Chapter 51: Emma's Confinement
"Hey, Miller, I'm here. Where's the person you mentioned? If you dare lie to me, I'll lock you up and show you what real police brutality looks like!"
A tall, imposing man said authoritatively. He had short, dark brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard. A gold police badge adorned his dark blue uniform, and his belt and shoes were gleaming.
Seeing his car arrive, Marcus stopped thinking and stepped forward politely.
"Are you Detective Moretti?"
Moretti was angered by this. A thug under his command dared to call him by his name, so he cursed, "Are you asking for trouble, calling me that?"
"I'm just confirming. You've arrived just in time. Can you do me a favor?"
Marcus stepped forward, performed some maneuvers, and drove towards the police station. He urgently needed to know what stage the Tomie storyline was currently in.
Upon arriving at the Maple Grove Police Department, Marcus immediately pulled two rookie officers over to help him, heading to the records room to find Tomie's files.
Sure enough, there was some discovery.
The police department had two files related to Tomie.
The first was from three years ago, in the Riverside Apartments in the Westside district, a woman named Tomie was dismembered. However, when the police arrived, the body had vanished, leaving only a large amount of blood on the ground; this case became a cold case.
The second was from five months ago, when a girl named Tomie was dismembered at the foot of the cliff on Blackwood Mountain behind Northridge University.
However, when the detectives arrived, they found it was just a prank; the girl named Tomie had simply transferred schools.
Strangely, within three months, students in that class either died or went insane.
The students who weren't insane also disappeared after transferring schools en masse.
Even Tomie's homeroom teacher went insane.
The file was uploaded by a detective named Thomas Harper; he was still investigating the matter, and this was the information he had collected.
Thomas Harper?
Marcus remembered a Harper officer in the original story; he wondered if it was the same person.
According to this file, the incident of Tomie being dismembered into 42 pieces by her teacher and classmates, with each student taking a piece, occurred four months ago.
Tomie's heart was thrown into the river from the bridge by Rachel, a classmate.
Currently, those 42 pieces alone have caused countless Tomies to split and multiply!
Marcus dialed Detective Harper's number using the contact information provided by the police department.
"Hello, this is Detective Harper. How can I help you?"
a deep, middle-aged male voice came from the phone.
"Hello, Detective Harper. This is Detective Moretti from the Maple Grove Police Department. I'm also investigating the Tomie case and have discovered some irregularities. I heard you've been investigating; could we meet to discuss it?"
"It seems you've discovered it too? I'm currently at the Westside Police Station. Just come here."
"Okay, I'll come see you tomorrow."
Marcus hung up and picked up the contact information for some of the department's confidential informants.
Meanwhile,
on the streets of the Westside district, a one-eyed man wearing a black eye patch was furtively carrying a bag, walking hurriedly.
He dodged and weaved his way back to his rented apartment, as if afraid someone would discover the contents of the bag.
Back in his room, he opened the bag; inside were fresh human tissues and preservatives. A maniacal smile crept across his face as he carried the bag towards his bedroom.
On the second floor, by the balcony, a girl was filming the trees in the yard with a camera. The landlord, an older man carrying a bunch of keys, approached and saw her.
"Emma,"
the landlord called softly as he drew nearer.
Hearing this, Emma Mitchell, holding a camera, turned around: "What's wrong, Mr. Hansen?"
"Emma, that tenant downstairs named Yamamoto is acting strangely. Try to avoid conflict with him if you don't have to. There have been too many weird people lately, so be careful."
Landlord Hansen covered his mouth with his hand and whispered these words of advice to Emma.
Emma nodded to indicate she understood.
As a photography major, she had recently been troubled by her summer assignment, and her amnesia and insomnia had become increasingly severe.
She had even gone to the hospital for treatment yesterday; Dr. Patterson had hypnotized her, but the diagnosis was the same as before—she was instinctively avoiding the lost memories.
Now her condition was getting worse, to the point where she had nightmares every night, and once she woke up, she couldn't fall back asleep.
She couldn't remember the content of her dreams at all, only vaguely remembering that she was covered in blood.
Emma went downstairs, only to find that her bicycle had been vandalized. Frustrated, she returned home.
Kevin Harris, Emma's current boyfriend, was cooking when he noticed her expression and asked curiously,
"What's wrong, Emma?"
Emma angrily complained, threatening to call the police to catch whoever did it.
Kevin chuckled.
His girlfriend often got into conflicts; maybe the person who broke the bicycle was one of her antagonistic classmates.
Soon lunch was ready, and the matter was forgotten.
Emma, fully embracing her photographer's spirit, started snapping photos of the food on the table to complete her "assignment."
"Stop taking pictures, the food'll get cold soon. Try this grilled salmon, my specialty,"
Kevin said, eating while continuing to watch Emma photograph.
"Okay, I'll take two more pictures and then eat,"
Emma nodded in agreement, but her hands didn't stop.
By the time Kevin had finished half his meal, Emma was still taking pictures. Kevin was completely fed up. He slammed his hand on the table:
"Do you really want to be a photographer?!"
Seeing that her boyfriend was truly angry, Emma quickly tried to appease him.
Her mother called at that moment, and the two women started arguing after only a few words.
After hanging up, Emma suddenly received another call, but there was only a strange silence on the other end. She assumed it was just her mother expressing anger and didn't pay much attention.
The strange man in the downstairs room put down the phone that had been hung up and pulled down his hood to reveal a sickly face.
It turned out to be Yamamoto, the one who pushed Tomie off the cliff and obtained Tomie's head from among the 42 pieces of Tomie's remains.
Emma felt that she had dreamed of a beautiful woman's head being severed last night, and she was so frightened that she went to see Dr. Patterson again after dinner today.
"Emma, I'm going to hypnotize you again. You need to let your guard down and relax."
Dr. Patterson took out a pocket watch.
Emma nodded and lay down on the couch.
After the hypnosis was completed, Emma said goodbye and went home. Dr. Patterson then began to analyze Emma's hypnosis recording. In this recording, she noticed two unfamiliar names: Derek Thompson and Tomie Kawakami.
Just as Dr. Patterson finished listening to the recording, a detective named Harper came to her door. He was Thomas Harper, the detective Marcus had contacted who was investigating the Tomie case.
(End of Chapter)
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