Chapter 113 - Name and Reality 36 {64 Alone} (148–149: Isaka Masamitsu's Monologue 1)
The morning of August 12th. Soon after the interrogation began, a sudden tension ran through the investigation headquarters. This was because a report came in from Kusaka, who was conducting the interrogation, that Itagaki, one of the two Isaka Group employees, had finally "broken."
As expected, the fact that his own hair was found in the stolen car used for the escape seemed to be a major factor, and with the extension of detention, he apparently surrendered, realizing he couldn't escape. He also confessed [gero-shita] that he and Sakamoto were involved in the construction company shooting, using multiple Tokarevs. Bullets with the same striations as some of the bullets used in the construction company shooting, which appeared to have been used for target practice, had already been found at the Isaka Group's material storage site, and the fact that they had been practicing there was also backed up by the testimony.
Furthermore, in the staged conflict incident, it was revealed that there were ultimately no shootings other than those by the two, contrary to the plan, and that no other criminal organizations were caught in the conspiracy at all. Part of it was that the police moved at an early stage, but more than that, the morale of the backers of each construction company might not have gone as far as "retaliation."
While the investigation headquarters had already suspected involvement, they hadn't been able to clearly establish it in the investigation so far, but he also confessed that they had learned shooting from a senior gang member of the Souryuu-kai named Yamazato, regarding the Souryuu-kai's involvement as "shooting instructors."
Before noon that day, they requested an arrest warrant for Yamazato, and in the evening, they succeeded in arresting him at his home in Tanno-cho (currently Kitami City due to a merger), next to Kitami.
Yamazato wasn't entirely outside the scope of the investigation, but because he was a senior member of the economic yakuza category, the surveillance on him had been somewhat thin, which might have been a factor in the delay of the discovery until the confession.
However, the most beneficial part of Itagaki's complete confession was that he admitted he was instructed by Isaka Masamitsu to be involved in both the construction company shooting and the Kitami Kyouritsu Hospital shooting.
In the construction company shooting in particular, he testified that he had received quite specific instructions from Masamitsu. On the other hand, regarding the hospital shooting, it seems the instructions were limited to the level of "cooperate by following Nakagawa (his instructions)."
In any case, this testimony ultimately suggests that Isaka was also connected with Nakagawa, which serves as further material to corner the two. And for Masamitsu, it meant that in addition to fraud, new arrest charges of aiding and abetting and incitement to murder would be added. This provided quite a bit of leeway in terms of interrogation time, but the constraints regarding the statute of limitations still remained. However, being able to build a case for fraud alone could be said to be a quite satisfactory result.
Considering his relationship with Oshima, Nakagawa might have the resolve to "follow his lord to the grave" [junshi], but the investigation headquarters saw that Isaka didn't have such a strong bond with Oshima.
Originally, the relationship between the previous president, Isaka Daikichi, and Oshima was thought by the investigation to have been formed by mutual interest and a certain kind of blackmail from Isaka to Oshima, and Masamitsu's relationship was likely just a continuation of that by circumstance.
Moreover, the connection between politicians and construction wasn't producing the same profits as before, and since the generation had changed, there was a high possibility that it had weakened to some extent. If that were the case, it was only natural to see the possibility of him breaking as higher than Nakagawa's.
Meanwhile, at the investigation headquarters, they had been conducting relatively strict interrogations of the four arrested men every day, but they had received a strict order from Headquarters Chief Yasumura to "absolutely avoid excessively long interrogations no matter what."
Yasumura had read from the investigation materials that seven years ago, when Managing Director Kitagawa suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage during interrogation and was hospitalized, Lawyer Matsuda had for a while counter-utilized the investigation methods of minor separate-case arrests and the strict interrogations (with Oshima Kaiji's influence naturally in the background) to attack them using the media (namely, the Hokkaido Shinpo).
Because of that history, he was very cautious toward the investigation team, saying "never let a situation occur that would be advantageous to an opponent with a strong backer like Oshima." Of course, a certain degree of strictness is necessary for interrogation, so the instruction was to at least strictly observe the time.
