Welcomed Client

A week had passed, and much of the notebooks had been copied onto the computer. The dark bags under Ozaki’s eyes have, for the most part, disappeared, and they were replaced by a certain hopefulness I didn’t know she had during our initial meeting. She’d march into the building which I still spent the night at and greeted Kido and I with great cheer. She’d paced the entrance before the front desk, humming a tune or two, spending less time in her tiny office. In fact, she had been doing this way too often that there was just something I had to wonder.

“Kanda, since we’re a detective agency and all, don’t we have any clients?”

She gave a short laugh. “Of course. In fact, we’re expecting a client at nine o’clock.”

“Seriously? I wasn’t aware of this. That’s like in five minutes.”

“I apologize. It seems I forgot to inform you,” said Kido. “Our soon-to-be client called last night and asked to meet today.”

“That’s fine then. Did they give any details?”

“No, but that’s part of the mystery.” said Ozaki.

“We’ll hear about it when they arrive,” said Kido.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Speak of the devil. Kanda whisper-shouted to Kido, “open the door! Hurry!” Kido grasped the handle and pulled the door, revealing a woman in a white dress with a sunhat on her head.

“I would like to welcome you to Ozaki Private Investigations. Please take a seat.”

Kido directed the woman to two sofas facing one another with a table in the middle. She hurried to make some coffee while Ozaki took a seat and faced the client. I was at my desk, somewhat distanced from the sofas but still within earshot.

“Katayama, what are you doing? Get over here,” said Ozaki, beckoning me over.

I gave a short nod then walked over, placing myself behind the couch.

She patted the seat next to her. “Sit.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I’m just the assistant.”

“It’s because you’re the assistant that you have to sit here.”

With no other arguments, I sat down just in time for Kido to bring coffees for all of us. She took out a notebook and pen and sat down on my left.

“My name is Kanda Mana, and I’m the detective here. These two are my associates,” said Ozaki, pointing to the two of us.

The client took off her sun hat, revealing her straight black hair, red lips, and pale face, and she looked to be around thirty years old. She had the sharp scent of sweet citrus, the aroma wafting around us.

“My name is Koike Kamiko. I’m sorry for calling late last night, but it was just weighing on my mind so much that I couldn’t wait any longer,” said the client.

“It’s fine. Please go ahead and tell us what’s troubling you,” said Ozaki.

“It’s about my husband,” Kamiko continued, “I think he’s having an affair.” She stared at her knees and twiddled her fingers as she spoke.

“He’s been coming home late reeking of alcohol and perfume.” Sounds like he’s been going to one of those hostess club.

“I see. So you want us to confirm whether he’s having an affair or not?” said Ozaki.

Kamiko nodded. “Yes, that is correct.”

There was something I found odd in all this.

“Wouldn’t it be better if you confronted your husband about this?” I said.

“He leaves so early in the morning to work and comes back late drunk that I can’t talk to him lately.” He doesn’t work every day, does he?

“If you could give us his workplace and address, we’ll start working on it right away,” she continued, “Just curious, but did you make lunch for your husband today?”

Kamiko hesitated before she said, “No. He eats out all of the time.”

“Did your husband leave before you today?” said Mana.

“No. I told him I had a friend to meet and left him while he was getting dressed.”

“I see. Thank you.”

Kamiko wrote down the addresses and gave them to us. She gave a bow at the entrance and left.

“What do you think?” Ozaki asked us.

“She is most likely hiding something,” said Kido, handing her notebook and the addresses to Ozaki.

“There were a few holes in her story,” I said.

“I thought so too,” said Ozaki.

“Why didn’t you tell her then?”

“I didn’t want to spook her. She might’ve called it off.”

“You just didn’t want to lose a customer.”

“T, that’s not important. Anyways, we have a job to do. Let’s go, Katayama.”

“Why me? Aren’t you the detective?”

Ozaki gave me a confused look. “You’re the assistant.” I thought it was a desk job.

“Can’t Kido come with you?”

“I must remain here to see to any guests that might arrive,” said Kido.

