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  He glanced up to see Karen Fraser standing in his doorway and realized his mouth was stretched wide in a yawn.

  “Sorry.” He clapped a hand over his mouth. “I just can’t seem to get a decent night’s sleep. It’s driving me crazy.”

  She smiled. “It’ll pass, don’t worry.”

  “I sure hope so.”

  “How’s your coma guy?” Fraser took a seat opposite his desk.

  “No change. It’s not looking good.”

  “That really sucks. Say, did you see the email this morning?”

  “The lost passport?” Charlie nodded. “I told Louis I’d take it on. It’s not like I can do much for Lepage, as long as he’s still lying in a hospital bed. I did meet one of his friends from Canada yesterday, though.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “He was supposed to connect with Lepage last week and when he didn’t get an answer to his emails, this guy tracked him down at the hospital. Says they grew up together.”

  Fraser nodded. “Well, at least your guy’s not totally alone now … apart from you, I mean.”

  They chatted for a while about another consular file Fraser was working on, then they moved on to a departmental announcement about changes to consular services, speculating on what impact, if any, it would have on their jobs. As the conversation wound down, Fraser got up to leave, but paused at the door.

  “Listen, if you’re not doing anything this weekend, we’re going out with a bunch of people on Friday. Dinner, some drinks … maybe even some karaoke. Why don’t you join us?” Charlie’s smile faded a bit as he imagined himself as the only single guy in a group of happy couples. He had been there before and it was no fun being an awkward third, fifth, or seventh wheel. Fraser seemed to read his reservations. “It’s a really fun crowd. Different ages, some couples, some singles. You should really come out.”

  “Thanks,” he said, wondering if he was giving off a desperate vibe, to the point that she was trying to set him up out of pity. Considering the types of evenings he had spent so far — last night being a prime example — he didn’t have much to lose. “Sounds great,” he added, glancing at his watch and noticing it was a couple of minutes past ten. “Oh, I’m late for a meeting with Louis.”

  “Better run,” she said with a knowing grin.

  It was five after by the time he made it to Denault’s office. He could hear him on the phone, so he hovered outside the open door until he heard him hang up, then rapped on the door jamb.

  “Oh, there you are,” Denault said, waving him in and making a show of looking at his watch. Charlie decided to ignore it and took a seat.

  “I need you to meet with that property developer this week, to hear them on this development next door,” Denault began, reaching for a file folder on his side table and sliding it across the desk. “This is their latest proposal.”

  “Sure,” Charlie said. “I’ve got that passport file from this morning to work on, plus the Lepage case, but I’ll get to it.”

  Denault gave a thin smile and shook his head. “This takes priority, and as I understand it, your medical case is in a coma, so there’s not much to do there.”

  “Actually, I’ve been in touch with a family friend …”

  “Anyway,” Denault continued, cutting him off. “Please meet with the Miton people as soon as possible. As I mentioned, if it’s not a realistic proposal, then it won’t take much of your time. The HOM would like an update by the end of the week,” he added, using the acronym for head of mission, or ambassador.

  Charlie glanced down at the file and bit his tongue. When he looked up, Denault was staring at him with a puzzled expression on his face. “That’s all.”

  “All right then,” Charlie said, getting up and heading out of the office. By the time he had reached the other end of the hall, he was steaming. He thumped into his chair and tossed the file on his desk, then spent a few minutes stewing. He was wondering how to go about cancelling his own posting when he recognized Dr. Yamaguchi’s name on an incoming email message and clicked it open. He had an update on Lepage’s condition. Charlie snatched up the phone and dialed Yamaguchi’s number. After a few rings, he was directed to voicemail. Rather than leaving a message, he hung up the phone, slid on his jacket, and headed out the door, careful to avoid Denault’s corner as he made his way to the elevator.

  “Ah, Mr. Hillier,” Yamaguchi said as Charlie arrived at the fifth-floor reception area. “I see you got my message.”

  “Has there been a change in his condition?”

  Yamaguchi nodded, though there was nothing in his inscrutable expression to indicate whether Charlie was about to hear good news or bad. For the first time, the unsettling possibility that Lepage had taken a turn for the worse entered his mind.