For that reason, the interrogations were scheduled relatively loosely for the hearing of suspects involved in murder: from 9:00 to 12:00 in the morning, and from 13:00 to around 19:00 in the afternoon after a lunch break.
Naturally, there was some pushback from the detectives against Yasumura's instruction, calling it "like having one hand torn off," but Nishida managed to soothe them. The fact that his relationship with Yasumura had rapidly "become closer" might have led to that "defense," but more than that, he had a strong desire not to give the opponent an advantageous situation.
The problem was whether there was enough material to corner the four through normal interrogation, but for now, it was somewhat better than the situation they had envisioned, and Itagaki's complete confession this time was certainly influencing things in a good direction. This was a part that was helpful in terms of morale for the side conducting the pursuit.
August 14th. Finally, the Kitami branch of Hokuo Bank filed a complaint of fraud against Isaka Masamitsu with the Kitami Police Station. They had been strongly requesting it, but the bank had hesitated due to the relationship between Hokuo Bank and Oshima Kaiji. However, information such as Itagaki's complete confession was "skillfully" leaked to the media by Criminal Investigation Director Koyabu and reported mainly by Doho and others, so the management apparently finally judged that they couldn't keep being considerate toward Oshima forever. It goes without saying that the fact that the president, Isaka himself, had already been arrested also had a strong influence.
No matter how large a ship, it is the way of the world for passengers to flee first when it starts to sink. Hokuo Bank had publicly served the Isaka Group with a notice of divorce.
With this, it was certain that loans to the Isaka Group would be withdrawn and they would be shut out from participating in public works. If they couldn't wipe away the bad reputation of the president's arrest, it's safe to say that private demand would also become virtually non-existent. In other words, the Isaka Group was in a situation where it was certain they wouldn't last six months, let alone a management crisis.
In response to this, Nishida and Yoshimura were to directly interrogate Isaka from the afternoon. They had "dared" to allow a meeting with Lawyer Matsuda before noon, so he must have heard about Hokuo Bank's complaint then. Isaka Masamitsu, who had been brought to the interrogation room first, was quite haggard. If a company built by one's father was finally declared to be at its end during one's own generation, it wouldn't be strange for anyone to feel that way.
"How about it, can you talk to us honestly soon? It's no use being considerate toward Oshima anymore, is it? Isn't it clear that the Isaka Group can't keep going now that Hokuo has made this move? Besides, you're going to be indicted anyway even if you stay silent... Itagaki has already confessed! That it was your instruction."
Yoshimura urged a confession in a way that was more like persuasion than a threat, but Isaka kept his eyes closed.
"If your main bank, Hokuo, pulls out, the company won't hold, right? The administration can't use a general contractor with a dark image. Needless to say, the same goes for the private sector. You must be at a total loss. Do you have some kind of plan? When Motohashi's case seven years ago came to light, your father, who was said to have requested the murder, was already deceased, and the generation had changed to you, and you were treated as uninvolved, so the negative image for the Isaka Group was kept to a minimum, but it won't go that way this time. Besides, like Itagaki, it's only a matter of time for Sakamoto, right? Nakagawa is... well. I think you understand too, but he's like a complete community of fate with Oshima, and there's also a master-servant-like relationship, so he might not talk, but either way, it's already possible to build a case against that guy in the current situation."
Nishida spoke while explaining the Isaka Group's predicament in detail, watching Isaka's reaction at every turn. From the situation, it could be said that the police side was overwhelmingly more advantageous than Isaka.
However, that advantage was only an advantage when indicting Isaka, and it went without saying that if they looked ahead to Oshima, they needed some kind of testimony from Isaka Masamitsu. In particular, if anyone knew that Oshima was involved in the murder of Sada Minoru, it's safe to say there was no one else in the current situation besides this Isaka or Nakagawa, who was revealed in Igarashi's story.
Of course, senior members like Boss Takigawa of the Aoi-ikka were likely involved, but even if they were to forcibly haul those guys in on separate charges now, nothing would likely come out, and there are currently no crimes they can be arrested for. The statute of limitations is also slowly but surely approaching. From that perspective, Nishida might also have been cornered in a sense.
