Javier felt utterly out of place, in black clothes that didn't feel formal enough. Jacob had led the ceremony in his own living room, even singing a short Buddhist prayer. Javier went up to burn incense when it was his turn, staring dully at Mr. Tanaka's body. They'd found a black kimono to dress him in. Such a pointless death, for a man who might still have lived a long time, to pass on his wisdom. But Javier supposed Tanaka had died believing he'd accomplished what he needed to, in the end.
They mingled awkwardly after the service, nibbling on snacks. Nicola went to check on Mark again, while Esther walked over to Tomiko.
"Selena told me it's customary to leave small items of value to the one being remembered, to burn along with the body. I pulled some blank pages of his notebook, if you think it would be appropriate."
Tomiko nodded, and Esther placed them in the fold of the kimono while she watched.
"It is safe, still?" she asked.
Esther nodded. "Our friend Kat sent me a message that the state university here in Reno has a copy of the book we need. For now, I'm carrying the notebook personally. I don't know of any safer way to handle it. Perhaps I should destroy it after I translate it. I could do that now, even. I have all the numbers memorized."
Tomiko shook her head. "I can't imagine a safer place for it. I think you should wait at least until you've translated it, and told others its contents. I don't want you to carry all that information yourself, the way Uncle did for so long." She sighed. "Esther, would you come to the cremation with me? For family members, there is a traditional way of handling the ashes afterwards. That book is what remains of my Uncle's life work, and I suppose mine in a way. He chose you as its recipient, even from across the world. I think that makes you family of a sort."
"I would be honored," she said.
* * *
While Jacob and Esther were out with Tomiko, Javier received the message he'd been anticipating with some dread.
"Selena, Nicola, Raj," he called. "Myra Jackson replied." The four of them gathered around to read the text.
J,
The man was indeed Esteban Castillo. It is a shame we could not capture him alive, but given what was apparently required to kill him, I suspect it would have been nearly impossible. You can tell your friends that they did the world a great service eliminating this man, and I am sorry for their losses. There will not be any further public investigation of his death, which has been tied to a cartel power struggle.
Your implication that this man specifically targeted those investigating, including other Changed, is intriguing. There are other recent murders that he may be responsible for. If you hear anything about how he or his superiors selected and tracked their targets, it would be of great value in our investigation.
"Huh," said Javier.
"Yeah," Selena said. "Pretty chummy again, isn't she? Telling us they'd cleaned up the murder neatly, exactly what we wanted to hear. I'm sure they did, but that doesn't mean they aren't keeping the evidence for future leverage. What do you think of that last sentence?"
"It was kind of specific," said Javier. "We were only guessing about him targeting investigators. We thought Aaron was killed only to avoid exposing the Chosen. But of course Jackson would be unnerved at the idea of being personally targeted by someone like Castillo, or higher-ups in the cartels."
"Other murders," said Nicola. "I assumed she meant other Changed, like maybe the one in Toronto that Esther sensed. But what if there have already been assassinations of her own colleagues?"
"Then she would owe us a lot more than she's admitting," said Selena. "And have even more reason for keeping the feds away from us, so we could continue doing her dangerous dirty work. But if she thinks we killed Castillo, she would have upgraded her estimate of our capabilities. That could be good or bad."
"I understand why we directed Jackson's attention toward the cartels," said Raj. "But let's not get confused by that story ourselves. Remember what you thought about Aaron's murder? You thought his killer was directed into the middle of nowhere by Unity. It seems Unity itself did a lot to organize Black Christmas, and that it's also partly responsible for the different factions. The hasten-the-apocalypse faction, the keep-Changed-hidden faction, the hunker-down-in-Oregon faction, maybe more. I'm having trouble fitting the Mexican or the cartels into this scheme."
"You're right," Nicola said. "We shouldn't jump to conclusions. And we still haven't discussed how Castillo found us. Castillo obviously had great skills, but Esther would have heard him long before if he'd been tracking us closely. Both Esther and Tanaka were hiding, and Esther thinks Tanaka was also world-class at doing that. Maybe he slipped up at some point, but even Esther hadn't been able to find him before."
"So both Tanaka's and Aaron's murders are pointing towards Unity," Selena said. "Or some similar mechanism that operates differently from Esther's type of perception. We immediately started thinking of the Mexican, because he's the one Tanaka was most scared of. Maybe the Mexican is even more sensitive than Esther, and found us that way. But Tanaka was an obvious target. Aaron wasn't."
Nicola sighed. "What if the Mexican is using Unity? Think how scary someone of Esther's strength would be if she was snatching peeks at the future, and then imagine it as anyone other than Esther."
"I guess maybe we'll know more with Tanaka's notes," said Javier. "We'll have to be patient."
* * *
Selena and Javier wandered the stacks, trying to look like casual browsers, while Esther worked. She'd already memorized the fat Hungarian dictionary, and now she was reading the slim novel more slowly. All of it seemed slow to Javier, who was used to seeing her flip through books at ridiculous speed. But he knew that her memory, while amazing, still had limitations. She could skim a book at lightning speed and retain every detail of the text's meaning. Or she could read a little slower and remember every word in order. Memorizing in a language she didn't know was slower still, and despite inhaling the dictionary, she wasn't a Hungarian speaker yet.
Esther finally put the book back on the shelf, and then immediately opened her sketchpad to doodle and let her mind process the memories. Finally she looked up and smiled. "I think that was a good book. Maybe I need to learn Hungarian properly. I kept getting distracted, trying to understand the sentences. Anyway, let's find somewhere quieter. You guys are already making me nervous, and there are too many people in here."
In the end they just returned to Jacob's place. Esther started reading the coded notebook as they drove, and Javier was itching to know what was in there. But she said it would be easier to wait until the end, and then she could tell them all together.
