‘But how do you know he won’t come back?’
‘I just know,’ he laughs again. ‘Trust me.’
‘But how do you know…?’
Detective Fujita steps closer. Fujita whispers, ‘I told him I’d kill him if I ever saw him again.’
*
I have vomited in the toilets of Atago police station. Black bile. Now I stand over the sink. I spit. I wipe my mouth. I turn on a tap. I wash my face. I look up into the mirror. I stare into the mirror –
No one is who they say they are…
I stand up in front of the First Team, the Second Team and all the uniforms from the Atago, Meguro and Mita police stations as Chief Inspector Kanehara reviews the progress of the investigation to date; the searches of the two crime scenes in Shiba Park have been completed; the statements of the witnesses have been taken; the autopsies have been conducted; the initial stages of the investigation have been successfully completed bar the identification of the bodies, which is scheduled for later this morning; then the second stage of the investigation will begin –
I swallow…
‘All reports must be completed and submitted to Headquarters this morning,’ Adachi is now telling the First Team, the Second Team and the uniforms from the Atago, Meguro and Mita police stations. ‘Following the completion of the identification process, there will be a second meeting later today at 4 p.m.’
‘Attention!’ shouts one of the sergeants –
‘Bow!’ the sergeant shouts –
‘Dismissed!’
I run back to the toilets. I vomit again. Brown bile. I walk over to the sink. I spit. I wipe my mouth. I turn on a tap. I wash my face. I look up into the mirror. I stare into the mirror –
No one is who they say they are …
In the upstairs corridor I wait for Nishi and Kimura. I take them to one side. I ask them, ‘Have you written up your reports?’
They both nod. They both say, ‘Yes, we have.’
‘Then I want you to go to Toshima Ward,’ I tell them. ‘I want you to go to the ward office. I want you to ask again about this Takahashi of Zōshigaya, Toshima…’
Kimura nods again but Nishi says, ‘The First Team have already been up there.’
‘I know that,’ I tell him. ‘And I know they couldn’t find him or any mention of him, but his name on a statement of employment in his bag in that park is the only name we have found so far and, remember, our body is only bones and those bones need a name or they’ll always be bones…’
Nishi nods. Kimura nods. They both bow. They both turn to leave. I wait until they’ve gone and then I run. I run back to the toilets to vomit a third time. Yellow bile. I turn on the tap. I wash my face. I look up into the mirror. I stare into the mirror –
No one is who they say they are …
Ishida is wiping down the chairs and the tables, sweeping up the floor and the doorway, straightening our banner. Ishida looks up. He sees me. He flinches. Then he stands to attention –
‘At ease,’ I say as he bows and apologizes –
I ask, ‘Have you written up your report?’
He nods. He says, ‘Yes, I have, sir.’
‘Then I want you to do something for me,’ I tell him. ‘I want you to go to the offices of the Minpo newspaper…’
Ishida nods. Ishida bows again –
‘I want you to ask to see a Hayashi Jo…’
Ishida takes out his notebook –
‘Tell Hayashi to come see me…’
Ishida licks his pencil tip –
‘Now if he’s not there, I want you to find out who he has seen recently, where he has gone and when he’ll be back.’
Ishida nods. Ishida says, ‘I understand, sir.’
‘I’m depending on you, Ishida.’
Ishida nods. He bows. He turns to leave. Now I run again. Back to the toilets of Atago police station. I vomit again. Grey bile. Four times I have vomited in the toilets of Atago police station. Black bile, brown bile, yellow bile and grey. Four times I have looked into the mirror. Four times I have stared into that mirror –
I don’t want to remember. But in the half-light…
Four times I have screamed into the glass –
In the half-light, I can’t forget. I can’t forget…
I have screamed into my own face –
No one is who they say they are!
*
Inspectors Kanehara, Adachi and Kai have already left for Metro Headquarters, left in a car without me. Ton-ton. But I am glad. Ton-ton. I don’t care. Ton-ton. I want to walk. Ton-ton. In the shit. Ton-ton. In the dust. Ton-ton. In the dirt. Ton-ton. There is a typhoon approaching Japan. Ton-ton. But it won’t hit Tokyo. Ton-ton. Not this time. Ton-ton. Not this one. Ton-ton. But the air is still heavy with its approach. Ton-ton. The people wilting in the streets. Ton-ton. The stalls at the sides of the road quiet. Ton-ton. Men sat on their butts slowly shelling nuts to sell, slowly stripping down old wirelesses for parts. Ton-ton. Nut by nut, part by part, as slowly as they can. Ton-ton. Frightened to finish, frightened of having no more nuts to shell, of having no more wirelesses to strip, of having nothing more to do –
Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton …
Nothing more to do but think, think about food –
Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton …
My stomach aches. My head aches –
Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton …
My feet ache. My eyes ache –
Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton …
I curse! I curse! I curse!
Ton-ton. Ton-ton …
I curse myself –
Ton-ton.
*
I knock on the door to Chief Kita’s office. I open it. I bow deeply. I apologize profusely. I take my seat at the table; the same people, the same place, the same time and the same two conversations every day but today I am late so I have missed all their talk of the Tokyo trials and the rumours of purges. Now the talk around the table has turned again to SCAP, to their so-called reforms, all of which are based on the recommendations of former New York Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine, and to the SCAP puppet Tanikawa, the chief of the Police Affairs Bureau at the Home Ministry –
‘He’s helping them purge good hard-working officers,’ Kanehara is saying, ‘and replacing them with policewomen, turning female clerks into police officers, giving them the authority to arrest suspects or to take them back to the stations…’
‘Tanikawa is a fool,’ agrees Adachi. ‘A fool and a stooge.’
‘He might be a fool and a stooge,’ says Kanehara, ‘but he’s not finished yet; have you seen the kind of reforms they want to include in the proposed new Police Bill? Not only policewomen with powers of arrest and detention, but an emphasis on the recruitment of college graduates above all other recruits…’
‘All communists,’ says Kai –
‘Exactly,’ continues Kanehara. ‘And then let’s not forget the centrepiece of the Bill; the prevention of unreasonable or unjustifiable detention in police cells or jails. You know what this will mean? That for every single suspect you pick up, there will have to be either some proof of guilt or some actual charge. There will be no more picking people up and holding them until you find the evidence or gain a confession. There will have to be either evidence or a charge before you can touch them. If not, then you’ll be the one charged — with violating the suspect’s human rights!’