‘And you remember this as well then,’ says Murota Hideki. ‘If you ever tell anyone about her, you ever tell anyone where she is, that she’s here with me, then I will find you and I will kill you…’
In this place of death. In this place of silence …
I turn back to Murota. I bow to him –
In this place of no resistance.
*
My skin is red. Nishi can’t wait. My skin is raw. Nishi wants to know what happened. My hand aches. I say nothing. My body sweats. What did Murota say? The city stinks of shit. I say nothing. Of shit and dirt and dust. Did he know Tominaga Noriko? The dirt and the dust that coats my clothes and coats my skin. I say nothing. That scratches my nostrils and burns my throat. Did he remember her? With every passing jeep and with every passing truck. Nothing, nothing, nothing. I take out my handkerchief. It isn’t her, is it? I take off my hat. No. I wipe my face. The body in the park? I wipe my neck. I’m sorry. I stare up at the bleached-white sky. It isn’t Tominaga Noriko, is it? The clouds of typhus. I’m sorry. The clouds of dust. The case isn’t closed, is it? The clouds of dirt. I’m sorry. The clouds of shit. This isn’t victory, is it? My skin is red. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. My skin is raw. This is defeat again. My hand aches. Yes. My body sweats. We haven’t won. The city stinks of shit. No. The city stinks of defeat. We have lost again. This city on its knees. Yes. Nishi on his knees. We always lose. Always, always lose …
‘No! No! No!’ I shout. ‘Get off your knees!’
*
I walk up the stairs to Police Arcade. To the smells and the stains. Chief Inspector Adachi is standing in the corridor. There is no escape. Chief Inspector Adachi is looking for me. We should turn him over to Chief Inspector Adachi. Chief Inspector Adachi is waiting for me. The Chief Inspector was here looking for him. Chief Inspector Adachi walks me to the end of the corridor. Looking for Ishida, asking about Detective Fujita. Chief Inspector Adachi pulls me into the bathroom. Said his name was Adachi. Chief Inspector Adachi pushes me into a cubicle. No escape from the smells and the stains …
Chief Inspector Adachi puts me up against the wall –
The smells of ammonia and the stains of shit …
Chief Inspector Adachi stares into my face and then he says, ‘You haven’t been to see Senju yet, have you, detective?’
The smells of amnesia, the stains of blood …
‘You’ve been following me, sir?’
The stains on his hands …
‘I’m not the only one.’
The stains on mine …
‘Then you’ll know I’ve been busy,’ I tell him. ‘Busy searching for the Miyazaki Mitsuko file, chief inspector, sir.’
Now he takes his hands off me. Now he steps back. Now he asks, ‘And which Miyazaki Mitsuko file would that be?’
‘The Tokyo MPD file on the murder of Miyazaki Mitsuko. The file that was signed out just four days ago —’
‘Signed out by whom?’ asks Adachi –
‘Detective Nishi,’ I say. ‘But he denies it and I believe him.’
‘So who do you believe signed it out, detective?’
‘I think Fujita got Ishida to sign it out under Nishi’s name.’
‘Why?’ asks Adachi, but Adachi already knows –
‘Insurance,’ I say. ‘Extortion. Blackmail…’
‘Blackmail?’ he asks, but he knows –
‘You.’
‘And what about you, corporal? Mine won’t be the only name in that file, will it?’
‘I don’t know,’ I tell him. ‘I haven’t read it, have I?’
‘But I wasn’t even the senior officer,’ I say. ‘I need to find the file. I need to read it. And I need to speak to him…’
‘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 –