“Smart move. I want to stay in her good graces, so whatever you suggest for… the future is fine with me.”
I got to call the shots? Okay by me.
“Did you tell Goro-san when you went out yesterday?”
“No!” I tripped on a rock and he caught me by my elbow. “No, I did not. He didn’t ask or anything. I thought I’d keep it quiet for a while.”
“Really?” His face fell in disappointment and he let go of my elbow. “Are you ashamed of me?”
“Me?” I laughed and the disappointment did not fade from his face. It deepened. “No. Of course I’m not. I thought I wouldn’t say anything because…” I gestured between us. “Because I’m afraid… No, I’m sure you’ll change your mind.”
“Mei —”
“You’ll see. You may think I’m funny and charming and direct now, but I’m sure that’ll fade with time and you’ll miss the red carpets and the traveling and the shopping in Venice and cafés in Paris…”
He groaned and stopped walking.
“You really did find everything, didn’t you?”
“My google-fu is unprecedented. I saw the intimate dinners in Amsterdam, too. You kissed her hand and looked into her eyes, and I felt the love, just like everyone else did. I even saw the ring. It was gorgeous. You have exceedingly good taste.” His face fell, so sad, as he ran his hand through his hair and turned to look out at the rows of dirt, freshly tilled and ready for winter. “I wish I hadn’t seen it, but I did. I would have seen it eventually anyway, though, so maybe it’s better that it happened now, before we got too far in, too hurt.”
“You’re right. I’ve been dreading this, meeting someone new and having to explain Amanda and that life because I can’t. I can’t go back and undo any of it. I can only move on.”
I debated how I felt as I looked at him. I wanted him, but I wanted him to go away. I liked him, but I couldn’t stand him for loving her. I wanted to fall in love and erase the last years of solitude, but staying single may have been safer.
Cold tingles washed down my body as a cloud covered the sun, and I shivered. Yasahiro stepped over to me and hesitantly put his arm around my shoulder.
Instead of pushing him away, I sank into his warmth. The scales tipped in favor of being with him, trusting him, wanting him and a relationship. I turned my body to his and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head on his chest. He squeezed me to him and kissed the top of my head.
He wanted to move on, and so did I.
“I’m sorry you saw all of that. I really am,” he whispered into my hair, breathing in deeply through his nose. “Someday, I’ll tell you more about why things were never going to work out between us. Amanda and I, we weren’t good for each other. We weren’t on the same path.”
A well of hope bubbled up in my chest.
“And we are?”
“I think so. It’s hard to tell just yet. So don’t count me out, Mei-chan. Don’t think I’m going to dump you before we even start. I accepted the challenge to woo, and I never back down from a challenge.”
He smiled down at me, so I hugged him tight again.
“Hey,” I said, pulling away from him so I could gauge his reaction, “did you… ask my mom to set us up?” I’d suspected this for the last few days, and I was ready to outright ask for the information.
He tried to hide a smile, but I still saw it. “Whatever gave you that idea?”
“Hmmm, okay then.” Liar. But at least the last few weeks made more sense. “Where do we start?” I released my grip on his waist, grasped his hand, and continued our walk by pulling him along with me.
“Well, I started the wooing today with saké.”
“A good choice,” I said, laughing.
“And I thought maybe you would show me your studio?”
I hesitated, wondering what he’d think of my workspace, but if this was to go forward, I would have to open up, way up.
“Okay.”
The happiness on his face said it all. I was making the right choice.
Inside the barn, I pointed out the stores of sweet potatoes, squash, and other root vegetables we’d keep for ourselves and to sell at the market through the winter to help pay our bills. The tractor sat idle as usual and the tools we used were hung up on the wall. Taking our shoes off at the bottom, we ascended the stairs. I flipped on the space heater, cracked open the window, and waited as he walked around and looked at my supplies.
“I kind of expected a lot more paintings,” he said, glancing at the few unused canvases stacked against the wall.
