Chapter 182 - Name and Reality 105 {133 Alone} (318-320 Toward Crime 3)
In the camouflage for the murder of Assemblyman Matsushima in '95, "reduction of public works" was used as a keyword. While overall construction investment (including private) after the collapse of the bubble in the construction industry itself has been on a downward trend (though there is no doubt there was a temporary surge in overall construction investment directly linked to the Great Hanshin Earthquake, that was an exception concentrated in the disaster-affected areas including public works), the reality is that the amount of public works itself did not see a full-scale decrease until fiscal 1999. Since this is problematic for the plot, I will correct it in some form in the revised version later.
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"Well then, continuing from before, during the interrogation, Kitagawa lost consciousness due to a subarachnoid hemorrhage, and it became impossible to continue further. Immediately after that, there was the pressure I mentioned earlier. Furthermore, in late September 1995, the life support system was removed, and Kitagawa died. On the other hand, around the same time, the death row inmate Motohashi who was in the Osaka Detention House... To be accurate, he wasn't a death row inmate yet since the sentence hadn't been finalized, but a journalist from the Tozai Shinbun named Shiino approached him through a law firm called Midosuji Legal Office, which handled Motohashi's defense and has ties to Representative Umeda on your side. By the way, I'd like to confirm first: when Motohashi was caught, was it your intention that the firm took over his defense?"
Nishida resumed his questions smoothly, partly because he had outwardly regained his energy.
"Regarding that. The first report that Motohashi had been arrested on other charges, I heard it from Takigawa at some point, I believe..."
"April 1991," Nishida supplemented the arrest period for Oshima.
"I see. So, as I said earlier, Takigawa said there was no problem, but just in case, I said a defense lawyer should be appointed to also serve as surveillance, and he proposed from his side, 'Then wouldn't the law firm of Umeda's relative on your side be good?' Following that advice, I asked Umeda, and he said, 'I understand. I'll have them take over the defense.'"
"During the time from then until now, did Representative Umeda or the people at Midosuji Legal Office have the opportunity to know as a fact what you and Motohashi had done?"
As soon as Oshima finished speaking, Yoshimura asked as if snapping at him.
"From our side, from then until now, we haven't said anything directly at all. However, since Umeda should have known about the relationship between the Aoi and our faction, as for whether he felt something was up, I can't really say."
Compared to Yoshimura's momentum, it was a quite indecisive reply, but if he testified specifically, it would surely put his junior and those around him in danger, so he probably wanted to avoid that at least. Of course, it might have really been as he said, but as long as it was kept in such an ambiguous form, no matter how much their power had weakened, neither the police nor the prosecutors were strong enough against authority to crush the current leader of the Umeda Faction and his surroundings without decent evidence. Both Nishida and Yoshimura understood that Oshima wouldn't yield even if they pursued this further.
It was the same with Hakozaki, but even if the person himself seriously reflected, if asked whether that would lead to telling the whole truth about everything other than himself, unfortunately there is also another side to it. Especially for someone who wasn't involved in the murder itself, the option of not saying anything could exist.
In the first place, even without saying it specifically, it wouldn't be strange if the politicians had acquired the skill to do things well through tacit understanding. On top of that, they speculated that while the lawyers probably noticed something was suspicious, they didn't recognize that they were actually being utilized in connection with the cover-up of a murder case. This is because, no matter what is said, lawyers wouldn't want to take such a risk.
Also, for the side making the request, just like the consideration during Lawyer Matsuda's time in Kitami, if the details were made known, the possibility of being betrayed by the lawyer side, who would want to avoid risk, would increase, so it must have been a part they wanted to gloss over.
"Then, returning to the story, we believe that Shiino was dispatched to Motohashi by your instructions after you sensed that the investigation was gradually closing in on you. It was a maneuver to have Motohashi confess, in the worst-case scenario, that 'he murdered Sada Minoru on the instructions of the already deceased Isaka Daikichi,' and divert eyes away from you. Of course, at that point, Sada's body had not been found, so I think you didn't imagine it would actually become a reality... But ironically, the preparation for that maneuver would end up being perfectly useful, wouldn't it, at the beginning of September?"
Nishida questioned Oshima while staring at him.
"Exactly. At that time, I never thought it would actually be useful."
Oshima confessed his thoughts at the time with a groaning tone at the end of his sentence, but,
"Who was actually the one who came up with the idea? And did the journalist Shiino know about that purpose?"
