The Daydreamer Detective Opens a Tea Shop

by S. J. Pajonas

  “Mei-san! Wake up!”

  The world was a dark night of rushing water and painful spasms. My eyelids refused to open, even though my body shook everywhere. I would’ve sunk straight back into the abyss of sleep if freezing cold water hadn’t hit my face.

  I sat up with a gasp, adrenaline coursing through me. Tiny rocks bit into my hands and my butt through my water soaked pants.

  Kayo stood behind Hiroshi, her hair wild and face white with pain. Hiroshi had the scared face of someone who’d witnessed a crime but was powerless to stop it.

  “Can you stand?” Kayo asked, her teeth chattering. She was soaked from the waist down, and she cradled her left arm against her chest.

  I tried to move my left leg, but the muscles alternated between numb and painful. So that’s what it felt like to be stunned. Oh no. It couldn’t be good to be stunned while pregnant.

  My eyes filled with tears as I forced myself to stand on my right leg. My left leg would just barely hold my weight. I’d have to limp.

  “Damn Giselle stunned me.”

  “What are you doing carrying around a stun gun and pepper spray, Mei-san?” Kayo’s voice was harsh and unbelieving.

  “When your ex-boyfriend teams up with yakuza and then tries to kill you, you give more thought to self-protection.” Then I was almost raped at the hands of Takahara. It’d been enough for me to spend my hard-earned money on them.

  Hiroshi picked the spent pepper spray and stun gun off the ground. “I tried to tackle that woman, but I missed. She tripped and dropped the stun gun though. Let me get your wallet.” He jogged to pick up my wallet and brought it back.

  “Which direction did she go in?” I rubbed at the sore muscles in my leg. I’d researched what would happen if I stunned someone, and the websites said the affected muscles would seize and high amounts of lactic acid would be dumped into the area, giving the same kind of pain as a weight-lifting workout. But this was worse than any hardcore workout I’d ever done.

  Hiroshi pointed in the opposite direction the bear ran in, back towards the car park. Maybe we’d get lucky and there’d be more than one officer left there with Robert. Maybe not.

  “Kayo, can you call…?” I stopped myself when I saw her pull her waterlogged phone from her pocket. “Forget it.” My phone was still inside my bag, so I turned it on and tried to call Goro. No reception.

  Tears formed, and I cursed, mad at myself for being so flustered and letting Giselle get the better of me.

  “Let’s go,” Hiroshi said, taking off his hoodie and forming a sling for Kayo. “You weren’t out long. We can catch up with her.”

  We walked as fast as we could along the trail. It would take a solid hour to get back, but less if we pushed hard. My leg shot pain straight up my side, making me nauseous and light headed. I tried to block it out, concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other, but it got the better of me after twenty minutes. I paused to lean on a tree and throw up out of the way of everyone else. I should’ve been used to it by now, but with the pregnancy and the stun gun, I moaned hard enough to scare Hiroshi.

  “What were you doing out here, Ota-san?” I asked him, trying to think of anything else but my stomach.

  He glanced at Kayo. She was white with shock. “I was camping and hiding from you.” He sunk to his knees, and I wanted to yell at him to get up and get going. “I’m ready to confess. I attacked Amanda-san on Friday night. I was so angry with her, for what she did to Shōta-san. I wanted her to leave Japan and never come back.”

  Blood drained from my head. Hiroshi had attacked her!

  “But I saw on the news that she was killed the next day, and I swear” — he brought his hands up in prayer position — “I did not kill her. I just wanted to scare her. I ran away after you came to question us. I’m so sorry I didn’t say anything then.”

  I sighed, grabbing Hiroshi by his shirt and hauling him up. “We don’t have time for this. Giselle, that woman we’re after, killed her. And if we don’t go find her right now, we may never end this.”

  And I had to end this. I needed my life back. I was fighting for my life, my family, my love, and my friends. I would not give up now.