“Chiyo-san bought the one painting that was left. It sat right here for a long time.” I pointed to the wall, and then gathered up a few of the canvases that had something on them. “These two I started but never finished.”
He stroked his chin as he looked between my easel, the tackle boxes of paint, and the couch. “What about all the paintings you made as a kid?”
“Destroyed them.” I shrugged my shoulders as he gasped. “I was done. It was all crap and everyone hated them.” I shrugged my shoulders again, resigned. “So I slashed the canvases and pulled them apart then trashed them. About six years ago? Yeah, I think I was twenty at the time.”
“How could you do that?” His eyes were wide, so I tried to soften things by smiling warmly.
“It’s okay, Yasa-kun. I don’t regret it.”
He shook his head. “You’re a stronger person than I am.”
“Either that or I’m just stupid,” I said, laughing, but he grasped my hand and squeezed.
“Don’t say that about yourself.”
His kindness shocked me. “Okay,” I whispered.
He gestured at the dark canvas on my easel. “What’s this?”
“My current work-in-progress.” I released my hand from his and pointed with all five fingers at the center. “A fire here, the bonfire that nearly killed me…” I dragged my hand up. “Smoke and stars.” I stepped back and folded my arms across my chest. “Wheat fields in the background, but everything will be dark.” I closed my eyes and remembered the scene, the way the air smelled, the laughter of the kids running around, how happy I was right before it happened.
Yasahiro blew out a slow, hissing breath. “You are stronger than me. I could never face my fears like this.”
“What kind of fears do you have?” I asked as I bumped my shoulder into his.
“The standard ones. Fear of failure, fear I’ll lose it all in one big mistake, so I just plow ahead.”
I nodded in agreement, turning from my painting. “There’s not much you can do about those.”
Yasahiro patted his pockets a few times. “Hmmm, I don’t have my phone on me. Do you know the time? I’m always misplacing my phone.”
I pulled mine from my jacket. “It’s 14:50 already.”
“I have to go,” he said, disappointment evident in his voice.
“I’ll walk you out,” I offered, but he waved me off.
“Stay and work on your painting.”
We stood close to each other, and the memory of our kiss the other night flashed across my vision. I bit my lip to stop a sharp intake of air. He tilted his head and reached up to play with a curl of my hair that came free during our walk.
“Will you be at the bathhouse opening on Wednesday?” he asked.
“Yes.” My answer came out breathy and light. “Chiyo-san is a treasured friend. I wouldn’t miss it.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing you. Will you call me tomorrow?”
I nodded and he stepped away, not turning his back to me. “I’ll miss you at the restaurant this week. I was thinking you should come by at our time anyway. What do you say?”
“Okay.”
He waved and headed down the stairs, and I waited until the door closed to dance a victory jig. Wow. I was the luckiest girl on the planet, which seemed impossible. I went from my constant bad luck of the last five years to turning it around in just three weeks! And I did it at home, the one place
I’d been avoiding. Ah, Yasahiro… Spending time with him made me excited and happy and fearful and amazed. My body buzzed wondering when we were going to kiss again.
Turning to the painting and staring at it, I peeled off my coat and threw it onto the couch. I needed to add in the base for the reds of the flames next. I flipped open my tackle boxes and pulled out the reds I had set aside the last time I painted. Grabbing my palette, I dispensed out a dollop of each onto the surface in order of hue. Yeah, that was perfect.
Movement in the corner of my eye startled me. I whirled around and Tama stood at the top of the stairs.
“Oh my god!” I yelled, clutching my chest and nearly sandwiching the palette to my shirt. “Tama-chan, what are you doing here? I didn’t even hear you come in.”
“You were humming. I’m sure I wasn’t that quiet with the door.” Tama kept his distance from me, his hands pushed into the pockets of his jeans. “I waited until that Yasahiro left.”
“Yasahiro-san,” I emphasized, my danger detectors blaring in my head. Yasahiro was gone and Mom was in the house. I was all alone here.