Yoshimura pressed him.
"The idea came from me and Takigawa. When I consulted Takigawa about the police investigation closing in a bit, he said, 'If it comes to it, we can just have Motohashi shoulder everything. After all, his death sentence is as good as decided, and if he's going to die anyway, he should serve us until the end.' And for that purpose, we chose Shiino, who would listen to almost anything I said. I also pulled strings with the Tozai Shinbun, where he belonged, along with Hakozaki-sensei. Regarding this matter as well, Sensei didn't know the details, but he cooperated as a favor to me."
As usual, he denied involvement based on recognition of the facts regarding Hakozaki.
"Which means! It's okay to say that the journalist Shiino had a detailed grasp of the fact that Motohashi had really committed a series of murders even before his death sentence was finalized, the murder of Sada which hadn't come to light, your involvement, and even what role he himself would end up playing, right?"
Yoshimura pursued this statement quite severely.
"Yes. Regarding Shiino, I had revealed the details to have him go in and out of the Osaka Detention House."
Since he admitted it quite readily regarding Shiino, unlike with other politicians, the two detectives were quite surprised and, in a sense, let down. However, Nishida took it that the fact that the statute of limitations for the crime of harboring a criminal (an issue where it's quite subtle whether it would even be established in the first place) had already passed, and that in Shiino's case, he was neither a member of the Diet nor a lawyer, and the degree to which he would be socially affected was small, led to this strangely easy confession.
"The exchange between Shiino and Motohashi seems to have been conducted in a unique code format. Specifically, it was a method that combined the fact that both had a grounding in English with a method used from long ago for transmitting information with incarcerated yakuza, but at least Shiino shouldn't have known how to communicate while keeping it hidden from the surroundings until then. That means he must have received instructions from someone about that method, but how about it?"
In terms of prosecution, this was also something that couldn't be said to be absolutely necessary to ask, but from Nishida's personal curiosity and for the sake of grasping the full picture of the incident, it was a point he definitely wanted to know.
"I wasn't involved in that part, but,"
prefacing it thus,
"I don't know what was done or how, but after I used the lawyer at Umeda's place to have them meet, I instructed Takigawa and Shiino to get in touch with each other and left it to the two of them after that, so there must have been such a meeting there."
He brushed it off somewhat irresponsibly.
"Did Shiino and Takigawa actually meet directly?"
"Probably not directly, but only contact by phone like me. I don't think they met face-to-face."
"I see. In any case, we'll naturally have to conduct a witness interview for Shiino as well, after getting answers from Takigawa."
Nishida spoke to Yoshimura beside him after getting the answer from Oshima.
"That's right. But since it's voluntary, whether the Shiino side will comply is another matter."
For Yoshimura, those words were likely spoken with the statute of limitations in mind, but if he was also involved in the murder of Assemblyman Matsushima Kotaro, it wouldn't necessarily be required to interview him only for this matter.
In the fake article using Takagaki, a weekly magazine affiliated with the Tozai Shinbun was involved. Thinking about it that way, it wouldn't be strange if Shiino was involved there. Furthermore, if it turned out that Shiino knew that the article would be used to hide the intent of Matsushima's murder, the possibility of prosecution for aiding and abetting murder remains. Even if he didn't touch on it yet, considering the order of the story, Nishida did not discard his slight hope at this point.
"After that, in late August 1995, we finally found Sada Minoru's body in the mountains of Ikutahara, and in early September, he was confirmed as the person. And around the same time, slightly later, the appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court and Motohashi's death sentence was finalized. Was your knowledge that Sada's murder had been exposed by the discovery of the body from direct prior information from the police, or from information from the Shiino side, or did you not know until the announcement from the general mass media?"
This question of Nishida's arose from the fact that the relationship between the Prefectural Police and Oshima at the time was thought to be different from that in 1987. Specifically, it was a speculation based on the fact that the then Prefectural Police Headquarters Criminal Investigation Director Toyama was quite indignant about the investigation in 1987 and had a cooperative attitude toward Nishida and the others. On the other hand, he also considered the possibility that he had obtained some information from the journalist Kasahara, who was a junior of Shiino at the Tozai Shinbun and was Toyama's beat reporter, who apparently liked to talk about information to those around him.
"At that time, it was difficult for investigative information to come directly from the Prefectural Police, and Shiino should have caught it first and asked me for instructions, if my memory is correct..."
