“He can always coach when your kid gets bigger,” I said, returning everything to the kit.
Her face brightened with a smile. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
She picked up each pile of towels and pushed them back into the linen closet. I tried not to think about how I would have to refold all the towels to make them fit on the shelves properly. I was not a neat and tidy person, but everyone around me was. Straightening and cleaning were my jobs, between home, Yasahiro’s apartment, and my elderly clients. It took a while to get used to living in such a pristine place, but I ended up craving the normality of order.
I opened the last two drawers in the vanity and didn’t find anything.
“I don’t think it’s in the bathroom.” I paused for a moment as I heard Kayo open the cabinets in the kitchen and pull out pots and pans. She was off the phone and busy searching.
“Bedroom?” Kumi asked, gesturing to the other door. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to search the bedroom. Yasahiro was a private man. Even I didn’t just search through his things, and I was dating him.
“Sure. I guess.” I stood there, not wanting to move on. I believed Kumi’s story, that there was an engagement ring waiting for me, but guilt pressed me down. This was not the way Yasahiro had intended for things to happen.
“Well, don’t just stand there. Let’s go. This is not my house, so you take the lead.”
“Fine,” I said, opening the door from the bathroom to the bedroom. “You search his desk, and I’ll start underneath the bed.”
Yasahiro kept all his off-season clothes and a firebox under the bed. I rummaged through the sweaters and heavy pants, then I put the combination into the firebox and opened it. I held my breath as I shuffled through the documents inside, but I came up empty-handed. I thought for sure if he was going to keep the ring anywhere, it would be in the firebox. It was the safest place for something so expensive, even though I knew the combination. Still, I wouldn’t have gone in there unless there was an emergency.
Anger and frustration warred in my chest, heating my body and making me sweat. I’d had just enough of this.
I slammed the box shut and shoved everything back under the bed.
“Why didn’t he just propose when he got the damn ring?” I yelled at the room. “Then we wouldn’t be in this mess right now!”
Kumi was bent over the bottom drawer of the desk. “Don’t get all mad and upset right now. We don’t have time for that.”
“It must be in here.” I headed straight for Yasahiro’s dresser.
Ripping his shirts from the drawers, I gave up any pretense of being careful or respectful. It was time to either find the ring or tear the place apart trying. This was the only thing left that I could control. Searching Amanda’s emails, texts, and photos made me depressed and angry. No one wanted to listen to me, and without evidence, I doubted they ever would.
Shirts, shorts, underwear, and socks all ended up on the bed as I pulled his entire dresser apart. But as each drawer emptied, hope fizzled out. Where was it?
I wiped sweat from my upper lip and looked around. Ignoring the growing hunger in my belly, I went for the standing closet. This was where I kept the extra money, passports, and anything else I’d need for a quick getaway, all in the false bottom. I knew the ring wasn’t in there or else I would’ve seen it the other day. But I pulled the false bottom open anyway and checked. Nope. He was too smart for that.
I yanked each of his suits from the closet, tossing them in their dry cleaner bags to the bed. One, two, ten suits. The eleventh one went on top of the pile and slid straight off to the floor.
Thunk.
Both Kumi and I froze before turning slowly to the bed. She stepped away from the desk as I reached for the suit with shaking hands. The dark gray jacket and pants were custom-made in Hong Kong, one of Yasahiro’s favorite suits. I picked it off the floor, and it felt heavier than all the rest.
I snaked my hand up under the plastic and into the front pocket of the jacket. My fingers closed around a velvet box, and my heart raced as I pulled it back out.
“She found it,” Kumi yelled into the kitchen. Kayo dropped whatever she was doing and came into the bedroom. Her eyes skipped over the bed and the mess I’d made before coming to rest on the box in my hand.
The hinges creaked as I opened it. The engagement ring sat in black velvet, winking in the light of the overhead lamp. He’d picked the perfect ring, a set of three diamonds set in platinum. Delicate filigree in a water motif edged the diamonds on either side.
Kayo whistled. “That’s gotta be at least two or three carats. Where did you find it?”
