Chapter Twenty-Two
Bel Air, Los Angeles, California
Kit stared at the gate in front of Kenzo’s house, mentally willing it to open. Worry for Akiko burned inside her. “I thought Bob would have called him by now.”
“I did, too.” Sam sounded calm, but Kit knew that he was as tense as she was.
It had been more than three hours since Bob had taken Akiko. He could be hurting her.
No. She couldn’t think like that.
Sam was right. Akiko was not Wren. Akiko could defend herself.
And I am not alone.
“Thank you for staying with me.”
“Always,” he said softly.
“And for being willing to aid me in my potentially felonious stalking.”
He smiled. “I hear that Georgia knows some good lawyers that are not my ex.”
Kit’s laugh surprised her, and she was grateful to him for that, too. No one else could make her laugh in such a situation. I want to keep him. I want him to keep me.
The buzzing of her phone had her heartbeat stuttering. It was Navarro.
Pop.
She hit accept, putting Navarro on speaker. “How’s Pop?”
“I thought you were with him. Lennox said so.”
Kit narrowed her eyes. “I thought you were with him. Lennox said so.”
He hesitated. “I was, but I had to leave. I came back to San Diego. I located Nancy Sayer.”
It took Kit a second to place the name. Sam was faster on the uptake.
“The woman who became Mary’s guardian after her mother died?” Sam asked.
“Yes,” Navarro said. “I’m with her now. She wants to talk to you. Can I switch you to FaceTime?”
Kit shared an expectant glance with Sam. “Yes, of course,” she said.
A moment later, Navarro’s face filled the screen. He readjusted his angle, bringing an older woman into the frame. “Kit, this is Nancy Sayer. Miss Sayer, this is Detective McKittrick.”
“I know who you are, Detective,” the woman said, her voice raspy and unsteady.
Lying in a hospital bed, she wore an oxygen cannula, and her skin was stretched tight across her face.
“I’ve known your name for sixteen years.
But I know about you from Tamsin Kavanaugh’s articles over the last few years. ”
Kit couldn’t find it in herself to even scowl at the mention of the reporter. “You knew about me sixteen years ago? You knew that Akiko was placed with my family?”
“I did. I helped watch over her for her whole childhood.”
So many people had watched over Akiko. “You knew Mary?”
“I did. I helped her change her name to Smith after the twins were murdered. She was terrified and so was I. But she was so very strong. I can’t believe she’s gone.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Kit said. “I wish we could have known her.”
“Can you tell us about her?” Sam asked, and Nancy smiled crookedly.
“You’re Dr. Reeves. I’ve read about you, too.
” She wheezed a rattling breath. “I knew Sakura from college in New York. I moved around after graduation. Following a man.” She made a face.
“He landed in Vegas, so I did, too. Didn’t work out with him, but I loved the sunshine, so I stayed.
I became a social worker. Sakura met Eddie Ito while we were college seniors.
She married him right out of school, and they went to LA.
When I finally broke up with my ex, I called her.
The twins were three and she was pregnant again, even though she didn’t know it at the time. ”
The older woman drew another rasping breath, then went on.
“She wasn’t happy. She thought she was going to get a life of excitement in California.
Hollywood and movie stars. But she was stuck in a tiny apartment all day with twins.
Eddie worked all the time. He was an accountant by day, but he was also starting his own karate dojo. ”
Kit was surprised to hear that Ito had been an accountant, too. That hadn’t come up on any of his background checks. It must have been a long time ago. “Did you ever see Sakura in LA, Miss Sayer?”
“Once. We met for lunch at a restaurant. She didn’t want me coming to see her apartment.
She was ashamed of it. Ashamed of Eddie.
Of how poor they were. In New York, she’d been comfortable.
Her parents had spoiled her. But they hadn’t liked Eddie and when she married him, they cut her off.
She was miserable. I hated to see it. I asked about the twins that day, and she said that she’d left them with Eddie’s best friend—Joe.
He’d been the best man in their wedding, so I’d met him.
He…well, I didn’t like him. He’d looked at Sakura the way a man shouldn’t look at the woman marrying his best friend. ”
“Oh,” Kit breathed, realization dawning. “Joe loved Sakura.”
“He really did.” Nancy sighed. “Anyway, she was desperately unhappy and wishing she’d never left New York.
Wishing she’d never married Eddie. But I noticed she wore a very pretty necklace that was not cheap.
