"So how do you want to spin it?" Ohato Bando asked. She and Eiji were in Ohato's small apartment, hunched over her laptop and going over the surveillance footage they had shot of Sei's trailer.

'You don't have to come,' Eiji had said. 'You heard the captain.'

'And you're my partner.'

"Spin what?" Eiji asked.

"The hug," Ohato said. "We could say Meg was trying to strangle him, but it doesn't look like that. Or maybe they just shot a threesome, and the embrace was post-coital. If we can't find the footage, think we can find some look-alikes to fake some?"

Eiji cursed and leaned back in his chair.

"Eiji, I was there when we shot it and I've looked at this a dozen times. All I see is a girl expressing concern to her friend, and I can guess why. What we're doing is bordering on harassment, and it looks like we're starting to tear their lives apart. If we turn up nothing, then we've created needless suffering at the cost of our jobs. How much longer do you want to pursue this?"

"I don't know…"

A panel near the apartment door chimed. Ohato crossed to it and pressed a button. A screen lit showing Sei at the apartment's mail boxes in the foyer.

"Yes?" Ohato asked.

Sei held up her cell phone, making sure the contacts screen was visible to the camera. "You can talk to me now," Sei said, "or I can call my attorney and he can talk with your prosecutor. You have fifteen seconds to decide."

Ohato exchanged looks with Eiji, the pressed the button unlocking the front door. "Come on up."

When Sei got to the apartment, she didn't waste any time. "Let me see it," she said. "And if you're going to claim it's evidence, you had better be able to produce a warrant."

The cops had no choice. They showed Sei the laptop and played the footage.

Sei smiled…a LITTLE. "Not bad," she said, "even if it is totally inadmissible and could end your careers. That's a good shot of Meg, considering the lighting." She turned to Suzuki. "I'd ask you if you wanted a job, but even if you wouldn't have said 'no,' you shouldn't have pissed me off."

Eiji smiled. "Actually, as you just pointed out, I might need that job."

"Too bad for you," Sei said, "though if a man is known by his enemies, I might be persuaded to write you a letter of recommendation, assuming you catch me in a forgiving mood." The trace of a smile faded and she squared off with the cop. "Detective Suzuki. I have heard many good things about you. I believe you are one of the few good cops left. This city could use more men like you, and for that reason, believe it or not, I have a lot of respect for you. Normally, I let you spin your wheels until you go away on your own. But my team is in the middle what is proving to be an unusually difficult and potentially dangerous operation and I do not have time to worry about your antics while I am trying to keep my girls alive. So let me say this once and for all: I am not having an intimate relationship with Kyohei Tachibana, nor is it likely I ever will. He is not in such a relationship with Jo or Meg or both of them at the same time, though it is their business if they want to. We are not abusing him in any way at all, and we are not using him for any other illegal purpose. He is our chef - and a damn good one, I may add - and a very good friend of ours. Nothing more than that. Is that clear enough for you?"

"Sei, what you have just done may be considered intimidating a police officer."

"You are welcome to arrest me, Detective Suzuski, if only so I can be there when you have to explain to your superiors why I had to come here, five minutes before they let me go." Sei held her hands out. "But if you think you can pull this off and still have a job tomorrow, slap the cuffs on right now and take me in."

Ohato and Eiji exchanged glances. They couldn't do anything, and they knew it.

Sei lowered her hands and said, "I thought as much. I came here as a courtesy, and I trust this will be the end of this nonsense. But if you continue to harass me and mine, I will fight back, and that is a fight you will lose. Up until now, you have been an annoyance. Don't make the mistake of making me consider you a serious threat. This is your only warning. Detectives." She left.

Ohato said, "And I guess that is the end of that."

She was wrong.