Chapter Nineteen #3
“Not just any trip, Kit. This was Akiko’s very first charter. The first time she took her boat out. This guy who calls himself Akito Jones was there at the very beginning.”
There was silence in the room, finally broken when Lennox sighed.
“I’ll get his and Joe’s photos to Sergeant Ryland and ask him to run facial recognition.
We need real names. Kit and Sam, I’m going to be interviewing Danny Takahashi along with Burroughs and Desoto in an hour.
Kit, you can observe. Sam, I’d appreciate an assist in the interview room. ”
Sam was already looking at Anson. “Can we borrow your car?”
“Of course.” Anson pulled his keys from his pocket.
“Lennox, we’ll be there ASAP,” Kit said and ended the call.
Los Angeles, California
Wednesday, February 1, 5:45 p.m.
“Thanks for coming in,” Lennox said as she and Detectives Burroughs and Desoto walked Kit and Sam to the LAPD interview room where Danny Takahashi and his attorney were waiting.
“Has he said anything yet?” Kit asked.
Desoto shook his head. “Only that we’re assholes.”
“I printed out copies of the driver’s license photos you sent me,” Lennox said. “Maybe seeing their faces will shake an ID out of him.”
“I doubt it,” Burroughs said glumly. “His attorney is one of the best in the city.”
“Who’s paying for his attorney?” Sam asked.
“Daddy,” Desoto said. “Kirk LaSalle is one of Kenzo’s top lawyers. Normally he takes care of lawsuits, but he has defense experience.”
“We might be able to play off that,” Lennox said. “I got the impression that Danny didn’t like his father overly much.”
“Meghan, I know I told you that Danny’s mother died by suicide,” Sam said.
“I don’t know what his life was like with his father before that, but afterward, his father used his image to show how sad kids are whose parents kill themselves and, oh, don’t you want to donate to my suicide prevention charity?
That could be one of the sources of tension between Danny and his father.
” He showed Lennox and the LA detectives the photo of a grieving eight-year-old Danny.
“That had to be humiliating for him, especially as he got older.”
Lennox frowned. “That’s really disgusting, using a child like that. Good to know. Thank you.”
“Oh.” Kit had forgotten all about the commenter on the articles about Kenzo Takahashi.
“We should find Umeko Takahashi’s sister.
I think she’s been leaving very negative comments on Kenzo Takahashi’s website and articles written about him.
The one I found on the website was immediately deleted, but Kenzo can’t control the articles printed elsewhere. ”
“Let’s find and talk to the sister when we’re done with Danny,” Lennox said. “Maybe she knows who Joe is. That’s one of my goals in this interview. I want to know Joe’s last name, who was helping Danny with the gun running, and who this mystery guy is who went on Akiko’s first charter—Akito Jones.”
“Akiko remembered him,” Kit said. “After she gathered her wits.” After she stopped throwing up in the bathroom. Poor Akiko. “She remembered him remarking that they nearly shared a name. She shrugged it off as small talk. She didn’t remember him doing anything but fishing.”
At the interview room, Kit and Sam parted ways. Sam followed Lennox and Desoto into Interview, and Kit entered the observation room.
She was surprised to see Navarro already seated. “Sir?”
He pointed to the chair beside him. “Please.”
She sat, waiting for him to speak first.
He sighed. “I wish you’d trusted me to get this case solved. I’ve been working on it along with Lennox.”
“I wish you’d trusted me with the truth,” Kit replied. “I don’t like being ‘theater.’ ”
“Fair enough.”
She drew a breath. “Am I really suspended?”
“Yes. But it won’t hold. Have you contacted your union rep?”
“Not yet.”
“You need to do that. I thought you’d do it the first day.”
“I was too focused on finding out who shot Mary Sherman and who she was to Akiko.”
“I knew you would be. I should have ordered you to call your union rep. Baz should have, too.”
“My rep may have called me. I have a lot of unanswered voicemails.” Kit pressed her fingertips against her throbbing temples. “I’ve really fucked this up, haven’t I?”
“No. You’ll walk away with a slap on the wrist. The way this is going, you and Lennox will solve this case, and it will just add to your…legend.”
Her gaze flew to his profile. He was staring at the one-way mirror. He looked tired.
And suddenly Kit felt guilty for not having trusted him. “I have a legend?”
“You know you do. Even Tamsin Fucking Kavanaugh can’t make you out to be the bad guy in her articles.”
“She said SDPD kicked me to the curb.” Which had hurt far more than she’d allowed herself to admit.
“And made SDPD—and me—look like the villains. It’ll be okay, Kit.
I’ve been feeding West information that isn’t true.
Eventually enough of it’ll end up in Kavanaugh’s column and I’ll have him dead to rights.
You were a bit of an unintended casualty, unfortunately.
