David Peace - Tokyo Year Zero

‘And so when Ryuko didn’t come home, what did you do?’

‘I waited until the next morning,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘And then, first thing, I went straight to see Kodaira.’

‘You went to see him at his home?’ I ask. ‘Where is it?’

‘In Hanezawamachi,’ she replies. ‘In Shibuya Ward.’

‘And what did he say when you went to see him?’

‘He lied to me,’ spits Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘He said Ryuko had never turned up to meet him at Shinagawa station.’

‘Let me just check this,’ I say. ‘When you went to see Kodaira in Shibuya it was the seventh of August?’

‘Yes,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa.

‘And you went to see him because Ryuko hadn’t come home the night before?’

‘Yes.’

‘But Kodaira told you Ryuko had not shown up to meet him at Shinagawa station at ten o’clock on the morning before?’

‘Yes,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘He lied to me.’

‘They all lie,’ says her other daughter.

Now I take out an envelope from my jacket pocket. I open the envelope. I take out the piece of newspaper found in the pocket of the skirt of the pinafore dress on my body. Now I place the newspaper advertisement on the table before Mrs. Midorikawa –

I ask, ‘Does this mean anything to you?’

Mrs. Midorikawa looks down at the newspaper advertisement. Mrs. Midorikawa pushes it away. Mrs. Midorikawa looks up at me. Mrs. Midorikawa says, ‘My daughter was not a whore.’

*

Inspector Kai and Room #1 have been busy. Room #1 have an address for Kodaira Yoshio. Inspector Kai and Room #1 have sent two men to the address in Hanezawamachi, Shibuya Ward. Room #1 have stationed two pairs of detectives near the address –

No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape …

‘It is Kodaira’s sister’s house,’ Inspector Kai is telling us. ‘His younger sister’s house. He lives there with his wife and son…’

Chief Kita knows Kai wants to bring Kodaira in now –

No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape …

The chief asks, ‘What about his place of work?’

‘It is Laundry Barracks #589,’ says Inspector Kai. ‘Just as he told the mother, but he’s not a cook. He’s been working in the laundry since March this year. In Shinagawa, on the ocean side…’

Now Adachi glances up from his notes. Adachi looks at me –

‘And we’ve both seen this before, detective. Remember?’

The chief asks, ‘What shifts does he work at the laundry?’

‘He’s been working on nights this month,’ replies Kai.

Adachi still looking at me. Adachi still watching my face –

‘Did you find that file, inspector? The Miyazaki file…’

The chief asks, ‘Do we have his family’s address?’

‘Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture,’ says Inspector Kai –

No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape …

The chief says, ‘Arrest him tomorrow at noon.’

No escape. In the half-light, no escape at all .

*

I take a different route back to Atago, through Hibiya Park and out onto Hibiya-dōri. The branches of the trees hang low in the hot and overcast light, the leaves on the branches covered in dirt and dust. There were statues in this park before the war turned against us, when there were heroes to celebrate and metal to spare. There were fountains too, when there were hours to play and water to spare. Restaurants and tea-houses, flower exhibitions and symphony concerts, tennis courts and a baseball ground, before they converted it into vegetable gardens and anti-aircraft batteries –

Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton …

I queue for a streetcar at Uchisaiwai-chō, just down the road from the Imperial Hotel; the Imperial Hotel where there are still heroes to celebrate and metal to spare, hours to play and water to spare. The old woman queuing next to me is bent double with the weight of the box tied to her back. The old woman telling the queue the story of a small boy in Hongō who waited and waited for his chocolate ration to come and was so excited when the chocolate finally came that he could not take his eyes off the chocolate, that he did not look up from the chocolate, that he did not see the streetcar coming. The queue for our streetcar says nothing. The queue just stands and waits, watching for a streetcar that never comes, listening to the hammering that never ceases –

Ton-ton. Ton-ton …

*

I am back in the toilets of Atago police station. I have vomited again. Black bile again . I stand over the sink. I spit. I wipe my mouth. I turn on the tap. I wash my face. Now I look up into that mirror again –

I don’t want to remember. I don’t want to remember …

Ishida is waiting for me beside our banner –

‘Did you find Hayashi Jo?’ I ask him –

‘No,’ says Ishida. ‘He’s resigned.’

‘When did Hayashi resign?’

‘Late yesterday evening.’

‘Where is he now?’

‘No one knows.’

‘Good work,’ I tell him. ‘Dismissed.’

I wait until Ishida has stepped into our borrowed office and then I run back to the toilets. I vomit again. Brown bile . I walk over to the sink. I spit again. I wipe my mouth. I turn on the tap. I wash my face again. Now I stare into that mirror –

I don’t want to remember …

No Hayashi. No Fujita –

You can tell which are the men from Room #1 and which are the men from Room #2 by the looks on their faces. No Fujita . The anticipation on the faces of Room #1, the resignation on the faces of Room #2. No Fujita . Room #1 have a name for their suspect. No Fujita . Room #2 still have no name for their victim. No Fujita . Detectives Hattori, Takeda, Sanada and Shimoda are sat at the very back of the room. No Fujita . Detectives Nishi, Kimura and Ishida sat at the front. No Fujita . None of the men from the Second Team are smiling in anticipation of an arrest as they listen to Inspector Kai –

‘But the mother and sisters had already identified her haramaki by its five darned holes and given us details of the whitlow scar on her left thumb, so she was then formally identified by her mother as Midorikawa Ryuko, aged seventeen of Meguro Ward…’

Inspector Kai updating Room #1 and Room #2 about the identification of the body, about the life of the victim, about the name of the suspect and the plan for his arrest at noon tomorrow. The uniforms from Atago, Meguro and Mita have not been invited this evening. This meeting is just for detectives; detectives only –

‘And our two teams of detectives in Shibuya have just reported that the suspect left for his shift as usual at 5:30 p.m. tonight and then arrived at the laundry before 6 p.m….’

I am stood next to Inspector Kai at the front of the room beside Inspectors Kanehara and Adachi –

I am cursing Inspector Kai …

‘Naturally the detectives from Room #2 will also be able to question the suspect Kodaira about the second body found at Shiba Park and to which we hope he will also provide an identity and a confession and thus spare the blushes of Room #2 again…’

There is laughter from one half of the room –

There is resentment from the other half –

‘I’m just joking,’ laughs Kai. ‘We’re all comrades now.’

There is more laughter and more jeering, fists on desktops and boots on floorboards, backs slapped and hair ruffled –

In anticipation, in excitement –

‘Attention!’ shouts Kai –

Their fists by their sides, their boots together now …

‘Bow!’ he shouts –

Backs straight and hair flat …

‘Dismissed!’

They file out …