Tokyo Enigma (19 page)

"But he's not working our case."

"We've got a weird link between an
onsen
inn and a
company registered in the Caymans, along with oddly convenient
bank transfers."

"And in all of it, no clear link to Dorian or any idea what
happened to Sayoko."

"We've got—"

Yuri's phone signaled an e-mail.

She read it to me. "Sayo-chan wants the key."

"Who's it from?"

"It was sent from Sayoko's phone, but she obviously didn't
write it. Sayo-chan is what Ito called her. What do you want to
do?"

"Just say, 'Let's meet.'"

Yuri keyed in the message. We waited for a response that
didn't come and weighed our options. They were few. We couldn't
file a missing persons report ourselves. As far as we knew, she had
no residence. Where was she missing from?

The message, "Sayo-chan wants the key," wouldn't sound
like a threat to anyone but Yuri and me, but that's what it was. A little
tactic to make us nervous.

Yuri and I could play too. "Turn off your phone."

She was thinking ahead of me. Her finger was on the power
button before I'd finished the sentence.

If the e-mail senders had access to us, they could crack the
whip while Yuri and I sweated. This way we all got nervous together.
Just how far we could take it though was tricky. It wouldn't do for
them to get too nervous, not if they were holding Sayoko, which I
suspected they were. Except for the motorcycle boy and Sayoko, no
one outside Protect Agency was likely to have known about the key.
Someone might have grabbed her and pressured her to talk. If that
was the case, the message "Sayo-chan wants the key" made it a dicey
game.

Move number one, re-establish contact on our terms, and
maybe the best way to do that was to work from the top down.

I called Will Simons. He said he was in a tapas bar and gave
me directions.

Will was at a small table in a corner. He called a waiter to
bring another wine glass.

"Never mind," I said. "Can you set up a meeting with the FTC
commissioner's secretary?"

"So you can pop in and ask about some murder case?
Misrepresenting an interview would be unprofessional, unethical
and cause for termination. Mine."

"Look, I didn't mean..."

"It's not that easy anyway. Someone as high up as the
commissioner doesn't open up his schedule to talk to a reporter,
especially a foreign reporter. You never know what they'll do.
Japanese press gets its news through
kisha
clubs, what we'd
call press clubs, but they aren't really the same. They write handouts,
unless there's a scandal, and then they attack like chickadees in a
feeding frenzy. Lots of chirping, but not much blood."

Maybe it was because of his job, but Will couldn't seem to
answer a question without a minute and a half of background. "Does
that mean no chance?"

He poured a cup of wine and swallowed it. Then he smiled
like a cat with chickadee on its breath. "It just means that it'll be
tricky. I'll need some pretty good stuff going in that would justify an
interview and make the principle nervous or curious enough to
agree. What've you got?"

I gave him all I had—names, photos of Ueno meeting Ito, the
bugs in Allworth's office, the meeting in the park and even the
Cayman/Inn connection and bank account numbers. I think Will was
impressed. He stopped eating.

"I love a money trail. The bank data alone is enough for me
to run with, if I can make anything of it. That wouldn't help your
man, though would it?"

"He's not my main worry right now. The girl Sayoko is
missing. I have reason to believe she's been kidnapped because
someone thinks she knows more than she does. I think there's a
connection with Ueno. If he got spooked, maybe something would
happen that could open a way to find Sayoko. By the way, I know
from an internal investigator that dirty cops are involved."

Will let go a sardonic chuckle. "When you get into it, Mick,
you get in deep."

I called Yuri before I remembered her mobile phone was off
the air. I tried her home phone, but she wasn't there. She wasn't at
the agency either, but Nozaka was. I asked him to meet me.

We met at a dimly-lit shot bar near Protect Agency. It took a
second or so for my eyes to adjust. The place was so small that you
could hear a whispered conversation across the room. Nozaka and I
sat at the only booth, just behind a man at the bar offering a
sympathetic ear to a woman in a dress that barely reached her
thighs. She was complaining about her husband working eighteen
hours a day, six days a week.

Tsk.

"Are you ready to have another go at Yokoyama?" I
said.

Nozaka wrinkled an eyebrow.

