Chapter Twenty - The Identity

  We waited for a good few seconds, maybe even a minute, before the voice finally answered. On the other side of the receiver talked only someone I could presume to be Heather Tuchet in an aged voice.

  “Hello? Who is this?”

  “Good morning, we are here for questioning on behalf of the Detective Precinct Department.”

  My response to her was a much less sophisticated version of my usual doorbell greeting that manifested as a result of my worn-down self. However, unlike the last time I rang a doorbell, this lady didn’t hesitate to immediately answer.

  “Oh. I understand, please come in,” she said, unlocking the door remotely.

  I was wondering what kind of person I would be dealing with. There were times before where I had to interact with parents of criminals, and those conversations were not pleasant in the slightest. However, given her greeting, perhaps she is unopposed to our visit. It has been a long time since anyone brought up her family, I reckon. With those thoughts in mind, I headed forward to the front door of the house, from where an older Asian lady with grey hair popped out. There is no doubt about her identity – the name and the origin of the family are undoubtedly eastern.

  She kindly asked. “How can I help you?”

  “Are you Heather Tuchet? We would like to receive your help on a detective case, if possible.”

  “Why yes, that is me. But, what would bring a city-dweller like you to the humble zone of Glason District?” She responded, still willing to cooperate.

  “It’s related to the Seishi incident from twenty-six years ago. There are some things that we would like to figure out with your help.”

  Almost immediately as I uttered the name “Seishi”, Heather’s face reflexively scrounged up in disapproval. I expected this, a reaction like this is almost natural when dealing with family tragedies. Especially when the tragedy happened so long ago, I don’t blame her at all.

  She thought for a moment. “Well… what do you need?”

  Now this was unexpected. Despite the harrowing situation that she had to endure, she still wishes to speak of it. That is most respectable, and incredibly helpful from her.

  “We believe the incident is related to some occurrences as of late, and our investigation led us to you, Mrs. Tuchet.”

  “It’s only Ms. Tuchet nowadays, mind you. The years have been cruel ever since,” she corrected.

  “Right, sorry about that.”

  “It’s okay. Come, I’ll let you two in for a cup of tea.”

  Heather has warmly invited us into her residence, despite the obvious fact that me and Sylphie are detectives that are only here to pick apart her traumatic experiences. Not only that, but I am still dressed like a homeless person. The coat is still torn asunder, but I had the common decency to at least wash the blood off for the sake of this interaction. Her home was very spacious and decorated with various ornaments. However, I paid close attention to the portraits around the home. Some of them depicted Heather and her deceased husband from the looks of it, and some other ones were taken photographs of the extended family. However, the face of the boy I am looking for was nowhere to be seen.

  Then, I started thinking about this family tree. Heather’s current name is Tuchet, but that must have been after her marriage. There is a chance that her name used to be Seishi as well, which would make her a blood relative to the Flawless. Putting that thought aside, however, we sat down with Heather in front of a coffee table on a couch.

  Heather offered each of us a cup of herbal tea. “Here – it is a homemade batch.”

  I moved my tea and the saucer under it closer to me, and Sylphie took only the cup and held it in her hands, sitting with both her feet on the couch in a compact position.

  “Thank you, Heather. You are too kind to us.”

  “It is the least I can do for you, Mr. Capleaf,” she casually mentioned.

  “Hm? You know my name?”

  “Of course, I was there to see your ceremony. I may be old, but I do remember things from a few weeks ago!” she laughed.

  “Well then, thank you for that. What made you go there?”

  “I much enjoy watching you detectives in action. It brings some warmth to my slow life.”

  She was very sincere, and her positive outlook on detectives was very welcome. It appeared that she held no malice towards the police or the DPD for what happened in the past.

  Then, I finally brought it up. “Ms. Tuchet, we arrived her to ask about the Seishi incident. Could you tell us something?”

  She pondered for a brief moment. “It was an inimical burden for us. My sister and her husband were killed on that day.”

  “That incident appeared on the news, is that right?”

  “So I’ve heard. Our family never paid much attention to the outside world, aside from our dearest friends.”

  “I see, I’m sorry to be bringing up such impactful things to you.”

  “No, I understand – you detectives need your information. Emotions get in the way of that, I reckon!”

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  There was a deep sense of hurt within her. She was smiling, but that smile was pained. Her eyes said so – what she felt contrasted what she was saying. She looked up to detectives, but I think that notion was generated from her hopes that the police would handle the case accordingly. However, they never did – the culprit was never found, and the nephew remained missing.

  “Thank you for your understanding. I would like to tell you that the culprit behind that incident is still being chased to this day. I am the one personally in charge of that.”

  “Oh! That means you will have it done in a jiffy, eh?” She still exclaimed happily as ever.

  “I hope so. Look – this here is the newspaper release from that day, it mentioned the circumstances of the murder, and also the missing child of the family.”

  She grabbed the newspaper and began reading it hastily to confirm the accuracy of the news from back then. With her look, I concluded that the information added up.

  “Yes, that is about right. Their boy was never found,” she said dejectedly.

  “How were his parents like?”

  “Sister and her husband were very punctual people. They treasured their first child like a gift from God himself, and they tried to keep it that way.”

  “That way?”

  “They made sure the child would have no outside influence. Sister always said it was to ward out the evil from corrupting him. Always so superstitious, she was. Religion does that to you, I suppose.”

  “I see. They must have homeschooled him, then,” I posed a theory.

