Rebirth of a Rose

99. Never been so Sure

The butler fiddled with his fingers as he waited for madam Aiko. Taking a seat on the bench outside the courtroom, he watched the others pass by him.

He had stepped out of the courtroom soon after Aiko and Ziyi had fled the hall. However, the two had disappeared in the crowd. Assuming that they were using the ladies room, he decided to sit on the bench and wait for them. The clock kept ticking, but there was no sign of the two returning.

A while later, his phone rang, it was his daughter. He immediately picked it up, since his daughter would prefer to text him instead of calling first unless it was an emergency.

Listening to the words from the person on the other side of the line, his legs trembled. He was terrified and felt hopeless. After assuring the young girl, that things would turn out to be better, he disconnected the call.

He immediately tried calling madam Aiko, but it was switched off. He tried calling Ziyi, but that too was unwelcomed.

He was about to call his wife when his phone rang once again. This time it was an unknown caller, but the number was international.

Picking up the call, he came across a rough manly voice. "As a father, I hope you understand what pain one would feel, knowing their child would end up behind bars for something they didn't do. How is your experience with that?" The man spoke in clear mandarin with a faint foreign accent to it.

"What do you know about my daughter?" The butler asked.

"Just, that she is going to go to jail for prostitution but apart from that, distribution of drugs to the client, will just add up the number of years into the prison." The other replied.

"Who are you?" Asked the butler.

"Just another father, who hasn't been able to see his son for a while. Let me inform you, madam Aiko and Ziyi has already fled. They are not going to help you in any way. Do you want your daughter to be free or her reputation ruined for life?"

"What do you want me to do?" the butler asked desperately.

"Tell the truth, you will get an opportunity to do so. Whether your daughter will be free, would depend on the verdict of the judge." With a beep, the phone call was disconnected.

The butler licked his lips, then tried calling his madam again. The conclusion was the same, he couldn't get into contact with the lady.

Soon, the bell rang indicating that the court was in session again. The prosecutor's assistant whispered something into his ears, making him frown.

The judge didn't ask any questions as to where the ladies were.

Ryan presented a financial report to the judge, showing the transfer of thousands from Akira's account to his wife on monthly basis. They owned a joint account and her husband didn't mind the transfer.

The same thing, however, changed two months before the victim's death. He no longer deposited money in there. He also froze all payments going from his account to his wife.

Surprisingly, every month Aiko Tanata transferred an equivalent amount to an offshore account in the states. The account belongs to another woman, with a different name.

Ryan presented a copy of a passport. He also argued, that Aiko Tanata had a second identity and lived a double life. She owned dual and fake citizenship in the states.

The offshore account belonged in the name of the second identity. When Akira found out about it, he wanted to file a complaint to the authorities.

Ryan also presented a copy of the history of Akira's Web browser. He was researching as to how to file a complaint to the US authorities on someone using a fake American passport. The evidence was obtained legally, which the prosecutors had failed to discover.