That did sound a little weird.But she hadn’t been privy to their conversation last night.What had Taro told him about their father’s potential kidnapping?Before she’d left the hospital room, Taro had said something about it being his fault.She didn’t know exactly what he meant by that, but he clearly knew more than he was letting on to the cops.Which didn’t bode well for anyone in that family, including Jiro.
“Did he say something last night that might make you think he could be in trouble too?”she asked, her cop brain taking over as she studied him with narrowed eyes.
“Look…” he paused and gritted his teeth.“Yes, he did.But I’m not sure what I can reveal.Yet.”He hesitated again, his face screwing up in aggravation as he rubbed the back of his neck.“He’s trying to find a way out of this without anyone else getting hurt.But…”
“But what?”she queried.“It doesn’t sound like his plan is working if he’s gone missing.Has he been kidnapped too?”This was beginning to sound surreal all over again.First Kenichi, and now the older brother.There was something going on in his family.
“It’s possible.”Jiro’s handsome face paled as he made the admission.“I got this text as soon as I walked into the hospital room.”He held out his phone so she could read the words.
If you want to see your brother alive, you need to do exactly as I say.Follow the clues I send you, and they will lead you to him.Taro has been a very naughty boy, but he is learning his lesson.And so will you.The same rules apply as before, no police.If you do go to the cops, Taro will not survive.Apart from one exception.Make sure to take your pig girlfriend with you.If you don’t, there may be a terrible and very tragic accident at work for her in the future.Delete this message as soon as you have read it.
“What the actual fuck?”She was assuming bypig girlfriend, this person meant her; she’d heard the termpigused on American television as a derogatory term for a police officer.And what exactly did they mean by a tragic accident?Were they threatening her?Because if they were, that was unacceptable.Now she understood the pained expression on Jiro’s face.This had become very personal for her.Whoever this was, they were playing dirty.But he’d already admitted he knew more than he was telling her.So, she needed him to answer her questions.“Who is this person?And why do they want me to go with you?”
“I’d be guessing.”Jiro raised his palms upward in supplication when she gave an exasperated snort, and said, “Look, I have my suspicions from what Taro told me last night, and it possibly has something to do with a link to the Yakuza, but any more than that I can't say.And as to why you have to go, I’ve been thinking about that on my way over here.Perhaps he—whoever he is—thinks you know too much?”Jiro looked as if he was going to be sick.“God, Aurora, I’m so sorry.I didn’t mean to get you involved.But now I don’t know what to do.”
The Yakuza?Aurora was completely thrown by that statement.She knew very little about the criminal groups that made up the larger entity, but according to her police knowledge, small as that may be, they didn’t have much Yakuza activity here in northern Sweden.So it seemed perhaps the Nashimori family had brought their trouble along with them.
One thing she knew for sure; she shouldn’t go with Jiro.She’d already promised Mårten she wouldn’t get involved in anything else outside the strict line of her duties.Going off alone with Jiro would break all the rules yet again and break all trust with Mårten.She didn’t want to do that.There was a lot she needed to dissect in the message that Jiro had just delivered.Too much to digest in only a few moments; she would need to gather as much information as she could first.
She asked the next logical question that came to mind.“Have you had any more messages since that one?”
“No,” he shook his head with a rueful grimace.
So what was this guy waiting for?How would he know when to send the first clue?Was he tracking Jiro?Did he know that he was now at Aurora’s house recruiting her to the cause?Waiting to send the next message until he knew she’d agreed to the terms.The thought made her sick to her stomach.Because it meant that now she wasn’t the only one in danger.If they knew where she lived, Karl could be next on their hit list.Fuck that.She might struggle to love her father, but she certainly wasn’t going to leave him to the mercies of some thug.
“I’m so sorry, Aurora,” Jiro said again.She wasn’t sure what to do with the apology.She understood that Jiro was exceedingly troubled about the whole thing, and really didn’t want her mixed up in it, but it didn’t make the circumstances any less dire.Or get her out of this sticky situation.
“I need time to think about this,” she said.“You’ll have to come into the kitchen and talk to my father for a few minutes.I need to grab my phone.This is not as simple as my just leaving the house with you, you know?”The look on his face showed that was what he’d been hoping for, but this was too big and she needed more information before she came to any conclusion.The likelihood was, she was going to have to make another hard decision.One that she didn’t think Mårten was going to like.
