Chapter 109 - Name and Reality 32 {Combined 58/59} (135-136, 137-138: Interrogations of the Four Gradually Progress)
Having Mayuzumi guide the forensics staff to the fourth floor, Nishida and the others first asked the female staff member her name; she identified herself as Kikuta. Since she had been employed for over 15 years, they asked about the office's renovation history. She didn't have a clear memory but said there might have been one after she started working.
However, she didn't know for sure whether it was before or after seven years ago. She said, "It should have been not many years after I started working," but that alone was not enough to feel at ease.
They would later interrogate Nakagawa thoroughly about how he had kept other office staff away from the rooms while Higashidate and the others were hiding, but since they had been hiding for nearly two weeks, this female staff member might have memories of that time. So, after informing her of Nakagawa's arrest to put her at ease, they decided to check with her.
Then, she recalled that although she wasn't sure when it was, Nakagawa, who usually didn't stay at the office, had stayed there for a quite long period and hadn't let anyone near the third floor or above.
Furthermore, the reason given at the time was, "I'm looking after a large amount of important items from Representative Ooshima, so don't come near," which was somewhat hard to understand, but she had followed it because it was an instruction from the local "Chief Steward."
However, since the third floor and above, especially the assembly room on the fourth floor, were not used that frequently, it wasn't unusual to only open them about once every four days for ventilation when not in use for a long time, so it didn't seem that out of place.
In any case, it was certain that there had been a time in the past when office personnel were not allowed near the upper floors. After telling Kikuta, "We'll be taking a formal witness statement from you later, so please be ready," she nodded with an indescribable expression on her face.
Leaving Asada and Miyabe to keep watch below, Nishida and Yoshimura immediately headed to the fourth floor. Forensics was already working on cutting out the part believed to be a bullet hole from the wall in its entirety. This was to analyze it carefully after returning to the station.
Kawakita from forensics was collecting fingerprints from the wall and the television, centering on the area around the bullet hole. As expected, collecting fingerprints from the entire interior walls and doorknobs from seven years ago would take time, and at the same time, the possibility of them having been wiped away or clashing with a significant number of fingerprints from others unrelated to the incident was extremely high. Given the number of years that had passed, it couldn't be denied that detection would be quite difficult for any part.
Therefore, they had decided to pick out locations that Higashidate would have clearly touched based on his testimony and work on them only as a "just in case" measure. Of course, depending on the situation, the need to eventually collect fingerprints from the entire room might arise, but at this point, confirming that the mark on the wall was a bullet hole was undoubtedly the most important piece of evidence.
"How is it? Looking good?" Yoshimura asked a young forensics staff member, but he only got a noncommittal answer.
"We can't say anything at this point... Especially, it doesn't visibly look like metal components are adhering to it... From what we've heard, the bullet was pulled out of the wall? If that's the case, there's a possibility that the surrounding wall material was peeled off along with it."
Since just watching would only get in the way of the forensics staff, Nishida and Yoshimura joined the two below and began the raid of the entire office. Nishida and Yoshimura decided to check the cars in the outside parking lot, but according to a male office staff member who arrived later, he testified that all the cars currently at the office had been replaced with new ones five years ago, and the old vehicles had already been scrapped. It seemed the other side had already done what needed to be done.
Information that the police had raided the office of Ooshima Kaiji, a powerful politician, on suspicion of murder by his secretary, and that employees of a prominent local general contractor had been arrested at the same time, was "naturally" leaked by the police, and by before 10:00 AM, it had spread to the media in an instant.
The Doho, the most powerful media outlet in Hokkaido, naturally had that information reach even unrelated branch offices immediately. Takeshita at the Monbetsu branch naturally came across the report as well. Needless to say, it included rumors that Isaka Masamitsu, the president of the Isaka Group, might also have been arrested...
"Nishida-san and Yoshimura have finally made their move..." Takeshita muttered with deep emotion. However, not long after, the Desk told him,
"Takeshita! A notice has come from the City News Department at the main office that if this develops into a large-scale story, they might have you go to Kitami to help. It seems your experience from your police days is being valued. Unfortunately, it's not at that stage yet, but just get yourself mentally prepared."
