For those of you not familiar with the genre,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noir ================================================
The city of Gensokyo. A battle ground for the powerful, a hell hole for the weak. The five houses reign supreme here, and what they say goes. Well, for their own little sections anyways. They'd love to have power over the rest of the city, so they constantly fight for that end. That's where I come in. I'm left to clean up after their messes, or, well, I used to. I don’t work for the cops anymore. But that’s another story in and of itself.
It was raining again. No big surprise there, especially in this city. It was as if the sky was weeping over all the horrible things it was forced to bear witness over. There were some truly horrific things that the houses had unleashed upon each other usually at great cost to the citizens of Gensokyo. Much like the mess I was driving past. It looked to be another murder scene, by the looks of it. I would have kept driving if it hadn’t been for one thing. Capitan Reimu herself was at the scene.
Pulling the car over to the curb, I really hoped that they had thrown a rookie on crowd control. When I left the force, I slipped out with my badge. Most cops knew it wasn’t good any more, but flash it fast enough to a rookie and they’d never question you. An air of authority helps, which is something I never was lacking in. Stepping out into the pouring rain I elbowed my way through the small crowd that had gathered.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to step back.” A young cop steps forward and puts himself between me and the tape.
Ah good, It’s some new kid. Looks like he’s fresh out of the academy. I quickly flash my badge. “I’m on the force, kid. The Capitan asked for me personally.”
“Ah, I’m sorry sir, but I haven’t heard anything to that effect.” The kid looks a little nervous now.
“C’mon kid. You wanna have to explain to the Cap’n why I’m not at the crime scene like requested? Or you want I should tell her?” I lean in towards the kid, “Really, I don’t wanna have to do that to ya, kid. You seem like a nice recruit. Just let me in, and it’ll be like none of this ever happened. Ya read me?”
The colour drains from the kid’s face as I say this, but he nods and lets me past. Thank god for rookies. I lift up the tape and slip underneath it walking back into the alleyway. Hoo. This crime scene is a mess. Lying face down in a pool of her own blood is some girl with green hair. The outfit she’s wearing looks like some sort of Halloween costume. I glance around the scene and look for the nerdiest cop. He’s the one most likely to be with the forensics team. Ah, there he is. Glasses and all. That wasn’t so hard.
Slipping up next to the cop I start in on him. “Hey, I just got here, can you bring me up to speed?”
The guy jerks slightly, as if he wasn’t expecting anyone to address him. “Oh, uh… err. . . Sure thing, sir, Just one moment.” he flips through a few papers in his hands. “Ah, here we are. The victim has been identified as one ‘Sanae Kotiya’. She’s apparently big with the Moriya faith, which is why she was identified so easily. She was shot, execution style, in the back of the head three times, with another three times in the back. All three shots were evenly spaced, forming a sort of triangle. Also, there’s no signs of restraints so we think she knew her assailant or was drugged. The question is, why would she be here of all places?”
Glancing around, I figured he’d be right. The alleyway runs behind a strip club on one side, and a mid level club on the other side. Nothing much for one of the higher ups in Moriya. Six shots though, that’s an odd number. Three in the head and three in the back. Evenly spaced to boot, something about that bugged me, it’s just not something that’s normal. Just as I was about to take a closer look around the crime scene a painfully familiar voice called out.
“Oi! Who let HIM in here.” She cried out.
Shit. That’s the Capitan. I was hoping I could have had some more time to look around before she figured out I was here, but I should have realized that wouldn’t be possible with such a small crime scene. I was quickly grabbed by two cops and dragged over to her.
“Ah, What a coincidence seeing you here, Cap’n. We just keep meeting in the strangest of places, don’t we?” I smile at her hopefully. If I’m lucky, I’ve caught her in a good mood. Scratch that. If I’m lucky, she won’t have me thrown in jail for a month.
“What did I tell you about the LAST crime scene you illegally entered? Hm? I believe that it was a month I jail. I do believe that I‘m going to make good on that promise. Lock you up with a couple of The Dead maybe. Just to see if they can‘t turn your attitude around.” The Capitan looks at me sternly before sighing.
That’s it! That’s what it was. “Or you would, if you didn’t need my help.” I grin slyly.
The Capitan raises an eyebrow. “Oh? and why would I need your help.”
“Because, Reimu, I know who committed this murder.”
“Hah! That’s a gas. But go on anyways. Tell me, who did it.” The Capitan leaned in close, her face looming in front of mine.
“Well, I don’t know exactly who did it, but I know the group. See, the three triangles is a sign of The Dead. However, the job must have gotten interrupted. That’s why there was only two of them.” Victory.
“Hum. Interesting theory, but doubtful. The Dead wouldn’t care about being caught, they’d finish their little symbol even if it meant their death. So sorry, Your get out of jail free card just evaporated.”
“Err. . . Not quite Capitan.” A voice crackles over a nearby radio. “It seems that their third triangle was just a bit larger.”
Reimu’s eyes go wide as she grabs the nearest radio and all but screams into it. “What the HELL are you talking about Alice?”
“Err. . . That is. . . Well, Capitan, There were three murders committed about the same time tonight. And well. . . The positions of the corpses forms a perfect triangle. The other two corpses were shot in the same way that miss Kotiya was shot as well. Two even triangles, one in the back of the head, one in the back. It seems that The Dead are trying to send a message to someone.”
Reimu’s face turns dark for a moment before she picks up the radio again. “Thank you very much, Alice. Please keep me up to date.”
I smile to myself. It seems that my theory was vindicated. “So can you get these goons to let go of me now?”
“Fine.” The Capitan waves her hands and the two cops let me go. “But you’re on thin ice. I’ll let you look around, but no touching anything, got it?”
“Scout’s honor, Cap’n!” I stand at attention and make an x across my heart while holding up the first two fingers on the other hand. The Capitan just shakes her head and stalks off. Well now, I’ve gotten a free pass to the crime scene, let’s not muck it up.
[ ] Check the corpse.
[ ] Search the surroundings.
[ ] Go into one of the nearby establishments.
[ ] Ask Alice about the other locations.
