CHAPTER 2 #2
Teruo read through the first officer’s notes. The guy worked for a food delivery app and had walked to the door, thinking he’d gotten to the right place. He noticed the door had been forced open, entered the house, and saw the victims.
“Where is he now?” Teruo asked.
“I let him leave because he’d been sitting here a long time,” the officer said. “He had food in his car and customers waiting. I took his contact details.” She pointed to the upper corner of the page. “And I have a team of officers following him.”
“Did he seem shifty to you? Or perhaps too interested in the crime scene?”
“Neither. He was scared out of his wits.”
Nakagawa jotted down everything, then asked, “Did he see anyone coming out of the house? Out of a back door? Or anyone staring from inside one of these buildings?”
The officer shook her head. “When I arrived, I called for two more units, and they’ve been door to door.
There’s no one answering at any of these houses.
One of them had the door unlocked. The inside was empty, save for a table, a few chairs, a sofa, and a small kitchen with a sink and a portable single-burner stove.
” She pointed over her shoulder. “And this one is just the same.”
“That’s peculiar.” Teruo looked around him, unable to shake the knot in his stomach. “Did the stove look used?”
“No,” the officer replied.
“Is this area part of a gang’s turf?” Teruo asked.
“The entire area, no. But this particular neighborhood? I have no idea. Frankly, it feels like the whole area appeared overnight.” She raised her shoulders, looking lost. “It’s very odd…” she trailed off, staring into the distance.
Teruo blew a breath and turned to Nakagawa. “Send a text to the team back at the HQ and have them pull up any info they can find about this neighborhood, including criminal activity, although at this point, I’ll be satisfied with any signs of human life.”
“Yes, sir.” Nakagawa fished out her phone and started typing, while the officer let out a desolate chuckle at his statement.
“Has the forensic team finished inside?” Teruo asked.
“Not yet, but they cleared a path for you,” the officer said. “We’re still waiting on the medical examiner. She should arrive any minute now.”
Teruo thanked her, and she left them, heading to her team of uniformed officers to continue canvassing the area.
He beckoned Nakagawa to follow, and they walked up to the house, stopping at the open double doors.
The edges where the doors met, along with the lock, were warped and scorched, as if some sort of blast had struck it.
The doors themselves looked pretty sturdy and were, in fact, intact. Teruo wondered what could've made this.
A forensic tech passed by, and Teruo stopped him. “Do you know what was used to open the door?”
“We’re thinking some sort of small explosive device. It’s concentrated only on this area, so we’re thinking it was pressed against the lock to blast it. But we’re not yet sure what type of device because the blast didn’t extend to the rest of the doors.”
Teruo nodded. They both put on shoe covers and stepped inside, where the rest of the forensic techs were still dusting for prints, searching for fibers and any other evidence.
“The officer was right,” Nakagawa said. “The house is minimally furnished.”
White walls, brown wooden floors, a low table in the middle with cushions, a small sofa, and a little kitchen counter with a single burner were the only things inside. It seemed as if it had been deliberately furnished like this.
A tech gave Teruo the okay to approach the bodies, and he and Nakagawa stopped at the first two, a man and a woman who seemed to be in their late thirties.
They both wore light linen pants; she had a floral short-sleeved blouse, and he had a white t-shirt.
Their bodies lay awkwardly on the floor, limbs twisted, and their knees pulled up toward their torsos as if they had convulsed in pain.
The man had an arm stretched toward the woman, his fingers curled.
Teruo squatted next to the woman. Her head was tilted back, jaw clenched. “Nakagawa, check this out. She bled from her mouth, nose, and eyes.”
“So did the man,” Nakagawa said. “Oddly similar poses too. The killer deliberately placed them like this?”
“I don’t think so,” Teruo said. “It would be difficult to arrange their limbs in this manner.”
Teruo stood up and walked toward the other two men.
They were taller and bulkier, with wide shoulders and well-toned muscles, visible through their t-shirts.
Teruo estimated they were in their early forties.
They were lying at odd angles too, the taller one against the wall, bent down at the waist, his head drooping forward, while the other lay on his side, his arms curved toward his body like he was trying to protect himself.
“I don’t think we’re dealing with one killer,” Teruo said.
“Why do you think that, sir?”
“Because unless the killer had come armed with a gun—of which there doesn’t seem to be proof of—I don’t see how they could’ve gone up against four people, two of whom are those guys.
Are you seeing them? Their height and bodies?
This was likely some sort of coordinated attack.
Or, they were killed separately and brought here. ”
“You think they physically fought?”
