The High School Murder

Chapter 3 ~ The Shop

I woke up not to my alarm but to my phone buzzing. "What is so important you had to wake me up?" I said sleepily. "You need to get down here. That killer struck again. At the store we were supposed to investigate." I was silent. "Give me the address and I'll be there soon." I got the address then hung up. "Guess I'm up for the day.." I said then got ready. Grabbing my hat for my uniform I stuck it on and walked out locking the door behind me. It was only about a 15 minute walk to the store. When I got there it was a standard police crime scene. Yellow police tape, someone making sure no one passing by goes in, and an ambulance taking away the dead body. I walked up to the police officer and she let me in. "Yaka. What's the damage." I asked as Yaka waved. "Hey you're here! So the owner came in this morning and saw his worker lying in the floor with his throat slit. This was the store the killer brought the knife from. He must have known we would figure out and came to erase records or something. The security cameras stopped working after 6 pm." I thought for a second. "How did he know?" I asked simply. "What?" Yaka seemed confused. 

"How did he know we were coming to this store. There are plenty knife stores but somehow he knew we would come here. My guess is there's a mole in the office. Telling them tips. Selling us out." I said looking around. Yaka seemed nervous for some reason. "A mole...but why? Who would do such a thing..." my worries disappeared when I saw him freaking out. He's close with everyone so finding out there's a mole must make him upset. "Hey it's okay. Dont worry I'm sure we'll find whoever it is. Everything will be fine." I said comforting him smiling a bit. He seemed to lighten up a bit after and he was normal again. "Thanks..you're  a great friend." I smiled at him. My face returned to it's normal expression as I went to the computer as Yaka followed knowing I must be up to something. "If I'm correct the there should be....there. See? The trash was emptied yesterday. The records must have been erased. Once all evidence was gone from the cameras and computers he got rid of the eye witness too.." I explained. "Great. So even if we were to investigate the list then we wouldn't find the real murder cause he's isnt on the list." Yaka said sounding upset. "Unfortunately yes. The other thing we could do is interview the list, and ask if they've seen any suspicious characters. But from there I'm not sure what to do." I said scrolling through the list. This murder was really starting to annoy me. 

It must have been clear because Yaka put his hand on mine. "Hey. Dont be so hard. You've gotten farther in two days then anyone had in 2 weeks. It's a good idea, investigating the other customers. Let's start there and work our way later on. One step at a time." Yaka said smiling kindly making me smile. He's the only one who can do that. "Thanks. Alright I'll print the list and we can start then." I said pressing print. The machine made a noise and soon paper started coming out. Once it finished Yaka picked the papers up. "Alright. Let's do this." He said his face more serious then I've ever seen. I nodded my face returning to normal as we both headed out.

"Okay first is Saika Japhene. She was the first customer and her apartment is...right here." I said stopping by a door. Yaka knocked and a few seconds later a woman opened the door. She had black hair tied in a bun and she was no taller than me. Her eyes were a dark brown and she was wearing a light pink cardigan "Hello?" She asked a bit confused to see us. "Hello. Are you Saika Japhene?" Yaka asked kindly. "Uh yes. Do you need something?" She asked. "I'm Mika and this Yakate. We are with the detective agency. We wanted to ask you a few questions. May we come in?" I asked. "Uh yeah I guess. Come on in.." she seemed a but confused which I understood. Once we were inside I began asking the questions. "So. I bet your wondering why we're here. We are investigating a murder at the knife shop down the street. It opened a few weeks ago and you were one of the first costumers correct?" I asked my face not changing once. "Um yes I remember that. Why do you ask?" She said her hands folded and sitting on the table we were stationed at. "We were wondering if you saw anything suspicious that day." 

Saika thought for a second. "I think so..I was looking around and I saw a guy in a black hoodie and leggings. All you could see was his mouth for his hair covered his eyes and the hood did nothing. He walked up to the cashier. They seem to get into an argument. The hooded figure leaned closer and whispered something and the cashier seemed to freak out. The cashier agreed to whatever the guy wanted and soon her left. That's all I know..sorry." she said probably wishing she could help more. "Its fine. This is helpful really. Thank you for your time." I nodded. "Thanks a lot for this." Yaka said smiling. "Your welcome." She smiled a bit and nodded. Soon me and Yaka were outside the door. "Okay. Next person." I said. "Why? We have something let's start with that." Yaka said. I was confused by his behavior. "What's going on? You were nervous when I mentioned the mole and now you want to stop investigating people." Yaka looked freaked out as I took a step closer. Could he really be the mole? No..he cant be. Take sighed. "I'm sorry...it's just..I don't want to think one of my friends us betraying us but...I dont know...all your evidence seems to point to that and...it's just scaring me a bit I guess...." 

I froze a look of surprise crossing my face. "Oh....I'm sorry....I didnt realize how much this was for you...I want to believe that everyone at the office is good and on our side..but I fear that there is a mole..and we need to figure it out before more people get hurt or worse....If you dont want to do this then I understand. I can handle this." I said with a sympathetic smile. "No. I want to find this guy." A looo of determination crossing his face. I nodded and and with my face back to neutral we set off to the next costumer.