I couldn’t move or speak. All I could do was stare. He knew how much I loved water. I loved the bathhouse, the onsens, and going to the shore. I often talked about living near the sea someday, and how I wanted to learn to sail. He’d listened. All those nights we spent together talking of our dreams before sleep, he had listened.
Kumi handed Yasahiro’s suit to Kayo, and Kayo searched the pockets. In the inside pocket, she found the bill of sale.
“Congratulations, Mei-san,” she said, bowing with a wide smile. “Looks like you’ll be married in no time. Are you going to try it on?”
“Should I?” I looked at them both. This was so unusual, and I wondered if I should just hand it over to the police.
Kayo thought for a moment, her eyes turning to the ceiling. “As far as I’m concerned, the ring belongs to you and Yasahiro-san. So put it on and wear it. Own it. That’s the best way to convince the chief. This” — she lifted the bill of sale — “is what I need.”
I took the ring from the box and slipped it onto my left ring finger. The ring glowed in the light, and I tilted it back and forth to catch the facets of the diamonds and make them sparkle. It was the single most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and it was meant for me! The fitting was a little loose, but whatever. I was sure I’d gain weight over the next few months, if only I could keep food down.
“It’s over for us, Mei-chan… I can’t bring you down with me.” Yasahiro’s last words punched me in the gut, and my body chilled.
“What if… What if he’s changed his mind?” I tore my eyes from the ring and watched both Kayo and Kumi’s faces fall. “He broke up with me. The other day. Told me he needed to cut ties with me so I wouldn’t be dragged into this mess.” Tears blurred the shiny ring into a shiny blob. “What if he feels like his reputation has been ruined enough that he’ll want to leave?”
Both women had nothing to say. Kayo’s mouth opened but she couldn’t speak. I hadn’t told anyone he broke up with me. I denied it like I denied everything else. I even denied it to him! I told him he couldn’t break up with me.
But he had and then went against all my advice.
I looked at the ring again. It felt right, like it belonged there. The cool metal had already warmed to my skin, filled with my energy. At this point, it was either mine or it would be melted down.
“I’ll wear it for a day. Just a day.” I snapped the box closed. “And then I’ll take it off and give it back to him. He can decide what to do then.”
I could live in denial for another day. What was another day of denial when I lived it so perfectly?
The door bell rang in the other room, and I tilted my head in confusion, hoping to hear a car or voices outside. It rang again, echoing through the apartment.
I left the bedroom with Kayo and Kumi right behind. Pressing the intercom, I leaned into the speaker.
“Who is it?”
“Uh, is Yasahiro there?” A voice I thought I recognized asked in English.
“Who is this?” I repeated in English.
“It’s Robert. I’m here to see Yasahiro. Is he there? Is this… Mei?”
I looked at both Kumi and Kayo. Kayo grabbed Kumi’s arm.
“Let him in. We’ll be in the bedroom.”
“Okay,” I said, clearing my throat. I remembered the emails I had seen last night between Robert, Gisell
e, and Amanda. Robert was not my top suspect (Hiroshi was), but I hadn’t counted him out.
“It is Mei. I’m buzzing you in,” I said into the intercom.
I pressed the DOOR button, set the ring box aside, and straightened myself up as his footsteps pounded up the stairs.
Chapter Thirty
“Hi, Robert. Come in.” I stepped to the side and waved him in. I knew if Yasahiro had been there, he would have welcomed Robert, so it only made sense for me to do it as well.
“It is Mei, right?” he asked, confirming my name.
“It is. You have a good memory.” I never expected anyone I’d met at that party last week to remember me.
“And your English is good, too. I hadn’t realized…” Robert glanced around the room. “Yasahiro isn’t here?”
“Please sit.” I gestured to the couch, and he took off his shoes in that awkward way most Westerners do, leaving them askew in the doorway. I bent over and positioned them to the side, facing the toes to the door so they’d be easy to put on later.
