Pandion (Genera #1)

Chapter 12

A fter going through the neighbours and the neighbourhood, Harumine resorted to invasion of privacy to find anyone worth contacting from the mess of Kagesawa’s desk and his files. If he could have been sure Kagesawa was OK and that he’d left on his own free will, Harumine wouldn’t have bothered, but there had been no note. What if he was in trouble and depended on Harumine to find him? Had he disappeared the same way, for the same reason as his third link?

Kagesawa hadn’t saved any contact information for his past links, but Harumine did some digging to get in touch with as many of them as possible.

The last four were a complete bust. Their reactions were essentially the same: barely polite indifference. Hashimoto-san was willing to meet briefly, if only to say he hadn’t had a reason to keep in touch, but was wondering how Kagesawa was doing. He spent a good fifteen minutes reminiscing about some dock work they’d done together, and while his drawl over shipyard robotics was mind-numbing to listen to, at least he had a mild interest in Kagesawa’s well-being and promised to keep an eye out and let Harumine know if he heard or saw something. It probably wouldn’t amount to much, though, since the man was nearly blind of old age.

The third link was nowhere to be found and the second one didn’t even remember Kagesawa. Having run out of options, Harumine wondered if there was any way to safely meet with Shimizu to at least make sure the man had nothing to do with this disappearance.

As far as people who might hold a grudge, Shimizu Takuya was high on the list. Getting a hold of him was a touch tricky, though. He was serving a limited-contact sentence confined to his district, and seeing him required a special permit. It was a slap-on-the-wrist – type of punishment for something that had left Kagesawa with significant emotional trauma, but unfortunately that didn’t mean it was easy to circumvent. Harumine had to pull some strings to arrange a short moment together with the man.

In person, Shimizu didn’t seem at all unpleasant. On the contrary, he appeared amiable, friendly even. He received Harumine at a small cafe at the edge of his district with a designated officer keeping an eye on things from a distance.

“I understand you had some questions for me regarding Kagesawa Tsuyoshi. How is the rascal doing these days?”

“Fine, I suppose,” Harumine replied, unsure how to approach the subject.

“What did you want to know? Is he giving you trouble?” Shimizu sipped his coffee, carefree, like none of his current situation had anything to do with what had happened with his last link. It was like the resentment wasn’t even there.

“No, not as such.”

“You can tell it like it is. I know what he’s like. If you need any help, just ask.” Shimizu smiled ever so slightly as he turned his cinnamon roll around, seemingly in search of the best attack angle. Once he found it, he bit off a piece and licked the sugar off of his fingers. “Has he said anything about me? Greatly exaggerated, I’m sure.”

“Not really, but that’s not why I’m here. I was wondering… Well, uh, you wouldn’t happen to know if he’s got himself mixed up in something shady?”

It had probably been a waste to use Harumine’s limited contacts to get this interview when Shimizu’s sentence made it highly improbable he’d had anything to do with it, but if the man had any dirt on Kagesawa, he might want to get that off his chest.

“Hmm, well, he’s definitely mixed up in something. I don’t know how well the two of you are linked, but if you’ve known him for more than a week, it’s probably obvious.” Shimizu winked and added some more creamer into his coffee.

“Anything in particular coming to mind?”

“I’d advise you to take it up with him, but…”

“But?”

“I don’t want to be saying things behind his back, but…” He leaned over to Harumine and lowered his voice. “He does tend to lie a lot. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s cooked up a sob story for you to throw you off his scent. He’s really good at it too. Got me fooled almost right up until the end, and look what happened to me. You’d better be careful with him.”

Shimizu seemed to still be enjoying his coffee and cinnamon roll but looked a little more serious for a moment. Then he resumed his benign smile and turned back to Harumine. “That’s all thankfully in the past now. He made sure I’ll never work as an empath again, but I can’t keep feeling sorry for myself forever. I’m still alive, aren’t I? The same can’t be said for his first link, and there’s no telling what happened to the third. I suppose they could have been careless accidents with how he is, but…” Shimizu shrugged. “I’m surprised he’s not under an investigation already. Was that all you wanted to ask me?”

“I guess.”

“He hasn’t done anything to you, has he?” Shimizu seemed genuinely concerned.

“No.”

“Ahh, good. Who knows, maybe I’m wrong and he has mended his ways. I sure hope so. You seem like a nice lad.” He wiped his hands on a napkin and finished his coffee. “Well, I’d better be going. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help to you. I tried not to get involved in his less than reputable dealings. As friendly advice, I’d suggest you do the same and keep a distance. They’re bound to catch him eventually, and I’d hate to see you be dragged down with him.”

“Thank you for your concern. I’ll keep that in mind.” Harumine tried his utmost to analyse each word, expression and gesture for any sign of dishonesty, but if it was there, it was indiscernible. Either he was telling the truth or frighteningly good at deceit.

Since it was already Sunday afternoon, and Takazaki was the closest thing to a friend, Harumine rang his doorbell again. The man let him in, offered him a cup of tea and a seat at his table to try to figure out what to do next.

“He’s not here, so I guess I’ll have to do something about work tomorrow. I’m useless there without him. I also need to report him missing, don’t I?” That would make it official. If there had been signs of struggle, or the link hadn’t been dampened and there was any indication of danger, Harumine would have done so long since. “It’s selfish of me, but I’m worried about how this will look. I helped him with something before he left, and I don’t even know what it was for or if it had something to do with whatever trouble he’s in. And I taught him to dampen properly. I’ve effectively obstructed a possible investigation. That may not be enough to prosecute me, but it’s certainly not going to look good on my record.”

“You’re sure he didn’t seem emotionally unstable the last you saw him?” Takazaki seemed to be clinging onto the mental breakdown angle.

“He was fine. He was in a good mood.” But if he really was guilty of a crime, there was always the chance that the mention of a review had scared him off.

“What did he take with him?”

“I’m not sure. I didn’t notice that many things missing.” If Kagesawa had meant to leave for good, he’d had plenty of time to pack a proper bag for it. While Harumine hadn’t memorised all of Kagesawa’s possessions, he was confident he would have noticed that many everyday items no longer where they were supposed to be.

“Clothes, keys…?”

“Yeah, his coat, the port extension and keys are gone.” The port extension wasn’t the sort of thing one would leave in the port for no reason, because no matter how ergonomic it was supposed to be, it would always eventually become uncomfortable. Why would he take that with him unless he was specifically anticipating a need for it? All it was good for was to connect to a BCI.

“And there’s been no response from him all this time?”

“I’ve been trying to project to him, but nothing.” It was starting to feel eerie with the link dampened so well for such a long time. It was especially disconcerting during the night, since dampening required at least some active effort to maintain it. Wherever Kagesawa was, wasn’t he ever going to sleep at all?