“I do not have exact numbers with me. But this must to be less than one-third of their total value.”
Matsuo shrugged. “Well, when you factor in the new fee, the price comes down some. More into alignment with the reality of the situation.”
“The reality you created.”
“Yes, well. Think it over.”
“Look, Matsuo …”
Vasili hesitated, unsure whether he should say what he had to say next or just let it drop. It probably wouldn’t make a difference, but he sighed and pressed on anyway.
“Look, Matsuo, I know you don’t like me. And I understand. Hell, I don’t even like me most of time. But I have to ask a favor in this. Go easy on me. Just for the time being. I’m trying to set something up. Something big. But it’s taking up a lot of my capital, and I’m a little tight right now. If you can give me month or two on this, I would consider it personal favor.”
Matsuo tried not to smile. It mostly worked.
“Afraid I can’t do that, Vasili. I can’t do special favors, even to my close friends.” His smile broadened here. “But what is this special project of yours? Maybe I can help?”
Maybe you can help yourself to it, you mean, Vasili thought. “I’d rather not say right now. Still working on it. Something of a … different nature than most syndicate business.”
“What, are you opening an orphanage? A shelter for battered women? You going to dress like a clown and give the dying kids on the cancer ward a laugh before they croak? After your comments at the board meeting a few days ago, a lot of us are thinking maybe you’ve gone soft.”
“Not soft. Just thinking of different approach. So I’m asking for your help in this, just give me a deferment. In a few months I can pay you money I owe, with interest. You come out ahead, I come out ahead. What do you say?”
“No.”
Vasili sighed. He had thrown himself at the tender mercies of this gaping asshole and had gotten shat on for his troubles. It was what he’d expected, really.
“You know, Matsuo, I never understood the hate for me.”
“You going to cry about it?”
“No. I just want to understand. We’re on same team. Why do you go out of your way to cripple me?”
Matsuo regarded him for a while before responding. “We’re not on the same team. You’re an outsider here, a trespasser. That you could ever pass for yakuza shows just how far we’ve fallen.”
“A trespasser? I don’t know. Seems like I know this world pretty well. I know we are stronger for working together, rather than fighting like children.”
“Children, are we?” Matsuo said with a scoff. “Sure, make your jokes, you foreign ape. You will never understand us, never truly be one of us.”
Vasili kept a hard scowl on his face, but inside, he was starting to be disconcerted by this talk. Matsuo had never dared to speak this freely to him before. What had changed? Did he know something Vasili didn’t about Eriko’s plans for the succession? If Matsuo or one of his faction was a strong candidate to take over, Vasili didn’t stand much chance of surviving long.
Matsuo just sat back and regarded him with a half-smile.
“Maybe. But is also true that you never try to understand me. What my limits are.”
“Maybe, maybe,” Matsuo said. His expression told Vasili he wasn’t about to start. “In Japanese, we have a word, ikizukuri. You know it?”
“Yeah. Is way of preparing fish.”
“Alive. It literally means prepared alive. And that’s how you eat it. Alive. I come from a culture where people wouldn’t blink about eating a living creature alive. I believe it shows a certain cold-bloodedness on the part of the Japanese. Think about that, as you decide whether to have a go at me.”
Vasili nodded.
“I would be scared right now if I were fish. In Russia we have word korova. You know what is meaning?”
Matsuo shook his head.
“It means prison cow. Is man you take with you when you escape from remote prison or gulag in middle of Siberia or wherever. You bring him along with promise of escaping, but his true purpose is for you to eat him along the way. To keep your strength up, so you can make it back to civilization.”
“That’s … rather dark.”
“Maybe. Maybe is dark. But is necessary if you want to live. And it shows important difference between our peoples.”
Matsuo said nothing.
“Because I’m from a culture where people are willing to eat one another alive when they have to. So you think on that.”
Chapter Eleven
“Hello, Nomura. Got a minute?”
Her boss looked up from the paperwork on his desk. He motioned for her to sit. “Kimura. Good to see you. How goes the investigation?”
“Slowly.”
“Any breaks?”
“A few that I’m still following up on. But I wanted to talk to you about something else. I came across something in the course of the investigation that I don’t have the time to look into. Wondering if maybe you could route it to the proper department.”
Nomura chuckled. “You always were good at creating more work. What is it?”
“I just spoke with a woman who said she’s being held against her will.”
“Well, that is a serious matter. If you give me the details, I can hand it off to Major Crimes.”
“She’s a foreigner. Came over on a tourist visa. Said she and the other girls she’s with have been forced into prostitution.”
“Oh. Well, that’s … that would be more Vice’s area of expertise.”
“Do you have any pull with them? I hate to ask, but what she said rattled me. I was hoping someone could look into it.”
Nomura’s demeanor had cooled noticeably. “Right, well, I’ll mention it to them. But these things usually don’t lead anywhere.”
“I think this might. If what she told me checks out, it sounds like there might be a human trafficking ring operating out of the Kabukicho area.”
