The Yoshinobu Mysteries: Volume 2

by John A. Broussard

  Again, Ramon answered in the middle of the first ring. When she had identified herself, Ramon asked if she had received the faxes.

  “I sure have. Stacks. Thats what Im calling you about. Is there any way of finding out if your agent in Japan remembers anything about the other Noboru Nishimuras record?”

  “Piece of cake. Its the middle of the workday over there. Ill call and get right back to you.”

  Kay gave him her own number, so Ramon could contact her directly without going through the office switchboard, and waited impatiently for his call. She tapped her pen on her desk as she tried to review the other faxes, but there was no way she could concentrate on them. Rivaling Ramons alacrity, she picked up her phone when it had barely begun to ring.

  “Youre in luck, Kay. It pays to deal with these meticulous Japanese. The police sent it to him then in minutes wanted the report back. Damned if I know why. But our agent said they were all upset about it getting out. Fortunately, hed made a photocopy first and filed it before returning the original. Hes faxing it to you, so you should get it any minute.”

  “Im amazed the agency got all those pages translated so fast.”

  “Just about all of their business involves US Corporations, so virtually every piece of paper crossing their desk goes to a battery of translators they have working for them.”

  “Thanks for the quick service.”

  “No problem. Thats what Im paid for.”

  Kay stood up as she returned the phone to its cradle and went off to the front office. The fax was spitting out a paper before she had even made it to the reception desk. Leilani grinned at Kays eagerness to peel the sheets off before they could fall into the basket. “I would think you had enough of those already, Kay.”

  Kay gave an answering grin. “Im just a glutton for punishment, I guess.” Then glancing at the first sheets and seeing they were identical to the other copy of Noborus biography, she added, “It looks as though I could have saved myself a lot of trouble by not even asking for this. Its just a duplicate of what I already have.”

  The fifth and last sheet changed her mind. The biography ended, not with the fact of Noboru being currently employed by Ono Electronics, but with a terse annotation which read, “Found dead in apartment in Ginza. Ruled accidental death due to overdose of heroin.” The date of death was eight months previously.

  Chapter 19

  Werner was in his element. Clyde and his assistant could hardly keep up with the flow of words accompanying the flash of instruments. The small, stout pathologist dissected De Regos body with machine-like precision. Having opened up the throat, he beckoned Clyde over to look. There was no question about it. The cricoid cartilage was broken in two places. The fractures were close to each other, but clearly distinct.

  Prior to beginning the autopsy, Werner had pointed out how the rope used for hanging had left a bruise above the neck area. It was at the base of the skull on the left hand side where the knot had been. On the other hand, the cord used to kill De Rego had made an almost perfect circle around the neck.

  “ Why would the killer bother to use a cord?” Clyde asked.“Why didnt he just use the rope?”

  “It is much easier to control, and the pressure to exert, if the weapon of small diameter is. One can it quickly to strangle use…” Werner paused with his instruments in mid air. “Or slowly, if that the preference of the killer is. The Gestapo have piano wire used.”

  A phone in the office interrupted the conversation, and Clyde left his assistant to record the renewed flow of words. Even before answering, he was reasonably sure who the caller was, and he was right. Hanks voice boomed out of the earpiece. “Whats the final verdict?”

  “Its a homicide. I saw the proof with my own two eyes.”

  “What about the accident victim?”

  “Oh, for chrissakes, Hank. The ambulance hasnt even gotten here with the body yet.”

  “You mean you only brought one of them in?”

  “You were there. You saw what the body was like. The frame of the car is practically wrapped around it. They had to send back to town for more acetylene and a power company cherry picker to lift the light pole out of the roof.”

  “I can see I should have stayed at the scene, but I had a damn court session to testify at. Judge Raines takes precedence over a corpse. I sent Corky out. Ill beep her and see if she can hurry them up.”

  “You might as well relax, Hank. Ive got a cancer death from the hospital they want me to autopsy. They think the medication they used might have been involved. Your body is going to have to get in line.”

