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Who the fuck is Cain?
The professor pauses, clearly unnerved by the atmosphere in the room. “Does that…help?”
Annika steps closer, her face pale. “Hana texted me about meeting Cain that night, before they were taken.” She exchanges a worried glance with me.
I grit my teeth. The puzzle’s still too fragmented. Too disjointed.
Takeshi frowns. “What are the odds that a washed-up D-list actress is a cybersecurity expert just a couple years later?”
“Fucking low,” I growl, my mind racing.
Annika looks at Professor Eiji. “Thank you so much for your help, Professor. I’ll have someone drive you home.”
He nods quickly, clearly eager to get out of the room. As soon as he’s gone I stand up, the weight of everything pressing down on me.
“She’s not a hacker,” I mutter.
“How do you know that?” Annika asks.
“I don’t. But I’m going to figure it out.”
The doorto the modest apartment in Wakayama creaks open, and a young, pretty woman looks up at me shyly.
I’ve done my homework on the drive down here. Kitamura Kyoisstill an actress, it appears. She’s done a few regional TV commercials for a cat food brand, and she’s the spokeswoman for a plastic surgery clinic in Wakayama. But that’s it.
I already have an idea how she’s connected to Jonas, but I need to hear it from her.
“Good evening. Kitamura Kyo, is that correct?” I ask, my voice low and steady. I don’t want to scare her too badly, because she might be my only link to that fuck and finding Freya and Hana.
She blinks, seemingly surprised at my Japanese. Most people are when agaijinlike me, with my blue eyes and tall stature, can speak fluently.
She nods quickly. “Y-yes. That’s me.”
“I need to speak with you about a job.”
She smiles. “Oh? Okay, I can get you the number for my agent?—”
“You don’thavean agent,” I growl quietly. “The one listed on your website has a number that can easily be traced to this address. Which is how I found you.”
The poor woman pales, fear creeping into her eyes, visibly nervous as hell. “Okay. But I don’t do so much acting anymore. I’m mostly writing these days. I’m working on a play, actually?—”
“I’m not interested in your play,” I interrupt, my voice sharp. “I’m interested in your role as Cain.”
The blood drains from her face.
“You were hired to pretend to be a hacker called Cain. You were in New York, where you met a young woman around your age?—”
She nods. “Freya. Yes, I remember.”
My head tips to the side slightly. “Whatspecificallywere you hired to do?”
She stares at me, frozen. Then, slowly, she nods. “A man reached out. He said he’d loved me onLotus Brideand wanted to hire me for this immersive mystery thing for a friend of his.”
I frown. “Immersive mystery?”
“Yes, likeThe Game, that movie with Michael Douglas. He said his friend Freya was going to have to solve all these real-world clues to figure out the mystery.” She smiles. “It sounded fun.”
“And you kept in contact with Freya? I mean after you met her in New York?”
