Tokyo Enigma (8 page)

"Money washers." I liked him better spunky.

"The company's owners are Chinese. They send money out
of Japan for workers who don't have proper visas, mostly Chinese
and Southeast Asians."

"You said Ukeda Trading is known to wash money. Who
knows?"

"Bankers, Mr. Sanchez. Also, the authorities, I assume. It is
not so unusual. Other companies send money to North Korea from
ethnic Koreans born in Japan. They control a lot of the Pachinko
business. That's an irony, isn't it? Japanese pinball has been a big
source of foreign exchange for North Korea even as it threatens the
country with nuclear missiles."

If it was, it wasn't one I cared about. The only irony I was
interested in was the open-and-shut murder case against my client,
who I was convinced was not guilty.

"Any idea what it means?" I said.

"Not yet. The account was not on the list that Hosoi-san's
brother gave us. It was the same name, Ai Yoshida, but in a different
bank."

"How'd you find it?"

"I know the questions to ask. Information is traded among
banks on individual accounts."

Morimoto was on home turf now and was clearly proud of
what he'd pulled off. Yuri had said he had likely been a bantam
rooster at the bank. I saw what she meant.

"Obviously, I couldn't have the information sent to me. I still
have ties to people in my former bank. There are ways I can help
them. Someone agreed to accept the account data that I asked for,
and then pass it along to me."

"Outstanding. Just curiosity, but how can you help your
former colleagues?"

"Debt collection. We have always used people who could—"
He scratched his head. "—intimidate."

"Like yakuza?"

He nodded.

"Banks hired gangsters?"

He caught my twinge and tried to rationalize the banks'
actions. "It used to be legal. That is, until some years ago when
anti-gang laws were passed.

"We weren't as bad as consumer loan companies. They
would take out life insurance on borrowers and sometimes they
would harass them for payment until they committed suicide. Then
they collected the payout. With new laws, it's more difficult than
ever to collect loans, but also more dangerous to use those people.
I'm a convenient liaison."

I realized my mouth was open. I closed it slowly. There was
more to Morimoto, and to Japanese banking for that matter, than I
had guessed.

I'd learned a lot from an off-hand question. Morimoto didn't
seem to hide anything, but he didn't volunteer much either. The trick
was to ask the right questions. I took a sip of coffee to give myself
time to think. Before I set the cup down, a young man opened the
door, bowed in apology and began talking to Morimoto. I couldn't
follow what he said, but Morimoto's expression indicated bad news.
The man bowed again and left.

"Taen-san has been taken to a hospital."

"Yuri? What happened?"

"She was beaten. When an ambulance got to her, she was
still unconscious on the street."

The hospital was in a university district in Central Toyo. I
didn't know the area, so Morimoto drove. Yuri's complexion was
pallid, but her eyes looked as sharp as ever.

"What happened," I asked.

"I got clobbered."

"I see that. Who was it?"

"I was hit from behind."

"Where were you?"

"Look, why don't you just let me tell the story before you ask
questions."

I held my hands up.

"I went to a coffee shop near Foxx Starr to check the bug we
planted in Ito's office. There was nothing for several minutes, and
then the phone rang. I couldn't guess who Ito was talking to, but she
made an appointment to meet someone in thirty minutes. I took the
scooter to a spot where I could see the entrance to the Foxx Starr
building. She left with a man who looked like he did a lot of power
lifting."

"Panther," I said.

Yuri scowled. "I followed them. He was driving and made a
quick right turn in front of oncoming traffic. There was no way I
could stay with them, so I went down a block and made a U-turn. By
the time I caught up with them, the driver was helping Ito out of the
car in front of a restaurant. It was a narrow street, so the only thing I
could do was to ride past them.

"I turned onto a side street, chained the scooter to a tree and
walked back to the restaurant. I think I irritated a waiter by refusing
tables until he offered one that gave me an angle to watch Ito. She
was sitting with a man with salt-and-pepper hair. There was
something about him that seemed out of place. His suit didn't fit well
even though his mannerisms were impeccably refined, and he was
clearly accustomed to expensive restaurants like the one we were
in.

