After a particularly memorable bump, Remi glanced sideways at Sam. “Whatever you do, Sam Fargo, promise me we won’t get stuck.”
“I’m doing my best not to.”
“Not to promise or not to get stuck?”
“Neither, hopefully.”
“You aren’t convincing me on either count.”
When the hut finally came into view, Rubo was lounging in the shade, watching the river rush by. He looked up at them when the van pulled to a stop. They got out and Remi waved.
“Rubo. Are we disturbing you?”
Rubo cackled and shook his head. “Every day the same as the last out here. You want to hear more stories?”
“We do.”
Watching as they approached, the old man motioned to a spot on his log bench. Remi sat next to him and Sam took a stump opposite. The heat was sweltering even in the shade. The old man waved a fly away and raised an eyebrow. Remi leaned nearer and waited for Sam to speak.
“Rubo, you said you were here when the Japanese occupied the island. That they treated the locals badly.”
Rubo nodded. “That’s right. They mean as crocodiles.”
“All of them?”
“Hard
to say. But the officer who ran things . . . he a monster.”
“What can you tell us about him?”
“He a devil, he was. Kuma . . . Kumasaka. Colonel Kumasaka. Never forget that name, I won’t.”
“What did he do?” Remi coaxed. “Specifically?”
“I told you. He bad. Do bad things to us.”
Rubo repeated his prior account, and nothing in the story changed on the second telling. Sam then pressed in a different direction.
“Did you ever hear or see anything out on the west side of the island? With the Japanese?”
“Like what?”
“Anything strange. Maybe diving in that bay that you told us about,” Sam said.
“In the end, there was lot of fighting, so can’t say for sure. But I remember sometime before they leave for good there was big killing in the village near the bay. Those bad times.”
“The Japanese killed islanders near the bay?”
“I just say what others talk about. I wasn’t there.”
Remi nodded. “We understand. What do you believe happened, Rubo?” she asked softly.
“I hear things. One of the things is that whole lot of island men killed by Japanese. They make them slaves, then kill them before they leave the island.”
“Slaves? For what?”
“I don’t know. Some kinda work.”