Teruo looked around the room. The floor cushions and low tables were only slightly moved, and there was no blood on the sofa or anywhere else on the floor besides the victims’ faces.
If they had fought and punched each other, some drops of blood would’ve landed at least on the sofa, which stood in between the victims. It made the crime scene all the more puzzling.
“No, I don’t think they did. There aren’t enough signs of struggle in this room to suggest a fight.
” And their poses don’t really match any fighting.
The blood is strange as well. That’s not what a bloodied face after a fight looks like.
But then how did the murderer kill them?
” he muttered the last question more to himself.
Teruo turned toward another tech. “Did you find the victims’ belongings? ”
“We did,” the tech said. “We don’t think anything was stolen. Their wallets haven’t been emptied, and one of the victims still has his expensive watch on the wrist.” The tech walked to Teruo and handed him four small plastic bags containing the IDs of the victims.
“I see.” Teruo took the bags, arching one brow. “Carelessness or lack of concern?” He wondered out loud.
The tech shrugged. “We already dusted them for prints, but I doubt the killer touched them. We found them inside the victims’ pockets.
The woman had a small backpack with her.
We already checked it and bagged it, but it had nothing besides a wallet with her ID and money, a water bottle, and a compact mirror. The money seems untouched.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Teruo leaned toward Nakagawa, and they both looked at the IDs.
The woman and the man, Nishino Yumi and Shigeharu, were a married couple.
They lived in Meguro, which was right next to Setagaya, so they hadn’t come from too far.
The other two, Wada Toshio and Morimoto Hiroyuki, lived in Edogawa and Sumida, which were a lot farther.
“It’s good we have their IDs, isn’t it, sir?” Nakagawa asked.
“Yep. Easier to track down family, acquaintances, and most important of all… enemies.”
A voice from outside reached Teruo’s ears, and he immediately recognized Suzuki. He turned on his heel, eagerly waiting for her to enter.
She’d let her hair grow longer and kept it in a braid. She wore soft light blue cotton slacks and one of the forensic techs’ spare shirts, a size too big for her.
“Hey,” Teruo greeted, and Nakagawa bowed her head. “You’re alone?”
“Kojima had to finish up something.” Suzuki looked at the victims. “Four? Gang killing?”
“We don’t know yet,” Teruo said. “But I’m happy you’re the M.E., so you can tell us more.”
She put on gloves and placed her bag on the floor within reach. “Eh, I’m not that happy with four bodies to autopsy, because you’ll be nagging me to finish it fast.”
“You know me so well.” Teruo grinned.
Suzuki shook her head but smiled back, then focused her attention on the victims. She slowly walked by each one of them, keeping quiet and only observing, before returning to the married couple. Crouching by the woman, Suzuki carefully raised her head.
“There’s a bump where she fell, but it’s not big enough to have caused external bleeding,” Suzuki said.
“Could’ve caused internal bleeding, though.
” She checked the husband, too, reaching the same conclusion.
“Blood at their mouths.” She stopped and opened the woman’s mouth.
“Mixed with vomit. It might suggest they ingested something that irritated the upper gastrointestinal tract.”
“Okay…” Teruo nodded, patiently waiting to see where she was going with this.
“The nosebleed would make sense, too,” Suzuki continued, sounding like she was talking to herself. “The eye bleeding… perhaps blood vessels burst due to the pressure of… hmm…” She twisted her mouth, then went to the two men and inspected them as well.
“What are you seeing?” Teruo asked.
Suzuki stared at the victims for a long while before replying, “Well, I can tell you one thing for certain: they’ve been dead at least two days.” She pushed to her feet.
“Do you think they fought or have been beaten to death?” Teruo continued.
Suzuki raised the shirts of the man and the woman just below their chests. “There are no bruises on their arms or torsos.” Suzuki pointed to the victims’ mouths. “See that? The blood mixed with vomit? I’ll confirm with a tox screen, but… that’s consistent with poisoning.”
Teruo did a double take. “Come again? They were poisoned?”
“That’s my initial assessment. I’m not calling it the cause of death until I do the autopsy. But what I can’t account for at all—" Suzuki squatted again and used one hand to open the woman’s mouth and the other to widen an eye. “—is the weird tinge of green on the skin. Do you see it?”
“Vaguely,” Teruo said, and he approached along with Nakagawa.
“I don’t know what could be causing this strange color.” Suzuki sighed. “Perhaps the poison was mixed with something that colored it this way, but it’s only on the skin…” She trailed off.
Teruo looked at the victims, the peculiar house, then toward the double doors and quiet neighborhood, not sure what to think anymore.