greatestdefective | Telepathic IC 'Inbox' and Messenger Bird Reception

[Good lord that's a lot of evidence. The autopsy report is good to have, at least. That one always has a lot of hidden nuggets of info.]

Very well... Hm...

[His gaze gets stuck on the picture of Everyday Mittlemont for a very long moment, because... hasn't he seen this before? Just before being taken to Empatheias. What was that about, again? It's the same for the Red-headed League article. It's ringing some distant bells, but he can't quite recall what those bells signify.

Once his eyes reach the memorial photo, he blinks and takes it in hand. Miss Susato already holds a bittersweet feeling to her, but it's the man next to her who really stands out. He looks just like in the memories Naruhodou shared, except dressed in the sort of outfit Holmes himself remembers.]

Oh...

[Naruhodou kept himself out of Holmes' way to let him do his work, only saying something if spoken to. When the detective becomes fixated on a certain photo though and he sees what's on it, he breaks his silence.]

That...was taken on that same day. Professor Mikotoba and Judge Jigoku arrived in London to attend the Scientific Symposium. [It's probably going to hit him, that he had just missed seeing his partner.]

[The fact that it's hit Holmes before softens the blow a bit. He'd known that Mikotoba would arrive for the Symposium- had even heard about the ship's arrival that day. Still, this photograph really rubs it in. It's a good thing the cold was still sorta lingering, or there would've been a bit of temperature whiplash going on.

No time for that now.]

This photo... It was taken on the morning hours of the exact same day? Gina Lestrade came to our office several hours after this, I believe. And Gregson would've likely been murdered sometime during the night, wouldn't he? Do we have a time of death? [He puts the photograph down, instead reaching for the autopsy report.]

Wha? Oh. [He had gotten lost himself while Holmes was talking, so it takes him a moment to register what he was asking.] Well, that's that thing. There wasn't one. You see this note here? [He points to where "Impossible to estimate" was written for the time of death.] Originally nothing was written there. I had to ask the coroner to give me that information, because she was told not to put anything down for some reason. The evidence points to him dying the evening before, but she found something contradicting that.

[He glances over at the photo of Gregson, lacking a certain piece of item.] The detective had some fish and chips that were already rotting when he arrived to the coroner. So. . .there's a chance someone tempered with his time of death somehow, by at least a day.

[The time of death was tampered with and the coroner was told not to write that down? If the fish and chips were already heading into decay, whatever happened to Gregson wouldn't have been triggered the night before- he was always eating those things, so they would always be consumed on the day of purchase. There's no question. They're talking about a matter of days where Gregson was, at the very least, unable to snack.]

... Who told the coroner to withhold those details?

[. . .He is someone that Naruhodou has honestly been uncertain about these last few days back home.] The Chief Magistrate Hart Vortex. Apparently, it was obvious when he died that it didn't matter. And yet. . .she never put down the time anyway.

[Hart Vortex... Sherlock's gaze shoots to the last pile of evidence. The Asougi files and Klimt's autopsy report are both present, so they must've been deemed relevant to this case. Then there's the photo of the Van Zieks brothers and Gregson, as well. It can't be a coincidence.]

Mr. Naruhodou, do you recall what I deduced about the assassination exchange shortly after Mr. Asougi arrived here? About the connection between Dr. Watson and Inspector Gregson?

[He frowns, crossing his arms.] I have to be honest, it's been a lot longer for me to remember, but. . .they were both involved with the Professor's case. Dr. Watson was the one who performed the autopsy report of the final victim and Detective Gregson was the head detective at the time, right?

[A moments pause as his eyes widen.] Wait...are you saying, what I think you're going to say?

[He draws in a deep breath through his nose before speaking.] The Professor case was an exceedingly complicated one, not to mention delicate. The Van Zieks family were treasured nobles and when the older brother, Klimt, lost his life... Well, some took it more personal than others.

[Holmes takes the picture of the brothers and Gregson in hand, staring down at it. Barok van Zieks had been arrested as the defendant, he still remembers this much, but he refuses to believe it. The Grim Reaper of Old Bailey wouldn't harm a hair on Gregson's head.]