  “Is there any way of getting it done today?”

  “It depends. Ill talk to Werner. If hes his usual enthusiastic self, well get you the prelim before quitting time. Whats all the rush anyway?”

  “I want to make sure it was an accident.”

  “Of course it was an accident. You think the drunk was sitting out on the highway waiting to ram this car at eighty miles an hour?”

  “I just want to be damn sure, because the dead mans one of the Ono crowd at the Malalani.”

  “So?”

  “So I want to be able to tell Chief Yamada there isnt some maniac on the island out to wipe out everyone connected with Ono Electronics.”

  ***

  Werner was even more expansive than usual as Clyde finished his instructions to the night attendant. “Tonight will we celebrate. You must to the Malalani come. Chef Joseph has said tonight prime rib night is.”

  “I really cant. My wife is going to start looking for a replacement if I dont get home early at least once this week.”

  “Bring wife. Ono Electronics pay for all.”

  “No, really, I think I could stand a quiet evening at home myself.” Clyde was thinking how Liv would gag at Werners idea of pleasant conversation. The barest mention of Clydes day-to-day work had been absolutely forbidden from the earliest days of their marriage.

  “Breakfast then. You must to breakfast come. Today is our last day. In the morning, travel we to Japan, then to India and then to home.”

  The prospect ofa good nights sleep helped convince Clyde to accept.

  “But it is very sad,” Werner said.

  “Whats so sad?”

  “That I here for tomorrows homicide will not be.”

  ***

  Hank had been talking to the desk sergeant when Corky returned from her assignment at the car wreck.

  “Did you get the body delivered, finally?”

  “Yeah. Thats the worse one Ive ever seen. He was just about flattened. One of the medics said you could slide him under a door, and he wasnt far wrong. Ugh! I thought Id seen everything and could take anything, but that squashed lump of mush and gore just about did me in.”

  “So I suppose you didnt go through his clothes for a passport or anything like that? Were going to have to get in touch with his relatives.”

  “Uh-uh. I had a good excuse not to, though I probably wouldnt have anyway. The German pathologist was adamant. Hed already warned everyone there „The body for nothing to touch except it to the morgue to bring. If I had tried to search that mess, Id be covered with blood and brains.”

  “How about the car? Find anything in it?”

  Corky was beginning to sound irritated. “Hell, Hank. You were at the scene. Not once but twice. You know what the car looked like. The wreck couldnt even be towed. They sent into town for a flatbed, and theyre going to haul it to the police garage. Its going to have to be chopped into little pieces to find anything in it. I called the mechanic and he said hed get right on it.”

  The two of them went off to Hanks office as he brought her up to date on their most recent homicide.

  Corky grinned. “Disappointed it isnt a suicide?”

  “It would have made things simpler, you gotta admit,” Hank said with a characteristic grunt. “As soon as Chief Yamada hears weve had three homicides in three days, hes going to fall apart at the thought of the editorials screaming about a crime wav
e. The chief will be bending my ear about how the police are being accused of not doing their job. Hell be imagining hints about the need for a new police chief, right now, not after his retirement.”

  Corky was amused at Hanks seeming concern for his annoying superior.

  “Damn near forgot,” Hank said, passing a memo across his desk. “Kay wants one of us to call, and youve been selected. Maybe shes got it all solved for us.”

  Corky grinned as she picked up the memo. “Dont you wish.”

  ***

  The next moves obvious, thought Kay, but Im not sure I want to make it. I should confront the Rhino and find out just who the hell he is, but if I stick my neck out Ill be going back on what I promised Sid and promised myself. Then, again, even if he is yakuza, hes not going to do anything to me in broad daylight.

  Kay settled for a compromise, called the station and, failing to find them in, left word for either Lieutenant DeMello or Sergeant Honda to call her at Nicholas Yamamotos office at four-thirty. Since he had made it available to her for the entire day, she planned on using it for her second interview with the false Nishimura.

