The Daydreamer Detective Opens a Tea Shop

by S. J. Pajonas

  I looked at my phone but it was off, Goro having hung up on me a moment ago.

  He stopped in front of me, frowning. “You know I have to do this.”

  My newly washed face began to sweat. “Do what?”

  “Take you in. As far as I know, you were the last person to see her alive.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  I walked into the police station in shock, glancing around to take in the situation. The press obviously hadn’t caught wind of Amanda’s death yet. I expected there to be a million people, but photographers and reporters were absent at the front door.

  “What’s it going to do to the town when the media catches on that Amanda was killed here?” I asked Goro and Kayo as they escorted me inside.

  “My guess? We’ll be in the news for weeks.” Goro shook his head, and my stomach sank.

  How did I get in a situation like this, someone murdered, and I was the last person to see her alive?

  I had never been arrested in my life, never even gotten a parking ticket or a trash violation. I was mortified, both for my reputation, my mom’s reputation, and because Amanda was dead. Dead. She was dead! I just saw her a few hours ago! Sure, I had kinda wished she were dead. Kinda. Okay, really, I had wished she was dead. My insides recoiled in shock at my own brain. How could I be so mean? Maybe my wish came true because I’m a horrible person.

  Tears rolled down my cheeks as Kayo walked me into the conference room. Several people I knew in the bull pit waved and then frowned as they caught sight of my face. I heard one whisper, “What’s wrong with Mei-san?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Kayo said, gesturing to a spot at the table. “If we thought you had actually killed her, we would’ve handcuffed you and brought you in under guard.” Her eyes flicked to my shaking hands as I set them on the table. “Are you okay?”

  “No.” I squeezed my hands together. “I forgot to eat lunch. Oh no! I left the rice cooker on when you came to get me!” Another volley of tears fell down my face. All on my own, I was a fine person, a little sarcastic and generally nice, but without a significant amount of blood sugar, I would be cranky, mean, and a big pain in the butt. Not the best circumstances to go into police questioning.

  Kayo patted me on the shoulder. “I’ll get you some food and juice.”

  They left me alone in the room for five minutes while officers talked in the hallway outside. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the chief, Goro, and several other people talked and nodded while gesturing to me in the room.

  I set my head on my arms and breathed. I was in deep trouble. Everyone knew Amanda was famous, and that she’d dated Yasahiro. They’d all assume she was back in his life, I was dumped, and that I was jealous. She posed for the cameras and even tried to make it look like they were kissing. So many people had seen it! I replayed that lunch time over in my head, only a little over twenty-four hours ago. Where had my life gone wrong since then?

  The door opened, and I lifted my head to the blinding light of the conference room. Kayo brought me a bottle of apple juice from the vending machine, two rice balls filled with salmon, and a bag of potato chips. I thanked her and opened the juice first to stabilize my blood sugar as fast as possible. Everyone else filed in behind her.

  “Yamagawa-san, it’s good to see you again,” the chief said, bowing. I jumped up from the table and bowed before sitting again. I wanted to be as helpful and polite as possible.

  “It’s good to see you, too, though I wish it weren’t under such circumstances.”

  The chief sat across from me, and Goro sat on the end of the table. We nodded to each other, and he took out his notebook and pen.

  “First, let’s talk about what you did today.” The chief opened a manila folder and took notes on a piece of paper tacked inside.

  I spoke through my day step by step, from waking up to the calls from the hospital and Goro, the trip to the hospital, bringing Amanda home, and seeing her in the morning. He listened intently while I described breakfast, taking her to my mom’s and back to Yasahiro’s, and then me falling asleep, waking up, and she was gone.

  “That’s it? She was just gone?” Goro asked.

  “Yeah,” I mumbled between the last bites of salmon rice ball. I was starting to feel normal again. “Just gone. No note. No call. Nothing. I told her I wanted her to leave because I didn’t like having her there, but I honestly didn’t think she would just go.” I shrugged my shoulders.

