Thunder

Chapter 4

Six months ago

The bell chimed in Sanada Shizuko's house- Sanada Atsushi's mother. Rize waited. When no answer came, she rang the bell again.

Finally, a woman opened the door.

"Yes?"

She was a frail old woman, grey hair and stooping stature.

Rize held her badge up for her to see. "Konichiwa. I'm Detective Rize Watanabe, with the Ikebukuro PD. I was hoping to discuss some things about your son."

"Oh!" The woman started. She ushered Rize into the house.

She sat her down in the living room.

"Have you found out anything?" The old woman's voice was faint. Her skin was pale, Rize noted. She had lost her only son after all.

"I'm afraid not." Rize shook her head. "But we're doing everything we can."

She paused, to let the older woman have a moment, during which she took out a notepad.  "He was a good boy" Shizuko said. 

Rize always found this part of her job the most difficult. She wanted straight answers, about personality, work, friends. But how could she ask someone to relive memories of their loved ones? Loved ones who'd been killed. Loved ones who... they didn't know why got killed.

"Why would anyone do that to him?" The older woman continued.

"We are trying to find that out, Sanada-san." Rize replied instinctively. There was only a handful of rehearsed lines she could say. Because nothing she said would get Sanada Atsushi back. And nothing could negate the truth either- that this woman's son had been involved in illegal and harmful activities.

"What kind of work he did he do?" She ventured to ask.

"He worked in an auto shop. Fixed cars." Shizuko stared off, as if reminiscing. 

"You know, he was always like that. Always loved taking things apart and then putting them back together. When he was little he wanted to be an engineer." A tear slid down her face. "He saved up every penny he had for it."

Rize wrote this down. "What happened then?"

The old woman continued. "He was in high school. There was some bad people there, and he was always stressed. Either studying or working. I suppose I can't blame him for trying to find a distraction. He started slacking on his job. His grades went down. And then he..." She sniffled. "And then he got into drugs."

'Possible affiliation with Green sticks' She jotted down. She looked up to see Shizuko wiping her face with a tissue. Rize sighed inwardly. She moved over and rubbed her shoulder in comfort. "Shizuko-san. I... understand that this is hard. But what kind of people was he involved with?"

"I don't know. He left home. Left for a year with no calls, no trace that he was alive or not."

Shizuko let out a tired breath. "And then one day he came back. He looked different. But he told me was going to quit everything. Told me he was going to get clean. Get a job and save up for college. Everything was fine after that."

"When was this?" Rize asked.

"He came back almost a year ago." She replied.

"And nothing seemed suspicious?"

Shizuko paused. "No. Not for the first couple of months. But then he started acting weird. I was afraid he got back into drugs again."

"I see. Do you know anything about the gang he was recently involved in?"