Against the World

Chapter 10

MIDORIYA'S POV

"I can't believe you're reopening the case," the woman cried. "I've been asking them to reopen it for years."

"Truth be told, I'm not supposed to be working on the case," I admitted to her. "My boss would rather I spend my time on something relevant, but I've been trying to piece something together on my own, which is why I ask that you don't mention to the local station that it has been reopened. I'll leave my direct number with you in case you think of something else after we leave."

She smiled. "Thank you. What can we help with? What do you want to know?"

"You said she was taken from the front yard in the daytime," I said.

She frowned. "I ran inside to refill my glass of water. I swear, I was gone less than a minute."

"It was less than thirty seconds," her husband countered.

"She didn't scream, and I didn't see anybody before or after I had gone out," she said.

I nodded. "Did you always take her outside around the same time?" I asked.

She nodded. "Every day right before her nap time for thirty minutes," she said.

I never recommend having a routine for this reason. "The days leading up to the abduction, had you seen anyone strange? Maybe a car parked on the street that hadn't come back since that day?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Not that I recall."

Kacchan walked back into the room with a reassuring smile. "Thank you for letting me use your restroom." He took his original seat next to me, and we continued.

"The neighbor had been getting some work done on their lawn," he said. "Other than that, everything had been the same."

"Do you happen to remember the company that was working on the lawn?" I asked.

The woman shook her head. "They passed away four years ago, so there's no point in going over there either."

Kacchan raised a brow. "They both passed away?"

The couple across from us both nodded. "It was awful," the gentleman said. "Murder-suicide, apparently."

"Apparently?" I asked.

"The woman had a broken jaw and had been shot between the eyes. The husband shot himself directly below the ear. I know you never know what happens behind closed doors, but he loved her more than anything," he explained.

His wife nodded along with his explanation. "They'd also been weird during the week or two before they died. They were adding extra security, and they were paranoid. We tried telling the cops that, but they claimed the paranoia was drug-induced, and that's what led to the murder-suicide." Every person in this room knows that's bullshit.

That's a Vipers hit.

Kacchan may not know our signature hits and our tells, but that's one of them. They usually wouldn't break a jaw during a murder-suicide, but it may not have been intended to be a murder-suicide. It might have started as a murder, and he interrupted. Chances are, he was going to be hit another day if he was also a member. If he wasn't, he may have just walked in at the wrong time.

"At the time of the abduction, was there anyone you had suspected?" Kacchan asked, bringing us back to the main topic.

"No," she said. "I mean, we had our feuds with the people we didn't like, we didn't get along with all of our neighbors, but the hatred never would have run this deep."