Chapter 18. Thursday, June 28. 16:10. Deluxe King Bed Suite with city view, 49th floor, Park Hyatt Tokyo, Shinjuku District, Tokyo.
“So how do you think they got them out of here?” Bill Johnson asked.
“I’ve noticed that when you call for an elevator, sometimes the center one comes and sometimes the one on the left comes, but never the one on the right. That must be the service elevator. It probably requires a staff key or some kind of code and it probably goes down to a loading dock in the garage under the tower. That’s how they would get supplies in and trash and laundry out.”
“Makes sense,” Bill said. ”They would hardly bring them out through the main lobby.”
“Wait here,” Stan said. “I’m going to talk to Tamiko.”
Stan descended to the check in lobby. He handed the key to Room 4902 back to Tamiko. “You see, just as I promised,” he said.
“You are very honest,” she replied. “Sometimes, at least,” she added, raising her eyebrows.
“Can you take a short break?” Stan asked.
“Actually, I am due for a fifteen minute break just now.”
‘Sometimes luck smiles on me,’ Stan thought. “Would you mind coming up to Room 4902? This is police business, and I need to speak privately with you. Bill Johnson is there as well.”
“Is this real police business, or pretend?”
“Unfortunately, this is very real.”
“OK,” Tamiko said. “Give me five minutes.”
“That’s fine. I don’t want anyone to see us going up together. Just knock on the door. Oh, and do you have a few small plastic bags, like a sandwich bag or a small wastebasket bag? And some gloves?”
“I think there are some in the staff room,” she replied.
Stan returned to the room, knocking and being let in by Bill. The two former detectives looked the scene over once again. No doubt a forensic team would find plenty of useful information-hairs, DNA, maybe even fingerprints if the kidnap team had been sloppy-but without access to a lab, there wasn’t much they could do with that. Anyway, the priority was on finding the three women, not on making a case that a jury would convict on.
“We’re going to have to trust Tamiko,” Stan said. “We need some inside help.”
“I sense there’s something going on between you two,” Bill said.
“It’s insight like that the NYPD missed when you left,” Stan said.
Bill ignored the sarcasm. “She seems like a straight arrow to me.”
“A little bent in some ways,” Stan said, winking, “But, where it counts, yeah.”
There was a knock at the door. Stan went over to the door and said, “Yes?”
“It’s me, Tamiko,” he heard. He opened it just enough to let her in, then quickly closed it. “No one saw you?” he asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” she replied. She looked at Bill. “Are you working with Mr. Goldman-I mean Stan-on this?”
“Not officially,” Bill said, “But, yes.” Stan nodded to confirm this.
“Look, Tamiko, something very bad has happened,” Stan told her. “The three women in this room- Professor Moore, Officer Thorell and Intern Sjöberg-have been kidnapped by a very evil bunch known as the Syndicate.”
“That’s horrible!” Tamiko said. “Have you called the police- I mean the Tokyo Police, not the retired police?” she said.
“We can’t,” Bill said. He motioned Tamiko over to look at the note. “Don’t touch it, just read it. That red dragon is the symbol of The Syndicate, by the way.” She read the note and looked up at the two detectives, visibly upset.
“So you see why we can’t tell the police and why you must keep this strictly between the three of us, Tamiko,” Stan said. “Lives depend on that.”
“So what are you going to do?” she asked.
“Find them,” Stan replied.
“How?” Tamiko asked.
‘That was a good question,’ Stan thought. “We’ll need your help,” he said.
“Me? What can I do?”
“Is one of the elevators reserved for staff use to bring supplies in and out?” Bill asked.
“Yes,” Tamiko replied. “The one on the right as you face the elevator bank. You need a staff ID badge to operate it,” she said, fingering her ID badge.
“So they had to have had inside help,” Stan said.
Tamiko frowned. “That’s awful! I can’t believe someone I work with would do such a thing! It will ruin the hotel if it gets out.”
“Another reason to keep this secret,” Bill said. “This Syndicate is enormously wealthy. They could easily offer someone more than they earn in a year of working here at the hotel. Or ten years for that matter. They are involved in sex trafficking-luring young women from poor countries or troubled families to sell them to wealthy clients as sex slaves. I think you can imagine how awful that life would be.”
Tamiko looked visibly shocked at the thought. “Those poor women,” she said.
“So we need to find them as quickly as possible,” Bill added.
“One way you could help is to keep an eye on your co-workers,” Stan told her. “Especially housekeeping and maintenance staff. Does anyone quit suddenly? Does anyone come in wearing fancy jewelry they never wore before? Do they brag about a new car or a fancy vacation they just booked? Do you hear anything? See anything? We need to know.”
Tamiko nodded. “I can do that.”
“Good,” Bill said. Also can you take us in the staff elevator? I assume it goes down to a loading dock in the garage?”
“Yes, it does.”
“Go out and call it,” Stan said. “If there’s no one in it, then motion to us and we’ll come.” He slipped on a pair of the gloves Tamiko had brought and carefully placed the errant cell phone and the note from the kidnappers in one of the plastic bags, then pocketed it. He let Tamiko out to call the elevator. He saw the door open and she motioned for them. He and Bill moved quickly to the waiting car. Tamiko pressed the Door Close button, then B for basement.
The elevator opened to a hallway. Tamiko turned left and they followed her through a metal door onto a loading dock. Dead ahead was a ramp that ascended to a garage door. “Is that the street out there?” Bill asked. Tamiko nodded.
Stan did quick tour of the loading dock. Pushed into a corner, behind some shelving, he saw it-a large wheeled cart with the hotel logo on the side. “Over here,” he called.
“Oh,” Tamiko said. “That’s one of the carts they use for laundry. It shouldn’t be left here.” She reached out to grab it, presumably so she could return it to its proper place.
“Don’t touch it!” Stan said.
He turned to Bill. “You think three fairly small women could fit in there.”
“If the folks putting them inside didn’t care about their comfort, I would guess so. Especially if they were bound and gagged so they couldn’t struggle too much,” Bill replied.
“Well, I think we have our answer as to how they got them out,” Stan said.
“That’s awful!” Tamiko exclaimed. “They seemed like very nice ladies, too. Anything I can do to help, I am ready,” she vowed. “But my break is almost over, so I must get back to the desk.”
Tamiko got in the service elevator while Stan and Bill walked up two flights of stairs to the main lobby of the tower and took the public elevators up to the hotel.