The Yoshinobu Mysteries: Volume 2

by John A. Broussard

  “I dont know if this is on the Ono case or not, but the latest is we have another bodya Malalani employee who was found in Shishi Gulch with her head bashed in.” Kay quickly sketched out the details of the second murder.

  “Ican tell by the sound of your voice youre sure theyre connected.”

  “I even think I know how, but Im a long way from being sure.”

  “As usual, youre not going to tell me until youre sure. Right?”

  “Right.”

  “Just be damn sure you dont go voicing your suspicions to anyone else except the police.”

  “Dont worry, Sid. Ive learned my lesson. Ill be a good girl.”

  “Be a careful one too.”

  Kay remembered the one occasion when her voiced suspicions had panicked the murderer, who had almost added her to the toll as a result. At the time she had taken a vow of discrete silence on such matters, and she had no intention of going back on it now.

  “The problem is even though I have a pretty good idea about how the killings are connected, it still doesnt tell me who killed Ono. And thats what Im being paid to find out.”

  “Whats on for tomorrow?”

  “Ive told Leilani to lock the office door and pull the plug on the phone if necessary. With luck, well have the usual midweek slump in business. Whatever happens, Im going to spend the whole day on the Ono case. Its going to begin with an appointment with Hideko Northrup to hear how the interview with Sigrid turned out. Then Im off to the hotel. I have a long list of people to talk to.”

  “O.K. I know you must be getting tired. Im beginning to have trouble keeping my eyes open myself. I sure wish you were here to share my upper berth.”

  “I wish I were there too, but how could two people sleep in such a cramped space?”

  “Who said anything about sleeping?”

  ***

  Kay seldom dreamt, or at least seldom remembered her dreams if she had any. On the few occasions when she had been able to recall portions of them, the dreams had for the most part been vague and amorphous. They were present in her mind, when waking, mainly as feelings rather than as events. This night, the dream was vivida nightmare so real she sat up, turned on the bedlamp and looked wildly around the room.

  Jenny, sleeping by the side of the bed, raised her head, a questioning expression in her eyes. Rising, she begged mutely for a reassuring pat. For a moment Kay hesitated, still shaken, but at the same time laughing at herself. Then she reached her hand out to the grateful dog. “My, Jenny, you look so much nicer than you did a minute ago.”

  The dream had been about Jenny. They were walking down a long narrow lane where high bushes marked the borders. At first, Kay had Jenny on a leash, then she was running loose. Suddenly a bulky dark figure broke from the bushes, a human form, with something in an upraised hand. The figure ran silently and menacingly toward Kay. Unable to either move or speak, she saw the flash of a knife slashing down at her.

  Death came quickly. While her attacker ran off, her disembodied self hovered nearby, puzzled and frightened by the body lying on the ground. Then Jenny came back and, while doing her zigzag with her nose to the ground, almost stumbled across the corpse. A growl began down in her chest and she loped off in the direction the assailant had taken. Kay found herself standing a few feet from the shadowy figure when Jenny flashed past her. The huge dog launched herself at the throat of what Kay now saw was a man.

  The real terror came, more than at the sight of the upraised knife, more than at the vision of her own dead body, when Kay saw the expression on Jennys face. Later she was to wonder if it had not been some latent racial consciousness, going back to the first human encounters with wolves, that had made the open mouth, the huge canines, the froth, the look of utter savagery so terrifying. At that second she had sprung awake.

  In the morning, over her coffee, after she had skimmed through the Elima Chronicle, she decided the dream had really been inspired by Alan Jr. She had felt an uneasiness at his rough handling of acreature physically capable of tearing him apart, despite Jennys tolerance and even positive enjoyment of his presence, which still didn't explain why suddenly Kay should have had so real a dream. Maybe Ill share this dream with Hideko, she mused. Then again, maybe not.

