‘So what did you find inside?’ Yamato hissed at Yuki as they jogged towards the park.

‘The girl in charge barely left me alone for a minute. But I located a rear door and it’s now unlocked.’

‘Where does it lead?’ Yamato asked.

‘There is another lane behind the inn. It must come from the alley. We will find it if we have to.’

‘And the girl?’

‘There was a blue backpack in one of the rooms but I didn’t have much time – perhaps it was hers but there are other children too. They must be hiding her,’ Yamato said. ‘But why would they take her in? She has no money.’

‘The necklace! Do you think she could have sold it?’ Yuki asked his partner as they jogged around the corner towards the playground.

Yamato shook his head. ‘No! Don’t be ridiculous. It has a photograph of her mother inside.’

The screams and laughter of children echoed along the street.

Yuki scanned the small patch. ‘Is she in there?’

‘I can’t tell. You take one side and I’ll take the other. Try not to arouse suspicion.’ Yamato stalked off, taking note of each child. Too small, too fat, too old, too young. As far as he could tell, she wasn’t there. And now that he thought about it, he didn’t know what they would do if she was. They couldn’t snatch her in broad daylight.

Yamato looked up. What on earth was Yuki doing? He’d told the idiot not to arouse suspicion and now he was standing at the bottom of the slippery dip catching the children as they sped through the air at the bottom.

‘Whoopee!’ he yelled as he snatched hold of a toddler who was about to land on the ground.

The little boy laughed and hiccupped at the same time.

‘You poor little fellow.’ Yuki set the boy down on his feet.

He didn’t see his partner approach. He leapt into the air when Yamato hissed into his ear. The little boy began to cry in big scared sobs. ‘Mama, mama,’ the child wailed.

A woman hurried over. Yuki glared at his partner and then turned to the woman. ‘I’m sorry about my friend. He didn’t mean to frighten your little boy, but at least the boy no longer has the hiccups.’

‘Stupid!’ the woman hissed. She took her little boy’s hand and hurried to the other side of the park.

‘What are you doing?’ Yamato’s fingers dug into Yuki’s bicep as he guided the man away.

‘You didn’t need to do that,’ Yuki whispered. ‘I was just helping the children.’

‘You are supposed to be looking for Kiko,’ Yamato said. ‘She’s not here. Let’s hope she’s gone back to the inn.’

The two men walked past the inn to their car. They hopped inside and stared at the screen. The blip had moved but not far: it was now down the other end of the street.

‘How did she get past us?’ Yamato asked furiously.

Yuki shrugged. He was tired of this game of cat and mouse and just wanted to go home and sleep.

The telephone rang.

Yuki looked at the number and rolled his eyes.

‘Aren’t you going to answer it?’ Yamato asked.

‘And get screamed at again?’

Yamato reached over and snatched the handset. ‘Konnichiwa . . . Yes, we are close.’ There was a long pause while Hatsuko’s voice hissed through the speaker like a serpent.

‘Guests? What guests?’ Yamato said.

Yuki’s brow creased. Visitors to the palace were few and far between, and even then he and Yamato would know about it months ahead of time.

‘Would you like us to come back?’ Yamato asked.

The screeching from the other end grew louder.

Yamato winced. ‘Hai. Hai.’ He slammed the phone onto the dashboard.

‘Well?’ Yuki asked.

‘We must find her or you and I will be posted to the garbage service.’