2025-09-11: Flame of Justice
- Log: Flame Of Justice
- Cast: Goro Akechi, Katsuya Suou
- Where: Rengedai Ward
- OOC Date: September 11, 2025
- IC Date: July 09, 2012
- Summary: Katsuya and Akechi meet properly. The younger man has some very important things to tell him. First, to confirm what he already suspects and knows, but also to show him just how far the web of corruption at which Tatsuzou Sudou is at the heart of extends. While sobering, the revelation that he has allies in this fight gives Katsuya some much needed hope, and shows him just where he ought to now act.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
>Sergeant Suou, this is Goro Akechi.
>I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of memorizing your number when you called Akabane-san's phone.
>You see, I wanted to invite you for a session of karaoke as a sort of 'after-work' get-together between colleagues.
>And if you wouldn't mind keeping it between just us? We wouldn't want the paparazzi to show up.
>I fear they wouldn't be able to resist a candid of me singing Baka Mitai. :)
An address is provided, for a little Karaoke place in the Lotus Plaza of Rengedai. 'Star@Calypso' which is likely named after one of the Pleiades. When Katsuya arrives, he's escorted to a booth.
It's small, but clean and equipped with the latest technology. When Katsuya enters, Akechi stands up, still in his Seven Sisters Uniform. Even his day to day attire as a celebrity is meant to remind everyone he's still in High School. That he is the ideal 'boy next door' to be loved and admired.
For people to believe that with enough hard work and a little talent, they too could be him.
"Sergeant Suou." He says with an affable smile, as he reaches out his right hand, in a quite Western offer of a handshake. "I'm glad we finally had the opportunity to meet properly, face to face. As you've likely already guessed, I was not precisely forthcoming with my true objective in inviting you here today. Rest assured, it's not to hear your charming voice singing the greatest hits of your youth."
If Katsuya takes his hand, he gives it a firm handshake, before then gesturing for him to have a seat. If not, he seems to take no offense. It's not unusual for someone in Japan to not be open to the contact of a handshake.
He has his briefcase seated on the karaoke bench, complete with the circled uppercase A, and period that marks the logo of his detective agency.
"I've already had this booth secured, and swept for bugs just in case your phone is being monitored." He says with a smile, "I simply didn't trust it was safe to meet down at the your station to discuss certain... shall we say 'sensitive' matters. But you would understand my reasoning for this better than most, wouldn't you?"
He is certainly making certain assumptions about the kind of man that Katsuya Suou is, and what he believes. But he's also watching Katsuya quite closely to update his impression on him in real time.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
So this is the place.
The return from Hirasaka had been as uneventful as the hours he'd spent inside the department in Konan adding to his case reports. Nothing had happened. He'd continued to not cross paths again with Ichiba. It had been even been reasonably quiet. But was that well? His relief as the hours crept on gave way to a sort of gathering concern. Can he know that 'everything was alright'? And he'd wondered, too, if his desire to keep his head down and not cause trouble was in fact cowardly. Of course, it was good to get along, and not make trouble, but...
The silence from above has been deafening. It hasn't even been a week, yes, but nothing's changed. As far as he can tell, there hasn't even been a mark left on Ichiba's record...
Then, he'd gotten a series of messages.
Just a little bit, some of his faith had been restored.
>Of course. I will meet you there.
How could he say 'no' to an up-and-coming young man? And one with an eye for Katsuya's own field, at that.
Besides, there's something he has wanted to ask him. He suspects it's rather the real reason behind that request of Akechi's.
He's also a Sevens student. Actually, Katsuya thinks, on spotting Akechi, he already knew that: it had just escaped him until this moment. He's not (usually) caught the young man's public appearances on television, but neither is he completely in the dark. Bits and pieces, fragments of public information about Goro Akechi come floating back to him as he reaches out his own hand in the Western style (well, Katsuya thinks of himself as being more forward-thinking in that sort of regard than some). A firm grip. He'd read somewhere that it's supposed to be a 'good sign'.
"No, I did not think that you had," he tells the younger man, perhaps privately relieved that his guess had been on the mark. So, this is about what he thinks it is about, and not merely the 'bonding exercise' it might have sounded like it was instead meant to be to anyone listening in--
Or tapping his phone.
"I... see," Katsuya says delicately, aware for the first time that his own phone might well not be secure. He should be thinking about that more, given some of his present allies! Or even the possibility that while Baofu might be hacking the devices of the enemy, his own would hardly be spared (from either side, now that he thinks of it). But when Akechi suggests there's reason to be uncomfortable with Katsuya's own work environment, he gazes at him for a long moment, his expression perhaps difficult to read in that interval.
