Mirrored: Little Yokai Series Book 3 by Scott Walker

Author:Scott Walker [Walker, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781733739689
Publisher: Firefly Tales, LLC
Published: 2021-10-31T07:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

I got two hours of sleep. The more I read the Entente papers, the more incredulous I became. It was a grand plan with a lot of risk for exposure. At six in the morning, I texted Mei and Yoshida. Told them I wanted to meet them in person at the office. I got confirmation from both.

I stopped by our kamidana and butsudan on my way out. Requested some help from Inari and asked my ancestors for guidance on the JTF meeting later that day. Pretty sure I was going to need it.

Yoshida was already in Mei's office when I go there.

"How are things going with the JTF?" she asked.

"Chalk's got us on lockdown in terms of discussing the case," Yoshida replied, waiting for guidance from Mei.

The Chief frowned. "I see. Not entirely surprised by that. Any concerns, then, about how the case is progressing?"

Yoshida sighed. "I think Chalk's convinced we have a rogue agent. Not sure how objective he's going to be when it's all said and done. And he's not exactly enamored with Miller."

"No surprise there, either," Mei said but didn't elaborate, for which I was grateful. What I was about to say wouldn't do me any favors, either.

"There's going to be some blowback about what I did last night." I told them about returning to the apartment and entering it before Durante showed up.

"Why didn't you wait, Miller-san?" Yoshida asked. "Chalk's not going to like that one bit."

"You're right, I should have waited. I guess I was just anxious to run down the lead."

Yoshida bought it. Mei didn't. She pursed her lips, a tell I'd learned to spot over the years. But she said nothing.

"Miller-san," Mei said, "step carefully."

Oh, yeah, she knows something's up.

I lowered my head. "Of course."

The Chief turned to Yoshida. "Anything else?"

"Chalk and I canvassed the area, didn't come up with much. And I'm convinced he's hiding something."

"Oh?" Mei removed her glasses, leaned back. "And that would be?"

"He asked about the connection between the nekomata murders and Dokeshi, but given what we turned over to Vigilance and when, I'm don't see how he linked the two."

"Isn't there a connection?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "Two, actually. The markings on the victims' ankles, which appear to be from a form of han shimenawa. The second link is the notes found at both crime scenes. However, we held the notes back when we submitted the cases to Vigilance. And Chalk asked about the connection before he'd seen Dokeshi's autopsy report."

Mei's pursed lips returned. "That's unsettling."

"When I pressed him on why he thought the cases were connected, Chalk dodged the question."

"I bet he did. I never liked that son of a bitch." I can count on one hand how many times Mei had cursed in front of me at work. She really didn't like Chalk. "I understand you've looped in Internal Affairs on these cases."

"Yes," I said. "Can't rule out an agent at this point, and we felt better if they got involved."

"They've spun up their own team, but they're not pushing back on the JTF just yet.

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