Ch.88Request Log #010 – The Missing Children (5)

I dressed in a gray suit that I hadn’t worn in a while but was still free of dust. It wasn’t often that I had to disguise myself as a lawyer, but a simple formal suit would do the trick.

For my tie, I chose a solid navy one rather than anything flashy, and instead of my usual comfortable newsboy cap, I wore a proper fedora. If I forced a smile onto my face, I might actually look like a lawyer.

Wearing glasses without prescription would only make the disguise look sloppy. In my gray suit, I ate a quick meal of canned food. My body, which could achieve twice the efficiency with half the fuel, wasn’t picky about food.

I had already memorized the journalist’s address, so I left home around eight. After today’s job, I’d need to fill up the car with gas too.

I didn’t bother counting whether there were more missing children flyers than yesterday. Nor did I try to detect if the salty residue of my clients’ dried tears had mixed into New York’s air.

I parked in the journalist’s apartment parking lot. Since the smell of cigarettes wouldn’t suit an elf’s lawyer, today I was giving off the scent of a subtle cologne instead.

I took the stairs, just like that cop who had come to kill me. Walking up stairs is a form of preparation. In his case, it was preparation to kill, but in mine, it was just preparation to live through another day.

Eventually, I reached the fourth floor and knocked. The door opened shortly after. The journalist greeted me with half-open eyes that still looked like she’d just woken up, though her hair was neatly settled.

“Good morning… Have you had breakfast? I haven’t yet…”

“Thanks for letting me know a person can do absolutely nothing until 9 AM. I was beginning to doubt that was possible.”

“Ninety percent of New Yorkers are like this until they go to work. You’re the strange one, Mr. New York. Anyway… you really did dress like a lawyer.”

It seems I’ve gained another nickname. Well, at least it’s better than Michael, William’s son, so I decided not to mind. I entered the apartment and made eye contact with the lawyer who was preparing breakfast again today.

Actually, we didn’t exactly make eye contact. I’d never seen that ogre’s eyes because of the bangs that completely covered them. Still, I could feel her gaze on me.

The lawyer said bitterly:

“Since Rose trusts you now, I won’t add anything. You’re dressed exactly like the lawyers at our firm. Do you happen to have a shield?”

I shook my head briefly. The ogre must have heard I was coming because the pan she was holding contained too many eggs for just one elf and one ogre.

Though breakfast was something I could just get through quickly, I wasn’t going to refuse. The half-ogre divided the scrambled eggs onto plates.

“Since you and Rose will be going together today, I’ll lend you my shield. I don’t mind if bullets get lodged in it. However…”

“Right. If bullets hit the journalist, you’ll show why humans used to fear ogres. But we’re not going to see that kind of people, so don’t worry.”

After three plates naturally appeared on the table, the lawyer went to her room and returned with a round mythril-steel shield with a bluish tint. She handed it to me along with a strap to secure it to my wrist.

Though heavier than pure mythril, the mythril-steel shield was as light as a ceramic plate. I immediately fastened the strap over my suit and secured the shield. It wasn’t even heavy enough to strain my wrist.

Seeing this, the journalist let out a small laugh and lightly tapped the shield on my wrist. Her face looked quite innocent.

“It feels like I’m seeing an alternate future where you didn’t become a detective, Michael. Anyway, let’s eat breakfast!”

I could hardly believe this was the same person who had poured out hatred yesterday, but as long as she didn’t act like this when it was time to properly prepare and do the job, it was fine. I put down the shield and ate my second breakfast of the day.

I wondered when I’d last had a proper breakfast. Probably after catching the elf embezzler, when I ate at Two Face. Sorry to the bartender, but the half-ogre lawyer was the better cook.

It didn’t take long to finish eating. And once we’d finished, it was time to get to work. The journalist didn’t waste any more time either.

“First, about yesterday when I called for permission to do the interview, the PR person said they’d likely be working overtime again. It seems there will be almost no one there. And this is just my thought… I think it would be good to ask them about hospitals or orphanages they’re cooperating with. If they’re doing legitimate collaborations, it would be easier to hide illegal activities too.”

That was probably the best she could do. However, those guys must at least know they’re doing shameful things, so their operations wouldn’t be that sloppy.

“Not bad. Once you start your interview, I’ll head straight to the annex. I need to thoroughly search our culprit’s office. Understand what I’m saying?”