Then, as has been indicated, he takes a seat.
"...'Sensitive matters', you say... what do you mean by that?"
The question isn't asked in the way a naif might speak it: it's not 'what' is sensitive, as if there's nothing there that could be. Rather, it's a request for Akechi to elucidate: to confirm the misgivings that Katsuya has left to fester in his own mind and not yet dared to speak even to his own allies regarding.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
Akechi seems relatively cheerful, all the same as he looks upon Katsuya's expression, as Katsuya takes his hand, and shakes it back. Internally he wonders if it didn't occur to him that his phone could be tapped.
Well he came into this with the understanding that he was an idealist. A glass half full person. The sort of cop that would make one have faith in the system once more.
Placing his hands together, fingers against each other, he leans forward just so.
Detective - https://youtu.be/-hMdL9SX3nE
"The matter of Criminal Suspect #501." He tells him, after a pause which almost seems timed to the most dramatic possible millisecond, "A man who has been active for possibly far longer than even you are aware."
He doesn't presume that Katsuya knows that, or doesn't know that... instead continuing, "Ten years ago, an orphanage was burned down in Tatsumi Port Island. As the fires raged, a young girl perished. The police and fire marshal investigated the matter and ruled it was an accident of faulty wiring."
A beat pause, as he meets Katsuya's eyes, all cheer has left them. Down to business, it would seem.
"A well-crafted fiction. Bought and paid for by the arsonist's father. And I know this to be true because I saw the man who did it, in the flesh. He was younger then, a teenager. I saw him clearly, and reported him to the authorities. ... I was ignored in favor of the narrative. Unfortunately, I was a child at the time, so it took years before I had the 'clout' to actually investigate the money trail."
And it's this moment that he leans back, crossing his arms, as he regards him with a pensive expression. "I imagine this sounds quite familiar to you, Sergeant... after all, if one were to connect the dots... Arson, Bribery, Corruption... ten years past?"
This right here is the gamble, after all, Katsuya Suou, who wants to believe in the goodness of the people around him, his fellow officers in particular, nevertheless, he delivers his final question, as if bringing Katsuya around to where his 'deductions' have led him, "It would all lead back to what your father was framed for, would it not?"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
It should have. It didn't. The urge for a moment is strong, to pull out his phone and power it down. But he makes no move to do so. If it's a liability, it's already been one. And...
It probably doesn't make much difference now, in this place.
But he sits down, he settles in, as much as he's able.
Akechi, for his part, begins.
...#501. It actually takes him by surprise, insomuch as he's been hunting the man across Sumaru (and beyond?) for a little over a month now. But it had taken such a back seat in the last week against that event just before the Dark Hour in Hirasaka and all the fallout that had resulted from it, that as much as it's been the prime mover for much of Katsuya's motivation, it's also managed to slip from his mind.
Baofu had brought up the killings in Sumaru ten years prior, back when they'd met him. He'd even given them a name. A reason, even, for the culprit never being caught.
At the time... Katsuya had been hesitant to trust what he'd had to say. And even if he was right, they had a major problem with how to corner him. Katsuya had opted to try to gather evidence, to build a case. But how well has that worked out?
It's not even the 'past murders' that litter the man's criminal record, to hear Akechi tell it, however. It's...
"A fire...?"
Just a moment ago, Akechi had worn such easy cheer that it was nothing at all to assume that he bore it as easily as he breathed. Now, it's gone, snuffed out in a moment like a candle's flame. He's telling him about the arson... because he had been there at the orphanage. ...That's right. The 'detective prince' was orphaned young, and so he'd ended up in an orphanage. That's common knowledge, itself. Katsuya watches him for a long moment, his own expression growing steadily more stony-- except by the eyes. Watch there, as there's a tell-tale crinkling, almost as if Suou were sympathizing, whatever else his 'iron mask' might try to conceal. "So you saw him... Criminal Suspect #501," he says, bowing his head. His fingertips find the bridge of his glasses.
"Or, I should say... Tatsuya Sudou. That is, if the rumors are correct..."
There. He's said it himself. The suspect's identity, the same one that Baofu had laid out on the table for them all over a month ago, the same he'd rejected, the one who--
Arson, bribery, corruption. And murder. The last, he doesn't say aloud.
