Chapter 12

Before the officers could ask any more questions, Lt. Slavens came striding into the room. He turned to the two officers and asked them what they had so far. Both of the officers seemed to recognize him and didn't hesitate in giving him the information.

"OK, why don't you two go downstairs and give all the information you have collected to the two detectives who just arrived. I'll take over from here," Art told them. "I want to thank you guys for doing such a conscientious job. I'll make sure your supervisor hears about it."

Both officers seemed pleased as they left the room and headed down the stairs.

When the two officers were out of earshot, Art turned to his two friends. "What kind of mess have you two gotten yourselves into this time?"

Al put his arm around Bonnie's shoulder. "Did you see the body downstairs, Art?"

"Yeah," Art ran his hand up over his forehead and backed through his hair. "I thought the call I went out on earlier this morning was bad, but this one would shake anyone up."

Al looked sheepishly at his new friend. "I'm afraid I didn't tell the officers who were here everything, Art. I don't know if I should even tell you, but I guess it will come out eventually anyway."

Lt. Slavens was a little worried. "Maybe you'd better tell me about it now."

Al told him about their meeting with Katharine Jones the day before, and about the hundred thousand dollars he had transferred. He didn't leave anything out, even though Art's visage had begun to cloud.

Art didn't say a word for a long time, but began to pace back and forth in front of the couch. "Al, this is really about the dumbest thing I've ever heard of anyone pulling. This is industrial espionage, pure and simple."

Al and Bonnie kept quiet while Slavens paced. Finally he continued. "You're right. This is going to look bad for you and I can't protect you on it."

Al looked over at Bonnie. "I'm not asking for any special favors, Art. I screwed up and I'll take whatever is coming to me."

Art turned angrily to Bonnie. "Bonnie, would you keep this amateur detective quite while I think? I don't need a martyr right now, I need to figure out what to do."

He resumed his pacing for a couple of minutes then said, "OK, I guess the hundred thousand could be considered a sign-up bonus for coming to work for you. I don't think you have to mention the e-mail, unless it comes up, then just say it was a confirmation that she would be turning in her resignation at Mitsutronics."

Al and Bonnie intelligently remained quiet. Art continued his pacing. "I doubt the e-mail will even come up though. Mitsutronics isn't going to mention it, and if you can keep your big mouth shut, it'll probably never be known."

Art again ran his hand up over his forehead and back through his hair." Jim Daniels is going to be the detective assigned to the murder. He's going to learn about the hundred thousand and is going to start digging. There isn't a thing I can do to protect you. Daniels is a real bulldog when it comes to something like this. He's going to think she was blackmailing you."

He stopped and stared at the couple on the couch. "I don't know why I'm giving you advice. Industrial espionage is a crime and I'm a police officer. In all my years on the force I have never, and I mean never, advised anyone on how to avoid being caught for a crime." He resumed his pacing. "I can sympathize with why you did it, but I wish you had come up with a better way."

Art's pacing had slowed, and he was much calmer. He had resigned himself to the fact that his friends had screwed up, but he wasn't going to allow that to destroy their friendship. Suddenly he stopped, as if someone had hit him in the face with a board. "What department did you say this lady worked in?"

Al was a little taken aback by the question, but answered immediately. "She was in the dihedron manufacturing department."

Art looked stunned. "You know I said I had been out on a bad call earlier this morning?"

Al and Bonnie both nodded, and Art resumed his pacing. "A Japanese guy, who was in charge of the dihedron manufacturing department at Mitsutronics cut his own guts out using a short sword. There seems to be no doubt it was a suicide. All the doors of his house were locked, and his security system was actuated."

Now it was Al and Bonnie's turn to look stunned. "Are you saying her boss committed suicide?" Bonnie asked.

"It looks that way," Art answered. "Maybe he's the one who offed her, then he got to feeling remorse and did himself in. It's certainly something to look into. Maybe he offed her because he found her sending the e-mail."

Art was looking angry again. "Damn it, there's a connection here that I can't even explore. If I do I'll expose your little sleuthing fiasco."

Art paced for a couple more minutes, and then turned to his friends again. "Look, I'm going to get out of here before I say something I'll regret. I'll keep Daniels off you this morning, but I'm sure he's going to want to talk to you before the day's over. Pull yourselves together and I'll talk to you later."

As Art turned to leave, Al said, "Thanks, Art."

Slavens didn't answer, but walked purposefully out the door.

When Lt. Slavens had gone, Al immediately called Linda. She answered on the first ring. "I was beginning to get worried, Al. I had just picked up the phone to call you. Is anything wrong?"

Al told her about the dead body on his doorstep, but didn't go into any details. He arranged to meet her in an hour, and hung up the phone. He turned to Bonnie and asked if she was up for the meeting. She nodded timidly, still holding on to his hand as if her life depended on it.

They held each other for a few minutes, then Bonnie finally found her voice. "Al, I am so sorry for how I've been acting. I've seen dead bodies before, but this really through me. I'm usually not such a sissy."

