The Devouring God Read Online Free Page A

high for entrance without considerable noise. The window here by the desk is operational and safe. Use the speaker phone, not the headset. No one could get in here before you could call and get out via another exit.”
    Ota clapped his hands. “But that won’t be necessary, because Takuda the Giant will be here.”
    â€œThat’s very rude,” the office manager said. She sat down without even glancing at Ota.
    Ota seemed not to hear her at all. “Well,” he said to Hasegawa, rubbing his hands together, “shall we be off?”
    When they had gone, the office manager introduced herself as Kaneko Yoshida. She was brisk and polite. “There’s a chair in the storeroom, Security Guard,” she said. “Please bring it out. I’m sorry I can’t offer you anything more comfortable at the moment.”
    â€œNow then,” Detective Kimura said to her as Takuda sat, “tell me more about this foreigner who wants your bones.”

 
    CHAPTER 4
    Tuesday Morning
    D etective Kimura leaned forward. “You must have been very frightened, Ms. Yoshida.”
    Yoshida frowned. “I thought it was a mistake. His Japanese was good, but bones had to be a mistake. It had to be. Then he laughed, a very nervous laugh, and it sounded very brittle and metallic. It was like he was calling through one of those old analog cell phones.”
    â€œNow listen to me,” the detective said. He put his hand on the desk, not close enough to touch her, but she withdrew her arm anyway. “While you’re telling me what he said, tell me how he said it. You said you couldn’t identify his accent, but try to tell me anything you remember.”
    â€œThat’s what I’ve been doing,” she said. “You haven’t been taking notes, though.”
    He tapped his temple to indicate that he didn’t need a notebook. “Please continue.”
    Yoshida didn’t bother to look exasperated. “He was still talking in a rush, even though he sounded a little relieved to tell his big secret. He said the desire is not normal, but it is very comforting, like a place he goes when he is troubled or bored. He says that more and more, he goes there when he is doing something else, and even when he is very busy.”
    â€œSo he is now in some discomfort. He’s really obsessed, and it’s getting in the way with his daily life. In a week, he’ll be integrated, ready to completely decompensate.”
    Yoshida sat back. “That’s fancy diagnostic talk. Are you a trained psychologist?”
    â€œI’ve dealt with a ­couple of cases like this.”
    She blinked before continuing. “You have the mistaken confidence of the self-­educated. I doubt any psychiatric professional would be confident enough to predict a complete psychotic break a week ahead. Anyway, he said he finds himself drawing bones in his journal at night and even in the border of his notepad during staff meetings, and he hopes the dean doesn’t see him.”
    â€œSo he’s tenured.”
    â€œA foreigner with tenure here in Fukuoka? I seriously doubt that. He may be a full-­time employee, but not with tenure.”
    The detective shrugged to indicate that she might be right.
    â€œAnyway, he had slowed down a little by this point. He said these thoughts are pleasant except for two aspects. First, that these thoughts come from somewhere else, as if someone else desires these things through him, using his mind. And second, that there is a flavor or a tone to these thoughts that he cannot explain.”
    â€œWhich did he say?”
    â€œWhich what did he say?”
    â€œDid he say flavor or tone ?”
    â€œHe said both. He said that there is a flavor or a tone to these thoughts that he cannot explain. At this point, I said he didn’t mean bones , and he just used the wrong word. Or maybe bones meant something else, some sort of slang in the