Кэйго Хигасино - The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping

“But do you think the waitress at the restaurant would remember me? She meets tons of guests day in and day out. There were dozens even when I went. I bet she doesn’t take a decent look at the guests’ faces.”

“I’d love to think so. But we need to be aware that your face was seen.”

Juri sighed. “It’s the Denny’s when you go out of the hotel and go straight right. While I’m at it, I had shrimp doria, a salad, and coffee.”

I took the notepad and pen from the phone stand and jotted down: Denny’s, shrimp doria, salad, coffee. “Did you sit at the counter?”

“I took a window table. The smoking area wasn’t as crowded.”

“You didn’t do anything that’d make an impression on anyone there?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Was any guest staring at you?”

“Why would anyone?”

“You’re pretty beautiful, so some guy might have wanted to hit on you,” I replied, looking at Juri’s well-proportioned features.

Without even smiling, she turned her face away. “There may have been, but I didn’t notice anyone. I try to make as little eye contact as I can in those kinds of places anyway.”

“Appropriately,” I commended her. “What about after you left the restaurant?”

“I went to a convenience store and bought snacks and juice.” She must have meant the fare that had been scattered over the bed.

“Where?”

“Across from the restaurant.”

I knew that store well. It sold alcohol, so I’d been there to buy a beer in the middle of the night. “You just bought snacks and juice, right? You didn’t chat with any employee?”

“He was an older guy who looked like he’d just been laid off. He had his hands full just trying not to mess up at the register.”

“So you just went home after the convenience store.” Seeing her nod, I continued, “Did any of the people in the hotel see you?”

“Who knows.” Juri tilted her head. “When I got back to the hotel, I went by the front so someone might have seen me. I didn’t think something like this would happen.”

“I understand. That’s okay.”

I looked over the notepad in my hand. That meant the people who had likely seen Juri were the restaurant waitress, the convenience store employee, and the Polar Hotel staff. But if I took her for her word, then during that time she hadn’t had any conversations that would leave an impression on anyone.

“The problem is when there’s a public criminal investigation. If your profile shot went around the metropolitan area, one of those people you just brought up might remember you.”

“Impossible.”

“I think so too, but it’s when that impossibility happens to occur that a premeditated crime fails. We can’t be relaxed.”

“Then what should we do?”

“All we can do is put a nail in it before your photo goes public. Although it’s unsophisticated, it’s likely we’ll be telling them that line.”

“That line?”

“There’s a line that you often hear in kidnapping dramas, isn’t there? If you tell the police, your kid’s as good as dead . It’s so clichéd that it’s embarrassing.”

“Ah. But isn’t that something you need to say anyway?”

“Why?”

“Well...”

I put down the notepad and poured the remaining wine into my glass. I crossed my legs up on the sofa. “No matter what I say, your father will go to the police. He’s that kind of person. So there’s no point in telling him, Don’t go to the police . It’s a frill. It’s something I’d love to have left out if I could.”

Juri was silent. She seemed to know that Katsutoshi Katsuragi wasn’t the type to be frightened by a kidnapper’s threats.

“Then again, even if I don’t say that stuff, I don’t think the police would go public with it. It’s just in case. More than that, we need to think about what happens afterwards. You’d be safely protected, but you can’t recklessly expose yourself to the paparazzi. For the reason I just gave. We don’t know who might have seen you between yesterday and today.”

At that she turned her wide eyes to me. “You’re already thinking about the aftermath?”

“Naturally. Without an idea of the final shape of things, we couldn’t ever hatch a plan to get us there.”

“And that final shape is you and I winning?”

“Needless to say. I always try to picture victory, or rather, I’m the kind of guy who can’t picture things any other way.” I tilted my glass and savored the bitterness of the red wine.

“If it goes well, I plan on going abroad. So I don’t intend to subject myself to the media or be interviewed.”

“Fine, though completely shutting out reporters will be hard. But they’ll probably agree to a request not to show your face.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that,” she consented docilely, which was unlike her.

“Then let’s say that we’ve resolved the matter of who witnessed you after you ran away from home.” I took the notepad and pen in my hands again. “Tell me about what happened before you ran away from home. It’s important.”

“Before I ran away?”

“Yesterday night, I only saw you as you left. I want you to tell me where you were until then and what you did. If you can, tell me about your behavior in detail throughout the day.”

“I suppose that’s important, too?”

“Would I ask if it wasn’t?” I tapped the pen’s point against the pad twice. “You got this? With a kidnapping, the police will first try to figure out when and how you were abducted. That’s because they have a good chance of putting together a profile of the perp from those conditions. Long story short, if no one could have kidnapped you, they might start suspecting it’s a charade.”

Juri had a long face. But it seemed she’d understood what I said. “I didn’t really meet with anyone yesterday,” she offered.

“Please don’t be vague like that. That won’t be useful at all.”

She glared at me indignantly. “I can’t help it.”

“Then, let me ask you this way. Who did you last see?”

“That would be...” Juri tilted her head to think, and answered without righting it. “Chiharu... I guess.”

“Who is that?”

“Papa’s second wife’s kid.”

“Ah, your half-sister. So her name’s Chiharu. How do you write it?”

“‘Thousand’ and ‘spring’ as in the season.” She snorted. “What an uncool name.”

“I don’t think it’s so bad. So, when did you see her? In the house, right?”

“After dinner. Around eight. I was at the bathroom sink, and Chiharu came in. We didn’t exchange any words, though, I don’t think.”

“And then?”

“I went to my room and watched TV. Like always. I’m always by myself like that ’til morning.”

“You really didn’t see anyone? It’s really important so try to remember.”

Juri shook her head, like she couldn’t bother to. “After dinner, everyone holes up in their own room, so normally I don’t see anyone. Chiharu always seems to be sleeping over somewhere, but I don’t think her parents know. She just needs to be back in her room by breakfast.”

Just four family members in that huge mansion — perhaps it made sense. “So you ate with your mom and Chiharu, just the three of you?”

Katsutoshi Katsuragi would have been in the middle of a business dinner with Kozuka at that time. Tasting expensive dishes, he must have ordered that the incompetent Shunsuke Sakuma be dropped from the project.

“I was alone during dinner.”

“Alone? Why?”

“It seemed like the two of them had gone out. That kind of thing happens a lot. I find it more comfortable, though.”

“So did you prepare dinner by yourself?”