“Well, leave the information you have with me, I’ll pass it along.”
“You don’t sound very enthusiastic.”
“Detective Kimura, you have to understand, these sorts of investigations … they usually don’t go anywhere.”
“Why not? We have women being brought over under false pretenses, extorted, exploited, and forced into prostitution. That sounds like textbook human trafficking.”
“I doubt we’d be able to find a woman, let alone several women, willing to go on the record. They’re kept under close watch, and often threatened to prevent them from talking to us.”
“We can grant them immunity. We could—”
“We can’t. Even if someone is willing to talk to us—a big if—you’d never get a prosecution for the perpetrators.”
“Why not?”
“The girls would just be deported for overstaying their visa, or working illegally.”
“That’s insane, this is—”
“This is how it works. We don’t have any leeway here because of how the law is structured.”
“So the people exploiting these women just go free?”
“Essentially, yes. That’s what usually happens.”
“What if we just—”
“From my experience, the way you get these guys—the only way you get these guys—is you build a case for something else. Employing foreigners illegally, or maybe some liquor or other licensing issue with their establishment. Maybe drugs, if you’re lucky.”
“So basically we try to put together some bullshit case for something unrelated to the sexual slavery of women, which we know they’re guilty of. That right?”
“Yeah, well, Capone went to jail for tax evasion.”
“Over a hundred years ago. Things haven’t gotten better since then?”
“Look, I don’t like it any more than you do. Believe me, I’ve been on both sides of this conversation, and it gives me no joy to tell you this. The system is imperfect, but it’s the one we have to o
perate in.”
“The system isn’t imperfect. It’s fucking broken. And the fact that it stays broken tells me that the people in charge don’t want it fixed.”
“Maybe. Still, we’re cops. We work with what we’re given within the confines of the law. No matter how imperfect it is.”
Mei just shook her head. “You know, this woman said that the women who take their story to the police usually just get fucked, or turned away, or both. I didn’t realize she meant that they get fucked literally and figuratively.”
“Heya, kid!” Kumagai said.
Satoshi gave him a short bow and a smile as he entered the room. “How are you feeling, Kumagai?”
“Well, half the time I feel like shit, and the other half of the time I feel like shit that’s been reheated for too long in the microwave.”
“Well, you look twice as good.”
That sent Kumagai off into a grim chuckle that ended in him coughing. “You’re funny, Satoshi. Real fucking funny.”
“I try. Brought you some candy. Remembered you always had a sweet tooth.”
“Hey, thanks. It’s funny you should come now. I only just got moved to this ward. I couldn’t take visitors before.”
“I know,” Satoshi said.
In truth he was relieved. Because Kumagai had made a cryptic comment about his father’s death that he needed to follow up on. Now he could stroll onto this ward instead of dressing up in his girlfriend’s old work clothes and sneaking in, like he had to the last time.
Kumagai had been in the game a long time and had talked openly about knowing his father from back in the old days. But the other day was the first time he had mentioned anything about his father’s death.
“What have you been up to lately?” Kumagai asked.
“Actually, I’ve been taking a stroll down memory lane lately. I was wondering if you could help.”
Kumagai grunted. “I try not to walk too far backwards these days. Don’t always like where it takes me.”
“Me neither. Maybe I should say my stroll down memory lane is more like a forced march. I was wondering if you had kept in touch with any of the guys from Osammy’s crew.”
Kumagai’s grandfatherly smile faltered there. His countenance grew darker. “Can’t really help you there, kid. I see Nishio from time to time. But he was never part of that crew proper, just a freelancer. Why the sudden interest in digging up old graves?”
“Because the dead won’t stay buried. I’m looking for Masa.”
“I thought you two were tight.”
“After Osammy’s crew broke up, we sort of drifted apart. I didn’t like what I saw from him in those days.”
“I didn’t like much about what I saw in those days either. Between you and me, it was a relief when Osammy got busted. Guy was a slow-motion train wreck in the works.”
“Yeah. But if I don’t find Masa on my own, Osammy’s my next stop. Heard anything that might help?”
“Sorry, kid, wouldn’t know where to begin. Masa was never my favorite, and I don’t talk with any of the others either. Except for Nishio.”
“That’s what I figured. Guess I have to see Osammy, then.”
“You sure you want to do that? You and Osammy didn’t leave things on the best of terms.”
“That’s for damn sure. I don’t think that sadist ever forgave me for that one night.”
“I’m not talking about his games. Word is, he blamed you for getting sent away.”
Satoshi grunted, then shook his head. Then he began laughing, because his body didn’t know any other way to process the news short of screaming.
“So, one of the most vicious, sickest fucks I know thinks I had something to do with putting him away. And I have to pay him a house call.”
“What do you need him so bad for, anyway?”
“Partially a favor to a friend. Partially self-preservation at this point, if I’m being honest. I heard Osammy’s out of the game.”
“Mostly, from what I hear. But he’s still got those loyal to him, and he’s still a dangerous man. I say find another way if you can.”
