Return Of The Dragon

Chapter 24

Suzu looked into Kei's eyes. He looked into hers. They both saw each other differently, as if their avatars were overlaid over their faces. But what was definitely there was a unique pain in his eyes.

"You don't know," she whispered. "The fish could have been lying." She reached out to touch his snout before she realized that it wasn't there.

His dark bangs framed  even darker eyes.

She knew what it was. They had both heard the fish say"Black Angel."

He hunched forward; she could feel the pain emanating from him.

 Suzu reached for his hand. He looked at her hand holding his in a detached way, as if their hands belonged to other people. Then he squeezed it, wrapping his fingers around hers. She felt his body calm.

"Maybe it's not true," whispered Suzu. "I reverse-mapped the first phone call I received to a building. Let's see what it is."

They walked back into the living room, Daisuke and Otto rising to their feet.

"What happened?!"

"Are you both all right."

"We're fine," said Kei. He looked at Suzu, then back to everyone else. "We think the Rainy Day Killer is Tomo."

"As well as the U mystery buyer," said Suzu.

"But I checked his financial records - " Daisuke started to say. He looked at Hiruka. "We went over them with a fine-toothed comb."

Their phones went off. A notification popped up. Hiroka read it out loud.

"Angel has canceled his remaining five concerts that were to be held in Nagoya, Sapporo, Kobe, Fukuoka and Kōchi. Ticketholders will receive refunds."

Suzu felt her eyes being drawn to Kei's, which were darker than she had ever seen.

"We need to find Tomo. Now." He growled.

Suzu pulled up the address she got from the phone call, and showed it to Hiroka.

"The call I got that pulled me into U came from this building. Can you reverse-map it?"

Daisuke looked over her shoulder, somberly. Hiruka looked into his eyes, questing.

"You don't have to. That's Tomo's headquarters."

Kei ordered, "Let's go. We'll take him into custody."

Hiruka's police van pulled up in the building. While they engaged the receptionist, Kei and Suzu went in a side door, Kei swiping a security badge several times.

They went up to his office. Suzu expected Tomo to be ready, waiting for them. But he was fast asleep on a couch, seemingly without a care in the world.

Suzu put her hand on his shoulder. He opened his silvery eyes. They were the color of the Nyodo River on a cloudy day; she didn't know why she hadn't before noticed.

"Kei ... Belle-chan. What are you guys doing here?"

"Don't play dumb," said his brother. "Black Angel."

Tomo blinked. If he was acting, he was doing a really good job, thought the girl.

"Black ... angel?"

Kei grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him off the couch. He yelped in surprise. Kei pulled Tomo's hoody down.

"Where are your headphones? Your U headphones."

"I haven't used them in years!"

"But the signal came from your building! You own this building!"

"Wait. Wait. Are you accusing me of being a killer?!?"

Suzu always had known people kept secrets, and she had become uncannily good at uncovering them. But this was her fault. As if her charging in there as a teen would have magically fixed years of abuse. As a child psychologist, she should have known all too well that most scars of child abuse were invisible. Despite her anger, she only saw a sad little boy in front of her, not a serial killer.

Oh, God. It was a multiple personality stemming from the abuse. He had never gotten the psychiatric care he needed. She was so stupid.

Kei's voice was harsh. "You wrote the songs. They were all about water, about drowning, about rain. The Rainy Day Killer!"

For the first time, Tomo looked guilty. "I didn't write them. Someone else wrote them for me."

"Does this person have a name?"

"Kaede."

She knelt down near him, as if he was one of her young patients. "Can I talk to Kaede?"

"Well, I guess it can't be helped. She's going to be mad at me."

"I won't let anyone else hurt you, Tomo-chan."

He threw her a weird look. "Who says she's going to hurt me? The worst she can do is disappear and not write any more songs for me. Maybe that won't be such a bad thing. This life, you know? It's all-consuming." He shrugged. "Her office is down the hall."

"O-Office?!"

"She left me strict instructions to never enter, even the custodian. She cleans it herself. Any trash she takes with her. She's really very clean. She'll email me when there is a song, and I will come here and it will be slipped under the door."

He stopped in front of a door. A light was on in the room. Tomo knocked on the door. "Kaede? It's Tomo. It's urgent."

"Tell her it's the police."

Tomo looked at her like she lost her mind. "You're not a cop," he whispered. Seeing her pleading face, he sighed. "The police are here. Something's happened and they need to speak with everyone who works here."

There was only silence in response.

"Kick the door in," said Suzu.

"Huh?" said Tomo. "Oh, you think something has happened to her? Okay . . . here goes." He smiled. "I've always wanted to do this. HIYAH!" He bent his leg at the knee, swung it back, and connected.

Thud! His foot bounced back.

"Itai itai itai !" Tomo hopped up and down. "It's too hard. It might be reinforced. I can't - "

WHAM!

The door swung open with a splintering sound. Kei had swung his boot out, and blasted the door with a powerful side kick. He looked at Suzu over his black leather jacket collar.

Despite the tension, she had to admit to herself just how damn sexy he looked. 

They all walked in.

"Holy shit," said Kei. The walls were covered with photos of Belle, photos of The Dragon, as well as articles from the newspaper about the Rainy Day Killer.

Suzu walked up to a plain white piece of paper pinned above the desk. It said:

CONGRATULATIONS BELLE!

YOU FIGURED IT OUT!