It's because he's lifted his head to stare at Akechi, because he's circled past the string of corrected crimes to land, finally, in one that almost seems a footnote against the events of ten years ago. Just a small disgrace, when set up against the larger woes that have served only to presage the current state of things.
Staring at Akechi like he's seen a ghost, Katsuya utters, "...Framed?"
No one else who has ever spoken of his father's circumstance a decade ago has ever dared voice that it might have been a frame-up. Indeed, among his own family, it's never spoken about at all.
Not since Tatsuya entered his teenage years, at least. The wound has long since scarred over, a forbidden territory that neither brother dares to bring up. It's the one truce among them both, that they won't speak about--
Katsuya, slowly, carefully, exhales. He closes his eyes for a moment, as if to gather his thoughts, to steady his own heart.
"Then you... believe he was framed." 'Too', he doesn't say, yet it should be understood to be said. Sometimes the loudest words are the ones left unspoken.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"Ah. You're already aware..." 'the rumors' "...or at least suspected. That does make things easier."
Is his simple comment on Katsuya invoking his name. He does expect a Police Detective to be able to follow along, but it's quite a web of conspiracy.
One that certain parties would consider too implausible to be real. After all, how can so many people keep quiet for so long?
Well, he knows the answer to that one, even if he isn't about to say it aloud.
The way Katsuya looks afterwards, Akechi can make certain guesses about what the Suou household must have looked like, after his father got home from prison.
For a time, he doesn't say anything. Letting Katsuya work through his feelings, until, he says it aloud.
"I do." He says, with a tone that sounds like absolute certainty, "I believe he was a victim of despicable corruption by his fellows. At the behest of our country's foreign minister, Tatsuzou Sudou... as punishment for not dropping the investigation into his son's actions."
It would have to be a politician, wouldn't it? To be behind such a conspiracy and one so highly placed. "I have records that can prove the bribery in exchange for the cover up in the wave of arsons and murder that happened around that time."
And indeed he does, for he's shown them to Shinjiro, "At least, in connection to the orphanage arson, and for several other departments around the country besides."
His brown eyes give Katsuya a look that seems sympathetic in this moment, "What I lack... is decisive proof in the case of your father. And that is because your own department has obstructed my investigation into a 'Cold Case' like this for some time now. And well..."
His head leans forward, as two fingers rub the bridge of his nose, "...as an officer of the law, you know full well how difficult it is to overturn a wrongful conviction."
He says, as if admitting his own limitations, in this regard, "It reflects poorly on a Prosecutor's reputation, for them to have convicted the wrong person. So the burden of proof is almost insurmountable."
But then, as he drops his hand, and that affable cheer returns within his smile, "But, 'almost' implies it is not impossible, does it not? And my Justice will not tolerate an innocent man to be held responsible for the actions of others. And it is my understanding..."
He says, with a discerning look, as if he's trying to determine what kind of man Katsuya Suou truly is in this moment, "... that yours will not either."
It's hard to say how he learned this fact. Whether he merely observed Katsuya, or by second hand accounts... or by some other means.
Or perhaps he merely deduced it, from what he'd put together, that Katsuya Suou - even if he remained quiet about it, had a goal in becoming an officer of the law.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
It wasn't all that long ago that Katsuya would have thought this precise line of thinking was ridiculous. Conspiracies like this don't just exist. How could that many people keep their mouths shut, and for so long? Even though there had long been rumors about the corruption that followed the Foreign Minister in his wake, that was... not right, but certainly not anything that was new in politics. To think that he had been masterminding a scheme this long in the making, though...
Perhaps that's one of the reasons Baofu had been almost patient about his evidence. Perhaps he already knew what conclusion Katsuya would come to in time. Perhaps he knew that it wasn't possible for anyone to find evidence the proper way.
In the end, he's come back to the conclusion that had been handed to him on a silver platter. How much time has he wasted, trying to corroborate the rumors? How many people have been put into danger?
But Katsuya can't wallow in such feelings. Even if he accepts it, there's still the remaining problem: attempting to apprehend Tatsuya Sudou, currently a patient at Morimoto Sanitarium, as he's been for the last ten years, would be met with resistance without evidence. Yes, the same evidence that Katsuya has been trying to find and coming up empty regarding. And, it's not as if they could all walk in the front door and question him or gather information there themselves. For one thing, it won't be that easy. And for another, if he is the Joker Killer, then... if the sanitarium's not a supernatural area, don't they have a problem?
