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As soon as I had the AC going in my car I called Idris and Bryce and gave them a quick recap of what happened with Pellini. Idris made a few interesting strangled noises when I described how Pellini batted potency away but agreed that my barbecue idea was a good one since further assessment was clearly needed.
“How’s the Malibu running?” I asked.
Idris made a rude sound. “Like a one-legged gazelle. Bryce says he’ll work on it more this afternoon.”
“Good,” I said. “He needs a hobby.”
I hung up with them, and my phone immediately dinged with a text from Tessa:
I smiled. Short, sweet, and to the point—just like my aunt. Well, mostly like her. The sweet part was debatable.
I replied.
Yep, she knew how to get my attention. Presents and sweets.
• • •
A crew of orange-vested city workers had part of Tessa’s street torn up, though I couldn’t tell if it was for a drainage project or road repair. Either way, it obviously required a bunch of sweaty men to stand around and peer thoughtfully into one of several six-foot-wide holes in the street. At long last I navigated the slalom course of orange cones to Tessa’s house, trotted up the steps and knocked on the door.
My aunt opened it a few seconds later, smiling brightly. “Kara!”
“Welcome back!” I said as I pulled her into a hug. Petite, bordering on tiny, she made up for her lack of height with an iron will and a wild fashion sense. Her current outfit was a symphony of pink and black—light pink sandals, black mini-skirt, dark pink belt, medium-pink blouse over a black tank top. Even her frizzy blond hair bore a pink streak on one side.
She gave me a squeeze before releasing me. “Not for long!” she said with a laugh then pulled me in and closed the door. “We’re heading out again as soon as I get a call back from Melanie about staffing at the store.”
“Carl can get that much time off?” I asked.
Tessa blinked, shook her head. “Carl? Goodness, no.” She headed down the hall toward the kitchen. “I’d never be able to drag him away for this long.”
An unpleasant feeling crept in, as if I was seeing a math error where I’d made a mistake in the first step. I followed my aunt as pieces of information coalesced into a new picture. Old man. She’d said she was going to Aspen with the old man. She’d never actually said she was going with Carl. I’d simply made that assumption since he was her boyfriend.
“Who are you going with?” I asked. A chill snaked through me as the answer took shape.
“Isumo,” Tessa said in a Who else would it be? tone as she stepped into the kitchen.
Isumo Katashi. He was there, sitting at the counter in the kitchen with a steaming cup of tea before him. He regarded me with keen eyes then inclined his head and offered me a thin smile.
I stopped dead in my tracks. “You son of a bitch.”
Tessa whirled to face me. “Kara Gillian! Master Katashi is a guest under my roof. I know you have your differences, but I will not tolerate such rudeness.”
“Differences?” My hands clenched. “He murdered Idr . . . a friend’s sister!”
Tessa lifted her chin. “There’s a lot going on right now, and facts get skewed easily. I don’t expect you to agree, but I do expect you both to remain civil while in this house.”
“I did not murder her,” Katashi said, voice even and mild. He lifted his cup and took a careful sip.
“You fucking well were a part of it,” I snarled. “Aunt Tessa, I know what this man is capable of.” My chest tightened. “I love you, and you can’t expect me to not be concerned for your safety and well-being when you’re with him.”
To my dismay, Tessa moved to stand beside Katashi. “Kara,” she said, voice abruptly gentle. “Sweetling. This is one of the reasons I asked you to come over. With all the craziness of the past couple of years, there’ve been a lot of misunderstandings, and I haven’t always set things straight when I should have.” She placed a hand on Katashi’s shoulder. “The fact is, I’ve been with Isumo for over thirty years,” she continued as my stomach knotted tighter. “He’s my mentor and my friend. He’s not going to hurt me, and I refuse to stop associating with him because of your own prejudices.”
Outrage flared. Prejudices?! No, my hatred of Katashi was based on cold hard facts. I drew breath to argue, but stopped at the faint smile on the man’s face. He watched me, calm, cool, and so very fucking confident.
Over thirty years. The weight of it settled onto me. She’d started training with Katashi before I was even born. Lived with him in Japan for almost ten years. She’s been his student a year longer than I’ve been alive. That’s what I was up against—a loyalty so deep it was beyond her comprehension that her beloved teacher and friend could be guilty of heinous acts. And I suddenly knew that if I tried to force her to see the truth I might lose her forever.
If I ever had her. Certainly not in the way I’d always assumed.
Katashi spoke to my aunt in Japanese. She replied, also in Japanese, and with an ease and speed that marked her as fluent. Anger and dismay spiked through me at the deliberately secret conversation. Tessa had never once spoken a word to me in Japanese. Their brief exchange was a combination slap in the face and indisputable evidence of her connection to Katashi.
