“You see, it was one of the very first Rh-negative transfusions in Japan, and it was big news at the time. So it made the front page—complete with a photo of Honda.” He passed the clipping over, and Shinji looked at a photo of a much younger Honda. He cast his eye over the headlines and caption.
“A.M.U. Biology Lab saves baby,” he read. “All students’ blood classified in American manner. A triumph for science. Student flies to Fukuoka in military plane and gives blood.”
The old man chewed his cigar. “There’s something else which is interesting in there,” he observed. “In those days, the term ‘hemolytic disease of the newborn’ was not used, so they referred to it by the old medical name—‘Rhesus incompatibility.’ And the person who made the phone call used that expression and not the term now used. That’s one reason why the phone calls were remembered at the hospitals. And the phrase in the article is ‘Rhesus incompatibility.’ So it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?”
“You mean that you think that the mystery caller had read the article?”
“That’s exactly what I think. I have no doubt that the caller was not involved with any baby at all. I feel certain that he or she was the elusive X. So you go and track down those five men, and meanwhile I think I’ll go to the prison and encourage Honda in his reconstruction of his diary.”
Could the old man be right? As he said, only checking with the five men would tell. He stood up to go, but the old man stopped him.
“I learn from the university that Ichiro Honda was a model student in every way. Always top of his class and an upstanding moral type.”
“So what came over him to change?” asked Shinji, but the old man gave him no reply.
Had Honda been a hypocrite at the university? Shinji wondered. Or had he become as he was as a reaction to his student life at Asia Moral University?
Why do some men become womanizers? Shinji would have dearly liked to know, but at present his main task was to hunt down the person who had framed Ichiro Honda.
He picked up the papers and left the room.
Shinji left the office just before noon; the bright daylight, after the gloomy office, dazzled his eyes. Who should he visit first? he wondered. At all costs, he must get his report back to the old man as quickly as possible. He had been through the list carefully several times but still could not make up his mind. He cast his mind back over the names and details on the detective’s report. They were:
1. Yuzo Osawa, aged 58, day laborer. Present address: Eukumae Ryokan, Asahicho, Shinjuku. Family and former address unknown.
Goes to Shinjuku Ward Employment Exchange every day and is engaged in road construction, mostly job-creation schemes financed by the Ward.
(Note.) Dines at a cheap restaurant called “Renko,” near his lodging, every evening. Always has the same meaclass="underline" two cups of cheap white spirit and a bowl of mince and curdled beans, his favorite dish. Drinks to get tipsy, but not drunk.
Best times to approach him are either outside the Employment Exchange or else during his evening meal.
Well, thought Shinji, most people would consider him to be a failure in life, but who is to say that he is not living as he wants to and enjoying it?
2. Seiji Tanikawa, aged 23, works for T Film Processing Laboratory Co., Ltd. High school graduate. Present address: 12 X-chome, Shimorenjaku, Mitaka City. This is his company’s dormitory for single men.
(Note.) Generally satisfactory attitude to work. Works late two or three nights a week. Does not frequent coffee bars or restaurants, etc., but on Mondays and Fridays, when he rarely works late, he visits a Turkish bath in Kanda. The girl he always employs is called Yasue Terada. For further details, contact this researcher.
Tanikawa’s salary is 28,000 yen a month including all overtime payments. He sends 5,000 yen a month to his mother in Fukushima. Our research indicates that his charges and tips at the Turkish bath come to not less than 2,000 yen a time. This implies that when he goes twice in a week as is his custom, this would consume nearly 20,000 yen a month. Adding on the money he sends his mother, the dormitory charges, money he spends on presents of sushi to the girl in the bathhouse, and the minimum required to keep body and soul alive, his monthly expenditure cannot be below 30,000 yen. We believe he has a side income through making and selling some kind of films.
A man who is gradually getting mired in the mud and will probably sink into it in due course, thought Shinji.
3. Rosuke Sada, aged 33, a salesman with H Cosmetics Co., Ltd., Suginami branch office. Present address: Tachibana-so, 2-chome, Asagaya, Suginami-ku.
A university graduate. Married with no children.
(Note.) His sales area is Setagaya, Suginami, Shibuya, and Nakano wards. His customers are mostly drawn from the upper class. His performance is in the upper-middle range; however, we have reason to believe that he has recently been supplementing his income by selling jewelry supplied to him by a college friend. Monthly income over 40,000 yen. His routine is hard to predict, owing to the nature of his calling, but he regularly lunches at a German-style restaurant called “Hamburg” in Shinjuku. After work he either goes home and watches television, or else goes out to a neighboring coffee shop and talks to the women who run it. Seems to be interested in women.
This man, thought Shinji, is my highest common multiple.
4. Nobuya Mikami, aged 18, a live-in bartender at the Bar B in Hanazono-cho, Shinjuku. Present address: as shown above.
(Note.) Bar B is a gay bar. Its special characteristic is that all the employees are young men under the age of 19, and none of them wear drag. There are very few casual customers; most of the clientele resort there for purposes of sodomy. Many established customers do not even bother to turn up, particularly persons of a certain social status. Instead, they phone in to place their requirements. The owner, who calls himself “Mama,” arranges liaisons suitably in such circumstances. Minimum charge is 3,000 yen, but it tends to be very much higher according to the client’s wallet and tastes. Some of the young men who work there have been given houses by their patrons; those who relate closely to foreigners often go on overseas trips.
Interesting, thought Shinji.
5. Kotaro Yamazaki, aged 26, an intern at the Y University Hospital. Present address: c/o Muneda, Tsuji-cho, Otsuka, Bunkyo-ku.
(Note.) He has boarded at the above address since he was a student. His routine out of hours is irregular—sometimes he studies for his medical exams, at other times he goes out to see foreign movies or baseball games, or else to drink.
However, he regularly frequents a local coffee shop called “Bluebird.” He is almost invariably there at lunchtime, for it is immediately next to his hospital.
Well, thought Shinji, this man must know quite a lot about blood types and the collection of blood.
So Shinji decided to tackle the medical intern first. He thought that at least he would have a chance of catching him at his favorite coffee shop during the lunch hour. Looking at his watch, he saw that it was already 11:30.