Crawl Away: Chapter 8

    I met with Nakamura at a small coffee house by the Shinjuku Station.  The old man argued with me for awhile before succumbing.  I don't blame him for wanting to stay clear of the case.  A week after Kanryu's death, he and over half of the home staff were summarily dismissed with carefully worded warnings about speaking with the police.  So far, Nakamura was the only one that had spoken.  I doubted it was fear that kept him from giving me information.  Melancholy was the word that came to mind whenever he spoke about Aoshi.  If I listened carefully, I could probably hear his heart break.

    "Have you come closer to solving this case?" He asked as soon as he came into my hearing range.  

    "I'm not sure," I said.  "The more I studied the body, the more it didn't seem consistent to what myself and others made of the case initially."

    He sat down.  Almost immediately a waitress came to take Nakamura's order.  He asked for a house decaf with soy milk.

    "What did you think initially?"

    "What you did," I said.  "Aoshi was done in by someone he knew, like Ian."

    "And you have evidence that he did not do it?"

    I shrugged.  "Not in the traditional sense.  I did a profile on the body and in the manner in which it was disposed of.  Whoever killed him was most likely a stranger to Aoshi.  He tried very hard to personalize the wounds.  Almost every cut seemed to be staged."

    Nakamura's pale, thick eyebrows knitted together.  He looked at me as if I had spoken a different language.  His coffee came. 

    "I don't understand what you had just said," he said and poured a packet of sugar into the coffee.  "Profile what?"

    "I used to be a homicide profiler before I got thrown into Organized Crime unit.  Each homicide is distinctive, much like a finger print.  Physical evidence places the smoking gun in the killer's hand but we don't always have ample physical evidence, as in this case because the body had been moved and badly decomposed.  Profiling takes a few steps back and into the mind of the killer.  It helps in the view that it gives us a general direction to go forward and assess the likely pool of suspects."

    He took a sip of the coffee after he stirred it for a full minute.  He poured in another packet of sugar.

    "Do you recognize this fabric?" 

    I took out the piece of towel that was encased in the plastic evidence bag.  The towel was stiff and discolored from the dried blood.  Nakamura held it up to the light and looked at it from all angles.  He placed it on the table and stared at it a little longer.

    "It's from the manor," he said and pointed at a corner of the towel.  "The emblem stitched into the home linen of the Kanryu estate was from a family crest.  That's the top corner of the battle axe."

    He pointed at a small triangle that was on the fringed, cut edge.  The triangle was part of the axe blade. 

    "So what does this mean?" He asked.

    "Probably nothing," I said.  "I have a theory that I'd like to follow through, that's all."

    He nodded although I was certain he didn't know what I meant.  He didn't ask any more questions on the case.  Instead, he told me about Aoshi's happier times when he was a child.  It was a nice change, to hear about the times when Aoshi wasn't in pain or victimized.  Back when Aoshi had been loved.

    I was sat at his desk, trying to press the arm back into a doll on Okita's desk when he walked in.  He frowned and shook his head disapprovingly.

    "That was an expensive gift from a Russian Diplomat, Saitoh-san."

    He took the doll and its detached arm from me and winced when he saw the damage.

    "I thought the arms were moveable," I said.  

    He took the doll and its arm to the filing cabinet and put it on the top drawer.  

    "Besides breaking my things, what do you need?"

    "Compare notes," I said.  "What did you get from the lawyers?"

    He sat down in one of the two chairs in front of his desk.  

    "Ishimaru was a little difficult but he was forthcoming, to a point.  He confirmed what we already know about McPike but he couldn't offer any reason how they learned about Kanryu's death or Aoshi's disappearance.  He insisted he did not release the information."

    "Of course."

    "He did give me the list of the contestants for the Kanryu estate.  Thirteen names.  Eight of which were already dead.  Ishimaru's hired detectives located three more of Kanryu's off-springs who did not come forward on their own.  He explained that he had to locate them, inform them of their opportunity to contest for a portion of the estate, and they were to make an informed decision whether they signed a waiver or application for a piece of the wealth.  It was suppose to protect the estate from the people who might have second thoughts.  One of them had died already."

    "Ishimaru's passing the names to the hitman," I said.

    "Very hard to prove.  However he's doing it, it was not through mail, phone or in person."

