Open Sesame Chapter One

“Look, I don’t care Tracy. I am the CEO of this branch and what I say goes. Ether you accept the deal from Gates or I fire your worthless ass.” The phone made an echoing clack as it was thrown onto the glass table. Taking a deep breath, Hideo Kazama leaned back on his expensive chair. His nose flaring like a bulls as he exhaled; his face slowly returning from red to his usual pale complexion.

Once upon a time, he was the nice guy. The quiet colleague who everyone knew they could depend on, however when his hard work earned him a promotion, the power instantly went to his head. As he quickly rose through the ranks within Pineberry Computer Entertainment inc., he left a trail of antidepressants and therapy sessions behind him. Sure he had an eye for business and all his superiors agree that if it wasn’t for him, Pineberry would be just be like any other lame tech company. The people that worked under him, on the other hand, had his butt impression firmly imprinted on their face, so to speak. He was hated by all and, despite his branch in Tokyo being the biggest with the most opportunities, there would always be prayers at the shrine next to the company building, pleading to be moved to a smaller branch. To be moved far, far away from Hideo Kazama. Heck, it changed him so much that 5 years after the first promotion, his wife packed up her belongings and their two kids and left. It took him 3 years to notice their absence and 3 minutes to forget that he ever had a family in the first place.

With a squawk, the buzzer on his intercom went off. Jabbing the red button he barked “What, Sheelagh?!”

“...uh, Mr. Kazama sir, your teriyaki is here from-“

“Well, bring it in then!”

With a squeak, Sheelagh dropped her phone receiver, grabbed the warm take away bag, straightened her skirt and entered Hideo’s office.

After 6 months of working as his secretary, she knew the protocol for entering his office down to a T. Firstly, you must enter quietly; secondly, if you have come in to collect something, pick it up from his secondary table which is far away from his primary table on the left hand side of the room (so as to keep the disturbance to a minimum); if you are going in to drop something off, place it on the coffee table located in the middle of the room; lastly, slowly back your way out of the room. By back your way out, it is meant literally. Slowly, with your face to him and yet not making eye contact, you must try to make your way out of the room... without tripping. This last order was specifically put in place so the underling would not be tempted to make faces once their back was turned to Kazama.

Dropping the baggy of food unto the coffee table, Sheelagh slowly started to make her way backwards, to the door. Unbeknownst to her, Mr. Kazama had moved one of his precious ornaments just right so as she reached a place she knew would require a left turn, she bumped rather forcefully into a podium holding a vase. Her eyes widened as in slow motion, the very vase she remembered being barked at to order for $2,000,000 lands on the floor, does a tiny bounce, still intact (Oh thank the maker-), lands on the floor again and cracks exactly in half. A little too exactly. Oh crap, it wasn’t an original! Now he’ll yell at me not only for breaking it, but for not properly looking up the seller as he had asked. Not knowing whether to faint or piss her paints, Sheelagh gave a final squeak and ran from the room.

When the door closed behind her there was a ten second pause before Hideo gave a great roar... of laughter. “That dumb bitch,” He cried, tears streaming down his face. “I never would have thought it would be so funny.” His great, rotund belly shook with laughter as he walked past the coffee table to the podium and broken vase. Picking up the two halves he threw them carelessly into the bin, opened one of the many cabinets lining the wall and pulled out the original vase. Once he had positioned the podium in its original spot, he placed the vase carefully on top.  Giving another little giggle, he sat down on the plush couch in front of the coffee table, lifted the carton of teriyaki beef from the bag, pulled out his solid gold chopsticks and began to eat with gusto.

Within a matter of minutes, he had devoured the whole box. Throwing the carton carelessly back into the bag, he relaxed a bit further into the couch, deciding to take the whole of his lunch break off for a change. Looking at the podium and vase again, he began to laugh, “Ahahahaha! I knew she’d be an- haha ,easy tar-haha -get... ha...ha.” midway into his laughing fit, he began to realise that each breath in was being harder and harder to take. Still giggling slightly, he felt his lips begin to tingle and his eyes water as the closing of his throat lead to wracking coughs; his lungs begging for more air. “-elp... h...elp me.” He whispered as that was as loud as his constricted voice would go. Falling to the floor, he began to slowly crawl to his desk, cursing the day he decided to knock down the company’s gym to increase the size of his, already massive, office.
He was nearly there, just a few feet away from the drawer housing his epi pen, when with one last strained wheeze, he collapsed fully to the floor. His face blue, his eyes bulging and his karma paid out in full.