“So I guess you guys are dating? That’s so strange.”
“Why?” Anger peaked, running my blood hot.
“Well, why would anyone date you after dating Amanda Cheung?”
My face began to heat. “What do you want, Tama-chan? It’s not like you have any reason to be here.”
He paced to the window and back, eyeing my current work-in-progress and stepping around the space heater a few times. “I came by to tell you that Akiko’s been cleared of our father’s death, and you don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
“Really? How did Goro-san clear her?” I set my palette down and approached him, but he wove away from me, heading back to the window.
“It’s not important. He called today to say she’s free and clear, and I can go on with the family business plans. She does get a portion of the estate. I’m going to make sure of it.”
“A portion?” I didn’t like that term at all.
“Twenty percent. It’s more than generous.”
My heart beat twice as fast. “Twenty percent? That’s outrageously small!”
He sighed, looking around the barn, as if he was unable or unwilling to make eye contact with me. If I could rewind time, I would find the younger Tama here with wildflowers in his hands and a swagger in his step as he unbuttoned his pants, but this? I didn’t know this guy at all.
“It is what it is, Mei-chan. I think Dad killed himself. He smothered himself. It’s the only explanation. And now we’re fortunate because the police are done, and Akiko and I can sell and move on.”
Who smothered themselves if they wanted to die? Knife to the gut, slit the wrists, drown in a pool, sure. But smother themselves? No. “That’s crazy.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Believe what you will.” He leaned towards me, finally making eye contact. “Just back off and give Akiko some peace.” He nodded once, satisfied he’d delivered his message, and I heard it loud and clear. Back off or I was next.
“That’s a fascinating painting you have going there. A fire?”
“Yeah,” I whispered, my head light as a balloon.
He pursed his lips as he looked at it again. “Interesting choice, considering.”
When he turned to leave, my knees began to shake.
“Take care, Mei-chan.”
He descended the stairs and walked out the door, and I moved to the window to watch him walk away from the barn to Akiko’s house across the street.
I was convinced he’d killed his own father.
I just needed evidence to prove it.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Mom! I’m back inside!” I yelled into the house as I shucked off my shoes in the genkan. In the kitchen, Mom washed dishes and listened to Rachmaninoff, her favorite composer. She’d always wanted to learn to play the piano, but it never happened.
“I’m going to my room to do some internet research.” I filled up a glass with water and grabbed an apple from the kitchen counter.
“Mei-chan, wait.” She turned off the sink and lowered the volume on the stereo. “I’m worried about what’s going on with Tama-chan, this brewery, and the yakuza.” Mom wrung her hands together. The very mention of yakuza, Japan’s very own organized crime syndicate, had set her on edge. “You know that we do our best around here to keep them away from our land and our businesses, so I don’t want to do anything that would call attention to us.”
“It’s okay,” I said, patting her hand. “I’m not going to do anything to call attention to us. I don’t have that kind of power. But if Tama-chan is in with the mob, then they already know where he’s from, who his friends are, how much money he makes, et cetera et cetera. Besides, it’s only a guess. I only have a gut feeling about this.”
“You and Yasahiro-san.”
“Still,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “We’re probably wrong. I’ve been wrong about many things before, and I would love to be wrong about this too, so I’ll continue to search until I’m sure.”
Tama’s face popped into my head. “Just back off and give Akiko some peace,” he’d said, trying to make this all about Akiko. But I knew, I felt it deep down in my toes, that this was about him. Otherwise, he’d be willing to help, right? If he were innocent, he would do everything to help the police track down the murderer. Instead, Akiko was the one under house arrest and voluntarily giving herself over to the police, and Tama was the one pretending like nothing happened. That in itself told me a lot. If he killed his own father, he was as dumb as a rock to do everything he was doing. I used to think he was pretty smart, being a teacher and all that, but now I questioned his sanity.
“Okay, Mei-chan, but I’m still worried.”