Oshima's recollection suggested that Nishida and the others' speculation at that time was correct.
"As I thought. And finally, you had the plan executed."
"That's right. Motohashi executed it brilliantly... or rather, it might be more accurate to say he set up a deception."
When he said that much, he laughed weakly, perhaps because the conclusion was like this.
But that Motohashi was not a man who would end up merely being utilized by Takigawa and Oshima. Of course, if they hadn't played any tricks like that, Motohashi probably wouldn't have betrayed Takigawa and Oshima, to whom he had sworn loyalty. In the end, the fact that they didn't trust people and made the relationship one of mere utility came back to haunt them. Nishida watched Oshima while remaining silent about the facts, reflecting for a short while on the irony of human relationships. But he didn't have the luxury of spending time on such things. He moved to the next questioning.
"In addition to that, another plan was underway around the same time, wasn't it? The cutting loose of the construction companies you were harboring. It was around the time when the collapse of the bubble was becoming a real harm. For that purpose, you must have intended to intentionally cause internal strife between the companies and the yakuza who were their backers. You had Isaka's employees shoot at each of their offices, and you maneuvered various things using weekly magazines affiliated with the Tozai Shinbun as if it were a naturally occurring event, didn't you?"
Nishida confirmed as if peering into Oshima.
"Yes, that's right. Since reliance on public works had become questionable as to how long it would last, it became necessary to organize the construction companies under my wing, so I chose the strategy of having them destroy themselves rather than moving directly from here. If they crushed each other, I wouldn't have to worry about being resented for organizing them directly and having various past deeds leaked."
"Well, I can understand the logic, but that's quite a terrifying reason."
Nishida half-lamented the answer and asked,
"Did you think of the specific method, Onodera-san?"
"As for the overall framework, I instructed Nakagawa, and Nakagawa thought of the details. On the other hand, the one who actually moved the weekly magazine was Shiino, but Shiino just followed my instructions without knowing the purpose. I just took the form of approving it. Including the selection of the actual perpetrators, I left the details to Nakagawa for this as well. Of course, since I am the source, I don't mean it as an evasion of responsibility."
"Is that true?"
Yoshimura pressed, but,
"Yes, it's true. Shiino didn't know the purpose."
The old politician denied it firmly.
If that were not the fact, there was a possibility that it would correspond to solicitation of a shooting incident or conspiracy as a co-principal, so Shiino might have escaped the statute of limitations. But even if they pushed further, he likely wouldn't confess the truth, just like before. They moved the conversation forward.
"If that's the case! After that, when you sensed that Matsushima, who was a prefectural assembly member under your wing and whose death was approaching due to illness, was about to betray you, that plan must have shifted to a scenario where the internal strife between the companies developed into murder. Did Secretary Nakagawa plot that as well? Is Shiino completely uninvolved?"
Nishida's question was asked from the perspective that if Shiino was involved in the murder plan for Matsushima, then this time they could pursue responsibility by escaping the statute of limitations. However, that faint hope was also to be crushed.
"Regarding that, I and Nakagawa thought of utilizing it. Shiino was not involved at all."
Oshima denied it quite strongly.
"I hope that's true?"
Yoshimura also seemed quite suspicious again, but,
"Absolutely not! After Shiino finished his mission as the liaison with Motohashi, he returned to the political department in Tokyo in October, but by Hakozaki-sensei's nomination, he was to be the beat reporter for Hazume of the Hakozaki Faction, who was the Minister of International Trade and Industry in the Muraoka coalition cabinet at the time, so he wasn't free enough to be bothered with me every single time. In Hakozaki-sensei's mind, there was undoubtedly a consciousness that Hazume would be the next Prime Minister. So he must have entrusted the veteran Shiino as a beat reporter who also served as a mentor. In fact, Hazume became the president of the Minyu Party in '95 and succeeded Muraoka to form the Hazume Cabinet at the beginning of '96, so that intention was not wrong."
Oshima asserted after also explaining the political background of the time.
"In other words, regarding the murder of Matsushima, it's okay to say it was your lead, right?"
Nishida pressed.
"That's right. Since it seemed Matsushima was going to talk, I and Nakagawa made a plan to eliminate Matsushima. However, I also felt that by having Motohashi confess, the possibility of it being found out if we had yakuza do it would increase. So at first, I insisted on trying to manage with someone completely unrelated."
