Nobu opened the kitchen cabinet and took a jar of Maxim instant coffee from the shelf. He removed the lid and sighed as he used the spoon in the jar to line the bottom of his coffee cup.
“Remind me again why we don’t have a real coffee maker instead of this instant crap?” he called out as he pushed the dispense button on the digital water boiler. Hot water spilled out from the spout, melting and mixing with the instant coffee.
“Because the boss only drinks ice coffee,” Saori called back.
Nobu exited the kitchen and returned to his desk, leaning back in his chair. He glanced over to Saori, who was busy at her laptop, reading some news stories online. Sliding the chair behind her, he said, “That doesn’t look like homework.”
“I’m taking a break. Don’t wanna get into another chapter when the boss is going to meet with us once that couple leaves.”
Kyoko’s office door opened. She stepped through first and the Suzukis followed behind. The couple bowed deeply several times to Kyoko, thanking her profusely. Kyoko smiled and gave a similar bow in response, then led them out the door.
“So what’s the scoop? We taking the case?” asked Nobu.
“Their daughter is—was—a pop idol,” said Kyoko.
Saori yelped. Nobu and Kyoko exchanged a confused look and studied their young colleague.
“Suzuki…holy shit, their daughter’s not Akane Suzuki, is she?”
“Good guess,” said Kyoko.
Saori turned her laptop around so Kyoko could read the screen. Nobu had to lean over his desk to see the headline, reporting on the death of Akane Suzuki. After turning the laptop back to face her, Saori looked up at Kyoko.
“I was just reading that story.”
“You know who she is?” asked Kyoko.
“You’ve never listened to Koibito?” Saori had a look on her face as if Kyoko had just told her the world was flat.
Kyoko scoffed. “Oh please, why would I listen to that garbage? Whatever happened to good music?”
Nobu chuckled himself as he sipped his coffee. He leaned back in his chair to watch the two go at it. This would be entertaining.
“Like your parents never said the same thing about the music you listened to,” said Saori.
“Actually, I listened to the same kind of music my dad introduced me to.” Kyoko sat down on the couch and lit a fresh cigarette. “The Beatles, Marvin Gaye, the Stones, Bob Dylan…”
Saori rolled her eyes. “Old people music.”
“I’m what, ten years older than you?”
Saori shrugged. “So? You’re over thirty, that makes you old.”
Kyoko shook her head while giving an incredulous chuckle. “Yeah well, here in Japan, we respect our elders.”
Nobu couldn’t help the quick laugh that escaped his lips, and he found himself on the receiving end of Saori’s glare. He went back to sipping his coffee.
“Anyway, Akane Suzuki. Her parents said she was fired from the group about a year ago. Something about a scandal involving a boyfriend.”
“I’ll say,” said Saori. “The tabloids went nuts over it. You should’ve seen the things fans were saying on Twitter.”
“What was this scandal?” asked Nobu.
“She had a boyfriend.”
“Right, I got that. But what was the scandal involving the boyfriend?”
“You don’t get it—she had a boyfriend. That was the scandal.”
Nobu blinked. He looked down at his coffee, then cast a confused glance in Kyoko’s direction before resting his eyes on Saori once more. “That’s it? Girl’s got a boyfriend and she gets fired?”
“The contracts these talent agencies make people sign are pretty onerous, especially for women,” said Kyoko. “One of the terms is they’re not allowed to have any romantic relationships for the duration of the contract.”
“But why?”
“Projects an image,” said Saori. “A good portion of fans are men, some of them pretty skeezy at that. If an idol has a boyfriend, that destroys the fantasy many of these guys have that they have a chance with her.”
“It also projects an air of innocence and sexual inexperience.” Kyoko sounded disgusted as she spoke those words. “That whole virgin obsession thing.”
Nobu snorted. “I don’t get it. I mean, I’ve been with a virgin. I’ll take a woman with experience any day.”
