Non-challenge: A Policeman's Tale (Day 53)
Day 52 was posted on Tues.
Title: A Policeman's Tale (Day 53)
Author: ytak
Word count: 1045
Rating (chapter): K+ (PG)
Rating (whole story): T (PG-13)
Comments: I have one chapter left to write! *does happy dance* That begs the question, should I post it more than twice a week or not?
Other chapters can be read through here or here.
Day 53
It felt odd to put aside the case Sato and he had been working on (he still could not think of it by the man's name, Imai, or pretend that the two cases were not related) but Takagi looked forward to properly focusing on another case rather than beating his head against a case that was not going anywhere. Sato had not been keen on the idea of putting it aside for a few days but orders were orders and Megure had been clear that they were to put it aside for a few days.
Now, he stood in the foyer of a room lavishly decorated in a Roman style (the butler corrected him and called it Greco-Roman) with Tsutsumi, whom he had not worked with since the Ogura case many weeks ago, waiting to interview the owner about his threatening behavior towards a recently fired gardener.
The butler had left a few minutes earlier after asking them to wait in the foyer. They could hear rapidly approaching footsteps. It sounded like someone was running, coming closer and closer to their location. They were startled when a set of double doors burst open, revealing a young woman in a maid's uniform.
"You're police officers?" a young woman said, sliding to a stop in front of them. "Please come quickly! Something has happened to the master. The guests are in an uproar!"
She turned and ran in the direction she had just come from, Takagi and Tsutsumi were hard pressed to keep up with her impressive pace. After a minute, the officers did not need her help to find where the problem was. The general screams and atmosphere of panic drew them like iron filings to a lodestone. Tsutsumi instructed her to stay and make sure the servants and guests did not leave the area.
She pointed them to the room where a woman was still screaming before she went to another room.
The detectives entered the room, the reason for the screaming was evident. A tall, thin man was sprawled under a window, a pool of blood forming under him.
Tsutsumi made it to the body before Takagi did. He checked for a pulse. A moment passed before he began to look for the source of the bleeding as he said, "Call for an ambulance. He's still alive."
Takagi already had his phone out and informed dispatch that an ambulance was needed. Following the directions given to Takagi over the phone, Tsutsumi was able to stop the bleeding and keep the victim (possibly the master of the house) alive until the ambulance made it.
The two detectives spent a minutes discussing what needed to be done before Tsutsumi went down to the front to discuss what happened with the inspector when he showed up and to clean up with the supplies the patrol car carried (as best he could) before rejoining Takagi.
After the crime scene techs showed up and Takagi showed them the first things he wanted collected, he headed to the first room the guests had been taken to by some uniformed officers that showed up with the ambulance.
Takagi almost came to a dead stop when he entered the room where the guests milled around unhappily. By one window, stood Ran, her father was by the liquor cabinet pouring drinks and handing them out to the guests who were pale. There was only one person missing to complete the scene. Where's Conan-kun? Takagi wondered. He almost smacked himself with an open palm on the face. He could already feel a headache coming on. Stupid question. He's probably around where the victim was found. Or talking to the butler or with some other crucial person or place.
It took him a few minutes but Takagi did find Conan talking to the butler. The grade-schooler looked chagrined at having been caught in the act and added that he was doing it for 'uncle.' It took a few minutes but Takagi was able to get Conan to tell him what the butler told him before sending back to the room with the guests. I really don't expect him to stay there but I have to try.
Tsutsumi came back a short while later and was able to help with the interviewing of the guests. He, also, brought word back the victim (who was the owner of the house) was still unconscious but would hopefully wake up soon.
"That's good," Takagi said. "Maybe he can tell us who attacked him."
"Not getting anywhere?" Tsutsumi asked.
Takagi shook his head, "All in other rooms or they weren't looking at him or some other excuse."
Working together for the next couple of hours, Takagi and Tsutsumi were eventually able to find a couple of major inconsistencies with one of the guests. Some deft questioning lead to the man tripping up very badly and eventually confessing to the attack.
And through it all, until they had a definite suspect, Conan asked 'innocent' questions that seemed to lead them to the man who executed the attack. Afterward, Tsutsumi had asked Takagi why he had kept looking at Conan like that.
"Didn't what he was doing seem… odd to you?" Takagi asked.
"No. Why should it?" Tsutsumi answered.
"Never mind," Takagi said. "I guess he's just a precocious grade-schooler." Tsutsumi seemed satisfied with the answer and switched to topic back to the reports they were going to have to give at the station.
--
A vicious headache pounded in Takagi's skull as he finally climbed into bed. The follow up paper had been made more atrocious thanks to the pain. He groaned when he heard a loud noise from the other side of the wall. It sounded like the neighbor's children were jumping around.
Takagi winced as another loud crash assaulted his ears. It was followed up by what sounded very much like a… Disney song? Did he just hear something about Hercules? Then childish voices joined in. He groaned and buried his head under his pillow. Shouldn't they be in bed? I've had a long day, my head hurts, and I just want to sleep.
Reluctantly, he dragged his pillow and ratty comforter off the bed. Then he stumbled into the living room, closing the door to his bedroom on the way out, and curled up on the couch