where are you? We are running late!" Risa called out for Haru, while pacing around the dining room, making sure that they had packed everything they needed in the bag.
"I'm talking to Stitch in the kitchen!" Haru replied loudly.
"Stitch?" Risa quirked. She headed towards the kitchen, trying to figure out who Haru was talking to. When she reached the kitchen, she found Haru squatted on the ground, with her back facing Risa. Ai too had heard the commotion and too, headed toward the kitchen as well. "Haru-chan, who is Stitch? Did we have a new pet?" Risa asked Haru.
"Ne, Mama, Kaa-san! Look! It's Stitch!" Haru chipped as she turned around and revealed to the two adult who Stitch was.
"AHHHH!!!!" Came a top screeching scream from Risa. Instantly, Risa situated herself right behind Ai, hiding her face behind Ai's shoulder. "Take that cockroach away!"
"Ne, Mama, it's Stitch! Why are you so afraid? Didn't Mama like Stitch as well?" Haru asked innocently as she held the cockroach by its feeler, waving it back and forth, just as if it was just a toy. "Can we keep Stitch?" Haru continued asking, looking sincerely at the two of them.
"No!" Risa replied without hesitation.
Haru pouted her lips, a little upset at Risa's reaction. "Kaa-san . . . " Haru cajoled.
"I will get you a container." Ai replied, earning herself a pinch on her back.
"It's all your fault! Why did you tell Haru that Stitch is a mutated cockroach?"
"Well, because the truth is, it is!" Ai argued back. She brisked into the toilet where she took the small container for Haru.
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"Mama, Kaa-san, I will go get sensei to take a photo for us!" Haru informed excitedly, breaking away from her parents and sprinted into the school compound. Ai and Risa on the other hand, took their own time to walk into the school compound.
"Time had really flew past, isn't that so?" Risa commented. "So fast, it's the closing ceremony of the school term and come spring, Haru will be in grade 2 already." Risa smiled and sighed at the same time.
Ai nodded her head in agreement. Silence stood for a moment before Ai decide to speak. "Have you thought about improving your relationships with your parents?" Ai concerned.
"It won't work out. "
"But you haven't tried."
"It's not going to work out." Risa emphasised. "The contact with Yuri is good enough. I know that she can do a good job in looking after Papa Mama." Risa continued. "Enough about me. What about you? Do you want to return back to the CIL to work?" Risa asked.
Ai tilted her head aside before giving a soft nod. "But it's impossible."
"It's possible. " Risa corrected. "I have spoke to the higher levels about it. During the Tanaka's case, your knowledge had helped us lots. You are someone the MPD will not want to miss."
"If there's a chance, then I will.
"Mama! Kaa-san!" Came Haru's loud voice echoing from a distance. "I found Sensei!" Haru chipped happily. Ai and Risa walked towards Haru, one at her right and the other on the left. "Ne, Mama, Kaa-san, can you all kiss me in the photo?" Haru requested.
Both Ai and Risa bent down to Haru's cheek level, planting their lips gently on Haru's cheek.
"Hai, Cheese!" And the flash of the camera went off.
"Sensei! Can I have another shot?"
"Hai, " Just before the button was pressed, Haru squatted down on the floor, causing Ai and Risa falling forward, lips contacting with lips. "Cheese!" And the flash went off.
"Yatta!" Haru ran towards the teacher, retrieving the camera back from the teacher. Haru viewed the photos at the screen of the digital camera before squealing again. "Mama and Kaa-san's kiss! Haru's going to keep it!"
"Haru-chan!" Ai and Risa scolded at the same time, both turning into the same shades of red.
"Ja ne!" With that, Haru followed the teacher back to her classroom, leaving Ai and Risa standing in awkwardness.
"I guess. . . she still remembers what happen at the toilet then. . . " Risa rubbed the back of her head shyly. "I wonder if you. . . too remembered. . . " Risa tried to continue, but was flushed by the heat on her face.
Ai spoke nothing, Instead, she tip toed a little, and brushed her lips gently on Risa's cheek. Without waiting for Risa, Ai followed quickly after Haru, leaving Risa standing alone in daze.
"Wait! What does that mean? Can't you be a little more specific and direct?"
Hihi! Thank you for all the comments! I will reply and answer all questions the next time I have more time to. hehehehe
^.^
it wouldn't be long. . .
Topic: SEARCH [ . C #28 + Epilogue ] 31 December 2011 (Read 43941 times)