  ***

  Even though the clinic had been built only two or three years back, it had been almost immediately remodeled to accommodate its growing clientele. Extensive changes were again going on when Kay showed up at eight-thirty. The receptionist, an acquaintance of Kays, told her a new doctor was being added to the staff and new equipment was soon to be moved into the lab section. A phone call brought Hideko out from behind some temporary paneling to help guide Kay back to her office.

  “Glad you came out to get me,” Kay said. “I can remember when this was just a Ushaped building. Now its getting to be a rat warren, and I see you have a different office.”

  “Theres no stopping progress,” Hideko said, after she had settled down behind her paper-strewn desk. “It seems we have to have some kind of electronic device to analyze everything from ingrown toenails to dandruff.” As she spoke, she unerringly selected a folder from among identical looking companions. “The one thing which doesnt change is the paper and pencil test.”

  “How did she do?”

  “Would you believe it? On the standard IQ she scored 75.”

  “No. I dont believe it.”

  “What you should believe is those tests were never made to test the likes of her. Its like weighing an orange to find out its color.

  “That bad?”

  “That bad.

  “Then she really cant handle numbers?”

  “You are putting it very mildly. And, if anything, her spatial analysis is even worse. She tried, too. There wasnt much point in making her keep at it. I know how Id feel if someone suddenly asked me to translate cuneiform. And, didnt you say she told you she couldnt draw stick men? Look at this. Thats one of her efforts.” Hideko held up a sheet of typing paper with an incomplete circle and five lines drawn randomly in the middle of the sheet. It looked like a spastic childs effort to depict a sunrise.

  Kay shook her head, still unbelieving.

  “Thats the downside. The upside is just as wild. Would you believe, perfect pitch?” Hideko went on without waiting for an answer. She speaks better Japanese than the current Prime Minister, and hes no slouch. She reads it as well as I do. Thats whats really strange. She has a legible hand when it comes to cursive writing in the Latin alphabet, and even the Japanese syllabaries, but she does as badly with the Chinese characters most of Japanese is written in as she does with her art work.

  “I asked her if shed mind coming back next week for me to look into her spatial difficulties further, and she said sure, just as sweet and cooperative as with the tests.” “Does she know what she has?”

  “Oh, certainly. Some school counselor, back when she was twelve, had just read a paper on Williams Syndrome. So he sent her off to a psychologist and, even more important, to a cardiologist.”

  “Whys that?”

  “A lot of Williams people have a narrowed aorta. She does too, but it isnt serious, just something to be aware of.”

  “Thats a relief. Im sure it was for her. Just exactly what is this Williams Syndrome?”

  “Believe me, Ive looked up a lot of references to it in the last few hours, but I really dont have the answer to that. But, then, the experts dont either. Your client would be exceptional, even without it. Thats another peculiarity of Williams. It really has nothing directly to do with intelligence. Person who has it might be an idiot or a genius. What seems to happen is the condition is like a mask with a pinhole through it. Language abilities show up tremendously magnified. Other qualities such as number and spatial facility are virtually absent.

  “Which may explain the reason they do so well in the areas where they are proficient. Sig doesnt have to clutter up her mind with numbers. She can concentrate on languages and, believe me, shes absolutely astonishing when it
comes to language.”

  Though fascinated by the subject, Kay asked, “Can we move on to some other stuff now?”

  Hideko laughed at the shift. “Of course. I know whats important. What kind of defense you can present in court if shes charged.”

  “Right.”

  “Its really hard for me see how anyone could suspect her of murder, almost as hard as it is for me to see her actually doing such a thing. All I can say is an expansion of what I already told you. Shes sensitive, loving, trusting. Shes open in her attitude toward Masa Ono. Hewas generous and understanding, but she didnt love him, and shed told him so.

  “I explored the possibility of her having some outside romance. Im even more positive about such a possibility. She was faithful to Ono, as faithful as she was to her first husband with whom she was deeply in love, by the way. She still is. She really hasnt gotten over grieving, even after three years.”

  “Well, it all sounds to the good. Remote as it may seem, I might have to defend her in court. Its nice to know I can trust my client, since its seldom an attorney specializing in criminal defense can. But I still have to allow for all eventualities. If she did do it, would self defense be a likely explanation, or at least a psychologically possible one?”

