Chapter 11: Crossed Paths

Yokosuka Police Station
8:35 AM

Cathy Wilkens, John Kondo, and Detective Inspector Osamu Murakawa made their way back to the Yokosuka Police Station and entered Squad Room One to find activity buzzing around them. Murakawa sat down behind his desk, while his American colleagues took a seat in the two chairs in front of it.

"Do you still have the files on the Mad Angels?" Kondo asked.

The Japanese detective nodded and opened the upper drawer of the desk and removed a voluminous handful's worth of file folders. "Our intelligence sources tell us that there are eighty-one total members of the Mad Angels here in Japan," Murakawa explained, "These files here are just the tip of the iceberg, and that's an understatement, believe me."

"Right," Cathy said, "And the only details that Allison has given up so far was that whomever she spent the most time with while she was held captive was that he had dark hair that was tied into a ponytail, and also that he had a deep voice."

His interest now having suddenly peaked, Murakawa raised an eyebrow. "Those details kind of ring a bell with me," he replied, "The boss of the Mad Angels has a deep voice. His name is Terry."

"You've met him?" Kondo inquired.

The detective shrugged in response. "Well," he said, "Yes and no. Back when I was undercover, I only ever spoke to him personally by phone, and when I had my meetings with all the other Mad Angels members, we only ever saw him in shadow."

"You must know his last name at least," Cathy inferred.

"Unfortunately," Murakawa replied, "No. I can't place it right now, sorry."

An undeterred Cathy then started cycling through the various file folders. A third of the way down the pile, she finally found one that had the words "RYAN, TERRY" labeled across the folder's top tab. "Bingo!" she exclaimed as she opened the folder, "I think I found him!"

"What've you got, Cathy?" Kondo asked.

"'Terry Ryan'", Cathy began reading out loud, "He's a thirty-four-year-old white American male, six-foot-one, weighing approximately one-hundred-and-eighty-eight pounds. He has black hair and blue eyes..." She then passed a copy of his latest mugshot over to Kondo. "And look at this," she continued, "It's even in a ponytail."

Kondo took a good look at the mugshot and grinned. "So it is," he replied, "What else does it say about his background?"

"He's originally from Abita Springs, Louisiana" Cathy said, "And he has a ton of prior charges in Louisiana and Texas for cocaine distribution that lasted throughout the Seventies and up to last year. I'm seeing at least thirteen felony convictions spanning that amount of time, all of which were consequently met with relatively brief prison terms."

"That's probably when he decided to leave the States and come here to Japan," Murakawa added, "How's that for bad luck, right?"

"I know," Kondo replied before turning back to his partner, "Does he have any record with the Japanese authorities, Cathy?"

Cathy glanced up and down at the record before shaking her head. "Nope," she said, "Nothing on record here. And there's no last known address listed either." She then sighed deeply with annoyance. "I guess it's one step forward and one step back when it comes to this clown," she continued.

Kondo then raised a finger as he realized something. "Maybe not," he replied, "Let's put a photo array together, include Terry's mugshot, and show it to Allison. Maybe he's the guy she talked to while she was being held."

Dobuita General Hospital
15 Minutes Later

Cathy, Kondo, and Murakawa returned to the hospital, where they caught up with Allison Bennett as she was being returned to her room after a brief trip to the cafeteria with her nurse.

"Hi again, Allison" Cathy greeted, "Sorry to keep bugging you like this, sweetie."

Allison shook her head. "It's no problem," she replied, "Lydia should be back any minute. She just went out for a smoke."

"Oh," Murakawa said, "That's okay. We just wanted to show you something."

The detective then placed the photographic line-up sheet on the small, wheeled table that was set up horizontally across Allison's bed.

"Now, Allison" Kondo chimed in, "Do any of the men in these photos bear any resemblance to the man you interacted with the most while you were being held in that container?"

Allison looked very intensely at the array of photographs provided. All the featured photos were of dark-haired, similarly aged men with blue eyes and varying degrees of facial hair, and this was deliberately done to eliminate any possibility of the young kidnapping survivor's visual identification being unfairly biased by placing Terry Ryan's photo at the forefront.

Roughly 1 and a half minutes later, she pointed squarely at one distinct photo. "That's him," Allison said with great confidence, "That's the man that I spent the most time with and talked to the most."

The three investigators looked over to see which photo she had chosen. It was the fifth photograph in the array, and it was the mugshot of none other than Terry Ryan. "Okay, Allison" Cathy said, "You did a great job, honey. Now if it's alright with you, we just have a few more to ask."

Allison shrugged. "No problem," she replied.

Cathy, Kondo, and Murakawa traded looks before Kondo nodded affirmatively. "What exactly did you guys talk about when you were being held?" he asked.

"He seemed a little too interested in the logistics of our coffee shipments," Allison began explaining, "When they came in, where they came from, which warehouses they were sent to. That sort of thing."

Murakawa nodded. "Was there any shipment he asked about more than the others?" he inquired.

Allison's eyes widened with that question. "Actually," she replied, "Now that you mention it, yes. I knew that 'Kanagawa Java' thing rang a bell when you guys showed me that list before. I just thought it sounded so familiar because it was one of the last things I signed for before the night they grabbed me."

"He asked you about that?" Cathy asked.

Allison nodded. "Yeah," she said, "He actually admitted to me that he was the one who arranged to have that specific shipment rerouted to that other warehouse. He said that he paid off one of the forklift operators to bring the 'Kanagawa Java' shipment to Warehouse Seventeen."

"Did he mention the person by name?" Kondo queried.

"No," Allison said, "But I can tell you that it was the same driver who brought in every coffee shipment. He's a tall Irish fellow named Pete O' Donnelly. He's been a lot more talkative with me than a lot of the others that come through on any sort of consistent basis."

Kondo wrote the name down in his notebook. "Peter O' Donnelly," he parroted, "Okay, great. In your talks with him, did he tell you anything personal about himself?"

"Not really," Allison replied, "But he did mention that he had a fondness for motorcycles. The last time I saw him, he mentioned having to bring his bike to the Knocking Motorcycle Shop."

Murakawa nodded. "That's really helpful," he said, "Thank you so much, Allison." He then turned to Cathy and Kondo. "Guys," he continued, "Can we have another huddle out in the hallway, please?"

The pair nodded before Cathy momentarily turned back to Allison for a second and patted her hand. "Great job," she whispered before turning back and leaving the room with the two men.

"I apologize if this sounds rude, Murakawa-san" Cathy said to the Japanese detective, "But is there a perpetual fire under your ass or something?"

Murakawa smirked. "No," he bluntly replied, "I'm just really eager to get these Mad Angels. While I worked undercover with them before, I saw them partake in some illicit stuff and it's just going to be nice to finally take them down."

"We get that," Cathy said, "Believe us both, we do. But one thing at a time." She then turned to Kondo. "Johnny," she continued, "Why don't you head over to the motorcycle shop and see if you can get a line on this O' Donnelly punk. The shop's down by the slot house, right?"

"Yep," Kondo replied, "I have a good rapport with Ono-san, the guy who owns the shop. I think he'd be more than willing to help us out."

"Good," Cathy replied, "Murakawa-san and I will go and try to run down everything we can on O' Donnelly."

The trio left the hospital once again and headed out to complete their respective tasks.