    "He could have couriers.  He's got a building full of legal assistants."

    "We do not have the resources to follow a few hundred of them.  For all we know, he could be passing the information through his servants, maids, cleaning lady, gardener, whatever.  It made more sense to post people on the remaining names and try to catch the hitman in the act, then connect him to Ishimaru.  Then connect Ishimaru to the person ordering the hits."

    "Did Ishimaru hint any connections between himself and McPike?"

    He shook his head.  "If anything, he appeared to be very annoyed by her.  By this I meant, Kiros rarely spoke to Ishimaru and he had never came in to meet the lawyer.  I talked to some clerical help and they said Ishimaru often avoided phone calls or meetings with Miss McPike.  When they do meet, it usually ends badly which would require security's presence.  I checked on Ishimaru's personal and business phone records, going back three years.  There's no calls to or from United Kingdom logged."

    "The plot thickens."

    "You don't seem to be surprised."

    I shrugged.  "The McPikes never came across to be sophisticated enough to pull off something this elaborate.  Their intentions were simple and predicable."

    "I read your profile on the case.  I'm impressed by the liberal use of the really big words I've not seen since college."

    "It almost made me sound like I knew what I was talking about."

    He smiled.  "How accurate are your profiles?"

    "I've not missed yet, dear boy," I said.  "And I've confirmed my suspicion that the killing took place in the mansion.  Nakamura identified the towel to be part of the family linen.  The soil that was found under the body's nails and orifices was also consistent with the rather unique soil on the Takeda property.  The nitrate level on the property's extraordinarily high.  Kanryu like the lawn in his yard very green year round.  During Winter months, the lawn's saturated with nitrate.  The greenest grass in the pasture in all of Tokyo." 

    "How did you get on the property to collect the samples?"

    "Joe bribed a couple of the gardeners for them." I said.  "Ian had left the estate and Aoshi disappeared the day after Kanryu died.  "McPike did not move in for nearly a month after."

    "Meaning?"

    "If we can't solve the case by the time the last Kanryu's off-spring's killed off, the master mind behind all of this will surface in matter of days to take McPike's place."

    "The case will solve itself?"

    "More of, the case will come around full circle.  I doubt we will catch the hitman.  If he is Von Erich, then I know we won't catch him.  I doubt we will be able to nail the mastermind with anything.  If he's this calculating and thorough up to this point, he's bound to have wiped out anything that will connect him to the murders.  I don't know the connection between Von Erich and the person who's pulling all of the strings but it'll be evident as soon as we see who takes over the Takeda estate.  In the mean time, I just want to be there when it's McPike's turn."

    "You don't seem to be bothered that we won't be able to levy any charges against anyone for the assassinations."

    "I've moved past that.  I can be annoyed or angry and the situation won't change.  I'm at the point where I'm just interested in seeing the end to this and meet the point of origin.  He out-smarted and out-maneuvered a lot of people."  

    I was not very pleased when I learned McPike had left Japan and moved to Rome.  I had lost jurisdiction and can do no more than observe the situation.  Interpol and local police were not very interested in the case and they had the right idea when they declined to send protection.  Kanryu's name came with stigma that couldn't be shed even after he died.  Kanryu was a nuisance and the man who assumed his name and property also inherited the animosity.  However, like the local police, I was not too concerned with McPike's welfare.  Unlike others who had been killed, McPike had plenty of personal protection.  I didn't try to find McPike until he was one of the three names left on the list.  

    McPike hid himself rather well.  Even Joe couldn't locate him.  Ishimaru surrendered the address where he had been living for the past three months after Okita plied some legal charms on him.  McPike had bought a three-story mansion that was half on stilts and half immersed into a mountain it was built on.  The mansion looked like it had crashed into the side of the mountain.  The police liaison who also was my temporary translator explained the mansion was built by an eccentric 16th century Lord who wanted the full view of the Vatican City and the Basilica below.  Having constant vision of the holy city made him felt closer to God.  

    "Is Kiros a religious man?" He asked.

    "I doubt it.  I am guessing he bought the mansion simply because it looked like an accident and he thinks it was really neat."

