“Just know that I wouldn’t have done it with you inside, but I had to. I still failed.”
“You’ll have to describe the damn thing because all I saw was the white wind—” He paused. “Thereiryokuswirling around you and that was it.”
“Miura Eisuke—his ghost actually. He was there. He was hiding in plain sight this entire time.”
Teruo stared at him. “And you couldn’t see him? The criminal hid him that well?”
“Apparently,” Shinji said, a pang of annoyance in his voice. “I tried holding onto the ghost, but I couldn’t. The killer took care of everything right after murdering Miura.” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He loathed being outsmarted. “But something good did come from this confrontation.”
“Oh?”
“I’m certain the criminal was nearby. The energy dispersed just as our officers left Miura’s house and then the ghost appeared.”
Teruo grabbed a new cigarette. “It’s useless if you can’t determinewhothis person is. Not to mention I still find it hard to believe Kojima is the criminal. If she didn’t attend the same high school and doesn’t appear in any websites on Yamato’s laptop, I want her out of the discussion. I won’t accuse a young woman of murder based on nothing.”
“Agreed,” Shinji said. “When we get back to the office we’ll need to pull files on everyone involved in this investigation and check for any links between them and those who attended the reunion. We can’t leave any stone unturned.”
CHAPTER 26
Shinji
Shinji scrolled through the newsfeed on his phone, which blasted with reports about the case, just as Teruo predicted. Some were wilder than Shinji’s own theories. A TMPD spokesperson answered the journalists’ questions, but soon Teruo would have to show his face. He kept mumbling about it the entire elevator ride up to the office.
Shinji sat down and turned on Yamato’s laptop.
“How do you want to go about it?” Teruo asked, resting against his desk.
“I’ll check every spiritual medium Yamato visited and compare the names and addresses with the list of classmates and the files on our personnel.”
“Some might use aliases.”
“Yeah, I’m taking that into account.” Shinji sighed. “I’ll be as thorough as I can.”
“What makes you so sure our criminal might be among the mediums Yamato visited?”
“I’m not sure, but I have a theory.” Shinji thought how to explain it without giving too much away. “Among those like me, there are a few who prefer to work on their own. Freelancers, in a manner of speaking.”
Those were the supernaturals who didn’t sign a contract with the Onmyoryo. Being involved in such a large organization meant they couldn’t do as they pleased. Some hated that, but being unregistered—or rogue as the Onmyoryo called them—also meant they’d face severe consequences if their actions were deemed dangerous by the organization, more so than those who were under contract.
Shinji preferred to be on the safe side of supernatural law and work with the Onmyoryo even if sometimes he lost his patience with their bureaucracy, intrusiveness and ridiculous demands. If there was one thing he’d never forgive the Onmyoryo for, it was the way it shut down Haruna’s murder investigation.
“It’s one way to make extra cash or even a living,” Shinji continued.
“I thought you said mediums are phonies.”
“Most are. It’s because, even if they can see and interact with ghosts, they can’t always do what clients expect, so they have to improvise during séances and other rituals. I think our perpetrator is freelancing as a spiritual medium that Yamato Daichi happened to visit and this person turned out to be one of his former classmates.”
“But this doesn’t seem tied to our investigation so far,” Teruo said. “The reunion is what brought them all together and possibly triggered bad memories. Yamato checking out spirit mediums feels like a coincidence.”
“I know, but the perpetrator is a user ofreiryoku. This is worth looking into. Trust me, I wouldn’t have wasted my time on it if I didn’t think so. And I nearly died for this damn laptop.”
Teruo tapped his fingers on the table, then nodded. “Okay. You focus on the spiritual mediums and I’ll check out the forensic files on Miura Eisuke. But first I need a coffee. My head is pounding.”
“I’m very sorry,” Shinji said. “It’s my fault…”
“Don’t worry about it. You did what you had to do.”
Shinji hovered awkwardly and Teruo raised his brows at him in a silent inquiry.