  I dragged Hiroshi for a few meters until he got himself straightened out enough to help me. The woods were thick, and I stumbled over rocks and tree roots as we made our way down the path. My leg was working, but only barely. I figured that if I kept moving it, the lactic acid build-up would dissipate, and I’d start to feel better. Really what I needed was a long vacation and a hot bath, not running through the woods, trying to chase down a murderer.

  On our way back to the parking lot, I had plenty of time to think about what had happened with Giselle. She seemed genuinely surprised that Amanda was dead, but then she attacked me because she didn’t want to go into the police for questioning. I was more confused than ever.

  We made it to the campsite and ran into Goro and his men.

  “Oh thank the heavens.” I collapsed onto one of the logs around the cold fire pit, panting so hard I wasn’t making any sense. “Giselle. Waterfall. Bear. Kayo.” I waved at Kayo, and one of the men on Goro’s team examined her arm.

  “Slow down, Mei-chan.” Goro squatted down in front of me and glanced over at Hiroshi. “What happened?”

  “Forget it. Long story. Call the parking lot. See if Giselle made it there.”

  Goro pulled out his radio, a much better choice when there were no cell towers around. “Kota-san, what’s going on there?” He waited while the radio crackled. “Kota-san, report in.”

  Nothing.

  He pointed to his men. “You and you, go now. Circle around from the side.” He pulled me up. “Let’s go.”

  I shook my head. “Can’t run. Giselle hit me in the leg with my stun gun.” I picked up my pace behind him, grunting through the pain.

  “You have a stun gun? Since when?”

  “January. Let’s not get into it now.”

  I ignored his wide-eyed look and waved him onward, but he didn’t move.

  “Up,” he commanded and waved to his back. A piggy back ride? Fine. I jumped on his back, and he ran, loping along like a deer. I closed my eyes against the underbrush of trees and held on tight as he closed into the car park.

  I could hear the screaming from inside the tree line. Giselle’s voice was high and hoarse, cracking at every syllable.

  “How can you do this to me?”

  We approached even faster, and Goro dumped me to the pavement a few meters from the car. Giselle was hitting the officer guarding Robert in Goro’s car. The windshield was cracked in, a large rock sitting on the dashboard, and Giselle swung a branch the size of her arm at the officer while Robert yelled at her from inside.

  The officer blocked with his nightstick, his stance practiced and efficient, probably a martial arts enthusiast. Goro came up behind Giselle and bear-hugged her, pinning her arms down.

  Pulling myself up from the ground and ignoring my skinned and bleeding hands, I fished around in my bag for the stun gun.

  “Let me go!” Giselle switched to barking at Goro in French, spit flying from her lips. She slammed her head back at Goro, busting open his lip and then kicked him in the leg. He dropped her, and she scrambled to find her footing. I dove in before she could get up and jammed my stun gun into her leg.

  The hissing, popping noise scared me so badly I dropped the weapon, but the damage was done. I’d hit her the same way she hit me. Her body convulsed for a few seconds before she laid helplessly on the ground.

  Both men stood over her and raised their eyes to me.

  “That’ll teach her,” I said, nodding once.

  “What? What?” Giselle then mumbled in French, her eyes rolling around in her head, but she didn’t pass out. She probably had too much adrenaline speeding through her to lose consciousness. Confusion blanketed her face, her lips smacking and saliva pooling at the side of her mouth. I squatted down though my leg screamed with pain. I knew what she was going through.r />
  “Get up. Shake it off.” I lightly patted her face, and she made eye contact with me, so I pulled her up.

  Robert screamed at her through the car window in French, and I caught a few English swear words thrown in the mix. These two were quite the pair.

  “She’s a murderer! Put her in handcuffs.” Robert rapped on the window with his knuckles. “You!” He pointed to Goro. “Let me out.”

  Goro whispered to the other officer, and he opened the door and pulled Robert out, holding him to the car and handcuffing him.

  “Hey! Stop!” Robert struggled, but the officer held on tight.

  I held Giselle steady by her shoulders as Goro handcuffed her as well. “Listen to me,” I said, shaking her. She focused on me. “What happened between you and Amanda?”

  “Why’d you stun me?” she slurred. I shook my head at her. “Sorry. I stunned you first.”