He was told of an unexpected opportunity. Of course, he replied with an immediate,
"Understood. I'll be fully prepared!"
Even so, Takeshita himself had never once thought, after quitting the police, that he might be involved in that case again even after becoming a newspaper reporter.
Meanwhile, Nishida and Yoshimura, having a rough idea of what should be seized, returned to the investigation headquarters after noon, but the four who had already been brought in were being subjected to intense interrogation.
In the raid on the Isaka Group, which Section Chief Mitani directed and Investigation Division 2 cooperated with following Isaka Masamitsu's arrest, the first objective was to support the fact that the two arrested men, Sakamoto and Itagaki, had stayed for a long time at a training facility in Onneyu Onsen, Rubeshibe, which the Isaka Group owned at the time, several times after the incident to support Higashidate and the others.
There was also the objective of checking for other irregularities and backing up the fraud related to Isaka Masamitsu's private document forgery (alteration of receipt amounts). For that purpose, they had moved to seize documents related to statutory attendance records, such as attendance logs (T/N: Dezura-chou), and accounting ledgers.
However, the statutory retention period for attendance logs was three years, and just as they had not appeared during the alibi check of the time when the two Managing Directors, Kitagawa and Shinoda, were laborers in the 1995 investigation of the Sada Minoru murder case, they did not appear this time either.
At that time, because a labor accident at Abashiri Fisherman's Square had occurred around the same time, the unusual move of obtaining the attendance logs of the time from the Labor Standards Inspection Office was successful, but this time, such a thing didn't come to mind, and it was expected that they probably wouldn't be able to back it up from the work-related ledgers.
However, they found a person named Sugimura, who was the person in charge at the time from 1994 to 1997 in the then General Affairs Department and current Sales Department. When they questioned him on the spot, testimony came out that although he wasn't sure when it was, he had been told from above, per company instructions, that "we are lending it to others for about a week, so if you get a call from local residents, tell them so." He was immediately brought in voluntarily, and a simple witness statement had already been taken.
In any case, since it was also necessary to scrutinize whether there were other separate cases of economic crimes in addition to backing up Isaka's receipt forgery, it was necessary for the Investigation Division 2 of the Kitami Regional HQ, which specializes in economic crimes, to work especially hard here.
However, for Nishida, the raid on the Isaka Group and such were not really in his sights; after all, whether the hole in the wall of the Ooshima office was a bullet hole was his greatest concern. Since the results would be out by tomorrow at the earliest, he was facing the subsequent investigation in a restless state of mind. The maximum temperature exceeded 30 degrees Celsius that day, but the fact that Nishida was sweating more than usual must have been due to this psychological influence.
In the interrogations, as expected beforehand, Secretary Nakagawa stuck to complete silence (T/N: Kanmoku). On the other hand, Isaka, Sakamoto, and Itagaki, who perhaps hadn't expected to be arrested, denied involvement in the incident but showed considerable agitation. Kusaka, who was in charge of Sakamoto's interrogation, and Mitani, who was in charge of Itagaki's, both showed confidence that "the two young ones will eventually break." However, when the Isaka Group's legal advisor, Lawyer Matsuda, who also represented Secretary Nakagawa, had an interview with each of the four in the evening, they all unfortunately seemed to have calmed down considerably.
The investigation side, for its part, was actually in a state of considerable confusion. Especially recently, they had been investigating with a policy of secrecy involving only a very limited number of investigators, but for the general investigators providing support, there had been almost no preparation or notification stage, and they had gone straight to raids and arrests all at once, so they were flustered, unable to share information.
No, not just that; even the investigation headquarters team had hardly been told the schedule until just before the day, so it could be said that the result was even more so for the support team.
Also, a total of 12 supporting investigators had been dispatched from the Prefectural Police Headquarters in Sapporo and the Asahikawa Regional HQ. Given the nature of the case, the number of supporting investigators from other headquarters could have been several times this number, but because it was a sudden arrest, even if a large number of investigators who hardly understood the situation came, it was certain that they would be of almost no use at this stage of the investigation.
Because Nishida had advised Headquarters Chief Yasumura beforehand that a large number of supporting personnel would instead cause confusion, the number of supporting personnel was kept to the minimum necessary at this point.
