Кэйго Хигасино - A Midsummer’s Equation

“No, I think there is concern for protecting the environment. But how can you say what will happen for sure? No one predicted when we started using oil that it would raise global temperatures, did they?”

“Which is why surveys and research are so important. DESMEC isn’t saying they’re going to start digging up the seabed and commercialize those resources right this moment. It’s precisely because they don’t know what will happen that they’re trying to find out as much as they can before they start mining.”

“But as much as they can won’t be everything, will it,” Narumi pressed on. “Isn’t that exactly what you said at the hearing today?”

“I believe I said we had a choice. If getting those rare metals isn’t important enough to warrant digging holes in the seabed, then there’s no point to this operation.”

That was the question here: how much did they really need this undersea mining operation, and what sacrifices were they willing to make for it? That would be the central point in the debate tomorrow.

“Well,” Narumi said, “I suppose we should save the rest of this discussion for the community center tomorrow.”

Yukawa smiled. “Playing your cards close to your chest? Very well,” he said, ordering another round before looking back at Narumi. “But you should know, I’m not technically a supporter of the mining proposal.”

“You’re not?” Narumi asked. “Then why were you on stage today?”

“Because DESMEC asked me to be there. They thought they might need someone to explain electromagnetic surveying.”

“Electromagnetic surveying?”

“It’s where you use a large coil to measure magnetic fields in the seabed and analyze them. It allows you to determine the composition of the substrate for about a hundred meters beneath the seabed. In other words, you can find out how metallic deposits are distributed without digging holes.”

“Which is environmentally friendly? Is that your point?”

“That’s the largest merit of the technology, yes.”

Yukawa’s shochu on the rocks arrived. He glanced at the menu and ordered the squid shiokara. The pickled saltiness of the dish was a popular choice to offset the sweetness of the shochu.

“Doesn’t your involvement in that kind of research make you a supporter?”

“How does that follow? It’s true that I proposed a new method of electromagnetic surveying to DESMEC, who is clearly a supporter of the mining. But only because it seems to me to be the most logical choice both financially and environmentally, should the plan be approved. It makes little difference to me, however, if the plan doesn’t go ahead.”

“But won’t your research have gone to waste, then?”

“No research ever goes to waste.”

His shiokara arrived. “Now, this looks delicious,” Yukawa said, peering through his glasses at the dish just as the front door to the bar rattled open.

Sawamura walked in and took a look around the place. He hesitated when he saw Narumi sitting apart from the others, and with the physicist, no less.

He walked over to them, a perplexed look still on his face. “Well, what do we have here?”

“I believe you know Professor Yukawa from Imperial University? I might not have mentioned that he’s staying at our place,” Narumi explained.

Sawamura’s mouth opened in an “ah” of understanding, and he nodded. “That explains why your mother was talking about bringing Mr. Yukawa to the bar.”

“Care to join us?” Yukawa asked, indicating the chair next to Narumi.

“Why not?” Sawamura sat down and ordered a beer.

“You were gone longer than I expected,” Narumi said once he had settled in.

“Yeah, well, there was a bit of excitement at the inn.”

“What kind of excitement?” Narumi frowned. Excitement and the Green Rock Inn were not things she normally associated with each other.

“Well, calling it ‘excitement’ might be a bit of an overstatement. It sounded like one of your guests went out and didn’t come back when he was expected, so your father was worried. Anyway, I had my pickup there, so I drove around a little bit to help look.”

“Did you find him?”

“No, actually,” Sawamura said. His beer arrived, and he took a swig before continuing. “He wasn’t anywhere near the inn. I was going to look a little longer, but your parents said not to bother. They told me he’d show up sooner or later, and I should get back down here or else I’d miss the party.”

“Maybe he’s out night fishing,” Yukawa suggested.

“I don’t think so,” Narumi said. “I saw his luggage when he arrived, and he didn’t come prepared for anything like that. I don’t think he’s a tourist.”

Narumi explained that she’d seen him at the community center earlier that day. This confused Sawamura even further.

They drank a bit longer before leaving the bar. Narumi and Yukawa decided they’d walk back to the Green Rock Inn together.

“Well, I drank too much, but that was a good place. I might end up there every night,” Yukawa said as they walked.

“How long will you be in town?”

“I’m not sure. I was supposed to go out on the DESMEC survey boat and instruct them in how to test the electromagnetic survey equipment. Which would be fine, except the survey boat has yet to arrive. Apparently there’s some red tape holding it up. But I suppose if you work with a government agency, you have to expect to deal with a little bureaucracy,” Yukawa said.

Not the words of a strong DESMEC supporter, Narumi thought.

The front light at the inn was still blazing. Inside, they found Shigehiro and Setsuko in the lobby, both looking distraught.

“Still no sign of him?” Narumi asked

“Nothing,” her mother replied. “We were just talking about what to do.”

“Well, we could call the police,” Shigehiro said, “but I doubt they’d do much about it at this time of night. Let’s wait till morning, and if he’s still not back yet, we’ll give the station a ring.”

“Sorry to hear about the trouble,” Yukawa said. “Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

“No need to worry yourself,” Shigehiro said. “He’ll turn up any moment now, I’m sure.”

“Right, well, good night,” the physicist said, heading for the elevator.

The scene was about two hundred meters south along the coast from the main harbor in Hari Cove. A uniformed officer was standing in front of the seawall, next to a parked police van. Probably forensics, Tsuyoshi Nishiguchi thought. It was still too early in the morning for onlookers.

Nishiguchi stopped his patrol car and waited for his supervising officer and the captain to get out before opening his own door and catching up with them. The uniformed officer greeted them as they arrived.

Captain Motoyama was standing on tiptoes, peering over the seawall at the other side. A frown spread across his round face. “Well, he couldn’t have picked a more inconvenient spot,” he said.

Hashigami walked over to take a look for himself. Hashigami was five years Nishiguchi’s elder, but much taller. “Yeah,” he said, agreeing with the captain. “No kidding.”

Nishiguchi gingerly approached the seawall, fearing the worst. The worst, in this case, was a drowned corpse. He’d seen plenty of them since transferring to his current post, but something about the way they looked got to him every time.

He swallowed and looked down four or five meters to some rocks by the water where a few guys from forensics were already milling around.

The body, a man’s, was lying atop a large boulder, facing upward. He was wearing a bath yukata and a quilted vest over that, except wearing might not have been the right word. It was more like the clothes were wrapped around him. He was a little on the overweight side, but there was none of the distinctive swelling of a drowning victim. Instead, his head had been split open, spilling blackish-red blood over the nearby rocks.