A Singular Witness

Tokyo

Quinn messaged Hampton no less than fifty times between leaving Los Angeles and arriving in Tokyo.  She received no reply, and her nerves were worn from the fear of something she couldn't articulate because it hadn't yet happened.

It was late, and alone in the small space of her hotel room, Quinn had the nagging sensation of dust moats crawling on her skin, wispy spider legs that tingled on the edge of the air.  She got up and extracted a sheer black dress from her closet, and pulled it over the fine damp sheen of sweat with which anxiety coated her flesh. 

Daniel could hear her pacing from where he lay sprawled across his bed next door, their rooms seemingly separated by walls made out of paperboard.  He listened in a half slumber to her movements, with his eyes closed and his face pressed against the thin wall between them.  He was lying with his legs stretched out so that his feet hung over the edge of the mattress that was too short for his frame.  He was wearing a pair of black slacks made of fine material.    

Daniel sat up when he heard Quinn leave her room.  A moment later there was a tentative knock on his door.

"Daniel?"  Quinn whispered.

He rose, padding on his bare feet across the room, and opened the door, shirtless. 

Quinn winced when she saw him.  "Sorry, you just startled me.  You were suddenly standing there, and I didn't hear you."  Embarrassed, she added, "I don't know what I expected."

Daniel raised an eyebrow and grinned slyly, asking,  "Did you want me to thrash around the room?"

"I'm sorry if I was loud.  Did I wake you up?"  She bit her lip uncertainly.

He shook his head and asked, "What's up?" 

He noticed what she was wearing as he waited for her to respond, finding it hard to turn his attention from the thin slip of a dress that hung from her figure as she spoke. 

"I can't sleep," Her voice growing more tremulous, she added, "I've got to get some air.  I really want to go out tonight.  Will you go?"  Her eyes were wide, and she looked hungry and afraid at the same time.

Daniel nodded, motioning her into his room.  "Come on in, I'll put on a shirt and some shoes.  With that and my wallet, we might be able to get some service."

Quinn followed slowly behind him, noticing the taut expanse of his bare chest as he raised one arm to thumb through the shirts that hung on the rack in his closet.  He selected a gray, pale silk dress shirt.  He put his arms through the sleeves, turning to face Quinn with the shirt hanging open in the front.

"Where do you want to go?"  He asked, slowly buttoning up the shirt from the bottom.

Quinn shrugged.  "Anywhere.  We could just ride a train all night, for all I care."

Daniel thought for a moment.  "Do you want to dance?"

Quinn nodded, "Fine, anything to avoid lying awake in bed."

When they arrived in the hotel lobby, Daniel asked the concierge suggestions for local clubs.  As they walked out onto the street to hail a taxi, the weary eyes of salary men caught Daniel's attention, as they lingered too long on Quinn.

When they were tucked away in the back of a taxi, Quinn pressed her head against the glass of the car window, her face a glitter box of reflected neon light.

"Tokyo is so overwhelming, but in a good way."  She murmured.

Daniel gave the driver the address of the club that drew the greatest number of furtive glances from the desk staff when the concierge was listing options.  The streets were like rainbow tunnels cutting through the inky dark of urban night.