Saturday had ultimately been a rather trying day for the Seattle PD and the FBI agents from the Seattle Field Office. Not necessarily because they faced a lot of opposition, but because they hadn't had too many helpful leads. They had found information and leads that had helped explain what and how their primary suspect, Dymixious Drake had committed the crimes they suspected of him, but but they hadn't found much that would actually lead to his location. They had matched the poison used to kill Lionel Ulysses to the poisons that they had found in vats that they had confiscated from the Drake compound, and they had found enough of it at the Drake compound to prove that Drake wasn't just experimenting with it to find a way to turn a poison into a medicine. On top of it, they found other things at the Drake compound that gave some indication that Dymixious Drake was some sort of serial vigilante. It proved things that related to Dymixious's guilt, but it didn't lead them to where Dymixious was, which was presently the thing that the investigators were most interested in.
The real thing that Agent Peters, Detective Holmes, and Detective Smith wanted was something that would lead them to where Dymixious Drake was, not to what he had done or how he had done it. In that, they already had information that connected Drake to the murder of Lionel Ulysses. The problem was that he'd gone to ground somewhere. They searched the Drake compound in its isolated spot in the mountains, and the only member of the family they found was Dymixious's father, who said that Dymixious wasn't at home and proceeded to gripe about their search as it was done. When they found the poison, the father was suddenly quiet and backed off. They still had eyes on the father, but so far, Dymixious was yet to return to his family's compound. That still left them wondering on where Dymixious was.
That morning they executed a search warrant for a yacht that was owned by Dymixious Drake, largely in the hopes that they might find Dymixious there. They never ended up finding no one on the yacht and the day was spent impounding the ship and getting it moved to a private dock where the yacht could be held as evidence and wouldn't disappear on them. The big thing that they found offered them something was a list of phone numbers, one of which was a Washington State number, which would have to mean that Dymixious had contacts in the state and they could be people he's either turned to or would have information that may help catch him. Thus, by the evening hours, the three at the top of the investigation settled into Agent Peters' office at the FBI's field office and shared glances as they knew they would need to follow up on the phone number.
"So how will we do this?" Detective Holmes asked as he looked across the desk to Agent Peters who was already pressing a few buttons on her office phone.
"I will have it on speaker," Agent Peters spoke, "so that you can here the answer, and for the sake of comparison, the call will be recorded."
"Recorded?" Detective Smith asked, "For all we know this contact is innocent..."
"And that may be, but remember our investigation is collaborative," Agent Peters spoke, "the FBI and the Seattle PD working the same case. Both of us will need some record of this to go over and brainstorm ideas. If there is anything that would indicate that this person is guilty of something, we can either pass it on as a discreet tip to local law enforcement or merely use it as the opening point of a new case and the call won't be used in court."
"It probably wouldn't be admissible if we were to reveal we recorded it," Detective Holmes commented.
Detective Smith nodded, and even Agent Peters nodded in agreement, but she let out a very heavy breath and dialed the Washington State number that they had recovered from Dymixious's yacht. It was clear that they were going ahead with the plan, and that they would be recording the conversation in the hopes that it would provide them with clues to where Dymixious Drake may be hiding. There were a few rings that the listened to before an older and slightly tired sounding voice answered on the other line.
"Konichiwa," a female voice spoke catching Agent Peters by surprise, as she didn't expect to come in contact with someone who didn't speak English.
"Oh... excuse me, do you speak English?" Agent Peters asked.
"Yes, I do," came the answer, "You'll have to forgive me for falling into my birth language... I've had a VERY busy day."
Detective Smith and Holmes looked to each other. The voice sounded reasonably strong but tired and as though the person was carrying on through something.
"To whom am I speaking?" the woman's voice asked.
"This is Agent Peters from the FBI Seattle Field Office," Agent Peters spoke, "May I ask who I am speaking to?"
"I am Tachibana no Akane," the woman answered over the phone and sounding fairly formal, "Is there something I can do for you?"
