Chapter Twenty #2
Wednesday, February 1, 8:30 p.m.
“May I offer you something to drink?” Haru Carlson asked as she led Kit, Sam, and Lennox to a quietly elegant living room.
“No, thank you,” Kit said. She sat on a love seat next to Sam while Lennox took a wingback chair that looked like an antique.
Haru was a very beautiful woman who did not look like she was seventy years old. She appeared to be no older than fifty.
Kit hoped that Danny Takahashi’s aunt would give them something helpful. Otherwise, they’d just wasted nearly an hour in traffic. She didn’t know how LA cops managed to do their jobs when it took so long to drive less than twenty miles.
“How can I help you?” Haru said, gracefully lowering herself into another wingback chair.
Kit glanced at Lennox, who gave her a go-ahead nod. “We’re here because of Danny.”
Haru sighed. “Yes, I know. I love that boy, but he’s…I hope he’s not so far gone that I can’t bring him back.”
“He’s killed four people, ma’am,” Kit said, trying not to sound unkind.
“I know. And he shot you, Detective. I know what he’s done. But I also remember the little boy he used to be. If there is to be redemption, it will now be from behind bars. I know that. It’s a difficult thing, watching someone you love take the wrong road.”
“You loved your sister,” Kit said.
Haru smiled sadly. “I did. Very much.”
“I love my sister, too. Her name is Akiko.”
“I know. I read all of Miss Kavanaugh’s articles. She seems very up to date.”
Tamsin Fucking Kavanaugh. Kit wanted to snarl, but she kept her expression impassive. “Then you know that my sister’s been drawn into a very bad situation.”
“I imagine she was shocked to learn of her parentage.”
“Yes, ma’am. Up until this week she didn’t have any clue as to where she’d come from. She does, however, know who she belongs to.”
“Your family.”
“Yes, ma’am. I will move heaven and earth to protect her.”
Haru swallowed. “I understand that desire, Detective.”
“I thought you would. You loved your sister, but you don’t like Kenzo Takahashi very much. I saw your comments on a number of articles about him.”
Haru’s mouth pressed into a hard line. “Yes. Kenzo.”
“What can you tell us about him?” Kit asked. “Other than that he cheated on your sister ‘with abandon.’ ”
“I used those words on purpose many, many times. I wanted him to know it was me.”
“How long have you been leaving comments?” Lennox asked.
“Since my sister died nine years ago. It’s become something of an obsession.
I’ve got alerts set on my phone so that every time he’s mentioned in an article, I know about it.
Up until Danny was arrested, those were mostly self-serving articles about his suicide prevention charity or a business deal he’d completed.
He’s been able to get my comments taken down on most of those articles.
My brother-in-law doesn’t like negative publicity.
My comments were merely annoying to him, but Danny’s arrest was a dealbreaker for Kenzo.
After the arrest, Kenzo disowned his son. Danny’s been disinherited.”
“His lawyer said he has a trust fund,” Lennox said. “Where did that come from?”
“From my sister. Our family has our own wealth. We don’t need Kenzo’s dirty money.”
Ah. This was more like it. “Dirty money?” Kit asked.
Haru shrugged. “Not every dollar he makes is dirty, but more are dirty than clean.”
“How has he made this dirty money?” Kit pressed.
She hesitated. “I have no evidence that will put Kenzo in prison where he belongs. Otherwise, I would have reported him years ago.”
“Just tell us what you know,” Sam said. “Let Detectives McKittrick and Lennox worry about putting Kenzo in prison.”
“Where should I begin?”
Kit wanted to go directly to asking about Joe, but she wanted to know about Kenzo as well, for Akiko’s sake. “Tell us about your sister and Kenzo.”
“Umeko was fifteen years younger than me. It was my job to care for her. I did not approve of her marriage to Kenzo Takahashi—at first because she was only eighteen. But I quickly realized that he was not the gentleman he’d purported himself to be.
He hit her when she commented that his secretary’s clothing was not modest.”
“When was this?” Kit asked, not surprised.
“They’d been married only a month. Umeko wasn’t quite nineteen. He’d just turned twenty-two.”
“Did she try to leave him?” Sam asked.
Haru shook her head. “No. She loved him. I never understood it, but if I’d begged her to leave, I would have lost her.
