*  *  *

The room was warm, dim and very still when Nakamura woke.  He watched finely lit dust particles moving very slowly.  Disoriented for a moment, he looked around, and then the fear came back with overwhelming force.  Michelle was in danger.  He sat up groggily on the couch and looked around.  The peaceful spacious room was almost dark because twilight was dimming the island.  He must have been asleep for at least an hour.  The urgent need to relieve himself of all the water and coffee forced down him was the only thing that had awakened him. 

After using the bathroom, Nakamura staggered into the kitchen and drank a few glasses of water.  Outside, through the plate glass window above the sink, he could Tom Mitsuto bending over in the garden pruning tiny Bonsai trees. 

Nakamura saw several donuts on a plate on the kitchen table and ate a few.  He was still groggy and hoped the sugar would help wake him up.  The keys for Tom Mitsuto's cars were hanging on a wooden rack next to the door that led to the garage.  He opened the door to the garage almost soundlessly, speculatively eyeing a blue Mitsubishi and a large green Cadillac.  The garage door switch was right next to the light switch.  He could leave before Tom even realized he was awake.

Nakamura took the keys for the Mitsubishi, went back inside the kitchen and called the Sheraton hotel, asking for Michelle's room.  There was no answer.  He called his own room and didn't get any response there either.  Then he tried Michelle's home number.  Someone picked up the phone, he could hear loud exhales over the phone lines, but his repeated, 'Hello's?' elicited no response from the breather, who eventually hung up on him.

Nakamura looked out the window.  Tom was still working in his garden.  He went into the garage to get the Mitsubishi, comforted in theft by the fact that Tom had two cars.