Death in Little Tokyo

26

The office door opened and a timid soul stuck his head in. Mariko was sitting in front of a typing stand with an old-fashioned manual typewriter on it, buffing her nails. She looked smashing in a silk jade-colored top and a long black leather skirt that was slit to the thigh.

“‘Nother customer, Boss!” she said, popping the gum she was chewing. “C’mon in,” she said.

The newcomer entered the office and tentatively made his way toward my desk.

“Am I in the right place?” he asked.

I pushed my hat back on my head and leaned back in my chair. “I don’t know,” I answered. “Where do you want to be?”

“I’m new at this, and I want to make sure I’m at the right place.”

A newbie, I thought; someone new to mystery weekends. I broke character for a moment and said, “If you’re participating in the L.A. Mystery Club’s mystery weekend, you’re in the right place.”

“Oh good. I’m, ah. .”

“Are you looking for someone?” I coaxed.

“Yes. A Mr. Ken Tanaka, Private Detective.”

“I’m Tanaka. What do you want?”

“Ah, I guess I’m supposed to ask for more information.”

“What kind of information?”

He shrugged. “I don’t really know.”

“Well, have you stopped by the Kawashiri Boutique to talk to Big Mama Kawashiri?”

“Is that on the map they gave me when I registered for the event?”

“Yep. If you go and talk to Big Mama you might find out some things that will help you when you come back here to ask for more information.”

“Okay, thanks,” he said as he started backing out of the office.

“Psst!” Mariko beckoned him in a loud stage whisper.

He looked a little startled and walked over to her. I started looking down at some paperwork on the desk as Mariko gave an exaggerated glance in my direction. She then reached into the top of her blouse and withdrew a folded slip of paper. “Take this and read it before you talk to Big Mama! Tell her you’ve come to talk to her about the Jade Penguin. But for God’s sake be careful and don’t read the note until you leave the office!”

“Ah, thank you,” the newbie said, stuffing the note into his pocket.

When he left, Mariko gave me a big grin and patted her chest. “I’m going to have to prepare some more notes to stuff in here,” she said. “I think I’m down to around five. We’re getting a lot more people playing today than we expected.”

“That’s great,” I answered.

The door opened again, and Ezekiel and Mary Maloney entered together.

“A couple of people we’ve seen before, Boss,” Mariko said.

“Relax,” Mary said, “This is a social call. We just stopped by to see how it’s going and to see if you needed a soft drink or something like that.”

“It’s going pretty good, and we packed our own lunches and snacks, thank you. Have you already solved it?” I asked.

“Heck, no,” Mary said. “I certainly wouldn’t travel with the likes of Ezekiel if I was out hunting clues. He’s likely to benefit from my superior investigative skills. We just decided to take a short break and see if you needed anything.”

Ezekiel snorted a reply, but made no comment. I was sure Mary was the one who thought to see if we needed anything, but I appreciated Ezekiel tagging along.

“Everything okay?” Ezekiel asked.

“I just asked that,” Mary said.

“I mean with the real case.”

“I guess so. I’ll have to testify, but the wheels of real justice turn exceedingly slow. It’s not like our mystery weekends where everything is neatly solved by the awards banquet at 7:30 P.M.”

“Well, I’m sure that today more than a few people are just going to write down guesses by the time the deadline approaches to name the murderer. You did a good job.”

“Thanks.”

“By the way,” Mary said casually, “I’ve found that Kendo is not only the name of your detective agency, it’s also the word for Japanese fencing. I suppose that unusual Japanese sword at the murder scene has something to do with that link, huh?”

I grinned. “That’s the oldest one in the book, Mary, and I’m surprised you tried it on me. You won’t pick up any clues from me by watching my reactions to your statements.”

Mary grinned back, “Well it was worth a try. Ezekiel suggested I try it, anyway.”

From the look on Ezekiel’s face, I could tell her statement was true and started laughing.

“No hint intended, but where did you pick up that sword?” she asked.

“I got it at a garage sale. The woman who sold it to me said her late husband picked it up in Japan, right after the war.”

“That’s an unusual pattern on the blade.”

“Yeah, after this weekend’s over I’m going to see if I can do some research to see if I can find out more about the sword.”

“We have to go,” Ezekiel said abruptly. “I want to find more clues.”

Mary gave a shrug and blew me and Mariko a kiss. She and Ezekiel left. Ezekiel didn’t bother to say good-bye.

Mariko was about to say something to me when another person stuck her head into the office. She immediately got into character, and sang out, “Looks like another new client, Boss!”

The new player was a short woman with frizzy black hair. She came into the office and approached my desk.

“Are you Ken Tanaka, Private Detective?”

I liked the sound of that. I sat back in my chair and said, “Yes, I am.”