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cigarette and the end glowed red. “I understand,” he said, “that my predecessor cut you a lot of slack. That will cease. I’d cut you from the detective squad if I could, but as you’ve undoubtedly figured out, I need cause for dismissal to do that. So far you haven’t provided it. So far you’ve been a good little girl.”
    Mariko felt like a lizard on a rock. Her eyes stung, her skin was so hot she thought it might crackle, and somewhere far overhead there circled a hawk that liked feeding on lizards.
    “I see here that you destroyed department property Wednesday night,” said Ko. “A stun gun.”
    “Destroyed and paid for, yes, sir. It’s not cause for dismissal.”
    “Indeed not.” Ko sucked on the cigarette and exhaled a thin jet of smoke. “Patrolman Toyoda reports that you were abusive with your power.”
    “Toyoda’s a whiner who doesn’t like being outrun by a girl. You saw my request that he be suspended and censured?”
    “I did. You’ll address me as ‘sir’ when you’re in my office.”
    Mariko balled two fists behind her back. “Yes, sir.”
    “You’re way off base on this ridiculous cocaine story,” he said. “The bōryokudan don’t sell cocaine. Nor do they stand for anyone else selling it on their turf. Period.”
    “Until now, sir.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “I have reason to believe one of the yakuzas is looking to change the game. Sir.”
    Ko snorted. “Why would he do that? They keep the hard stuff out of the country, we go easy when they sling more pedestrian fare. That’s the truce. We don’t like it but we live with it. You think they want to change that?”
    “I’m a detective, sir. I go where the evidence leads me.”
    “Evidence?” Another snort, this one jetting two cones of smoke from his nostrils. They bloomed up as they hit his desk and made Mariko think of an anime dragon. “All you have is the word of some tweaked-out speed freak.”
    “With all due respect, sir, the dealers know a lot more about what’s happening on the street than we do.”
    “Hardly a ringing endorsement of your police work. Tell me, have you cultivated any yakuza contacts in all your long years of service?”
    “Of course, sir.”
    “More than I have?”
    Mariko hated rhetorical questions. She hated people who asked them, and hated it even more when they sat and stared and waited for an answer. At last she rolled her eyes and said, “No, sir.”
    “And why not?”
    Again with the rhetorical questions. “Because you’ve been on the force a hell of a lot longer than me. Sir.”
    Ko gave her a sickening little grin. Despite all her years in the States, Mariko had never quite figured out exactly what they meant by shit-eating grin , but she wondered if this was it. In any case, it was the kind of patronizing little grin that made her want to shove Ko’s face in a pile of shit.
    “These bōryokudan contacts of yours,” he said, his tone even more belittling than the grin, “have they spoken of an impending expansion into the cocaine trade?”
    “Not yet, sir.”
    “Nor have mine. And, as you say, mine are rather more extensivethan yours, neh ? You’ll forgive me if I take their silence more seriously than the word of some desperate junkie you managed to drag in.”
    “Sir, if a lone yakuza were looking to build himself a bigger empire, the rest of the bōryokudan wouldn’t know about it—”
    Ko gave her a dismissive wave of the hand. “Forget it. The fact that you were even given the chance to apply to Narcotics is just asinine. You ought to know your place. Grow your hair out. You look like a dyke.”
    “Perps can grab long hair, sir.”
    He went on as if she didn’t have a mouth. “Isn’t it enough for you that you made sergeant already? Isn’t it enough that you’re the only woman detective in Tokyo? Come to that, you’re the only woman detective I ever heard of, and I’ve been wearing the badge twenty-two years. And you’re practically gaijin to boot.