The Chase: Jekyll and Hyde (4)

"Hmm, you've really narrowed it down," one of the men said as I explained how I came to my conclusion. One abductor, someone who Izumi was familiar with and yet someone who's not been in this village for long, eh?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

Not many people fit the profile, which made the job all too easy for me. I could only count seven men who'd been in the village for less than a month, and I decided that we'd all have to put eyes on them while we kept this deduction secret.

Speak of the devil, or one of them at least, Ken the monster hunter came into view, with a strange kimono and haori - both having the embroidery of flames all over them. "I told you all then, and I'll say it now: Monsters. This incident could have been avoided if I hadn't allowed myself that brief indulgence in that little party."

He was starting to piss me off. A little. "Well Mr. Monster Hunterz you're not doing a very good job, you know?"

"Like I said, a completely avoidable event. But it only makes me more determined to get to the bottom of this. Which is what I'm doing right now."

"Uh huh," I said, turning my eyes away from him and back to the men I was talking to, before suddenly remembering something. Turning back to Ken, he was already out of close range, so I just put it off and went on.

"Whatever happened, I know you all would agree that the culprit is still within this village. We've just got to find him, which might sound like a lot of hard work, but here he slipped and left clues."

"You already assumed it was a guy?" Sanji musef questioningly.

"There's no indication that Izumi is a lesbian, and I don't think a woman would have been able to scoop Izumi into her arms without being monstrously strong - something that would have shown on her body. And then, the size of the footprints offer some more concrete evidence for that conclusion."

"Right."

I walked off. "Well, I'm off."

"You're going back to the market?"

I owned a restaurant in the market, a popular one at that, so it was understandable if I had to go back to my business, which I hadn't been to for two days.

"Well, yeah. But then the mystery is another thing I can do something about there, so I'm killing two birds with one stone," I said, not turning back. I wouldn't put it past the men to complain that I finished chewing them out for abandoning the mystery, but I didn't have anything to explain to them. I wasn't expecting anything oit of them intellectual-wise, but if they continued looking and searching, there was a good chance they would find...

Hah. Fat chance. The only gain I saw was that the culprit would be unable to take drastic action seeing as the heat was still on him.

"Welcome!" Ayame said. One of my three waitresses, Ayame was my favourite. Being something of a loner, I relied on Ayame to keep me up-to-date on all the happenings in the village, even things that were supposed to be fairly secret.

It wouldn't do her justice to call Ayame a gossip. She was more of an information peddler. She heard and knew a lot of stuff. And she got that information in exchange for revealing a similarly important piece of information. She had even turned it into a business. If you wanted to know something, Ayame would probably know it.

But she would have been a shady character not worthy of my employment if she was all that. Ayame didn't need the job, she was only here because she liked my company, and she knew what discretion was. If she didn't feel something was to be revealed, she wouldn't. No matter what.

"I'll need your help."

"As I thought you would," she said, following me into my little back office.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, amused.

"Maybe it's because we're so familiar, but I know you have taken an interest in the recent kidnappings, haven't you?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Even when you ask me for information, you're usually interested in controversial stuff. Most times it's the crimes. And don't think I don't know how you helped the police find that murderer who was hiding out in the town."

I laughed. Nothing got past her. "I'm not surprised you know that, Ayame."

She grinned. "So what do you want to know?"

"This one is a bit too personal for your tastes, but if you know all the people Izumi has been involved with in the past month..."

"By involved with, I assume you mean sex, don't you?" She interjected.

"If you're going to be so crude about it," I winced, laughing.

"I like to skip all that. So like I said, you want to know the guys she's been getting down with eh? That's a personal question, you know!"

I nodded. "I understand if you don't want today anything. Izumi was your friend after all. But I really hoped..."

"Nah, I understand your intentions. You're one of the only people I can trust with almost anything - no, the only person actually. You're just trying to solve the case, aren't you?"

"As it stands, this village isn't safe for even you.

I can't have that."

"I understand. I'll tell you, but the price is that you have to tell me why you asked."

I contemplated lying, but that would break the trust that existed between us.

"Ayame, you're really something of a genius aren't you?"

"It doesn't take a genius to know that your question was a very particular one. Now, have we got a deal?" She asked teasingly, knowing I would agree to get terms.

When I was done, the right corner of her lips was lifted in a slight smirk. "It's funny that you mention it, because now there's only one person that fits your profile..."

"Yeah?" I asked, surprised.

"...the monster hunter, Ken."

*****

Maybe two or three more episodes left here? I can't say for sure, but I think so.

How's the story so far though? Likes and Comments are very much welcome, thanks.