‘Succumb to temptation, then.’ Nick put the phone down, stood up and headed for the door, confident he could put Martin Caldwell out of his mind. Until Monday.

THREE

MIMORI TAKENAGA HADN’T yet replied to martin caldwell’s invitation to meet in London, so the first item of business for Wada, having agreed to go to London on her behalf, was to contact him. She kept the message brief but courteous and signed herself off as Mimori Takenaga family Masafumi. The swiftness of Caldwell’s response took her and Kodaka aback. Within an hour, after a few more email exchanges, they had an appointment for the following Tuesday morning, at the British Museum tea room.

There was no denying, though Wada would have denied it, that she was excited about her mission to London. She’d only been there once before, with Hiko, during a honeymoon holiday in Europe. All she remembered of the city were the traditional picture postcard scenes: Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square. It would be interesting to discover how returning to somewhere she’d only ever been with Hiko would affect her. And even if it turned out to be a waste of time, Mrs Takenaga had already paid Kodaka more than enough to cover the cost of the journey, so there was nothing to be lost by it.

There was, however, something Kodaka didn’t mention to her until after she’d made the appointment with Caldwell. And the timing of his disclosure struck her as suspicious. Had he wanted her to commit herself before he revealed this additional element in the Takenaga case?

‘You should know that Takenaga-san also made accusations against a man her mother told her had been her father’s business partner back in Showa fifty-two. He was never under police investigation, but she claims, again according to her mother, that straight after Masafumi’s death this man took all the money from a secret bank account they had been operating. There was supposedly a lot of money in the account, accumulated through sokaiya activities. Masafumi had spoken to his wife of a figure in the tens of millions of yen. So his death could be seen as … highly profitable for his partner.’

‘Do we know who the former partner is?’ Wada asked.

‘Yes.’ The time for tea had passed. Evening was encroaching. The shadows within Kodaka’s office were deepening. He pulled out the whisky bottle and poured them both a glass. ‘Hiroji Nishizaki,’ he said quietly.