Year of the Talking Dog: A Hana Walker Mystery (The Hana Walker Mysteries Book 2) by Patrick Sherriff Page B

can’t think of anything, so I do the next best thing. I get my phone out.
    IS GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
    “Uncle Kentaro...?”
    ALL WE ARE SAYING
    “Hana, are you out partying? Shouldn’t you be looking for a job?”
    IS GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
    “I have a big problem.”
    ALL WE ARE SAYING
    “Are you at an anti-nuke demo?”
    “Yes, I think so, but that’s not important…”
    IS GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
    “I think it’s pretty important. Nuclear power. It’s an important issue. But you have to focus on what’s important to you.”
    ALL WE ARE SAYING
    “I am. I’m in danger Uncle Kentaro.”
    IS GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
    “Do you have any idea what shutting down nuclear power has done to this country’s balance of payments?”
    ALL WE ARE SAYING
    “I don’t care about balance of payments. My life is in danger.”
    IS GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
    “Your life is more in danger from all the pollution and increase in greenhouse gasses than the threat from nuclear...”
    ALL WE ARE SAYING
    “No. My life is in danger right now, I need your help...”
    IS GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
    “North Korea is more of a danger than nuclear power. At least to their own people.”
    ALL WE ARE SAYING
    “I’m being followed by a masked man with a sword. I think he’s going to kill me. Maybe he’s from North Korea. I need your help. I’m all alone.”
    IS GIVE PEACE A CHANCE 
    “If you’d just speak Japanese, Hana, you wouldn’t find yourself in such predicaments.”
    The man with the megaphone takes a break.
    “Uncle Kentaro, please, you must take me seriously, you don’t believe me, do you?”
    “That all this, this chase you are on, this mission to find a missing killer, it’s all nonsense, you know. Admit it, there is no masked man, it’s all in your head.”
    I’m not sure if my mouth drops open, but I’m speechless for a second. How can he doubt me? Has he always doubted me?  
    “It’s not my imagination. I didn’t imagine being chased here by a masked man. I didn’t imagine jumping down an emergency chute for my life.”
    “Listen to yourself, Hana. ‘For your life?’ You hate heights. You never take lifts, let alone escalators and you’re too scared of going underground because of what? It’s all very Freudian, you know.”
    “I know I sound crazy, but I’m not going mad. And there is a crazy guy after me who probably wants to kill me all because of something I’m not supposed to know.”
    “Not supposed to know? There’s a mountain of things I’m supposed to know, but don’t. If there’s anything I’m not supposed to know, I don’t know what it is, or if I ever did, I don’t know now, you know?”
    “I don’t know. I mean, I know I sound mad, but I’m sure I’m on to something here. The letters A.O.I. in a picture and now the masked man chasing me.”
    “Listen to yourself, for a minute, would you? Letters? Masked men? I think you are imagining things, everything will be all right. All I’m saying, is give peace a chance...”
    I feel myself getting redder in the face.
    “How did I end up here if I’m making it all up?”
    “What do you...”
    “I came by train, Uncle Kentaro. Underground train. Would I do that if I didn’t think my life was in danger?”
    “The mind is a powerful thing. I don’t know what’s going through yours.”
    More drops of rain fall on my head. 
    “Can’t you just believe me? If you weren’t always so drunk you might be able to give a damn about other people? Do you ever think about anyone else or just where your next drink is coming from?”
    He pauses. Raindrops trickle down my face. When he comes back on the line, he’s reasonable and calm.
    “I’m no psychoanalyst, but your story. I mean, it’s all a bit far-fetched isn’t it? If something sounds implausible and highly unlikely then it probably is. Especially when there is a simpler explanation. Simple is best you know.”
    “Yeah? What’s the simple explanation? That I’m an idiot and just made it up? I