Chapter Twenty-One
Los Angeles, California
Sam listened with one ear to Lennox briefing Navarro and the LAPD detectives as she drove toward Kenzo’s house, but most of his focus was on the woman sitting beside him. Kit was pale, trembling, but her chin was up, her mouth set in a determined line.
Akiko. He was terrified for her. She’d been at the center of this from the beginning. That Bob had come for her was not a shock, except that it was.
Akiko. She’d become like the sister he’d never had. But he couldn’t allow his fear to consume him. Kit needed him. So he shoved his fear into the corner of his mind. He’d deal with it later.
For now, he would focus on getting her back to LA.
“You with me?” he asked Kit.
“I have to call Mom. I need to tell her about Akiko and Anson and…” Her voice broke. “And Pop.”
That Harlan had been shot was…Sam couldn’t even go there. If something happened to Harlan, Kit would shatter into a million pieces.
So don’t go there. Make sure Kit doesn’t, either.
“Let me call my mom first. I’ll have my folks go sit with your mother and the girls. Between them and Baz, I think they can keep everyone at McKittrick House. I don’t want Betsy driving when she’s upset, and she’s going to be upset.”
“They have to stay put.” Kit’s voice was high and panicked. “It’s not safe here. Bob might go after them, too.”
That was true. That Bob would try to eliminate Kit again when she tried to stop him was pretty much a given.
Danny had already tried to kill her twice.
But there was no way Kit was staying put, not when her sister’s life was on the line, so he wouldn’t even try.
He pushed that fear to the corner of his mind as well.
His Kit was smart. She could take care of herself.
I’ll still be by her side if she needs me.
He dialed his mother and, putting the phone directly to his ear, asked if she and his father would go to McKittrick House and requested they not ask him why. To their credit, they immediately agreed.
“Love you, Mom,” he said quietly.
“I love you, too. It’s bad, isn’t it?” Ann asked, and he was glad he hadn’t put the phone on speaker. Kit was watching him, her heart visibly breaking.
“It is. But we’ll work through it.” He briefly met Kit’s eyes when he said the words, and she swallowed hard. “Gotta go. Call me when you get there.” He ended the call and put his phone away. “I wasn’t lying, Kit. We will work this out.”
She swallowed again. “I keep thinking about Akiko with that man. He killed her mother, Sam.”
He tried to have you killed, too. But Kit wasn’t thinking about herself right now. That’s my job.
“I know,” he murmured. “I’m sorry, baby.”
“I have to find her.”
“And we will. Akiko McKittrick is a powerhouse. She’s a black belt, right?”
“Right.”
“She can kick Bob’s ass.”
“Not if he has a gun.”
That was true, but he didn’t want her dwelling on that point. “Well, he wants her for something, and it has to do with Kenzo. I don’t think he’ll hurt her until he has Kenzo where he wants him. I think that all of this, this entire scheme, is to cause Kenzo maximum harm.”
She nodded once decisively. “I think you’re right.”
“I know I am. You know what else I think?”
“What?” Her tone was becoming firmer with every word she spoke.
His Kit was not going to be defeated by this. They’d find Akiko, and Kit would kick some ass of her own.
“I think there’s a good chance that Bob has been doing things to hurt Kenzo for years. He destroyed Kenzo’s businesses and slept with his wife. And who knows? Maybe Umeko’s death wasn’t a suicide. Maybe Bob killed her and made it look like one, just to hurt Kenzo—his reputation, anyway.”
“I thought of that. Of course, Kenzo just turned it into a money grab. I bet that charity has some significant overhead and Kenzo’s lining his pockets.”
“Because Kenzo’s evil, too.” They had no shortage of bad guys here.
“And now Bob’s got Kenzo’s son in his pocket.
Who knows how long he’s been worming his way into Danny’s mind?
Into his life? First, he took Kenzo’s wife and then took his son.
We’ll have to find out when Bob’s influence began, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was working on Danny long before that carjacking arrest.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“You would have, but you’re distracted.”
“And you’re kind.” She drew a breath. “Can I tell you something?”
“Always.”
“You told Haru that if you shared secrets like the one she’s been keeping about Minnie’s murder, you could lose your license.”
“Yes.”
“But you did that a year ago. You risked your license, your livelihood, to share a secret with me, to tell me that you thought one of your clients had committed murder. You risked everything because it was the right thing. You do the right thing, Sam. It’s one of the things I l-like best about you. ”
Sam’s heart was about to club through his chest. That little stutter on like could have been love. And even if it was just a stutter…“You see me.”