"I was able to get a few photos of them with my phone. One
of them shows him handing Ito a small black shopping bag. She
smiled when she took it, but didn't look inside. He paid the check. It
was risky, but I left enough on the table to cover my bill and followed
him out. Ito gave me a funny look as I walked past her, but I didn't
think there was any reason for her to suspect anything. Anyway, I
followed him to a subway, and got on the same train.

"He got off after four stops. I followed and that's when it
happened. Never saw it coming."

Yuri was quiet for a while.

"Where was it?"

"In Kabutocho, where most of the government buildings are.
That might explain the man. He might be in the bureaucratic elite,
but with a middling salary."

"If he were top tier, he'd be paid well and likely have a
driver," I said.

Morimoto cleared his throat. "Maybe the meeting was secret
even from his driver."

I raised an eyebrow and briefly considered giving Morimoto
a friendly punch on the arm.

"That's all I remember."

She hadn't seen who had hit her and she wasn't sure the
man she saw with Ito was Panther, but I was certain of it.

If he'd had better sense, or better instructions, he would
have snatched Yuri's purse. That would have given him her identity,
if he didn't already know it, plus the camera and the receiver. He
hadn't. He hit and ran.

Morimoto briefed Yuri quickly on what he had found from
bank records, but she was in no condition to think about the case.
Her concentration drifted as he spoke.

A nurse with the effervescence of a high school cheerleader
interrupted to take Yuri's vital signs. Four other beds in the
six-woman room were occupied. Curtains around each bed were only
partially drawn or fully opened in a cavalier regard for privacy. The
room was clean, but depressingly bleak. I asked Morimoto if we
could arrange for a transfer to a better facility.

He was surprised that I'd asked. The hospital, he said, was
known for having competent staff and technologically advanced
equipment.

I'd have to take his word for it. The nurse used an ear
thermometer that took about two seconds to register. I'd never seen
that. Guess the place just needed paint.

The nurse didn't shoo us out, but she told Morimoto that
Yuri needed rest more than anything else.

Apparently Yuri agreed. She managed to direct me to her
purse and the digital camera inside before she waved her hand good
riddance and closed her eyes.

After we left, I handed Morimoto the camera. "Can you do
anything with that? It'll probably be hard to make an ID just from
photographs."

"Probably, we have a data base and software that can
recognize faces, but..."

"It's a long shot."

My self-assigned role was to come back to the hospital, bring
flowers and stage a bedside or visiting-room vigil. Handholding
probably wouldn't help Yuri. It might, however, help me atone for
not having seen the danger and to calm a growing rage.

I didn't know yet where or when or under what
circumstances, but before long Panther would have a reckoning with
El Jaguar
Sanchez. But I'd have to be careful. This was his
jungle.

* * * *

When I got back to the hotel, I asked the concierge to have
flowers sent to Yuri's room. I didn't know enough about her
preferences, so I left the arrangement up to the florist. I also had
roses sent to my room for me to take to her the next day. I couldn't
decide between candy or fruit, so I ordered chocolate-covered
strawberries. Whoever invented those deserved some kind of
medal.

I left for the hospital the next morning, hoping I had my
bases covered. I needn't have worried. Yuri was not in her room. A
nurse with a dark complexion, flat features and a frosty manner
explained that Yuri had left against doctor's orders. With my
rudimentary Japanese, the nurse's sprinkling of English and a
sketchpad, the telling took some effort. The nurse was busy. She was
frazzled.

I gave her the roses and chocolate-covered strawberries and
walked out.

Morimoto was at his desk when I called Protect Agency. Yuri
hadn't checked in. She was on sick leave and wasn't expected to
call.

I explained about the hospital and asked for her home
phone number.

"I can't give it to you. It's against policy."

"We're on the same case. Doesn't that make us
partners?"

"It's a company policy. You're not in the company."

"I'll say 'please.' If you say 'no' again, I'll go there with a
crowbar and tear the door off its hinges."

Silence.

"Just a minute." He gave me the number. Probably thought I
was serious.

I was.

