Toya did nothing to her.
Taryn half anticipated him to do something horrible or knock her out. Instead, he merely pulled her into his body and covered her eyes from the horrific sight of Robert’s corpse.
“Don’t look,” his voice was soft and even as he gently pulled her away from the room. “You shouldn’t have to look at something as horrible as this.”
It had been too late for that. Far too late.
The police were called shortly after, where Taryn’s shock overlapped her logical thinking, for there were people in the mansion’s halls. Running and milling about talking amongst each other about what happened. As if they had been there the whole time.
Yet none of that mattered, why should it, when a friend had been murdered?
Instead of one officer like before, there were several that arrived in a different area of the village. They started an investigation minutes after arriving, the place where Robert’s body was found soon became blocked off.
Taryn merely sat in muted silence along the edge of the Engawa, staring at her feet, making her feel an almost eerie parallel to when she was in the hospital after Roy had died. She sat away from most of the commotion, her hands still gripping the pendent that Robert had clung so desperately to in her lap.
No tears could fall. Not at this moment.
Taryn merely watched as the officers took away Robert’s body; she could hear Stephanie being questioned by another officer with Rachael staying close to the blonde woman.
“Pardon me,” a voice drew Taryn’s attention. A Japanese man wearing a dark blue suit a white dress shirt and a black tie with a rather thin-lean figure, sharp facial features and almond-shaped eyes behind a thin pair of glasses. His black hair had been brushed off to one side as he looked at her. “I would like to ask you some questions if you don’t mind.” The man said in English with a rather heavy accent. He knew English but seemed unaccustomed to speaking it.
Taryn recognized him as being one of the men in the photo from June’s computer, now a detective, which showed on the card that he handed to Taryn.
Daichi Sakamoto
“I know Japanese,” She said to him in Japanese as she stood up. “It’ll be easier if I speak like this. I’d rather not cause any problems with miscommunication.”
“Thank you,” Daichi said, switching to his native language. “That will make this much easier.” He took out a small notebook and pen. “First off, may I have your name?”
“Taryn Lowell.” She said, and that brought the detective pause as a frown formed lightly on his face.
“Lowell?” he repeated.
“Think of it as the English word of Low and the English word of Well combined. Lowell.” Then she frowned in turn. “Why? Is something wrong with my last name?”
“No, it’s just…” he hesitated. “If you don’t mind me asking Lowell-san, do you perhaps know someone by the name of Gerald Lowell?”
“I do,” Taryn rested her left hand on her hip. “He’s my uncle.”
“Your uncle?” he repeated, somewhat stunned. “So then… no, I apologize. I should not be asking you such personal matters when we are discussing something else.”
“It’s fine.” She said to him, not bothering to ask how this man knew her uncle, she figured given by his reaction that this man must have worked with her uncle during the time he was here in Japan four years ago. She did partly wonder if her uncle might have been a part of what might have taken place in Tokyo during that time, but that mattered very little given recent events.
Taryn told Daichi what she knew about how she found her friend; she wanted to go into the attacker only to stop. For one, the detective might not believe her, two he might be in league with the lazy officer who came here the first time, and three, Toya was watching her from the interior of the mansion. She couldn’t let what she knew slip.
“I see,” the detective said when she finished before eyeing her injured neck. “And what happened there? Is it related to what happened to your friend?”
She glanced back at the mansion, making it look casual by pushing her bangs out of her face. Toya was still watching her. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her the whole time. Hell, she didn’t even have to look to know. She could feel his eyes boring into her back.
She opened her mouth to answer but was unable to say anything when Stephanie shouted.
“What the hell do you mean by that?” it drew everyone’s attention. The blonde woman looked to be increasingly angry. She was about ready to punch the officer who her anger was directed towards, it even caused the older man to take a step back out of caution.
Both Taryn and the Detective went over to the now-forming small crowd of police as Rachael tried to remain in between Stephanie and the officer in question.
“Stephanie, what is going on?” Taryn asked while the Detective did the same with the police officer.
Her gaze went to Taryn before snapping back at the officer in question. “He was talking about how only one of us has to head back to Tokyo. And the rest have to stay.” She looked Taryn dead in the eye. “They said it was you that had to stay. And this jerk won’t tell me why saying it out of his jurisdiction. Even though you were the one who found Robert.”
With a frown, Daichi pulled the officer aside, followed by another who looked to be in charge. And after a moment of them talking to each other, Daichi came back to the three women and said in Japanese.
“It seems that the supervisor of this case doesn’t want the rest of you to leave.” He scowled, clearly bothered by this. “This isn’t proper protocol by any means.”
“The hell it’s not,” Taryn said out loud, causing the detective to look at her with surprise, and she cleared her throat. She didn’t mean to say that out loud in such a way. “I know there are differences between the Japanese police force and the Canadian one, but this is just asinine. So what? Two of us have to stay here? It’s not like we live in this country; we aren’t going to fly back to Canada. We wouldn’t do that. Our friend was murdered.”