But even all this is by the wayside, for Akechi speaks of a past crime to which he'd been a witness, then ties it to one to which Katsuya and his brother had been victims. Collatoral damage, to be sure: the framing of their father hadn't meant to target them specifically. But the damage had been done all the same.
"...I... see," Katsuya says slowly, his gaze dropping to his hands where they've come to rest atop his knees. "So his goal was to hide his son's misdeeds and... then that is when he had him committed, to keep him out of the way." He speaks of Tatsuya Sudou, of course: the timing lines up from the few files he could find remaining of the young man's existence. He must have... thought his son was a liability, or something to that effect. It's not that he can't guess what might go through the mind of a man who would go to such lengths to spare his son only to lock him away for a decade.
If Tatsuzou Sudou has ever visited the sanitarium, there are no records of that, either.
But Akechi says he has proof and that makes Katsuya raise his head and sit up straight. "You do? Where did you find them?" He'd been digging, where he could, when he could, since he joined the force but...!
He'd never once found anything, doing things the 'right' way. But of course, if there was a conspiracy, one that had stretched even among the higher-ups of the police force, they would have covered their tracks.
"...So they were in Tatsumi, and elsewhere." Akechi has as much as already answered his question as to 'how'. Perhaps they hadn't been as diligent, or there might have been an angle that Katsuya missed. "Yet, you don't have everything that you need..." Things like, the involvement of his father's case. "If there is still evidence, it is well-hidden. I have... not been idle," he admits, pushing his glasses a fraction of the way up his nose as he turns his head. "Furthermore..."
Even if he can prove it, overturning it would be difficult, precisely as Akechi states. Of course, Katsuya knows that. He'd known that since before he set down this path.
But in counterpart to that rather more dour Suou, Akechi professes that almost insurmountable is not the same as insurmountable. For a fleeting moment, Katsuya is reminded well of a particular reporter he's come to know. "I see... 'Think positive', as it were?" he suggests to Akechi as he looks back over at him, the good cheer the younger man wears hardly reflected in Katsuya's own expression. "I suppose that you have a point. We gain nothing by failing to try," he says, folding his arms across his chest, "or assuming that it is a failure to even try."
His own sense of justice. And Katsuya's sense of justice. In this, then, they are aligned.
Once again, Katsuya looks away, down and to the right at some point on the booth seating alongside him. "I could not... believe my father could commit such a crime. To besmirch the honor of his department and of his duty..." He exhales, then unfolds his arms. Katsuya looks back at Akechi and shakes his head. "No. I cannot countenance doing nothing. Even if it weren't my own father, I would have to intervene. It's against the very idea of justice to hold an innocent man responsible for a crime he did not commit!"
And that, in that moment, is the first time since the start of this conversation that Katsuya Suou has raised his voice. Something has been stirred up within him. Within him, the very flame of justice has again begun to burn hot.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
It's such a quiet thing, when a story of national importance is buried beneath another far more popular one. The Phantom Thieves arresting Kaneshiro is talked about everywhere... the leader of the Liberal Co-Prosperity Party, Kosei Tawarada was arrested for covering up his son's murders.
It sounds rather similar to this case, don't you think?
Certainly... it couldn't be related too? Not unless one knew the internal politics of the conspiracy. The Gold Lion thumbing his nose at the Silver's own sordid past history.
"Just so." Akechi says to Katsuya's evaluation of the elder and the younger Sudou. "Not out of paternal love, I suspect but merely because to be connected to his son's actions would be a stain upon his reputation that could never be washed out."
Akechi can feel a certain sympathy for Sudou, even as he says those words. But sympathy isn't enough, when it's a wanton murderer not following his own Justice - but killing for pleasure, and because he's ensnared within a rumor.
They are not the same.
"Yes. It would have been difficult for any man to see they were connected, with the scope of the cover up that took place."
Think positive' as it were?'
He smiles so broadly that one would have trouble seeing the smirk, unless they knew him very well, "In essence, yes. Precisely that." Akechi looks at Katsuya... as he gets heated, and for the moment seems startled, enough that the smile falls away.
"Like father... like son, as it were..." He murmurs softly, at his passion. He understands the hot-blood that can result from such connections, he understands it quite well. It's just, his goes in a different direction.
How he envies a man who can look up to his father enough to make clearing his name his life's work. A repulsive jealousy, even as he feels the shadowy rays of the 'Dark Sun' ruling over his dark son, reaching him even within this room.
"... Well, if that's the case, then I believe that makes us allies in this regard." He says, as that smile returns to his face, "Allies in the cause of justice."
