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CHAPTER FOUR: STARTING WORK

Mai Izuki, alias Mariko Kanazawa, looked at the filing cabinets in despair. For not having been in practice many years, Nagira had certainly defended a lot of criminals and drawn a lot of contracts; contracts that she suspected his old secretary had drafted half the time. She certainly hadn't been keeping up with the filing. Most of the papers had been crammed in haphazardly, and a good half of the information could have been stored on computer.

Sighing, Mai turned to the computer on her desk. Her predecessor evidently hadn't believed much in technology, preferring the mash-invoices-and-bills-into-file-folders and forget about them method of record keeping. Mai was used to the spreadsheets and methods of the banking industry, and of keeping track of large numbers of accounts, not the day-to-day transactions of a law office. This wasn't what she'd been trained for, but she was pretty sure that several of Nagira's clients weren't paying what they owed him. With the financial records such a mess, it was hard to tell. As she sat staring blindly at the mess of papers in front of her, she had an idea, but would Nagira approve? Finally, she gathered her courage, tucked her hair behind her ear, and marched up to Nagira's office door.

"Come in." Came the response to her knock.

Mai squared her shoulders, plunged through the door and said, "We need Hirata."

Nagira leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms and said, "I was wondering how long it would take you to ask for help."

"How long?"

He leaned forward, causing his desk chair to squeak in protest at the sudden shift. "The last three girls I hired said it would take an army to get my files in order."

"Wait, you said your last secretary left to get married."

"She did. Six months ago. Since then I've tried to get someone to replace her, but no one lasts very long."

Mai let out a little strangled noise. "Why?"

"Why what?" Mai saw that Nagira's eyes were twinkling. He was playing games with her.

"Why did the other secretaries leave?"

"Different reasons. One couldn't take the work. One couldn't work the computer. One didn't like the clientele. I don't just defend angels you know."

Thinking back on some of the files she'd seen, Mai could well understand that reaction. While Nagira did have some legitimate clients who merely wanted a will written or a contract drawn up, over half of his cases involved trying to get petty criminals off.

"So," Nagira grinned. "You think Hirata is the answer."

"Doesn't everyone deserve a second chance?"

Nagira gazed at her speculatively for a long while. Just as Mai was beginning to get uncomfortable, he spoke. "Alright. Hirata is hired."

"Thank you." Mai blinked. She hadn't expected it to be this easy. "Please don't worry about how you'll pay him. I've found several of your clients are in arrears. As soon as we can get them to pay you we should have enough to cover his salary, and I don't mind taking a pay cut to compensate."

"Slow down." Nagira raised his hands in mock defense. "There's plenty of money. My old man set up a trust fund for me. I can't touch the capital, but the dividends cover the rent on this place, and even if we don't have clients beating down our door, I'm sure it can cover one extra salary. So don't worry."

And that was how Hirata joined the office staff. Mai, still working her way through six months of neglected files, on top of keeping track of new cases Nagira took on, was grateful for the help. She began to realize why Nagira was so popular. He might be flippant and brash in his manner, but he cared about his clients, even the guilty ones. She even suspected that he sometimes slipped money or job opportunities to the family they left behind when he couldn't keep them from jail. In several situations, Nagira looked after their property for them while they were gone. Including their cars.

"Here." Nagira tossed a key ring to Mai one Friday afternoon, an hour before she was due to go home. "Kanosuke's car has been in storage for six months. Go to the storage garage on Thirtieth Street and take it out for a spin."

"But my work?" Mai gestured with the key ring to the folders piled on her desk.

"Forget about it. You need to get out more. You don't want Kanosuke to come home to a dead battery do you? He gets out in another year." Kanosuke was one of Nagira's early failures. According to the file, he'd gotten involved with the wrong crowd, and when they'd gone off to rob a convenience store, he'd followed along and had been caught on the security camera tape along with his friends. All were serving time. In the file Nagira had noted in the file that Kanosuke's main regret was leaving behind the car that he'd just managed to buy with money he'd actually earned, not stolen. Nagira had promised to look after it.

"But don't you want to drive it?" In Mai's experience men loved cars.