“Yasahiro-san is not here, no.” I joined him at the couch, sitting a respectful distance away. “He’s in jail, actually. The police and Amanda’s parents suspect him of killing Amanda.” I spoke slowly, thinking of each word before it left my mouth.
Robert’s jaw dropped. “How can that be? Yasahiro is not that kind of guy.” He rubbed the stubble across his cheek. “He barely spoke to Amanda. He had moved on.”
“You were held by the police. Did you not fight for Yasahiro-san?”
Robert avoided eye contact with me. “I didn’t know what I was doing. Being questioned by the police in a foreign country is stressful. I wanted to get out. I hear jails in Japan are harsh.”
A bead of sweat blossomed on his upper lip. Well, if we do anything right in Japan, it’s making the punishment fit the crime. Or maybe I was just bitter.
“Why did you come here?” I needed to cut to the heart of the matter. No more talking around the point.
“I thought he could help me, but I guess not.” He stood up and bowed, another awkward thing Westerners do but don’t understand. “I’ll figure something else out.”
“Wait,” I called out, jumping off the couch. “Maybe I can help, especially if we can get Yasahiro-san out of jail.”
How could I persuade this man to assist me? Would guilt work?
I shoved my left hand forward. “See? We were going to be married.” Robert stopped and stared at the ring on my finger. “He wants to move on with his life. If there’s anything you know that might help him, I need to hear it.”
I thought of the emails between him, Giselle, and Amanda, how they let Amanda buy up pieces of Yasahiro’s life. This man was guilty of something. I could feel it.
Robert closed his eyes and swore in English. “Marriage is a complicated and messy thing. I thought Yasahiro understood that. I told him not to propose to Amanda, and he did it anyway.” He softened when I pulled my hand to my chest. “You seem like a nice girl, though, and he said he was in love with you.”
“Please. If you help me, I promise to help you, in any way I can.”
I wasn’t sure what I was promising this man. I didn’t know him, couldn’t trust him, but I sensed he held back important information. We were both on the cliff’s edge, looking out at the sea. It was time to either turn back or jump.
“It’s Giselle,” he said, running his hand through his hair. His eyes were tired and red, and he looked like he hadn’t shaved in days. “I think she may have killed Amanda.”
The bedroom door creaked open and out came Kayo and Kumi. Robert’s eyes widened, and then he laughed, shaking his head.
“Of course. Of course this would happen.” He sighed as he pulled out a chair at the dining room table and sat down. “I didn’t see a police car outside, so I thought I was safe.”
I translated and said, “We came in Kumi’s car. Listen to me. What makes you think Giselle killed Amanda?”
Robert kept silent as Kayo sat down with her notebook open. “My English is pretty good, Girard-san. Give us what details you can.”
He sighed, resigned. “It was… It was the car that clued me in.”
Robert detailed how he found Giselle a mess in their rented apartment on Saturday afternoon. She was fresh out of a bath, but drinking, smoking, and crying, and he had only seen her cry a few times in all their twenty years together. She refused to talk to him, kept saying over and over how she was sorry, but they were through. It was too late for him to do anything.
She got dressed and packed in a great hurry, took a handful of cash, and left their apartment without her phone. He looked out the window and saw her flag a taxi. He made note of the taxi number and then searched the apartment.
“I looked everywhere, but I couldn’t figure out what’d made her so upset. So I went to the garage where we parked the car we rented, and that’s when I found it.” He swallowed hard, his whole face shined with sweat. I got up and filled a glass with ice water for him. He gulped it down at once. “Thank you. The passenger door had blood on it. Not a lot but some.”
Kumi gasped when I translated for her. Kayo paused in her note taking.
“When I saw the photos of Amanda dead at the police station, I knew right away. They must’ve fought. You know Amanda. She was a hard woman to love. Knew how to push you and make you angrier than anyone else could. I can only guess Giselle lost her temper and attacked her first in the car. She must’ve dragged her outside and finished… finished her off.”
Robert twisted the glass on the table.
“Giselle has her own problems. I knew she wasn’t right. There were signs, but I ignored them all. Still, Amanda made her angry more than anyone on this earth.” He shook his head. “I’m not excusing Giselle, or Amanda, but they had a big fight coming. I just didn’t think it would be like this.”
