Rising Sun: A Novel (15 page)

Dwyer said, “Did you
touch
him?”

Jeff was silent, glowering.

Dwyer turned back to us. “I’m sorry this happened. These men are new. I don’t know what they were thinking of. Can I get you a drink?”

“Thanks, we’re on duty,” Connor said.

“Let me ask Mr. Sakamura to come over and talk to you. Your name again?”

“Connor.”

Dwyer walked away. The first man helped Jeff to his feet. As Jeff limped away, he muttered, “Fucking assholes.”

I said, “Remember when police were respected?”

But Connor was shaking his head, looking down at the floor. “I am very ashamed,” he said.

“Why?”

He wouldn’t explain further.

“Hey, John! John Connor!
Hisashiburi dana!
Long time no see! How they hanging, guy? Hey!” He punched Connor in the shoulder.

Up close, Eddie Sakamura wasn’t so handsome. His complexion was gray, with pock-marked skin, and he smelled like day-old scotch. His movements were edgy, hyperactive, and he spoke quickly. Fast Eddie was not a man at peace.

Connor said, “I’m pretty good, Eddie. How about you? How you doing?”

“Hey, can’t complain, Captain. One or two things only. Got a five-oh-one, drunk driving, try to beat that, but you know, with my record, it’s getting hard. Hey! Life goes on! What’re you doing here? Pretty wild place, huh? Latest thing: no furniture! Rod sets new style. Great! Nobody can sit down anymore!” He laughed. “New style! Great!”

I had the feeling he was on drugs. He was too manic. I got a good look at the scar on his left hand. It was purple-red, roughly four centimeters by three. It appeared to be an old burn.

Connor lowered his voice and said, “Actually, Eddie, we’re here about the
yakkaigoto
at Nakamoto tonight.”

“Ah, yes,” Eddie said, lowering his voice, too. “No surprise she came to a bad end. That’s one
henntai.
”

“She was perverted? Why do you say that?”

Eddie said, “Want to step outside? Like to smoke cigarette and Rod doesn’t allow smoking in the house.”

“Okay, Eddie.”

We went outside and stood by the edge of the cactus garden. Eddie lit a Mild Seven Menthol. “Hey, Captain, I don’t know what you heard already so far. But that girl. She fucked some of the people in there. She fucked Rod. Some of the other people. So. We can talk easier out here, okay with you?”

“Sure.”

“I know that girl real well. Real well. You know I’m
hipparidako
, hey? I can’t help it. Popular guy! She’s all over me. All the time.”

“I know that, Eddie. But you say she had problems?”

“Big problems, amigo. Grande problemos. I tell you. She was a sick girl, this girl. She got off on pain.”

“World’s full of ’em, Eddie.”

He sucked on his cigarette. “Hey, no,” he said. “I’m talking something else. I’m talking, how she gets off. When you hurt her real bad she comes. She’s always asking, more, more. Do it more. Squeeze harder.”

Connor said, “Her neck?”

“Yeah. Her neck. Right. Squeeze her neck. Yeah. You heard? And sometimes a plastic bag. You know, drycleaning bag? Put it over her head and clamp it, hold it around her neck while you fuck her and she sucks the plastic against her mouth and turns blue in the face. Claws at your back. Gasp and wheeze. Christ Almighty. Don’t care for that, myself. But I’m telling you, this girl has a pussy. I mean she gets off, it’s wild ride. You remember afterwards. I’m telling you. But for me, too much. Always on the edge, you know? Always a risk. Always pushing the edge. Maybe this time. Maybe this is the last time. You know what I’m saying?” He flicked his cigarette away. It sputtered among the cactus thorns. “Sometimes it’s exciting. Like Russian roulette. Then I couldn’t take it, Captain. Seriously. I couldn’t. And you know me, I like a wild time.”

I decided that Eddie Sakamura gave me the creeps. I tried to make notes while he talked, but his words were tumbling out, and I couldn’t keep up. He lit another cigarette, his hands shaking. He kept talking fast, swinging the glowing tip in the air for emphasis.

“And I mean, this girl, it’s a
problem
,” Eddie said. “Okay, pretty girl. She’s pretty. But sometimes she can’t go out, looks too bad. Sometimes, she needs lot of makeup, because neck is sensitive skin, man. And hers is bruised. Ring around the collar. Bad. You saw that, maybe. You see her dead, Captain?”

“Yeah, I saw her.”

“So then …” he hesitated. He seemed to step back, reconsider something. He flicked ash from the cigarette. “So. Was she strangled, or what?”

“Yes, Eddie. She was strangled.”

He inhaled. “Yeah. Figures.”

“Did you see her, Eddie?”