Al stroked her hair, and kissed her on the tip of her nose. "This would've shook anyone up, Bonnie. I almost lost control of my bodily functions. Don't be ashamed of how you reacted."

Bonnie squirmed around until she was looking directly in his eyes. "It's just that, I don't know, if I had had to act quickly, I wouldn't have been able to. That scares me. I'm usually able to take care of myself, but this time I totally lost control."

"I know what you mean, sweetheart," he assured her. "It is scary, but I would have wondered about you if you hadn't reacted the way you did. Let's see if the detectives will let us out of here. I think the change of scenery would do us both good."

Al had Bonnie wait at the top of the stairs while he checked to see if they had removed the body. They had, so he climbed the stairs, took her arm, and led her outside. They ignored the detectives and walked straight to Al's rental car.

Hirano Muso parked his black Honda in the small paved parking lot, tastefully shielded from the rest of the grounds by a copse of small pine trees. There was only one other car in the lot, and he recognized it as belonging to his brother Kiso.

As he started up the flagstone path he marveled at the scene around him. He knew there were 45 acres of grounds. From the road all you could see was a six-foot high stone fence, with razor wire along the top. Inside you were in a different world from the sun baked fields of Northern California. The grass was as green and as well manicured as you would find on any golf course.

Even here, inside the electrically operated security gate, all that could be seen were trees, grass, and flowers. Each tree seemed to be placed in the exact spot for it to add the most to its surroundings. As Muso followed the path up a small hillock, he could see the top of a pagoda shaped structure beginning to rise above its surroundings. This was the dojo of Hirano Kiso.

Inside the structure was much larger than it appeared from the path. There were several exercise rooms on the first floor, with shower room and lockers for anyone Kiso invited to share his dojo. Bamboo mats separated the exercise rooms. The floors of the exercise rooms were covered with tatami mats. Paper screens were placed over the windows to allow the sun to brighten the room, without blinding the participants in the ritual combat that was practiced here.

The second floor of the dojo was more Americanized. Kiso had an office with a complete computer setup in one room. Kiso very seldom used this office, but it was nice to have it when he wanted it. There were small and large conference rooms for meetings of the Shishi and a small kitchen. Kiso even had a bedroom furnished just to his liking for the rare occasions he decided to spend the night at the dojo.

When Muso entered the exercise room that Kiso was using, he saw that his brother was doing of one of his favorite exercises. He had a row of delicate crystal wine glasses set up on a padded shelf. Behind each glass was a box with padded sides and bottom. Kiso would select a particular glass he wanted to knock over. He would then charge toward it, swinging his jo at imaginary opponents. When he was near enough, he would swing the jo with full force at the selected glass, using his excellent muscular control to stop his blow just as the jo touched the glass, knocking it into the box behind it without breaking the glass.

Another variation of this exercise was to allow the jo to continue through a full swing, but measuring the swing so precisely that only the hard tip of the jo brushed the glass, toppling it into its box. As Muso watched, Kiso was starting his attack. Kiso ran forward, did a foreword flip, then with a motion almost too fast for the eye to follow knocked one glass off with the left end of the jo He followed this by knocking off another glass with the right end of the jo. The movement was so fast that the first glass was still in the air when the second began its fall.

On other, more happy occasions, Muso had felt great pride in his brother's accomplishments. This time he just felt fear.

Muso had never been fast, so he was never a match for Kiso in combat. He was very strong, but great strength was not much of an asset in this style of combat.

Muso continued watching as Kiso went through increasingly complex routines. Finally it appeared that Kiso noticed him, although he knew that Kiso had been aware of him the entire time. Kiso made a run toward him, swinging the jo in a high arc and bringing it down toward Muso's head. Muso knew not to move, if he did he could be seriously injured. The jo whistled by, just touching his ear, and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

Kiso bowed to him and smiled. "Welcome my, brother. Let us talk while I finish my exercises." Kiso moved across the room, swinging at imaginary opponents. "I have been told that Deguchi Isao has committed seppuku. Do you know anything about this?"

"I was with Deguchi Isao last evening, Kiso," Muso answered. "He called me to Mitsutronics because he had found the American woman, Katharine Jones, trying to break into his safe."

"Did this woman find anything," Kiso asked as he swung his jo so close to Muso's nose that Muso flinched involuntarily.

"Isao assured me that she had not. He found her at his safe, and when he told her that she would be fired, she told him that she had already quit and that she was going to Modern Electronics. He told me," Muso said shakily, "that a couple of weeks ago she had been asking questions about the dihedron virus."

"How did Isao know that this woman was not closing the safe, instead of trying to open it?"

"When I arrived there, the woman was tied to a chair with packing tape. He told me that after he had restrained her, he checked the contents of the safe and nothing appeared to be disturbed. She had sent him an e-mail telling him she was resigning and giving him two weeks notice."

Kiso swung his jo, brushing the front of Muso's trousers at the groin. This time Muso managed not to flinch, but it took a superhuman effort on his part. "What have you done with her?"