Tokyo Enigma (11 page)

"I'm kind of primitive myself." She rubbed her cheek against
my day-old stubble and nipped my earlobe. "Make that feral."

The musky aura of morning clung to her hair and skin. I held
her to me and stepped toward the bedroom. She resisted.

"Too late. We've got an innocent man to clear, and you have
an emergency that you ignored yesterday."

She nudged me toward the bathroom.

I thought about asking for help washing my back. Then, I
remembered how she'd scrubbed my wounded arm and decided not
to push my luck.

After breakfast, we rode the Honda to Protect Agency and
checked in with Morimoto.

He said Dorian's replacement, Lance Allworth, had gotten
into town a couple of days after me. Morimoto had the phone
numbers to his home and office. I tried the office first. He was
there.

"What's the emergency?"

"I'd rather talk to you in person." He said it was complicated
and asked me to meet him at a coffee shop nearby.

"I'll be right over."

He'd described himself as sandy-haired, blue-eyed and
mid-thirties. It was a big coffee shop, but he was easy to find.

Allworth was reading the Nikkei Asian Review on a tablet
computer. The top headline said that deflation was about to be fixed
after years and years of sapping the economy. I ordered a five-dollar
glass of grapefruit juice and wondered what things were like before
prices had collapsed.

"Have you seen Dorian?" I asked him.

"Not yet. I've been pretty tied up." He rotated his index
fingers around each other to emphasize "tied up" and looked
embarrassed as though he was worried I might think he was a
shirker.

I guessed he had made Eagle Scout before he was thirteen,
had graduated from his father's alma mater and had married his high
school squeeze right out of college. He also looked tough enough to
spit in the eye of anyone who called him stodgy. Kyle Solutions
should have sent him instead of Dorian in the first place.

"No reason you should have visited him, just curious. He's
my problem, not yours."

"I hope that's true. That's why I called."

I arched an eyebrow.

"One of our Tokyo engineers said he needed to talk to me
about Dorian. We were in the office. I said 'all right, go ahead,' but
the engineer, his name was Hashimoto, said 'we'd better talk
someplace else.' 'That was okay too,' I said, even though I didn't
understand why the office wouldn't do. Well, that night I was really
in a bind. There's a lot to sort out, you see. So I—"

The only thing I saw was that I wanted Allworth to make his
point. "What did Hashimoto say, Lance?"

"Well that's the thing."

I arched both eyebrows and made a steeple with my
fingertips.

"He was killed in a traffic accident. I thought I should tell
you, since he'd said he wanted to talk about Dorian. I'm sure it's just
a coincidence, but ..."

"I'm not a big believer in coincidence. Where exactly were
you when you talked to Hashimoto?"

"In my office."

"When was that?"

"Two days ago."

"And he died when?"

"Last night on his way home. Like I said, there's a lot to sort
out, so I didn't get back with him right away. I'd planned to try to see
him today."

I was done talking and listening. "We need to see your office.
Now."

I heard Lance's voice, but my focus was elsewhere as we
walked to the company headquarters. When we got to his office, I
told him to leave. Like I thought, he was a tough guy. He didn't give
ground easily.

I rolled up my sleeve and explained the reason for the
bandage, told him I had broken a man's jaw and that my female
colleague had been hospitalized for a concussion. "Dorian is in a
Japanese lockup. Maho and Hashimoto are dead.

"How deep do you want to get into this Lance? What are
Kyle Solution's widow's benefits?"

He handed me the key to his door.

"Just so you'll know, I might be using your phone."

Lance nodded as he backed away.

About an hour later, I found what I was looking for in a light
fixture. I left it in place.

I went out, locked the door behind me and located
Lance.

"Do you have another key to your office?"

He shook his head.

"Good. I won't be using your phone after all."

I went outside and called Yuri.

"You've got bugs. Do you have an exterminator."

"What?"

"I need to sweep an area for transmitters. Do you have any
locators?"

"Of course."

I told her where I was. She said she'd be here in forty-five
minutes.

There was one more call to make. It was 3:00 a.m., Abe
Granger's local time. I was going to enjoy this.

