Beastars: A Steep Fall From Light

Chapter 20: The Plot Thickens, The Stakes Rise, and More Blood Flows

Masumi racked her head. Razor hadn't made any move today. He had done at least one thing everyday for three days straight. They were on the fourth day since the incident and everyone at the precinct was waiting for that one call that would send them deeper into Razor's game. He had removed Yahya from the board, but still wanted him to play. How was he supposed to do that from the hospital? He wanted the attention of the Horns Conglomerate, but when they answered he didn't say anything. He locked them out of their computer system to keep them away from him, but still expected them to do their job. Maybe there was no plan. Maybe he was making it all up as he went along. That had to be the only explanation. He had an end goal, but no idea how to get there.

"Chief," said an alpaca barging into her office. "Sorry to barge in but we got something."

The horse gestured for him to bring the letter forward. She opened it and read the message written on a small strip of paper.

~Take the day off~

"It was mailed yesterday," the alpaca said.

"That's how the mail service works," Masumi said. "Put it with evidence. Anything at all on anything he gave us?"

"We found prints on some of the letters and are running them," the officer said. "But there are a total of sixty different prints. Of the forty we ran so far, thirty nine of them belong to individuals that are, or were, missing."

"I'd like a list of those names," Kira said, coming in. "I have DNA on all of the victims from the fiasco at the center of town. He may have used their prints to confuse us. We won't get a print from the animal himself. Any hairs or fibers found on the letters?"

"None," the alpaca answered, shaking his head.

The owl stood in thought.

"Am I needed?" the alpaca asked.

"No," Kira answered. "You can go. Actually-"

The officer stopped.

"Let me see that," the owl asked, holding out his hand. The officer gave his chief a look and she nodded in approval. The alpaca gave the forensic pathologist the letter. The owl pulled out a small flashlight and clicked it on. He ran the blacklight over the letter. Nothing.

"Could I see the envelope?" The owl asked.

The officer handed him the envelope and the owl ran the light over that.

"Anything?" Masumi asked.

"No," the owl said, handing the evidence back. "Nothing. It just seemed odd for him to send such a short note. I thought there would've been something."

"You may go, Yokoyama," Masumi said.

"And no razor blade," Kira added.

"Don't take it to mean anything," she said. "He's what I like to call a shapeshifting killer."

Kira raised his eyebrow.

"He changes his methods," she explained. "One day he'll pile bodies in a mass display, then he'll kill someone who won't be pronounced missing for weeks. We're still waiting to figure out who he says he killed as punishment for the talk show not running the letter he sent them."

"Maybe he was bluffing," the owl suggested.

"No," Masumi said. "As much as he changes his ways, he has a code."

"How do you know?" the owl asked, sitting down. "You said yourself he was a shapeshifter. He changes."

"When I was first made chief I got a call, right here," she gestured to her chair. "The voice on the other end was distorted with a voice disguiser. The line said to expect deaths. In three years. About two, three years ago I got another call. Same voice. It asked if I remembered it, saying the bodies would start that day. He'd dump them in two years and eleven months. Guess when that day was."