“You will not be harmed in any way whatsoever, ” Modred said.

“We’re not murderers, Lieutenant, ” added Wyrdrune.

“At least one of you is, ” replied Fugisawa dryly.

“Believe what you choose, ” said Modred. “But there is no purpose

to be served in killing you when you could just as easily be made to

forget you’ve ever seen us.”

“I’m beginning to understand how you’ve managed to elude the

authorities for so long, ” said Fugisawa.

“How did Kobayashi know where we are?” asked Kira.

Fugisawa glanced at her sharply. “So Kobayashi told you about

me. Somehow, I didn’t think he’d violate our confidential

agreement, but I might have guessed.”

“As a matter of fact, he didn’t, ” Modred said. “It was a logical

deduction. No one except Kobayashi and a few of his trusted men

knows I’m in Japan. And we knew that Kobayashi had some sort of

an arrangement with the police. You are obviously part of that

arrangement.”

“It isn’t what you think.”

“What do I think?”

“That I’m on his payroll. I’m not. I’m a good cop.”

“A good cop who has a confidential agreement with the Yakuza?”

asked Wyrdrune wryly.

“Not with the Yakuza per se. With Kobayashi, ” Fugisawa said.

“It doesn’t involve any money. We both have our own reasons for

wanting this necromancer serial killer off the streets. We merely

agreed between ourselves to cooperate on that. Only on that. And

you’re wrong about Kobayashi being the only one who knows you’re

here. He’s bragged about it to the council of the Yakuza. Having a

serial killer loose in his district is causing him a lot of problems and

making him look bad, like he can’t keep order on his turf. He tried

to save face by telling the council that he’s convinced the famous

Morpheus to come out of retirement and take on the contract. The

word’s already on the streets.”

Modred’s lips compressed into a tight grimace. “That’s most