Chapter 38 - Light and Shadow 17 (101-104 Takeshita: Confronting the Osaka Organized Crime Department 2)
"Section Chief Hiramatsu, did you investigate what kind of lawyers Motohashi's lawyers are? Also, it seems that Umeda from the same office suddenly appeared in August even though he's not in charge."
As soon as Takeshita rushed back to Hiramatsu, Kurano, Nishida, and the others who were watching Murono and Hatayama's interrogation, he threw the question suddenly. Hiramatsu didn't turn his face toward Takeshita and said,
"At least regarding the lawyers in charge, even though they were private rather than court-appointed because of the death penalty, they're not so-called 'human rights advocates.' The office isn't that kind of system either. Since Umeda is from the same office, isn't he helping behind the scenes? Anyway, in criminal cases, it seems they're rarely seen except for court-appointed defense. It's a place where corporate law is the main track record. Since it's such a heinous case, everyone thought a court-appointed lawyer would have to be appointed if they were abandoned by human rights advocates, but then Osaka Midosuji Legal Office suddenly came forward, so we were surprised at the time too. For the time being, it seems the money is being paid by Motohashi himself, but it's been confirmed that Motohashi didn't have that much in savings. We don't know if he spent the money he got from the killings or if he's hiding it secretly somewhere, but the legal fees the office is getting on the surface are what they got from Motohashi, and the rest seems to be mostly out-of-pocket from the office, practically pro bono. However, according to those familiar with the yakuza, there's a rumor that they have a relationship deep, deep behind the scenes with the crime group 'Aoi-ikka' that Motohashi used to belong to... So, there's also a theory that the missing amount is actually coming from around there. For the time being, the Legal Office is supposedly a top-tier, legitimate office on the surface. If you want to dig into that and hear various things, shall I introduce you to the Section Chief of Division 4, who's in charge of the yakuza? A guy named Yoshise, I have some acquaintance with him. Since Motohashi himself is a former yakuza, he might tell you stories about that too. Perhaps you'll see something that connects with the story you've been asserting... especially regarding the 'client'..."
"Then please do. Section Chief Kurano, Team Leader, may I get involved in that?"
To Takeshita who asked for permission, Kurano was still on the phone, so he just nodded while listening to it. Nishida also confirmed that and said,
"I don't mind, but our purpose is to come and hear Motohashi's hearing. Don't take too much time,"
and gave permission with a sense of half-acquiescence.
"Thank you very much."
Takeshita showed a slightly happy expression.
"Then I'll call him now."
Hiramatsu said so and contacted the Investigation Division 4 Section Chief named Yoshise on his mobile. After Hiramatsu explained to Yoshise for a while, he said they could meet immediately. Takeshita received that, left the detention house first, and headed to the Osaka Prefectural Police Investigation Division 4 by taxi.
Meanwhile, in the waiting room, Kurano, who had finished the phone contact to the Kitami Headquarters, told Nishida,
"The search warrant, the arrangement of the photo of the inn in front of the station, the confirmation to the inn about Motohashi's stay, all preparations are OK. Well, even if I say OK, since we're still partially allocating personnel to the series of serial murders, it's a borderline line, though."
"Speaking of which, are you done with that side, Kurano-san?"
"If you ask if it's good or bad, to be honest, it's not good, but I have a prospect... For the time being, I'm involved here, and I'm sorry but I intend to return to Kitami a step ahead of you guys."
he said.
"That's tough..."
To the words of labor from Nishida, even though he was a subordinate,
"That's the job,"
he said with a smile. However, he felt that fatigue was showing on his face quite a bit compared to when they first met in the series of incidents.
"By the way, regarding the confirmation of Motohashi's stay, he's a man who became national news that much. If he had stayed, it wouldn't be strange if they had already noticed. Well, there are parts you won't know unless you're conscious of it, but it's indeed subtle whether testimony can be obtained now..."
Nishida brought the topic back to change the atmosphere, but Kurano put a cigarette in his mouth and said,
"As you say, it's possible you won't know unless you're conscious of it, right? We just have to try."
and exhaled smoke while watching the Osaka Police's hearing which was still continuing.
"As expected, he doesn't seem likely to talk more than this. Although I anticipated it, it's a pity..."
After a while, Hiramatsu, who was watching the interrogation through the one-way mirror, groaned with a face like he had chewed a bitter bug. The tight-lippedness of Motohashi, who had denied involvement in the incident for a long period and never crossed a certain line even after confessing, meant that even the detectives of Investigation Division 1 of the Osaka Police, who must have had many veterans, were no match for him. There was a difference of heaven and earth from the fact that he responded very proactively to Nishida and Takeshita's interrogation, partly because he himself had spilled it.
