Vigilante

00 : 02 / Forgiveness.

Sergeant Mori Johnson peered up the road with a growing sense of unease while he waited. The sound of crime officers busy at work around him didn't really preoccupy his senses, even though they were all working in a frenzy around him.

The site had been closed since they arrived and, while Mori was the attending officer, he was paranoid about contaminating the scene.

Always prudent to be safe than sorry; more so considering the nature of the crime.

He had been part of Barnum's Investigative Corps for more than three years now, and yet this was one case that gave him a deep, sinking feeling he couldn't help but be affected by.

It was shocking in all the wrong ways. The brutal imagery of the scenes had since been burned into his retinas, and staring at the crime scene photographs for as long as he did also hadn't helped.

He felt tainted by the pain and suffering the place reeked of, felt his entire senses irrevocably stained with blood.

To top it all, he could still feel the presence of death at this site. It unnerved him a little.

Mori pulled out his cellphone and checked the time.

She was late.

The Chief Inspector's punctuality had been suffering a lot as of late. Mori had a few guesses as to why, but couldn't muster up the courage to talk to his superior about it. Better to leave it until she told him herself. Forcing the issue could well result in a break, irreparably damaging their relationship.

"What do you think about this one?"

His colleague, Sergeant Kai Donovan, leaning against the side of his car, glanced at Mori quizzically.

"Is it 'proper' to say it's fucked up?" Kai replied, frowning in distaste.

"No," Mori laughed, with a mirthful smile.

"Really, you beat me to it." He paused and looked at the sky. "You think it's even the same guy?"

Mori knew that their culprit wasn't the same as in the other murders. He knew that Kai knew it too. The question was a simple mental trick, a means by which he could gauge Mori's reaction to confirm his own theories.

It was something that Emilia did a lot with him as well.

Instinct told him that Kai was doing it unintentionally. Maybe he had picked it up during their sojourns to the pub with Emilia. Mori too had joined them a few times, but being a workaholic meant he couldn't truly appreciate these social outgoings.

"Well, for one, there's the symbol on the wall," he replied. "From what I know, our suspect never really left behind any clues or hints at any of the other sites. Besides, his modus operandi was far more savage compared to this one. So that rules out any possibility of a copycat."

"That symbol, any idea where it's from or what it signifies?"

"It's Japanese, and it means "forgiveness"," Mori replied.

"Forgiveness huh? You think it's a revenge crime then?," Kai asked.

"Unlikely. The pattern just doesn't fit." Mori said, turning back towards the road.

"She's awfully late today."

"She'll get here in time. It's not like the Chief Inspector is not gonna come to her biggest crime scene, partner. By the way, I saw her earlier with some bloke in a fancy suit. Looked like someone important for sure, like Academy level, but maybe I'm overthinking?"

"Yes, hopefully..."

He dashed his attention towards the road again, looking for the approaching outline of the Chief Inspector's car. All he saw instead were the horrified and gawking faces of the public.