His door buzzer sounded and he looked out the window. The reassuring sight of a Tokyo MPD patrol car was below. "I'll be right down," he said into the door intercom.
This is turning out to be an extraordinary day, he thought to himself, as he descended the stairs. He thought again of the Eel hiding in the darkened aquarium with nothing but twenty thousand fish for company and laughed out loud.
He was still laughing when the policeman showed him into the back of the patrol car with a sharp salute, then leaped into the driver's seat to await instruction.
"SunshineCity," said Adachi, trying to control his mirth, and then the thought of the Eel and his fishy companions hit him again and he roared with laughter.
He was still smiling when he reached his destination. He had not felt so good in years.
22
Tokyo, Japan
July 10 – 11
The telephone seemed to explode in Fitzduane's ear. Muzzy from being arbitrarily awoken from a deep and satisfying sleep, he looked at the bedside clock. It was 2:20 A.M.
The telephone erupted again. As he picked it up, there was a banging on the door. He ignored the door while his caller spoke. Thirty seconds later, he replaced the receiver slowly in a state of deep shock.
The banging on the door continued. It was forceful but polite and very much in the style of Sergeant Oga. Fitzduane opened the door. "I'll be down in five minutes, Sergeant-san," he said to Oga, then closed the door and headed for the shower. He allowed himself two minutes of icy water under full pressure and then dressed.
The roads were quiet as, lights flashing, the convoy containing Fitzduane headed toward SunshineCity and its centerpiece, the NamakaTower. No one in the car said anything. Fitzduane felt sick inside.
Access to the complex had been cordoned off. There were dozens of uniformed police there, and some wore the distinctive paramilitary uniform of the antiterrorist riot police, the Kidotai, and carried automatic weapons.
Chifune arrived as they were about to ascend in the elevator. Fitzduane touched her briefly on the arm in a gesture of support, and their eyes met. For a moment, Chifune's guard was down, and then the elevator doors opened and some police he did not know entered with them, and her formality and mask returned.
Much of the aquarium had been taped off, and inside the cordon a white-overalled scene-of-crime team was at work.
They were guided outside the tape to a small group, and as the new arrivals approached, Fitzduane saw the Spider and Yoshokawa-san and a tall, distinguished-looking man in his sixties who looked familiar but whom he did not know. All three men were in evening dress, and then Fitzduane remembered Yoshokawa's saying something about a formal dinner of Gamma's ruling council. As he made the connection, he realized who the third man must be: Adachi's father.
The Spider made the introductions. He looked devastated. There was little trace of the imperturbable Deputy Superintendent-General here. His normally slicked-back hair was tousled, and shock and grief were etched into his face.
The Spider acted as their guide. He took them past the cashier's office to where the fish tanks started.
The floor was slick with fresh blood. There was so much of it, the atmosphere reeked.
First there was an immense irregular pool of thick crimson, with a pile of what looked like blood-soaked clothing to one side. Then a long, broad streak indicated where something had been dragged toward some tanks in the farther distance.
Floodlights had been brought in to supplement the aquarium's normal lighting, and shoals of multicolored fish of every shape and size swirled and pirouetted and flashed and glinted in the unaccustomed glare.
Bloody footprints marked other parts of the floor.
"We can reconstruct what happened, I think," said the Spider. "Adachi-san was going to meet an informant, a man with criminal connections known as the Eel. Adachi-san entered the aquarium, and as he turned the corner here" — he pointed at the pool of blood — "he was struck by an assailant with a sword. The blow split his skull and cut deep into his body, killing him instantly. He was then struck a second time. This second blow was not necessary, but it was made, I surmise, as a gesture of contempt for the victim. It opened up his torso down to the groin. Effectively, it eviscerated him.
"Next, Adachi-san's clothing was removed and his body dragged to the fish tank across there." He pointed again.
Fitzduane, fighting hard to suppress nausea, walked to the tank and looked through the glass.
The water inside was pink and streaked with long strands of crimson. In it, Adachi's naked body was suspended like some giant medical specimen in a container. Entrails drifted from it. As Fitzduane watched, the body moved slightly in the current of the oxygenating system.
It was without question one of the most horrific sights he had seen in his life. It was the stuff of the worst nightmares, and it was real.
This man had been his friend. He wanted to cry out loud.
Chifune stood beside him, her face immobile, and then she swayed. Fitzduane caught her as she crumpled. He held her, and she seemed to regain strength. Her face was a mask.
Fitzduane, with Chifune at his side, waked back to where the Spider and Adachi's father stood. "How do you know about the Eel?" he said.
The Spider made a gesture toward the farther recesses of the aquarium. "We found the Eel back there," he said, in a voice of barely controlled rage. "One of my officers knew he was an informant. He had been shot once in the head. No evisceration, no removal of clothes, no fish tank. That charade was reserved for the superintendent. The informant, having lured Adachi-san to his death, was merely executed. He had outlived his usefulness."
"Why was Adachi-san stripped?" said Fitzduane, and then answered his own question. "They were looking for something. The question is — did they find it?"
"I have already ordered the superintendent-san's apartment sealed," said the Spider. He looked at Chifune. "Tanabu-san, I would appreciate it if you would search it first. You knew him well."
Chifune nodded in acknowledgment, and then the Spider indicated that Fitzduane should go too. Help her, help us, the Spider's eyes pleaded.
Aware that time was critical, they made it to Adachi's apartment in less than twenty minutes. There was a police guard on the door when they arrived, but as soon as they ascended the stairs and entered Adachi's living room, they knew they were too late.
The apartment had been methodically ripped apart. The systematic nature of the destruction made it seem, for some reason, even more distressing. This was not the casual vandalism of a burglar. This was the cold-blooded clinical dissection of their victim's home.
Walls and ceilings had been opened up and the wood and plaster swept into tidy piles. All the furniture had been taken apart and the pieces stacked. The floor had been raised. Electronic equipment had been taken apart. All bedding and clothing had been slashed open and cut up and then stacked.
Chifune surveyed the damage as if mesmerized, then suddenly darted into the bedroom. "I know where," she said. "I know what he would have done."
Fitzduane followed her slowly into the bedroom, respectful of the fact that he was an intruder, but also wanting to give support. In truth, he could have done with a friendly shoulder himself.