“I need to get to the hospital. Today. Now if possible. I need to speak with the medical staff that took the bodies in, and I need to take a look at them.”
“Hmm.” He heard her flipping through pages of paper on the other end. “Dr. Tonimura won’t appreciate the sudden intrusion, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“How long?”
“I’ll contact the hospital immediately. But before I do, why the sudden change in itinerary? Chief Oda is already expecting you.”
“Police reports will be there regardless of when I arrive. There is something I need to confirm at the hospital first.”
“Very well,” she said. “I take it you have some kind of lead?”
“I won’t know until I see for myself,” he replied. “And there’s something else.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“I need you to help me identify a person by a photograph. High school girl. I’d take it to Principal Itsuka myself if I had the time.”
“A photo? From where?”
“The local newspaper.” Johnny looked down at the open page. This was what Mari had brought him to. The trash can in the alley had been full of week-old unsold newspapers, and he had spent the last hour poring over every detail of every page. Just as he was about to break from the dull drudgery that was the local rag, he came across a small article occupying just a fifth of a page. A competition for the local youth to design their own watch straps. The winning design would be put into production and sold to the rest of the world.
In the corner of the article was a picture of the winners. A group of three girls, of which Mari stood on the far left. Another girl, taller but with shorter hair in a ponytail, hung over her shoulder with a big smile. The third girl in the picture stood separated from the other two, a more reserved and serious expression on her face. Each girl was identified by last name only in the article, but he could find nothing pointing out which name belonged to which girl. Johnny circled the girl in the middle with his pen as well as the two other names besides Mari’s: Ishida and Toyama.
He told none of this to Saito. Nothing of his meeting with Mei Goto, and nothing of his encounter with Mari Mishima.
“Leave it with the driver after he drops you off,” she said. “I’ll have him bring it to Principal Itsuka directly.”
“I’d like to speak to her tomorrow, if I can.”
“Mr. Tokisaki,” Saito objected.
“I know,” he cut in. “And you don’t have to tell her anything about the murders. Just make something up.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” she sighed. “The car should be there soon. Call me when you’re finished.”
He heard a soft click, then put the phone back down in the receiver. Outside his window, the sun was still high in the sky, and the hands on the clocktower pointed to half-past one. He took his revolver out from its holster and unloaded it, then gave the cylinder a few spins before putting each bullet carefully back and snapping it shut. The girl he had chased was Mari. There could be no room for doubt in his mind.
“They gave one an escapement, and let the other escape.” He repeated the words to himself. “Escape to where?”
After a few minutes going back and forth between the notes he had made of Mei Goto’s ramblings, he shoved his notebook back into his coat and folded the newspaper in half. There was no use trying to make sense of it now. He needed answers.
The car was already waiting for him when he exited the front door. Johnny greeted the driver and took a seat in the back.
“You know what to do with this?” he asked, lifting the newspaper up and tossing it into the passenger seat.
“I’ll see that it gets to Mr. Itsuka,” the driver responded.
The ride was short. No more than seven or eight minutes. The hospital was in the opposite direction of the high school, still in The Bezel, but several blocks closer to the clocktower. The driver dropped him off at the front, then turned around back toward central Sonnerie.
It was an exceptionally large building. Much larger than he imagined Sonnerie needed. The front of the hospital had a wide grass lawn that spread around either side of the premise, and a colossal sundial acted as a monument in the middle of the path leading to the entrance. The dial was at least fifteen feet in diameter, and the only mark upon it was a giant roman numeral XII at the top of the gnomon. He admired its giant stone face for a short time before proceeding through a set of glass doors that led into the lobby.
The interior had the same kind of university feel that the exterior had. Polished, white countertops; windows that stretched from floor to ceiling. It was immaculately clean and for the most part completely deserted. Behind the desk was a stout, middle-aged woman with horn-rimmed glasses.
“Mr. Tokisaki?” she asked without looking up. Johnny stepped forward and rested an elbow on the sleek snow countertop.
“Dr. Tonimura wished me to inform you that she is predisposed at this time and unable to meet with you today. One of our staff, Nurse Shiina, will be answering your questions in her stead. Unfortunately, she will be with a patient for another half an hour. Please have a seat in the lobby until she arrives.”
A quiet sense of unease began to overtake him. Something in the way the receptionist spoke—cold and removed—caused memories buried deep inside him to bubble and stir. There was a contempt in his heart for hospitals and doctors, a contempt he had held onto for so many years it had grown on him. Like a pair of old leather loafers, it fit him so well now that sometimes he forgot that it was a pain that hadn’t always existed. His stomach began to turn, and his heart pounded in his chest.
“Do you have a restroom I could use?” Johnny asked as he rubbed his index finger against his thumb.
“Down the hall to the left,” she answered, her eyes never leaving the folder before her. He gave her a brief nod and excused himself, following her directions until he arrived at the first-floor men’s room.
By the time he made it through the door, his throat was hot and it was all he could do to hold everything in before collapsing to his knees at the toilet. He shut his eyes and pushed the pain of the past out of his stomach. Then, after nothing remained, he flushed it all down. The rest of his body had gone lifeless and limp, despite the pounding of his heart and his staccato breathing. After a few excruciating seconds, he closed his eyes again, and let the world peel away.
