They sat in silence for a few seconds, enjoying the view over the ocean. The water was deep blue, with occasional white-topped waves rippling past, and a few isolated clouds were moving slowly across the sky. Sakura could hear the call of seagulls. They were probably following the boat’s wake, hoping for food.

Milton turned to her, a serious expression on his face. “We need to plan today, and, to do that, I need to know everything you can remember about the Nishimoto-kai. The names of all the people you know. The places they go. Any weakness or foibles that I might be able to take advantage of. Anything you can think of. The detail might seem small, but it could be something that I can use against them.”

“Where do you want me to start?”

“With your husband. How did you meet him? How did he end up working for them? We’ll start there and see where it takes us.”

It took Sakura almost an hour and three cups of coffee to tell him what she knew. Milton recorded her on an app on his phone, turning it off only during the moments when she couldn’t stop the tears.

“My father, Hachirō, is Takashi’s brother. The two of them became yakuza at the same time. They were chimpira—the lowest of the low—but they got more serious about it as time went by. This was the seventies and eighties, when it meant something to be yakuza, not like now. Takashi became important, but then my father and mother had me, and my father decided that it wasn’t something that he wanted to do anymore. He left and set up a little sushi place—he still has it today. He and Takashi stopped talking when he left, and they’ve never reconciled.”

“What about your husband?”

“Takashi had two sons: Katsuro and Miyasato. We all used to play when we were younger, and Miyasato and I started to date. It got serious, but then my father and Takashi fell out and they forbade us from seeing each other. We didn’t listen. We’d find ways to be together and, eventually, we decided that we wanted to get married. We did it without telling any of them.”

“How did they take it?”

“It was weird—Takashi didn’t mind at all. Miyasato and Katsuro were both chimpira then, and I think Takashi took satisfaction from the fact that we got married despite my father saying that we shouldn’t. My father was furious. He told me I’d made a mistake. I said I loved Miyasato, but it didn’t make any difference. He didn’t talk to me for three years. It was only when Yamato was born that he softened. Before then, though, it was Takashi who helped us—he was like a second father to me.