This statement of Oshima's matched the testimony of Isaka Masamitsu that they were initially going to use Sakamoto and Itagaki, two junior employees of an Isaka Group subsidiary who had continued shooting bullets to make the construction companies fight each other, for the hospital shooting as well, so,
"Which means you were going to have the young employees of the Isaka Group who were involved in the construction company shootings shoot Matsushima; we have obtained testimony to that effect from Masamitsu, but was that also your idea, Onodera-san?"
Nishida asked for confirmation.
"I didn't specify and instruct to that extent, but a story came from Nakagawa that he was turned down by the amateur candidates, and having no other place in mind, I had no choice but to ask Takigawa for help, saying, 'Can't you do something about personnel urgently?' When we specified the conditions, 'If it comes to it, there are plenty of deserted places in Hokkaido, so one can practice shooting sufficiently without being seen. Since it's hard to trace, it's better if it's not a professional in that field,' he seemed to have complaints or rather doubts, but he said, 'In that case, there's a way to leave it to a member of an organization within the Aoi that isn't very important and has nothing to do with killing.' So I also approved that dispatch and asked him to finalize the details with Nakagawa. Regarding the reward for Takigawa, we decided to do it in the same way as during Sada's time, but we were told that a reward for the perpetrators wasn't necessary."
No story had come out from Higashidate either that the group he belonged to had received a separate reward, and this point was almost like a revelation of a secret. Probably Takigawa didn't give rewards directly to the Shiun Association or the Sunpu Group, but because the treatment wasn't very good compared to the tribute money, he had suspicions of betrayal and might have tested their loyalty to himself. And at this point, it seemed there was no idea of practicing shooting at a meeting hall with soundproofing equipment above the office.
"You are also aware, of course, that you had Hamana, the Chairman of the Kyoritsu Hospital, eavesdrop and search around Matsushima in order to obtain information to time the execution?"
To Yoshimura's question which followed in quick succession,
"That matter..."
Unlike his relatively smooth answers until then, he showed a hesitant manner.
"His name was Hitoshi, but I feel truly sorry for Hitoshi-kun... I had directly requested him only to gather information, but since he took his own life after learning that he was consequently involved in a murder, I at that time... Since I had known him since he was small because I was close to his deceased father..."
He spoke as if spitting it out that far and then cast his eyes down.
"You demanded information as a return for the help you gave him regarding the hospital's scandal, didn't you?"
Without flinching at Oshima's appearance, Nishida probed the background, but,
"That's not it. His father was a good supporter of mine, and there was a certain sense of trust with him, the son. It wasn't that I simply utilized a past favor, but the reality is that I asked him normally. I have no words of apology even to the people I killed for my own convenience, but I also caused a great deal of trouble for Hitoshi-kun and his family. I thought I should attend the funeral myself, but I felt reluctant to show my face shamelessly."
he replied.
Even for Oshima, at this stage, he probably had a strong feeling of being sorry for the victims—Matsushima, Kitamura, and the nurse Momose—but as expected, Nishida and Yoshimura could not hide their seething emotions of anger, not wanting him to be treated on the same level as Hamana.
"In any case, because as many as three people were murdered on the spot for your selfish self-protection, please carve into your heart that at that point it was a deed of a heartless demon! Furthermore, two of the three people, excluding Matsushima who was somewhat involved in the murder of Sada Minoru, were completely innocent people..."
Nishida swallowed any further words after saying that much. Sensing that thought, Yoshimura continued in a strong tone as if speaking on his behalf,
"The detective named Kitamura who was involved and died in the line of duty was working with this Assistant Section Chief Nishida on the investigation of the Sada Minoru murder case and the case of the murder of the youth killed by Shinoda... Just as a person important to you died because of you, a person important to us also died! It's no use saying it now, though... We are facing you like this while suppressing our own emotions, carrying those thoughts! Please understand at least that."
The wording itself was polite, but the tone was strong.
"I am truly sorry."
Oshima said as if squeezing it out, and remained with his head bowed for a while.
During that time, only the sound of the three people's rough breathing echoed in the interrogation room, and a heavy atmosphere dominated, but Nishida exhaled loudly as if pulling himself together and said,
"It's enough... Please raise your head. Your reflection can only be shown now by having you look back properly at the incident..."
he said with effort, and Oshima finally raised his face.