Chapter Sixteen #2
“Ito confirmed that,” Kit said. “In those few minutes he woke up yesterday. Said he’d put Mary’s life in danger that day.”
“So Ito opens a dojo in San Diego six months after his granddaughter Akiko is born,” Sam said thoughtfully. “And he watches her—or watches over her.”
“I really want to believe it’s the second one,” Kit said.
“So do I,” Lennox agreed, then glanced at the sedan’s display screen when her phone began to ring. Caller ID said it was Sergeant Ryland from CSU. Accepting the call, Lennox said, “Hey, Ryland. I’m in the car on my way to LA. I’ve got you on speaker. Whatcha got?”
“I’ve reviewed the security footage from Laurette Curry’s neighborhood.”
Laurette Curry, Leo Sherman’s mistress, murdered the same way as Leo’s wife.
Laurette Curry, whose bedroom wall had been covered with photos of Akiko on her boat.
“Well?” Kit demanded. “Don’t leave us hanging.”
“The surveillance cameras show two men entering Laurette’s house, about an hour apart. The first man has the same body type as Danny Takahashi and his entrance was minutes after the power was cut to Laurette’s house.”
“Consistent with how Mary was killed,” Sam said.
“Yes,” Ryland said. “The second man appeared older. Same general size and shape as our ‘third man’ in the photo with Ito and Mary taken by Leo Sherman when he followed her to LA. The third man was in the house for about ten minutes.”
“Long enough to put up those photos of Akiko,” Sam said.
“That was bothering the hell out of me. Why would Curry’s shooter make sure we saw such an obvious clue?
If Curry had put up the photos, that would have connected her to the murders.
Her killer would have taken the pictures down, not left them up. ”
“Yes,” Lennox said again. “Exactly. That bothered me, too. Someone took a big risk to enter that house and put up photos of Akiko that would lead us to look at her charter boat passengers.”
“Which we still need to do,” Kit said. “I should have asked her last night, but…” Akiko had been so devastated by Paolo’s murder.
“She might not have been able to answer last night,” Sam said gently. “She’s been through a lot the past few days.”
“All of you have,” Lennox said. “But he’s right, Kit. We’ll ask for the names when we see her today. Knowing that a second person went into Laurette Curry’s house to make sure we saw that clue changes everything.”
Kit frowned. “So this third man broke into Laurette’s house and taped photos of Akiko to her bedroom wall because he wanted to…help us?”
“He appeared to be working with Ito, Nicchi, and Mary Sherman to—hopefully—protect Akiko,” Sam pointed out. “So, yeah. I think he’s trying to help us.”
“I’m leaning in that direction, too,” Ryland said. “Also, ballistics on the bullets taken from Laurette Curry show a match with the bullet taken from Mary Sherman.”
“Danny Takahashi did both murders,” Kit said. “But what about Paolo?”
“No ballistics on that bullet yet. I’ll let you know when I have the report. For now, though, we know the same gun killed at least two of our victims. That’s all I’ve got for now.”
He ended the call and for a moment there was silence in the car as each of them digested this new information.
“I have so many questions,” Sam finally said. “The most obvious of which is who or what were the four of them protecting Akiko from? Ito knew she existed the same year she was born. Did her biological father know about her? Kenzo Takahashi?”
“Good questions,” Kit said. “What else?”
“Why kill Laurette Curry?” he asked. “How does she connect to all this? She was having an affair with Leo Sherman. Does this mean that Leo Sherman is involved in everything? Did he plan the murder of his wife? Did he know about Akiko? I want to think not, because his shock when he saw her seemed pretty genuine, and he’s a really bad liar. ”
“He really is a bad liar,” Lennox agreed. “I requested Laurette’s bank records last night, but even our initial investigation shows she does have something in common with Paolo. Both of them were swimming in debt.”
“I wonder if she was involved in the gun smuggling,” Kit said.
“We have to consider the possibility,” Lennox said. “Any other questions, Sam?”
“Yeah. Where are the guns? Paulo had them in his shed, moved them onto Akiko’s boat, then moved them off the boat. Where did he put them?”
“In Akiko’s garage,” Kit said. “At least for a little while. Then someone took them.”
“Right,” Sam said. “But where did they take them? Those crates had to have held at least ten rifles each and there were six of them. Sixty rifles take up some space. Did you look at the neighbors’ security footage of Akiko’s garage?”
Lennox scowled. “Nobody’s camera was facing the right way.”
“We’ll have to dig deeper on that,” Kit said.
“Let’s request footage from the traffic cams at the nearest intersections.
We’d be looking for a small truck or a panel van.
I don’t think you could fit sixty rifles into a minivan or even an SUV.
Connor is good at reviewing camera footage. We can ask him if CSU is too busy.”
