The Kizuna Coast: A Rei Shimura Mystery (Rei Shimura Mysteries Book 11) (33 page)

In early evening, we’d made it to JR Ichinoseki Station for a bullet train back to Tokyo. One of the JMSDF jeeps took us all the way; its driver had been involved in the soft-drink-machine rescue of Mr. Haneda and wanted to know all the details of his medical recovery. A pleasant conversation resulted in a name-card exchange and promises to look out for each other the next time anyone was in Hawaii or Japan.

“I will miss the warmth of Tohoku,” I said as we made our way into the station. “Even though it’s technically much chillier than Hawaii.”

“There’s our train,” Michael said, sighting down the brightly lit zone where bullet trains were stationed. “Is it early?”

“If it is, I think Japan’s getting back to normal,” I said. The Shinkansen had pulled up to the platform. Speakers throughout blared a polite message to stand back. Passengers would disembark first; we needed to wait for our turn.

Despite the sadness of saying final goodbyes to our Sugihama friends, I was ready to board the train. I needed the buffer of Tokyo between this passage in my life and the return to Oahu. I hoped for a late night out on the town with Michael, Richard, and Enrique. I wanted to drink tea with my aunt and plan a fundraising reception that would fit both our styles. If I could sneak Michael off for a few hours to a love hotel, that would be the icing on the cake.

I felt someone push at my hip and then circle my waist with strong arms. Miki Haneda grinned up at me. She was wearing clean jeans, and she had a new denim jacket and a shiny backpack featuring Totoro.

“Thank goodness the train is still here,” she exclaimed. “The ticket seller was very slow. A real bother!”

It had been hard enough to say goodbye to the little girl and her family the previous evening. Now I was faced with a repeat farewell with a sixty-second time limit.

I glanced in the other direction and saw Akira.

“Relax, Rei-san. Everything is good. Her mother and I managed it together.”

“Akira, it’s so good to see you, too. It was too short when we said goodbye at the shelter.”

“Yes. And you know, just a couple of hours ago the police came to talk to me. I told them about the rush carpeting order and then showed them the footprints from his boots in the butcher shop. They took photographs and samples.”

“You convinced them,” I said, feeling incredulous.

“It’s not just me. Our town has its spirit back. We feel duty to support anyone who’s helped us including you, Rei-san. Everyone ate your miso stew and remembers your kindnesses to the Hanedas. People saw you working in mud even earlier today.”

His words were embarrassing. “You make me sound a lot more noble than I am. But thanks.”

“Tonight, Mayor Hamasaki is addressing the community about the matter. And Morioka’s in the hospital. He can’t run away.”

“I’m so glad about that. Can we talk later? The train’s just come in. I should concentrate to Miki.” I had kept my eye on the child, who’d been bouncing on her heels and looking around the station with interest while the three adults talked.

“Actually, she’s coming with us, “Michael said.

“That’s very spur of the moment!” I stared at my husband.

“Norie thought it would be fun to host a little girl for a few days, especially since she may be moving to Yokohama for a while.”

“I’m going to be a flower girl at your wedding reception!” Miki announced. “And after I get my dress, I will take Hachiko shopping just like I promised her. I brought dog biscuits, in case I need to make friends with her again.”

Thoughts of caipirinhas were being replaced by milk and cookies. Hugging the little girl, I said, “I bet that Hachiko’s been looking out the shop window every day, waiting for you to come play with her. We’ll stop to see her after this train ride.”

“Kids and dogs together are great, aren’t they?” Michael’s blue eyes shot meaningful glances at me right over the smooth top of Miki’s head. I raised my eyebrows at him. This was a better conversation to have in Hawaii, on a Friday night in the cottage’s backyard, watching the sun set over the Pacific.

“Hey, don’t miss your boarding call,” Akira said. The station attendants were signaling more vehemently and electronic bells were ringing out warnings. The three of us jumped on just as the doors whooshed closed.

Through the glass, Akira waved wildly until our train was past the platform. Then I turned away from the window. Michael was talking to the confectionary seller with a cart at the far end of the compartment while Miki skipped down the aisle, looking for the correct empty row.

Watching them, I thought about how this was supposed to be the end of a journey. But somehow, it felt like the start of something new.

I am grateful to a number of good people for helping bring
The Kizuna Coast
to life. Foremost are my longtime friends Satoshi Mizushima and Koichi Hyogo, who furnished many helpful details about the immediate days following the earthquake. Of course, Sugihama is a fictional Tohoku town hit by the wave, but general details about the volunteer experience were supplied by Masako Tanaka and Jun Sato, Tokyo residents who volunteered many, many weekends in Rikuzen Takata and are living examples of the concept of
kizuna
. Thank you so much for what you did for the people of Tohoku, and how you helped me in my work.

Naomi Hirahara, a dear friend and fellow author who volunteered in Tohoku in 2012, also provided wonderful details about Tohoku. Jennifer Sawyer Fisher was an insightful developmental editor with great ideas, and Barb Goffman a ruthless, accomplished line editor. Before them the early chapters of this book were reviewed by my Minneapolis reading group: Gary Bush, Heidi Skarie, and Stanley Trollip, and two other writer friends, Eden Unger Bowditch and Marcia Talley. Lifetime Honolulu resident Liz Tajima once again was a superb vetter of Hawaii details.

I also thank the readers of my
Asiafile newsletter
for commenting on early chapters and so many
Facebook
friends from around the world who cheered on the book’s creation. Honest reviews are very helpful to me as an author and also to other book buyers. Please consider leaving a review
here
or at
Goodreads
or anywhere else. If you’re a blogger interested in advance reading copies of other books that you’d write about or review,
e-mail me here
for details on joining the reviewers’ list.

Sujata Massey is the author of many books set in Japan, India, and the United States. She was born in England to parents from India and Germany, but was raised mostly in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Sujata is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, where she studied in the Writing Seminars department. After university she worked as a features reporter for Baltimore’s
Evening Sun
newspaper. Her next adventure was moving to Japan with husband Anthony Massey, where two wonderful years passed by too quickly. As an effort to preserve memories—and try her hand for the first time at fiction—Sujata began writing
The Salaryman’s Wife
, the first book in the Rei Shimura series. Rei novels have won the Agatha and Macavity mystery awards and been named finalists for the Edgar, Anthony, and Mary Higgins Clark awards. They’re published in fifteen countries so far. The entire Rei series is forthcoming as audiobooks. Currently available in audio are
The
Typhoon Lover
(Rei #8) to be followed later this year by
The Kizuna Coast
(Rei #11).

Readers who like international fiction and historical suspense should check out Sujata’s books set in early twentieth-century India.
The Sleeping Dictionary
is available as both a
novel
and
audiobook
in the US, and is also published as
The City of Palaces
in India, as
L’Amante di Calc
utta
in Italy, and as
Yutak Ogretmeni
in Turkey.
The Ayah’s Tale
is a novella in paper and
e-book
.