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Back The Fine Art of Invisible Detection Save as PDF
Chapters (38)
  1. COVER
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. ALSO BY ROBERT GODDARD
  4. DEDICATION
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. RE-EMERGENCE
  36. READ MORE
  37. ONE
  38. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

Looking at Nick, Wada has the impression he may have asked her that question several times. She gathers her thoughts as best she can. ‘Nothing,’ she says, trying to smile. ‘You should not delay calling your wife any longer.’ She hands him the phone. ‘I have often dreamt of hearing good news about my husband rather than the bad news that came. For your wife, good news will not be a dream. So, call her, Miller-san. Now.’

Wada follows Nick as he walks slowly back along the beach, away from the people milling around the crater in the sand, away from the smoke and the gaggle of voices and the dying crackle of the flames. He has her phone clapped to one ear and a hand pressed to the other so he’ll be able to hear clearly when his call is answered.

She can tell the moment it is by a sudden relaxation of the set of his shoulders. Then he starts speaking. ‘It’s me, Kate … Yes … Yes, I’m free and I’m fine … Everything’s all right … I know, darling, I know …’

Wada falls further back. She doesn’t want to listen to what Nick is saying. That is between him and his wife. She’ll tell him about the message from Driscoll later. How much later she’s not sure, but she thinks she’ll know when the moment is right.

There’ll be quite a few more right moments to judge beyond that. But Wada hasn’t yet looked too far ahead. She gazes left at the broad blue expanse of the ocean. The waves are rolling gently in. The rising sun is warm on her face. She’s not sure why, but she feels more alive than she has in years, maybe decades.

RE-EMERGENCE

Ten months later

UMIKO WADA ISN’T a private detective. at least, she says she isn’t. She says she doesn’t even work for a private detective any more. But, strangely, in the process of tying up loose ends in the cases ongoing at the time of the death of her late employer, Kazuto Kodaka, she found herself hired by several of his former clients to deal with their problems in her characteristically discreet, low-key, effective manner.

She’s still based in Kodaka’s office in the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo and it seems she’s now widely regarded as his professional successor. The work keeps on coming. She’s never idle.