"So they're still looking for the tape?"
"Yes. Or evidence of the tape. They may not even know how many are missing, at this point."
I thought it over.
"What are you going to do?" I said.
"Find the tape," Connor said. "Because it matters. People are dying for that tape. If we can find the original . . ." He shook his head. "It'll put Ishiguro in deep shit. Which is just where he belongs."
I pulled up in front of my apartment building. As Elaine had said, all the reporters were gone. The street was quiet. Dark.
"I still want to go with you," I said again.
Connor shook his head. "I'm on extended leave," he said. "You're not. You've got your pension to think of. And you don't want to know exactly what I am going to do tonight."
"I can guess," I said. "You're going to retrace Eddie's steps from last night. Eddie left his house and went to stay with the redhead. Maybe he went somewhere else, too– "
"Look," Connor said. "Let's not waste more time, kohai. I have some contacts and some people I can lean on. Leave it at that. If you need me, you can call me on the car phone. But don't call unless you have to. Because I'll be busy."
"But– "
"Come on, kohai. Out of the car. Spend a nice night with your kid. You did a good job, but your job is finished now."
Finally, I got out of the car.
"Sayonara," Connor said, with an ironic wave. And he drove off.
"Daddy! Daddy!" She ran toward me, arms outstretched. "Pick me up, Daddy."
I picked her up. "Hi, Shelly."
"Daddy, can I watch Sleeping Beauty?"
"I don't know. Have you had dinner yet?"
"She ate two hot dogs and an ice cream cone," Elaine said. She was washing dishes in the kitchen.
"Jeez," I said. "I thought we were going to stop feeding her junk food."
"Well, it's all she would eat," Elaine said. She was irritable. It was the end of a long day with a two-year-old.
"Daddy, can I watch Sleeping Beauty?"
"Just a minute, Shelly, I'm talking to Elaine."
"I tried that soup," Elaine said, "but she wouldn't touch it. She wanted a hot dog."
"Daddy, can I watch Disney channel?"
"Michelle," I said.
Elaine said, "So I thought it was better that she eat something. I think she was thrown off. You know, the reporters and everything. All the excitement."
"Daddy? Can I? Sleeping Beauty?" She was squirming in my arms. Patting my face to get my attention.
"Okay, Shel."
"Now, Daddy?"
"Okay."
I put her down. She ran into the living room and turned on the TV, pushing the remote without hesitation. "I think she watches too much television."
"They all do," Elaine said, shrugging.
"Daddy?"
I went into the living room and plugged in the cassette. I fast-forwarded to the credits, then let it run.
"Not this part," she said impatiently.
So I fast-forwarded to the beginning of the action. Pages turning in a book.
"This part, this part," she said, tugging at my hand.
I let the tape run at normal speed. Michelle sat in the chair and started sucking her thumb. She pulled her thumb out of her mouth and patted the seat beside her. "Here, Daddy," she said.
She wanted me to sit with her.
I sighed. I looked at the room. It was a mess. Her crayons and coloring books were scattered over the floor. And the large Tinkertoy windmill.
"Let me clean up," I said. "I'll be right here, with you."
She popped her thumb back in her mouth, and turned to the screen. Her attention was total.
I cleaned up the crayons and put them back in the cardboard box. I folded up her coloring books and set them on the shelf. I was suddenly tired and sat down for a minute on the floor next to Michelle. On the screen, three fairies, red, green, and blue, were flying into the throne room of the castle.
"That's Merryweather," Michelle said, pointing. "She's the blue one."
From the kitchen, Elaine said, "Can I fix you a sandwich, Lieutenant?"
"That'd be great," I said. I found I just wanted to sit there and be with my daughter. I wanted to forget everything, at least for a while. I was grateful that Connor had dropped me off. I sat and watched the TV dumbly.
Elaine brought in a salami sandwich with lettuce and mustard. I was hungry. Elaine looked at the TV, shook her head, and went back into the kitchen. I ate my sandwich, and Michelle insisted on a few bites. She likes salami. I worry about the additives in it, but I guess it's no worse than hot dogs.
After I had the sandwich, I felt a little better. I got up to finish cleaning up the room. I picked up the Tinkertoy windmill and started taking it apart, putting the sticks back into the cardboard tube. Michelle said, "No this, no this!" in a pained voice. I thought she didn't want me to take apart the windmill, but that wasn't it at all. She was cupping her hands over her eyes. She didn't like to see Maleficent, the bad witch. I fast-forwarded past the witch, and she relaxed again.
I dismantled the Tinkertoy windmill and put everything back into the tube container. I put the metal cap on the tube and set it on the lowest shelf of the bookcase. That was where it always went. I like to keep the toys low, so Michelle can get to them herself.
The tube fell off the shelf, onto the carpet. I picked it up again. There was something on the shelf. A small gray rectangle. I knew at once what it was.
It was an eight-millimeter video cassette, with Japanese writing on the label.
¤
Elaine said, "Lieutenant? Do you need anything else?" She had her coat on; she was ready to go.
"Hang on a minute," I said.
I went to the phone, and called the switchboard downtown. I asked them to connect me to Connor in my car. I waited impatiently. Elaine looked at me.
"Just another minute, Elaine," I said.
On the TV, the prince was singing a duet with Sleeping Beauty while birds chirped. Michelle was sucking her thumb.
The operator said, "I'm sorry, there is no answer from the car."
"Okay," I said. "Do you have a forwarding number for Captain Connor?"
A pause. "He's not on our active roster."
"I know that. But did he leave a number?"
"I don't have anything, Lieutenant."
"I'm trying to find him."
"Wait a minute." She put me on hold. I swore.
Elaine stood in the front hallway. She was waiting to go.
The operator came back on. "Lieutenant? Captain Ellis says that Captain Connor has gone."
"Gone?"
"He was here a while ago, but he's gone now."
"You mean he was downtown?"
"Yes, but he's gone now. I don't have a number for him. I'm sorry."
I hung up. What the hell was Connor doing downtown?
Elaine was still standing in the front hallway. "Lieutenant?"
I said, "Just a minute, Elaine."
"Lieutenant, I have a– "
"I said, just a minute."
I started pacing. I didn't know what to do. I was suddenly overwhelmed with fear. They had killed Eddie for the tape. They wouldn't hesitate to kill anybody else. I looked at my daughter, watching television with her thumb in her mouth. I said to Elaine, "Where's your car?"