"I've got that deposition across town in half an hour, remember? By the time I get back to the office, the garage will have closed for the night. And on Monday I have to go to Nagasaki for a week. So it's up to you."

"Yes. I'll do it." Mai bowed her head, grabbed her purse, waved goodbye to Hirata and walked three blocks to the storage garage. It only took a moment to open the metal door with the key, get into the blue sedan, and drive it out onto the street. It wasn't quite quitting time, so the traffic wasn't too bad.

Kanosuke may have been a failure at picking friends, but he'd shown excellent judgment when it came to cars. The interior seats were leather, the car had power steering and brakes, and the engine worked perfectly after six months of inactivity. There was even a complicated looking radio and cd player built into the dashboard. Mai left that strictly alone. She didn't think Kanosuke would appreciate coming home to find his radio set to her favorite station, as she doubted their tastes in music were similar.

Stopping at the red light of an intersection, Mai saw that she'd come to the end of a park area on her right. To her left, alleyways spilled out between buildings. She glanced down one of them and saw a blonde woman wearing a pink raincoat advancing slowly across an intersection of alleyways. If the woman had glanced to her left, she would have seen Mai staring at her down the alley, but the woman was staring straight ahead, her hand stiffly at her side, concealing something in the fold of her coat.

Something about her tugged at Mai's memory. The night she'd gotten on board the ferry and ended up in the harbor, that woman had been there. Hunting her, as she was obviously hunting someone now. Mai felt as though someone dumped a bucket of ice water on her. Fear chilled her as the waters had that night.

A teenager burst out from an alley two buildings down and skidded on the sidewalk. He wore a black leather jacket, black jeans, body piercings and a look of desperation that Mai recognized immediately. When he skidded, he nearly fell, but recovering his balance he began running down the sidewalk. In a second he would pass Mai's solitary car, waiting at the red light. But if the light for her was red, it was green for the street in front of her. He'd have to run through traffic to get away. The park to her right was no good, there weren't enough trees to provide cover.

Focusing her power, she disengaged the car door leading to the back seat and mentally pushed the door open. For the second time the kid skidded and nearly fell as the car door startled him.

"Get in." Hissed Mai, staring at the rear view mirror for signs of the blonde. The kid hesitated. "Hurry! Get on the floor and lie flat!"

He looked around wildly then threw himself on the floor. Mai just managed to get the door closed using her mind when the blonde appeared, shoving her gun down by her side as she emerged on the sidewalk. She swung her head this way and that, then spotted Mai's car and began walking toward it.

The traffic light was still red. If Mai ran it, she'd be all but admitting guilt. If she got out of the car to head the blonde off before she could look into the back seat, Mai was sure she'd be recognized. Her new haircut suddenly didn't seem an adequate disguise. She glanced in the rearview mirror. The blonde was looking speculatively around the back and side seats, looking for the boy, checking to see if he'd managed to get in the car. If she didn't think of something fast, the woman would soon be close enough to see the kid.

The radio. What is one thing a woman alone in a car with a criminal would not do? Turn on the radio. Mai reached forward and flipped on the radio, managing not to wince as hard-core rock poured through the speakers. She started moving her head in time to the music, allowing her bangs to fall over her face. She felt completely silly. Then the light was green. Mai put her foot on the accelerator with a little more force than necessary and the car lurched across the intersection like a horse starting a race.

Forcing herself to stop accelerating when the car reached the correct speed limit, Mai stole a glance in the rearview mirror again. The blonde was looking after the car, but as Mai watched, she turned and began to stalk her way across the road to the park, obviously intent on searching it. Mai heaved a huge sigh of relief, but kept driving with one eye on the rearview mirror until she'd put many blocks between herself and the park.

Finally, when she felt safe, she pulled into a side street, turned off the engine and peered over the car seat's back to look at the boy lying on the floor.

He'd flipped over and was lying on his back, staring up at her wordlessly. His hair, which he'd dyed an improbable shade of red, was matted and dirty. He had metal rings in nose, lip, and ears, and now that she was leaning over him, she realized he smelled like he hadn't had a bath in days. They stared at each other for a minute, and then the boy smiled.

"I like your taste in music." He said.

TO BE CONTINUED