  “Why not?” the chief asked. He paused his pen in the air.

  “Because…” I sighed. It was too late to keep anything personal. “Because she reveled in being there.” I laughed, bitterness tinting the usually happy sound. “She wanted to come between me and Yasahiro-san. She wanted him back. I figured she’d stick around as long as possible and try to… I don’t know, poison us? That’s the way it felt.”

  The chief looked over at Goro and Goro nodded. “That’s the way I saw it too. The way she flirted with Yasahiro-san was a little too blatant.” Goro’s keen eyes had missed nothing.

  “I see.” The chief hummed as he scratched more notes into the manila folder.

  “But she was attacked last night, and someone at the scene saw the guy run away,” Goro reminded the chief.

  The chief shut his folder and took out another, already brimming with dozens of sheets of paper. Before I could see what he was doing, he flipped it open and produced a series of photographs. I averted my eyes, hiding them behind my hand as a wave a nausea threatened to take away all I just ate.

  “I need you to look at these,” he said, his voice no longer calm and congenial. His command was a snarl of anger.

  Amanda had been found in a roadside ditch. Her beautiful face was peaceful in death, her lip gloss smeared to her chin and her eyes blank. She had been stabbed in the chest multiple times, and the clothes she’d worn all day from the previous night were torn open.

  “Oh,” was all I could say. I would have said more, but words were absent from my brain, replaced by photos of death. When Etsuko died, she had been strangled, no blood. This felt even more personal. To plunge a knife into someone repeatedly? A killer needed a lot of reason to hurt someone like that.

  “Where was she found?” I whispered.

  “You tell us.” The chief looked directly at me. What was I supposed to say?

  “Uhhhh,” I stammered, looking at the photos again. “Looks like maybe by the side of the road, out of town? I’m not sure.”

  He paused for a moment, inspecting my face. I didn’t flinch, but I also didn’t want to look at her photos anymore. If I had any appetite left, it was hiding a few hundred kilometers away, and I hoped the meager meal Kayo gave me would last.

  “Okay,” the chief said as he closed up the photos. “What happened after Amanda left?”

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. “I’m opening a tea shop for the elderly in town —”

  “Yes, we’ve heard of it. A very nice addition to the community.” He scratched out notes again.

  “Um, thanks,” I mumbled, horrified that I felt proud in that moment when I should be sad about Amanda. Who was I kidding? Would I ever be sad about Amanda dying? Doubtful. I was upset for her friends and family though, people she loved and they loved her back. I believed she was capable of being a good person, just not to me.

  “So, I got into my dirty clothes and spent an hour or so cleaning the shop. I scrubbed the floors and the tables and dusted the rafters. Yasahiro-san and I were supposed to leave tomorrow for Kumamoto to help with earthquake relief. Then Amanda came to town and wanted us to come see a lawyer with her on Monday, so we postponed until Tuesday.”

  “What’s this about a lawyer?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not one hundred percent sure. She and Yasahiro-san own an apartment together in Roppongi Hills. It might have had something to do with that.”

  He thought for a moment before writing more notes, and Goro got up to leave the room without saying anything. I watched him ret
urn to his desk, pick up the phone, and talk to someone.

  “You’ll have to cancel your trip to Kumamoto until we work this out,” the chief said, gathering up his notes and his cup of coffee. “Goro-san took your phone, correct?”

  “Yes,” I said, afraid I had screwed up somehow. All I did was tell the truth!

  “I’ll have Kayo-san bring you some magazines while you wait.”

  I looked out the window, and Goro was getting into his coat and heading out of the police station.

  “What am I waiting for?” I asked, but the chief didn’t answer me as he left the room.

  I let out a long, shaky breath and wiped at my eyes, smiling at Kayo who came back in with a stack of magazines for me to read.

  “Just sit and relax. We need to check up on a few things, and then we’ll come back in.” She set the magazines on the table for me, and I yawned in response. She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Anyone who can yawn in the middle of a murder investigation doesn’t have much to hide.”

