seen more than his share of dead bodies in his time, but never one

like this.

“The others were like this, as well?” he asked.

“More or less.”

Akiro glanced at Fugisawa. “What do you mean, more or less?”

The policeman shrugged. “Sometimes there was more of them,

sometimes less.”

“I’ll want a full report. You have photographs, of course.”

“Of course. And you can also view the remains, if you wish.”

“I don’t wish, ” said Akiro with a grimace, “but I’m afraid I’ll have

to. You were right to call me in on this.”

“Necromancy?” asked Fugisawa softly.

“No question of it. The trace emanations are extremely strong.

Has the media had any word of this?‘’

“No, we’ve kept it quiet. In the Ginza, that’s not hard to do.”

“Good. I don’t want a word of this to leak out to the press, is that

understood? As of this moment, this is a Bureau case.”

“You’re welcome to it.”

Akiro turned away from the bloody mess lying in the alley and

took a deep breath. “Damn, ” he said. “A serial killer is bad enough,

but an adept…”

“At least it gives you a narrower field of suspects, ” said

Fugisawa.

“I don’t suppose anyone saw or heard anything?”

“In the Ginza?” said Fugisawa wryly.

Akiro grunted.

“What do you think it was?”

“Something with teeth, ” Akiro said. “A lot of very sharp teeth.”

The apartment looked like an electronics warehouse into which

someone had tossed a hand grenade. There was hardly anyplace to

stand, much less sit. The ratty old couch, the coffee table, the end

tables, various wooden crates, shelves, and almost every inch of