In any case, the support team, which had been hastily gathered from the local station, surrounding stations, and other (regional) headquarters, was made to participate without being able to grasp almost any outline of the case itself, so the number of interrogation personnel who could be effective was actually quite insufficient. Due to the turn of events, even Section Chief-class officers like Mitani and Matsuura of the Kitami Station, which would normally be unthinkable, were facing the interrogations as personnel in charge.
Nishida, at this point, was playing the role of the coordinator for the overall grasp of the investigation, but if the number of witnesses to be questioned increased, he would eventually be forced to participate directly in the interrogations. Yoshimura, separately from Nishida, was already directly involved in Sakamoto's interrogation.
As for Criminal Investigation Director Koyabu, he was busy dealing with the media along with the public relations officer. As expected, when the secretary of a powerful Diet member was arrested on suspicion of murder, the commotion grew large. By noon, it was being broadcast on national news, and the press conference room at the Kitami Station was in an uproar with newspaper and television reporters gathered. Higashidate's indictment was also scheduled for the 3rd, and it was clear that they would become even busier with media relations.
While the arrest and detention of Higashidate, the perpetrator of the hospital shooting, had not been made public until now to prevent the destruction of evidence, the fact that the arrests of the three who cooperated in the execution (though Nakagawa was charged with murder because he was equivalent to a perpetrator) were reported immediately could be said to be an indescribable irony, but it was for the sake of the investigation and couldn't be helped.
At the press conference, it was finally announced that Higashidate had already been arrested for the Kyoritsu Hospital shooting murder case. Regarding this, some reporters blamed them for not contacting the news organizations at all, but Koyabu pushed back, saying, "We kept quiet because it would hinder the investigation."
In Nagatacho, Tokyo, the arrest of the secretary of the powerful Ooshima seemed to have sent shockwaves through those related to the Diet members, and Nishida would later hear that there were political reporters who rumored Ooshima's involvement, but at this point, he didn't have the leeway to worry about things in Tokyo.
Furthermore, on the last day of July, the previous day, the ordinary session of the House of Representatives, where Ooshima also held a seat, had reached the end of its term. However, during this session, suspicions had been raised against multiple members from both the ruling and opposition parties, leading to confusion such as arrests and resignations.
At the end of the session, a vote on a motion of no confidence in the Takamatsu Cabinet was taken and rejected, making it a day symbolic of a quite chaotic Diet, but the fact that the secretary of a local "Chief Steward" class of a senior ruling party member was arrested the day after the end of the session could be said to have symbolized this turbulent Diet. Naturally, the media also launched an interview offensive at Ooshima's home and his Tokyo office, but Ooshima was in hiding.
August 2nd, Thursday. In contrast to the previous day, the maximum temperature dropped below 20 degrees Celsius, making it chilly, and the forensics results that Nishida was most concerned about came out.
As expected, those three holes were indeed bullet holes. From the edges of the holes, the components of the bullet jackets (T/N: Gaisou—outer casing), identical to those used in the shooting incident, were precisely detected.
Hearing that report, the entire investigation headquarters erupted in joy, just like Nishida, who inadvertently let out a victory cry. At this stage, everyone shared the information about what this meant.
All that was left was to prove that Nakagawa was involved in the preliminary practice for the shooting incident and that he was involved in the escape after the incident. However, by being able to prove the preliminary shooting practice at Ooshima's office, it would also give considerable credibility to Higashidate's other testimonies, and it began to feel like they could prove them with various testimonies and other disclosures of secrets alone. The remaining challenge was how to link Ooshima Kaiji himself and the Souryuu-kai to the incident.
The four arrested were sent to the Kitami Branch of the Kushiro District Public Prosecutors Office at noon for the prosecutor's judgment on the request for detention. Needless to say, they were sent on the premise that detention would be requested. The request would be made today, and if things went well, it would be granted today, or at the latest tomorrow, and detention should begin.
Nakagawa had already been told during interrogation that the bullet holes had been proven, but as expected of a person Ooshima trusted, he didn't flinch and said only, "I will remain silent," as before. Nishida braced himself, realizing the possibility of drawing anything directly from Nakagawa's mouth would remain quite low.