Kayo paused again, tapping her pen against her lip.
“What about the murder weapon? She was stabbed to death.”
Robert shrugged his shoulders. “Giselle knows self-defense. In foreign countries, she carries a knife sometimes for protection. She’s paranoid because she was mugged once in South America when she was a teen.”
Kayo nodded, and I remembered the police report. In my mind, I saw Amanda and Giselle fighting after Giselle picked her up from Yasahiro’s apartment. Maybe Giselle knocked her over the head first before pulling over and stabbing her with a knife from her purse. I closed my eyes, but that didn’t stop my brain from playing the whole situation out. My stomach turned over.
“Do you think there are any knives missing from your apartment?” Kayo got back to being a police officer.
“Maybe? It wouldn’t surprise me if she’d taken one the same day we landed. She doesn’t fly with weapons. She just picks them up when she can.” He rubbed his face. “Saying this shit out loud is frightening. Sorry,” he said, apologizing for his profanity. “I used to make fun of her, but I was never afraid of her coming after me. It was a joke, you know? Dangerous Giselle.”
I wanted to reach over and squeeze his hand. He didn’t have to come here and confess. In fact, I believed, in many countries, spouses were exempt from testifying against their husbands and wives. This must have been weighing on him. He came here to tell Yasahiro, someone he trusted.
We got lucky.
“Where do you think Giselle is now?” I asked, looking between Kayo and Kumi. We were close to ending this!
He shrugged his shoulders. “I called the taxi company. They dropped Giselle at a train station. She could be anywhere.”
“We’ll access train station cameras and find her,” Kayo said, pulling her phone out. “But that’ll take days. Can you make a guess? We could go one place while others get the video feeds from Tokyo.”
He hummed while rubbing the stubble on his chin. “She’s only been to Japan one other time.”
“Why was she here?”
“She came here once with Amanda to do one of those meditation retre
ats with Amanda’s boyfriend. Shoda? Shona?” He perked up, straightening in his chair.
“Shōta Kimura,” I corrected him. “Did she enjoy the retreat? Would she want to go back there?”
Kumi stood up and paced, groaning about her hips.
“Yeah. Yeah, actually she really enjoyed it. Said the meditation was relaxing and the hotel they stayed in was beautiful as was the campsite.”
Kayo and I made eye contact. “Nikko. She’s in Nikko.”
Goro was in Nikko too!
We jumped up, everyone running to the door to get back into shoes and coats. I grabbed my purse and the ring box too.
Robert was slow to realize what was going on. “Where are we going?”
I clutched his arm and pulled him to his shoes. “We’re going to find your wife.”
I only hoped we’d find her before she made another run for it.
Chapter Thirty-One
We arrived in Nikko about an hour later. Kayo drove quickly along the main street, past the tourists making their way down the avenue towards the town proper and the shrines beyond.
It was a quiet trip with Robert brooding in the backseat. He did nothing but stare out the window and wring his hands. Kumi didn’t come with us. She had done her part, telling me about the ring, and then calling Goro to apologize for not telling him earlier. He had been much quieter on the phone with her than he had been with Kayo. She dropped us at the station and returned to the bathhouse.
I looked in the backseat, making eye contact with Robert. His stare frosted me from the inside out. He looked away first, keeping his eyes on the street outside. I had to ask myself, who were these people? They were friends with Yasahiro, so I had to give them credit for knowing someone as good as he was. But did he really know Robert? Giselle? To me, they seemed pretentious and cunning. Two qualities I couldn’t admire.
I tried to imagine what Robert was going through. I’d spent the last few days trying to help Yasahiro, and here Robert was pinning a murder on his own wife. Something about the whole situation rubbed me the wrong way. Why hadn’t they divorced if they were unhappy and cheating? I supposed there were many reasons a marriage would endure longer than intended, but if Giselle was dangerous, how could he stand by her side?
The Daydreamer Detective Opens a Tea Shop Page 22