“I… sorry,” Stephanie spoke up suddenly. “I can’t hear this…” and then walked off.
Rachael merely gave Taryn a knowing look before going to be with Stephanie, leaving Taryn and the detective alone.
Daichi frowned. “I think he’s more concerned about you going into hiding rather than going back home.” The detective said with a tone of annoyance that wasn’t directed towards her. Bothered by this turn of events.
“I’d be more worried about the number of people that have gone missing here, than me being anywhere else right now.” When the detective looked at her puzzled, she added. “Or so I’ve heard from the villagers. It’d be better if you asked them. The village’s Priestess would know more. Her name is Fuyuko Miyamori-san. She lives near the shrine at the base of the mountain at the far end of the village.” She had said it in such a way that she hoped the man would realize that there were way more than just her words alone.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
He wrote it down. “I’ll be sure to look into that. We’ve done all we can at the moment. We will be back the following day for a follow-up. For now, we need forensics to look at what remains of your friend, to know how he died and whatever clues were left by the suspect.”
“I don’t think you’ll find anything from the one that did this,” Taryn muttered as she walked past Daichi. “Excuse me, Sakamoto-san, I need to check on my friends for a moment if you don’t mind.” She said. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Take your time. You’ve been through an ordeal.” He says before allowing her to follow after the two other women. With a nod of thanks, she went after them towards a nearby garden.
“This is so… so… so goddamned stupid!” Stephanie snapped as Taryn caught up. “The hell do they mean only one of us goes?”
“I think it’s pretty clear what it meant,” Rachael responded flatly as Stephanie glared back in turn. “I still don’t get why they won’t let you go, Taryn…” she stopped and cast a knowing look to Stephanie, both girls realized why.
“Because they won’t let me for whatever reason,” Taryn said, noting how Toya was still watching her. “We don’t seem to get a single say in this.”
“They have to realize that’s not going to work, though!” Stephanie interjected. “I mean, you found him. You’re a witness to his murder, what good would having me or Rachael go?”
Taryn didn’t say a word as she glanced to who must have been the man in charge. A police officer of higher rank, judging from how he spoke to Stephanie, he was probably in on it. He had to be, considering how Daichi was equally confused as to what was going on.
The man in question would probably go so far as to fudge or “lose” documents as to who was the witness in finding the body.
“Stephanie, you should go,” Taryn said quickly. “If it has to be one of you, then you should be the one to go.”
“What?” both girls snapped with hushed voices to not draw attention to themselves. Stephanie continued. “Are you nuts!?”
“No, I’m serious.”
Stephanie seemed to be at a loss for words. “But you know that’s not how things are supposed to go, we don’t get to pick and choose who goes with the police and who stays.”
Taryn glanced at the police. “You’re right; it should be all of us. Back at the station, to give our accounts of events, proper paperwork, protocol, the whole shebang. But it’s being deliberately ignored by some of these guys. Things are not going as they should be; it’s shifted for whatever purpose. There isn’t much that we can do about it and on top of which, I have eyes on me. They want me to stay, and I can’t fathom why.”
Both Stephanie and Rachael knew what she meant, looking past her, they saw that Toya still hadn’t moved from his spot from where he sat as the detective now went over to Toya to question him and draw the man’s attention away from Taryn for a brief moment.
Stephanie cursed under her breath, clearly coming to her own conclusion that this was going to go nowhere fast. Out of frustration, she grabbed Taryn by the collar of her shirt and lifted the smaller woman closer to her. Taryn didn’t even flinch as they were now inches away from one another. “That thing will kill you if you stay!” she spoke in a hushed voice so only they could hear. “Just like it did with Robert, and you’re not even putting up a fight.”
“You and I both know that wouldn’t work. Look at who’s here, look at what’s happened. And look at who they don’t want to leave. Even if by some chance, I was able to convince them to let me go. They’d probably orchestrate something for me to come back. We all know this isn’t right. But if one of us can leave, without any issues, then you should take it.” Taryn then had Stephanie let go of her clothes before handing her the pendant. “Robert would have wanted you to get out first and foremost.”
Stephanie’s dark blue eyes flicked back and forth from the pendant to Taryn’s face, a look of desperation, shock and confusion as her eyes then remained on the other woman. Her words of protest fell short when Rachael placed a hand on Stephanie’s shoulder.
“Taryn makes a fair point,” Rachael said as she cast a glance at the staff that watched what was happening like bystanders eyeing a car crash. “Even though all of us should go, you at least have a better chance than I ever would.” She then looked at Taryn and smiled. “After all, we’ve overcome a lot, and we’ll overcome this too.”
“You agree with her?” Stephanie responded in bewilderment. “Just a moment ago, you wanted her to leave!”