Given the situation, the prevailing thought in the investigation headquarters as a whole was that rather than Secretary Nakagawa, who would have strong loyalty to Ooshima, it might be a shortcut to link to the proof of Ooshima's crime by breaking the Isaka route through Sakamoto and Itagaki. It was the logic of "haste makes waste," but based on Kusaka's feeling, Nishida also thought that would result in a shortcut.
The problem was to what extent the three had knowledge of or were involved in the heart of the incident, but the honest truth was that they wouldn't know until they tried.
Normally, the flow of re-arrest (T/N: Author's Note—While 're-arrest' is commonly used in mystery novels and police dramas to mean being arrested on a different charge after being arrested and detained, in legal terms, a true re-arrest refers mainly to an arrest for the same suspected fact and is, needless to say, an illegal arrest. However, since it is practically used often, it is used normally in this novel as well) is from a light crime (basically a separate case) to a heavy crime (the main case). In the case of the two who seemed to have other crimes besides aiding and abetting murder, such as the discharge of a handgun at the construction company, the idea that long-term detention on a separate case was possible also reinforced that. Of course, it goes without saying that the investigation team was already considering treating the theft of the car for escape from the hospital as a separate case.
However, the problem with emphasizing an investigation route other than Nakagawa was that it was assumed that the relationship between Ooshima and Isaka Masamitsu was not as strong as the relationship between Ooshima and Nakagawa, and there was a fear that proving Ooshima's involvement in the crime might become tougher than expected. But even so, since there was nothing to be done if Nakagawa didn't open his mouth, they still needed to consider the investigation from that route.
August 3rd, Saturday. Nishida was observing the interrogations of Sakamoto and Itagaki from behind the scenes. With the coaching of Lawyer Matsuda, the two seemed to be trying to maintain silence like Nakagawa, but now that Higashidate's important testimony had been backed up, Nishida was confident they wouldn't be able to get away with it. And he hoped to reach Ooshima Kaiji through this route at the very least.
Meanwhile, regarding Isaka, he had effectively admitted quite easily to the forgery of writing numbers on blank receipts. However, regarding the instructions to the two employees, Sakamoto and Itagaki, in connection with both shooting incidents (multiple construction companies and Kitami Kyoritsu Hospital), he denied them or remained silent. Lawyer Matsuda seemed to have given advice with the separate case arrest fully in mind.
If things continued like this, including the time for witness questioning of the side that handed over the blank receipts, there was a possibility that an extension of detention for the private document forgery would not be granted. This was because the reason to continue the state of detention would disappear. Thinking it essential to grasp other charges at the earliest possible stage, the investigation headquarters was persistently demanding that Investigation Division 2 find something from the seized materials.
Also, the witness questioning of Sugimura, who was the person in charge of the training facility, had turned out to be quite difficult, contrary to initial expectations. As expected, he couldn't sell out the boss of his own company, and he retracted his testimony, saying, "My memory was vague."
There was still room for a reversal, but it was certain that they had strayed from a smooth flow. However, in the evening, the issuance of a physical search warrant was granted, and hair was collected from Sakamoto and Itagaki, and an analysis began to see if the hair of both (more precisely, the hair roots, which are necessary for DNA testing) remained in the stolen vehicle.
And for Higashidate, who had already been indicted, the final decision for indictment for the crime of murder in the shooting incident at Kitami Kyoritsu Hospital was made at noon, and for Ohara Fumio, a referral to the prosecutor's office (T/N: Shorui-souken—sending papers to the prosecutor) for the crime of murder was made on the premise of the death of the suspect as a joint principal.
Since Ohara was already a "Buddha" (T/N: Hotoke-san—slang for a corpse), he would not be eventually indicted, but even though Higashidate had dared to commit the murder in Ohara's place, it might have been a bit unreasonable from Higashidate's perspective that he was referred to the prosecutor for the same charge as the perpetrator, at least based on his degree of involvement.
Nishida instructed that this fact be kept from Higashidate. It would eventually come out during the trial, but considering Higashidate's current state of mind, even though he was the enemy of Kitamura, he felt too sorry for him.