     My translator delivered me to the main gates and spoke to the gate guard for me.  After he flashed his credentials, I was let in.  The police liaison explained I had to solo for the simple fact that the local police didn't want to know my business with McPike, although they knew.  The less they were seen with me, the less responsibility they had to take to protect a man they didn't like.  

    From the main gate to the mansion itself was nearly a half a mile walk.  The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful.  Evergreen on the right and meticulously manicured garden with marble sculptures of angels and saints to the left.  Even the house looked impressive close up.  I rung the doorbell although I wanted to stroll through the garden.    

    An unusually attractive young man with platinum blonde hair and stunning blue eyes answered the door.  He wore a white casual suit which conformed to the contours of his body perfectly.  Looking at him made me inexplicably happy.

   "May I help you?" He said in Japanese, accented with a distinct British accent. 

   "You may do anything you like," I said.  I fished out my wallet and showed him my ID and badge inside.  He leaned closer to read the identification.  He smelled as exotic as he looked.  He read my name off the card and gave me a brilliant smile.

   "I'm Kiros-sama's assistant," he said.  "I assume your visit is about him?"

   "Beautiful and perceptive," I said.

    He stepped to the side and open the door wider for me.

    "He is at a meeting right now but he should be back within the next thirty minutes.  Would you mind waiting?"

    "Only if you would pass the time with me," I said and stepped inside.  

    "Of course," he said.  I heard him close the door behind me and I was a little startled when he placed his hands on my shoulders behind me.

    "Please let me take your coat," he explained as his fingers moved sensually along the collar of my coat.  I shrugged out of the coat for him.

    "Would you like rest of my clothes too?" I offered.  

    He laughed softly.  "Maybe later," he said.  He hooked his right arm through my left arm and walked me out of the main hall, through the atrium and toward the rear of the house.

    "My name's Kyrie," he said.

    "How long have you been working for him, Kyrie?" I had slight problem pronouncing his name and he gave me an endearing look when I said his name.

    "Two months," he said.

    He led me into the living room decked out in Italian marble and furniture.  Panoramic windows occupied two of the four walls with a picturesque view of the Vatician City and the Basilica below.

   "What's a good boy like you doing with a man like Kiros?" I said and walked to the windows and took in the sight of the Roman skyline.  I realized we were on the portion of the house that was supported by the stilts.  Tips of the tall pines  a few hundred feet below were the only hints of the building's suspended height.    

   He walked over to the small bar in the corner and placed my coat over one of the stools. 

   "It's a job," he said and shrugged.  "What would you like to drink?"

   "Coffee, if you could."

   He nodded and stepped behind the bar.

   "He's not as bad as you think," he said.  "He's a generous man."

   "It's hard not to be, looking at you." I said.  "I've been wanting to buy you something since you opened the door."

   He gave me a sweet smile.  "May I ask what brought you here?"

   I walked from the window and took a seat in one of the leather sofas arranged in a neat square around an antique table in the center of the room.

   "Could it be about Aoshi?"

   I looked over to him.  His smile was gone.

   "What do you know about it?"

   He shrugged and brought the coffee he had made to me.  He set the ivory and gold colored cup and saucer down in front of me then took a seat in the sofa across from me.  He smoothed the fabric on his pant legs then crossed them.

   "As Kiros-sama's assistant, it's part of my job to be aware of his current involvements," he said.

    "How aware are you, of his current involvement?"

    "Off the record?"

    I nodded.

    "I don't think he ordered any killing," he said.  "He's not very aggressive."

    "They say it's always the quiet ones."

    He smiled sweetly.  "Then there's the quiet ones who are quiet because they are timid."

    "What would Kiros say if he heard you refer to him as something less of a man."

    He shrugged.  "He's got his merits and I remind him of those qualities constantly."  He ran his hand over his thigh.  I wasn't certain if that was a gesture to compliment his remark or if he was smoothing out a crease in his pants.  Whatever that was, it made me a little jealous of Kiros' damn luck.

    "Does the name Ian Von Erich mean anything to you?"

    He shook his head then motioned for me to drink my coffee.  "It'll taste terrible once it cools.  An appalling flaw with Danish coffee."

    I took a sip of the coffee to appease him.  It was still hot and it was bitter.  I decided not to ask for cream and sugar.  Kyrie didn't look like the kind that would be impressed with men who drank from dainty cups and ask for cream and sugar.