“Yeah, I did. I still do. But…” Rachael grasped Taryn’s hand. “If they won’t let her leave, then I’m not leaving either. I’m not leaving her behind.” Taryn looked at the hand that held her hand in a firm grip, tight enough to show conviction.
Taryn smiled, clearly grateful for hearing those words. But as soon as shown, the smile vanished as she spoke. “You’ll need to be careful, even when you get out of here, it won’t necessarily mean you’re safe.”
Stephanie stood dumbfounded, looking back and forth between the two other women, before, in her frustration, she grabbed them both into a tight hug. “I don’t want to leave you both either!” she said as she clutched the two tighter to her. I get it… I do. She thought. But I don’t… I don’t want anything to happen to you both. I don’t want to abandon you guys… “You guys, you both need to be safe. You need to, you hear me?”
“We do,” Taryn said softly as the two hugged her back. “You be careful too.”
Stephanie pulled back to look at the police officers talking with a look of wary concern. “Can we trust any of them? They might be in league with whoever’s doing this, right?”
“Talk to a man by the name of Daichi Sakamoto. He’s a detective that came with the other police officers. I think he can be trusted.”
“What makes you say that?” Rachael asked as she finally let go of Taryn’s hand.
“With all the documents Robert and I found, one of those things was a laptop. When I managed to get inside, one of the first things that showed on the screen was a photo of her and at least three other people. Well, two since one walked out of frame. One of the people with her was him.” She looked at the man who was still conversing with Toya. “He helped June Suchiko with whatever took place four years ago. What’s more, he met with my uncle.”
Rachael turned to look at the man in question. “Wait, really?”
“Yeah, so if there’s anyone we can trust, I’d like to say it’s him. The people that my uncle meet always seem to be the ones you can rely on regardless of background.” She found herself smiling, thinking of both Bob and Isabella. “And not just that, but part of me feels that we can trust him. Though I don’t think telling him now would be a good idea.”
Stephanie looked uneasy as the man in question walked over to them. “Apologise for interrupting,” he said to Taryn in Japanese. “But there are still things I need to go over with you and get a written statement.” he glanced at her friends before looking back at her. “Do they know Japanese as well?”
“Yup,” Rachael responded in Japanese.
“Dude,” Stephanie said sarcastically in Japanese. “I get why you asked, but it’d be better if you just asked us directly.”
He merely nodded. “I didn’t mean to sound rude to you both. I’m only doing my job. Now, if I can get your statement, would you prefer to do this inside?”
“Here should be fine,” Taryn said, as a cold feeling crept into her stomach. “Let’s just get this over with…”
* * *
After Daichi collected the girls’ statements, Stephanie had been taken away down the village to where the police cars resided. Even with Daichi’s persistence in getting the other two back to Tokyo with little to no avail.
Taryn at least appreciated the effort he put in, compared to the other police officers, who seemed to be all too afraid to go against the higher officer who made the decision.
Daichi did, however, make it discreetly known to her that he intended to get them both out of this place; even though he had only been on the mansion’s grounds for a few hours, he followed his instincts when something was wrong. Something that Taryn appreciated.
With one final goodbye, Stephanie entered the police car with Daichi, who cast one last glance at Taryn before leaving.
“They’re so similar…” he said softly, drawing Stephanie’s attention as the other officer drove off along the road, followed by the other three cars and the van which held the body.
“Who are you talking about?” she asked him in Japanese.
“Lowell-san, she is a lot like him. I never thought I would meet someone like him again, or at least not so soon.”
She glanced at him. “She told me that you’ve met her uncle, do you really think that even though you barely know her?”
“Her eyes say it all.” He says. “Though visibly different, it’s clear they have the same eyes. They’re on the same wavelength, willing to do whatever it takes, so others are not harmed. Yet when someone is, they will only blame themselves for it.”
Stephanie looked down at her hands, opening them to look at the pendant; her vision began to blur from tears. “It wasn’t her fault that he died…” She whispered. “she wouldn’t let me see him when you were called; she was in a daze. Only to snap out of it when I got close and pulled me away. I don’t even know what was done to him.”
Daichi remained silent, letting her speak.
“She… she’s seen so many things. So many horrible things already, yet her first instinct is to keep others from it. Why wouldn’t she let me see him?”
“So that it would not be the last memory you have of him. I imagine Lowell-san wanted to spare you that, so she kept you away from his body.”
“I’m sorry…” Taryn’s words echoed in Stephanie’s head as she kept her at bay from the room when they heard that Robert was dead. Her voice was rough with emotion, her face filled with regret. “Stephanie, please don’t look at him. Not like that. Not now. Please…”
“It makes me wonder what else she’s seen…” she muttered as the tears began to fall. “Rachael told me a bit, but… I can’t help but feel like there’s more to it than that.” Grasping the ring close to her chest, she craned her neck to look out the back window. Silently asking for anyone who would listen to keep those girls safe.
For no one else to die.