Chapter 4 - The Man Who Had Been Dead for Twenty Years
Kenji Sato was alive.
Claire stared at the surveillance photograph until the faces blurred.
She remembered him young.
Twenty-five, perhaps twenty-six.
Always smiling.
Always carrying books beneath one arm.
He had worked beside her father at the university and treated Claire like an annoying little sister he secretly adored.
Then one day he disappeared.
Thomas told her Kenji had died in a fire.
Claire had cried for a week.
Another lie.
“How many people in my childhood were actually who I thought they were?”
Gabriel didn’t answer.
Claire looked at him.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“But you believed he was dead.”
“I saw the warehouse burn.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
Elias enlarged the photograph.
“It was taken outside Hoshino Maritime.”
Claire recognized the company from the financial documents.
“Can we find him?”
“We already have,” Gabriel said.
Three hours later, Claire sat inside a black SUV outside a small Japanese cultural center on the north side.
Gabriel sat beside her.
“You stay in the car.”
Claire laughed.
“No.”
“This isn’t a negotiation.”
“Then have fun talking to Kenji without me.”
Gabriel stared at her.
She stared back.
Elias sighed from the front seat.
“I’m beginning to understand why Thomas liked her.”
Claire looked at him.
“You knew my father?”
Elias became very interested in the windshield.
“Later.”
“No. Now.”
Gabriel opened the door.
“Later.”
Claire followed him.
Kenji was waiting inside an empty classroom.
Twenty years had changed him.
His hair was silver.
Lines surrounded his eyes.
But Claire knew him instantly.
He looked at her and began crying.
“Chiisana Claire.”
Little Claire.
She slapped him.
The sound echoed through the room.
Gabriel didn’t interfere.
Kenji touched his cheek.
“I deserved that.”
“You let us think you were dead.”
“Yes.”
“My father mourned you.”
“I know.”
“My mother disappeared.”
“I know.”
“Where is she?”
Kenji closed his eyes.
“Alive.”
Claire nearly collapsed.
Gabriel caught her elbow.
She pulled away.
“Where?”
“Yokohama.”
“You’ve seen her?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Four days ago.”
Claire’s anger became something almost unbearable.
“Then take me to her.”
“I can’t.”
She stepped closer.
“Twenty years ago you disappeared from my life. You don’t get to tell me what you can’t do.”
Kenji looked at Gabriel.
“That temper is Thomas.”
“Don’t talk about my father.”
Kenji nodded.
Then he began telling the truth.
Thomas Bennett had discovered evidence that the Kurohana Circle was laundering money through shipping companies.
But the criminal network itself wasn’t the greatest secret.
The real danger was a list of legitimate American businessmen, public officials and private contractors who had used Kurohana services.
Thomas called it the Black Ledger.
Warren Pike’s father was on it.
So was Gabriel’s stepfather.
“So why was my mother taken?”
“She discovered where Thomas hid the original ledger.”
Claire whispered, “Where?”
Kenji looked at her.
“He never told her.”
“Then why take her?”
“They believed she knew.”
“Who is they?”
Kenji hesitated.
Gabriel said something in Japanese.
“Tell her.”
Kenji looked at him.
“You still don’t know.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Know what?”
Kenji reached into his jacket.
Elias moved instantly.
Kenji froze.
“Photograph.”
Gabriel nodded.
Kenji removed an envelope.
Inside was a picture taken in Japan decades earlier.
Thomas Bennett stood beside Margaret.
Beside them stood Gabriel’s father.
And Elias Reed.
Claire stared.
Elias looked barely twenty.
She turned slowly.
“You knew them.”
Elias said nothing.
“You knew my parents.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I worked for Gabriel’s father.”
Claire’s anger returned.
“And you thought that wasn’t worth mentioning?”
“I promised Thomas I wouldn’t.”
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“Stop protecting promises made to dead people while living people are suffering!”
Nobody spoke.
Elias finally nodded.
“You’re right.”
Then he told her.
Gabriel’s biological father, Daniel Mercer, had not been part of Kurohana.
He had been investigating it.
When Daniel died, everyone believed the death was natural.
It wasn’t.
Gabriel’s stepfather had arranged it.
Thomas discovered the truth.
That was why he trusted Elias.
And why he had eventually trusted Gabriel.
Claire looked toward Gabriel.
“You didn’t know?”
His face had gone completely still.
“No.”
Kenji whispered, “Thomas wanted to tell you.”
Gabriel turned on him.
“You had twenty years.”
“I was trying to keep Margaret alive.”
“By letting everyone else believe she was dead?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
For the first time Claire saw real anger beneath his control.
Kenji didn’t move.
Then Claire remembered her mother’s warning.
Don’t trust Gabriel Mercer.
“Why did my mother warn me about him?”
Kenji looked at Claire.
“Because Margaret doesn’t know everything.”
“Then what does she believe?”
“She believes Gabriel betrayed Thomas.”
Gabriel frowned.
“When?”
“Six days before Thomas died.”
Claire remembered the letter.
The same day Thomas had supposedly given it to Gabriel.
Kenji continued.
“Thomas called Margaret from the hospital. He told her Gabriel had the final key.”
“What key?”
“To the Black Ledger.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“He gave me nothing.”
“Yes, he did.”
“The letter?”
Kenji nodded.
Claire took it from her purse.
They examined the paper.
Nothing.
Then Claire remembered her father’s birthday story.
The crane that forgot how to fly.
She folded the letter.
Once.
Twice.
Her father had taught her origami as a child.
She followed the folds she remembered.
Slowly, the letter became a crane.
A line of Japanese characters suddenly aligned across the wings.
Everyone stared.
Claire translated.
Where the black flower drinks beneath the western moon, the truth sleeps behind the seventh song.
Gabriel looked at Kenji.
“What does that mean?”
Kenji smiled sadly.
“I was hoping Claire would know.”
She did.
Her father’s favorite jazz club in Yokohama.
Kurohana.
Black Flower.
It had closed fifteen years ago.
But Claire remembered the jukebox.
Her father always played the seventh song.
“Autumn Leaves.”
She whispered, “The club.”
Kenji nodded.
“The building still exists.”
Claire looked at Gabriel.
“We’re going to Japan.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Whoever is behind this wants you there.”
“My mother is there.”
“That’s exactly why—”
“My mother is alive.”
Her voice broke.
Gabriel stopped.
Claire stepped closer.
“I lost twenty years with her. You don’t get to decide whether I lose another day.”
For a long moment, Gabriel said nothing.
Then he nodded.
“We leave tonight.”
Kenji suddenly looked toward the window.
His expression changed.
“Too late.”
A black sedan had stopped outside.
Three men stepped out.
Elias moved toward the door.
Gabriel pulled Claire behind him.
But Kenji wasn’t looking at the men.
He was looking at the passenger who remained inside the sedan.
The window lowered.
Claire saw a woman.
Older.
Elegant.
Familiar.
Her breath disappeared.
“Mom?”
Margaret Bennett looked directly through the window at her daughter.
But she didn’t smile.
She raised a phone.
Claire’s rang.
She answered.
Her mother spoke only five words.
“Claire, get away from Kenji.”
Then the line went dead.
Claire looked at him.
Kenji’s face had turned white.
And Gabriel suddenly understood.
“You didn’t rescue Margaret twenty years ago,” he said.
Kenji backed away.
May you like
“You were the one who took her.”
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