“There you have it. Now let’s get going,” said Ozaki, dragging me by the hands and leading me outside.

“Having me along will just cause problems. Those collectors are probably still looking for me.”

She stopped and faced me. “I’ll pay off your debt if you come.”

“What? Seriously?”

She nodded and dragged me into the car.

“Do you even know how to drive?” I said.

“Of course I do,” said Ozaki, placing the key into the ignition and turning. With my seatbelts buckled and hand wrapped around the grab handle, she sped off towards the husband’s workplace.

We were parked across the street from the man’s workplace, a modern office building. Ozaki took out her notebook and was checking it while I was hunched over from worst car ride of my life.

“The man’s name is Koike Tadao, and it seems he works a simple desk job at this company,” said Ozaki. “Nothing stands out other than what we were told.” There was a picture of the man clipped to the first page of the notebook, and it gave me déjà vu.

“Great. At least lunchtime is soon.”

“Speaking of lunch,” she pulled out two anpans from her pocket and gave one to me, “Want one?”

“Sure.” I hadn’t eaten at all today.

We ate our anpans in silence as the cars passed by, and the buzzling street noises resounded throughout. Ozaki took out a thermos and filled us two cups of coffee.

“Thanks, Kanda.” She flinched, the coffee dangerously approaching the edge of the cup.

“Quit calling me Kanda.”

“What should I call you then?”

She took a deep breath. “Mana is fine.”

“Are you sure?” I gave a thought to my conversation with Kido. “Wouldn’t Ozaki be better?” It was what I had been referring to her in my mind anyways.

“I see Kido has told you some things.”

“Sorry about that. Don’t blame Kido. It was me who was too curious for my own good.”

“It’s fine, but don’t call me Ozaki. I don’t deserve it.”

“Alright. Mana it is.”

“In return, I’ll call you Masa.”

“It’s actually Masaru.”

“That’s too long. Make do with Masa.”

“Fine.”

We drank our coffees while looking at the office and scanning our surroundings for any sign of Tadao. It was nearly lunch time, and Tadao coming out to grab something to eat would be a chance for us to witness his infidelity in action. The door to the building opened, and a man matching the picture sauntered out. He was a bald, stout man wearing brown khakis and a bluish dress shirt.

“There he is.”

“We’ll follow him on foot,” said Mana, stepping out of the car. With a slam of the car door, we crossed the road, our eyes fixated on Tadao. After walking for some distances, he entered a ramen shop, and we followed him in. The air condition breeze cooled me from the hot, summer air outside. Tadao took a seat on the stool facing the kitchen, and we did the same two stools away from him. The smell of ramen broth was flowing throughout the shop. With our mouths salivating and a need for permission to sit, we both had no choice but to order some.

“Koike! You’re back again!” said the chef.

“How can I not when this is the best ramen shop in the area?” said Tadao, and the two men laughed with heart.

“Still, how you holding up?”

“I’m well. I think my luck’s looking up too.”

“Oh really, how so?”

Tadao leaned into the counter and dropped his voice into a whisper. “See, I just got an opportunity to get quite a bit of money.”

Mana took her bowl of ramen and sat to my left, closer to the two men.

The chef furrowed his brows. “You sure it’s safe?”

“Yeah. If all goes well tonight, I’ll have enough money for Akiko.”

“I’m praying for you, Tadao.”

We ate our ramen in peace, but something small from Mana’s pocket fell and clattered to the floor near Tadao. He reached down, grabbed the keychain, and handed it to Mana.

“It’s such a rarity to see a young couple occasioning this shop,” said Tadao. This was a ramen shop in the business district with the majority of its customer base office workers.

“We just thought we’d try new places,” said Mana.

He smiled. “Trying new things is always a good thing to do,” continued, “I must say, you two remind me of my wife and I when we were younger.”

“I’m sure you and your wife make a great pair.”

“We did, but I’m afraid she’s gone now.” If there was any surprise in Mana’s face, I did not see it.

“I’m sorry to hear that. It must be hard being alone.”

“Don’t worry about it. She passed away sometimes ago. Besides, I still have my daughter.”