On the third ring, a man answered. Somehow, this morning I
had woken up in Wonderland, but I didn't feel much like Alice. Soon I
heard Yuri's voice.

"What happened?" I said.

"Wu' do ya mean?"

"Last I heard, you had a concussion. You should be in the
hospital."

"I have bad memories of hospitals. I don't like 'em, don't
trust 'em."

"Fair enough, but you could have called me."

"What for? I thought you had a case to work on."

"I..." I had planned to spend all day making sure she was
okay. Time that I didn't have to waste. "I was worried."

"Well don't be. I felt better this morning, and I have
someone here to watch me for a couple 'a days."

"I didn't think you had a brother."

"I don't."

"You don't have any women friends, either?"

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" The anger that
trickled into her speech couldn't be good for her health.

"Nothing."

"What do you care?"

"Goodbye, Yuri."

I couldn't even vent my frustration on Abe Granger. I tried to
conjure up visions of my giving him hell in a mental catharsis, but
couldn't. It wasn't just anger. I could deal with that. I felt at odds with
the whole culture here, genteel on the surface, but hostile in a
myriad of subtle ways.

Morimoto the Meek used the word "intimidator," in the
context of debt collection and spoke as though intimidation was
acceptable practice. I wondered how many deadbeats or just folks
down on their luck Morimoto was responsible for sending to
hospitals from stress-induced ailments without ever knowing he had
done so.

I'd thought Yuri and I had enough of a personal relationship
that she would at least acknowledge my concern. That bothered me
more than it should. The man taking care of her was not my
business. He shouldn't bother me at all, but he did.

With my role as nursemaid taken, I had no agenda for the
day. It was time to have a long talk with Dorian's lawyers. Even as I
rolled that through my mind, however, I knew I was headed for
something quite different.

The rage was back, and I welcomed it.

* * * *

I showed a taxi driver the way to Foxx Starr. Admonitions to
myself to be careful had been seared away. It didn't matter whose
jungle I was in anymore. My rational ego was no longer in charge. It
had lost a power struggle to an id that smelled blood.

The tattooed lady was at her desk and was surprised to see
me. She said Ito wasn't in, even though I hadn't asked. I walked to the
door to her office and opened it.

The receptionist hadn't lied. Ito wasn't in. Neither was the
Panther, but someone I took to be an angry young
protégé was. The man was on his feet and telling me in
guttural street language to get out. He was about my height, but was
only a light-heavy weight at best. I walked toward him. His hand
flashed out, seized my collar and twisted.

So much for intimidation.

I grabbed his neck in one hand, pressed my thumb into his
throat and marched him into Ito's desk. He fell backwards onto it. I
brought my knee hard into his groin, lifted him off the desk and
punched his face.

He landed a haymaker on my forehead.

I hit him on the jaw and thought the bone might have
cracked. I hit him again in the same spot. He went down. I dropped to
one knee that landed in the middle of his back, grabbed a handful of
hair to hold his head in place and cocked my fist to slam into his
temple.

At that instant, my rational ego welled up and forced its way
back into control. With his head on the floor, there would have been
no give, no dissipation of energy except into his cranium. No way out
for either of us, if I landed that punch.

I looked for another target. His jaw was clearly broken.
Maybe a rib. Maybe an arm.

Maybe it was time to go.

The tattooed lady was on the phone when I walked past her
desk. She looked like she was calling for help. Not much chance it
was the police.

I went down the first subway entrance I came to and
changed trains at random just to put distance between me and Foxx
Starr. Eventually, I made my way back to the hotel. I had lost a
button, my collar was wrinkled and my knuckle was bleeding. Maybe
the concierge wouldn't notice. I nodded and gave him a cheerful,
"Good afternoon."

Apparently he had noticed. A mini first-aid kit was on my
bed when I got out of the shower. I didn't remember hitting the guy
in the mouth, but I must have raked the knuckle of my little finger
across his teeth. The cut was deep. A patch of skin had also been
scrapped off my ankle. I hadn't remembered that either. My knee
throbbed. I probably got a piece of Ito's desk when I hit the guy in
the groin.