Conversely, why did such a difference appear in Motohashi's attitude? Not only Takeshita but also Nishida didn't fail to harbor doubts. Motohashi's words that the criterion was whether the police brought specific information were, as Takeshita said, indeed impossible to take as they were. In the end, Murono and Hatayama's hearing ended with time running out without grasping anything more than the confession, as before.
At that time, in the reception set in the room of the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters Investigation Division 4 (Organized Crime Department), Takeshita was confronting Yoshise, the Section Chief of Division 4, who had been introduced by Hiramatsu. When one thinks of the Organized Crime Department (T/N: marubou), the impression of detectives with appearances that could be mistaken for yakuza is strong, and although his build was indeed sturdy, his facial features and such didn't have a particularly fierce feeling. Takeshita was convinced on his own that even for the Organized Crime Department, one couldn't become a Section Chief class of the Osaka Police just by being simply rough, as they were naturally elites.
"According to the contact from Section Chief Hiramatsu, I'm supposed to tell you the details about the matter of Motohashi and the lawyers, is that right?"
"Yes, please."
"Then, I'm not exactly free either, so I'll explain only the necessary items briefly. I'll start with Motohashi's upbringing..."
Saying so, he produced materials on the table between Yoshise and Takeshita and began to explain.
"Motohashi was born in Kawachinagano, Osaka. He became a delinquent due to the environment of living in poverty since he was small and family discord between his parents. However, he wasn't just a bad kid; he was clever, or rather cunning, and with his quick mind and strength in fighting despite not being big, he rose up from among the local delinquent groups, which is, well, a common story. Since he was quite capable in his studies despite playing around, he went on to a local middle-to-upper-tier public high school despite his bad school reports, but he dropped out as usual. From there, well, in his associations with bad people, he was naturally taken into the yakuza business. Those yakuza people are the designated crime group 'Aoi-ikka,' which is now famous nationwide. The one who especially looked after him then was the current Boss, 'Tatsukawa Kosuke.' With the connection to the executive Tatsukawa, of course, and his ability, he rose quickly. However, it's a secret that Tatsukawa's real name is 'Kimura Kouta,' a very ordinary name."
Since he inserted a light laugh here, Takeshita also gave a polite smile.
"I'm sure you understood since you interrogated Motohashi today, but looking at Motohashi's thick nerves and his cunning where he doesn't easily show a slip-up, if he had grown up normally, he would have reached a certain position in a different world instead... No matter how much you say it's up to you in the end, a baby can't choose their birth or environment... Oops, that doesn't matter! I have to continue the story."
Saying so, Yoshise lightly clapped his hands together.
"So, since he was young, he also distinguished himself by being involved in the smuggling of handguns in the Philippines, and he was a guy who was smoothly climbing the stairs of the yakuza world, but it was about nine years ago when he became a Young Marshal Assistant at a young age, right, it was the summer of '86... He ended up losing his position due to something. I guess good things don't last (T/N: kouji ma ooshi — an idiom meaning that obstacles often arise when things are going well)."
Yoshise stopped his hand from flipping through the materials once and looked at Takeshita.
"What happened?"
"Motohashi had a subordinate named Kokubun, but that guy vanished after snatching the tribute money to the group. It's said to be more than 500 million in amount."
"500 million!?"
Takeshita started to say that, then remembered that he had already heard in the meeting with the Osaka Police that Motohashi "left the group taking responsibility for the misconduct of a subordinate." He has confidence in his memory, but while he was thinking about various things, he had lightly "lost" the circumstances of how Motohashi left the group. Of course, it wasn't such a specific story until now...
"Yes, 500 million. There's also a story that it was an even larger amount, but that seems to be a top secret of the group, and we don't have accurate information either. It's said it was money obtained from a big deal in drugs. It's just a rumor, though. So there was talk that Motohashi also had to settle the matter (T/N: kejime), but well, since he's Tatsukawa's beloved subordinate, he was expelled (T/N: hamon) verbally."
"Isn't expulsion a heavy punishment?"
Takeshita was not satisfied because he didn't have much knowledge about yakuza-related matters.
"Takeshita-san. It might be unavoidable since you're not an Organized Crime Department detective, but as a detective, you should know about that. Listen. Excommunication (T/N: zetsuen) and removal (T/N: jojuu) are heavier than expulsion. If those are issued, you can never return to the group. In contrast, for expulsion, depending on the case, you can return. Both are punishments as a result of going against the group's rules, but you should know that there's such a difference!"
Generally, expulsion has a more serious image, but in reality, expulsion seems to be a measure that leaves the possibility of reconciliation.
