The Case of the Mad Scientist

Chapter 14: Practice Makes Perfect

“Here are the addresses of all kore ya mama Pharmaceutics properties. Fortunately they have only one main manufacturing plant. The headquarters are not far off. Their research labs are in the same building as the headquarters offices.”

“Koriyama,” Stella said, correcting the pronunciation.

Blaze looked proud of herself as she placed the list of addresses on a coffee table.

“I have been told,” she went on, “that it is more likely Sorren would be using the research facilities. So I think that is where we should check first.”

Sounded good to me, so I didn’t say anything.

“Stella is still putting the finishing touches on her show, so I guess it’s up to you and me, Sled.”

“Sure, babe.”

I might have been a little more certain if my head didn’t feel like a whole platoon of soldiers were marching around inside it. That sack-key stuff is stronger than it looks. Still, a Private Dick’s gotta do what a Private Dick’s gotta do. I pushed my porkpie hat back an inch and told her, “When do we go?”

“Now. It will take us about two hours to travel to kor aye amma.”

“Koriyama,” said Stella, again.

what I said. We can look around, and later tonight, after the offices

I was happy at the prospect

left, leaving Blaze and I alone in her hotel

for a car to drive us to Corry Amma,” Blaze said. I liked the way she frowned when she tried to pronounce Japanese

bad. She did have a nice body and a face that made men’s heads turn every time she walked by.

overnight bag,” she said, “we’ll stay in a hotel there and return here

in the lobby, and

a quickie

clean Wilma and make sure she was loaded for bear. Fifteen minutes later I was in

had hired was Japanese built and the driver was a teenage girl who looked as if she should be in high school instead of driving people around. I felt like asking if she really had a driver’s license. She bowed to us and invited us into her

signs on the freeway much like in California: big green signs with white lettering. Of course, the lettering was in that funny hen scratching they use instead of letters, but most

Prefecture and was a central business city for the area. To the north were the Adatara Mountains (which didn’t look all that big to me, having seen the Sierra

it was only mid-morning when we reached that city. Being a big city boy myself, I wasn’t too impressed with the ten or twelve story office buildings, but then I had notice that they don’t make their buildings very tall in Japan. Maybe that had something to do with the earthquakes. We had felt several since we arrived, and were told that they were aftershocks from the big one a few months before. Stella also mentioned that they have almost daily small earthquakes in Japan anyway. It’s a way of

right at home, being from

forty years old and had only one sign announcing who lived there. And that wasn’t a very big one. We circled it a couple times before making off to the Comfort Hotel.

expected Blaze to have reserved two rooms for us, but was surprised when the desk clerk handed me only one key. On the way up, Blaze took my arm and whispered, “We’re married.” Then she explained that the CIA was short of budget and wanted agents