“You didn’t suggest West do it,” Lennox said mildly.
“Right,” Kit muttered. “Like he’s doing anything.”
“You are correct about that,” Lennox said with a sigh. “We can ask Navarro to have one of his analysts review the footage. Connor is supposed to be recovering.”
“Well, I’m supposed to be suspended,” Kit said with a scowl.
“True enough,” Lennox agreed. “Yet here we are. Sam? What else?”
He pursed his lips, concentrating. “Why didn’t Nicchi kill Danny Takahashi outside Ella Sherman’s house on Sunday?”
“Yeah, he should have been able to kill him,” Lennox said. “So why do you think, Sam?”
“I think Nicchi knew him.”
Kit nodded. “You could be right. The options are either that Nicchi lost his nerve and couldn’t kill anyone, that he deliberately didn’t kill Danny so he could send a message, or that he knew him and couldn’t do it. Why do you think it’s the third one, Sam?”
“I think Nicchi could kill a stranger without blinking if it was part of a mission. Just my impression of the man,” Sam said. “As for a message, what could he have been trying to say?”
“How did Nicchi know to be in front of Ella Sherman’s house?” Lennox asked.
“If it were me,” Kit said, “I would have come to San Diego immediately upon hearing that Mary Sherman was dead. Maybe he was worried that whoever killed Mary would come after her daughters.”
“Possible,” Lennox allowed. “Why didn’t Ito come?”
“Very good question,” Kit said. “I’ve wondered that myself. Maybe he couldn’t come immediately for some reason and sent Nicchi to protect Raisa and Dahlia. I think he was planning to come himself. When we found him, there was a suitcase next to the front door, like he was ready to leave.”
“True,” Sam said. “And hopefully Ito will wake up and tell us why he didn’t come right away.
But sending Nicchi makes sense. And, for whatever reason, he was in front of Ella Sherman’s house and he did not kill Danny Takahashi.
Also, Danny could have shot him, but he didn’t.
He sprayed that van Nicchi was driving with bullets but didn’t kill the man who was only a few feet away?
Neither of them killed the other. Instead, they both drove away. ”
“All true,” Kit said. “The Sherman twins knew Danny from their dojo, which he joined in August. We need to find out if Ricky taught any classes in San Diego after that. I think you’re right, Sam. I think they knew each other, and I don’t think that Ricky could bring himself to kill him.”
Los Angeles, California
Wednesday, February 1, 9:30 a.m.
“Pop.” Kit walked into her father’s arms in the ICU waiting room. She, Sam, and Lennox had come straight to the hospital after Harlan had texted that he and Akiko were sitting with Ito.
He’d left Akiko alone in Ito’s room so that he could talk to them. The thought of Akiko alone made Kit nervous. She’d check on her sister as soon as she brought her father up to speed.
“Kitty-Cat.” Harlan looked tired, and that worried her.
“You okay, Pop?”
“Just ready to go home. I miss your mom and the girls.” He gave Sam a quick hug.
“I brought you some more pieces of wood,” Sam said. “I don’t know if they’ll be good for you to carve, but my folks got them for you.”
That was a surprise. It warmed Kit’s heart in a way she was starting to get used to. Which was scary, if she was being honest with herself.
“That was so nice of them. Thank you, Sam.” Harlan lifted an eyebrow at the sight of Lennox, standing near the door. “Who is this?”
“Pop, this is Detective Meghan Lennox, lead detective on Mary Sherman’s homicide investigation. Meghan, this is my father, Harlan McKittrick.”
“Detective Lennox. It’s nice to meet you.”
“She’s been my window into the investigation,” Kit said. “Since I’m…”
“Yeah,” Harlan said, frowning. “I know.”
Suspended. A word Kit never thought she’d be associated with.
“It’s so good to meet you, sir,” Lennox said. “I’ve been a fan of your carvings for a long time.”
Kit tucked her arm around Harlan’s and led him to one of the waiting room sofas, Sam at her side. “She bought one of your violin carvings for her mother for Christmas, but ended up keeping it for herself.”
Lennox let out a surprised laugh. “You weren’t supposed to tell him that. Makes me sound like a bad daughter.”
Harlan smiled at Lennox. “I imagine you bought something even better for your mother.”
“Well, that would be hard to do,” Lennox said, “but I tried. How is Akiko?”
Her compassionate tone elevated her even further in Kit’s regard. She really hoped that Lennox was as kind and honest as she appeared.
“Devastated. She and Paolo had been friends since they were kids.”
“It’s hard when you grow up in foster care,” Kit said. “Nothing is consistent. Nothing is guaranteed. To have Ito’s dojo and all the people in it was an unusual gift. Her friendship with Paolo was something unique in our world.”