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“Talking? About what? What could you have to discuss with my father?”
Watanabe looked at the newcomer, his gaze growing dull. “The war. We were talking about the war.”
The daughter glared at Remi and shook her head. “You’ve talked enough. Leave him alone. He’s not well, and he doesn’t need to have strangers making him relive that nightmare.”
Sam rose. “We’re sorry, it’s just that—”
The woman cut him off. “Go on. Leave. He’s tired. Look at him. What’s wrong with you—don’t you have any compassion? He’s been to hell and back. Just leave him in peace.”
Chastened, Sam and Remi moved to the door. “We meant no harm,” Remi said in a quiet voice.
“I grew up seeing what that war did to him. He moved away from Japan after ten years there—the war broke him, as well as the country he loved, and he never went back. What do you know about anything? Just . . . go. He’s been through enough.”
Sam led Remi outside, his expression grim. When they reached the car, he hesitated before opening his door.
“Maybe she was right. That didn’t really tell us much, did it?”
“Sam, we’ve done this often enough. We had to talk to him. He was our only lead.”
“I know. But she was furious. I hope we didn’t upset the old man.”
“She was the one who seemed bent out of shape. He didn’t. Maybe she’s just being protective.”
He shook his head and popped the locks using the remote. “I can see her point.”
“Sam, we didn’t do anything wrong.”
He slid behind the wheel and slid the key into the ignition. “I know. So why does it feel like we did?”
CHAPTER 26
The streets of Honiara were slick from a recent cloudburst when Sam and Remi arrived the next afternoon. They dropped their bags at the room and Sam eyed Remi, the hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“What?” she asked.
“I was just thinking it is a nice day for a drive.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Oh, really. Where did you have in mind?”
“We might want to go back and talk to Rubo. He was around during the Japanese occupation. He may know something.”
“Unless it’s how to find a ship that’s a mile and a half below the surface and raise it off the bottom, I doubt it.”
“Perhaps,” Sam said. “But we don’t have much else to do. We can hang out on the boat and watch the divers blow sediment all over, but that doesn’t feel particularly useful, does it?”
Remi shuddered involuntarily, the cold air-conditioning prickling her skin. “As I recall, the last time we did that trip, we came back without a car.”
“I promise not to get run off the road.”
“Or shot at?” She sighed. “I suppose there’s no point in trying to talk you out of it.”
“We’ll be fine. What could . . .” Sam paused with a slight wink of his eye before continuing in a firm, deliberately bright voice. “What could be nicer than a drive along the coast?”
“Close, Fargo, close.”
He looked at her innocently, his face a blank.
There was one roadblock on the road out of town, but the police waved them through without interest. Apparently, the state of emergency was over and things were back to as routine as they ever were. When they ran out of pavement, the van bumped down the dirt track that ran along the river and Sam had to slow to a crawl.