The Art of Arrow Cutting by Stephen Dedman

Author:Stephen Dedman [Dedman, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-4976-1227-3
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2016-01-21T16:00:00+00:00

16

Names

“If I asked you why you wanted to know,” Mandaglione wondered aloud, “would I be sorry?”

“Only if we answered.”

Mandaglione shrugged eloquently—the first and only suggestion of a family resemblance that Takumo had noticed—and reached into his briefcase, removing a manila folder full of photocopies. “You’re lucky. The local news back home has been full of the Sunrise for the past week and a half, ever since the manager blew his brains out.”

Mage and Takumo glanced at each other, and Mage whistled softly. “Are they sure he did it himself?” asked Takumo.

“Fairly sure. He died in his bathroom, with the door locked on the inside. There was no sign of a struggle, and the wound looked like it was self-inflicted. The only window was eight inches wide and twelve floors up, and the screen could only be removed or replaced from the outside.” He shrugged again. “On the other hand, there was no suicide note—at least no one’s found one yet—and he was shot with a World War One Nambu with no identifiable prints, even though he had another gun, a Detonics nine-millimeter, in his shoulder holster.” He turned to Takumo. “Does that make sense to you?”

Takumo smiled bleakly. “I’m not an expert on suicide. Was he Japanese?”

“San Francisco Japanese. His name was Tony Higuchi.” Mage started at the name “Tony,” but said nothing. “Good name for a casino manager,” Mandaglione continued. “Sounds nice and Italian—the Mafia probably love him—but his grandparents came from Osaka.”

“Then the Nambu may have belonged to his grandfather,” said Takumo. “He may have been keeping it for this one use: an honorable weapon for a more honorable death. Suicides tend to be very fussy, even tidy, and that’s not just a Japanese trait. Suicides everywhere tend to use clean knives or razors, to remove their glasses before jumping or their clothes before stabbing themselves.” He noticed that Mage was looking slightly green. “Suicide is, above all, a form of communication.”

“I think I’ll stick to word processors,” replied Mandaglione dryly.

“They’re certainly easier to correct,” agreed Takumo. “Did this Higuchi own the casino?”

“Officially, no.”

“Unofficially?”

“Officially, Higuchi was the casino manager. He used to be a successful gambler; in fact, he used to be a lot of things, but gambling is the only one he stuck with. I never actually met him, but I have friends who did; said he could skin them alive at almost any game you could name. Apart from having one hell of a poker face himself, he was damn good at reading people … well, men anyway. I hear he had a serious weakness for pretty blondes, spent a fortune trying to impress them. But the Sunrise was rarely ripped off. Higuchi could spot a cheat or a thief as soon as one walked in, and he handpicked the staff, never forgot a name or a face. The other thing he knew well was guns; he’d been accused of gunrunning a few times, starting back when he was a supply sergeant in the Marines, but never convicted of anything above a misdemeanor.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.