  Hideko stirred uneasily, and instead of answering the question, posed one of her own. “Do you think she might be charged?”

  “No, but I would never tell a client that. Ive seen too many cases where charges were brought when I thought they were completely off the wall. Our judicial system doesnt necessarily follow rational principles or correspond to my way of thinking. Why do you ask?”

  Hideko still avoided the question. “If she were charged, would you call on me as an expert witness?”

  Kay was baffled by the direction the conversation had taken. “Why, yes. Of course. At least I cant think of any reason why not. Youve already said shes almost totally incapable of murder.”

  “Lets suppose for a moment it did come to court, would you use self defense as an argument?”

  Still puzzled, Kay answered, “If the evidence produced by the prosecution seemed proof positive she was the killer, I would most certainly use every argument possible. And those include arguing shed killed her husband in self defense. Again, I want to emphasizeId do so only if the evidence against her was overwhelming or if she confessed.”

  Kay could see Hideko was still wrestling with some problem she had been mulling over from the beginning of the interview. After a long pause, Hideko said, “In which case I wouldnt be able to back you up, because Im convinced she never would have resisted an attack. I think she would simply have collapsed.”

  Kay said nothing, momentarily overwhelmed by the complexities of the case, and the even greater complexity of her clients personality. Finally, she asked, “She seems so open and honest. Cant we just ask her what happened and take her answers at face value?”

  Even as she spoke Kay knew she was violating the most fundamental of the principles she had held during her years as a defense attorney, which was, “Never completely trust a client.”

  Hidekos answer reinforced the principle. The psychologist shook her head. “Dont push too far. I cant put my finger on it, but I know shes concealing something. If she is, shes probably keeping it from you as well as me.”

  “No idea at all?”

  “Im almost certain it has something to do with Masa Onos death. Beyond which, I really cant say.”

  “Ill be seeing her this afternoon. Ill go over the whole matter again. Maybe I can spot whatever it is. Anything else I should know?”

  “Yes, there is, but theres no good way of really describing it in English.”

  Kay grinned. “Dont bother to tell it to me in Japanese, because it wont do any good. Try English.”

  Hideko broke into an answering smile. “Theres no good way of describing it in Japanese either. Maybe theres no way of describing it in any language. The nearest I can come to putting it into words is the fact she exercises bad judgment. Maybe I should say her mind works “inappropriately” every so often.”

  “Isnt inappropriate behavior true of all of us on occasion?”

  “Yes, but Im talking about sudden, bizarre behavior.”

  “How about an example?”

  “I had a patient, not someone with Williams, who was quite normal in all respects except for occasional…mmm, short circuits…under stress. She and her husband and child had moved into a fancy American-type house in Tokyo. The first day in their new home she was alone with her baby daughter. The swinging doors into the kitchen slammed on the childs middle finger and snipped off the tip. Now, what would you have done under those circumstances?”

  “I would have acted totally irrationally, run around like a chicken with its head cut off, wrapped a towel around her hand, and then finally gotten around to calling 911.”

  “I consider your description to be a normal reaction, either here or in Japan. Only she didnt do any of what you described. Instead she picked up the cut-off piece of finger and threw it into the fireplace.”

  Kay was not convinced the woman's action was really such bizarre behavior. Suddenly she remembered the rubber finger in the Hobart which Corky had described to her. Losing fingers seems to be a national pastime in Japan, she decided.

  Chapter 13

  Nick had told her to go in and wait in his office if he didn't arrive right on time. So Kay had made herself comfortable, working over an idea which had surfaced out of the information she had garnered from Hideko Northrup. The idea, one she disliked and which made her wonder why her mind worked in such a strange fashion, was still appealing in a perverse sort of way.

  However distasteful, she had to explore the possibilities in what might turn out to be the explanation for the two deaths. Nick should be able to help determine the validity of her suspicions.

