Tokyo Enigma

by Sam Waite

  "Taen desu."

  Kuroda bowed slightly. "I was just telling Mick-san I expected to meet you alone."

  "That's not my preference. I asked him to come. If you have a problem with that you can get a summons against me."

  For reasons I didn't understand, Yuri was playing the bad girl. In any case, Kuroda accepted the terms and she led us to an interview room.

  Kuroda pulled out a chair, sat splay-legged, and lit a cigarette even though there were no ashtrays. "Why didn't you report the break-in?"

  Yuri hiked her skirt and sat on the edge of the table. "What break-in?"

  "I didn't come here for my enjoyment." His eyes traced the outline of Yuri's thigh. "Why didn't you report the break-in?"

  Yuri crossed her legs. "I need an address. I need a name. I need a date."

  "Or, I can arrange a summons. Maybe a few days detention to help you remember."

  "What cause?"

  "That would be my discretion, wouldn't it?"

  "Call it like you want it. I need an address. I need a name. I need a date."

  Kuroda flicked ash on the floor and put the cigarette back in his mouth. "Sayoko Shiyoda, date unknown. If you still need the address, I don't remember it. We'll have to verify it at the detention center."

  Kuroda had conceded the name. It was Yuri's move.

  "Not my apartment. There isn't much I have to say about it that you don't already know."

  "The landlord is ready to file charges against Shiyoda. He thinks she did the damage."

  "You know she had nothing to do with anything, except as a victim. Where's this going?"

  "I'm putting pieces together that you don't need to understand."

  "Don't I? I work for Dorian's company. It wouldn't be good for me to help you convict him, would it?"

  "I told him..." Kuroda pointed his chin at me without taking his eyes off Yuri, "that I was interested in justice."

  "I think you're a fraud. You're threatening to arrest me. For what? Do you think Tokyo is your personal bailiwick? Nobody cares? You're a rube. The weekly scandal sheets love this story. You want your name tied to my arrest? Your picture on newsstands? The American embassy is watching this case. It's covered by international press. You want that pressure?"

  Yuri was making me nervous. There was more going on in her mind than I could figure out. Maybe she just didn't like authority figures. "He did say justice. I believe him."

  "Remember that." Kuroda stubbed out his cigarette on the bottom of his shoe. "Maybe a little more cooperation next time. I'll see you again."

  * * * *

  "What was that about, Yuri?"

  She just shook her head and wrapped her arms across her chest as she muttered to herself in Japanese. I couldn't be sure, but I think she might have said "policeman" in a way that wasn't nice. When she grew quiet, I told her about my visit with Lance Allworth.

  She rocked her upper body slowly. "We should have gone to the company first."

  "There was no one to go to. Allworth got here after I did. Besides, there was no reason to think Dorian's situation had anything to do with the company."

  "What do we do now?"

  "We draw out the bad guys. Put faces and names on them. We already know Foxx Starr's Ito and Yamazaki are dirty. Association implicates the FTC commissioner's secretary and maybe the chief himself."

  "When did you start believing in implications?"

  "It's a road, Yuri. Something to walk down. If you have a better idea, I'm open. How about the man from Kamio Investigators? Have you found out who he is?"

  "No," Yuri's voice took on a saw-toothed edge. "Do you know how we do that?"

  We could ask Kuroda for help, but I kept that suggestion on hold. "I have the next step in mind. Allworth agreed to let us search Hashimoto's office. He's the Kyle Solutions employee who was killed. His files would be in Japanese, so you'll need to be there."

  "What else, sir?" Anger was building up in Yuri like snow on a precipice. That was an avalanche I wanted to avoid, but I couldn't even see why she was mad.

  "We leave some personal messages for whoever planted the bugs in Allworth's company," I said. "We'll need Sayoko. Is she here?"

  "By a thread. Boredom's duking it out with her sense of survival."

  "Good, we can cure her boredom."

  "Is that code for 'use her like bait?'" She stared at the tabletop as she spoke. The corner of her mouth twitched.

  "No, we'll do our best to ensure her survival. What's going on in your mind Yuri? She's twenty-three years old. Her own decisions put her in this situation. How come I feel like the bad guy?"