Joe had given it to her. He gave her other things, too.
Jewelry. Dresses. Eddie didn’t like it, but Sakura didn’t care what he thought.
” She shook her head. “I told her that she shouldn’t be taking presents from anyone but Eddie, but she said she wanted something pretty.
She was mad at Eddie because Joe had found him a job as an accountant in his company, but Eddie refused, even though it would have been a huge pay raise.
The lunch was mostly her complaining about Eddie, and I was glad when it was over.
Then three weeks later I got a phone call.
Sakura was hysterical. She was going on about gangs and tattoos and mafia.
I had no idea what she was talking about, but I finally got her calmed down. ”
“Did she see Eddie’s tattoo?” Kit asked.
“Oh, she always knew about Eddie’s tattoo. He told her that he got it in ’Nam.”
“He didn’t,” Kit said.
“No, he didn’t. She’d thought Eddie’s was just a pretty tattoo, but then she saw Joe’s tattoos and that’s when she called me in a panic.
I didn’t know back then that the Japanese even had a mafia, but Sakura did.
She said her parents had warned her away from men with tattoos.
When she saw Joe’s tattoos, she knew who he was.
What he was. And she knew that Eddie had lied to her, because Joe had the same tiger and dragon on his back that Eddie had.
Joe’s was all filled in, of course. She’d confronted Eddie, asked if he was in the mob.
He admitted that he had been, but he’d escaped.
She was scared and angry because Eddie was still friends with Joe, and Joe was mafia.
She didn’t feel safe. Eddie had lied to her, and she wanted a divorce.
I told her to come and stay with me in Henderson, Nevada, while she figured things out.
But nothing was simple. She showed up with the twins and a baby bump—and a new last name.
She’d changed it to Nakamura. She had ID and everything, for herself and the twins. She said that Joe got them for her.”
“Were you scared?” Kit asked. “Of the mob?”
“Of course I was,” Nancy snapped. “I wasn’t stupid, Detective. But she said she wouldn’t stay with me long and she didn’t. She bought herself a house there in Henderson. With cash.”
“Joe again,” Kit said, a few more pieces falling into place. “That’s how he knew where to find the twins after she died. He bought her the house. Did Joe visit her there?”
“First Sunday morning of every month, like clockwork. Never stayed long and he never went inside. I don’t think she ever saw him or even knew he made the trip.
He stayed in his car, just waiting on the curb up the street.
When Sakura would come out with the kids to go to church, he’d watch them and then he’d leave. ”
“You watched him waiting on Sakura’s street?” Kit asked, then remembered that the two women had lived next door to each other. “Did Joe buy you a house, too?”
“He did. I was afraid to take it, but I was more afraid not to take it. He told me to watch over Sakura and the children. And maybe send him photos sometimes. Of the children,” she added meaningfully.
“Of the children?” Kit repeated, and suddenly she understood. Oh. Ohhh. “Was Joe the father of the twins?”
“He was. I was so angry at Sakura. She’d cheated on Eddie and then divorced him for lying to her.
She was a hypocrite. And she agreed with me.
But, back in LA, Joe had brought her presents.
Brought toys for the kids. He had money to burn.
And Sakura wanted money. Until she learned it was mafia money. ”
“Miss Sayer,” Sam said, “how did she not know that Joe was the mob when she had children by him? Surely, she’d seen his skin.”
“She said he always kept his shirt on. Claimed he had scars that he didn’t want her to see.
He didn’t mean for her to see him with his shirt off.
She walked in on him when he was changing, and she immediately knew.
Joe didn’t want her to leave LA, but she said if he really loved her, he’d let her go.
Ironically enough, she said the same thing to Eddie.
Both men loved her. Both men let her go. ”
“She wanted to escape but she let Joe get her new ID and buy her a house?” Kit frowned. “Apologies, ma’am, but that doesn’t make sense.”
“It would have if you’d known Sakura. She acted tough, but she was really just a scared girl.
She was terrified of the mob, but she was more terrified of being homeless and not being able to feed her children.
So she accepted Joe’s help. He gave her a fresh start and promised not to bother her anymore.
He kept his word, mostly. Except for the monthly drive to watch them go to church.
To my knowledge, Eddie Ito never knew where she was.
Sakura told the twins their father had died. ”
“Probably why Minako and Ichiro didn’t seek him out when they went to LA,” Sam said. “Was Joe Mary’s father, too?”