She was a quick learner, my sister. She knew how to work the system to her own advantage.
She asked Mitch—Kenzo’s father—to give the secretary a transfer along with a raise.
Mitch agreed. He always liked Umeko and wanted her to be happy.
She’d be the vessel carrying his future grandchild, after all. ”
There was a bitter edge to her words. “Did you know Mitch Takahashi?”
“Oh yes. Mitch and I dated for a while. He brought Kenzo to a party I was hosting and Umeko was there as well. Kenzo had just turned eighteen and Umeko was fifteen. I didn’t like the age difference and forbade her to see him.
Which was my folly, I’m afraid. She snuck away to be with him.
They met in secret for three years and he proposed—though I believe he loved her inheritance, not her.
He wanted them to elope, but I’m lucky that my sister had always dreamed of a princess wedding.
That gave me time to convince her to insist on a prenup. ”
“I’m surprised you were successful,” Sam observed mildly.
“So was I. I convinced her that, since the Takahashis were already rich, her money should be held in trust for her children when she had them. Kenzo would still get a lot of her money in a monthly stipend, but he wanted access to it all. He put a lot of pressure on her to ignore me, but she grew enamored with the idea of keeping the family wealth for her kids. Umeko was stubborn—and, like I said, she knew how to work the system. She quickly realized that his desire for her money gave her a means to control him. She liked to play power games.” Haru sighed.
“All the way up until she died. But she did love Kenzo, and the Takahashis had status in the community. Our family was quietly wealthy. Mitch had already begun building an empire and liked the trappings that went along with it—the fancy parties, the political clout. The power. Umeko really loved the power. So she and Kenzo married after a whirlwind engagement.”
“What were the conditions of the prenup?” Kit asked.
“If she died before he did, he’d cease getting stipends and whatever wasn’t held in trust for future children would go to charity. That last part was her idea. I think it was to make sure she remained too valuable to be…eliminated.”
Sam frowned. “Did she think Kenzo would kill her?”
“She knew that the Takahashis were the local mob. She knew that they killed people who got in their way or who cheated them. I mean, so did I, in a more abstract way. I didn’t know for sure what Mitch was back when I dated him, but I knew enough to keep him at arm’s length.
He was fun to party with, but I never would have married him.
Unfortunately, Umeko couldn’t control Kenzo as she’d anticipated.
She knew his weakness was money. He knew her weakness was him.
He knew she wouldn’t leave him, even if he cheated, and she never did. ”
“When did Kenzo’s cheating start?” she asked.
“Before they were even married. That’s what Umeko told me, anyway. It hurt her deeply, but she kept hoping that he’d ‘come around.’ That once she had a child, he’d be a better husband.”
“She wanted a child from the beginning?” Sam asked. “Because Danny wasn’t born until they’d been married for twenty years.”
Pain tightened Haru’s features. “Yes, she desperately wanted a child from day one. She tried so hard. After two years of trying, she saw specialists. It was the late eighties and in vitro fertilization was all the rage, so she tried that. It was very hard on her body. The hormones…” She shook her head.
“They really messed with her head. She was so depressed. All the while, Kenzo continued to cheat. They were always around eighteen. Kenzo has a type. And I don’t think that they’re always consenting.
This was the case with your sister’s mother. ”
Kit studied Haru’s face. “You knew Minako.”
What seemed like genuine regret flickered across the older woman’s expression.
“Yes, a little bit. She was lovely. Your sister resembles her very strongly. Minnie was seventeen when she came to work for Kenzo. Umeko hated her on sight, virulently hated her. She tried to get her transferred like all the others, but Kenzo refused. He’d laughed at her over the years for getting his secretaries moved to other roles, but he liked Minako.
He even loved her, in his own way. But Minnie did not love him.
She was so young. Her mother had just died, and she and her brother were trying to survive.
Ichiro got a job working in security and Minako started out in the secretarial pool, but Kenzo pulled her out on her first day. ”
Kit had a bad feeling about where this was going, but before she could ask another question, Lennox spoke up. “They worked for Takahashi Corporation? Why? Why didn’t they contact Edwin Ito?”
Haru frowned. “Who is Edwin Ito?”
“A family friend,” Lennox replied, evading the real answer.
Haru regarded Lennox for a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t know him. Minnie never mentioned him. Neither did Umeko.”