David Peace - Tokyo Year Zero

‘Then go to Senju and go soon,’ hisses Adachi. ‘Ask him where Fujita is. If Senju says he doesn’t know, you tell him about Fujita and Nodera Tomiji. You tell him about the plot.’

‘And you think he’d do the same for you?’

‘But then Senju will rip Tokyo apart looking for Fujita,’ I say. ‘He’ll find him and he’ll kill him before we…’

‘I really don’t know any more.’

‘Exactly,’ smiles Adachi.

*

Adachi and Kanehara are sat on his right, Kai and I on his left, the chief telling us, ‘As you all know, we had a quick success yesterday in attaining Kodaira Yoshio’s confession to the murder of Abe Yoshiko. And I think we should all thank Chief Inspector Kanehara for his legwork and Chief Inspector Adachi for his interrogation…’

Inspector Kai and I nodding our heads –

‘As we said, there are similarities with other cases and, after this early success with the Abe case, I feel there is every reason to go ahead and wash these other cases, manpower permitting. And so Inspector Kai, I believe you have the next one…’

Inspector Kai stands up now. Kai nods. ‘Shinokawa Tatsue; seventeen years old; raped and strangled…

‘Her body was found on the sixteenth of January this year in the basement of the annex of the former Toyoko Department Store at 20 Namiki-chō, Shibuya Ward, next to Shibuya station This basement formerly housed the employee canteen of the Toyoko Department Store but, since it was badly damaged during the air raids, it is now used only for storage…

‘On the sixteenth of January this year, a guard checking the storage area in the basement, removed some shelves and found the body of Shinokawa…

‘The body was in a state of some decay and the autopsy, which was conducted by Dr. Nakadate at the Keiō University Hospital, concluded that Shinokawa had probably died between the last week of October and the first week of November last year. However, the autopsy also revealed that Shinokawa Tatsue had most probably been raped before being strangled to death…’

‘Probably?’ asks Chief Inspector Adachi. ‘Why probably?’

Kai says, ‘Presumably because of the state of the body.’

‘Where was the investigation headquarters?’

Kai says, ‘The Shibuya precinct station.’

‘And who was in charge?’

Kai says, ‘Mori.’

‘Chief Inspector Mori,’ says Chief Kita. ‘Former Chief Inspector Mori was in charge.’

Kai blushes now. Kai bows. ‘Former Chief Inspector Mori.’

‘But that’s strange, don’t you think?’ asks Adachi. ‘I’ve read the entirety of the Abe Yoshiko case file, every single scrap of paperwork, and former Chief Inspector Mori never once mentions the Shinokawa case in his notes on the Abe case, never once…’

Inspector Kai shakes his head. Kai says, ‘No.’

‘And yet, both victims were of a similar age,’ continues Adachi. ‘Both had been raped and strangled. Both were his cases…’

‘But let us not forget the particular and peculiar circumstances of our times, Chief Inspector Adachi,’ interrupts Chief Kita. ‘Former Chief Inspector Mori was a very competent and a very diligent police officer but, and as you are well aware, there has been a marked rise in crimes and lawlessness in Tokyo over the past year and, equally, there has been a marked fall in the number of police officers and the resources and equipment available to us –

‘Now Chief Inspector Mori and I discussed this particular case at length and we both felt that, because of the state of the body, because of the shortage of manpower, the shortage of resources, our efforts were better directed towards other cases…

‘And so, ultimately, it was my decision to roll the banner back up again and close this case.’

Chief Inspector Adachi has his head bowed. Inspector Adachi does not look up. Adachi says, ‘I am sorry. Please excuse my rudeness and my presumption. I am sorry. It was not my intention to cast aspersions or make insinuations about the competence of Chief Inspector Mori. We all worked with him and we all learned from him. We all valued him and we all miss him…’

‘Thank you, chief inspector,’ says Chief Kita. ‘Inspector Kai, is there anything else you would like to add about the case?’

Inspector Kai closes his mouth. Kai nods. He says, ‘Her umbrella and twenty yen in cash were also reported missing.’

‘Kodaira Yoshio always had gifts on him … Proper gifts for ladies like jewellery, watches, umbrellas, you know …?’

‘Thank you, inspector,’ says the chief. ‘Right, as you all know, at the time of Shinokawa’s murder, Kodaira was living in Wakagi-chō in Shibuya Ward. And, as Chief Inspector Adachi stated, the age of the victim and the cause of death are the same as both those of Midorikawa Ryuko and Abe Yoshiko. So I want Inspector Kai and his Room to reopen this case, to reinterview the original witnesses from the original investigation as well as Kodaira’s wife and his immediate family living here in Tokyo…

‘Unfortunately, we will also have to make use of the Shibuya police station again as Inspector Kai will need officers from the Shibuya precinct to question local residents about Kodaira and Shinokawa. Hopefully a lead or a witness will quickly turn up that will again prompt Kodaira Yoshio to make another confession…’

More legwork. More questions. More reports …

‘Finally,’ says the chief. ‘Inspector Minami…’

There are things to say. Things not to say …

I wipe my neck. I stand up. I tell them about Kodaira Yoshio’s mistress, Okayama Hisayo. I tell them about the rumours of a murder in Kanuma in Tochigi Prefecture –

There are things to say …

‘Baba Hiroko, aged nineteen, found raped and strangled with her own scarf on the third of January this year, in Nishi Katamura, Tochigi. This fell in the jurisdiction of the Kanuma police, Tochigi. As you all know, Kodaira is originally from Nikkō in Tochigi Prefecture. His mistress, the widow Okayama Hisayo, has told us that Kodaira accompanied her on a visit to her mother’s house which is located one mountain away from Kanuma station. Okayama also told us that Kodaira has been back to the area on numerous occasions ostensibly for kaidashi and supplies and so on…

‘I think there is a strong possibility, given the age of the victim, the cause and circumstances of her death, the proximity to Kodaira Yoshio’s known haunts and the timeframe, that Kodaira should be questioned about this murder…’

There’s no applause here either …

I do not tell them about Tominaga Noriko’s landlady and the clothing. I do not tell them about visiting Murota Hideki. I do not tell them about seeing Tominaga Noriko –

Things not to say …

But Adachi is waiting for me. Adachi is always waiting –

‘But are you any nearer identifying the second Shiba body? What about this missing friend of Abe Yoshiko? What about the statement by her landlady? You said there was a possibility that the body might be this missing girl? This friend of Abe?’

But I told you nothing. I told you nothing …

‘I am very sorry,’ I tell him now. ‘But we no longer believe that to be the case, Chief Inspector Adachi, sir.’

‘Is that right?’ asks Adachi. ‘And yet only yesterday you seemed so very, very sure…’

‘And I’m very, very sorry,’ I tell him again. ‘And we are equally disappointed, sir.’

‘So are you now saying this friend of Abe is alive?’ he asks. ‘You’ve actually found her? Eliminated her?’

Tell him nothing …

‘No, sir,’ I lie. ‘I just mean that her landlady failed to identify the clothing as hers…’