Chapter 8: Anyone for Dinner?

7th Fleet Military Police Company
New Yokosuka Harbor
The Next Morning
7:15 AM

Cathy Wilkens and John Kondo arrived at their office just after 7:00 the next morning. They entered Chief Petty Officer Desmond's office as requested to find their boss sitting behind his desk looking over a case file.

"Good morning, sir" Cathy greeted as she sat down in the first chair that sat opposite his desk.

"Good morning," Desmond replied as he briefly checked his watch, "It would appear that you're both a bit tardy this morning."

Kondo sat in the second chair directly beside Cathy. "Our apologies, Chief" he said with a remorseful tone in his voice, "Traffic here at the harbor was a little heavier than usual this morning. There were a lot of supply deliveries arriving, evidently."

"I see," he replied, "Well, the good news is that I received a fax from Detective Inspector Murakawa this morning."

Cathy nodded. "Yes," she said, "I thought I'd save us a little time, so I called Murakawa-san last night as opposed to this morning. Luckily, he decided to work late last night, so I had him check the police files for some of the Mad Angels gang members."

"Well," Desmond replied, "Your initiative was evidently a fruitful one. He sent over an arrest file on an American biker who's been known to spend a lot of time here at the harbor." He then passed the file across the desk to Kondo.

"'Charles Grant'", Kondo read out loud from the dossier that was now in front of him, "'Known by the nickname Charlie. Age Forty-Four, white male, Five-Foot-Eight, weighing approximately One-Hundred-Thirty-Nine pounds.'"

"So," Cathy said, "He isn't with the military?"

"Not according to this," Kondo replied, "No. He's originally from Hill City, South Dakota and has apparently been here in Japan for about seven years now. He's been either cited or arrested several times by the Regional Police in Dobuita for excessive noise and speed with his motorcycle. He also has more than a few drunk-and-disorderly charges to his name."

Desmond nodded. "And that's just one 'Mad Angels' file that he sent over," he said, "He noted on the fax cover sheet that we should expect several more by the end of the day. I guess that they've been trying to keep tabs on the whole gang off and on for a while."

Cathy scoffed. "Heh," she replied, "That'll be quite the chore for your office staff, I bet."

"That's why I've already approved their overtime," Desmond said with a sardonic smile. He then noticed an irked look on Kondo's face. "Something on your mind, Agent Kondo?" he inquired.

Coming back to reality, Kondo shook his head. "Sorry," he said, "I just keep wondering what the hell happened to Allison Bennett. Is she alive? Is she not alive? Are we even on the right track in thinking that the Mad Angels are even connected to her disappearance at all?"

"I know what you're feeling," Desmond replied in a sympathetic tone, "But as you of all people know, we're not the only ones working on this. The Regional Police are pitching in, the harbor security guards are all keeping an eye out, and even the Japanese military has been alerted."

Cathy nodded in agreement and put a hand on her partner's shoulder. "He's right, Johnny" she added, "Situations like this are why the phrase 'all-hands-on-deck' exists."

"I know," Kondo replied, "I just keep thinking about what Lydia Bennett told us at the park the other day. As you both know, I have a teenage stepbrother in Sakuragaoka. If he went missing, I can't imagine what that would do to my dad or my stepmother, let alone what it would do to me."

"And that's why I said what I just said, son" Desmond said, "All hands are on deck here. My feeling is, if you find those stolen antiques, you'll find Miss Bennett."

Meanwhile, somewhere in Yokosuka, Allison woke up for what seemed like the thousandth time in that strange, dark environment. She could feel metal walls around her, and she would often hear indistinct male voices around the front of whatever space she had been put in, which she had assumed by now was some kind of large freight container.

Allison Bennett was a long-haired brunette 22-year-old white American woman of medium height and build. She was still dressed in the black wool sweater, dirty blue jeans, and brown loafers she had been wearing since being pulled off the street by a pair of men outside Nana's Karaoke Bar in Dobuita 2 weeks earlier.

She soon became startled and scurried herself to the farthest right-side corner of the container when she heard approaching footsteps outside.

"Please..." Allison muttered, "Please...I don't want trouble."

