on her that neither of them made any attempt at witty banter. It spoke volumes about how frazzled they were. She saw no need to correct it, and neither did Han. “Thirteen oh four,” he said. “You got anything more specific for me?”
“It’s a boxcar, brown and rusty, in a big string of eight identical cars. Somewhere in the middle—the fourth or fifth, maybe? Screw it, just look for the one with a guy padlocked to it.”
“Padlocked?”
“Yeah. Don’t open the doors; call the bomb squad first. I don’t think the car is rigged—I mean, they trusted a total idiot with the key—but you never know. Oh, and call paramedics too. You can tell them you think the kids were dosed with sleeping pills.”
“Mariko, how the hell am I supposed to explain where I got this information? People are going to ask.”
“Anonymous tip from a concerned citizen?”
“Concerned citizens don’t take down a suspect and leave him physically attached to the crime scene. You know who does that? Spider-Man.”
Mariko couldn’t help but laugh. “Then tell them Spider-Man did it. Hell, Han, I don’t know. You’ll figure something out.”
“Yeah, maybe, but it’s got to be something that doesn’t put you at the scene for assault—”
“And criminal trespassing and a million other charges. I know. Let’s take care of the kids first. Tomorrow we can talk about whether we can still pull my ass out of the fire.”
He didn’t take long to think about it. “Anonymous tip it is.”
“One more thing, Han. Get me a head count on the kids as soon as possible, okay?”
“It’s not twelve ninety?”
“No. Way less. I’m not sure how many, but if you can give me a number, it might help me narrow down the places I go looking for the others.”
Han was silent for a moment. Mariko heard a rasping noise and could picture him scratching his cheek where a long sideburn used to be. “Look, Mariko, I have to ask. Where are you getting this stuff?”
“All I can say is trust me.”
He sighed. “All right. But we’ll talk about this later, neh?”
“You bet. Oh, and Han? Hurry.”
She killed the call and pounded the steering wheel in frustration. A lot of detective work was done on the phone, and on most cases she didn’t mind. But on this one she felt every second bleed away as if it were a drop of her own blood. She had to find that “new church,” but how? It could be anywhere, and Mariko had no one in the Divine Wind to question. The only members she knew by name, Akahata Daisuke and Hamaya Jiro, were both dead, and the only others she knew about were in that rail yard and probably in custody by now.
No, there was one more. She put in a call to Furukawa. “Status report,” he said.
“That’s not why I’m calling. I need to talk to Norika.”
“All things in due time. Status report.”
“Fine. I found a couple hundred kids in the Shinagawa rail yard,” she said. “I think they’re all alive; I sent cops that way to make sure. Now here’s the important bit: they’re keeping the kids in different groups. I think that’s why you didn’t pick up anything when you analyzed traffic patterns: they’re not all going to one place.”
“How many locations?”
“I don’t know. I know Joko Daishi is on his way to the first batch right this minute.” If he’s not there already, she thought. If the slaughter hasn’t already begun. “He’s going to some place his people call ‘the new church.’ Norika was close to him, neh? Like his concubine or something? Put her on the line; she might know where this church is.”
“Young lady, you need to learn your place. I will not be ordered about by a—”
“Save it. I get enough of that shit at work.” Mariko kneaded her temple with her free hand. A tension headache was settling in; it felt like steel cables pulled taut under her skin. “Look, either she knows where the ‘new church’ is or she doesn’t. Which is it?”
“Norika-san has given a full report about the Divine Wind’s internal structure. This includes the locations of many churches. I have people investigating each one, including the newest.”
“How long is that going to take?”
“You’re a detective, Oshiro-san. You of all people ought to know how hard it is to answer that question. It takes as long as it takes.”
Those steel cables pulled tighter. She needed a list of the locations Norika identified. Then she could figure out which