Barok van Zieks was the one who stood in court to prosecute Genshin Asougi. He wanted to avenge his brother's death, even if it meant condemning an old friend. However, before that, the case had been officially assigned to Hart Vortex, who was still a prosecutor at the time. It wasn't until the Professor case was supposedly closed that he was promoted to Chief Magistrate.

[He folds his hands together, thinking quietly to himself. There was an inkling, just a feeling in the back of his mind that the source of all the darkness in London, was lurking just out in the open.] . . .Prosecutor Van Zieks told me about that, how he begged Chief Vortex to let him prosecute that trial instead and he allowed it. It wasn't long after that trial, that people were mysteriously killed after receiving a not guilty verdict, and people started calling Van Zieks the Grim Reaper, eventhough the Grim Reaper turned out to be a group of people.

[The detail about him becoming the Chief Magistrate afterwards is news to him though.] You think...he could be the mastermind behind everything? It wouldn't be hard for someone in Vortex's position to be able to make those kinds of orders.

[What- Okay, Sherlock hadn't thought quite that far ahead just yet. The most he'd concluded so far was that there was a connection. Still, now that he thinks about it, if Vortex was the one who gave the order for an incomplete autopsy report in Gregson's case... He reaches for Klimt's autopsy report, staring down at the words.]

This report was inaccurate as well, did you know? Mikotoba was the one who wrote it as Dr. Watson's assistant, though he did so with great apprehension. Watson's findings were highly suspect and I believe that the good doctor knew that just as well as Mikotoba did. Someone had forced these results into being. There was the possibility that Gregson was the one responsible, but... Why would he? That doesn't make sense, does it? Gregson believed with all his heart that Asougi was the Professor. Someone else would've fed Dr. Watson that lie. And then...

[He puts the autopsy report back on the pile, his gaze straying to the memorial photo.]

The one who arranged for the student exchange project which was meant to silence both Watson and Gregson... Wasn't that also the Chief Magistrate?

[He already knew about who had written the report, but the details behind it were new. He leans over to examine the report.] What details exactly was forced on this report...? From a perspective of an outsider, who wasn't there at the time, nothing seems out of the ordinary.

[He hangs his head, considering the questions.] Yes, but I don't think it was just him. He needed to be contact with someone from the Japan side as well. [Who was it that offered Asougi the opportunity to go to Japan with that one requirement? He picks up the photo they all took that day in the hotel, staring at the man with the impressive beard.] Someone who had just as much power as him, Judge Jigoku Seishirou.

It was the ring, of course. The ring. Had it truly made its way down Van Zieks's esophagus to nestle itself in his stomach, it would've caused quite a bit of damage during its journey. There was no sign of any of that. I daresay, no human would dare to swallow something quite so pointy and prickly to begin with. [Not even Holmes.] Watson could very well have planted it on the body. Or, err, inside the body.

[He leans towards Naruhodou, peering down at the photo over his friend's shoulder.]

That big bushy bearded fellow over there? He arrived in England on the same day Gregson was found dead? [Hm. But isn't this guy one of Mikotoba's companions? Actually, now that he thinks about it...] All those years ago, when Mikotoba and Asougi were in England for their exchange project, wasn't there a third student? Someone who'd insisted so fiercely upon their friend's innocence in court that he was almost incarcerated himself?

[He skims over the report, there is indeed a mention of something being found in his stomach but. . .] There's no mention of any internal injuries, I see. But why go through all this trouble to frame someone else unless...Chief Vortex was actually the culprit?

[He frowns, remembering the story Mikotoba told him about Jigoku. He did stand up for his friend in court, didn't he? So why...?] Yea, that was him. He was also the one who suggested to Asougi, my best friend Asougi, to participate in the exchange program. He knew somehow.

[Holmes runs a hand past his forehead, thinking it over. His gaze strays from the photos to the Asougi file, then on to Gregson's trunk. What is he missing? What went on so many years ago? It's difficult for him to remember the details- it's been twelve years, what with Empatheias tossed on top of the time which had passed back home.]