Also, they raided the former Isaka Group training facility in Onneyu Onsen, Rubeshibe, but because the company that took it over had renovated it and it was completely different from back then, there was no prospect at all of being able to collect any left-behind items.
The media, naturally, made even more of a fuss over Higashidate's indictment than Nakagawa's arrest the other day. In the evening editions of both the national Maiasa Shinbun and the Higashi Nippon Shinbun, they touched on the suspicion of Ooshima's responsibility or involvement—the boss of Nakagawa—on the third page, following Higashidate's arrest on the same charges as Nakagawa and the others, while keeping it vague.
Ooshima was reportedly in a state of siege at his luxurious home in Tokyo. The Diet had reached the end of its session at the end of July and was now in recess, and he was reportedly not accepting any interviews, citing poor health.
That evening, the results of the hair analysis came out. Among several hairs of unknown identity left in the stolen car, the result was that Itagaki's hair was definitely there. Since it was thought he had only ridden in it at the time of the theft, it was thought the probability of hair being detected was not that high, but the investigation side was fortunately blessed with luck as a result. With this, it could be said that at least Itagaki's involvement in the theft of the car used in the incident was almost proven. Whether the final charge for indictment would include the vehicle theft in the aiding and abetting of murder (so-called 'ideal concurrence' where a single act falls under multiple crime categories and the charge with the heavier punishment is selected) was another matter, but at this point, it could be said that a re-arrest for the crime of theft after the current arrest became possible. Of course, it goes without saying that interrogations about the car theft would be conducted during the interrogations for aiding and abetting murder as well. Strictly speaking, it was a gray area for interrogation, but it was a natural measure.
When they immediately questioned Itagaki about this, he began to show the agitation he had once recovered from. As expected, once scientific evidence comes out, no matter how much one denies it, there is no chance of winning in court. Needless to say, they also confronted his partner Sakamoto with this fact. Since his own evidence had not come out, he didn't show much weakness in his expression, but Kusaka was desperate to somehow draw out a confession using this as leverage.
On the other hand, Isaka continued to remain completely silent about his involvement in the main shooting incident. However, not only the employees of the Isaka Group but also the top man had been arrested for private document forgery, and the rumor that the real reason for the arrest was apparently the involvement in the hospital shooting incident had already spread from the media into the construction industry and the economic circles of the Kitami region, and it seemed he himself already knew this through Lawyer Matsuda. This seemed to have leaked naturally from within the Isaka Group rather than being an intentional leak from the police.
The management status of the Isaka Group was by no means favorable, so if they were shut out of public works and work didn't come from the private sector either, no matter how powerful a local general contractor they were, it wouldn't be strange for the management to go bankrupt soon. Isaka must be quite concerned about those things, and he must be feeling that kind of impatience.
In 1995, when the murder of Sada by Motohashi, Kitagawa, and Shinoda was discovered and the late Isaka Daikichi was referred to the prosecutor for murder (instigation), it became a scandal of sorts, but since Daikichi himself was already dead and the generation had changed to Masamitsu, it didn't cast that much of a shadow on the management of the Isaka Group.
However, this time it was the arrest of the current president and employees, and since the arrest of Masamitsu—not to mention Sakamoto and Itagaki—was already seen "somehow" as an arrest related to the Kitami Kyoritsu Hospital shooting murder case that had shocked the region, the incident from seven years ago would also be recalled. Furthermore, with the construction recession progressing even further, it could be said to be self-evident even to Nishida, an outsider and layman, that it would become a serious management problem.
*
August 4th, Sunday. The maximum temperature was 24 degrees Celsius, making it just right for this time of year. Even during such a holiday, witness questioning of the four arrested and surrounding people continued. As expected, compared to the four arrested, there were many people who didn't want to be involved, and even among those close to the four, some were gradually starting to show a cooperative attitude.
A middle-aged woman named Harashima, who had been working as a part-time clerk at Ooshima Kaiji's office at the time of the shooting incident, testified that she had contacted the nearby police box because an unfamiliar car was parked in the office parking lot with a sheet over it, and when a policeman came, she was severely scolded by Secretary Nakagawa. That car must have been the stolen car used in the crime.