“And you see me. Haru Carlson might have had a good reason, in her own mind, to keep her sister’s secret. But, in my mind, she was afraid. A lot of people would have been. Most people would have taken that secret to their grave, so at least she told us now. But you took the risk.”
“And it paid off. You got the bad guy, and I got you.”
“I’m glad you did. I’m glad you’re here.”
“Oh my God,” Lennox said from the front seat, and Sam startled. He’d all but forgotten about her. “Could you two be any sweeter? Baz would simply vomit if he were here.”
Kit barked a surprised laugh. “Then I’m glad he’s not. But I am glad you’re here, Meghan.”
“Aw,” Lennox said. “Same. Now that our little love fest has concluded, I have Kenzo’s address, Sam. And Joe Fujioka’s. And Bob Fujioka’s. Do we still want to start with Kenzo?”
Sam was glad she was here, too. She’d made Kit laugh. “Yes. Let’s start with Kenzo.”
Kit exhaled, letting her head fall forward. She was centering herself. Calming her mind. The energy coming off her began to quiet. When she lifted her head, she was composed. His Kit was back. “Why now?” she asked.
“Why now, which?” Lennox asked.
“Why is Bob executing this grand plan now? And, other than hurting Kenzo, what exactly is his endgame? I doubt he’d go to all this trouble just to make Kenzo sad.
He’s been playing a very long game. He knew about Akiko and her boat five years ago.
He started sleeping with Umeko over thirty years ago.
He’s spent the last twenty years tearing down nearly every business Kenzo tried to start, and he’s been causing a lot of recent trouble to the businesses Kenzo has managed to keep. So why now?”
“Why do you think it’s now?” Sam countered, because he bet she’d already thought this through.
“I think Bob’s endgame is to overthrow Kenzo and take everything, but maybe he didn’t have the support he needed, so he consoled himself with ruining Kenzo’s businesses,” Kit said.
“I think he’s been trying to overthrow Kenzo all this time by making him look incompetent, but it hasn’t worked.
I think he’s upped the ante now because Kenzo is sick.
Did you notice how thin he was when he talked to us outside the hospital this afternoon? ”
God, was that only this afternoon? It felt like a week ago.
“I did, actually. I wonder if he’s got cancer or something.”
“Something,” Kit agreed. “He’s had some kind of medical trauma.”
“Perfect time for Bob to stage a coup,” Lennox said. “And the recent troubles aren’t enough to ruin Kenzo’s business. Burroughs said that Kenzo’s businesses had been having mostly little setbacks.”
“All but the casino,” Kit said. “This new investigation could shut the casino down. And that’s Kenzo’s only legacy. Do you think Bob wants the company for himself, so he’s not permanently damaging the businesses he wants to keep?”
“That’s a distinct possibility,” Lennox said.
“Just so you’re aware, LAPD has unmarked cars at all three addresses.
They’re also looking for Ricky Nicchi’s gray two-year-old Lexus SUV.
One of Desoto’s analysts found him driving it on the hospital’s parking lot cam.
The officer on guard outside Ito’s hospital room knows to grab him if he shows his face and hold him until we get there. ”
Kit managed a weak smile. “Thank you.”
“Doin’ my job. And you’d do the same.”
“I would. So what would a coup of an organized crime business look like? What would Bob need to do to truly take over?”
“I’d think he’d need to get a lot of people on his side first,” Lennox said.
“He’s VP of security, but everyone knows that Kenzo is in charge.
A Takahashi’s been at the helm for seventy years.
We’ll have to find someone on the inside to help us understand the company’s inner workings.
But I’m betting he’s been sowing dissent for a long time, making Kenzo look incompetent.
Making himself look more powerful. More in charge.
Getting Danny to so publicly unravel is a way to do that.
Kenzo can’t even control his own son. How can he be expected to control an empire? ”
Kit nodded, her expression thoughtful. “I wondered at first why Bob would risk telling Brewer and the ATF where to find the guns—because only he knew where they were. He had to know that Danny would try to drag him under the bus, but Bob’s pretty much made it so that no one is going to listen to a word Danny says. ”
“Well, Danny did that to himself,” Sam said. “He’s not blameless in this.”
“Oh, I know. My throbbing arm reminds me of that all day long. But who’s going to listen to him, for real? He’s killed four people, shot three cops. Got caught with guns. The guns are still puzzling me, though. What was Bob’s angle? Why try to implicate Akiko?”