“You mean I won’t have protection during the interview? Still, I’ll have my camera in hand and this too, so I’ll be fine. Paulina taught me how to shoot it.”

Finally, she understands properly. The journalist pulled out a derringer pistol from inside her coat to show me. It was a gun with insufficient penetration power to pierce the skin of an Argonne Invincible.

One way or another, it was a relief not having to explain the plan twice. I gave a short nod.

“Take out the bullets and hold it properly. Hold it with both hands.”

After removing two thick bullets from the gun, the journalist held it up in a somewhat clumsy but ready-to-shoot manner. Since she was aiming at the torso, I guided her hand to point the muzzle at my face.

I checked her grip on the gun while speaking. It’s better to shoot at the body, but when aiming, you should target the head.

“People have imagination, you know. If they get shot in the stomach, they’ll think it hurts but they can survive. But when you aim at the head, they imagine the horrible sight of a bullet going through their eye socket. Even if you end up shooting the stomach, aim at the head. Better yet, make sure their eyes meet the muzzle so they can see the tip of the bullet.”

Judging by how naturally she aimed at the torso, the lawyer must have taught her. The lawyer probably bought her that pistol too. Elves didn’t have many options.

The journalist inhaled nervously at the realization she was preparing to shoot someone, but she calmed her breathing on her own.

“Okay. Fine. I’m too tired to get goosebumps about how well you know these things. And besides that, I don’t have anything else to worry about, right?”

“Right. When you finish your interview and come out, I’ll be standing by the door with a bundle of documents in my possession. Just make sure you stall for enough time.”

With mental preparations complete, there was nothing more to prepare. The journalist quietly went to her workroom and brought out the files she’d received from the police. She hadn’t found out much, but there were many victims.

It was a thick folder containing at least forty photos of babies. There didn’t seem to be any additional information, but I could understand why the journalist had been crying.

There was no need to say I’d come by nine. Even after having the lawyer check my outfit, the clock hadn’t yet struck twelve.

After that, we killed time until people’s quitting hours. We sharpened our minds with idle conversation, and by a little past six, I’d heard plenty of useless talk from the journalist.

I sensed she was deliberately avoiding mentioning the job, so I didn’t steer the conversation in that direction either.

The closest she came to talking about work was saying there was a café she knew well on Fifth Avenue, and she’d buy me a coffee after the job was done. When there’s nothing to do, time passes too quickly.

And then it was time to leave. Normally I’d depart thirty minutes early to arrive, but since we were doing the interview after work hours, we decided to arrive exactly on time.

I left the apartment with the journalist. It was almost laughable to call it an apartment. It was more like they’d crammed four mansions onto each floor, and they’d even planted rose bushes around the edges of the parking lot.

After getting her into the car, I headed straight for the Continental Adoption Agency. She neither glanced out the window nor lost herself in the scenery. She only checked her smile in a small mirror.

The journalist practiced her smile several times as if it had somehow faded, rehearsing her smiling face. It’s hard to have to smile at people who don’t deserve it.

Before leaving, I took rope from the trunk and hid it behind the shield. It wasn’t difficult to hide it in the space between the leather strap and the shield.

Last time, I had entered the agency’s lobby with my hat pulled low, but today I walked in with my head held high. A middle-aged human who appeared to be the PR person was waiting for us.

“You’ve arrived right on time. I’m glad we’re not struggling to find each other in the crowd of people leaving work if you’d come thirty minutes early. Ah, let’s go right away. I’ve prepared tea in my office…”

The PR person looked me up and down and gave a slightly awkward smile. It was naturally uncomfortable to talk with a lawyer present.

The journalist flashed her characteristic smile and shook her head as if to say not to worry. She had a talent for calming people that could compete with morphine.

“I’ll tell the lawyer to wait outside. Will that be okay?”

“Ah, yes. Thank you. You do have quite a solid lawyer with you, but talking to someone accompanied by a lawyer makes me feel like I’m being interrogated. Thank you. Thank you.”

The PR person spoke in a mousy voice as he led us to his office. This must be the PR department, which wasn’t a place I needed to concern myself with.

He took only the journalist into his office, leaving me with just one security guard who had stayed until this hour. He was a fairly well-built ogre with a friendly face.

“Let’s have a cup of coffee. Follow me this way.”