  He arrived with apologies about two minutes late, the same affable Nick she had spoken to the day before. “Did you get those clippings?” he asked as he settled himself down in his chair.

  “Yes, and I didnt expect to get them quite so soon.” Nick grinned. “Im trying to make you earn your money.” Saying that, he pushed a folder across the desk to her. “Heres the will. It was written in English as well as Japanese, so no translation was necessary. Since so many of our branches are in America, almost all of Mr. Onos correspondence and legal papers were in both languages. Im still trying to run down the investigative committees report on the plane crash. A copy was sent to the aircraft company here in the US, so I know it was translated into English.”

  Kay took the folder, looked at its thickness, decided she would take time out later to go through it, and put it unopened into her dispatch case. “Tell me about Mr. Onos relationship with his family, his blood relatives.”

  Nick took the question in stride. “He has no other close relatives besides his son. Shigeru fits the stereotype of the docile and obedient Japanese son.” He paused, frowning in thought. “Maybe, nowadays, Shigeru is more the exception than the rule, but you get the idea. Mariko was even chosen for him by his parents, which is sure not common in Japan these days. Of course they wouldn't have forced him to marry her if he hadnt wanted to, but the pressures were there.”

  “ How has it turned out?”

  “Very well, to all external appearances. Shes pregnant, by the way. Theyve wanted a child for a lot of years. Ono was hoping to have lived long enough to see the baby. He was terribly upset by the death of his grandson.”

  “Oh yes,” Kay said., “Id almost forgotten there was a child on the flight.” The idea she had had began to dim. “What was Mr. Onos relationship with his daughter like?”

  “Exceptionally close. She was quite a contrast to Shigeru, and the complete opposite of Mariko. Her name was Keiko, by the way, same as your Japanese name. In America it would probably have been said she was spoiled rotten, and she certainly was by Japanese standards, but Mr. Ono doted on her. So far as he was concerned, she could do no wrong. There was n
o choosing her husband, I can tell you.”

  “What was he like?”

  “He was an architect and engineer. Tadayoshi Sugiyama. He had little interest in electronics. Ono offered him a respectable position in the firm, but it wasnt for him. His preferences ran to designing bridges and skyscrapers.”

  “How was his marriage?”

  “Actually, quite good, mainly because Keiko wasnt about to be pushed around by her father. Im sure he never tried to make her stay at home when her husband was out of the country, but she knew he would have preferred to have her living nearby. Which, of course, never stopped her. She traveled extensively with her husband.”

  “What happened to him after the crash?”

  “He married again a few months later. The last I heard of him, he was in China working on a large hydro-electric project. His new wife and young child are over there with him.”

  “How did Masa react to his daughters death?”

  Nicks eyes narrowed. “What do you mean „react?”

  “Sigrid says Masa was devastated by his daughters death. Did you get the impression he was?”

  “As soon as I heard about the accident, I flew back to Japan and arrived the next day. I was appalled at Masas condition. Im afraid Mrs. Ono really understates his reaction. Thats understandable, since she was completely out of it for a week or so.

  “Mr. Ono was so devastated his personal doctor didnt expect him to live. I didnt either. He was very weak and didnt seem to want to live. When I was allowed to see him, he had no interest in the business at all. Thats when I decided he wouldnt make it. Somehow he did.

  “I know Mrs. Ono thinks he was kind to her because of his concern for her. Actually, I think it was deeper than that. The kindness and concern he showed for her was what helped him to keep on living. It was a good share of the reason for everything he did for her. And perhaps, in some way, she served as a partial substitute for his lost daughter. Its hard to say.”

  The idea Kay had had faded out completely. The monstrous notion of Masa having been possibly responsible for the crash, killing off a husband whose wife he coveted, and a daughter whom he despised, was now totally untenable. Kay was quite happy to be rid of it. Even so, she decided to get confirmation of everything Nick had told her. Qual had warned her on her first day she had gone to work for the firm. “Never put all of your trust in just one witness,” he had said, and added, “Verify, verify, verify.” Kay had always taken the advice to heart.