"That means Motohashi was made to leave the group while leaving the possibility of reconciliation."
"That's right. However, for the time being, there's no sign that Motohashi has reconciled until this very moment."
"Then for the Aoi-ikka, Motohashi must be a person of the past."
"Hmm, that's a subtle point..."
Takeshita had no choice but to bite at Yoshise's suggestive way of saying it. Whether it was interesting or not, being a Kansai person, he was good at developing the story.
"I'm curious."
"Are you? I thought so."
With a satisfied smile,
"Actually, there are 'colleagues' who advocate the theory that the series of murders Motohashi committed might have also had the meaning of Motohashi's atonement to the group."
he said. Takeshita instantly understood that colleagues didn't mean the police, but Motohashi's colleagues, namely the yakuza.
"Ho, the view of the people in that line... What does that mean?"
"In the end, a loss of at least 500 million isn't an amount that can be entirely filled. So after expelling him as a form, the story is that they finally made Motohashi settle the matter by having him do killings as a further undercover business among the yakuza. Motohashi himself probably also had the desire to repay the debt to the older brother figure he was indebted to, namely the current Boss. There are yakuza who are saying such things. Of course, whether that was decided from the stage of expulsion is a different story. Anyway, according to Motohashi's personality, his policy is to repay debts properly. However, conversely, it seems he's also a personality who won't forgive those who don't repay favors or those who push unreasonable things on him."
"What is the handling of that by the police as a whole? I haven't heard such a story in Investigation Division 1."
Takeshita couldn't hide his confusion at the new theory.
"That can't be helped. Because no backing has been obtained for this at all. It's just a rumor among the people in that line. Since all kinds of rumors come in from all directions when you're doing Organized Crime Department work, I'm talking as if it's plausible, but in a place like Investigation Division 1, you can't easily go along with a story where you can't get backing, right? It's unavoidable. Section Chief Hiramatsu also naturally knows, but for Division 1, as long as the culprit can be caught, there's no need to trace the scenario behind it. As you can see with Motohashi, those guys don't spill their mouths easily, so it often becomes a waste of time. If that's the case, it's one way to just chase what's known. If you try to clarify everything, you'll lack time, money, and personnel... Well, but this time it's not just that, but it's also because it seems to involve various other things, but I'll talk about that later, so I won't mention it now."
He spoke with implication at the end, but for now, what Yoshise said was indeed unavoidable as a reality of investigation, even if it was different from the ideal.
"In the investigation of the series of Motohashi incidents, although it was suspected that the murders were requested, the fact that the connection with the client and the route of the money were not clear... if we assume the story just now, is it also related to the fact that the Aoi-ikka was acting as a bridge between Motohashi behind the scenes? Regarding the murder we're chasing this time in Osaka, since the money isn't flowing where it should originally flow, I'm thinking there might be various things..."
"You've got a good eye. I'm also suspecting that. In the Division 1 investigation, it seems there's no sign of movement in Motohashi's bank accounts that they can identify, including fake ones. And yet, the people he killed and Motohashi are completely unrelated... No, well, because they were unrelated, even before Motohashi confessed, it was talked about as a contract killing... Since Motohashi won't spill his mouth, it's come this far without the client surfacing in the end. In this confession, he admitted it was a contract killing, but for some reason, even after saying that much, he's silent about the client, right? If the group was acting as a bridge, isn't it possible that Motohashi himself didn't have any contact with the client from beginning to end? It's quite difficult to not spill your mouth that much, no matter how cunning you are. It's just a guess, though."
Yoshise grinned and stared at Takeshita.
"I see. There's also a view that such a reason led to his tight-lippedness..."
Takeshita said so, but in the hearing just now, Motohashi had practically exposed himself that Isaka was involved in the Sada murder. Thinking that point was distinct from other incidents, he briefly explained it to Yoshise and asked for his opinion.
"Hmm, that's another strange story... His attitude is clearly different from the stories of other incidents. It certainly smells like there's some purpose."
He showed the same reaction as Takeshita.
At this time, Takeshita was thinking from the bottom of his heart that it was good he came to Division 4. Although his mouth is a bit rough, he tells useful information carefully, and he's a Section Chief with similar thoughts. To be honest, it's content that stimulates Takeshita's inquisitiveness much more than the investigation information he heard from Division 1. To put it accurately, judging from the relationship between Hiramatsu and Yoshise, Division 1 might have just been withholding information...
"I'm hearing a very interesting story, but I have something I especially want to hear, which was the original purpose of coming here... It's the matter of Motohashi's private defense lawyer. I heard they have a connection with the Aoi-ikka behind the scenes or something."
Takeshita tried to change the topic to organize the story once. But Yoshise said something unexpected.