‘You’ll see it after breakfast.’
‘Maybe I’d better see it now,’ Porter said.
‘Okay. We’ll meet up later,’ Yoshi told the girl, and took Porter inside.
The house was a warren of corridors, with a faint smell of incense hanging about. ‘It’s from the walls,’ Yoshi told him. ‘Religious people lived here a long time.’ The walls were of rough plaster and brass oil lamps hung from them. Electric bulbs were in the oil lamps now. They turned a corner, and then another, and went up a flight of stairs, to a room evidently over the entrance tunnel. Yoshi unlocked the door and switched the light on and re-locked behind them.
The room was cell-like, with a single shuttered window. It had tatami matting on the floor and two chairs and a table. On the table was a model of the ship, a metre long, and brightly painted.
‘The man will come and explain it to you,’ Yoshi said. ‘He’s a ship architect with the government.’ He took a side off the ship and exposed the interior. ‘You see what a good job it is? It’s better than any blueprint.’
‘Yes,’ Porter said. The model was very good, immaculately finished, and in much better shape than the original was now likely to be.
He looked at the interior. Two shafts had been installed, he saw. For vertical container stacking. Little containers were stacked in them. He moved the containers up and down. ‘When was this put in?’ he said.
‘They did a big job ten, twelve years ago. The man will explain it all to you.’
Ten, twelve years ago made sense. Then it was worth the expense. They wouldn’t have spent much since. In particular they wouldn’t have spent much on the deck gear. The deck gear was where it was on the blueprints — impossible in view of the shafts. Whoever had made the model was not interested in the deck but in the ship’s interior. The interior was very precise and showed many changes; to holds, lockers, shuttering.
‘Who built this?’ he said.
‘The man did it himself. He’s an expert. He’ll take you through it blindfold. He works for the narcotics bureau.’
‘What has the narcotics bureau to do with it?’
‘We brought them into it. You’re a narcotics agent, with the US government. We supplied good papers. We’ve done a lot of work. And they keep excellent relations with the police, the transport ministries, all kinds of authorities. We’re getting maximum help, and they know we’ll be discreet. So you see why you can’t go poking around and screwing things up. I’ll tell you all about it. You can take your wig off now and we’ll have breakfast.’
The girl didn’t appear at breakfast.
‘She doesn’t have to hear what I’m going to tell you,’ Yoshi said.
He began telling him as soon as the remains were cleared away. He produced two folders from a safe, and emptied one of them on the table. A number of photographs and papers spilled out, including the passport and the pay book.
‘This is his wife. Parents. Children. The house they all live in, street plan. His service record — every ship he’s been on, and where. Police record — some violence, as you’ll see. Medical record. Letters from his wife. Examples of his own writing. You’ll work through all this with Machiko.’
‘This is a real person?’ Porter said.
‘Of course. It’s always the best.’
‘Where is he?’
‘In Kobe. His throat was slit in a prison fight there three weeks ago. We’re holding the ashes a while. They’ll have to go back, of course, he was a Buddhist. The family has not been informed yet — bureaucratic delay. We’ll hold everything until you’re on that ship, and off it.’
‘Had he served with this line?’
‘Some time ago. You’ll see it there.’
‘Won’t any of the crew know him?’
‘No. They’re all signed, and we’ve checked every one out. Not one of them was ever in the same port with him, or even on home leave, at least not in the last six years. It’s a very slight risk.’
‘Who else knows he’s dead?’
‘Outside the prison, a few officials. Inside it, maybe the hospital staff. Not even them, for certain. He was shifted out in an ambulance. A police surgeon was the only one with him when he died. The police know, of course. That is, it will be on a computer somewhere, if they have any reason to check you out. They won’t have a reason. You’ll be staying out of sight. I’ll have one of your cigarettes now,’ Yoshi said.
Porter gave him one and lit it.
‘Wasn’t there an inquest?’ he said.
‘No. The narcotics department helped. They have asked that you stay out of sight. It’s the only thing they’ve asked. They can’t compromise the police.’
‘So how long am I supposed to stay here?’
‘From now, six days. Perhaps seven. Your kit is all here. You pick it up at Otaru.’
Porter thought about this.
‘All right. What’s the timing, from Nagasaki?’
‘From Nagasaki,’ Yoshi said, ‘the ship undocks on the thirty-first, and loads. This is a fast operation, wool the only cargo. I’ll have more information later, but provisionally she arrives at Niigata on the third September.’
He opened the second folder and took some sheets out.
‘Niigata. A fully equipped port. It handles all loading and discharge — ship’s own crew only partially required, so one watch goes ashore. Normal turnaround there is twelve to eighteen hours — again, I’ll know more later. But trouble develops on shore among the crew, and it continues on the ship. A hundred miles or so out the captain suddenly has a casualty on his hands, quite serious.’
He explained this, and Porter drew on his cigarette.
‘This is already fixed?’ he said.
‘Oh yes.’ Yoshi looked through his papers and turned one face round on the table. ‘Here’s the crew.’
Porter counted twelve names; four of them highlighted with red outliner.
‘What are the red ones?’ he said.
‘One of them is the casualty.’
‘How do you know who’ll be the casualty?’
‘I don’t,’ Yoshi said, ‘but the list is alphabetical, and they work the watches the same way. One of these men has to be the casualty. And three of them served together on a previous voyage, which will be useful. Anyway, I want to know what happens in Niigata before starting you off in Otaru.’
Porter considered this.
‘How long from there to Otaru?’
‘Two days,’ Yoshi said.
‘With this man in bad shape.’
‘Very bad shape.’
‘So what happens?’
Yoshi told him what he thought would happen.
‘Won’t there be questions about the casualty?’
‘It will happen fast,’ Yoshi said. ‘And the captain will leave Otaru fast. After shipping another hand.’
‘Are we certain he absolutely needs another hand?’
‘Yes. For a voyage through the Arctic, late in the season,’ Yoshi said, ‘he needs another hand. These ships already operate with minimum crews.’
Porter smoked silently for a while.
‘Okay. Green Cape,’ he said.
‘There isn’t anything for Green Cape. I told you, the Russian trade mission here is always late. They could still give instructions — even at sea. But whether they do or they don’t,’ Yoshi said, ‘you get off there.’ And he explained this, too. ‘After which,’ he ended, ‘you know what to do. And I don’t have to know. I’ve got you on the ship, and I’ve got you off it.’
‘Well. Okay.’ Porter said. ‘Maybe. If it works at Green Cape.’
‘I have no doubts about Green Cape. If you get on the ship, you’ll get off it at Green Cape. And you will get on it, if you keep to the plan. You look good. You look how you’re supposed to look, ‘Yoshi said. Porter was now gnawing the end of his pigtail.’ In seaman’s rig you’ll look even better.’