  Yuri folded her hands in her lap and pressed her thumbs together. "I see her. I see me. My father skipped. Hers stayed home but treated her like an unwelcome stranger. Neither of us likes answering to the Big Brother of social mores, or any other authority. The difference was my aunt in New Orleans."

  "You got a break. If you hadn't, you can't say what you would have done." I didn't care much for the discussion, but I did care about Yuri. "When I was eighteen, I was a spin around the block from joining a motorcycle gang. I picked the Air Force instead. It had the GI bill. I ended up in recon spotting targets for air drops in a country I had no reason to know existed. I never knew who was being killed. I only gave the coordinates. So, instead of five-to-ten years for a robbery gone bad, I got a college degree for blowing up people I'd never met. How's that for a reward? Stuff happens to everybody, Yuri. We've got the moment. It's all anyone has."

  I hadn't planned to, but I took her hand, pulled her to her feet and pressed her body against mine. She put her face to my chest. Her anger flowed away, back into whatever void it had come from. It hadn't come from me. She knew it but wouldn't say it.

  We kissed for the first time in two days, same lips, new sensation.

  She pulled her head away. "I thought you said you were a law clerk in the military."

  Her crooked grin met my gut-rumbling laugh. We were back.

  "I was too close to one of the air drops and got blown up myself a little bit. A light colonel named Abe Granger took a personal interest and got me a new MOS, military occupational specialty. He's been messing around with my life ever sense. He's the reason I'm here."

  Yuri put her cheek against mine. Her breath rushed into my ear as she spoke. "Introduce me. I'd like to thank him."

  We kissed again, same lips, but... I wondered if women understood the nuances of rutting bulls.

  Yuri pressed her thigh between my legs.

  I guessed they did.

  "Good moment," she said.

  "Bad venue."

  "I'll get Sayoko."

  I did a few breathing exercises to make sure my face wasn't flushed. If it was, Sayoko was polite enough not to notice.

  "Konnichi wa." She looked solemn and bowed too deeply for my comfort. We needed to lighten the atmosphere.

  "Buenas tardes, Señorita Sayoko." With a sweep of my arm, I bowed from the waist like Zorro greeting the wife of his archenemy. My head went past my knees. Ouch.

  Sayoko smiled. Yuri rolled her eyes. I mentally patted myself on the back.

  Social niceties completed, I told them what I had in mind. It was dicey in parts, but I hoped it sounded more like an adventure than a pact with the devil.

  Yuri clicked her tongue now and again. Sayoko cocked her head and sucked air through her teeth.

  Eventually, Yuri gave a thumbs up.

  Sayoko nodded.

  "Would you two stand next to each other?" Barefoot, Yuri was about an inch taller. She was also several pounds heavier, but there wasn't enough difference that the right clothes couldn't cover.

  Chapter 14

  I set up a meeting with Allworth in his office. It was probably an unnecessary precaution, but I asked Morimoto to interpret instead of Yuri. If anyone was watching, we didn't want them to see Yuri and Sayoko together.

  We'd already gone over the scenario for our radio play that we'd act out for whoever had bugged Lance'
s office. His secretary announced our arrival. His voice was snippish, and he kept us waiting about fifteen minutes. Lance was playing his part fine. I asked Morimoto to tell Sayoko to make sure she sounded nervous.

  Her left knee was jiggling. She answered twice.

  "No problem." He interpreted.

  Lance stayed seated when we went into his office. I introduced Morimoto and identified Sayoko as a friend of the girl Dorian was accused of murdering. "She has something you probably ought to see."

  "Show it to me."

  "We don't have it with us."

  "So why are we all here? I don't have a lot of time, Mick. Besides, I don't see how Dorian's personal problems affect me or the company." He snorted. Nice touch. "Except for bad publicity."

  "What about Hashimoto?" I played long shot number one.

  "Our optics chief, the guy who died in a traffic accident? What about him?"

  "I'm not sure it was an accident. This is an unlucky place to work, Lance. I wouldn't be surprised if accidents didn't happen on cue. Why don't you listen to what Miss Shiyoda has to say?"