  “I’m exhausted. First, we had to go get Amanda in the middle of the night, and then I worked in the fields with Mom this morning, then cleaned the tea shop. Add to that my appetite has been gone, and I’m just done.”

  “Set your head down and take a nap. I’ll have an officer watch the room.” Kayo left and waved over an officer to sit outside the door. He looked in on me and nodded his head before grabbing a chair and sitting with his back to me.

  I set my head on my arms and tried to put together the pieces of the day. Did I miss something? Amanda had been on her phone while I was inside with Mom and talking on the phone to Goro. Then she had those strange calls with nothing but birds on the line.

  Did they find her purse? Her phone? How did she leave Yasahiro’s place? Did she call a taxi? Did she call a friend to come get her? I didn’t know enough about her personal life to make any real connections, and anyone who looked at her through the lens of the media had the wrong impression of her. I saw her as a manipulative bitch who’d do anything to get her way. To everyone else, she was a rising star, a sought-after actress, someone famous.

  I drifted off to sleep, only to jolt awake some time later by the door opening. I had drooled on the table, and my eyes refused to adjust to the bright lights fast enough.

  “Mei-chan?” My mother’s voice was high and squeaky, and I pulled my hand away from my face to peer at her. “Why is my daughter in here sleeping?” Her voice rose an octave, and the station chief had the good sense to look sheepish.

  “Mom, Mom…” I pressed my hand in the air towards her. “Please. It’s fine.”

  “It is not fine.” Mom smacked the chief in the arm with an umbrella she carried. Why was she carrying an umbrella? I looked past her to the windows outside. The sky was dark with rain clouds, but it didn’t appear to be raining yet. “Listen here. How many times has my daughter helped you solve murders?” She tapped her foot while waiting.

  “Twice, Yamagawa-san.” He took a step back from my mother.

  “That’s right. Twice. She put her own life on the line to help catch felons here in our own hometown. Your hometown, where you’re supposed to be preventing crimes.”

  His face grew three shades of red. “Now just a moment —”

  “My daughter put up with a lot of abuse from Amanda Cheung. That woman was horrible to her.”

  “Which is why we brought her in.”

  Mom paused for a second, her eyes saying more than her mouth. “Well, if she was that horrible to Mei-chan, whom she barely knew, can you imagine how much worse she was to others? Huh? Who else have you brought in?”

  The chief opened his lips to respond but Mom butted in.

  “No one is my guess.” She pushed past him into the room and sat next to me, opening her purse and taking out a can of green tea and some snacks. I loved my mom right then. She knew what I needed to get through anything, food and family.

  “What’s going on? Have you told them everything?”

  “Yes,” I pleaded, opening the chocolate stick she gave me. “I was at Yasahiro’s taking a nap when Amanda left. I didn’t even see her go. Then I cleaned Oshabe-cha, and the police showed up not long after.”

  “Did anyone see you cleaning the shop? Maybe your next door neighbor, the cobbler?”

  I shook my head as I swallowed. “No. His store is closed on Saturdays.”

  Mom paused and bit her lip, and after a moment of thought, her face brightened. “Didn’t you install those security cameras last week? The same ones you’re going to install for me?”

  My brain returned to clarity as more sugar righted my system. “Yes! Oh yes, I had forgotten about them.”

  The chief came forward into the room, his face open and eager. “You have security cameras?”

  “Yes, yes I do.” I nodded my head so fast my brain bounced around. “I got them last week. There’s one in the store and another outside pointing at the front door.” I stood up, energized to get going. “Hase-san, the cobbler next door, has them too.”

  “How do you access them?”

  “There’s a computer in the back of the store, but I also can access the feeds on my phone. Do you have my phone?”

  “Just a minute.” He left at a quick clip, running through the station to his office and returning in a rush. “Here. Unlock it, please.”