“Me? No. What are you talking about? How could I see her, Captain?” He exhaled, blowing smoke into the night.

“Eddie. Look at me.”

Eddie turned toward Connor.

“Look in my eyes. Now tell me. Did you see the body?”

“No. Captain, come on.” Eddie gave a nervous little
laugh, and looked away. He flicked the cigarette so it tumbled in the air, dripping sparks. “What is this? Third degree? No. I didn’t see the body.”

“Eddie.”

“I swear to you, Captain.”

“Eddie. How are you involved in this?”

“Me? Shit. Not me, Captain. I know the girl, sure. I see her sometimes. I fuck her, sure. What the hell. She’s little weird, but she’s fun. A fun girl. Great pussy. That’s it, man. That’s all of it.” He looked around, lit another cigarette. “This’s a nice cactus garden, huh? Xeriscape, they call it. It’s the latest thing. Los Angeles goes back to desert life. It’s
hayatterunosa
: very fashionable.”

“Eddie.”

“Come on, Captain. Give me break here. We know each other long time.”

“Sure, Eddie. But I have some problems. What about the security tapes?”

Eddie looked blank, innocent. “Security tapes?”

“A man with a scar on his hand and a tie with triangles on it came into the Nakamoto security office and took the security videotapes.”

“
Fuck.
What security office? What’re you doing, Captain?”

“Eddie.”

“Who said that to you? That’s not
true
, man. Take the security tapes? I never did thing like that. What’re you, crazy?” He twisted his tie, looked at the label. “This is Polo tie, Captain. Ralph Lauren. Polo. Lot of these ties, bet you.”

“Eddie. What about the Imperial Arms?”

“What about it?”

“You go there tonight?”

“No.”

“You clean up Cheryl’s room?”

“
What?
” Eddie appeared shocked. “
What?
No. Clean up her room? Where you getting all this shit, Captain?”

“The girl across the hall … Julia Young,” Connor said.
“She told us she saw you tonight, with another man. In Cheryl’s room at the Imperial Arms.”

Eddie threw his arms in the air. “Jesus. Captain. You listen. That girl wouldn’t know, she saw me last night or last month, man. That girl is a fucking hophead. You look between her toes you find the marks. You look under her tongue. Look on her pussylips. You find ’em. That’s a dream girl, man. She doesn’t know when things happen.
Man.
You come here, give me this. I don’t like this.” Eddie tossed his cigarette away, and immediately lit another. “I don’t like this one bit. You don’t see what’s going on?”

“No,” Connor said. “Tell me, Eddie. What’s going on?”

“This shit’s not true, man. None of this true.” He puffed rapidly. “You know what this is about? It’s not about some fucking girl, man. It’s about Saturday meetings. The
Doyou kai, Connor-san.
The secret meetings. That’s what it’s about.”

Connor snapped, “
Sonna bakana.
”

“No
bakana, Connor-san.
Not bullshit.”

“What does a girl from Texas know about
Doyou kai
?”

“She knows something.
Hontō nanda.
And she likes to cause trouble, this girl. She likes to make turmoil.”

“Eddie, I think maybe you better come in with us.”

“Fine. Perfect. You do their job for them. For the
kuromaku.
” He spun to Connor. “Shit, Captain. Come on. You know how it works. This girl killed at Nakamoto. You know my family, my father, is Daimatsu. Now in Osaka they will read that a girl is killed at Nakamoto and I am arrested in connection. His son.”

“Detained.”

“Detained. Whatever. You know what that will mean.
Taihennakoto ni naru zo.
My father resign, his company must make apologies to Nakamoto. Perhaps reparations. Give some advantage in business. It is powerful
ōsawagi ni naruzo.
You will do this, if you take me into your custody.” He flicked his cigarette away. “Hey. You think I did this murder, you arrest me. Fine. But you are just covering your ass, you maybe do a lot of damage to me. Captain: you know this.”

Connor said nothing for a long time. There was a long silence. They walked around the garden, in circles.

Finally, Eddie said, “
Na, Connor-san. Tanomuyo …
” His voice sounded pleading. It seemed like he was asking for a break.

Connor sighed. “You got your passport, Eddie?”

“Yeah, sure. Always.”

“Let’s have it.”

“Yeah, sure. Okay, Captain. Here goes.”

Connor glanced at it, handed it to me. I slipped it in my pocket.

“Okay, Eddie. But this better not be
murina koto.
Or you’ll be declared persona non grata, Eddie. And I will personally put you on the next plane for Osaka.
Wakattaka
?”

“Captain, you protect the honor of my family.
On ni kiru yo.
” And he bowed formally, both hands at his sides.

