Page 362 of The Black Trilogy

“They didn’t have enough evidence. There were witnesses to say I didn’t pull the trigger, and the lawyers fought them over access to our bank accounts.”

Black clenched his teeth as I turned back to Jane.

“So that means there’s one house left. But it’s quite big, so we’ve got plenty of spare rooms. Do you want us to help look for your family?”

“It was so long ago that I saw them. I don’t even know if my parents are still alive.”

“How long?” I asked.

“Fifteen years.”

“Fifteen years? You were in that place for fifteen years?”

Holy cannoli. I’d had more than I could stand after fifteen seconds.

CHAPTER 23

JANE TOOK A second to gather her thoughts then answered, her voice soft. “I think it’s fifteen years, although I lost track of time. I counted the days to start off with, but when I lost hope, time didn’t matter anymore.”

“How did you end up at the compound?”

“They took me when I was walking home from school in Tokyo.”

“Who did? The Ramos family?”

Jane gave a small shake of her head. “No, others. I barely remember their faces now. A car pulled up next to me, and a man asked for directions. I was trying to help when someone put a cloth over my face from behind. When I woke up, I was on a boat. Not a big ship. It had a few rooms underneath the deck where they kept the girls.” She paused for a second to compose herself.

“You don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to.”

But once she’d started, it seemed she wanted to carry on. Maybe, like me, she needed to get things off her chest.

“The men on the boat, they did things to me. Things I didn’t understand at the time. I only knew it hurt. They made me bleed, and many times I wished I would die. Once, I tried to throw myself over the side, but they caught me and locked me back up in one of the bedrooms, handcuffed to a rail. After that, they left me in Colombia.”

“At the Ramos compound?”

“Yes. At first, I was a plaything for the guards, but they lost interest in me as I got older. I was more use to them for cleaning and doing the laundry.” Her eyes closed and she gave a tiny smile. “Then I met Carlos, and I didn’t want to die so much anymore.”

I felt like crying myself at what she’d been through. Men had forced themselves on me twice in my life and the feeling of dirtiness, of being defective, of having done something wrong, still overwhelmed me when I thought about it. To withstand fifteen years of that proved she had a strength few others possessed. There and then, I promised myself I’d do anything I could to help her. She was still in Black’s arms, but I felt no jealousy now. If Black hadn’t been comforting her, I’d have done it myself.

“Jane, I’m so sorry.” Words were inadequate, but they were all I had. “What can I do? Anything, just name it.”

“Only look for my family. Nothing else. My parents and my little brother. He’s two years younger than me.”

“Of course. When we get back, you can tell us everything you remember about your family. Our firm has a branch in Japan, and we’ll get them onto the search.”

Her voice faded, so quiet I had to lean forward to hear it. “My name isn’t really Jane. When they took me, they asked me what I was called, but I didn’t tell them. They stole everything else from me. My name was the only thing I could keep.” She looked up at me from under long, black eyelashes. “That probably sounds crazy.”

“No, not at all.”

“At school, I loved English classes, and I read every American detective story I could get my hands on. So when they wanted to know my name, I said it was Jane Doe.”

Jane Doe. The girl nobody knew. At least until Carlos came along and found her the way Black had found me.

“So what’s your real name?” I asked.

“Akari,” she whispered. “Akari Takeda. I haven’t spoken it since I left Tokyo.”

And when she did, it rang a bell. Why did it sound familiar? I thought back to my last trip to Japan, when I flew over to interview potential new recruits. I’d found two good people and enjoyed one raucous night at a karaoke bar before I’d come home. But that wasn’t what stirred my memory.

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