This didn’t slow her down, however. “How about ‘canine detective,’ then? At any rate, he was amazing. I wish you could have seen Chris jumping into the thieves’ apartment to rescue us. It was so cool.”
“Now, now, Mayuka. Try not to cause trouble again, okay? Everyone was worried about you.”
Hinata felt very guilty about the whole thing. “I’m sorry, Officer. But…thank you. I heard you were the one who figured out where we were.”
“And I heard you solved the entire mystery before the police got there. Your grandpa was bragging about you afterward.”
Hinata’s entire face went red. “Um, but…they were all just guesses. I didn’t have evidence. It was just an explanation that seemed to make sense…”
“I know, but we have a fancy term for that: circumstantial evidence. It’s not enough on its own, but police often start with just that and use it to find the real evidence.”
“Wow, Hinata, good for you!” said Mayuka. “He said you had serkumstansive evidence!” Despite not understanding the word, Mayuka seconded Iwata’s praise. Hinata felt himself growing even redder.
“But you still shouldn’t put yourself in danger like that,” Officer Iwata said, holding up a finger in admonishment. “The jewel thieves have been caught, but there might be more to the case. They could have ties to a larger criminal group, so we have even more careful investigation ahead of us.”
Hinata recalled that the boss had mentioned a superior more than once. That probably meant he was part of a larger organization, and the people above him hadn’t been caught yet.
Iwata patted Hinata and Mayuka on their shoulders and said, “But the most important thing is your safety. Don’t ever forget that.”
“Yes, sir!” Mayuka said, beaming. She raised her hand in the air and swore, “You’ll never have to worry about me again. Now, we’re going to go finish our walk.”
Iwata watched them go, shaking his head and murmuring, “Never, huh…?”
Shunya had let Hinata in on a secret.
“The truth is, Hinata, the case that caused Chris to be separated from his original owner, Mr. Kobayashi, and forced him to retire from being a police dog involved a burglary ring. An international group of jewel thieves, in fact. The incident happened in a port not too far away from here—the same place Takaki was ferrying the stolen jewelry…”
Hinata was stunned. It had never occurred to him that the incident with Takaki might be related to Chris’s past.
“As I said before, Chris might be wanted by this organization. Which is why I want you to stay out of trouble,” Shunya said with a pained smile. “On the other hand, you and Chris make a good team.”
Hinata smiled shyly and blushed. Chris looked back at him and whimpered happily.
“We always wind up around here,” Mayuka said with a grin. Their route was taking them toward Takaki’s apartment next. “He hasn’t come back home yet, right? We can still see his door, though. Let’s go.”
Why would we want to see his door? Hinata thought. Yet a part of him understood what she meant.
But when Mayuka rushed ahead and peered around the concrete wall at the building, she let out a shriek.
“H-Hinata! It happened again,” she stammered, hurrying back to him. Her face was pale. “Another break-in. The d-d-door’s wide open…”
What?! Hinata faltered and looked to Chris. The dog’s brows were knit with concern.
“G-go and see,” she urged him. He had no choice but to take Chris around the corner and up to the building. As Mayuka had said, Takaki’s apartment door was wide open.
But when he looked inside, he was filled with relief. He turned back to Mayuka, smiling. “It’s all right. It’s just Miss Rinka.”
“R-really?”
“Well, I’ve never heard of a burglar wearing thick-soled orange sandals in the middle of a crime,” he said, referring to the footwear in the entryway.
Mayuka sneaked up beside him. “D-do those really belong to Miss Rinka?”
Someone came into view on the other side of the doorway.
“Who’s there…? Oh! It’s Chris and Friends!”
It was Rinka after all. She hopped up and down with delight in the doorway.
“I’m so glad you came over! I have no idea where you two live. I really wanted to talk to you about Takaki, but I didn’t know what to do. The police wouldn’t tell me how to find you, since it’s private information…”
Mayuka was relieved to see Rinka. She put a trembling hand on her chest and said, “Oh, thank goodness… You’re all right.”
“Huh? Why wouldn’t I be?”
“B-because of Takaki…and everything that happened. I thought you would be sad…”
Rinka exhaled. “Yeah, he’s a real idiot. Can you believe this? I had to go to the police station to get questioned!” she fumed, pulling on the colorful tie in her hair. “I never dreamed he was going to get me summoned by the police! But I was honest and told them everything I knew, and they realized I had nothing to do with any of it. Later I heard that Takaki completely broke down crying, telling them I didn’t know anything and begging them to let me go. If he was going to be that upset about it, he shouldn’t have done any of this in the first place…”
They could see the woman’s eyes tearing up as she spoke, however.
“And then he got hurt… They said he got hit with a rock while trying to rescue you and Chris, huh? Some hero he turned out to be. In the end, he was the one who needed to be rescued…”
Rinka wiped her tears away, then stood bolt upright and offered them a vigorous bow. “Thank you. Thank you so much!”
“Miss Rinka,” said Mayuka, rubbing at her own red eyes.
Tears were streaming down Rinka’s face now. “Thanks to you, Takaki was able to get out before he got in too deep. The lawyer said that based on what he did, they might be lenient with him and reduce his sentence to avoid prison time. And he’s healing up well. They have him in questioning now. If he gets released, he’ll be coming back here.”
“He’s coming home?” Hinata said, surprised. Rinka used the sleeve of her T-shirt to dry her eyes. Her cheeks were flushed with happiness.
“I don’t know yet. I’m just cleaning the place up so that it’s ready whenever he gets back.”
Hinata felt a warmth in his chest. He was very happy for her.
“Oh!” Rinka suddenly exclaimed.
“What is it?” Mayuka asked. Rinka stuck out her tongue and bonked herself on the head.
“I forgot the cookies…”
“Cookies?” the children repeated.
“Remember when you found Takaki’s bag and brought it back? I promised to bake you some cookies. I’m so sorry. I’ll remember to have them ready next time.”
Hinata wanted to tell her that it was all right and she didn’t need to bother, but Mayuka chirped, “Oooh, I can’t wait! You can bring them to the Marron Veterinary Clinic. That’s where Hinata’s family lives. If you come on a weekday after three o’clock, we’ll be home from school.”
She’s so rude! Hinata thought, flushing, but Rinka gave them the okay sign. Then she leaned over Chris and said, “But you can’t have any cookies, even though you did the most work… Sorry about that. What would be a good substitute?”
“Hmm, maybe some jerky would be a nice treat? I think Takaki mentioned something like that before,” Mayuka commented, trying to remember. Once again, Hinata was preoccupied with how presumptuous she was being.
Rinka snapped her fingers. “I know! I’m pretty good at crafts, so why don’t I make a little Sherlock Holmes hat for Chris? I mean, he figured out where Takaki went. And I bet it would look adorable.”
Mayuka’s eyes sparkled. “That’s perfect!” she exclaimed. “Chris is a talented canine detective, after all!”
“Woof!” Chris barked as if to say, “Agreed!”
Even Hinata had to laugh at that.
I bet it’ll look just great!