The following morning at nine-thirty Shimura phoned Rand Hadley from the agency to let him know how things stood in the case of the so-called kidnapping of Angela Mason, which was drawing to a close more smoothly and easily than he’d anticipated now with Fitch’s complete cooperation and no pressure on the financial end from Kawamura, who’d given him a free hand.
“I can’t say which part satisfies me more, Kawamura’s trust or a problem on the verge of resolution,” Shimura said.
“How’s Pohl taking it?”
“Nervous as a cat.”
“Can you do anything for him?”
“No, he’s got to play the cards as they’re dealt him. I’ll be around when he needs me, you know that, Rand.”
“Of course you will. Have you got the place staked out?”
“There isn’t much left to do. Eto’s watching the house. I’m waiting for a call from Fitch.”
“By this time tomorrow she’ll be tucked safely in her own bed. And you can get a good night’s sleep knowing you’ve done everything possible to help a friend and there’s nothing like that feeling to give us a boost when there isn’t always a lot going our way on the order of satisfaction on the job.”
“I don’t like to hear that coming from you. You had a lot of good years with the county. When you were lead investigator there were arrests and convictions. But maybe there’s something you’re trying to tell me.”
“I don’t have any complaints,” Hadley said, scribbling the letter v with a circle around it, then s with a circle around it on a notepad in front of him. “The guys upstairs gave me a pat on the back plenty of times. I got promotions, acknowledgment from the detectives I worked with, and the victims who made it out of a tough spot because of the department thanked me more often in twenty-five years than I can remember, but there’s nothing like the feeling of having done something for the best reason in the world.”
“And what’s that?”
“When whatever it is that makes us tick tells us to go ahead and do something right for somebody even if it isn’t by the book, like you’ve done for Pohl, knowing it might not go down the right way with the people upstairs.”
“Noble principles, Rand — like how things ought to be instead of how they are. After all the years with the county you know that.”
“And you know I’m right or you wouldn’t have stuck your neck out for him.”