  “Not just that, but they forbode the poor boy from leaving his home most of the time. I never agreed with my sister about it, but she continued to claim it was to fight against evil.”

  “They seemed to be very religious people,” I stated.

  “Oh, they were. Maybe even too much.”

  Heather was spilling out valuable information one after the other. Just from our conversation so far, I was able to discover that the Flawless was an extremely sheltered child whose parents imposed their views on him to a radical degree. Although, I was still unsure as to how I was going to inform the old lady that her nephew is a potential serial killer.

  “Hm, did the boy have any hobbies or talents?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “Just curious.”

  She thought for a moment. “No, not really. He never had much of an opportunity to develop any interests. Only studying, studying, studying...”

  “I see. The parents forced him to study a lot?”

  “Quite exactly. Whenever I talked to him, he seemed very drained and sick of it. Sister always said he will become a good doctor if he studies hard, but he was just a young child, barely nine years old. It was torture to him.”

  A doctor? That is one overwhelming topic to study, I am not surprised. The parents of the Flawless must have really pressured him. So far, her testimony adds up, and even strengthens my profile of him even further.

  The Flawless was forced to become flawless.

  She continued. “He used to receive even more study time as punishment! Can you believe that? Nine whole days of non-stop studying if he ever acted up.”

  Nine days? Is that the symbolism behind the Nine Day Rule? Was it really because of this obscene punishment from his childhood days? This situation is starting to shed my doubt, layer after layer.

  “This boy, what’s his name?”

  She looked at me strangely. “I thought you were here to ask about the incident, but you keep talking about only the boy.”

  “Ms. Tuchet, I have certain suspicions.”

  Her eyes suddenly gained another layer of curiosity mixed in with doubt. I tried to sound as best as possible in order to not make it seem like I think her nephew is the culprit.

  She stopped me. “Wait, you aren’t possibly thinking of something like that…!”

  It was too late, she seemed to catch on to my actual intentions. My only option now is to be honest with her.

  “Ms. Tuchet, right now, there is a murderer running around causing the same thing your sister and her husband suffered. My investigation led me all the way here, to the only person who knows the boy’s name. I need to know it. I beg of you,” I stated in a much more serious tone.

  A few tears started forming under her eyes. “To think… that he would grow up to be like this…!”

  Her slight tears turned into full-on crying. There wasn’t much I could do to console her, since I was in no state to do that myself. Sylphie tried to say something comforting, but it was no use. Heather is aware of the boy that turned into the Flawless, and no amount of consolation would change the truth.

  She wiped her tears, and went on. “I opposed my sister’s ways, her ideals, everything for the sake of the boy’s livelihood. But…! None of it worked, and he had enough…”

  I said the only thing I could think of. “I’m sorry.”

  Red-eyed, she continued. “None of this was supposed to happen. Deep down… I knew that my dear nephew was behind it, but I couldn’t bring myself to believe it. I hid his identity from the world, giving him some peace. But alas – peace was not something he desired, and he vanished without a trace.”

  I was almost amazed at the bravery of this woman. Her intentions were crystal-clear – she hid his name from the press to protect him. The Flawless really was a troubled boy who wished to break free from his chains. And in the end, he did it in the only way he knew.

  My heart started racing from the sheer ludicrousness of the call that I made. I said to myself – the Flawless is a boy who was pressured to insanity by his parents. That is exactly who he turned out to be. I guessed it correctly. It was all adding up. It all made sense. Suddenly, the whole situation felt within my grasp. The Flawless is undoubtedly the missing boy from the Seishi family, and ever since his disappearance, he has only continued to kill. For twenty-six years, he sought for revenge against this world in his own way. The same suffering he brought upon his parents, he also brought upon the rest of the world. The scene he saw after he killed his parents – it must have been burned into his memory. After that, he continued to replicate what he saw to recreate the feeling of freedom he got from that moment. It was freeing, so freeing that he wanted to do it again and again, and it only spiraled from there.

  “…Raziel Seishi…”

  Amidst Heather’s crying, she uttered a name in a pained voice – the name of the person I am looking for. After so many troubles, so much suffering, and so much toil, it has been done. The name has been heard. It is undoubtedly true – an angel’s name, given by his religious family. Even his identity has been tarnished by the ideals of his oppressors. To his very core, something opposed him, whether it was his inadequacy, his family, or the law. It just… made sense. Everything added up to the case that is MC-13, and everything surrounding it. The Flawless is a human – that is what I hoped for since the beginning. Every criminal has a reason to do what they did. Every criminal resorts to crime as a last possible option. The Flawless is no different – under the immense pressure of having to hone his mind from such a young age, he snapped, and the only thing he could do was take out his anger on the ones who opposed him. It seems so simple now – Raziel Seishi is the Flawless.

  My hands were trembling, and something deeply repressed started to escape from me. Was it gratitude? Was it happiness? No, I felt no such thing. What I was experiencing right now is genuine contentment with everything. It was a state of Zen, where everything just made sense. All things were within my grasp, and nothing dared to mystify itself in front of me. Even though I could not bring myself to cry right now, I would cry nonetheless.

  However, my celebration couldn’t be too prolonged. Something malicious was headed our way, and with it, yet another cause would have to be faced. Suddenly, out of nowhere, we all heard loud bashing on the front door. It only took three or four hits, but the door broke down. There was an intruder, and I had no other option but to face him.