Xoxox

Dr. Kruger hummed as she snapped on her sterile gloves. “Someone’s happy this morning,” grinned Detective Tokiha as she watched her friend put on the protective clothing of a crime scene officer.

“Shizuru made pancakes,” was the short reply. Natsuki began to hum once again as she made her way into the room and towards the coffee table. “So what do we have here, Mai?”

“We have a Mr. Hideo Kazama, 48 years of age. According to his secretary, he had high blood pressure, high cholesterol... all the typical signs of a heart attack waiting to happen that people in his position have. She said this is all of what the previous secretary had told her and what that secretary was told from the one before him.”

“So ether this guy is a complete ass, or someone should have notified him to change the batteries instead of buying a completely new one.” Assessing the table, Natsuki noticed the mess of paper napkins and splattered sauce. As she moved round it, she observed something poking out from underneath. “Hmm... gold chopsticks. Who the hell eats with golden chopsticks?”

“Obviously someone with too much money,” remarked Mai, looking at all the expensive vases and ornaments dotted around the room. “What are you thinking so far?”

“To be honest, so far this looks just like a man who needs to learn how to eat and not like a murder. There are no signs of a struggle, but I have yet to see the body, so let’s not jump to any conclusions just yet.” Natsuki grabbed the attention of one of the Scene of Crime Officers, telling them to pack up the important contents on the coffee table.

“I have to agree. Even though no one was outside, manning his door at the time, security told me that no one but his secretary, a Ms. Sheelagh Wright, came in or out of the room within the two hour time frame we estimate the death to have occurred. Plus the body does not seem to be harmed.”

“How have you come to this time frame?” Natsuki ignored Mai’s last comment as she walked over to the body.

“From the secretary,” Mai pulled out a notebook from her coat pocket, “She says she came in at 12:30 to hand him his lunch, left at about 12:33 and ran to the ladies toilets down the corridor, staying there for roughly an hour,” Natsuki looked up and raised an eyebrow in question, “not for any digestive reasons, Natsuki. This guy was an ass; she had run to the toilets to cry. Anywho, so at 13:30 she comes back to her desk and waits for Mr. Kazama’s usual clean up call at 14:00. Only she doesn’t hear anything and by now its 14:30. Not wanting to disturb him, or perhaps being too afraid of him, she doesn’t go in to see what is wrong until 15:00 and that’s when she finds his body.” Natsuki and Mai crouched down next to that very body. “SOCO’s have come and taken pictures of it already, so feel free to move the body around.”

“Without turning him over yet, from the position he is in I can deduce that he may have been reaching for something.” The Doctor followed the dead man’s outstretched right arm, which pointed towards the glass topped desk. “I suggest you search the drawers whilst I turn him over.”

With a nod, Mai stood up and made her way to the desk. “Whoever his decorator was, they obviously had no taste. A glass and metal table in a wooden room surrounded by antiques that are older than my grandma and grandpa’s ages combined? Yuck!” Mai attempted to open the bottom drawers, but had no luck, “Check if there are some keys in his pockets.”

“Okay, but I’d prefer it if I didn’t start taking all sorts of things out until I was at the morgue.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll bag it.” Mai replied as she opened the top drawer successfully, “uh-huh... pen, mobile, wallet, envelopes... wait, this looks like some sort of medicine.” She walked back over to Natsuki, who now had Kazama lying on his back, his bloated, swollen face in full view. “He’s been suffocated!”

“Yes, and judging from the EpiPen in your hand, it might have been by accident,” frowned Natsuki, taking the unused pen in her hand.

“Epi Pen? You mean like those self injection pens that people with peanut allergies have?” Mai frowned too and looked down at the body. “Doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would forget to tell everyone that he has allergies. I guess the next thing we should do is take him to the morgue and pull his medical records; see what he’s allergic to specifically.”

“While you do that, I’ll start the autopsy and push for the test results on the food container to come back as quickly as possible.” Natsuki bagged the Epi Pen and searched his pockets for a key. All she was able to find was a clip of money, a zippo lighter and a box of anti-acid pills, which she bagged, before motioning for some SOCO’s to come help her take the body outside.

“Is it bad that I suddenly fancy chicken in peanut satay?”