Regarding this, it was found that the two policemen who were on duty at the police box at the time were currently working at the Iwamizawa Station and the Otaru Station, respectively, and their testimony about the situation at the time was sought the following day.
As a result, on August 5th, Patrol Sergeant Oomiya, who was working at the Iwamizawa Station, testified that he certainly remembered rushing to the office after receiving the contact, and it was backed up by the duty log of the time. Nakagawa came out and insisted it was unrelated to any crime, so because it was the testimony of a Diet member's secretary, he had backed down. That date was November 9th, 1995.
Regarding this point as well, Nakagawa, when questioned during interrogation, maintained his silence, but it went without saying that it was important testimony backing up Nakagawa's involvement in the incident.
Also on the same day, Section Chief Sugimura of the current Sales Department, who was the person in charge of facility management for the Isaka Group seven years ago, finally retracted his testimony again, saying, "There was a request from the president saying, 'I want to let an acquaintance use the training facility that isn't being used,' and incidentally, I remember being instructed to 'handle it firmly if there are inquiries from surrounding people.'"
Kusaka had been conducting a witness questioning that was clearly "not gentle," saying, "If you intend to obstruct the investigation, I have an idea," but Nishida half-condoned it. This testimony, while not hitting the heart of the matter, was important as it suggested Isaka's involvement in the hospital shooting incident. Increasing the arrest requirements leads to securing time to obtain various statements from Isaka.
Setting aside the hospital shooting incident, the murder of Sada Minoru was already a case from 15 years ago, and if there was no physical evidence showing Ooshima's involvement and the parties involved—Motohashi, Isaka Daikichi, and the two Managing Directors Kitagawa and Shinoda—were dead, then unless Ooshima Kaiji himself confessed, it was assumed that even if Ooshima were indicted, there would be tough moments in maintaining the subsequent trial.
In addition, to prove the involvement of the Souryuu-kai and such within the statute of limitations this year, though it would be difficult, the detention of Ooshima on suspicion of the murder of Sada Minoru would not be enough even if the full 20 days, including extensions, were used.
Nakagawa, who was already a powerful secretary as of 1987, might also have been involved in the Sada murder case in some form, but at this point, it was quite uncertain, and a confession couldn't be expected either.
However, there was one person other than Ooshima who seemed likely to be able to testify about the Sada case with a certain probability. That person was Masamitsu, the son of Isaka Daikichi.
Since Isaka Masamitsu was a salaryman at Daikoku Construction in Tokyo in 1987, it was thought in the 1995 investigation that he was not directly involved in the Sada Minoru murder case, and that hasn't changed now. However, it was suspected that Isaka Masamitsu had heard something about the truth of the incident from his father, Isaka Daikichi.
In the 1995 investigation, it was judged by Nishida and the others that it was highly likely that Isaka Daikichi had been threatened in August 1992 by someone who knew about the 1987 murder of Sada Minoru, using that murder case as the reason.
As a result, it was thought that the young man Yoneda, who happened to be visiting the site in Ikutahara and was actually involved in the Sada murder, was killed to silence him by Shinoda, who appeared to have come to the site after being instructed by Isaka to confirm Sada's body. And a little while after that, the son Isaka Masamitsu was acting out in Tokyo, and the following year he took over the Isaka Group from Daikichi, who had rapidly weakened.
From this flow, Nishida and the others speculated that Masamitsu had likely been told the truth of the incidents up to that point by Daikichi, who had been threatened and had lost confidence in how much longer he could be involved in management due to his health, in order to convince him to succeed him.
If that were the case, they couldn't help but conclude that Masamitsu knew quite a bit of the truth, from the 1987 Sada case in which he was not involved to the hospital shooting incident in which he was seen to be involved.
That was precisely why the more time they secured to detain Masamitsu, the higher the possibility of drawing out a statement. In other words, Section Chief Sugimura's testimony, while currently he was under arrest for a separate case of forgery of a private document with seal, was useful information, though not a decisive blow, toward the re-arrest of Isaka for the hospital shooting incident.
The problem was whether they could actually draw out testimony from Masamitsu, especially regarding Ooshima's involvement in the murder of Sada Minoru. And as quickly as possible.