  The next call was to Sigrid. There was no change in her willingness to cooperate. Yes, she was quite certain Noboru Nishimura was at the hotel, and yes, she would be happy to find him and tell him to be at Nicks office at four.

  As Kay was leaving, Leilani called after her, “If youre going to spend so much time at the Malalani, maybe you should open an office there.”

  ***

  He entered the room, carefully closing the door behind him with one of his massive hands. Kay looked across the desk into his eyes and could only read puzzlement as he scanned the room for an interpreter. He made no move to sit down. A prickle of fear crept up her backbone.

  Maybe this wasnt such a bright move after all, she thought. Then, deciding the confrontation had better come sooner than later, she said in a quiet voice which she hoped sounded calm as well, “I know you speak English, whoever you are. I also know you arent Noboru Nishimura. I have a call in to the police, and Im supposed to report in five minutes. So if you wont tell me who you are, youll have to tell them.”

  The brown, unflinchingeyes made contact with hers and held them. The Rhinos broad-shouldered bulk moved with surprising swiftness across the room, his left hand pulled open his light sports jacket and his right went toward his shoulder. Kay froze. Feeling in a slit in the lining of the jacket, he pulled out a piece of plastic the size of a credit card, flipped it across the desk and sat down across from her.

  Somehow, Kay managed to thaw out sufficiently to pick up the card. Across the top were the words, in English, “Japanese Special Police,” and under the words a photo of the chairs occupant and the words, “Captain Seifuku Nakamura.”

  Smiling broadly, he said, “Call the Tokyo Police and ask for Captain Ueda. He speaks English, and hell vouch for me.” His own English was accented but good.

  “I will.” Kay watched him closely as she asked the hotel operator to connect her with International Directory Assistance, and then put a call through to the Tokyo Police Department. In moments she was in contact with Captain Ueda and explaining the situation to him. The answer wasnt forthcoming.

  “He insists on talking to you first,” Kay reported, turning on the speaker phone and adding, “Go ahead …in English.”

  The Rhino broke into a loud laugh, which was strangely high but rather pleasant. He then explained to his counterpart in Tokyo how his disguise had been penetrated by a local attorney who demanded verification of his real identity.

  The heavily-accented voice at the other end still sounded uncompromising.“Give me phone number where you are situated, and I will call back.”

  Punching off the speaker button, Kay asked,“What was that for?”

  “Since you were clever enough to spot me, Ms. Yoshinobu, you should be able to understand the need for such a precaution.” The broad features wore a smile.

  Kay had just begun to see a glimmer when the phone rang. She again pressed the speaker button. The Rhino said, “Glad to have you back. Can you tell her now?”

  “I need the password first.”

  “Morning Star.”

  The voice at the other end then confirmed Captain Nakamuras identity, and stated he was on special assignment. Nothing more was volunteered.

  “Well?” Captain Nakamura asked Kay, raising a bushy eyebrow.

  Relaxing back in her chair, she nodded.

  A crackle of Japanese broke from the speaker. Captain Nakamura broke into a laugh, then answered back in the same language. In reply to a“sayonara” at the other end, he said “aloha” and settled back into his chair.

  Kay shut off the speaker, breaking the connection. “What was the last part about?” she asked the still chuckling Nakamura.

  “Ueda says you sounded kind of grim but still very nice. He wanted to know what you look like.”

  Kay couldn't keep from joining in with Nakamuras amusement. “What did you tell him?”

  “I told him to pick up one of Hawaii travel brochures you find in every newsstand in Tokyo and to look at the cover.”

  The exchange broke what ice remained, and Nakamura was the first to come back to the reason for the interview. “I know I made an error this morning. I greatly underestimated your translator. I assumed he was some old nisei who had cut sugar cane most of his life. He really caught me off guard with one question, which still does not explain how you found out I wasnt Noboru Nishimura. How did you?”

