Chapter 5

The group pulled up to Sachiko's house and Josefine lagged behind as the two Detectives knocked on the door. There was no answer. Josefine rocked on her feet for a moment, hands shoved deep into her pockets and the collar of her green overcoat turned up against the wind.

"Is she supposed to be home?" She finally asked and Davidson grumbled something she didn't quite catch but figured she should probably be offended by anyway.

That's not to say she was, that would require she cared about his opinion of her.

Andries shot him a glare and muttered something to him about playing nice before he turned to pound on the door again a little louder.

"Hello, Miss Minami? This is Detective Andries and Davidson, we'd like to talk," he called out through the door. Josefine shifted back and lit a cigarette. Then she exhaled smoke and turned back down the stairs to start circling the house. She came to the freshly turned earth and the blood roses and pinched the cigarette between two fingers.

"Andries?" She called out to him, "I think you've got a problem." He and Davidson poked their heads around the corner a moment later. "You've got blood roses," she picked one of the blood-red flowers from the vine and twirled it between her fingers, "there's a body under there, something big if it dyed all of the flowers on the vines." Andries breathed a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Let me go find a phone. Davidson, get inside," Andries took off toward the main road as Davidson moved back around to the front door. Josefine moved toward the back door and fished her bump key from a pocket. By the time Davidson had put his boot into the front door with enough force to break through, Josefine was already standing inside. He grunted when he saw her, then quickly turned away.

"What're we looking for?" She broke the silence and he shot a sharp look her way.

"Any sign of who might've seen her last or where she might've gone." Josefine nodded slightly and kept to herself that she was the one who saw her last. Andries returned a few moments later while she was looking at the painting of her last boyfriend.

"They're sending some uniforms over to dig up the garden."

"They'll either find this gentleman or he's the one we should be looking for."