Agent Peters turned to her computer and brought up a search engine, since the computer was on. She then began to type in the name that had been given, though her spelling was to the best of her ability, and since this was informal... she didn't want to interrupt any answers over spelling. The name struck her as somewhat familiar and that gave her some idea on the guess at the spelling. The web search came back with an article on a scientific company that was involved in several research projects that was then used for inventing new technology and/or other factors. It was highly successful and based out of a small town known as Moon Lake.
"Yes, there is," Agent Peters said slowly as she looked at the computer screen, "we've been investigating a man by the name of Dymixious Drake. And in our search we came across a series of phone numbers, one of which is yours. Is there any particular reason that the man has your phone number, Ms. Tachibana?"
There was something that sounded like a growl crossed with a frustrated groan. "Dymixious Drake... if never here that name again..."
"Not a friend, I take it?" Agent Peters asked.
"More of an annoyance," Akane answered back, "Years ago his father came to me with a proposal... nothing illegal, but it was ultimately a deal that proved one sided in his father's favor that I've regretted... and something that Dymixious has played to as though that deal means that I've owed him certain favors. If I ever see him again it would be too soon."
This sounded like a business deal gone bad, and from what their investigation had seen of Dymixious's father, both Detective Holmes and Smith could guess that he had had failed in some business venture and that compound was simply a spot where he retreated to to lick his wounds from that deal. Though, that only raised questions as what sort of business had Dymixious's father been involved in that brought him into contact with Tachibana Enterprises and what was this deal that went south? However, that didn't relate to the investigation and since the call was being arranged as something run by FBI, neither Seattle officer could say anything for fear of betraying that the conversation wasn't secret.
"And so... he's maintained this contact number because he feels you owe him?" Agent Peters wondered.
"That has been what I've gotten out of the conversations that I've had with Dymixious," Akane answered, "again, not something I've enjoyed or welcomed."
"Have you had any recent contact with him?" Agent Peters asked.
"He gave some call about his wife being pregnant and needing access to doctors," Akane asked, "beyond that I cannot say."
"A pregnant wife... and he asked you about this?" Agent Peters asked with a frown.
"Those were his reasons," Akane spoke, "beyond that... he didn't say much. So, I can't really say as to what the last I've heard from him would help you..."
"We're mostly trying to find him," Agent Peters spoke, "as we are certain he murdered Lionel Ulysses and may have been involved in a series of other murders of other known criminals or suspected criminals... And while he may be taking a "bite out of crime," it needs to be remembered that such actions are vigilantism, which by itself is a crime. We can't have private citizens going around killing people, even if the targets are also criminals. Eventually they may get something wrong and kill an undercover cop who's "record" has been "faked' to get him credibility with those that law enforcement is trying to bust."
"I see," Akane said slowly, "well, as I said... our last conversation focused on wanting care for his wife and at this time I cannot say where he is. I told him that any hospital would probably be able to care for her and Moon Lake's hospital especially so, but I cannot say for sure as to whether he followed up on my advice."
"And when did all this occur?" Agent Peters questioned.
"About a week ago," Akane answered, "I think... though, at the time I cannot say I was aware of his involvement in the murder of Lionel Ulysses. I've had a lot of other things on my list of things to do of late."
"I see," Agent Peters spoke, "Well, I thank you for your help. Please know that we will stay in touch."
With that Agent Peters hung up and looked to the two detectives. She didn't even need to say anything before Detective Holmes spoke.
"While I don't think that she gets along with this Dymixious... I'd say that she's hiding something," Detective Holmes spoke, "most of what she said sounded very much like she was giving us a lot of half truths that never really got to the answer of the question that we're really asking... where is Dymixious Drake?"
"It would make me think that Drake is in that little Moon Lake town," Detective Smith commented, "and maybe she's fearful of him... and given what else we've found, that's understandable."
Agent Peters nodded, "Though it may take a bit of clearance with my own superiors to expand the search and get the warrants needed to make contact with the Moon Lake Police and begin to dig a bit deeper into this case."