Cold Case

The Final Cold Case, Part Two

BAKUGO'S POV

I let out a shaky breath as I raised my hand and knocked on the door. I've never been here, and I feel like I'm betraying Midoriya by being here. He would probably kill me faster if he found out I was at his mother's house than if he found out I was working on Kenzo and his parent's case.

Inko Midoriya opened the door with worry covering her face. "Oh god, please tell me my baby's okay," she pleaded, reaching for my hand.

"He's perfectly fine. He's working with his old team today and is canvasing an old neighborhood across the city. I just talked to him during lunch about twenty minutes ago." I grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. I should have expected her to react like that.

"He's okay?" she asked with relief.

"Yes. I'm here on a different assignment and was hoping to talk to you about a cold case I've been working on." Her green eyes studied my face as if trying to read my mind.

"What cold case?" she asked.

"May I come in?" Again, this is not how I wanted to come here for the first time.

"Yeah, of course." She took a step back and opened the door wider. "I just brewed some coffee. Do you want me to bring you a cup? Who am I kidding? You're not a stranger. Come on. I'll get you a cup of coffee and a snack."

"Thank you." She apparently does the same rambling her son does when she's nervous or thinking. "What case are you working on?" I followed her into the kitchen before responding.

"I'm working on the Tanahka double homicide and missing persons case," I explained with a frown.

Her eyes widened as she turned to me. "D-Does Izuku know?"

I shook my head. "He isn't allowed to know. If he finds out, I can no longer work on the case since he isn't allowed to be involved. The file wasn't even available for us to work on. I personally asked his boss about it. So, please don't tell him. I don't want to put the case away again."

"I won't tell him," she reassured immediately. "I'm just not sure I can be much help to you."

"How about I tell you what I know, and we'll see if we can put some pieces together."

She filled two mugs of coffee before responding. "I'll help you in any way I can. Their family needs closure." Izuku does too. Just because he wasn't family doesn't mean he wasn't involved in Kenzo's life and didn't love him.

"I'm going to try my best to give them that closure." I grabbed the mug from her hand with a sad smile. "Did you know Kenzo wasn't Teko's son?"

"I never asked, but I had my suspicion. Whenever he was out of town, Kenzo went away with an uncle that he was the spitting image of." That piqued my interest almost immediately. She vaguely said the same thing when he went missing as a kid, but it never went anywhere. With the technology we have today, I might be able to do an age-up on a photo of Kenzo and get an accurate picture of him.

"Did he have any scars, tattoos, anything like that?" She closed her eyes as if she was trying to pull a memory from behind a brick wall.

"Not that I remember. It was a long time ago."

"That, okay," I replied. "Do you know if he had a babysitter? Or maybe a relative that paid extra attention to him?"

She shook her head. "I was his babysitter." She turned toward the back of the kitchen that led to a hallway. "Come here," she said. I set my mug on the counter and followed her down the hallway. I tried not to stare at the pictures of Midoriya on the wall, but he was a damn cute kid.