  “Mr. Lepage recovered consciousness briefly this morning.”

  “Well, that’s great,” Charlie said, feeling a wave of relief, until Yamaguchi’s frown stopped him short. “You said … briefly?”

  “He’s been in and out of consciousness ever since, but I was able to perform some initial tests while he was awake.”

  “And?” Charlie was wondering what it would take to get this guy to spill the beans.

  “The results are generally positive, and I am optimistic that this transitional period will pass.”

  “You mean he’ll be out of the coma for good?”

  “That is my hope.” Yamaguchi nodded. “But I do have some questions for you.”

  Charlie shrugged. “Of course.”

  “You mentioned that Mr. Lepage was from an English-speaking part of Canada, is this correct?”

  “He’s from Toronto, yes. Why do you ask?”

  “Because his initial communications were in French. I spent some time in Montreal, as you know, and while I am not at all fluent, I recognize the language.”

  Charlie was taken aback. “He was speaking French?”

  Yamaguchi nodded.

  “As far as I know, he’s an English speaker,” Charlie said, trying to recall if there was anything in Lepage’s file to suggest he was francophone and thinking not. “I suppose it’s possible he had some French in his family background. Lepage is actually a French name, now that I think of it.”

  “Hmm.” Yamaguchi crossed his arms.

  “Were you able to understand what he was saying?”

  “Not really. I thought he mentioned his employer, Nippon Kasuga, and I’m sure he said Montreal, but it was all very … disjointed. Also, as I mentioned, I have to confess that my understanding of French is limited.”

  “I guess that’s not unusual — his words being disjointed?” It was a question and not a statement, Charlie being in no position to be suggesting what was or wasn’t normal behaviour for someone coming out of a coma, much less to an experienced neurologist. “As for the French, I just assumed he was an anglophone, but it’s just as likely thatFrench is his first language. Canada’s a bilingual country, after all.” Charlie suddenly thought back to Mike Seger’s explanation of his own accent. It seemed odd that he hadn’t mentioned Lepage speaking French as well, if that were the case. He looked at Yamaguchi, who seemed to be turning over the information and possibilities in his own mind, preoccupied by something.

  “His … girlfriend seemed confused,” the neurologist said. “She had never heard him speak French before.”

  “His girlfriend?” Charlie’s eyebrows shot up. “What girlfriend?”

  “You didn’t get my voicemail?”

  Charlie’s growing confusion must have been obvious.

  “I left it after I sent my email,” Yamaguchi said, his expression turning apologetic. “You must had already left your office … a woman arrived this morning who said she and Mr. Lepage were … are in a relationship.”

  “Did she leave her name?”

  “She’s with the nurse.” Yamaguchi gestured down the hall. “Come with me.”

  Charlie followed him around the corner and immediately noticed a striking Japanese woman in the hallwa
y outside Lepage’s room, in a heated discussion with a nurse. Charlie put her in her late twenties, with a tall, athletic figure. He had noticed Japanese women were big fans of leather boots, but the stilettos this woman was wearing were distinctive, and seemed at odds with the rest of her outfit, which was more conservative. As she turned at Charlie and Yamaguchi’s approach, he saw her face and noted that she was very attractive, but there was something in her eyes that suggested a hardness beyond the conventional Japanese reserve. Yamaguchi exchanged a few words with the woman and the nurse, who headed off toward the reception area, then he switched to English.

  “Ms. Kimura, meet Mr. Charlie Hillier, from the Canadian embassy.”

  Charlie felt a frisson as she gave him a once over with those eyes before switching to a demure smile and bow. “Aiko Kimura.”

  “A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kimura,” he said, reciprocating with his own bow. “I understand from Dr. Yamaguchi that you’re … friends with Mr. Lepage?”

  She looked to Yamaguchi and back, a thin smile briefly appearing on her face. “We are more than friends, Mr. Hillier.”

  “Well, that’s great.” Charlie avoided her gaze. “I’ve been looking into Mr. … into Rob’s case for the past few days, and I’d really like to ask you some questions, if you wouldn’t mind.”