  Sayoko told him about the break-in at her apartment and how Maho had given her an item for safekeeping. She was afraid that she might be harmed because of it, and she was afraid to go to the police.

  "What's the item?"

  "I think you'd just better see it. I don't trust everyone in this company, so we'll meet in public. I suggest you take it straight to your home and secure it." We agreed to meet in a nearby park at noon the next day. Lots of people, easily accessible. It sounded perfect.

  Outside his office, Lance said that if we wanted to search Hashimoto's office, we'd better do it now. His family had asked for his personal things.

  I took him up on that offer.

  "What are we looking for?" Morimoto said.

  "I don't know, but holler when you see it." I wished for him to turn into Yuri, but all he did was frown and scratch his ear.

  Sayoko stayed with us. Before we went into Hashimoto's office, I gave her the "shh" sign. She pinched her index finger and thumb together and drew them across her mouth like she was zipping her lips shut. Good girl.

  Good detective.

  She was the one who discovered the business card. Naoto Yokoyama, Agent, Kamio Investigators.

  * * * *

  We didn't find anything else of interest, but the card was a lot. If Yokoyama was the same Kamio investigator who had given Maho cash, we had a critical link. Best of all, I wouldn't need Kuroda's help, at least not yet.

  We had a key. The question was how to use it.

  When we got back to Protect Agency, Yuri looked relieved to be off the hook for identifying Yokoyama. Since we had a name, the Nozaka gambit might work after all. Yuri said she'd call, tell them she had a cheating spouse and ask for Yokoyama personally.

  She had it all worked out. We'd meet in a dark alley. Then, I'd threaten to punch his lights out if he didn't tell us everything he knew.

  "What if he's tougher than me?" I said.

  "Then I'll punch his lights out." Yuri smiled, and hit me in the stomach to demonstrate.

  I hoped she hadn't hurt her fist. "What's plan B?"

  "We set up a meeting and jilt him. Get his picture and pin a tail on him."

  "For how long? Kyle's got deep pockets, but I think they'll still want an accounting of how we spend their money. Plan C?"

  Yuri folded her arms and looked at the floor. Morimoto had long since tucked his head into his let-someone-else-think shell. No one interpreted for Sayoko, so she didn't know what we were saying.

  "I believe you had it, Yuri, "I said. "Just stop at the surveillance. No dark alleys. You don't call. Nozaka does. Nozaka meets Yokoyama, tells him he's changed his mind about hiring someone to watch his wife and offers to pay cash for the time he's wasted. On the sly, he gets a cell-phone photo, finds out what he can. A little charm, you know."

  I glanced at Sayoko. She had turned attentive after I'd said Nozaka's name.

  "Run a standard check on his public records, the same as you would for a potential fiancé or a company employee. After we find out what we can, we think about what comes next."

  "Might take a few days," Yuri said.

  "If something better comes up, we go with it."

  "I'll talk to Nozaka."

  While you're at it, ask him to take over your Sayoko watch for just one night. I almost said it, but didn't.

  Chapter 15

  The next day was crisp, blue and clear right up to the edge of haze along the horizon. Not up to the rare Mt. Fuji visible conditions, but for Tokyo, it was relatively cloudless. Crows cawed and swooped among bare tree limbs. They pecked at trash, pulled it out of bins and scattered it across the park's grounds. Their beaks sliced through plastic and Styrofoam food containers like bolt cutters. Pigeons that had proliferated in the city years before had been largely driven out of many areas. There were no songbirds. A few office workers in black, gray or navy blue coats ate box lunches on worn benches that bore traces of dark green paint.

  Yuri wore a baseball cap with the bill pulled low. We walked together, slowly. A canvas satchel was slung on my shoulder. Considering the detailed dismantling of Sayoko's apartment, I guessed the object sought was small enough to fit inside it.

  Nozaka and Morimoto were somewhere near, watching us, surveying the crowd and taking videos.

