Timestamp drabble #2

[inkpawprints]

Timestamp drabble requested by aqua_eyes, 9 months after In My Line of Work. I've missed my detectives :)

Word count: 1,692

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"You, pal, are one hell of a mess."

The dead man didn't answer. There was no way he could have, because not only was he dead, from where Detective Kobayashi was looking he didn't have much left in the way of lungs either. Whatever had killed him it looked as if he had caught a small battering ram full in the chest that had not only smashed his ribcage but ripped through his heart and the surrounding respiratory organs before punching out the other side. The blow had split enough blood that the body lay in a stinking black pool almost a meter in radius. Kobayashi wasn't the type of man who particularly cared about his shoes but certainly wasn't stepping into it to examine the body closer – that's what Forensics was paid to do. "So, what are we thinking?" he asked loudly.

Behind him, Ayako was observing the crime scene with a faintly distasteful expression. "I'm thinking that I really wish Shigure were here to do this with you instead of me," she said.

"Yeah, well, I wish he was here too." Trying not to gag from the stench Kobayashi stood from his crouch and stepped away leaving the body to the forensics photographer. "No offence to you, Ayako, but at least if Shigure was here it'd mean he'd be back to normal instead of lying in a hospital bed."

"When you visit him this afternoon to tell him about this case I think he's going to be glad to miss this one."

"That's /if/ I manage to visit him. Last time I went it took me nearly three friggin' hours to get there, and the hospital's only the next district over from HQ." Bright camera flashes were starting to go off and Kobayashi sighed, easing an itch beneath his greying hair. "Though I suppose what with Shinjuku-ku still a no-go zone, the majority of the train lines inoperable and Rainbow Bridge a pile of submerged rubble, it's a wonder there's still some kind of working transport system at all."

Ayako glanced at the distant orange spike framed in the apartment window. "At least the Tower is still standing."

"That doesn't cheer me up. So the Eiffel Tower's bastard child survived the Big One, whoop de do, what does that mean? Mother Earth hates people and essential civil infrastructure but appreciates useless tourist attractions?"

"You're starting to rant again," warned Ayako. "How many times do I have to tell you it's not your fault Shigure is in hospital? Sure he could have gotten a ride with you that night but he didn't want to, he wanted to take the train so he could get dessert for Izuru-kun on the way home. No one could have predicted another earthquake would strike and run Shigure's train off its tracks, so stop blaming yourself. There's a dead man there who needs us to do our job, and I for one would appreciate it if you would get on with it so I can go breathe fresh air again."

Kobayashi drew in a deep breath. "Fine. But don't expect me not to be grumpy during this."

"You're always grumpy. Anyway, about the dead man: Shou Yoshikuni, civil engineer at a R&D lab in Chiba, thirty-eight years old and divorced. His body was found at nine a.m. by the now traumatised landlady when she came over to remind him about rent. She also said she's pretty sure he came home last night around ten p.m. because her apartment is next to the garage and she saw his car drive in then."

"Meaning he died sometime between ten last night and nine this morning. That's eleven hours to fill in."

"Given the way all that blood has dried I'd say it was closer to ten last night. Nothing in the apartment has been taken or disturbed so we can cross out a bungled burglary and guess that it's extremely likely whoever did it came here for no other reason than to kill Shou. Furthermore, judging from the violence of the wound I'd say whoever did it would have been carrying some large weapon, and more importantly, has the strength to use it."

"Your skills of logic and observation never cease to amaze. Remind me again why we stopped being partners?"

"Because as good as you are, Kobayashi, you still can't keep up with me. Why don't you grab Sakano-kun and start looking at entrances to the apartment, I'm going to chat to the landlady."


* * *


It was over three hours before Kobayashi and Ayako finally emerged from the apartment building, both of them tired and hungry. For Ayako's part she had acquired enough preliminary testimonies from neighbours that showed that the dead man was quiet, regular in habits, not particularly sociable beyond a small group of friends and whose ex-wife now lived in Australia. In comparison Kobayashi and the forensic team had been less productive, having managed to turn up absolutely nothing of interest in the apartment – other than the mutilated dead body, of course.