  “Yes, you did. It hurts, right?”

  She winced and shifted her weight on her legs. At least she wasn’t cold and wet like I was. A breeze curled around the car and sent a chill through me, and in the distance, an ambulance approached. Good because Kayo was being carried from the woods, and she couldn’t keep her head up.

  “What happened between you and Amanda?”

  “Don’t listen to her. She’s been lying to me for years.” Robert spat at Giselle, and Goro’s eyes widened in disbelief.

  “Last I saw Amanda was on Friday after her book signing.” Giselle’s voice cut across the silence between us. “We all had drinks together, and I left early to go back to the hotel.”

  “That’s it? You didn’t go out on the town?”

  “No. Jet lag.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t want to see her again. I hated her book, and she knew it. But then I found out that she planned to meet up with Robert after drinks.” She leaned forward to make eye contact with Robert. “Traitor. You said you were through!”

  Robert stared at her, his eyes stone hard. I got another chill, this time not from the cold.

  “How did you find out?” I asked her. I translated for Goro.

  “I think I can guess,” Goro said to me, and I shushed him.

  “Amanda called me. Rubbed it in. Said she was finally getting everything she wanted. All of Yasahiro’s businesses, Robert, and my money as well. I told Robert I was leaving him, and I am,” she shouted at him. “On Saturday morning, I told him I was getting a divorce, and I wasn’t paying Amanda a damned cent to keep quiet. I didn’t care that it would ruin him or his family or even my family. We’re done.”

  “Where were you when Amanda was murdered? Saturday afternoon?” Goro asked, and I translated.

  Giselle laughed and relaxed. “I had lunch with Izuru.”

  “Izuru?”

  “Morinaga. The restaurant we went to the other day? Then we went to a spa together, and I slept with him.” She smirked at Robert, her expression full of rue and victory. “At a love hotel. And he was good. Really good.”

  I pinched my lips to stop from laughing. Robert’s skin had changed from a healthy red to a pale gray. This explains why Morinaga couldn’t account for Robert’s whereabouts the afternoon Amanda was killed.

  “And where were you?” I asked him as an ambulance pulled up.

  He spoke in French, a long string of sentences, but ended it with one word, “lawyer.”

  Giselle nodded her head once at him. “I’m done with you.”

  The officer holding Robert escorted him to the other police car Goro arrived in.

  “I’m sorry we have to leave you in handcuffs till this is all over,” I translated for Goro.

  “No matter,” Giselle said, relaxing her shoulders. “I will do what’s necessary now. It’ll be a burden on me and my family, but he killed her. I know it.”

  I thought about all the emails and texts Robert and Amanda had exchanged. They seemed to get off on each other, but not hate each other.

  “She manipulated him into selling his shares of Yasahiro’s businesses to her. He lost almost all our money, and he wanted it back. Nothing is more important to Robert than money.” And this is what they said about Yasahiro, too, but who knew the truth?

  “Wait,” I said, holding up my finger and replaying Giselle’s confession. “Was Amanda blackmailing you?”

  Giselle huffed. “When was she not blackmailing us? Blackmail for the affairs. Blackmail for the money scandals. Blackmail for anything she could. I practically funded her entire life the last three years.” She sighed. “I didn’t want her dead, but I’m not sad to see her gone.”

  Me neither.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “And with the arrest of Robert Girard, we’re moving this case to the prefectural courts for trial.” The police chief glanced down at his notes as the cameras flashed around him. I bit my lip, nervous he’d mess up what we discussed. “The entire Chikata police department owes a debt of gratitude to Yasahiro Suga for his help in apprehending the murderer. His depth of knowledge concerning the victim and her acquaintances is the main reason we could move so quickly. Thank you, again, Suga-san.”

  The chief stepped away from the podium and bowed to Yasahiro, and he smiled and bowed back, reaching out to grasp the chief’s hand and whisper to him. They both shared a warm laugh, and my insides quieted, settling into a smooth hum.

  Amanda’s parents stood next to Yasahiro, but her mother angled past them to the microphone.