Akechi holds up a hand, then opens up his briefcase, bringing out bank records and attached police reports. Evidence logs mysteriously altered, witness statements suddenly missing. More and more. However, Katsuya will realize swiftly - none of the records are from cases in Sumaru City.
They're from other cities, around Japan. Other places burned down by Sudou. Other murders. Dirty cops transferring money into their bank accounts and not even concealing it all that well. Why would they need to, when their own internal affairs is bought and paid for?
"As you can see, it's quite the sprawling case. If I were to bring this evidence to my colleagues in the SIU, they could put so many who were involved in this corruption scandal away..."
However he then meets Katsuya's eyes again, "... but it would alert the individuals connected to this in Sumaru City, allowing them to escape responsibility fully. What evidence still exists would vanish. And your opportunity to clear your father's name would virtually disappear, overnight."
He leans backwards, regarding his expression carefully, because he might be the sort of man to act anyway. "And I would have them all face justice for what they have done."
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
At times, it's ridiculous to think how 'normal' it almost seems, in the backdrop of such scandals. And yet, the throughline is undeniable. In a culture where corruption can thrive, it's no wonder that men like Tatsuzou Sudou can claw their way to the top. Or, for that matter, that there are others of a similar bent.
More than Katsuya might be aware of, in fact.
"How despicable..." is Katsuya's summary of the apparent relationship between elder and younger Sudou. Bad enough that he had seemingly pulled the strings to assure that his son would not be caught and convicted: it was never about his son in the first place. It was all about how Tatsuzou looked, how he might maintain his political power. Once he was done assuring that the sins of the son would not come to light, he'd turned his back on him entirely.
And then somehow, through the power of rumor at least, Tatsuya Sudou found 'freedom', of a sort. A return, then, to what he had been doing ten years ago? But as he had noted to his allies, the murders had been growing in cruelty and complexity over time. How much was this, too, because of rumors, and how much was it the Joker's own twisted desires?
All Katsuya can do is speculate over this cobweb of crimes that stretches backwards in time.
"Yes," he agrees, to what it is that Akechi has to say. "Even for me, the connection was hidden. I had not been aware of the connection to arson, as well." Almost-- fleetingly, there's something there. Something that it feels like he forgot.
But even when Katsuya chases after that sensation, it's gone, vanishing into the dark.
He can often seem calm, Katsuya. He can seem collected, like he has everything already sorted and is just waiting for the moment to spring. Those who know him better than surface-level, though, would tell a different story.
Under the right circumstances, after all, he can be quite hot-blooded indeed. Perhaps, it was the same with his father, who chased a murder suspect without relenting up until the moment it cost him everything but his life and family.
There are some prices that a man with a family cannot pay.
Katsuya, overhearing that murmured remark, regards Akechi curiously, an unspoken question for a moment in his gaze. Ah, but--
But this young man grew up in an orphanage, he's reminded, and that alone would explain the look the younger man now wears.
To his credit, Katsuya says nothing of it.
It's not quite a proper, easy smile. It's a little tight-lipped: however he might trust Akechi in this moment, he's by nature a serious, guarded man at the surface level. But this is still a smile, and an honest one at that. "Indeed, it does," Katsuya agrees, nodding the once at Akechi's statement. It feels... good to be in alignment with a statement like that. To know that, in spite of everything lately, he's doing the right thing. That he's been doing the right thing. That he, and his allies are on the side of justice--
Can he talk to them about this? Amano, and Serizawa, and Watanabe, and... Baofu. Or, would they see it as it being too personal for him? Of course, Maya is in this fight because she was targetted, and Ayame too, but... Perhaps, he'll just have to think it over and see.
But out comes the evidence, and even those concerns fly Katsuya's immediate thoughts. He sits up, then stands, leaning over the table to get a better look at the paperwork. His gaze leaps from page to page.
"...None of these arson locations are in Sumaru. How many places were...? And this," he points, at a particular slip of paper, "that's an inappropriate transfer of funds, blatently so. Did they not think they would be caught?"
Apparently not, if they themselves are among the law and well-supported by a conspiracy most foul.
Straightening at last, Katsuya leaves the various pieces of evidence behind. "Yes, I can see that. If you went with this evidence now, you would be able to certainly convict many people."
But.
But it would spare the actors in this conspiracy in Sumaru, and certainly ensure that his father's innocence was never revealed.