“Oh, if only all men were as enlightened as you,” said Saori, the sarcasm in her voice unmistakable.
“The scandal broke, Akane was fired, and her life kind of went to shit after that,” said Kyoko. “She didn’t have a whole lot in the way of money and her parents gave her some support. They said she was trying to get back into the music business as a solo artist. The police ruled her death a suicide and suspect drugs were involved. Her parents say that’s impossible.”
Nobu drank the rest of his coffee and sat forward. “You buy that, boss?”
Kyoko took a long drag on her cigarette and sighed. “I don’t know.”
“No parent wants to admit their kid took their own life,” said Nobu. “And drugs involving a fallen pop star? Sorry to say, but not exactly a groundbreaking phenomenon.”
“You’re right, but I also know how the police work,” said Kyoko.
“This really the kind of thing we should be wasting time with?” asked Nobu.
“’Wasting time’?” asked Saori. “A girl is dead, Tsuji!”
Nobu sighed. “I know, but it seems like an open-and-shut case. Plus, we’ve got other cases to worry about. Pop-star suicides aren’t really our thing.”
“I thought we helped people here. Has that changed?” asked Saori. “Because maybe I should go get a part-time job at a convenience store instead.”
Kyoko held out her hand, the cigarette clasped between her index and middle fingers. She raised and lowered it just a little as a gesture for them both to relax. “Both of you calm down, okay? We’re not going to ignore our other cases. I haven’t committed to taking on this case just yet. Instead, I told the Suzukis we’ll do a preliminary investigation, see if there’s evidence to proceed further.”
Nobu relaxed in his chair and as he glanced at Saori, it seemed she did, too. He got up and walked to the kitchen, refilling his cup with more of the instant coffee and filling it with boiling water. Instead of returning to his desk, he leaned against the kitchen’s doorframe.
“So what’s our next move, boss?”
“Your back-alley connections,” said Kyoko, looking at him, “any of them involved in the drug trade?”
Nobu thought about that while he sipped the coffee. “Yeah, I know a guy.”
“See if anyone knows whether or not Akane or anyone connected to her was involved in the scene. Did she buy from anyone and if she did, what did she buy and how often?”
“Might take a few days.”
“Grease the wheels if you have to, we’ll expense it.”
“Got it.” Nobu walked back to his desk and sat down.
“What about me?” asked Saori.
“If the Suzukis are right and Akane was murdered, that means someone needed a motive. I want you to make a list of anyone who might have wanted Akane dead.”
“Any ideas where to start?” Saori already had a pen in hand and a notepad at the ready.
“Stalkers and idols have a tendency to go hand-in-hand, so I suggest starting there. If Akane had any stalkers, I want to know their names, I want to know their current addresses, and I want to know where they were the night she died.”
Saori jotted down notes, cataloguing everything Kyoko said. When she finished, she looked up. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, Yuki Ichikawa. Find him.”
“Who’s he?” asked Nobu.
“The supposed boyfriend,” said Kyoko.
“Think he’s involved?” asked Nobu.
“Isn’t the boyfriend always involved?” asked Kyoko. “We need to know everything about him, even if it’s just to rule him out.”
“I’ll get started on this right now.” Saori set the pen down and turned her attention to her computer.
“What are you gonna do, boss?” asked Nobu.
“The Suzukis said they went to the police and got nowhere. So I’ll go have a talk with them, see if I can get any information out.”
Nobu lowered his head. He let out an exasperated breath. There was a lot of bad blood between Kyoko the Osaka Prefectural Police. Had been for years.
“What is it?” she asked.
“You want me to go with you? For…y’know, support?”
Kyoko threw a half-hearted smile his way. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m a big girl, Nobu. No one down there scares me.”
She stamped out the rest of her cigarette and rose from the couch.
“You going now?” asked Nobu.
“Why waste time?” Kyoko shrugged. “If this is a suicide, then the sooner we get it taken care of, the sooner we can get back to our real cases.”