  “We’re so grateful Yasahiro was able to help us. I regret what I said about him. He was always so kind and helpful to my daughter when she was alive. I should have trusted him more. I apologize for my actions.” She looked to the chief, and he bobbed his head, showing they should bow as well. They were Americans. No one expected them to understand our ways. But both Amanda’s mother and father bowed, and then Yasahiro hugged them.

  Good. They were lucky they were able to apologize in public. Yasahiro had every right to sue them for defamation, even though I knew he wouldn’t.

  “Now, I’m ready to take more questions.” The chief stepped to the podium as Yasahiro and Amanda’s parents faded back. The apologies were over, and reporters clamored for more information about Robert, Giselle, Amanda, and how they were all connected.

  I stepped away from the press of the crowd. Today I was alone, no friends or family with me. I’d spent the last two nights at Akiko’s in the evening but with Mom during the day. By dinnertime, I’d usually had enough of Mom’s prying questions and had to leave before I snapped at her. She kept asking me how I’d support a baby on my own, where I would work, how I would pay for day care, et cetera et cetera et cetera until I was sick to my stomach. I’d yelled at her yesterday that I had no idea and to leave me the hell alone.

  That had not gone over well.

  If only my body weren’t boiling in hormones at every moment, I’d be more humble and respectful. I just didn’t have it in me.

  I waited on the fringes of the press conference until it was over and reporters were leaving. Yasahiro made eye contact with me from across the room, and his face warmed with a smile. I barely recognized him. After a week of not shaving and only the barest of personal hygiene, he looked five years older. Still handsome, though. I was sure that once he got a good shower, shave, and a hot meal from his own restaurant, he’d be perfect again.

  I smiled back though it wasn’t more than a pressing of lips into a polite arch. I lifted my hand to wave at him and jerked my head at the door. He nodded, and I left the station and walked to his car in the lot.

  I wrapped my coat around me even tighter, the engagement ring box weighing heavily in my pocket. I wore the ring for a day and put it away. Then I cried for an hour. Hormones, remember? I didn’t even let Mom see it, didn’t let her know it existed. If the engagement didn’t happen, everything would be easier to deny.

  I bided my time waiting for Yasahiro by thinking about what I would say, how I would say it, and how hard it would be not to cry or get overly emotional. If I was Mount Fuji, I nee
ded to bring in the clouds, and possibly a storm, with a light sprinkling of snow.

  Yasahiro arrived at the station door, his overnight bag in hand, and walked swiftly from the building. He smiled, but it was rueful and didn’t hit his eyes.

  “I never want to go there again.” He reached for the car door handle, but I stepped in his path, the keys to his car in my hand.

  “Get in,” I said, unlocking the car.

  “You’re driving?” He lifted his eyebrows at me, but I didn’t respond. I opened the door and got behind the wheel. He joined me in the car, glancing over at me as he pulled his seatbelt over his chest.

  “Mei-chan, I’m so glad I’m out of there, and this is over. So glad.” He tried to grasp my hand, but I pulled it back, put the car into gear, and navigated through the leftover news vans.

  He got the message pretty quickly and remained silent, facing forward the entire five minutes it took me to drive him home. I pulled into his parking spot and turned off the car. Keeping both hands on the wheel and gripping it tight, I steeled myself to look at him.

  A week ago, I’d been excited to see where our life would take us together. I no longer felt excitement. My dreams had been crushed by severe dread.

  “Are you mad at me, Mei-chan?” he whispered.

  I shook my head as my knuckles turned white. What a liar I was.

  “I…” I cleared my throat. “I am the most loyal person you will ever meet. I have sacrificed everything for my family, my friends, you.”

  Don’t cry, Mei. Don’t do it.

  “And you, you were ready to run away and leave me behind.” My voice raised in anger though I told myself not to get emotional. I shouldn’t be mad at him after all he went through.

  I was being selfish, for me, for the baby.

  He closed his eyes, probably because he knew that if he said anything right then, it would be over between us.

  “I have something for you that doesn’t belong to me. Hold out your hand.”

  He swallowed and opened his eyes. I saw fear there. Good.