He didn’t know how long he was there. After some time passed, his ears began to twitch. He heard voices talking from outside, something that snapped the vigor back into his body. He forced himself up and over to the sink, then turned on the faucet and splashed its freezing water on his face before cupping his hands and taking as big a sip as he could.
“Mr. Tokisaki?” he heard the faint voice of the receptionist from down the hall. He moved his still-shaking hand into his coat and secured his revolver, then stepped out back into the corridor.
“Mr. Tokisaki?” the exasperated receptionist called again.
“Yes, yes. I’m here.” He approached the lobby and saw her standing with another woman in pink scrubs and a mask.
“You must be Ms. Shiina,” Johnny said. He gave her a formal bow and introduced himself. “Is there somewhere private we could speak?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said. “My office is on the third floor. If you’ll follow me—”
“I’d like you to take me to the morgue, please,” Johnny interrupted.
Nurse Shiina and the receptionist exchanged nervous glances. “Mr. Tokisaki, I’m sure that my office . . .”
“The morgue, please,” he persisted.
“It’s highly unusual to have visitors make such a request, even if they are an esteemed guest of the Twelve.”
Johnny took a step forward until he was almost toe-to-toe with her. “The morgue, please,” he said for the final time. His eyes stared down into hers until she
looked away and gave a conceding nod.
“This way,” she said. They returned back down the hall he had emerged from and made a right toward a waiting elevator.
“I’m assuming that you were here the night of the incident,” he said after they stepped inside.
“Yes.” She held her right elbow with her left hand and stared down at the floor as the elevator began its descent.
“I’m sorry to make you relive such awful memories,” he said. “But I’ll need you to give me a full account of what happened that night.”
“It was horrible,” she said. “Why would anyone do such a thing to the daughter of the First?”
Johnny raised an eyebrow at her. “What makes you certain that Mari was the aggressor?”
“To suggest anything else would be to insult the Hanekawa household. The most powerful family in Sonnerie. No one would ever dare insinuate such a thing,” she insisted. Most of her features were hidden behind her mask, but he didn’t have to see beyond the quivering of her eyes to know she believed what she was saying.
The door of the elevator opened into the first-floor basement, and the pair exited down another long, immaculately clean hall. After a short walk, they came to a T-shaped intersection and turned left. At the end of this corridor was a tall pair of double doors with the word “Morgue” written above them. A single suit-wearing guard stood in front of them, with his hands folded in front of his waist. He was a lean, muscular fellow with a buzzcut and a pin on his lapel of two clock hands pointing in the two o’clock position.
“The church posted their own security here so no one stumbles upon the bodies,” Nurse Shiina whispered. “But to be honest, their presence raises more eyebrows than would be if they weren’t here. They aren’t even aware of what lies behind those doors.”
“Nurse Shiina.” The man in the suit raised two fingers over his chest. “The main spring winds,” he said.
“The hands turn,” she replied
He looked over at Johnny and scanned his face. “You know the rules,” he said, looking back at her.
“Mr. Tokisaki is a guest of the Indices. They have given permission.”
Johnny flipped his collar up, revealing the golden pin he was given.
“I’m sorry.” The guard shook his head, then looked at Johnny. “The Grand Luminary has expressly forbidden it. No outsiders.”
Nurse Shiina shifted her weight uncomfortably. “But Mr. Tokisaki has been granted—”
“I have my orders, Nurse. I cannot let you pass. Now return to your duties before I am forced to remove you from this place.”
“Try it”—Johnny stepped forward until they were toe-to-toe—“and the next time you wake up you’ll be missing teeth.”
“Enough,” a voice from behind them echoed. Johnny turned around to see the figure of a tall, slender woman with graying hair and weathered features. She wore a white lab coat over an elegant black blouse and long skirt with gold stripes. Her hair was done up in a tight bun, and she wore a pin with the insignia of watch hands in the twelve o’clock position. Johnny recognized her almost instantly. She was one of the two women from the photograph inside the elevator at The Wheel Bridge.
“If the Grand Luminary wants to man every door and window of the cathedral, that’s his business. But this is my domain, Koda. Here, I make the rules. Here, I am the law.”
She spoke with an eloquent authority that Johnny found instantly attractive. He stepped aside, letting her come up to the guard called Koda.
“Dr. Tonimura,” he said. “This is highly irregular. I must insist . . .” He fumbled for words.
“You will insist on nothing. Remove yourself from my sight or you’ll be making a trip downstairs. Is that clear?”
Koda wiped a sweaty palm on his coat, then gave a short nod. “As you wish, Index.”
Dr. Tonimura stepped aside, allowing him to pass. When he was at the elevator, she turned to Nurse Shiina and gave her a small smile.
“You may leave as well, Erika,” she said, putting a hand on the nurse’s shoulder. “It’s been a hard couple of days.”
“Forgive me, Doctor. I will return to my patients, then,” she said. She bowed deeply, then withdrew without acknowledging Johnny.