“Your daughter?”

“Yes, her name is Akiko. Would you like to see a picture?”

“I would love to.”

He pulled out his wallet from his pocket and took from it a small photograph of him and his daughter in a school sailor uniform. They stood before the brick wall of a school with a white sign in the back.

“She looks lovely.”

“Thank you, though lately she,” he trails off.

“How is she?”

“She’s ok. Just a bit ill right now, but she’ll get better. As her father, I’ll make sure of it.” He looked at the clock on the wall. “It looks like I’ll need to get back. Have fun, you two.”

When Tadao left, we waited for a few minutes before following him out. As he was returning to his office, we had no choice but to return to the car where Mana whipped out her notebook and wrote.

“That was a lot,” I said.

“I had my suspicions about Kamiko, but to think it would be revealed so quickly,” said Mana, rubbing her temples.

“Something about it bothers you?”

“It’s just a bit anti-climactic is all.”

“The only hint I got about Kamiko not being his wife was the lack of citrus smell on him,” I said. “Anyways, this whole money business is also weird.”

“Sounds like he needs it for his daughter or something. Guess we’ll have to stay here until he leaves.”

“That’ll be exhausting. What should we do about Kamiko?”

“Call her,” said Mana, handing over her number to me.

I dialed the number and put it on speaker. The female automated voice popped up, said, “The number you dialed is no longer available.”

“What do you know,” I said.

Who is Kamiko? She claimed to be the wife of Koike Tadao even though he confirmed his wife had already passed away. She came to our office to find out more about him under the pretense that he was having an affair. Instead of an affair, we found out that he was to participate in a deal regarding a great deal of money.

“It’s about the money,” I said.

“That’s what I think too. Whoever this Kamiko is, she’s probably after the money.”

“This deal involving Tadao—he’ll have something to exchange to get the money.”

“He’ll most likely be carrying it with him. But why would she hire us if she knows who she can follow to get it?”

“Lack of manpower, resources, or both.”

“When you put it like that, she sounds like a gang leader or something.”

“Maybe she is one.”

“That makes this a hundred times more dangerous. Wouldn’t it be better to back out?”

“We could, but Koike’s in danger.”

“Then let’s go tell him when he leaves.”

“Wait. We could at least just let the deal happen.”

I looked at her in disbelief. “His life is in danger, Mana.”

“He needs money for his daughter, ok? We can just protect him once he gets the money and uses it for Akiko. When the money’s gone, nobody’s going to come after him anymore.”

“That’s dirty money. When the police arrive, will you be able to protect him then?”

“Everyone knows the police force is corrupt. Besides, if we’re quick enough, no one will even know the money disappeared.”

“And what about Kamiko? You think she won’t notice that the money’s gone?”

“She doesn’t have the people or resources.”

“You don’t know that. For all we know, she could have people watching us right now.” I scanned our surroundings, looking for anyone suspicious. I found none, but there wasn’t any guarantee that someone wasn’t watching us right now.

“Please, Masa. Just follow me, and I promise everything will work out.”

If she was going to be this stubborn, there was nothing I could do but work with her and improve our odds.

“The money isn’t important. If something goes wrong, we’re dragging Koike out and booking it.”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

All that was left was to call Kido and inform her of the situation. When she picked up, I told her about Kamiko and her possible true identity.

“She’s dangerous, so if you see her again, watch out.”

“I most definitely will. Keep the lady safe.”

“I will.”

All we could do now was to wait for work hours to end and for Tadao to come out. I remembered something crucial to the task we were about to do.

“You don’t happen to have anything we can use if we’re in danger, do you?” I said, imagining a bat or knife.

“Of course, I do,” she said, directing her gaze at the glove compartment before me.

I opened it and took out a gun with russet grip, dark steel frame, and cylinder, my hands in an uncontrollable tremble, it’s presence reminding me of an abandoned past, said, “You sure you know how to use this thing?”

“My father taught me some years ago, so it’ll be fine.”

“And you’ve shot it how many times?”

“A few times.”

This was going to end badly, wasn’t it?