Кэйго Хигасино - The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping

The kidnappers did not commit rape — that was the conclusion I reached. Then why had they thought better of it? Abstaining of their own accord wasn’t exactly persuasive. The idea I came up with was almost contrived.

The kidnappers were a team of two, and one was a woman. They were lovers or even married. When they kidnapped Juri, the woman was driving. With this setup, even if the woman wasn’t watching, the man would be highly unlikely to go after Juri.

The words “we have not done your daughter physical harm” were meant to imply rape, but also the perps’ unwillingness to do such a thing. Finding out from Juri’s mouth afterwards that one of the kidnappers was a woman, the detectives would slap their knees.

“Now, the next question is how to send the ransom letter.” I folded my arms and leaned back in my chair. “Do you know your father’s email?”

“I don’t,” Juri readily admitted with a shake of her head.

“What about his cellphone number?”

She showed me her outspread palms in reply.

“You don’t know anything, huh?”

“Well, go to Shibuya and ask girls around my age. Ask if they remember their dad’s email or cellphone number. If you ask ten girls and even one of them answers yes, then I’ll kiss your feet.”

“I don’t particularly want you to kiss my feet.”

Maybe that’s true, though , I thought. As it was, recording people’s numbers and such in our phones was making us remember the info less and less. That was true even for me. What’s more, she probably rarely called her father.

It wasn’t like I didn’t have the means to look up Katsutoshi Katsuragi’s email and phone number. Asking someone at the company was all it took. However, I’d have to give my name.

“You can’t just call?” Juri asked. “In kidnapping dramas and stuff, don’t the kidnappers usually call?”

“If we do that, then we take on a huge risk. Being traced is out of the question, but the kidnapper’s voice, voice print, speech pattern, the background noise, all of that is of value to police and gives them an upper hand. If we make a blunder like that from the start, a perfect crime is a dream of a dream.”

“But it’s the first call. I don’t think the police are on this yet. Our home phone doesn’t even have voicemail.”

“Twenty hours have passed since you left home. We have to assume that they’ve contacted the police. Police take all possibilities into account. If this were a normal home, they might leave it alone, but the person who disappeared is Katsutoshi Katsuragi’s daughter. They must be considering the abduction scenario, and several investigators are probably waiting for the perp to call.”

“I wonder if they would do all that,” Juri said, tilting her head.

“Maybe they haven’t, but maybe they have. I’m no optimist, so I don’t make bets on fifty-fifty chances.” I looked at the computer screen. I had thought I could send the ransom letter by email, but that seemed to be out. “You have a fax, I’m sure?”

“We do. In Papa’s study. Are you faxing it?”

“That seems least likely to give our opponents a clue. Okay, next is how we get their reply. Any ideas?”

I asked Juri without expecting her to come up with a decent plan, but she started thinking with a serious look on her face.

“It seems like you were going to send the ransom letter by email at first, but what address were you planning on using? You weren’t thinking of using the one you normally use.”

“Of course not. No fool would be honest enough to provide his name and address to send a ransom letter. I can make the receiver’s software show a fake address, but just in case, I was going to prepare a new address.”

“An address that won’t give you away?”

“Right. There are two options I’m considering. One is a free email service.” On Hotmail, for instance, I could acquire an account without a clear identity or address. Even the police had no chance of figuring out who I was from such an account.

“And the other option?”

I pointed at Juri’s chest. “Using your address.”

“Mine?”

“You use email too, don’t you?”

“I remember the address, but I forgot the password.”

“In that case, let’s make a new one. You said you have a credit card, right? As long as you do, you can sign up right away.”

“Huh.” Juri looked pensive for some reason. “One correction.”

“What’s that?”

“I was lying about having a card. I just have some pocket money, that’s all.”

“I suspected as much. Why did you lie?”

“I didn’t want to show you a chink in my armor. If I told you I didn’t have money, I’d be showing a weakness.”

I glared at her face as Juri confessed this shamelessly, but she was unperturbed. “If that’s the case, then we only have one option. I guess we’ll use a free email service.”

“You’re getting an account at one of those?”

“What about it?”

“Well, you can provide that address on the ransom letter and tell them to email their reply when you fax them.”

“That’s one way.” I felt like cutting the girl some slack. She was pretty sharp.

“But we can’t do that?”

“It’s not bad, but it’s not fun. I don’t feel like communicating with my opponent by email. Even if we do get an account, we’d use it just once. We’d obtain another one to send a new email. In short, if the opponent tried to email us, we wouldn’t see it.”

“How cautious of you.”

“Naturally. What do you think we’re up to here?”

I took the TV remote in my hand and turned it on. The wide screen depicted a basketball match. I started changing the channel. A Nissei Automobile commercial played during an interlude in a sports program. It was for a sports car called the CPT. A popular female celebrity coolly drove through grasslands. Not a particularly well-made ad, it probably hadn’t been checked in advance by Katsutoshi Katsuragi.

I faced the computer and connected to the internet. I used a search engine and tried looking up a website for the CPT. Sure enough, there were fans who had barged ahead and made a page. I went to one of them and peeked at its contents. The title of it was “CPT Owners Club.” First, a red CPT appeared at the top of the screen. It was an amateurish photo, most likely of the ride of the page’s creator. “A place where people who love the CPT can exchange info and relax. Please feel free to look around,” it said. The pages listed were “Latest Updates,” “Maintenance,” “My CPT Photos,” and “Bulletin Board.” What a great age, where anyone could transmit information. I clicked on “Bulletin Board.” Without delay, the posts appeared as follows:

Looking forward to it (hummingbunny)

Hello everyone. I told you all before, but a CPT will finally be coming to my house. I’m already imagining the feeling of hurtling down the highway and I haven’t been able to sleep for days. After I take my first ride, I’ll report back immediately. Hopefully I won’t get into an accident. (lol)

Weird noise (sparkleprincess)

I’ve been driving a CPT for two years now. Lately, I’ve been worried about the thermometer being high. I’m afraid of it overheating. Is anyone else having the same experience?

RE: Weird noise (streetracersamurai)

sparkleprincess, my beloved car has been showing similar symptoms. It seems that the CPT’s physique (?) puts pressure on the radiator. But it’s never overheated. If you’re worried, you could try getting it inspected (sucky advice, I know).

The people, who had been given a toy called the internet, were dribbling their infantile, sickly sweet sentences as usual. But exactly the same types might be spewing savage and nefarious words elsewhere. They were best left alone.