    "Who is he?" He asked.

    "Probably no one very important," I said and braved another sip of the coffee.  "Do you know much about Kiros' mother?"

    A corner of his mouth turned up in a slight grin.  "She hates me.  She called me a whore."

    "Horrible woman," I said.

    "She wanted me gone because she thought I am too close to Kiros-sama and I would eventually convince him to cut her off completely.  She made him choose between her and me and well--"

    "So Kiros' not as dumb as I thought."

    "It's purely sexual," he said.  "His erection was the thing that stood up to her."

    "A very visual analogy."

    He unlaced his legs and leaned forward and took the coffee cup from my hands.  He got up and walked to the wet bar and poured the coffee down the drain.

    "I'll make you a fresh cup," he said.  "I think you wanted to know if Kiros' mother could be the one who ordered the hits?"

    He was quiet for a few seconds, a look of contemplation in his face.  

    "She certainly would be capable of it.  Kiros-sama didn't deal with the legal or not-so-legal business of the estate.  He hated it, actually.  It either bored him or scared him.  The mother's been the shadow executor of the estate and the one calling the shots.  I don't think Kiros-sama's really aware of the killings."

    "If he didn't know, how did you?"

    He unbuttoned and took off his jacket and draped it carefully over the back of the bar chair.  The black sleeveless turtle neck he wore made him look surrealistic and dangerously sensual.  Right then, I had a fleeting sensation that was both arousal mixed with a need to get away.  It was the same sensation that coursed through me when I first saw Aoshi.  The way Aoshi knelt by the bed; looking at me as if he had been watching me for a long time.  

    "As I've said," Kyrie said, his voice seemed to be softer.  "I make it my business to be aware of his surroundings, even if he's not."

    He came to me with fresh coffee, in new set of cup and saucer.  He placed the cup down on the table in front of me.

    "Would you like something to go with the coffee?" He asked.

    Before I said my sexist remark, he leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the mouth.

    "I should visit Kiros more often.  I've come to like Danish coffee."

    He smiled and pressed his mouth against mine as he moved to straddle my lap.  I ran my hands along his bare arms, savoring the softness of his skin as I tasted him.  I slipped my hands beneath his shirt, caressing the silky-smooth skin of his belly and chest.  He made a small sound when my fingers passed over his nipples.  I circled shapes of them with my finger tips until they were hard little nabs.  He broke the kiss and leaned back slightly.  I pushed his shirt up and gave both little pink nipples small licks.

    "What other awareness have you had about the recent assassinations and Kiros?" 

    He frowned.  "You want to talk about that now?"

    "It will make me feel that I've done some work that I was suppose to do."

    He placed his finger over my mouth and shook his head.

    "We can talk later.  Kiros-sama might be home soon."

    I took his hands and held them against the small of his back.  I kissed a trail from his chin down to his throat.  He moaned, and it came out sounding like a kitten's purr.

    "Why did Kiros decide to leave Japan?"

    "You're killing the mood, Saitoh-san."

    "Being in the same town as the Pope does that to me."

    "You don't seem Catholic," he said and gave me a kiss.  "Not at all..."

    "And you are very good with changing the subject, Kyrie."

    He suddenly looked serious.  "Are you going to fuck me?"

    The question came out dirtier than it sound.  He didn't look like the kind that should say those words.

    I loosened my grip on his wrists.  "No."

    He pulled down his shirt and got up.  "You are very strange, Saitoh-san."

    "Yes," I agreed.  "I would really like to screw the hell out of you but my head can't function when my brain's preoccupied with many questions."

    He looked at me blankly then walked over to the bar and poured himself a glass of vodka.

    "He left Japan because he thinks the Yakuza's been the ones doing the killings and he will be done in soon for his territory."  He said.

    "So this is the permanent solution? Moving here?"

    He took a sip and shrugged.  "He thought so, but his security's planning to move him soon."

    "Why?"

    Kyrie smiled brightly.  "Because you and I both know, after Hong Kong and Canada, he's next on the chopping block."

    "It seemed that you are infinitely more aware of the situation than Kiros will ever be."

    He winked at me and took another sip from his glass.  "I had better, Saitoh-san.  I'm his chief security advisor."

~Narcissus 221201