"We know where he works, where he lives, what he looks
like."

"What do you have in mind?"

"A surprise visit. We need to shake every tree we can
find."

"To help find Sayoko?"

"Uh huh."

"That guy not only put the cops on us, they were dirty cops. I
was scared, and he knows it. Yeah, I'm in for payback."

We walked back to Protect Agency to get a company car. A
cloud cover sagged below lampposts and spun their light through the
air like a fine mist. The yellow glow enveloped us in a cold, eerie fire
that burned away shadows. The sounds of tires and car engines
echoed off the sky. For what Nozaka and I had in mind, a night like
this could be your friend, if you played it right. It could also turn on
you like a rabid hound.

Nozaka entered Yokoyama's address into the car's
navigation system. He lived in a nine-story condo near Den-en Chofu,
a ritzy residential area in rolling wooded hills. The building was at
the top of a rise that put the clouds about head high. The front door
was secured by a four-code digital lock. Tough to get into. Nozaka
hung by the entrance while I went back down the hill.

It was a cheap plan, but workable. Anyway, I'd done worse.
We waited and watched a couple with a child go in. We left them
alone. The next resident was a young woman. I let her get a few
paces past me then started walking behind her. She quickened her
step. I did too. She looked back and there I was, the biggest, baddest
thumb-in-the-eye she'd ever seen. She ran toward the door. Nozaka
seemed to materialize out of the mist and put himself between her
and me. She punched in the code, swung the door open just enough
to squeeze inside and started to push it closed.

Nozaka stopped it with his shoulder, stuck his head inside
and asked if she was okay. The woman looked terrified and grateful
at the same time. She ran to the elevator and looked over her
shoulder. She was visibly relieved to see the door close. What she
hadn't seen was Nozaka slip a plastic card against the bolt. After the
woman entered the elevator, he and I stepped into the building.

Sorry Miss, it's just that kind of night.

Yokoyama lived in 7-D. Nozaka stood in front of the door's
peep hole, swayed from side to side, drooped his head and planted
one hand against the door for support. Then he pressed the
buzzer.

Yokoyama asked who it was through the intercom.

"
Akero
, '
too-chan
!" Nozaka said, in a drunken
slur. "Open up, Papa."

Even I understood Yokoyama's response. "Wrong
apartment, go away!"

"
Otoo-san
!" Nozaka hammered the door with the heel
of his fist. "
Kimochi warui zo
." He made a gagging sound.

Yokoyama opened the door and Nozaka stumbled inside.
Before Yokoyama could push him out, I shoved us all into the entry. I
closed the door and Nozaka and I backed Yokoyama into his living
room. He looked as shocked that we'd come into his home wearing
shoes, as that we were there at all. That didn't last. His shock turned
to rage.

Nozaka was in his face telling him to be quiet. He was a little
closer than me and saw Yokoyama's haymaker coming. He jerked his
head back. Yokoyama's fist swished past and caught me on the side
of the face. No harm done.

I jabbed the tip of Yokoyama's floating rib. He was having
trouble breathing now. At least he was quiet. We put him on a sofa
and waited for him to get his breath.

"Where's Sayoko?" Nozaka asked.

"How can I know where she is, if I don't know who she
is?"

"Sure you do," I said, "Maho's friend. We'll get to her later.
First, you'll tell us about Sayoko Shiyoda."

He shook his head and glared.

I hated men who used women, but I'd just frightened a girl
trying to get home, so I could get to this man. I hated him for what
he'd done and for what I'd done to get to him. In a flash, I lifted my
knee and snapped the toe of my shoe into his chest. I pushed his
head back and broke his nose with the heel of my hand. My face was
an inch from his. My spittle mixed with his blood. "Where is
Sayoko?"

He didn't answer immediately. He just held his nose.

"If you die tonight, I don't care. We have another
source."

Fear replaced the spite in his eye. "Ito has her. I don't know
where."

"Call Ito. Tell her she's out of the loop. I'll be discussing the
key with a man named Ueno. She knows him. There's no reason for
her to keep Sayoko. Tell her..."
Tell her whatever it takes. Just don't
hurt the girl.
I conjured an image of Sayoko. My private storm
died as suddenly as it had swirled in. "Ask her to let the girl go,
tonight. Ueno's the one who wants the key."