A collaboration, perhaps... It seems entirely too convenient that one of the Professor's victims was our Chief Vortex's predecessor- the previous Chief Magistrate. However, our big bushy bearded friend must be hiding some secrets of his own. I happen to know for a fact that Asougi- the older Asougi- did not quite trust him in the end.

[Because Klimt's child had been hidden from him. Mikotoba had been sworn to secrecy when it came to that matter, Holmes remembers that much.]

Our would-be Professor used Mikotoba as his sole confidant right before his execution. If the three of them were indeed close friends, then why not include the bushy beard who'd insisted upon Asougi's innocence? Why indeed...

. . .Well, I was hoping I'd get some answers out of him before I got here, but on the subject of his whereabouts on the day Detective Gregson was murdered. The problem is. . . [He furrows his brows.] he seems to be missing.

[There seems to be something else missing. He starts looking through all the evidence.] Where is it?

Missing?

[That's troublesome, to say the least. If the bearded fellow really is connected to all this, could it be that he's been silenced as well? Silenced by the true mastermind, who may or may not be Vortex? If that's how it is, what about everyone else who was connected to that case? Old Bailey's Grim Reaper, that other assistant coroner and Mikotoba?

Why is the Professor still causing trouble after so many years?

Some of the earlier mist returns to the hall and Holmes reflexively pulls his pipe out of his pocket, not even noticing that Naruhodou is searching for something. He needs a good smoke to settle his nerves and get his mind in order.]

Mm, but he has to still be around somewhere. Gregson was the one who ended up getting killed afterall. [Having flipped all the evidence and not finding what he was looking for, he raises his arms in the air with a sigh.] Did you see a charm anywhere? It looks like a blue rabbit wearing your coat.

[Gregson is the one who ended up getting killed and Jigoku goes missing shortly after... A connection with Vortex... Could it be? ...No, that's impossible, Jigoku arrived on the same day the body was found and if the food in Gregson's pocket was already rotting- that's impossible, isn't it?

Holmes is pulled from this thoughts by Naruhodou's question and for a few seconds, he struggles to separate this totally different thing from the topic they were discussing.]

A rabbit charm- That's... Well, of course I've seen it. It's in my room. Somewhere. ... I think. Isn't it in my room?

In your room? [How did it end up in there already?] Do you know what it does? Iris-chan told me to use it in case of an emergency and...well it was an emergency at the time.

Ho ho, is that what she said? She was quite wise to put it like that, then! [He smirks, tapping a finger against his forehead.] What it does... What it would gain you depends entirely on what I was doing at the time you felt it necessary to use it.

[He tilts his head at that.] What you were doing? [What was he doing that day?] Well, you and Professor Mikotoba went off somewhere to solve a case the day before. . .ah, could it be--you left something inside the charm to tell us where Judge Jigoku was!?

No, no. ...Well, perhaps. Something like that. [It depends on where he and Mikotoba went; what sort of case they were going to solve. Would they have had enough foresight at that point to try and hunt down Jigoku?] Instead of explaining it, I think it would be better if I show you. Hang on...

[He gets to his feet and disappears into the mess of his own bedroom. It takes him a minute to find the target of his search. Both the bunny and the bear charm are hanging from a spike which had been driven into the wall at some point or another. Once he's taken them in hand, he returns to the hallway and tosses the bunny towards Naruhodou.]

Catch!

[Catch it he does. He looks the bunny over, turning it in his hands. It seem like any other cute charm, and there weren't any visible indications that something might be stuffed inside it. What does it really do...?] I just remembered something. Iris-chan said if something were to happen, just pull on the rabbit's ear. . .

[He goes for it without think, giving it a nice hard tug.]

[Holmes had planned to leave the house, or at least head down to the ground floor, before allowing Naruhodou to pull the ears. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to put that intent into words. In response to the tug, the bear in his hand springs to life with horrid jerky motions. It almost leaps itself out between his fingers, so he fumbles to keep hold of it.]

Whoah- hey now hey now hey now! [In the end, the bear wraps itself around his thumb and begins to tug at it.] Ow ow oooow! I wasn't ready!

Telepathic IC 'Inbox' and Messenger Bird Reception

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Yells at wiki links. WHY THEY SO TINY

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