"I almost feel bad about this," commented Kobayashi, expression dark as he leaned against the unmarked police car. He kept a wary eye on the curious crowd behind the police barriers while Sakano's forensic team gingerly eased the now bagged body into the ambulance. "Already there's light shining through his chest cavity and now he's off to an autopsy table for further excavation."

"Ritsuko will probably appreciate not having to saw through a ribcage for once," was Ayako's absent reply as she finalised a few observations in her notebook. "I do hope the autopsy can tell us what he was killed with, but."

Kobayashi shook his head in disbelief. "After doing this for twenty plus years I'd thought I'd seen everything, but this? It's fucking savage, that's what it is. I mean, the guy's been literally /speared/ through the heart and out the other side like meat on a kebab skewer. What kind of bastard goes to all that effort when there are so many cleaner and easier ways to kill a man?"

"The kind of bastard who wants to be noticed?"

"… You mean like serial killers who dump the bodies of tortured victims in kids' playgrounds?"

"Exactly."

Kobayashi scowled. "That makes me feel /so/ much better."

"Look on the bright side," Ayako continued. She gave Kobayashi a small smile. "The more a killer wants to be noticed, the flashier he is. The flashier he is, the more risks he takes, and the more risks he takes the higher the chances he slips up and we catch him. Who knows, he could be in that group of morbidly curious public over there watching us right now."

Kobayashi's eyes narrowed as he looked over the crowd. "I don't see any big burly sumo-wrestler type guys there, do you?"

"It was just a suggestion," said Ayako with a shrug. The ambulance was preparing to go, and with a flick of her wrist Ayako flipped her notebook shut. "Shall we get going?"

"Yeah, fine."

With a sigh Kobayashi pushed himself off the car, digging around in his pocket for his keys as Ayako opened the door on the passenger side. Red and blue lights were beginning to flash on top of the ambulance, warning policemen and on-lookers alike to get out of the way. Kobayashi watched it pull out onto the road and was just about to get in his own car when something caught his eye. No, not something, someone. There, at the very edge of the crowd, stood a man, not particularly remarkable at first glance except for one thing: unlike the people around him who were craning their necks to watch the departing ambulance, this man was looking straight at Kobayashi.

Instinct made Kobayashi pause. Although the man was young, somewhere in his twenties, and of slight unimposing build in dark clothes, there was something off about him, not just the way he was looking at Kobayashi so directly, but something else. Something unnerving. Separated as they were by the road it was a moment before Kobayashi put his finger on it: the man's eyes. They were unreadable and flat, but more importantly, they didn't match. One was a vivid shade of green, the other a strange amber colour like the metal of Kobayashi's police badge. It gave Kobayashi the weird impression that there were two people staring at him from one face, neither of who were particularly friendly, and worst still was the uncomfortable sensation that this wasn't the first time those eyes had looked at him—

"Kobayashi?"

With a start, Kobayashi glanced down. Inside the car Ayako was leaning over to the driver's seat and had rolled down the window to look at him with a quizzical expression. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Ah…" Quickly he looked back across the road; the man was gone. Try as Kobayashi might to visually search the crowd, he couldn't find him. Kobayashi shivered; maybe the man hadn't been there in the first place and he had been seeing things. "It's nothing," he said, opening the car door and stepping in. "Just thought I saw someone."

Ayako frowned. "Who do you know out in this neighbourhood?"

"I don't, that's the thing." The door shut with a slam and Kobayashi pulled on his seatbelt. "Maybe it's déjà vu."

"If you say so. Anyway, Izuru-kun just mailed my phone; he's asking if we're free to see Shigure when we're done this evening."

"As I'm concerned we're free now. You going to complain if we take a break from dead people?"

"You're the one driving, you can do what you like."

"Glad we're in agreement."

He turned the key in the ignition. With a low growl the car sleepily rumbled awake and Kobayashi eased the vehicle off the curb onto the road. Intent as he was on navigating through the dispersing crowd, Kobayashi never noticed the lone figure in the shadow of the buildings watching them drive away with mismatched, joyless eyes.

The unmarked police car rounded the corner and left. A flick of red scarf, and then the young man, too, was gone.


~end~