All of her earlier agreeable emotions, all the attraction she’d felt for this man only moments ago, now disappeared in a puff of smoke.Why was her love life so doomed?Why couldn’t she have a simple relationship?If she’d met Jiro in a bar some night in town, they could’ve gone home together, had wild, orgasmic sex, then she could’ve seen him off on the cruise, happy, satisfied and just a little bit in love.No harm done, and no long-term commitment made.But now, it all became terribly complicated, and there was no hope for either of them.
Pulling her features into some sort of composure, she led Jiro into the kitchen.“Fader, you remember Jiro?”she asked cordially.
“What’s he doing here so early in the morning?Is this going to be a common occurrence with you two now?”he replied in Swedish.Karl had not been happy that she and Jiro had decamped so early yesterday morning, leaving him in the care of Millie.It seemed like his initial liking for Jiro had evaporated as quickly as it had formed.
Not capable of dealing with her father’s sharp tongue, she said to Jiro, “I’m just gonna get my phone and get dressed.I won’t be long.”She pivoted toward the stairs up to her room, then turned back again, deciding to give him a warning.“I’m sorry.He’s not in a good mood.”It was a weak explanation, but Jiro was a grown man; he’d just have to deal with Karl’s spitefulness the best way he knew how.
Five minutes later, she descended the stairs dressed in civilian clothes to find both men sitting at the table, chatting away much as they had done the other night.Jiro had obviously worked his magic again.Jiro looked up and then stood as he heard her footsteps.“I helped myself to a coffee,” he said, holding up a mug.“I hope you don’t mind.”
Before she could answer, her phone jangled in her hand with an incoming call.Checking the caller ID, she swore softly under her breath.“I have to take this.It’s Mårten.”
Jiro stiffened at the mention of his name, probably wondering what she was going to say to her police partner.And she was wondering pretty much the same thing.But she couldn’t avoid this call.He might have something important about the case to tell her.If they’d caught the guys who kidnapped Kenichi, then all this clandestine stuff might already have been resolved.She went back upstairs to her bedroom and shut the door to take the call privately.
“Hej, Mårten, god morgon,” she said, making her tone bright and breezy.
“God morgon, Aurora.”Mårten’s voice was deep, familiar and completely normal, which was good news from her point of view.“Sorry to call you at home like this; I know you don’t start work until midday.”
She had to keep reminding herself that he knew nothing of what it transpired at her house this morning, and she just had to keep it together not to give any of it away.“Not a problem, Mårten.What's up?”
“Chief Rydberg has requested I go down to Malmö to help out with a gang-related bombing.Two people died in the attack.It’s getting out of hand down there.I am leaving this morning, so I wanted to let you know in person.Hopefully, I will only be gone a few days.”
“Oh.Okay.”Aurora tried to pretend she wasn’t taken aback.This kind of thing happened all the time.Inspectors got assigned, constables got moved to different cases, staff were allocated where they were needed most, and cases with high priority got more action.And the bombings in Malmö were becoming more and more of an issue, as second and third-generation immigrants who’d been brought in as refugees transferred their gang culture and violent crimes to their new country.It seemed as if the officers down there were stretched to the limits, and now they were reporting two or three bombings a day, often with the use of hand grenades, which was a relatively new development.The government had started cracking down by trying to address the issues in the poorer areas, but everyone in the force silently agreed rampant crime was still out of control.
“What about our kidnapping case?”she asked.It was stretching the truth to say it wastheircase.Just because she and Mårten had been the first to speak to Jiro, and she’d been instrumental in recovering his father from the cabin in the woods didn’t mean it wastheircase.Aurora’s jaw ached with the effort not to say the words on the tip of her tongue.“I’d like to stay on that if—”
Mårten cut her off.“I’m really sorry, but Chief Rydberg has handed the Nashimori case over to Inspector Dalström.That’s another reason I called.I wanted to tell you myself.Dalström has said he doesn't require your assistance.Which I find a little… unexpected,” he said.Mårten would never come out and directly criticize a fellow inspector; in fact, he had told her more than once that Dalström was a solid guy—which she was now finding very hard to believe.But she could hear the puzzlement in his voice as he wondered why she was being excluded from the case.But Mårten wasn’t prepared to argue with the chief.Not at the moment.
“They hope to interview the old man when he comes out of his coma.”His unspoken words hovered between them.It wasn’twhenthe old man woke up, butif.“Rydberg still needs convincing that this was actually a kidnapping case.I know you have your theories on it,” he continued quickly, not letting her get a word in.“But without Kenichi’s testimony, I think they feel this is pretty much a dead end.”
