David Peace - Tokyo Year Zero

‘We will continue to try to identify these clothes so…’

‘Not about that,’ she says. ‘About my daughter…’

‘I’m sure the Jōtō police are trying to find her…’

‘How can they?’ she asks me. ‘Have you been to Jōtō Ward? There’s nothing left there. The police have nothing. No buildings. No telephones. No bicycles. How can they find her?’

‘I’m sorry,’ I say. ‘I’m really sorry…’

‘She was all I had,’ she says. ‘I have nothing now. No family. No house. No job. No money. Nothing…’

‘I’m sorry,’ I say again. ‘But I promise I will make sure that the description of your daughter is sent to every police station in Tokyo and I hope we will find her…’

Now Mrs. Mitani of Jōtō Ward looks up from the ladies undergarments and the dissecting table. Now Mrs. Mitani wipes her eyes. Mrs. Mitani bows and thanks me –

Now Mrs. Mitani leaves –

I make my final note –

I need a cigarette …

I walk back down the basement corridor past the walls of sinks and drains, the written warnings of cuts and punctures, the orderlies washing and rinsing their hands and their forearms and I push the elevator button and I watch the doors open and I am about to step inside the elevator when Dr. Nakadate catches my arm and asks, ‘Did you find that file, inspector? The Miyazaki file…’

*

I don’t want to remember. In the half-light, I can’t forget …

The cars have gone back to HQ. The streetcar full again –

Kai has a name. Kai has a suspect. Kai will get an address …

I walk back to Sakuradamon, through Moto-Akasaka –

Kai will make an arrest. Kai will get a confession …

By the river, behind the parliament building –

Kai can close the case. Both our cases …

Past the imperial moat to HQ –

Both our cases closed …

Miyazaki Mitsuko forgotten again.

*

I knock on the door of the interview room. I open it. I bow. I take a seat next to the stenographer at the side. Inspector Kai does not look up. Mrs. Midorikawa does not look up; Mrs. Midorikawa sat next to one of her older daughters, twisting and wringing that same piece of cloth in her lap as Inspector Kai confirms again, again and again, the things she has told him during their initial two interviews –

‘So you last saw your daughter on the sixth?’

‘Yes,’ whispers Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘Ryuko left the house at about nine on the morning of the sixth of August.’

‘And this is the house in Meguro Ward?’

‘Yes,’ she says. ‘But it’s not our house, it’s the Yamamotos’ house. We’ve been staying with them since our house was pulled down for fire defences at the end of last March.’

‘And Ryuko was living there too?’

‘Yes,’ she says again. ‘Always.’

Now Inspector Kai asks, ‘And so can you tell me again what was she wearing when she left the house in Meguro on the sixth?’

‘A white summer dress and white canvas shoes.’

‘And did she have any money with her?’

‘She would have had about ten yen,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘Just for the streetcar or the train fare.’

Inspector Kai turns the page of his notebook. ‘And she told you she was going for a job interview?’

‘Yes,’ agrees Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘Ryuko didn’t really like the job she had as a waitress in Ginza.’

‘And this was as a waitress at a café in the fourth cho me?’

‘Yes,’ she agrees again. ‘But there were not many tips.’

‘And the interview for this new job was in Shibaura?’

‘Yes,’ she says again. ‘With the Occupation Army.’

‘And this job interview had all come about through this man called Kodaira?’ asks Inspector Kai. ‘Kodaira Yoshio?’

Mrs. Midorikawa pauses here. Mrs. Midorikawa swallows. Now Mrs. Midorikawa says, ‘Through that man, yes.’

‘Please tell me again then, in as much detail as you can, how your daughter Ryuko came to meet this man called Kodaira?’

Mrs. Midorikawa sighs. Mrs. Midorikawa shakes her head. Mrs. Midorikawa says, ‘By chance at Shinagawa station.’

‘How was it by chance that Ryuko met this man Kodaira?’ asks Inspector Kai. ‘And what was the date they met?’

Mrs. Midorikawa looks at her other daughter. Mrs. Midorikawa asks her, ‘You said the tenth of July?’

‘Yes,’ says her other daughter. ‘There was an accident at Shinagawa and all the trains were delayed.’

Inspector Kai looks down at his notebook and then asks, ‘And this was when Kodaira approached and spoke to Ryuko?’

‘Yes,’ says the other daughter again. ‘Ryuko told me that he just came up to her on the platform and started talking to her.’

Inspector Kai asks, ‘Do you know what they talked about?’

‘Yes,’ she says. ‘They talked about work and about food.’

‘Ryuko told him she wanted to find a new job,’ adds Mrs. Midorikawa now. ‘And Kodaira said he had connections with the Occupation Army and that he could help her find a job with them.’

‘How exactly did he say he would be able to help Ryuko?’

Mrs. Midorikawa shakes her head. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Through his connections,’ says the other daughter. ‘That’s what Ryuko told me that he said; through his connections …’

‘Did she say what kind of connections?’ asks Kai.

‘He was wearing the Shinchū Gun armband.’

Kai nods. ‘So when did they next meet?’

‘Not until earlier this month,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘Ryuko fell ill with intestinal problems and so she didn’t see Kodaira again until he suddenly turned up at the house asking after her…’

‘So Kodaira knew where Ryuko lived then?’

‘Yes,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘She must have given him her address that day in July at Shinagawa…’

‘And so when exactly did Kodaira make this visit?’ asks Kai. ‘This visit to the house in Meguro?’

Mrs. Midorikawa says, ‘The day before she went missing.’

‘The fifth of August,’ confirms her other daughter.

‘And did you both meet Kodaira?’ asks Kai –

‘Yes,’ they both reply at the same time.

‘So then tell me,’ says Inspector Kai. ‘What is he like?’

They are both silent for a moment until Mrs. Midorikawa first sighs and then says, ‘He seemed like a gentleman. He brought us a small gift. He said he was concerned about Ryuko’s health. He told us he was working as a cook with the Occupation Army. He thought he could help Ryuko find work at the same barracks.’

‘Can you remember which barracks these were?’ asks Kai.

‘Number 589,’ says the other daughter. ‘In Shinagawa.’

Kai looks up from his notes. ‘And you believed him?’

‘Of course I believed him,’ spits Mrs. Midorikawa, suddenly. ‘Do you really think I would have let my daughter go off to meet him, if I didn’t believe him? If I didn’t trust him?’

Inspector Kai looks back down at his notebook. Inspector Kai shakes his head and now says, ‘I am very sorry. I…’

‘There are six of us in our family,’ she says. ‘And no man.’

Inspector Kai bows his head and says again, ‘I am sorry.’

‘He promised her a good job,’ she says. ‘Free food.’

Inspector Kai just nods and stares at his notebook.

‘He was wearing the Shinchū Gun armband.’

I cough now. I edge forward on my seat. I bow and then ask, ‘And so Ryuko went to meet him on the sixth of August?’

‘Yes,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘They had arranged to meet at ten o’clock at the east gate of Shinagawa station.’

‘Ten o’clock in the morning?’ I ask –

‘Of course,’ she says. ‘Of course.’