5

Elliot led the way into the restaurant-bar that Tammy had explained was where she had last seen Lizzie. It was a place they had decided to visit upon the positive recommendation in their travel guide for the owner was an "interesting character who spoke a little English". While in there the two girls had apparently met this guy who called himself Moto and he had seemed decent enough. They had chatted all night over drinks, although not to excess according to Tammy. Later on he had invited Lizzie to go to another local bar not too far away which he said served a local speciality that she just shouldn't miss. Tammy had decided to go back to the hotel as she wanted to take the opportunity to call her boyfriend in privacy and so Lizzie had gone alone.

At this point Tammy had broken down in tears, knowing full well how stupid it sounded when explaining to Lizzie's father what they had done. She sobbed that she knew she should never have left Lizzie alone with this guy, but that neither of them had sensed any bad vibes and even the bar owner seemed friendly with him, so they had assumed he was OK. Elliot had almost pointed out that restaurant or bar owners generally tend to be friendly to all their paying customers, but Olivia's hand on his arm had held him back from making a scathing comment. Instead Elliot had sighed heavily, inwardly berating himself. How many times had he drilled into his children how important it was to keep safe when out and about? Never going off alone with a stranger was certainly at the top of his list of things not to do. Yet despite this Lizzie had gone with this strange man without a care in the world. It was like a finger up to everything he had taught her and he was mortified. It felt like a failure on his behalf. Obviously he should have been much more insistent and rammed it home more thoroughly, he thought!

"She's young, El," Liv had said, knowing exactly what was going through his mind. He had smiled, grateful for her calm support, but at the end of the day he would still blame himself for whatever had happened to Lizzie, he knew that.

As they stepped into the bar, he could see why his daughter and her friend had enjoyed it here. It was a fairly small place with low tables scattered around, the kind of place where you removed your shoes then stepped up on to the Tatami mat floor and sat at the tables on little cushions provided. The tables were close to each other so it seemed like it would be easy to strike up a conversation with people around. There was also a counter running along the open kitchen area with numerous bottles of some kind of Japanese liquor lined up along it. In this area you didn't need to remove your shoes and it was regular stool seating.

They headed over to this counter and a man, assumedly the owner of the place, beckoned them to sit with a friendly grin. They accepted, deciding it would be better to chat calmly sitting down rather than draw extra unnecessary attention. However, before they could protest another staff member immediately appeared and handed them two steaming wet cloths and a couple of small glasses of water.

"Drink?" the owner asked. He sounded curt, but it was obviously a language issue, not deliberate.

Elliot hesitated, but then felt guilty at all the trouble he had already put this place to when he had no intention of staying very long. He decided one small drink wouldn't hurt so he asked for a beer for both him and Olivia.

Once they had received their drinks, he attempted to bring up the subject of Lizzie, hoping that this guy's English was up to the job.

"Do you remember a girl from four days ago?" Elliot asked, showing the man a picture of her which he kept in his wallet.

"Ahh, yes, yes," the owner nodded.

"Do you know where she went?" Elliot could feel the nerves gripping his stomach as he asked this vital question, hoping he would get a useful answer.

"No, I'm sorry!"

Elliot's heart sank.

"But he might know!" The owner was now pointing towards a guy a few seats down from them at the bar who they had barely noticed up until now.

The two men spoke in rapid Japanese for a few seconds and then the second guy turned to Elliot and Olivia.

"Hi, I'm Hiroshi Yamamoto," he introduced himself, his accent immediately revealing a good command of English to the extent that they wondered if he had ever lived abroad. Olivia and Elliot quickly introduced themselves before Elliot asked him if he knew anything about his daughter's whereabouts.

"She was talking with Motonari Fujita that night and they left together with the other girl," Hiroshi explained with a very slightly bewildered expression on his face.

"Do you know where they went?" Elliot asked anxiously, hoping this question wouldn't meet with another dead end.

"No, but I can take you to his house."

"That would be great. Can we go now?"

"Well, sure, but why?"

"No one has seen my daughter for four days. She's completely disappeared and this Moto-whatever was the last person seen with her."

"You think he has done something bad to her? Motonari Fujita? No! I can't believe it." Hiroshi seemed genuinely shocked at the mere suggestion.

"Well, in any case I'd like to speak to him," Elliot insisted. It wouldn't be the first time the neighbourhood "harmless guy" turned out to be a sadistic freak, he thought glumly.