  Kimura looked at Yamaguchi again and gestured to the closed door behind her. “You’ll let me know as soon as he wakes up again?”

  “Of course.”

  “In that case, Mr. Hill—”

  “Call me Charlie.”

  “Charlie,” she repeated. For the first time, he saw what he thought was her real smile, and detected something sly about it. “I’d be happy to talk to you.”

  “Can I buy you a coffee downstairs?”

  She nodded, and after further assurances from Yamaguchi that he would let them know of any change in Lepage’s condition, they headed for the cafeteria.

  CHAPTER 6

  “So, you work at the embassy?” Kimura asked as they took a seat at a table in a quiet corner of the cafeteria.

  “That’s right. I’m the consular officer for Rob’s case.” Charlie flipped the plastic tab open on his coffee cup. “That means I look out for his interests as much as I can. Usually, a lot of that is getting in touch with relatives back in Canada. In Rob’s case though, I haven’t had any luck, which why I’m glad I bumped into you.”

  Kimura paused with her coffee hallway to her mouth, a puzzled frown on her face. “I don’t know if he has any family in Canada. We didn’t talk about that.”

  “Well, let’s start with you two — how did you meet?” Charlie continued, sensing an odd, underlying resistance.

  She shrugged and slid off her jacket, revealing a skin-tight long-sleeve denim shirt that outlined a taut physique. He noticed the edge of a tattoo — flames or the outline of an animal? — peeking out from under the collar of her shirt, extending to the base of her neck. “A mutual friend introduced us at a party. We exchanged numbers and then got together a little while later.”

  Charlie nodded, though he was finding getting information from Kimura a bit like drawing blood from a stone. “You know the company he works for, Nippon Kasuga?”

  She shook her head and grimaced, as though the thought were outlandish. “I don’t know it. I know he’s a trader, that’s all.”

  “You’re not in … securities then?”

  The thin smile returned as she turned her attention to the lid of her coffee cup. “No.”

  “Your English is very good, by the way.”

  “Thank you. I learned it in school, and from television,” she added. “All those American movies.”

  “Really? That’s pretty impressive.” Charlie kept smiling, thinking she sounded like a native speaker to him, not someone who got the gist of a language from watching TV. “What line of work are you in?”

  “Sales. Online sales,” she said. This time, instead of looking down at her cup she kept eye contact with him, as though inviting a challenge with those cold, dark eyes.

  “So, how long have you and Rob been seeing each other?”

  Another shrug. “Six weeks, maybe a little less.”

  “Did you meet any of his co-workers or friends here in Japan or from Canada?”

  “Rob and I spent a lot of time together,” she said. “But he never mentioned friends or family from Canada, and I didn’t meet any of his co-workers.”

  “Do you know how long he was planning to stay in Tokyo?”

  “Indefinitely, I think. You say you haven’t found any of his family in Canada?” she asked, in between sips of her coffee.

  “No, not yet.”

  “But you’ll keep looking, of course,” she added.

  “Yes, but at this point there’s not much to go on.” He thought of the company listed as Lepage’s previous employer, which Charlie had discovered was out of business. Not much of a lead. “I take it you weren’t with him on the night of the accident?”

  She shook her head. “I had to work, and he was supposed to go to Osaka on business for a couple of days, so I wasn’t worried when he didn’t respond to my texts.”

  “But you eventually got worried and tracked him down here?”

  “That’s right,” she said as Charlie spotted Mike Seger walking past the entrance to the cafeteria, headed for the elevators. Just before he was past the cafeteria doors, he saw Charlie and smiled, changing course and heading to their table.

  “Did you hear?” he said as he approached the table. “He came out of it this morning.”

  “Yes, I know. I just found out myself,” Charlie said, realizing he had promised to let Seger know as soon as heard any news. Seger was looking at Kimura, who continued to sip her coffee in the same leisurely fashion. “And I bumped into Ms. Kimura, here. She’s Rob’s girlfriend.”

