American Fuji by Sara Backer

Author:Sara Backer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Nineteen

After hours on the phone, Gaby found out Tokyo Women’s Medical College had no record of Cody Thorn receiving treatment there, or any record of any heart operations on July ninth of last year, or the eighth or tenth, either. Several calls to the Endo family were answered by a machine, and she chose not to leave a message. She didn’t look forward to telling Alex either piece of news.

She didn’t have the energy to help him through this; it would be hard enough just to go to work tomorrow. She couldn’t take another day off. Sick leave came out of her vacation days and she had only three left to last through September. If she called on Yamamoto tomorrow, she could pretend her sales pitch took all morning and not show up at the office until two o’clock. On the other hand, bathroom access on a strawberry farm was not guaranteed, and an unexpected burst of diarrhea would definitely lose the sale. If she worked in the Gone With The Wind office, she’d be within range of a toilet, but would have to stay from nine to six, breathing Nishida’s cigarette stench all the while.

Maybe, she thought, Mr. Eguchi would allow her to clock her time spent on Alex. After all, Alex was business, despite the personal detour they had almost taken. This morning’s phone time and Saturday’s trip to Cody’s boardinghouse added up to a full day’s work.

She called Gone With The Wind. “Rie-san? It’s Gaby.”

“Oh, good. I have news. Are you feeling better?”

“About the same. I need to talk to Eguchi.”

“Eguchi is at the racetrack.”

Gaby was surprised. “The racetrack? Did he tell you that?”

“No. But my cousin works at the track. She sees a lot of Eguchi.”

“And all this time I thought he went to a coffee shop.”

“Oh, he does. But on race days, he is at the track. He is sponsoring one competitor today, and another in tomorrow’s race.”

Another likeness between America and Japan; the secretaries know more than anyone else. “Are you alone in the office? Can you talk?”

“Yes, and I have news. We haven’t ordered a new inkan since the company began.”

“Wow! That was fast work.”

“I enjoyed having something to do for a change. But that’s not all I found out. Your idea was correct. A Gone With The Wind inkan was made at a custom-order shop owned by a Chinese man, Wang.”

“Rie-san, you’re amazing. How did you find out?”

“It was easy. I called inkan makers listed in the phone book, saying I was the new accountant at Gone With The Wind and wished to order another inkan. If they said they had no account for us, I said I was so sorry for my ignorant mistake.”

“And Wang had an account?”

“Yes! He made a Gone With The Wind inkan last September. He faxed me a photocopy of the stamp. They always keep a printed copy, for future orders.”

“Good job! Does it match our inkan?”

“I don’t know. I never handle our financial documents.”

It occurred to Gaby that Nishida shouldn’t see the copy of the new inkan.

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