Holy Mother - Chapter 5

“I already investigated Suns Mart, after asking questions with several employees and customers there. I couldn’t get a specific time when the victim was last seen. This was because there were plenty of children in the supermarket who looked like him. The security video also shows that the boy arrived at the supermarket in the afternoon at 16:32 with his mother. He went out alone through the door in front of the cashier at 17:03. When they were shopping, he could be clearly seen on video, however, there was no one who looked suspicious around him. Therefore, we conclude that the child came out of the supermarket with his own free will. He was then kidnapped by the perpetrator. The victim’s mother searched for him at around 17:06, three minutes later after the child went out of the door.”

“By then, Yukio disappeared?” Satoda asked.

“That’s correct.”

The entire thing only took around 2-3 minutes. The mother must have really regretted what happened. As he thought about the situation, a bitter feeling rose up in Sakaguchi’s chest.

“Are there any cameras outside the supermarket?” Satoda asked another question.

“There aren’t  any cameras. Given the small amount of time the victim disappeared, the culprit might have been using a car to transport him. “

“In that case, how about security cameras around the supermarket? Who’s in charge of investigating those?”

“I’m the one who investigated that matter.” A young detective stood up. “There are two mini-markets and three parking lots within a radius of five kilometers from the supermarket. We’re currently requesting the recordings of these places. We’re also looking for houses around the supermarket that have their own CCTV.”

“Understood. We’re moving on to the state of the body. Forensics, please.”

A forensic officer stood up. The hall suddenly became quiet when a photo was displayed on the screen.

The body on the screen was completely naked. The victim’s frail body was laying on his back on a cardboard box. His eyes were closed, and there was no trace of blood. His whole body was also pale-bluish. It looked like the victim was sleeping. Upon closer inspection, they noticed that the victim’s lower body was missing something. They found that the child’s genitals were gone.

“Alright, please give us the details.”

After Satoda allowed him to talk, the forensic officer began to describe the picture.

“As you all are seeing, the victim’s genitals were cut off. The cutting tool is currently being analyzed. However, just by seeing the wound, I can confirm that what was used was a very sharp object. Next, you can see the wound in his rectum, we can say that the perpetrator sexually tortured him after killing the victim. We couldn’t find the perpetrator’s body fluids from either inside the rectum or anywhere in the victim’s body. However, we were able to find glycerol and propylene glycol, this is the type of liquid that can be found on lubricants. Therefore, the possibility that the offender used a condom during the sexual assault is very high.”