  Kay hesitated, thinking her answer would probably get some poorly-paid police clerk in Tokyo into trouble, perhaps cost her her job. Before she could answer, Nakamura went on. “It is important for me to know. Because if you were able to find out, there are others who might do the same, others who would not treat me so kindly as you have.”

  Kay suddenly appreciated his position and also now saw clearly the reason for the seeming charade between Captain Nakamura and Captain Ueda. Had Nakamura been suspected by the wrong party and held captive, the revelation he was a Tokyo policeman and investigator could easily have become his death warrant. She explained her suspicions arising from the file on the real Noboru Nishimura.

  “The bureaucratic mind!” he exclaimed in exasperation. “Someone just had to make copy of the original, so of course it got filed right next to the false one. I only wish who it was would be sent out in the field for a while.”

  Kay allowed him to vent his anger on the faceless bureaucrat back in Tokyo, then asked her own question. “How did you pull the switch?”

  Nakamura looked puzzled for a moment then, having figured out what she meant: “Complete luck. Special Services has been trying to put plant in the higher echelons of Ono Electronics for at least two years with no success. Then Captain Ueda just happen to hear someone in homicide division talking about the death of heroin addict who was acromegalic. He acted quickly and found out Noboru Nishimura had no living relatives.

  “From there it was easy. As Ueda says, when youve seen one acromegal, youve seen them all.” He gave a self-effacing smile, and Kay was not sure whether it was because he was poking fun at his genetic abnormality, or because he was pleased at his use of such a colloquial English expression.

  “Hemade sure the report of Noborus death was suppressed. In the meanwhile I studied my supposed fishing background. I even practiced breaking chains with chest, carefully prepared ones, so I could sound knowledgeable about being a strongman. Then I applied for job as bodyguard to Masayoshi Ono. I need not have worked so hard on my background. They barely checked on me and hired me next day. It seems Ono had suddenly received many threats, and they felt they needed protection for him in hurry.”

  Kay grinned. “What a coincidence the threats should have occurred just before you applied.”

  Nakamura broke into one of his laughs which seemed so incongruous coming from his ponderous face.

  “Can you tell me what youre investigating?” Kay asked, when the laughter subsided.


  “I can tell you some of it, probably much you have guessed already. I should have told Ueda you are very smart lady too. Even this much is confidential, of course.” Kay nodded. “Someone in Ono Electronics is closely connected with the yakuza and acting as courier, moving drug money from Hawaii to Japan. My job is to find out exactly who and how.”

  “Any ideas?”

  “Yes. I think I have all the evidence I need to call on the American government to take action. Dont ask me who. There are still a few stitches to put in before the sack is sewn up.”

  “O.K., I wont press on what youre doing, but maybe now you can tell me some things about the case Im working on; things you couldnt tell me before.”

  “What would you like to know?”

  “Do you have any idea who might have killed Ono?”

  “No, and I have given it much thought too.”

  “Well, maybe you can explain to me why Nick was so eager to find the murderer.”

  There was a long hesitation on Nakamuras part. Kay could see he was weighing the consequences of telling her what he knew or suspected. Ill bet it has something to do with the money laundering, she thought.

  “If he is the one who did it, then it may not be such a bad idea to give the impression he wants to find the killer. Actually, I do not think he is the killer.”

  Kay raised her eyebrows in question. Nakamura backed off and talked around the question, except to say Nick had a good job. To Nakamuras thinking, it would have been foolish for Nick to jeopardize his position by bringing about a change of bosses.

  “He told me he thought the yakuza might have been involved,” Kay ventured, knowing she had come up against a wall and deciding to look for an opening in somewhere else.

  Nakamura shrugged. “It is certainly possible.”

  Im surrounded by walls, Kay decided. The phone broke in before she could do any more groping, and she reached for it.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Kay. Just carrying out your orders. You seem to be spending a lot of time in his office, and now youre even answering the phone. Are you Nick Yamamotos secretary now? Is there a handsome man sitting in the office with you?”