“You know I don’t touch meat.” I watched him cut through mashed potatoes to dead-looking green peas and oily ground meat before turning my attention to Yamamoto. “So, how did you break in?”
“A long time ago Hugh-san gave me a key. He said when I needed some privacy, I could come.”
“That was to be negotiated beforehand—remember?” Hugh said.
“There was no time. I had to leave Shiroyama. I couldn’t continue with Sendai, so the practical thing was to disappear.”
“What about resigning?” I asked.
“You cannot resign from the yakuza.”
I felt like my stomach was falling out of me, straight down to the soft Chinese rug under the table. I stared at Hugh. “You’re part of the Japanese mob? I didn’t know they took…foreigners.”
“I wish I had a camera to freeze the greatest look of indignation yet.” Hugh was laughing outright.
“So you could send our snapshots around the country and put a contract out on us?” I stretched out a hand to his colleague. “Yamamoto-san, if you’re telling the truth, you shouldn’t have come to him.”
“But this yakuza business does not concern Hugh-san! It is about Nakamura-san and the Eterna.” Yamamoto shrunk from me.
“The Eterna?” I was confused.
“The long-life battery we’re developing for our laptops. I told you about it,” Hugh said.
“It was my special project. The week before we went to Shiroyama, I worked late every night—later than you and Nakamura-san,” Yamamoto said pointedly. “I went into his office to drop off the plans for expansion into Singapore. On his desk, I saw a floppy disc labeled Taipei.”
“Taipei? We’re not doing anything there.” Hugh stopped eating.
“Exactly! I was curious, so I read the disc. I am not an engineer, but I noticed that it mentioned lithium ion, an important element in the battery design.”
“The formula’s still classified because the patents aren’t in order yet. Why would Nakamura have it?” Hugh asked.
“He intends to sell the plans outside the company through the yakuza, like I have been saying.”
“I’d have to see a copy of the disc to believe it,” Hugh said.
“I made one and brought it to give you at the minshuku.” It disappeared from my suitcase. I noticed on New Year’s Day.”
“I suppose you left a hard copy on your computer at work?” Hugh asked.
“If I did that, I could be accused! I could not risk leaving it anywhere.”
“I want to hear more about the yakuza.” I interrupted.
“There is a man Mr. Nakamura sometimes has drinks with on Thursday afternoons at the café across the street.” Yamamoto paused. “Ichiro Fukujima, who is said to be a member of the Saito family.”
“Nakamura may have a gangster pal, but Sendai is not a yakuza company. Masuhiro Sendai would never tolerate anything that might bring a whiff of scandal. Look at how quickly I was suspended from work!” Hugh said.
“Gangsters make many secret movements,” Yamamoto insisted. “At the minshuku on January third, someone entered my room again, leaving some very expensive jewelry. Pearls I recognized from Mrs. Nakamura’s neck.”
I gasped as Hugh asked calmly, “So, what did you do with the jewelry?”
“I threw it in the back of my closet. I meant to talk to you that night, but you went to dinner with Rei. When you came back you stayed together.” He gave me a resentful look. “All night long, I think, because it was not quiet.”
“Tea, anyone?” I scooted into the kitchen. As I searched for a kettle, I thought about how the jewelry had been hidden. Yamamoto and Hugh had side-by-side rooms. The closet in the middle could be accessed by either man. I’d misjudged the situation, and so had the police.
I emerged with a tray bearing a teapot, sugar, and a small pitcher of soured milk I found in the fridge. As I poured for the two of them, I asked Yamamoto the question that still burned for me—why he believed the necklace had been placed in his suitcase.
“I thought if Mr. Nakamura was a yakuza member, maybe he was not afraid to kill. When I found the necklace, I thought he was giving me a warning,” Yamamoto said.
“So that’s why you ran,” Hugh said, grimacing when he tasted his milky tea.
“I didn’t know what trouble it would cause,” Yamamoto sounded tearful. “When I finished the first ski run ahead of you, I dropped my skis in a ravine and caught a taxi back into Shiroyama. I traveled by train to Yokohama and stayed for a few days with an old friend. But his parents were coming back from their New Year’s holiday, so I had to leave.”