“It’ll be fine,” I said, smiling at her as I left the kitchen. She turned up her Rachmaninoff and the water began to flow in the sink again by the time I reached my room. I stepped over two piles of clothes on the floor and edged around a tower of boxes to get to my bed. Pushing away a pile of books, I set my glass of water on a napkin on the tatami mats and sat cross-legged on the bed, pulling my computer onto my lap. I needed to take the time to clean up, but I wanted to find out more about the brewery.
I’d always loved alcohol, I’d admit. Growing up in a household where alcohol flowed free, like many other Japanese houses, there had never been any stigmas attached to what we drank and when. The legal drinking age was twenty, but I would drink at home with Mom once I was eighteen. She was great like that. She didn’t want me to learn about life without her help, and that’s probably why we were good friends now. My brother wanted nothing to do with us as he got older, which was fine. It was his job to get good grades, a college education, and marry into a good family, all of which he did. My mom had left everything optional for me, and even though I shot for the stars with excellent grades and a decent city job, she’d never expected those things of me. She was proud of me for what I did, no matter what I did. I loved that about her.
I bit into the apple and held it in my mouth as I opened my browser. Unfortunately, the last search I had open was for Yasahiro and Amanda. I allowed myself to look at the photos again, the two-carat diamond and platinum engagement ring, them together on a sail boat, and her applauding him as he won some award in Paris.
“It’s over,” I said aloud as I closed the window. I said it, but it’d be a while before I believed it.
Opening a new browser, I got to work. I couldn’t remember the name of the brewery but I searched for new breweries in Chiba until I found a name that sounded familiar. Cruising their website, everything up front appeared legitimate. They’d been open for three years and they distributed to all of central Japan. The place was owned by a team of brothers, and their family had been brewing beer since 1926. I closed my eyes and remembered the taste of the beer. It’d been pretty good. Served ice cold, it went down easy. They must have invested a lot of money into high-quality wheat and hops.<
br />
I plugged the names of the brothers into Google and hit the jackpot. Where were they from? Kobe, of course, the city of yakuza, as far as everyone was concerned. Mom was worried, but I was not. I grew up in the age of yakuza in the media, yakuza handing out Halloween candy, yakuza holding annual meetings, yakuza showing up for the local festivals. No big deal, especially if you’re not related to them. But these men were, tangentially. They were distant cousins to a few of the less prominent families, and seeing how the brewery had grown and prospered since they opened only three years ago, it had to be a front of some kind. And if I could figure that out from a simple Google search, the police already knew.
I picked up my phone to call Goro and hesitated. Maybe I was overreacting? Whatever. I dialed his number anyway.
“Hello, Mei-chan. How are you?”
“I’m good, Goro-chan, and you?”
“Good. Good.” In the background, I heard a high-pitched voice. “Kumi says hello and wants to know why you didn’t return her texts the last few days.”
“I just got back my phone on Friday. It took a bath in a puddle. Tell her I’ll write her back later.” I smiled down at my jeans as I played with a thread on the seam. Kumi was awesome. I hoped we were going to be best buddies soon enough. “Anyway, I have some new information for you, and I was wondering if you could check up on it?”
“Sure. Let me grab my notepad.” He fumbled around on the other end. “Okay, go.”
“Etsuko-san, the waitress at Izakaya Jūshi, told Yasahiro-san and I that Tama-chan has made friends with a brewer in Chiba. After doing some digging, it looks like the brewer is connected to the yakuza.”
“What? What are you saying?”
My right hand began to shake so I switched to my left hand. “I’m saying I suspect Tama-chan is involved in his father’s death.”
“But we cleared him. He was at school the whole day.”
I sat in silence for a moment. “Please understand. I don’t want him to be involved, but the more I look at what’s going on, the more I see his hand in everything. Kano-san was killed before he could will the estate to Akiko-chan. Tama-chan wants to sell even though it would put his sister out, and now he’s involved in some new business? Plus…”
The Daydreamer Detective Page 20