Connor bowed back.

I just stared. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Connor was going to let him go. I thought he was crazy to allow it.

I handed Eddie my business card and gave my usual speech about how he could call me later if he thought of anything. Eddie shrugged and slipped the card into his shirt pocket, as he lit another cigarette. I didn’t count: he was dealing with Connor.

Eddie started back toward the house, paused. “I have this redhead here, very interesting,” he said. “When I leave the party, I go to my house in the hills. You need me, I will be there. Good night, Captain. Good night, Lieutenant.”

“Good night, Eddie.”

We went back down the steps.

“I hope you know what you are doing,” I said.

“So do I,” Connor said.

“ ’Cause he seems guilty as hell to me.”

“Maybe.”

“If you ask me, it’d be better to take him in. Safer.”

“Maybe.”

“Want to go back and get him?”

“No.” He shook his head. “My
dai rokkan
says no.”

I knew that word: it meant sixth sense. The Japanese were big on intuition. I said, “Yeah, well, I hope you’re right.”

We continued down the steps in the darkness.

“Anyway,” Connor said. “I owe him.”

“For what?”

“There was a time, a few years ago, when I needed some information. You remember the
fugu
poisoning business? No? Well anyway, no one in the community would tell me. They stonewalled me. And I needed to know. It was … it was important. Eddie told me. He was scared to do it, because he didn’t want anyone to know. But he did it. I probably owe my life to him.”

We came to the bottom of the stairs.

“And did he remind you of that?”

“He would never remind me. It is my job to remember.”

I said, “That’s fine, Captain. All that obligation stuff is fine and noble. And I’m all for interracial harmony. But meanwhile, it’s possible that he killed her, stole the tapes, and cleaned up the apartment. Eddie Sakamura looks like a blown-out speedball to me. He acts like a suspect. And we’re just walking away. Letting him go.”

“Right.”

We kept walking. I thought it over and got more worried. I said, “You know, officially this is my investigation.”

“Officially, it’s Graham’s investigation.”

“Yeah, okay. But we’re going to look stupid if it turns out he did it.”

Connor sighed, as if he was losing patience. “Okay. Let’s go over it the way you think it might have happened. Eddie kills the girl, right?”

“Right.”

“He can see her any time but he decides to fuck her on the boardroom table, and he kills her. Then he goes down to the lobby, and pretends to be a Nakamoto executive—even though the last thing Eddie Sakamura looks like is an executive. But let’s say he passes himself off. He manages to dismiss the guard. He takes the tapes. He walks out just as Phillips comes in. Then he goes to Cheryl’s apartment to
clean that up, but somehow he adds a picture of himself, stuck in Cheryl’s mirror. Next he stops by the Bora Bora and tells everybody he’s going to a party in Hollywood. Where we find him, in a room without furniture, calmly chatting up a redhead. Is that how the evening lays out to you?”

I said nothing. It didn’t make much sense, when he put it that way. On the other hand …

“I just hope he didn’t do it.”

“So do I.”

We came down to the street level. The valet ran to get our car.

“You know,” I said, “the blunt way he talks about things, like putting the bag over her head, it’s creepy.”

“Oh, that doesn’t mean anything,” Connor said. “Remember, Japan has never accepted Freud or Christianity. They’ve never been guilty or embarrassed about sex. No problem with homosexuality, no problem with kinky sex. Just matter-of-fact. Some people like it a certain way, so some people do it that way, what the hell. The Japanese can’t understand why we get so worked up about a straightforward bodily function. They think we’re a little screwed up on the subject of sex. And they have a point.” Connor glanced at his watch.

A security car pulled up. The uniformed guard leaned out. “Hey, is there a problem at the party up there?”

“Like what?”

“Couple of guys get in a fight? Some kind of fight? We had a report phoned in.”

“I don’t know,” Connor said. “Maybe you better go up and check.”

The guard climbed out of his car, hefted a big gut, and started up the stairs. Connor looked back at the high walls. “You know we have more private security than police, now? Everyone’s building walls and hiring guards. But in Japan, you can walk into a park at midnight and sit on a bench and nothing will happen to you. You’re completely safe, day or night. You can go anywhere. You won’t be robbed or beaten or killed. You’re not always looking behind you, not
always worrying. You don’t need walls or bodyguards. Your safety is the safety of the whole society. You’re free. It’s a wonderful feeling. Here, everybody has to lock themselves up. Lock the door. Lock the car. People who spend their whole lives locked up are in prison. It’s crazy. It kills the spirit. But it’s been so long now that Americans have forgotten what it’s like to really feel
safe.
Anyway. Here’s our car. Let’s get down to the division.”