“You must be Investigator Tokisaki.” She looked him over, her smile vanishing as she did. “My name is Dr. Sachie Tonimura. The Twelfth.”
“Yes, I recognized you from the portrait at the hotel. A pleasure.” Johnny gave a polite bow.
“Hmm,” she pondered, pushing strands of gray hair away from her eyes. “I’ll give your benefactor credit. You seem more competent than most. No citizen of Sonnerie would be foolish enough to stand up to one of Ninomiya’s little thugs.”
“Ninomiya?” Johnny raised an eyebrow.
“Forgive me, you do not know the Indices. The Grand Luminary is the high priest of the Church of the Angelic Movement, and the Second Index.”
Johnny instinctively reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, but no sooner did he set it between his lips than Dr. Tonimura swiped it away.
“No smoking,” she said, putting the cigarette in the front pocket of her lab coat. “Besides, it’s bad for your health.”
Johnny managed a chuckle. “I take it, then, that you and Mr. Ninomiya aren’t on the best of terms?”
The doctor let half a smile escape her mouth. “Why don’t you stay focused on your job, Mr. Tokisaki. Your benefactor has high hopes for your success, after all.”
“Hmph,” Johnny grunted. “We’ll see about that.”
“I must admit, Investigator, I was not expecting you to visit us so soon during the course of your inquiries” she said, walking past him and opening the door to the morgue.
A gust of cold air blew over him as they stepped inside. Dr. Tonimura shut the door behind them, leaving them alone in a room no larger than the size of his office in Los Angeles. Unlike the impeccably kept front area and lobby, the tiles of the morgue were faded and old. It was clean, to be sure, but uncared for to the point of seeming almost forgotten.
“Yes, well I thought it prudent to understand the nature of the attack. To see if I could glean anything from their injuries,” Johnny replied.
“I must tell you something before we start,” she said. “Ayano’s body is no longer here. Her father, First Index Hanekawa, along with the Grand Luminary picked her up Saturday morning.”
“What of Mari?” he asked.
She moved over to the wall and unlocked the hatch in the middle marked 006, then gave it a pull. “She’s right here.”
The slab slid out effortlessly, revealing a black body bag thinly veiling the outline of Mari’s figure. Dr. Tonimura unzipped it from the top slowly, down past her breasts to her belly button. Johnny observed her coolly, but as he did he felt another wave of nausea hit his throat. This time, he closed his eyes and swallowed it back down.
“They were both dead by the time they got here,” Dr. Tonimura said, pointing at the hideous wounds that marred Mari’s young body. “Mari took the brunt of the punishment. Six stab wounds to the chest and abdomen. Multiple cuts along the arms and face. Ayano only had a couple of cuts and one stab wound herself, but that was all it took.”
Johnny stared down at Mari’s pale, lifeless visage, then focused his mind on the girl he had chased through the streets just hours before. There was no doubt in his mind that the girl he had pursued was Mari, but lying here in front of him now was irrefutable proof that it wasn’t.
“Did anything about the bodies strike you as odd?” he asked.
“The whole situation strikes me as odd,” she replied. “I don’t know how much you know about Sonnerie, but we’ve never had a murder. Those of us old enough to remember a life before the city might still carry recollections of gruesomeness such as this, but perhaps not. The war. The camps. All of that was a lifetime ago.”
>
Johnny watched her as she spoke. There was a sad sincerity in her voice, a bitter longing for the days before today.
“How many people here know about this?” he asked, returning his eyes to Mari.
“Not many. The coroner, myself, and Nurse Shiina. Ms. Goto, the teacher who found the girls, was also admitted to my care that night, though we only kept her for a day.”
“I see,” Johnny said, following the series of scars on Mari’s body. The assault on her had clearly been vicious. Her body was bruised purple in several places, and against his better judgement, he reached out a hand and ran it lightly over her left shoulder.
“Investigator?” Dr. Tonimura asked, but Johnny said nothing. He let the feeling of her cold corpse settle in his mind. She was here. She was dead. Whatever had happened outside of the Goto residence must have had another explanation.
Johnny lifted his hand back up, and as he did, he noticed a small injury quite unlike the rest: a perfect circle that stood over her left breast, right above her heart.
“What’s this?” he asked, pointing at the wound.
Dr. Tonimura lowered her gaze and focused on Mari’s chest.
“We aren’t sure. It certainly wasn’t caused by a knife. It could have been self-inflicted, but by what means eludes me,” she said, folding her arms under her breasts.
Johnny circled around the room, silently considering what precious few facts he knew at this point, then took out his notepad and pen and leaned against the back wall.
“I’d like to know your opinion on all this, if you don’t mind,” he asked.
Dr. Tonimura took a deep breath before zipping Mari up and pushing her body back into the freezer. Her eyes were heavy, and he could see the pain in her face as she did so.
“It wasn’t over quickly, if that’s what you’re asking,” Dr. Tonimura began. “I don’t know who initiated the assault, or why. But they both fought hard enough to take the other’s life. I fail to imagine what fury bewitched them so.”
Johnny pressed his pen against a blank page and began drawing a spiral pattern from the center.
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