Lady Joker, Volume 2 by Kaoru Takamura

Author:Kaoru Takamura
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Soho Press

AFTER HE EXCUSED HIMSELF FROM the superintendent’s office, Goda’s thoughts converged on a single question—Where has Shuhei Handa disappeared to?

He figured that his superiors—fussing over the identity of the whistleblower when a man who was fairly certain to be one of the perpetrators was within their grasp—had either lost their minds or had proven that Handa was not a suspect. Or perhaps they simply hadn’t revealed to him the main reason they needed to question the whistle-blower’s claims.

At this realization, Goda stopped in the middle of the hallway, only a few steps from the superintendent’s office, and took out his cell phone. He dialed the number and as soon as the call went through, he snapped, “This is Goda. I’ll be waiting on the roof,” and hung up without waiting for a reply.

Goda waited for half an hour on the roof, and when Hirase appeared, looking restless, they glared at each other for a long moment.

“I know. I know how you feel,” Hirase started off by saying. “You want to know what happened to the person behind voice Number Thirteen, right?”

“I do, but put that aside for now. I’m more concerned about the whistleblower. I couldn’t understand what they were getting at or why it matters.”

“The chief didn’t give you much to go on.”

“Then you can tell me now.”

“It’s strictly classified. Got it?”

“I got it.”

“The reason the chief was riding you tonight to confirm that Shiroyama isn’t the defector is because there’s something outrageous at the end of the document. The gist of it is that the company has obtained credible information from Tamaru that could identify one of the members of Lady Joker. If law enforcement is willing to charge Zenzo Tamaru, then the defector is willing to hand over that information . . .”

“They can say it’s credible information, but there’s no guarantee how useful it would be.”

“But it’s entirely possible that Tamaru knows the suspect. There’s at least one person who’s good at counting money involved in this crime. At their core, LJ are violent criminals, but going through this particular figure, there are connections to underground money. The fact is, how this crime has actually played out, including the fluctuations in stock prices, backs that up. We can’t ignore it.”

“You really don’t know who sent it?”

“Of course not. Like you said, I find it hard to believe that Shiroyama didn’t report his meeting with Tamaru to anyone. And the person he told has to be Seigo Kurata. But I also find it unthinkable that the man who has a shot at being the next company president would bring about his own demise by initiating Tamaru’s arrest. So the contents of Shiroyama’s report must have circulated from Kurata to someone else, but the people in a position to receive such a report—like Sakakibara or Ide—are both part of the Shirai faction, right? I’ve considered various possibilities, but I have to admit I can’t figure it out. There’s also the chance the meeting was bugged or someone eavesdropped.”

“Since

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