  We stopped at a small statue of a girl and a fawn and waited. I had told Lance to come late, to give Nozaka and Morimoto time to cover the crowd. After about ten minutes we saw him walking toward us. I itched to do a three-hundred-sixty-degree scan, but I focused on Lance. If we did have guests, I didn't want to spook them. I needn't have worried. As soon as I handed Lance the satchel, I heard a voice behind us.

  "Matte!" It was a command to wait.

  I shouldn't have been surprised to see Yamazaki, the Panther, but I was. My friend Will had said he doubted the bugs were the work of yakuza. I had agreed with him. Four other men were walking toward us from different angles.

  "Are wa nan da?" He pointed to the satchel.

  "Tell him it's none of his business what that is." I spoke to Yuri.

  Yamazaki didn't seem to like the translation. He hit me in the chest with the flat of his hand. One of the other men stepped so close our shoulders touched.

  "He's going to want the satchel, Lance, but wait for him to take it."

  It wasn't likely Yamazaki knew English, but he reached out on cue, took the bag and opened it. Inside, there was a box of playing cards. He narrowed his eyes and flipped open the box. Inside was a full deck, including jokers.

  "You can keep that." I grinned.

  Yamazaki grabbed my coat and responded with a string of Japanese that I couldn't understand except for a couple of words. Doko means "where." The other word was the same in Japanese and English, "tape."

  I made no outward reaction, but we were eye to eye and a telepathic message traveled between us as sure as voice over copper wire. His face went slack when he realized that I hadn't known what he was looking for. He let go of my coat and snatched the cap off Yuri. I seized his wrist. It was reflex. I forced his arm down so far that he had to stoop.

  "You got a free hit on me. Not on her."

  Most men would have trouble with my grip. Yamazaki twisted his wrist against my thumb and was free in an instant. He took a step back and opened his coat. The man next to me did likewise. In sight were a revolver and a knife with a blade too long to be a buck skinner.

  "Koi!"

  "He wants us to go with him," Yuri said.

  "Don't move," I told her.

  Just for practice, I ran it through my mind. Two knuckles to the sternum of the man next to me, unsheathe the knife and use it on Yamazaki before he could shoot me. I think I could have done it.

  Instead, I raised my arm and moved it in a small circle, the military field signal for assembly. I looked around and saw Nozaka about fifty yards away. I doubt he knew the signal, but he understood the situation.
He raised the video camera in one hand so we all could see it and pointed to it with his other hand for emphasis. I looked back at Yamazaki.

  The left side of his mouth ticked and his nostrils flared. He walked backwards a few paces, stopped and stared at Yuri for several seconds. He looked back at me, made a fist and tapped the side of his head. He turned to leave.

  "Yamazaki!"

  He froze. We had his name, we had his picture and now, thanks to him, we had an idea of the object he wanted. He turned his head slowly and looked back at me.

  I made a fist and tapped my chin. "How's your friend?" I opened my lips over clinched teeth. It was my impersonation of a man with his jaw wired.

  During our little ordeal, Lance had held his ground like a pro and come out of it unshaken. I hated to admit it, but pretty boy Nozaka was also a good man. If push had come to shove, I had no doubt he would have rushed in. As it was, he kept his distance, knowing our safety was in his camera.

  Morimoto had taken video, without a clue, I believed, of what was going on around him.

  Between the two of them, there were twenty to thirty minutes of video to analyze. Nozaka and Morimoto worked with a technician to load the files onto computers. We needed to run slow motion, make stills and enlarge faces.

  Sayoko had spent the day in the custody of Protect Agency. She was ready for a distraction when she met Yuri and me.

  "Any idea what Yamazaki had in mind?" Yuri translated my question. "Tape" could mean video, audio or duct.

  "Iie," Sayoko shook her head.

  "Did Hosoi-san leave anything with you?"

  "N-n." She strung two syllabic "n's" together. That meant "no."

  I looked to Yuri for help.

  She slipped in smoothly. "If Maho-san had wanted to leave something important with someone she trusted, do you have any idea who she would have relied on?"

  "She didn't get along with her parents, but she had a brother. She would call him or send him e-mail. I think they were close."

  I should have thought of her brother. She'd left important stuff with him. The thing was he had volunteered a lot of information, but he hadn't said anything about a tape.