Wolf and Cub

By DJ Clawson

Chapter 4 – The Writing on the Wall

"Master Koroshi? No? Nothing?" Zenigata flipped through the fax pile. "What about this Catherine Lambert character? She was murdered, right?"

"Right," said the commissioner over the phone. "I'm sorry, but I just can't find a single living partner, except for his current ones."

"It's a very dangerous profession," he said. "All right, I need all the information we have on Lupin the Second."

"Are you kidding me? His father's been missing for years. Why don't you ask around? He was last seen in France." There was some shuffling at the other end. "Arséne Lupin the Second. Born 1932 in Vichy, France. Son of Arséne Lupin the First and Bianca Lupin. First arrest in 1943. Married Aiko Toronaga. Incarcerated a few years later, convicted of grand theft, petty theft, trespassing, manslaughter. Served eleven years of his life sentence before escaping. Some sightings in Osaka, Tokyo, Kyoto, Berlin, and Paris. I think I'm reading this right."

"So the file was never closed?"

"No, but the case went cold. The detective in charge of his case retired years ago."

"You have his name?"

"Sure, but it won't do you any good. He died in a boating accident in Lake Biwa-ko, in Shiga. His name was Hiroshi Musashi. Good man."

"Fine." He wrote it down anyway. "I'm going to try to find Lupin's father."

"You think he had something to do with it?"

"Only one way to find out."

"Zenigata," the commissioner said, "you get one Lupin and you just pick up another. You're completely obsessed."

"I just want to find this guy," he said. "I have some forms for him to fill out."

Beaufort's office had been kept in the same condition, with the exception of miles of yellow tape strung around the place. The place had been gone over by the officers for prints and evidence, but none had been found. Now the place was as empty as the walk-in vault.

"If I might ask," the bank manager said with the most impatient tone he probably could muster, "do you have idea Lupin where may have stashed the diamonds?"

"I don't think Lupin took them," Zenigata said. "He was here, but someone else was too."

"And you know who this is?"

"I have my suspicions." He stepped into the vault. It had apparently been cracked the old fashioned way – with a stethoscope or a certain amount of guessing instead of explosives. There was nothing left in the tiny room now but empty boxes and disturbed dust.

He turned to the open window. The outer window ledge had obviously seen its share of winters, with its ugly green paint peeling and a fine layer of dirt covering it. There were prints in the dirt – the highest layer behind his own shoes from his leap into the bushes yesterday, but that didn't concern him. "I'd know these prints anywhere. Italian loafers. Very expensive. Lupin's."

"Brilliant detective work, Inspector," Beaumont said. "Though I think his warning note and finding him near the scene might be more compelling evidence to his involvement."

"Do you want me to find your diamonds or not?" he said, even though he wasn't thinking about the diamonds. "There's another set here. Someone else came in first, left first." He glanced around again. "They didn't fight here. There's no evidence of struggle. But they were both in here. Maybe the suspect came in first through the window – " He imitated the wide steps of the thief, " – and then Lupin followed him. You were gone for ten minutes – is that correct? For a master thief, that's plenty of time. More than enough. Hmm." He rubbed his chin. He hadn't had a chance to shave in the last day, so it was pretty scratchy. "They both went out the window when they heard you approach. They must have heard the door squeak or something." He opened the door to the hallway, and it did, in fact, make a slight noise. "They weren't taking any chances so they took the sewer route. You made the call and I arrived in ...," He checked his notes. "... Four minutes, fifty-eight seconds. But it doesn't take that long to get from here to where I found Lupin in the sewer, so they must have had an argument there."

"So two thieves had a tiff. Where does that leave us?"

"Mr. Beaumont," Zenigata said angrily, "if you'd contacted Interpol when you received the note, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"I can't imagine why I wouldn't rush to inform Interpol – what with your amazing record of catching Lupin," he spat back. "Do you know what happens when a bank announces that Lupin is targeting it? It goes out of business! What if it had been a hoax? I have to put my kids through university. Now you get those diamonds back before it leaks to the press or I will personally see to it that you are transferred to some data entry job in an office in Russia!"