  I grabbed it and unlocked it, so happy I had a phone again. I had gone without using my phone over the winter when my funds were low. At that time, I’d only texted because I wanted to save the data for communication. Now, I used it for everything, including watching my store from any location.

  I handed him my phone with the security app open. He must’ve been familiar with it already because he rewound a few hours and waited for the system to call up the video from the servers before sitting next to Mom to watch. Sure enough, the video showed Amanda and me entering the building together, including the conversation where I accused her of faking her injuries. I blushed at how mean I sounded, but neither Mom nor the chief appeared to care.

  The chief sped through the video, and about forty-five minutes later, we saw Amanda leave the apartment building, wait in the shade of the overhang for two minutes while on her phone, and then get into a nondescript black town car. The camera was high enough, though, that we couldn’t identify the make or the license plate. About thirty minutes later, I came down from the apartment and began cleaning, just like I had said. The chief watched the whole thing, noting how long I was in there, the time, and when I left to go back upstairs.

  “Well, this is good news, Mei-chan. I’m relieved I don’t have to question you much further.”

  I blinked away a happy tear that threatened to roll out of my eyes. “I’m so glad I got those things. I thought I’d just use them for the store and never for anything else.” I laughed as he handed my phone back.

  “I’m glad as well.” He glanced at the door as another person tapped on the glass. Goro stood outside with Yasahiro. I smiled at him to let him know I was okay, but his face was as pale as I’d ever seen.

  He looked like someone had killed his beloved, but I was right there in the room. I swallowed down my doubts, though, and stood to greet them both as they came in.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, coming straight to me and enfolding me in a hug. “I heard about Amanda, and Goro said they were questioning you? What happened?”

  “I’m fine. I don’t know what happened with Amanda, and they’re done questioning me. The video surveillance in the tea shop caught Amanda leaving while I was napping.”

  He let out a huge breath of relief and kissed my forehead, but the station chief put his hand on Yasahiro’s shoulder.

  “Right,” Yasahiro said, nodding. “I understand.” He stepped away from me and squeezed my hands before dropping them. “My turn.”

  “Your turn?” Anger grew in my voice as Mom clutched my arm. “What do you mean?”

  “Mei-san, Yamagawa-san, I need you to both wait outside while we question Y
asahiro-san.”

  No. No, wait!

  My heart dropped and ceased to function. Yasahiro was their next suspect.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Kayo moved us to the lobby while the chief and Goro questioned Yasahiro. My thoughts swirled, wondering what they would ask him, how he would respond, and why I couldn’t listen in while it was happening. I wanted to know, definitively, how he had felt about Amanda. He seemed sorry she was dead, like any normal person. They had been engaged and then they broke up, and he hadn’t seen her for years. He was with me, not her. But I worried that if he didn’t show the proper amount of remorse and sadness for her death, he would be pegged as a suspect.

  Ugh. My stomach was not happy with me, and my head was light and airy.

  “Sit down, please, Mei-chan. You’re giving me a headache with all of that pacing,” Mom said, patting the chair next to her. Kayo sat next to Mom on the other side, politely “watching us” so we wouldn’t go anywhere, or do or say anything to anyone that would get the police force in even more trouble than they were already in. With two murders in town in the last year, and someone famous dying on their watch, it was possible the Chikata police department was on the verge of being replaced by more “competent officers,” or so I was certain the press release would say. We’d seen it happen before in other towns, other prefectures.

  I sat next to Mom and turned to her and Kayo. “Let’s make a list of everything we can think of so we can help out here.” I dug in my bag for my trusty notebook, the one I had purchased from my favorite stationery store in Tokyo. I clicked on my pen. “Amanda left Yasahiro’s apartment on her own and got into a car.” I started the list with this. “I’m sure I’m not the only business on the block who has surveillance cameras. There may be other places that caught the car’s license plate or even the driver.”

  “Good point,” Kayo said, taking out her phone and making notes. “I’ll start looking into this tonight if I can. If not, tomorrow.”