Lady Joker, Volume 1 by Kaoru Takamura (lightest ebook reader .txt) 📕

for himself. It’s about time he gave some thought to his own intentions, for once.”

Monoi agreed with each of the things that Handa said as he contemplated Nunokawa’s inscrutable profile, so familiar after all their time at the racetrack. Indeed, he had never once witnessed any suggestion of individual will—all the guy ever did was sit patiently in silence. Who would be the one to decide the future and fate of that man and his family?

“I leave Nunokawa up to you, Handa-san.”

“I’ll talk to him. In terms of usefulness, you won’t get a better man. It’s not for nothing he was in the army, you know.”

Handa had already emptied his second can of beer, so Monoi offered him some shochu. “Just one,” Handa said, tilting a glass toward Monoi and politely thanking him before bringing it to his lips.

“By the way, I talked to Koh yesterday,” Monoi said.

“How’s that dude? If you’re aiming for a corporation, you’ve gotta put his craftiness to use.”

“Koh said he would cooperate fully, but it seems like he’s thinking about profiting from the manipulation of Hinode’s stock price. What do you make of that?”

“That sounds like him,” Handa said and laughed softly. “I’m sure he’s planning on hooking up with a corporate raider or a securities man he knows. As long as we make it a condition that it be entirely separate from us, he can do as he likes. Hell, at least it makes his motives clear.”

“Koh said he would keep it separate, but won’t it cause problems if we get entangled with his underworld connections?”

“Quite the opposite, actually. Those guys in the underworld are tight-lipped, so there’d be no need to worry about the plan leaking. What’s more, however they decide to manipulate the stocks, you’ll never see anything out in the open. That’s for sure.”

“If you say so, then this old man has no objection.”

“But it’s impossible for me to forget that Koh’s dad is a leader in the Korean Association. My relationship with Koh will be strictly business. I need you to understand that.”

“I’m sure that’s what Koh expects too. But he mentioned the plan to Yo-chan, and now he wants to be in on it too . . .”

“So it’s just the usual racetrack crew?” Handa said with a shrug. “Amazing. It’s like the tale of Momotaro and his gang.” He laughed again.

“If you want out, now is the time.”

“No, it’s not bad, as far as teams go. In police lingo, we call the geographical and social connections among potential suspects a ‘cross section,’ but we have almost none of that. If there is no cross section, then those conducting the investigation will have a hard time tracking the group of suspects.”

“That means from now on, we’ll have to stop gathering at Fuchu and WINS.”

“That’s for sure. It’s a problem that you and I live near each other, so from now on I won’t come by your pharmacy anymore. You and Yo-chan can keep seeing each other as usual, but let’s tell Koh to stop going to Yo-chan’s factory.”

“Anything else?”

“We all have to declare any financial debts we have.”

According to Handa, shaking down a corporation could take anywhere from a few months to a year including setup time, making it impossible for someone running from debt collectors to keep going. The police would first suspect the crime was financially motivated, and they would start by going through client lists of city financial institutions, especially loan sharks, so if any one of the conspirators was carrying debt, it would be all but impossible to execute the plan.

“Then, at last, we work out the plan,” Handa said.

“I want to make sure we pull it off.”

“So do I.”

Monoi had nothing more to say to Handa. He topped off both of their glasses with shochu and they raised them in a silent toast.

“Speaking of Hinode Beer . . .” Handa said suddenly, as if he had just remembered something. “I think you and Hinode have too many connections—the case with Seiji Okamura’s letter, and the case with your grandson. If Hinode is the target, your name will undoubtedly come up on the list of suspects the police will immediately identify.”

“But this old man can’t think of any company other than Hinode Beer. Besides, I will leave the actual groundwork to you young people—I’ll be right here watering my morning glories, and I have no so-called cross section with any of you either. I have no motive. Even if the police come to question me, I’ll be fine.”

“Let me give it some more thought,” Handa said. Then he mumbled, “Speaking of Hinode Beer . . .” again as he glanced at the family portrait on top of the chest of drawers. After a moment he tapped his own knee once and said, “Right. That’s it.” Handa turned back to face Monoi. “A change of subject, but what was the name of your grandson’s girlfriend? The one whose parents rejected her marrying him because of his background?”

“Her name? Let me see, what was it . . .”

“You told me you heard it from your daughter, Monoi-san. She was his classmate at University of Tokyo . . .”

“. . . Sugihara. That was it. Yoshiko Sugihara.”

“How do you write the characters for Yoshiko?”

“I wouldn’t know that.”

Handa jotted something in his notebook before putting it back in his pocket.

“What about my grandson’s girlfriend?” Monoi asked.

“Oh, just something that Takahashi and I had talked about four years ago. After your grandson passed away, Yoshiko’s parents came to pay their respects at Hatano’s home, right? We were wondering why they didn’t attend the funeral.”

“I’m sure they felt guilty.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. Besides, even if he was in shock because the marriage was rejected, it’s still hard to believe that’s the only reason an accomplished university student would flee from an important job interview.”

At a certain point Handa’s eyes had once again taken on the look of a detective—they called to mind the flickering needle on some kind of sensor.

“Who