It was my luck that West’s next case would be Akiko’s. ”
She was quiet for a moment. “Are we okay, sir? You and I?”
“Yeah. Just…call your union rep, Kit. I need you back at work.”
“Yes, sir.”
One side of his mouth lifted. “And it finally doesn’t sound like a slur.” He nodded at the mirror. “Your doctor is giving Danny Takahashi the evil eye.”
Sam was indeed giving the seventeen-year-old the frostiest of glares. “If Sam steps over the line, Lennox will boot him out. She’s a good cop, sir.”
“I know. When you come back, you’ll partner with her. Until Connor returns.”
“And then? What will happen to her?”
Navarro turned to look at her, amused. “Have you become attached to Lennox?”
“No, but I respect her. She seems to want to do the right thing.”
“When Connor comes back, I may create a three-person team for a while. We’ll figure it out when we get there.”
“Okay. Thank you, sir.”
He nodded once. “They’re starting.”
Kit sat forward, her attention on Danny Takahashi. He looked smug, the little bastard. His mouth was curved in an obnoxious smirk and he sat in the chair, legs splayed wide.
Just chillin’. No worries.
“Trying to be a little gangsta,” Kit murmured.
“Apropos if Daddy is a big gangsta,” Navarro murmured back.
On the other side of the glass, Lennox formally introduced herself, Sam, and the LA detectives. Burroughs stood off to the side, leaning against a wall. Desoto sat on Lennox’s right, Sam on her left. “So. Anything to say for yourself?”
“I’ve advised my client to say nothing,” the attorney said. He was very polished. A stereotypical corporate shark.
“I figured,” Lennox said. “Your client shot three cops and killed four innocent people.”
Danny merely blinked.
“Four?” His attorney frowned. “You said he was being charged with three homicides.”
“We found another,” Lennox said. “Jorge Montoya. He was first mate to Paolo Feliciano. Killed the same way, bullet to the head. Ballistics just confirmed the bullet was fired from the gun that was in your possession this afternoon, Danny. I gotta tell ya, son, it doesn’t look good for you.”
Danny’s teeth clenched. “I ain’t your son.”
“No,” Sam said, “you’re Kenzo Takahashi’s son and you don’t like your father very much. I wouldn’t, either, if he’d humiliated me the way he did you. Using your face to raise money for a charity that made a mockery of your mother’s death.”
“You don’t know nothin’,” Danny said sullenly.
“I know what you looked like at eight years old,” Sam said. “Catatonic. Lights off and nobody home. I can’t blame you, of course. Finding your mother the way you did.”
Danny’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t know nothin’,” he repeated.
Sam carelessly flicked something from the lapel of his blazer. “I know you couldn’t kill Ricky Nicchi or Edwin Ito. Some people might call that weakness.”
“Some people would be wrong,” Danny said, his anger evident.
Keep pushing him, Sam, Kit thought.
“We met Joe,” Sam said conversationally. “Kind of. He’s your father’s…what? Bodyguard? Seems a little old for that, though.”
“Lapdog,” Danny muttered. “Licks his boots.”
Kit expected the attorney to say something, but the man remained silent. Watchful. “The kid’s lawyer isn’t here for him.”
“I know,” Navarro said. “He’s Daddy’s man.”
“You know, there’s something I can’t figure out,” Sam said.
Danny feigned shock. “Just one thing?”
Sam smiled. “For now, maybe. Why did you kill Laurette Curry?”
Danny tilted his head, his smirk fading.
“Say nothing, Danny,” the lawyer murmured.
About time you did your job, Kit thought.
Danny shrugged.
“Why shoot the cops?” Lennox asked.
Another shrug.
“Why not shoot your father?” Sam asked.
Danny flinched, then glared at Sam.
“I mean,” Sam went on, “you don’t like him. Maybe you can’t kill him. Just like you couldn’t kill Ito and Nicchi. Authority figures. They make you…weak.”
Danny’s eyes flared hot with anger.
“Do you have a question, Dr. Reeves?” the attorney asked.
“I have many, many questions. I guess I’m trying to understand Danny’s relationship with his father. The grapevine says that he disowned you when you got arrested. You had to go to San Diego to live with…who? Nicchi? Paolo?”
No answer.
“And now Akiko is in the picture,” Sam said.
“She stands to inherit everything since you got removed from the will. That’s millions of reasons to kill your sister.
You can’t deny that’s what you were trying to do.
But you failed. Badly. You got caught. By me.
I’m not even a cop. I’m just a skinny shrink and I took you down. ”
“You hit me where I was hurt,” Danny spat.
“You got sloppy,” Sam corrected. “You came at Akiko when she was surrounded by people. Why would you do that?”
Danny didn’t answer, but Kit could see that he wanted to say something so badly.
“Keep at him, Sam,” she whispered. And you’re not skinny. You’re just right.