“With the first victim, putting the shirt back on hid the cuts on the chest, or at least hid that they were
Roman numerals. But this time.., it must have been a pain in the ass. Putting clothes on a corpse.. .on
anyone who can’t move themselves...”
“Misora, the leg he abandoned in the bathroom was wearing a sock and a shoe.” “Yeah, I saw the picture.”
“Then, I mean, perhaps the killer’s goal... no, the killer’s message has nothing to do with the clothes or shoes, but only to do with the severed limbs. Which is why he put everything else back the way it used to be.”
Put everything back. But then...
“But then... the left arm and the right leg. He left the leg in the bathroom and took the arm with him... why? What was different about the left arm and the right leg? An arm and a leg Misora muttered, staring up at the ceiling.
Ryuzaki looked up at the ceiling as well, and said slowly, biting his thumbnail, “Once.. on a different case... something happened that might help here. If you’d care to hear it?”
“Go ahead.”
“It was a murder case, and the victim had been stabbed through the chest. Afterward, the ring finger of his left hand had been cut off and carried away. After his death. Can you guess why?”
“The ring finger of the left hand? That’s easy. The victim was married, right? The killer must have cut it off to steal the wedding ring. Wedding rings have often been worn so long they can no longer be taken off.”
“Yes. The killer was after money. Afterward, we successfully tracked down the ring on the black market and were able to trace it back to the killer and arrest him.”
“But... that’s certainly an interesting story and everything, but Ryuzaki, no one would cut off an entire arm to steal a ring. And Backyard Bottomslash wasn’t married. According to the file, she wasn’t even seeing anyone.”
“But there are more rings than wedding rings.” “But you still wouldn’t take the entire arm.”
“Yes, you’re right. That’s why I only said it might help. If it didn’t, then I apologize.” “Not worth apologizing for, but there was no ring... no ring...”
So, something besides a ring? For example... a bracelet.
Not around the finger, but around the wrist... no, that was retarded. It made a certain amount of sense that you would need to cut off a finger to get a ring, but no matter how generously you looked at it; there was no reason to cut off an arm for a bracelet. Nobody would do that. And this killer wasn’t after money, anyway. If he was, the second victim didn’t fit.
“…”
Misora slowly reached her left arm out toward the ceiling. Holding it away from the floor. She opened her hand and stretched her fingers out all the way, as if trying to grab the fluorescent light overhead. There was a ring on her finger. An engagement ring from Raye Penber. An engagement ring that still seemed about as real as a joke between two children to her, but was it possible someone would cut off her finger, her arm, to steal it? What if it was a bracelet? No. Using herself as an example just made it seem all the more unlikely.
Holding her arm up like this had allowed her sleeve to slide down toward her shoulder. Her wristwatch came into view. It was a silver watch. A present on her birthday this year, February 14th, again from Raye Penber. So if it wasn’t a bracelet, but a watch? It was silver, so it wasn’t cheap... a watch? “Ryuzaki. Was Backyard Bottomslash right or left handed?”
“According to your file, right handed. What of it?”
“So... chances are she would have worn a watch on her left arm. So perhaps what the killer took away... was a watch,” Misora said, from her position on her back on the floor. “The right arm still had a sock and shoe. So the arm he took away more than likely still had a watch on it.”
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