The large door slightly came open with a metallic creek, at which point a man's arm came inside and left a takeout sushi box, complete with a pre-wrapped set of chopsticks, on the floor and pushed it further inside.

"Eat up, little lady" a very deep male voice said, "Then we're going to have a little talk."

Hazuki Residence
Yamanose
Later That Day
4:50 PM

Cathy and Kondo arrived at the Hazuki Residence in Yamanose as planned. Cathy was dressed in a black blazer jacket with a white silk blouse underneath, black and white pinstriped slacks, and black flat heels. Her hair was down for a change.

Kondo, meanwhile, was wearing a collared grey button-down shirt, khaki pants, and brown loafers. He carried a large bottle of Sake in his hands to present at dinner as a courtesy. He knocked on the property's large wooden exterior gate with his free hand.

They didn't have to wait long before the Hazukis' housekeeper Ine Hayata opened the gate to greet them. Ine-san was a 64-year-old older Japanese woman who stood at just 5'1. Her dark hair was going partially grey with age, and she was dressed in a very festive-looking green dress with her large white housekeeper's apron over it and white slip-on house shoes.

"Good evening," Ine-san said with a very hospitable delivery, "Cathy-san and Kondo-san, I presume?"

Both Cathy and Kondo each gave the pleasant woman a partial bow in response. "Yes," Cathy replied, "May we enter?"

"Of course," Ine-san said as she stepped back and pulled the gate door further open, "My name is Ine Hayata, by the way."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Kondo replied, "I'm John Kondo."

Ine-san giggled in retort. "I know who you are, young man" she candidly replied, "Your stepmother is Fusako-san from Sakuragaoka. Is that right?"

"It is," Kondo said, "Have we met before?"

"Well," Ine-san explained, "You may not remember me, but I saw you as a baby before you left for America with your grandparents. Your father and Hazuki Sensei were good friends."

"Ah," Kondo replied, "I see."

"Fusako-san often talks about your time with the American military," Ine-san continued, "She's extremely proud of you."

"I appreciate that," Kondo replied before gesturing to Cathy, "This is my partner, Cathy Wilkens."

Cathy responded by greeting Ine-san by saying a formal "hello" in proficient Japanese. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ine-san" she added.

"The pleasure is all mine, Cathy-san" Ine-san replied, "And might I say, your Japanese is quite impressive."

"Thank you," she replied.

Ine-san brought the pair inside the main house and into the kitchen, where they found Ryo and his housemate, Masayuki Fukuhara, seated around the table. A great spread of Japanese cuisine was put out on the table, which included differing selections of sushi, miso soup, white rice, and apple curry for dessert.

Masayuki Fukuhara, known by many as simply "Fuku-San" was a 26-year-old Japanese man who stood at a very well-built 5'8.

"Good evening," Fuku-san greeted the pair.

"Hello," Cathy replied as she took a seat nearby, at which point Kondo took his cue and sat in the chair beside her.

Kondo introduced himself to Fuku-san before procuring some of the sushi pieces onto his plate with the provided chopsticks.

"How is your investigation going?" Ryo bluntly asked, getting straight to the point.

Kondo shrugged as he chewed his food. "It's going fine," he said after swallowing, "Respectfully, though, Ryo-san, I don't think things like that are appropriate for dinner discussion."

"I agree, Ryo-san" Ine-san added, "Although it is very nice for Cathy-san and Kondo-san to join us for dinner, I don't think such grim conversation is polite right now."

Ryo-san bowed with regret to his longtime housekeeper and motherly figure. "My apologies, Ine-san" he said.

"Don't get us wrong," Cathy said, "Neither Agent Kondo nor myself can even imagine what you're dealing with since...what happened to your father. However, due to the nature of our work and the case we're working on, there isn't much we can discuss with the public."

"Except to say that we are doing our best to find the connections between the antique thefts and... Umm...certain people." He suddenly found himself needing to stifle himself to avoid potentially being hypocritical given what Cathy had just said.

"Will you at least keep me informed?" Ryo asked.

"To the degree that we can," Kondo replied, "Of course."

The 5 of them then went on to continue their leisurely dinner. However, all throughout the ensuing hour and a half that Cathy and Kondo were there, they could tell that Ryo remained very troubled over the pair being so tight-lipped.