Yokoyama called. He talked for a long time. I couldn't
understand him, but Nozaka's expression didn't look good. Finally,
he pressed the receiver against his thigh.

"Ito said that Ueno will pay a lot for the key. You'd better
give it to her."

"I'll make sure Ueno pays whatever he said he would."

Yokoyama relayed my message. Then he hung up the
phone.

"She said no. She has an understanding with Ueno. After she
has the key, she'll let Sayoko go." Yokoyama's hands were trembling.
He tried to steady them in his lap.

Sayoko on the loose would be too big a risk for Ito.

"The money you paid to Maho, did it come from Ito?"

Yokoyama looked confused.

"I'll be more specific. There's a Spanish restaurant in
Aoyama, El Castellano. You gave her an envelope filled with
ten-thousand yen notes. What was it for?"

"I don't know."

Nozaka took over the questioning. I couldn't follow what he
said, but Yokoyama was pressing himself deeper into the sofa. He
gave a few short answers before Nozaka gave up.

"He still says he doesn't know what the money was for. You
want me to try harder?"

"Just a little."

Nozaka took a pen out of his coat pocket and slowly slid off
the body case. Underneath was a triangular blade about two inches
long. Not all that frightening unless it was in the hands of someone
who knew how to use it. Nozaka looked like he did. He stepped back
in a slight crouch and pointed it at each of Yokoyama's eyes, his
throat and his groin. With scarcely a twitch of his legs, he leapt onto
Yokoyama and cocked the hand holding the knife.

"Dorian!" Yokoyama screamed.

"Wait." I grabbed Nozaka's arm.

Yokoyama was talking fast now.

"He still insists he doesn't know what the money was for."
Nozaka translated. "He says to ask Dorian. I believe him."

I did too.

We had more questions for Yokoyama, but he didn't have
many answers. He had been contacted by Hashimoto, the optics chief
who was killed in a car wreck. They'd met twice. At the second
meeting, Hashimoto asked for a girl who would do particular
requests. Yokoyama had sent him to Ito. He didn't hear anything else
until Hashimoto gave him money to make a payoff. I asked him why
he'd paid Maho directly instead of Ito. He didn't know. He also said
he wasn't sure whether Dorian knew anything or not, but he was in
charge of the company. It didn't look like a coincidence to him.

To me neither.

Nozaka asked him about his police friends, but Yokoyama
was vague. He said they'd helped him on some cases in a "private
capacity," and he'd paid them for it. They were just returning a favor
when they checked us out. I didn't buy that. I don't think Nozaka did
either, but we'd pushed intimidation as far as we could. By then,
Yokoyama had figured a sore rib and a broken nose were all we were
good for. He was right.

It was too late to do anything but go back to the hotel. The
next morning, I itched to talk to Dorian, but Ueno, the secretary to
the FTC commissioner, was a higher priority. He was the best
leverage I had to make Ito free Sayoko. I tried to call Will to see if he
had set up a meeting, but he was at an interview and couldn't be
reached. Next, I checked in with Yuri and asked her to make copies of
the photos she took of Ueno and Ito. By the time I got to Protect
Agency, they were ready.

"You and Nozaka ought not be alone together." Yuri dropped
the photographs in front of me. "You two are bad chemistry. People
get into situations and their psyches race each other into the fire.
Then who gets burned with you?

"Me. I'm standing too close, in more ways than one."

"You and I shared a run, didn't we?"

"We went to pick up something that belonged to us, and we
ran away from people trying to hurt us. That's normal. You and
Nozaka broke into a private home and tortured the resident. That's
criminal."

"So was our break-in at Foxx Starr."

"No one got hurt."

"We got information that could help Sayoko. I don't believe
Yokoyama will get us burned by anyone we're not already in trouble
with. Even among sleaze, the guy's a bottom feeder."

Yuri worked her jaw from side to side. "You're scary, Mick.
It'd be easier if you'd walk the line a little tighter."

She disappeared behind the door to the cubicle maze.