  Seger showed no outward reaction to the news, but Charlie detected a slight pause as he processed it. “I didn’t know Rob had a girlfriend,” he said, sliding onto the seat next to Charlie and extending his hand over the table. “I’m Mike.”

  “Aiko Kimura,” she said, accepting his hand and shaking it. An awkward silence descended as she and Seger appeared to go through a silent mutual appraisal.

  “So what’s the good doc saying?” Seger finally asked, breaking off the staring match.

  “He’s cautiously optimistic,” Charlie said. “Rob’s been in and out of it today, and I don’t think he’s out of the woods yet, but Dr. Yamaguchi seems to think his chances for a full recovery are good.”

  “Is Yamaguchi here?” Seger gestured upstairs.

  “We left him ten minutes ago, so he should still be around if you want to get an update.”

  “I think I’ll do that, in a minute,” he said, turning his attention to Kimura, who sat with the same indifferent expression on her delicate features. “So, you’re Rob’s girlfriend, huh? Must be a recent thing.”

  “We’ve been together for a couple of months.”

  “Funny, he never mentioned you,” Seger said. He and Kimura locked stares again for a moment too long before he smiled. “That’s just like Rob, though. He’s always played his cards close to his chest, and I can see why he wanted to keep you all to himself.”

  Kimura gave a cold smile before firing off her own retort. “It is unusual that he didn’t mention his friendship with you, either.”

  “We go back a lot longer than you think, hon,” Seger said with a chuckle, crossing the index and second fingers of his right hand and holding it up to illustrate their bond. Charlie was about to mention the fact that Lepage had been speaking French when he had awoken from his coma when Seger’s phone went off.

  “Shit, I gotta take this, and then I should probably head upstairs. Listen, it was nice to meet you … Aiko.” He slid off the chair and looked to Charlie. “I’ll be in touch, okay?”

  Charlie and Kimura watched him leave, then she looked at her watch. “I should really be going. I have to check in at work, then I’ll co
me back to see how Rob’s doing.”

  “Can I get your contact information?” Charlie asked, as she stood to go.

  “Give me your card and I’ll send you an email.”

  “I know there’s one in here somewhere.” He rummaged in his pocket, coming up with a slightly bent business card. Thinking it unworthy of a formal presentation and sensing that Kimura couldn’t care less anyway, he handed it over.

  “Goodbye, Mr. Hillier.”

  He watched her go and finished his coffee, wondering if he should go back upstairs, but he decided he should really go back to the office and try to set up the property meeting if he wanted to avoid a run-in with Denault. As he made his way back out to the hospital entrance, he considered the odd exchange between Seger and Kimura. Maybe it was nothing more than cultural differences.

  Charlie had just finished a workout in the staff recreation centre and was heading back to his apartment when his phone went off. Recognizing the number, he took the call and heard Seger’s gravelly voice on the other end of the line.

  “You hear?”

  “Hear what?”

  “Rob’s in the clear. He’s out of the coma, for good. Yamaguchi thinks it’ll take some time for him to be a hundred percent, but he’s gonna be fine.”

  “That’s great news. Really great. Have you talked to him …

  Rob, I mean?”

  “Yeah, I went back in this afternoon and he was wide awake. We had a long talk.”

  “And how did he seem?”

  “It was weird,” Seger said. “One minute he seemed totally normal, and then he was kind of … out of it.”

  “Have you talked to Dr. Yamaguchi?”

  “I just spoke to him a little while ago. He said it’s normal for Rob to be a bit disoriented. He thought he might be a little better tomorrow, after some rest.”

  Charlie tried to remember when Denault’s biweekly administrative meeting was scheduled for tomorrow, and decided meeting with Lepage was more important — surely even Denault would acknowledge that. “I’m going to try to go over there tomorrow and talk to him. Thanks for letting me know.”

  “I was hoping I could meet with you tomorrow,” Seger said. “To talk about Rob’s arrangements at the hospital — getting him moved to a private room, stuff like that. I figure you can probably help run interference with the bean-counters at the hospital. I want to pay for everything, I’m just not that good with filling in forms, and I got the impression that they like their rules and regulations here, you know what I mean?”