𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐒

file 013 | crimes of the past

"The victim is Okazaki Sumie-san, age 39. She was strangled to death with a rope of some sort. She appears to have been stabbed after being strangled," Sakata observed. "What time did you find the body?"

"Three or four minutes before you arrived," Heiji said. "This bathroom cleaner guy found her. But why does the killer stab their wallets every time? You told this lady not to go outside, but it looks like she died here."

Inside Okazaki's apartment, they were listening to the messages on her home phone.

"Come to the Shinsai Bridge now if you want to see some old friends."

A beep.

"1:08 PM."

A beep.

"See that? You're the next to wind up like that."

A beep.

"1:10 PM."

"There's no question that's the killer!" Sakata determined.

"In other words, the lady heard the first message and went to the Shinsai Bridge," Heiji said. "Then, when she came back, she heard the second message and trembled in fear inside." He frowned. "But what does "old friends" mean?"

"Could it refer to the people who've been killed so far?" Sakata suggested.

"Detective Sakata. There's a call from headquarters," an officer said, holding up a phone.

"Oh, thanks." Sakata took the phone.

"Heiji." He looked at Suzume. "These answering machine messages are strange."

"How so?"

"The times and contents of the messages," she said. "There were only two minutes between the "come" message and the "see that" message."

"Does that mean the killer was watching her?" Heiji frowned.

"Something's also odd about those four numbers," she told him. "I'm getting the bad feeling that the killer is playing with us."

"Bad feeling?" Heiji murmured as he remembered the dream he mentioned to her earlier in the day, about her solving a case and then getting stabbed by the murderer. He let out a gasp, horrified at the thought.

Suzume looked at him when she heard him gasp. "You okay?"

He waved his hands. "Don't sweat it!" Yikes! I just remembered that ominous dream from the other day.

She frowned at him but didn't comment on it, just letting her arm brush against his as a silent sign that she was standing next to him.

~ — — — ~

"So, Heiji-kun. Where to next?" Sakata asked as they drove down the road. "Shall we visit Goshi-san's office?" He looked at the teenager when he didn't answer. "Heiji-kun?"

Heiji startled and smiled nervously. "Oh, right."

"These sure are strange cases," Sakata commented. "There are no witnesses and it's not clear how they're all connected, yet we can ID the victims easily enough."

"Yeah, now that you mention it," Heiji hummed. "The victims' names were on the news right after the first two killings."

"That's only natural. All four had their driver's licenses in their stabbed wallets," Sakata said.

"Driver's licenses?" Suzume and Heiji chorused. "That's it!"

~ — — — ~