Once again, Katsuya fidgets with his sunglasses. "And... Tatsuzou Sudou and his son both would certainly escape justice," he says. In other words, they need to find the information that will convict bring the heart of this conspiracy out into the light and leave them both no means of escape. "I see. I understand. In that case... where do you think the evidence might still exist?" He pauses. "Tatsuya Sudou is still being held at Morimoto Sanitarium, according to the records I have found. There's no sign he's been moved from there. I do not think it would be easy, or even that it might succeed, but... if there were a means to investigate there, perhaps..."
Perhaps they might even be able to interrogate him directly.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
Akechi nods absently at Katsuya saying he hadn't seen the connection to the arson, completely oblivious to that existential moment of memory that should not be. "Most didn't realize he was an arsonist at all, so thorough was the cover-up."
In a world where the New World Order exists, so too can a cover-up of this magnitude. In a world where it doesn't, perhaps it wasn't so easy for a man like Tatsuzou Sudou to fully conceal the actions of his son.
But it's pointless contemplating that which isn't right before them, isn't it?
It is to Katsuya's credit, that he doesn't say anything, certainly. It is a touchy subject, even for Akechi's 'cover story' that he tells the media.
The one mystery he's never been able to solve, he says. His father's identity, after he left on a trip overseas. It's a grand story isn't it? One that captures the imagination, while being impossible to gainsay.
In truth he knew the man's name when he was six years old. One cannot truly hate at that age, but one can learn it over time. And in time - hatred becomes an addiction, even for a man you've never met.
It does feel good, being in alignment with that statement. Playacting at the man his mother wanted him to be. It brings him everything he ever wanted...
... even if it's all poisonous to him.
"... I suspect several." Akechi tells him after a moment's contemplation, "As well as... more than a few gruesome murders. Including some of children. Unfortunately I don't have access to the case files, just newspaper clippings... and what testimony I've gleaned from from witnesses I could locate."
He places a hand upon his chin, as if ruminating on this matter then seems mildly surprised at Katsuya's naivete as he points out a slip of paper, "And no, they almost certainly did not. They thought that none would dare defy a powerful man like Tatsuzou Sudou, I suspect."
It is quite the disturbing thought.
"Indeed. It is a difficult sell, without all of the evidence. Not even to mention the... supernatural aspect." Akechi says knowingly to Tatsuya, not even attempting to hide who he was that day, "What prosecutor would stake their reputation on a case, when eyewitness testimony deviates from everyday logic? If placed on the stand yourself and asked how the man escaped us, would you be willing to answer the Judge that he 'teleported'?"
The idea sounds absurd - and yet it would be lying to a court if he didn't, wouldn't it?
"A confession from Sudou himself would certainly be convenient. The man is psychotic, and proud of his actions besides. I don't doubt that he'd be willing to discuss his past history... or his relationship with his father, if provoked."
With one final rub of his chin, he drops his hand, "As for the rest, I believe the remaining evidence would come from investigating your fellow officers in the Sumaru Police Department. As for whom? I have my suspicions... but it's best that we don't jump to conclusions, don't you agree? At the very least - we can narrow it down to someone who is at least a 'ten year veteran' though if they've recruited others since...?"
He weighs that, then discards it the idea immediately of 'just those who had been around ten years', "No, we can't exactly exclude them either as potential accomplices. Corruption often spreads like a plague..."
Tapping a finger against the side of his brief case, he eventually falls upon an answer, "... Let's start with a simpler... and more immediate matter than investigating your superior officers. ...Morimoto Sanitarium. If Tatsuzou Sudou is invested in making certain his son's actions never come to light, then he's certain to have pawns among the staff.
Leaning back, he considers the matter more thoughtfully, "At the very least, given Sudou's psychological profile, he'd have to keep the psychiatrists of the facility on his payroll... otherwise, the man is certain to have disclosed incidents that would put them in the position of being forced to waive patient privacy."
And then a possibility does occur to him, he continues softly like he's building on that, "And psychiatrists do enjoy recording their patient interviews as a matter of course, especially for their more... difficult patients as a matter of personal case study. The written reports are almost certainly doctored, but... I think it's quite likely that there are recordings to be found."
It's a lot of conjecture, but so too does it make a lot of sense. "We'll have to be cautious. We can't exactly ask for a warrant without alerting the higher ups within your department. Not that I'm suggesting we do anything... illegal."
Heavens no, of course the boy Detective Prince would never. "Just if exigent circumstances were to exist, that we might find our opportunity... and with a man like Sudou, I find it quite likely that they one day will."