"You know who this is. Who's that?" Abe sounded only
slightly groggy.

"This is Mick, working all the twists out of that high-profile
case you sent me on."

"Glad you called. What can I do for you?"

"You know it's no fun waking you up, if you're not riled
about it."

"Never happen, Mick. Speak to me."

"We've got another death in the company, a traffic mishap.
As far as anyone knows, it was an accident."

"You're not accepting that?"

"Let's say I'm not satisfied. I just found a bug in Allworth's
office. He's the guy who replaced Dorian."

I talked for about ten minutes, filling him in on the case to
date. Abe gave an occasional grunt to let me know he was listening.
Anyone else I knew, me included, would only be thinking about going
back to bed. Six years from now, Abe would be able to recite
precisely what I was telling him.

"By the way, did you get my tape?"

"We did. We got a clean copy. It wasn't difficult. It's already
shipped and will be with you Rikki-Tik. Probably tomorrow morning,
your time."

"Thanks, I've got a couple other favors to ask. I'd like a
digital camera, as small as you have, and two or three vehicle tracers
and receivers. I also need everything you can find out about Dorian
from the time he graduated from high school."

"I thought you'd decided he was innocent."

"I've decided he's not guilty of strangling the girl. No one's
innocent. Sleep tight, Abe."

After Yuri arrived with her bug locator, we found another
transmitter in Lance's office and four more in other rooms. Lance
had wanted us to take them out, but we convinced him it was safer to
let sleeping bugs lie. Whoever planted them would take other
measures, if they were gone. No point in sounding alarms. He just
needed to be careful about what was said.

We also briefly interviewed every employee of the company.
No one would admit to knowing anything about Dorian's escapade or
Hashimoto's death. No surprise there, but we needed to cover
bases.

By the time we finished, it was late. I invited Yuri to
dinner.

"Do you like grilled fish?"

I nodded, and she led the way to an izakaya, a sort of
Japanese tavern. The place had enough variety, from red snapper to
tiny flounders to mackerel, to make me home sick for the Gulf Coast.
One thing the place had that Gulf Coast restaurants didn't was a
serving of raw fish with the still twitching victim skewered, vital
organs intact, and artistically arranged next to its own flesh.
Guaranteed fresh.

I didn't mind raw fish, but live fish was a different matter. I
turned away from the table next to us and focused on Yuri. We sat on
barrel-shaped stools at a wood plank table amid a mostly drunk,
boisterous crowd of what Japanese call "salary men" and "office
ladies." It might not have been the best atmosphere to bring it up,
but about a third of the way through a quart-sized mug of beer I
asked who the guy was taking care of her.

She smiled, lowered her chin and looked at me through her
bangs. "You said you didn't care."

"I didn't, then. I do now."

"Why didn't you care then?" She nudged her knee against
mine.

I shrugged.

"Because you were a rutting bull?" Her eyes teased, while
she savored her secret.

"I wouldn't put it like that. Let's just say I seized the
day."

"That's not all you seized."

"Are you going to tell me or not?"

"Promise you won't get angry."

"How about a promise to get angry if you don't."

"All right, he's a former boyfriend. We went together for a
while, but we both decided we made better friends than lovers."

"There's a rarity. You sure that conclusion was mutual."

"I'm sure. Anyway, he's between jobs and had the time to
look after me. He's a good guy. You'd like him."

I was comfortable leaving that notion to speculation. After
we ate, I invited Yuri to my hotel. She said she preferred her own bed
and invited me to her apartment.

Tough choice. I hoped the concierge wouldn't miss me.

It was about six-thirty when I left Yuri's. She had mumbled
"goodbye," still snuggled in bed with a blanket pulled up to her chin.
During the night, a cold front had chilled the atmosphere several
degrees. Even indoors, my breath fogged the air.

Outside, a humid wind fluttered the skirts and coats of early
risers and skittered them along like the last leaves of autumn. I had
beaten the morning crush of commuters, but not by enough. The
relatively empty train I entered was packed before it reached the
stop for my hotel. I had trouble forcing my way out before the crowd
on the platform started pushing in.