For a while, Nishida and Yoshimura talked to Isaka unilaterally, but Isaka remained with his eyes closed and arms crossed. An irritated Yoshimura slammed the desk to intimidate the opponent who was ignoring them, but he must have experienced that much before, and since directly laying hands on him was absolutely forbidden, a heavy atmosphere followed.
Nishida was also losing his words, but he said,
"Then, how about the matter I heard the other day? The story of the gold dust and your father's bond that came out of your house. You could at least tell us that mystery, couldn't you?"
Then Isaka suddenly opened his eyes and started talking.
"That money [kane]... is Hojo's share. The gold dust is for Mende's child."
As expected, the two were surprised to hear this and pressed him, almost leaning over the desk.
"What do you mean! Explain it properly!"
But Isaka kept his eyes closed as usual. Then he asked unexpectedly,
"Do you detectives understand the circumstances under which that bond was left?"
"Of course. We properly grasp the circumstances under which that bond was written by reading the letter left by Sada Toru, the older brother of the murdered Sada Minoru, which he had kept."
Nishida replied while somehow suppressing his excitement.
"I see... then it saves the trouble of explaining on this end. ...Fine. Then I'll explain. My father had kept that all along, and even in his will after he died, he told me, 'Hand it over if Hojo's and Mende's heirs appear or are found,' so I was just keeping it as it was. As far as my father could find out after the war, Hojo himself had died in the war. He had heard from Hojo himself while he was alive that his younger brother was in Takigawa, so he tried to search based on that, but it seems it was no use... As for Mende's child, Mende himself didn't know the name, and he hadn't heard the exact location from Mende, so as expected, there was nothing he could do. To repeat, regarding the bundles of cash, Oshima snatched away the shares for two people, and my father later converted Hojo's share, which was short of gold dust, into an amount of money and left it as bills. He supposedly thought of the gold dust as the share for Mende's child."
At Masamitsu's unexpected story, the two were speechless for a while. Indeed, Hojo Masato had died in the war, but if this story was true, Isaka Daikichi had investigated to some extent on his own, kept the gold dust and the equivalent value of the gold dust for a long time, and even entrusted the management to his son after his death.
Moreover, it was said that out of the shares likely split between Isaka Daikichi and Oshima Kaiji (then Onodera Michitoshi), Daikichi had converted the share that Oshima had likely taken and disposed of into money and even bore the cost himself.
"Wait a minute! If he was going to take such sincere action later, why did your father take the gold dust away without leaving it then! If you know that much, you must have heard the reason too, right?"
Nishida was confused, unable to understand the story at all.
"Just as you say, he certainly took it away then, intending to take it all with Oshima. But later, he greatly regretted taking the shares of the comrades he worked with... And, it's the same story, but he tried to return it and investigated, but when he asked at the village office in Hojo's hometown, Hojo had apparently already died in the war. He had heard from the man himself that he had a younger brother, so he investigated that too, but since he was already missing, it seems there was nothing he could do."
Hearing Masamitsu's story, a corner of what Nishida and Yoshimura had envisioned for seven years crumbled, and despite it being the revelation of a new fact, the view before them was rapidly blurring.
However, if this story was true, it could be said that a great irony existed. This was because when Sada Minoru blackmailed Isaka Daikichi, his purpose in mentioning Mende Shigeyoshi's orphan wasn't just for the sake of the threat that "there's someone else who knows," but he also seemed to have seriously intended to give them their share.
On the other hand, if Masamitsu's story was true, Isaka Daikichi also seemed to have seriously intended to give Senzaki's legacy to Mende's orphan. In other words, the two had almost the same feelings toward Mende's orphan.
If that were the case, the tragedy occurred because Sada Minoru happened to use that story as a "threat" and Isaka Daikichi took it as a "bluff." When he thought that if the two had been able to recognize the "purpose" they shared, that tragedy might have been prevented, Nishida was overcome with a sense of helplessness. However, it's no use saying that now. Nishida immediately suppressed that thought.