Three more days, three more bodies. And B. O. T. agent Akiro

Katayama had not made any further progress. All he had was a

pattern. Young women were being killed, all hookers presumably,

though some of the bodies had been so thoroughly savaged that it

was impossible to make any sort of identification at all, beyond the

approximate age and sex. That was the hellish part of any

investigation in the Ginza. Tokyo was a teeming city, full of people

who survived on the fringes of society, people who had no

documentation whatsoever. And many of them gravitated to the

Ginza. They were born in poverty and squalor and they often spent

their lives that way, living and dying in the city’s forgotten

warrens.

Those fortunate enough to better their lots usually did so through

crime, resulting in a constant influx into Japan’s criminal classes of

people who did not even officially exist. Unless, at some point in

their lives, they happened to be arrested, there was no record of

them whatsoever. Which meant no way to contact any next of kin,

no way to identify dead bodies through such things as dental

records, no way to determine who their friends were, who they

worked for, or where they lived. And even if the corpse was

recognizable, people in the Ginza were not forthcoming when it

came to giving information to the cops. Especially a Bureau cop,

because that meant that magic was involved and the lower classes

were frequently afraid of magic. So how the hell was he supposed to

conduct an investigation?

He knew precious little. He knew, without a question of a doubt,

that necromancy was behind it. The trace emanations from the

corpses were extremely strong. Not many people could detect them,

even among magic-users, but the adept agents of the Bureau were

selected from among the best graduates of thaumaturgy schools

and they were trained extensively, their natural sensitivities

polished to a high degree of acuteness. The minimum grade

required for acceptance to Bureau training was wizard. And the

platinum shield was not awarded to anyone who failed to pass any

aspect of the grueling course, which culminated in a series of exams

including certification as a sorcerer. Many tried to make the grade.

Only a few succeeded. Akiro was one of the best agents on the staff