The ogre spoke kindly as he led me away from the office. As I was considering whether to subdue him or just lose him, my eyes fell on his wrist.

He wore quite an expensive watch. Sure, a building security guard could save up for a watch, but high-end watch shops wouldn’t let in an ogre wearing work clothes. Someone had given it to him as a gift.

“That’s a nice watch. If you’ve got a good side income, introduce me to it. It’s hard to make ends meet as a lawyer.”

He lifted his wrist to stroke the watch and smiled awkwardly. He rubbed the back of his cleanly shaved head.

“I just got some leftovers, that’s all. Anyway, coffee…”

“Leftovers from handling special orders?”

The ogre’s face turned pale. We were already quite far from the PR person’s office. Conveniently, I had a nice piece of metal attached to my wrist. I wouldn’t just take it off.

As the ogre immediately opened his mouth to shout, I shoved the edge of the shield on my wrist into his mouth. I looked up at him as he made pitiful gestures with the shield gagging him like a bit.

He clenched his fist and struck my head, but my body, which had twice the vitality and suffered only half the harm, didn’t even properly shake. His pale expression soon turned to fear.

“S-stop! He-help! He-help!”

He was trying to shout something with completely broken pronunciation. I didn’t care about the content. Not my business. I raised my right hand and pressed hard on the edge of the shield gagging his mouth.

A sound similar to tearing plant roots by hand rang out. As I pulled out the shield, he grabbed his jaw and collapsed to the floor, in too much pain to even scream properly.

The lawyer hadn’t said anything about keeping blood off the shield. I undid the fastening strap and gripped the shield’s edge with both hands. I struck downward with the edge sharpened.

The first couple of times it sounded like hitting a person, but after that, only the sound of mincing meat echoed. After several wet thuds, the ogre went completely silent.

He wasn’t dead. His fingers were still twitching spasmodically, and he was still trying to make sounds through his mangled mouth. I secured his wrists with the rope I’d brought and gagged his mouth with another piece.

After subduing him, I threw the ogre into a nearby janitor’s closet. I covered him with a tarp to make him look like a pile of cargo, then immediately began my search.

The first place I needed to check was the accounting department. Even if they were connected to some bad people, money would have changed hands. There was no one in New York who would take in kidnapped children without payment.

I looked for filing cabinets containing ledgers. There was an antique wooden cabinet with just a padlock on it, but no matter how sturdy the lock, it meant nothing if the cabinet itself was made of wood.

I grabbed the lock and pulled out the entire locking mechanism, then took the spotless, dust-free ledger from inside. This way, I couldn’t take it secretly, so it was better to make it obvious.

To make it clear someone had been there, I tore off the cabinet doors with both hands and threw them on the floor. Instead of checking the contents, I headed straight for the annex.

However, it seemed there were still security guards in the annex. I could hear people talking. There was no reason to guard an annex that was mostly storage with only that lizardman’s office.

I hid at the edge without showing myself in the corridor leading to the annex. Eavesdropping on their conversation, I didn’t even need to make a decision.

“Did they find Karim? I mean, he suddenly vanished. If we’ve become the tail that needs to be cut off for that congressman…”

“Haven’t you heard? He’s dead. He was found tortured to death in front of his wife yesterday evening. That bastard congressman. After we handled that special order so cleanly…”

Outside, the noise of quitting time filled the air. The journalist’s office was two floors away. The silencer was new. I pulled out my gun from my coat. I fired. I hit round targets like in clay shooting.

I wasn’t shooting mindlessly. This was insurance in case I couldn’t find the children in the documents I’d stolen.

If I returned to the office like this and stood there pretending to know nothing, the PR person would think the intruder wasn’t me.

Naturally, he wouldn’t suspect a lawyer who doesn’t use guns, nor would he suspect the journalist who was seriously conducting an interview. Even if he did suspect, the journalist could dispel those suspicions.

Then the PR person would create a third intruder in his mind… and report it to his superiors.

After reporting, whether they planned to abandon the kidnapped children to cut their losses or whatever, someone from the agency would move to check on the children. All I had to do was follow them.

For that, I needed to create the most provocative scene possible. I dragged the bodies of the two dead security guards down to the annex basement and threw them into the lizardman’s office.

I punched the metal filing cabinet several times, bending the thin metal sheets and forcibly pulling out the misaligned locking mechanism, then took all the documents stored inside. This should send a clear enough message.