Chapter 8:

Detective Days (Part 1)

Science Makes No Sense

Two men with bag of money were sprinting through a hallway. They were a popular crime duo that robbed a bank and got away with it for months. Nobody could catch them. Until they entered their apartment room. In the middle of the living room, there was a guy. He was in a black trenchcoat, reading a book.

That guy was me. Sena Takida, the best detective at the time.

“Hey there.” I looked at the two men. “Right on cue, exactly like how I expected. The two of you are under arrest.” I took some cuffs from my coat.

“You’ll never catch us!” The guy shouted.

“We have the entire place surrounded.” I said back. “You have nowhere to go.” The guy then took out a gun to try and shoot me. “What’s this? What will you achieve after killing me?” I then asked.

“We are going to escape! And getting rid of you will be a great start!” He answered back.

“Escape?” I stood up from the chair. “There is no escape! You’ve lost!” I took a step closer.

“Don’t come near me. I will shoot you!”

“Alright, I feel threatened enough.” I then raised my fist.

Suddenly, two bullets flew through the room. One hit the guy’s arm making him drop the gun. The other hit the other criminal’s leg. They both fell to the ground in pain. Many officers then rushed in to take the criminal.

I have a sniper always stalking me knowing that I can be careless at most times. The person behind the sniper has the job to protect me. I could be annoying sometimes, but without the person, I probably would have been dead.

My coworker or also known as my detective partner then walked into the room. His name is Liu Plank, a detective slightly older than me.

“Do you always have to be so dramatic?” He asks me. “You’re really trying to be Sherlock huh?”

“You should know by now, Sherlock is the reason I became a detective.”

“You’re insane.”

“And you’re sane. That is not normal.”

He smiled, pleased by my comments. He took out a cigarette and lit it up. “Want?”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m trying to quit.” I refused.

“Your loss.” He then took out a file. “We got another job.”

“It’s about time, I was starting to lose patience.” I then said.

“It has only been a minute since we finished our previous case. Literally.”

“60 seconds is a long time if you think about it.”

“Your greed for fame is going to get you killed one day.”

“So, what is it all about?”

He sighed. “There has been a recent kidnapping, we are supposed to find out what happened.”

“Tell me the specifics.”

“In the bustling city of Tokyo, an alleyway as dark as the nights could be found. It has no security cameras there, so crimes could be easily committed there. Crimes like drugs and murder has happened there, we even solved one in the past that has to do with that alleyway.”

“What makes this case so different?”

“Outside the alleyway, a young girl at age 9 went in the alleyway and disappeared. When we went to investigate that place, it seemed like nobody has ever been there.”

Liu showed some recent pictures made there. No fingerprints, no shoe footsteps, not even a strand of hair from nor the criminal, the victim or any residents that went there in the past. It was an interesting one.

“Does the girl have parents, and if she does, what do they say about this?”

“After telling the news, the mother locked herself up in the house, depressed about the story.”

“And the father?”

“The father died one year ago in a station. It was the terrorist attack that took his life and 56 others.”

I was silent for a minute. I tried to puzzle everything together with all the information I currently have. “Let’s go to the alleyway. I want to see the crime scene for myself.”

“Alright, let’s go.” We then walked down.

As we left the apartment building. Hundreds of flashes filled my face. Microphones got shoved into my face. It was reporters.

“How did you solve this case?”
“What were the motivation of the criminals?”
“Please tell us more about this case!”
Questions from all around me filled my head.

“You still like the Sherlock treatment?” Liu then asked me.

“Hmph.” I smiled. “What can I do against hundreds of reporters that loves me? This kind of fame is what keeps me alive.”

×××××

“We are here.” Liu said as we stepped out of a taxi car. I headed straight to the alleyway, despite there being two police officers barricading the entrance.

“Excuse me, I am allowed to investigate here.” I said walking past them into the alleyway. “Liu has the permit.” The officers tried to stop me, but then Liu got between them.

I looked everywhere, making sure to find every single piece of clue. But there wasn’t a single piece of evidence lying around. Just as it has written in the documents. Is this where this case end?

Of course not, are you stupid?

“Prepare a permit.” I suddenly said to Liu. “Unless we already have one.”

“For what purpose?” He then asks me.

“I want to visit the girl’s mother. I need a talk with her.” I answered.

×××××

We were standing at the entrance of a house. It was a big house. I knocked, but no one answered.

“Homura-Saaaann.” I called the mother out. “If you don’t open up, we will have no choice other than to force our way in!” Then the door finally opened.

A woman in her forties opened. It was the little girl’s mother, Homura-San.

“How can I help?” She was looking down at the floor. She was clearly very sad because of the death of her daughter.

“We are detectives with the police and would like to inspect your house and ask you a couple of questions. Do you mind?” I asked.

“Actually… I do…” She hesitated. “I would really like if I had no visitors at the moment.” I was starting to lose my patience.

“I’ll make us three a cup of tea.” I barged my way through the door.

“Hey Sena, you can’t just do that!” Lui got angry at me.

“We will eventually get in, so it doesn’t really matter.” I said back with a sly smile on my face. I hopped my way to the kitchen and started to boil some water.

“P-Please don’t use my things.” Homura suddenly said.

“Don’t worry, I won’t break anything.” I took three cups and three teabags.

“Sena, you should st-” Lui started to speak, but I interrupted him.

“So, Homura-San, tell me, why was your daughter alone in the middle of Tokyo during a busy working hour?” I asked her.

“She said that she was going to hang out with her friends, so I let her.” She said feeling pressured by me.

“Didn’t you think that leaving your child alone is dangerous?”

“I-I trusted her.” Homura’s eyes started to get teary. “I couldn’t have known.”

“Sena.” Liu tried to intercept me.

“What were you doing during the kidnapping?” I asked next.

“I- uh.. ah…” She was losing it.

“Sena!” He finally broke through. “You’ve done enough! We are leaving!”

“What? But I’m not done.” I said back.