Кэйго Хигасино - The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping

I’d have been a little surprised, but she quickly shook her head. “Of course not. Ms. Saki makes it for us. Oh, that’s right. Ms. Saki was there during dinner.”

“Ms. Saki? That’s a name that hasn’t come up yet.”

“She’s our helper. She commutes all the way from Osaki.”

So they had a house servant. That was only natural, come to think of it.

“When are her working hours?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I think she usually comes around the afternoon. She does the cleaning and laundry, and buys the groceries, and also makes dinner. She goes home at different times depending on the day, but usually before dinner. Yesterday, though, I think she was cleaning up the kitchen while I was eating.”

“So after you finished eating, she went home.”

“I assume she did.”

“During dinner, did you talk?”

“Of course we did. We couldn’t just be together and not speak, could we?”

“What did you talk about? Nothing hinting at running away from home, I hope?”

“Why would I? I didn’t mean to at that point.”

“I see.” I circled Chiharu’s name, which I had written on the notepad. “You told me yesterday about why you were done with the Katsuragis, but I thought there had to be some reason for your impulsive escapade. It seems your talking to Chiharu after dinner was it. Didn’t something happen then?”

For a moment, Juri’s face became like a mask. She folded her arms, then pouted. “She complained that I used the cream.”

“The cream?”

“The cosmetic cream. I just borrowed a little from the one in the washroom.”

“A-ha.” I nodded. “And then you had an argument.”

“We didn’t. We don’t quarrel. Times like that, I just apologize, it’s on me. I’m used to it because it happens all the time. But yesterday she was a little persistent. She kept on complaining no matter what.”

“So you got pissed off and ran away from home?”

“After I got to my room, I just got more and more frustrated. I suppose you could say I felt miserable. Anyway, I didn’t want to be in that house for a second longer.”

Just like a grade school kid , I thought, but I held my tongue.

Looking at my notes, I tried to organize the info. I’d have to think of a story that didn’t contradict the material she’d given me.

“You said Chiharu sometimes stays over somewhere. What about you? You ran away from home yesterday, but have you ever slipped away to go out like her?”

“It’s not like I haven’t ever. But not as frequently as Chiharu. I have the right to enjoy my best years, too.”

“Your best years, huh.” If a thirty-something man threw that out, it’d probably reek of old age, but why did it sound so fresh coming out of a young woman’s mouth? “And for that, you climb over the wall like you did yesterday?”

“I usually leave through the back door. But last night I didn’t want to be on the security camera no matter what, so I went for the wall. Depending on the camera angle, it’d show me if I went out the back door.”

“Going out is no piece of cake, huh? Did you ever stay out overnight?”

“I might have... a few times.” Looking like she was recalling those instances, she shrugged her shoulders.

“I forgot a crucial bit. Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Right now I’m single. It’s like whenever people find out I’m a daughter of the Katsuragis, they keep their distance.”

“Students these days haven’t got any guts. They should have a go at hitching themselves to a princess. So the people you go out with are girlfriends?”

“Well, yeah. College friends and stuff.”

“When you go out, you get in touch with them first, I presume?”

“Yeah. But sometimes I just go out on a whim. If I try the places where I’m a regular, I usually recognize a face or two.”

For a little young lady of twenty to claim “regular” status was saucy. But now I could attach an explanation to her sneaking out at night.

“By the way,” I said, turning my eyes to her bag again, “do you have your cellphone with you?”

“I left it. Because it’s a bother.”

“A bother?”

“Because if they found out I was missing, they’d call me. If it kept going off, it’d be annoying. If I’d have to turn it off anyway, there’d be no point in having it. If I wanted to make a call, I could just use a public phone anyway.”

“I like your logical thinking,” I approved, nodding a few times. It wasn’t flattery. “But because of that, there’s one problem. If you left without your cellphone, the police would probably have doubts.”

“Wouldn’t they simply think I forgot it?”

“Would young women nowadays ever forget their phone when they go out? Maybe even their wallets, but their phones? The detectives would find it odd. Our question is how to clear that.”

“Everyone forgets their phone once in a while, when they’re in a hurry.”

“Then why were you in a hurry? You didn’t even have a promise to meet someone.”

“Because I wouldn’t make the last train?”

I snorted. “You, who took a cab from near your house? But the idea that you ‘wouldn’t make it’ isn’t bad.” I tapped the notepad twice with my pen. “You said you have several places you frequent. Are there any that close at midnight among those?”

Juri gave this some thought, biting lightly on the nail of her thumb, before her lips parted. “Shibuya’s ‘Doubt’ might.”

“Okay, then let’s go with that. Chiharu bitching about the cosmetic cream pissed you off. You decided to fix your mood by going to Doubt. But if you didn’t hurry, it’d close. You were in a rush and forgot your phone. Anything seem unnatural so far?”

“Nope,” she answered, without giving it any deep consideration.

I wasn’t relying on her judgment to begin with. “Next is when and where the culprit kidnapped you.”

This was the big problem. If we bumbled here, the plan would be ruined.

I ran a simulation in my mind. I was the perp trying to abduct a Katsuragi girl. Where would I ambush her and get away without being seen?

“It seems like only one place would offer a chance. After you snuck out of the mansion, you went out to the road and hailed a taxi. If someone were kidnapping you, it’d happen before you got out to the road. The street was dark, and there weren’t any passersby at that hour. They could only abduct you then.”

“By abduct, you mean I’d have been taken by force?”

“In an instant, before you even had the time to scream.” At that point I closed my eyes and pictured the scene. The high-end residential area of Denenchofu. Juri walking on her own. The kidnapper approaching her from behind in a car. Slowly. When they passed her, they would stop. Opening the back door, a man would quickly disembark.

“There would have to be at least two,” I said with my eyes still shut. “The driver, and another guy on standby in the backseat. Getting out of the car, the latter would put a handkerchief over your mouth as you stood frozen in surprise. That handkerchief would have the standard chloroform on it—” I shook my head. “Chloroform is so clichéd. Ether, then. It’s used for inhaled anesthesia. The kidnapper has medical knowledge and knows how to handle it.”

“Does it matter which? It’s stuff the police can’t look into anyway.”

I opened my eyes and showed her a frown. “It has to do with my constructing an image. I have to figure out the details of the crime and work out the culprits’ characters as well.”

“Do you really need to go that far?” Juri mocked me.

“Staged kidnappings fall apart because the perps haven’t imagined how it would go if it weren’t staged. They end up acting in weird ways that seem all but staged and give themselves away. Why do you think I was prying into what you were up to before you ran away?”