Satoshi didn’t answer. He didn’t even look up.
Kumagai sighed. “Well, then, kid, if it must be, it must be. But my advice to you is to treat this meeting like a job. And by that, I mean go in strapped, get in and out quick, and don’t turn your back on him for a second. You do that and you might—you might—come out alive again.”
“Yeah, that was my thought too. Thanks for your help.”
“Anytime, kid, anytime. You’re the only one to visit me so far. Gives me something to do.”
“Actually, this isn’t the first time I’ve come to visit you. I snuck up to see you on the other ward you were on.”
“Yeah? Don’t remember it.”
“You were mostly asleep. Then you said something to me about my dad. Actually, you mistook me for him.”
Kumagai’s expression had gone grave. “Kid—”
“You said he knew they were going to kill him. That ‘he’ couldn’t let him live. Who? Who were you talking about?”
“Satoshi, I … let it be, kid. Let the past stay buried.”
“All these years you knew who killed my father? And you didn’t say anything? Why?”
“Nothing good can come of it.”
“Who killed my father?”
“The man who pulled the trigger is long dead. He wasn’t anyone of importance.”
“Then who gave the order?”
“Believe me, you don’t want to know.”
“His death destroyed my family and set me on the Path. I need to know why. I need the truth.”
Kumagai looked at him with his sad eyes.
“And what would the truth do for you now? Huh? What good is it now? Believe me, kid, the truth won’t set you free. It’d set you on fire.”
Chapter Twelve
Mei slid into the plastic chair across from Kentaro. They were in a cheap restaurant with a counter and several tables crammed together in a back area. Not the cleanest place she had ever seen.
“Nice place,” she said. “Surprised it hasn’t been condemned.”
“I think they pay off the health inspector,” Kentaro replied, sliding a plastic-laminated menu to her across the sticky table. “And I know that they pay the fire inspector off. But the food’s good, so I can’t complain. They do a pretty mean snakehead fish fillet.”
“I’ll pass. I never understood the appeal of snakefish,” she said, using the common nickname for the vicious alien species that had invaded Tokyo’s rivers in recent years.
“Well, better us eating them than them eating us.”
“Those are just rumors.”
They placed their orders with the waitress when she returned.
“Sorry I haven’t been around more,” Kentaro said. “Nomura’s keeping me busy with other cases.”
“Figured as much.”
“Where are you with the case?”
Mei glanced around. The tables packed around them had mostly cleared out by now. One businessman lingered over a late lunch, and a man who appeared to be homeless was taking a nap on his corner table. Nobody who looked like they had tailed her here.
“Don’t worry. No one cares here.”
Mei nodded, then got him up to speed on the case.
“That’s great news! Sounds like you’re closing in.”
“I think so.”
“You don’t look happy about it.”
“I’m happy. It’s just that everything else in my life has gone to shit.”
“You alright?”
“No. I told you before about my problem with …”
“I remember.”
“Well, things have gotten complicated.”
“With your … benefactor?”
“Don’t call him that.”
“His people are helping you with your case. And he’s helping you with your father’s health problems. What would you call him?”
“Well, true.
But I’d call him a mixed blessing. Now I’m being tailed by what I assume are cops because they think I’m crooked. Which, in fact, I am.” Mei laughed nervously. It was an utterly joyless laugh. “How did it turn out this way for me? This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Not for me.”
“I’ll tell you how it happened for me. It was—”
“Wait, are you saying …?”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t suspected.” He swallowed hard and looked away. “I tried to tell you. Closest I came was right before Shigeo burst into the station.”
Mei was silent, still too stunned to speak. Kentaro continued.
“It was several years ago. Back when construction on the Barrier started to ramp up. You remember what it was like back then?”
Mei just nodded.
“Those were dark days. All of a sudden, this fog rolled in and obscured everything in the city. It was like people just let their worst impulses run wild. Or maybe it made them crazy. The Rot, I think some people call it. Murder and other violent crimes skyrocketed, and they still haven’t gone down to their former levels.”
He paused while the hostess placed trays with food on them down. Neither of them looked at the food. When she was gone, he continued.
“Anyway, I was working that child abduction case. Kids disappearing in the daytime from the gloom, their bodies turning up later.” He shook his head. “The things that were done to them … some of them had been …”
Kentaro sipped from his glass of water and tried to compose himself.
“I caught the guy, got a confession. The right way, too, none of this Dirty Harry bullshit. Caught him with a would-be victim, and his apartment was full of evidence. So a conviction should have been no problem. But they let him walk on a technicality.”
“What? How?”
“The technicality was he was politically connected. Pressure started coming in to let the guy go, and that’s what happened in the end. He walked.
“I was furious. I kept picturing my little Chao-xing like the man’s victims. Bound in electrical tape, looks of horror frozen on their faces. It drove me mad. Ultimately, it drove me to Vasili. He did what the courts and the police couldn’t.”
Tokyo Noir: The Complete First Season Page 58
