HA3 3.3 – Vital Clue
After exiting the Lan Evo, Shorimachi circled the rubbles of Villa Tigera, and then he hike to hill side on the east of the villa. Behind him, Takayuki followed him while recalling the story between Shorimachi and Toruma Mafia.
About one year ago, Toruma Mafia tried to build dozen of underground facilities to produce illegal narcotics in Nikko. It was ambitious plan that would turn them into the biggest illegal drug supplier in the country, if only Shorimachi didn’t smash it into pieces.
However, Shorimachi’s success was not without painful sacrifice. He had lost his informant in the process. He was one of chemists who had been forced by Toruma Mafia to head one of the production facilities. After they learned that this chemist had betrayed them, Toruma Mafia tortured him and his wife to the death, and kidnapped their daughter. She was ten-year-old and it was no secret that Toruma’s elder was a pedophile.
For three months Shorimachi did his best trying to save the little girl. Until finally, he got confirmed information that the girl already died. Toruma’s elder accidentally killed her when he was toying with her.
Shorimachi then tracked the Toruma’s elder whereabouts. He wanted to kill him and he got one chance. It was a clear shot from close range when Toruma’s elder was on his morning walk, but Shorimachi missed. His shot only grazed Toruma’s elder’s shoulder before his bodyguard brought him to escape.
After that, Commissioner Yamagishi made a deal with Toruma Mafia. He would transfer Shorimachi to 2nd Investigation Division and he wouldn’t hunt Toruma’s elder again. In return, Toruma Mafia couldn’t go after Shorimachi’s life or harm him in any way. Shorimachi accepted the deal to avoid total war between Nichiko metro and Toruma mafia.
Then, Shorimachi suddenly stopped in front of a cypress tree, while question mark popped up on Takayuki’s forehead.
“Senior Shorimachi, why do we stop here?”
While looking up at the cypress tree Shorimachi replied, “Tell me what does the info from NFP say about the wild life CCTV around the villa?”
“A wild life lover installed it illegally?”
“That wild life lover is me,” Shorimachi calmly said.
“Seriously?”
“Super seriously.”
Wasting no time Shorimachi then scaled up the cypress tree before coming down while carrying a set of hidden CCTV.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“But, didn’t the raid crew has destroyed the CCTC to the point the footages is unrecoverable?”
“They destroy only CCTV that have Wi-Fi network.” After making sure the footage in the CCTV’s memory card was still intact Shorimachi added, “But it seemed they didn’t know that I also planted a few network less CCTV.”
“I see.” A gleam instantly flashed in Takayuki’s eyes. “Let’s recover the other CCTVs.”
“Yeah,” Takayuki eagerly replied.
Wasting no time, Shorimachi and Takayuki continued the CCTV harvest.
---
Inside the Lan Evo, with a drop dead serious gaze Shorimachi and Takayuki checked the footage from six memory cards they managed to gather. They did it through fully, one memory card at a time.
Unfortunately, the only useful clue they got was only footage of a young female and a little girl tried to hike the slope on the east of the villa. The two were also too far from CCTV location. Therefore, the footage was not too clear and they couldn’t see the young female’s face.
“So, there are survivors of the raid,” Takayuki said in low voice.
“The little girl is the only survivor. She is an unfortunate kid who becomes Toruma’s elder toy,” Shorimachi said in complicated tone before letting out a sigh. “As for the young female, she is highly likely part of the raid crew.”
“Senior Shorimachi,” Takayuki curiously said. “What is the base for this deduction?”
Shorimachi turned his gaze to the tablet he received from Goto as he replied, “File from NFP clearly mentioned that other than his escorts, Toruma’s elder brought along one little girl to Villa Tigera.
Forensic also didn’t found body of little girl among the burned bodies in the villa. Now, we have solid confirmation she is survived the raid.
On the other hand, the file also doesn’t mention any young female among Toruma’s elder security details. She is not part of Toruma Mafia.”
Takayuki nodded and firmly said, “I have to read the NFP file deeper and absorb every piece of information it has as soon as possible.”
“Well, I also just received the file last night and have not completely absorbed it yet.”
“I see. What is our plan now?”
“Go back,” Shorimachi casually said. “I need to go home to change my clothes, and maybe get a few hours of good sleep.”
“Are you saying we don’t need to hand over our finding to our contact from NFP right away?” Takayuki curiously asked.
“There is no need for such hurry. Let’s hold our finding, at least until we need NFP dudes to help us confirm or search something beyond our jurisdiction.”
“I see.”
After a moment of silence Shorimachi said, “Your profile mentions you are a good driver. Can you drop me to my house and then return to office alone?”
“I can.”
“Good,” Shorimachi happily said. “From now on, this car is your responsibility then.”
While her eyes widened Takayuki asked, “I don’t mind to take care of this car, but are you not worry I will take it into street race? This car have good tune up after all.”
“This is not my car. NFP lend it to us. They will also pay the gas, but this car has GPS tracking so they will know if you take it to street racing.”
After a smile Takayuki said, “I see. I will do my best to take care of this baby.”
“Well then, drop me in my house, and tomorrow pick me up at seven in the morning,” Shorimachi casually said. “You can also take the tablet from NFP. I already copy its content to my smartphone.”
“Roger.”
Wasting no time, Takayuki and Shorimachi switched seat. A moment later, the Lan Evo left Villa Tigera in full speed.
---
Under the darkness of the night, Shorimachi approached a fir tree located a few hundreds meter from front gate of Villa Tigera. After a quick search on its giant bark, he found the last independent CCTV he planted to monitor Villa Tigera.
In a calm mood, he took the memory card from the CCTV and inserted it into a slot in his smartphone. Then, he checked the footage from the night when the raid on Villa Tigera took place. A moment later, the footage showed him that a young man drove a black van leaving Villa Tigera.
Shorimachi immediately checked the young man and the black van with the file from NFP. He found the car belonged to Toruma Mafia, but the young man was not member of the group. He did the ID confirmation one more time, but he didn’t found the young man face in the list of Toruma Mafia’s member.
‘It seems I got a vital clue I can use to track the raid crew,’ Shorimachi calmly muttered as he returned to his motorbike.
Shorimachi then casually started his motorbike’s engine before leaving in moderate speed. He deliberately didn’t tell Takayuki about the CCTV that monitored the road to Villa Tigera because he didn’t trust her.
Even to this day, he had not yet found the mole who leaked the identity of his informant to Toruma Mafia. Therefore, Shorimachi believed it was too dangerous to trust anyone in Nichiko Metro Police, without exception including Takayuki even though she was a newcomer.
*****