A clerk at the hotel desk said I didn't have any packages. I
gave him my cell phone number and asked him to contact me
immediately if I got a delivery. Upstairs, I took my time changing
clothes, and, on the way to the dining room, bought a newspaper to
read over breakfast. I was on my third cup of coffee and working the
crossword when the clerk brought the tape to my table.

I called Protect Agency and told Morimoto I was on my
way.

Like Abe had promised, the copy of the tape was clean. Yuri
translated as Morimoto and I listened. Even without understanding
the words though, it was easy enough to know we had something. A
man was speaking in guttural slurs. Ito was snide and taunting. A
young woman's voice was defiant. There was the sound of a slap and
then crying.

Yuri folded her arms across her chest and bit her lower lip.
"If that's who I think it is, we did bad."

Morimoto was nodding.

"Maho's friend?" I guessed.

"Sounds like it. Ito called her 'Sayo-chan.' It could be a
diminutive form of Sayoko. Maho's friend was Sayoko Shioda. You
can tell as much from the context as I can. They're asking her what
she's told anyone about 'that thing.' Whatever that means."

Yuri put her hands behind her neck and tilted her head back
for a few seconds.

"I'll get Nozaka. Maybe he'll remember her voice. If it is her,
he's got her phone number."

After she left, Morimoto scrunched his forehead as if he was
too deep in thought to be disturbed.

I bothered him anyway. "What do you think?"

"They told us about the travel poster."

"Yeah, next Nozaka called and asked for a photo session
with the girl who was not Maho in that poster. Yuri got tagged
following Ito. Then I stormed into Foxx Starr and punched out the
resident watch. Ito started thinking and remembered telling us about
the poster. That's not enough to convict, but...
por Dios
!" I
slapped my head.

Yuri walked in with Nozaka. "What's wrong?"

"Are you still getting transmissions from the bug in Ito's
office?"

Yuri shrugged and gestured toward Morimoto.

"We checked the receiver yesterday. The tape was blank," he
said.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Morimoto still didn't get it. He only looked flustered.

I fought for calm. If I showed anger, that would kill any
relationship with Morimoto. "We don't know exactly when this
conversation occurred, but obviously it was before we snatched the
tape. Later, they found the bug. They know now that we have
recorded this conversation. They might assume we know more than
we do. If they haven't gotten to Sayoko again, you can bet they're
looking for her."

"Okay, Mick." Yuri put her hand on my shoulder. "Since
Nozaka-san is here, let's go ahead and try to verify that it's her."

Nozaka listened to the tape a few times before he said
anything. "Maybe, I mean I think so. Her voice was more high and,
um, soft, when she talked to me. I suppose eighty percent."

"He's eighty percent sure, and I'm one hundred percent
convinced. That's good enough for me. We need to call Sayoko
now."

Nozaka took a mobile phone out of his coat pocket.

"Let Yuri do it. She might trust a woman more."

Nozaka looked offended, but he gave up the phone.

I exhaled one long breath until Sayoko answered. "Ask her
where she is."

Yuri made a face that said,
Shut up, Mick
. They talked
for a long time, which I took to be a good sign.

"She's with a friend. She said she's gotten calls from Foxx
Starr, but she hasn't returned them because she's mad at Ito and
scared."

"Smart girl, when do we see her?"

"We don't. Your instinct was right. I think she trusts me.
Anyway, I promised I'd meet her alone."

That was a bad plan. "You can meet her alone, but you're not
going alone. I'll stay out of sight. We don't know if she's being
watched."

Yuri hesitated.

"It's a good idea, Taen-san." Morimoto was too hidebound to
use Yuri's given name even though she preferred it. "Remember." He
pointed to the side of his head.

Even Nozaka agreed.

Yuri was outnumbered and conceded my point.

"What time do you see her?"

"At four this afternoon. I'll leave at three. If you're here,
come with me. If not..." She blew air out of pursed lips.

I called Will Simons to see if he had any more information
on the secretary and to volunteer what little I'd found out since I last
saw him. He asked me to meet him for lunch.