"OK. He lives about ten minutes walk away," Hiroshi said agreeably, taking a large swig to finish up the remainder of his beer before standing to leave. Olivia and Elliot followed suit, quickly finishing their own beers, both leaving a small amount in the bottom.

"Does he live alone?" Elliot asked as he noted gratefully that Olivia was sorting out the bill while he questioned this guy.

"Yes. His mother died two years ago and he's not really the marrying type." Great, Elliot thought, reading between the lines. A nerdy loner who wanted some company in the form of his daughter? He shuddered at the thought.

"So he's a bit odd?"

"He's different… but he wouldn't hurt anyone. I don't believe that."

"I hope you're right," said Elliot solemnly, following Hiroshi outside with Olivia close behind him. He guessed Hiroshi must be running a tab, given he hadn't paid, although it was also possible he could just be intending to return afterwards and pay then?

…

Elliot and Olivia stared at the run-down looking house. It was a traditional Japanese house, made of wood, with originally what must have been beautiful tiled roof. Now though it looked fairly dilapidated. A couple of the windows on the second floor were boarded up. Elliot couldn't help wondering if this Moto had his daughter stashed up there somewhere.

Hiroshi knocked on the door and several seconds later a skinny short man who Elliot guessed to be in his late twenties or early thirties appeared. He looked extremely startled to have guests knocking at his door but when he saw Elliot and Olivia he visibly panicked and attempted to slam the door. Elliot was quick though and managed to get his foot inside just in time to prevent him.

"Where's Lizzie?" he asked menacingly, his anger now boiling to the surface as he glanced up and down at the guilty-looking man, deciding that this guy definitely had to know something. He couldn't believe this nerdy rake of a man had it in him to kidnap a girl as vibrant as his daughter. The thought of him doing anything to her filled him with rage.

The guy started rambling in Japanese and Elliot stepped forward, took him by the shoulders and shook him hard.

"Lizzie! Where's Lizzie? Where is she you bastard?"

Moto looked petrified. He was shaking and glancing around nervously.

Hiroshi asked him something and he mumbled a reply.

"What's he saying?" asked Elliot frustrated.

"He says he's sorry, that he never touched her, that he'd never hurt her."

"Let me up there!" growled Elliot, completely losing patience now. He pushed Moto out of the way and stormed inside.

"Shoes, El!" Liv warned as he seemed ready to just storm into the house fully clad.

"Like this creep deserves that respect?" Elliot retorted angrily, kicking of his shoes anyway. He remembered giggling with Olivia on the plane over the story in the travel guide about how even thieves would remove their shoes in the doorway to a house they were about to rob, rather than commit the sacrilege act of walking indoors with outdoor footwear on.

He raced towards the stairs, yelling for Lizzie as he went. He heard a faint reply which served to boost his determination to get to her as fast as he possibly could. He ran to where he thought he heard her voice coming from and pulled the door open. She was there, standing in obvious shock, but she looked uninjured!

"Daddy!" she cried, bursting into tears as the relief consumed her.

"Did he touch you?" Elliot asked roughly, terrified to hear the answer.

"No Daddy," she said as she shook her head.

"Oh baby girl," Elliot drew her close and held her tightly to him. Olivia and Hiroshi appeared in the doorway with Moto standing behind them, his shoulders drooped in complete defeat.

"You bastard!" yelled Elliot suddenly, letting go of Lizzie and stepping towards Moto. "You sick bastard! What did you do to her?"

"Elliot!" Olivia warned him at the same time as Lizzie yelled.

"Daddy, stop it!"

Elliot spun around and stopped in his tracks, staring at his daughter and ex-partner's worried faces.

"Let's call the police," said Olivia calmly. "They can deal with him."

"I'll call," said Hiroshi suddenly. "I can't believe it. I really can't." The stupefied look on his face said it all. Moto made no attempt to run. He just kept his face buried in his hands, too ashamed to look anyone in the eye as Hiroshi started dialling his phone.

Elliot stepped back towards his daughter and once again took her in his arms.

"I can't believe you found me, Daddy," she said. "And you too," she continued looking at Olivia. "Thank you for coming," she mouthed.

"Thank God you're safe," muttered Elliot, stroking her hair. He couldn't believe they had found her so easily. Why the hell hadn't the local police done anything? Lizzie's disappearance had been reported three days ago and she was being held just ten minutes walk away from a bar by a man she had been seen with all evening, yet no one had come to this house to check? It was unbelievable. It had just been down to luck that nothing worse had happened to her, nothing more.