"I'd like to see you try!" he said, shaking his fist Beaumont. "I've been threatened by more powerful people than you! Now if you'll excuse me, I have a case to solve!"

He was still fuming when he stormed out. He was still fuming when he got in his car and started driving. He was even still fuming when he got to the hospital, but the stillness of the evening was calming. The quiet was punctuated by rhythmic beeps from monitors and the occasional ringing of a call button.

"I'm sorry, sir," said the guard to intensive care. "Visiting hours are over."

"I'm Inspector Zenigata, Lupin is my prisoner, and if you try to stop me from guarding him, I can have you fired by special order of Interpol." It wasn't entirely true, but he was furious and more than willing to take it out on this guy. He was apparently aggressive enough, because the guard opened the heavy doors to the sealed ward. Sighing, he passed the nurses' station and through the glass door that led to Lupin's room.

Lupin was asleep, or unconscious. The lights were dimmed for night but not off entirely, and they shined on all of the tubes and wiring that were keeping him alive. There was no one else in the room.

Wait – there was no one else in the room. "Nurse!" he yelled in French, turning back to the station. "Where are the officers who were guarding this man?"

"They were relieved by the commissioner," she said.

"The commissioner?" The commissioner had gone home early because of a stomach ache – Zenigata had still been in the office at the time. Something about it didn't make sense. "Call security. Have them send someone up."

"Sir?"

He had really had enough of this today. "Do it now!" He took a breath and went back in Lupin's room. Everything appeared in place. There was a basket of flowers on the shelf and a tiny statue of Buddha. "Huh." He plucked it off. It was made of brass. "Must be from Goemon. Hey, Lupin, check this out." He waved it in front of Lupin before putting it back. He noticed there was also a bottle of whiskey. "Some friends you've got here." It was good scotch too – the kind he couldn't afford on his salary. "You're lucky I'm on the job."

"Pops – "

"Relax. It's still sealed." He blinked. "Lupin!" The little thief was indeed awake, though lacking in his usual vitality. His eyes were bloodshot and only half-open, his expression dazed. Zenigata practically leapt on top of him. "Lupin! You're awake. You have to tell me who did this to you."

Lupin responded by raising a shaky hand and pointing across the room. Zenigata spun around. It was just enough time to get smacked in the head with a crowbar, as a black-clad man emerged from the tiny closet. The inspector was hurled back against the wall, into the machines attached to Lupin. "Crap!" By the time he drew his gun, the man in black had already opened the window and was in the process of leaping out of it. "Get back here! You're under arrest!" The man laughed, but it was muffled by his ninja hood. There was a roof for the other wing of the hospital for him to land on, just a flight below.

"Crap crap crap CRAP!" He turned to the horrified nurse and the guard who had appeared with the sounds of the scuffle. It was hard to hear with all of the machines going off. "Take care of Lupin. I'm going after him!" he shouted, and went right out the window. This time there were no bushes to break his fall, and he landed on the tarmac of a roof that wasn't really meant for walking around. There was distance between him and the assailant, a tall and skinny man, almost lanky in a way. Zenigata fired a warning shot into the nearby vent. "Stop in the name of the law!"

The man reached edge of the roof. There was now a much larger drop as his only visible means of escape – one Zenigata doubted his own abilities to survive. "I said STOP!" he repeated, pointing his gun at the man with one hand and flashing his badge with the other. "Interpol!"

"I know you are," the man said in Japanese. "Zenigata-Keibu. And if you can't catch Lupin, you certainly can't catch me." With that, he reached into his small backpack and a set of rotating propellers came up and began rotating, lifting him off the ground.

Zenigata fired into the air, but the assailant deftly avoided his shots, laughing all the way with that horrible laugh. "Damnit!" The inspector tossed his hat on the ground and stamped on it. "Crap. I'll get you, Lupin!"