Chapter 47 - Light and Shadow 26 (143–147: Inquiry at Kataoka Detective Agency)
The next day, October 18th, at exactly 9:30 AM, carrying two document envelopes, Nishida, Takeshita, and Yoshimura opened the door of the "Kataoka Detective Agency" in a building on the Sapporo Ekimae-dori in Chuo-ku, Sapporo.
A clerk immediately guided them to the reception room, and without taking much time, a person introducing himself as the Agency Director, Kataoka Masuhiro, a Hokkaido Prefectural Police retiree introducing himself as the advisor, Mori Takamitsu, and an investigator in his 40s named Kuzuwa Michio, who said he had actually handled Sada's investigation request, appeared.
Director Kataoka said he was the second generation and the agency was an "old-timer" in this industry, having continued since the Showa 30s (1955-1964), and he boasted that they were engaged in investigation activities while properly observing ethics.
The advisor, Mori Takamitsu, looked to be in his late 50s; he had been a detective in Investigation Division 2 at the Sapporo Higashi Station of the Hokkaido Prefectural Police, but he had ruined his health due to the heavy workload and had been looked after by this agency for 10 years through the mediation of the police. Kataoka told the three that there had been another Hokkaido Prefectural Police retiree before him.
However, the one they wanted to hear from most was, naturally, Kuzuwa, who had directly received the investigation request. Kuzuwa said that he was very shocked to learn from the police call yesterday that the person killed by Motohashi was Sada, whom he had been in charge of. He seems to have known that Sada had apparently gone missing eight years ago when he contacted the company on business and heard about the situation, but he never dreamed that he had been murdered by that Motohashi.
Although he knew about the Motohashi case from the news, regarding the victim, even at the time of the police announcement, the "Sada Minoru" the police spoke of and the "Sada Minoru" he had been in charge of did not seem to have connected in his mind.
"From what I hear, Sada-san strictly told you not to let his family know at all that he was requesting an investigation?"
"Yes. He told us not to call his home no matter what. Even when calling the company, he told us to identify ourselves as the Kataoka Law Office, not the detective agency. Of course, it's common sense not to let anyone other than the client know even under normal circumstances, so it goes without saying..."
He answered Nishida's question while looking at a paper where the necessary items for the investigation request at that time were filled in, and when he finished reading, he pointed to the relevant part. Nishida confirmed it.
"When you learned that Sada-san had gone missing, did you have a sense that he had gotten involved in something bad?"
When Yoshimura asked, he replied,
"Well, we get various requests, but to be honest, I didn't particularly have a sense that it was a dangerous request... About the story of the name of the president of the Isaka Group, he said he wondered if it was the older brother of a deceased acquaintance of his, and he wanted us to check if it was really his real name."
Looking at the request form, the investigation into whether Isaka Daikichi and Tasuke were the same person seems to have been requested on July 3rd of Showa 62, which is 1987.
"From your perspective, Kuzuwa-san, what was your impression of the person named Sada Minoru?"
"Impression, is it... When I received this first request, I don't think there was anything that particularly left an impression. I just thought he was an elderly, refined-looking person. However, this investigation was understood immediately after dispatching an investigator, so it didn't cost that much, but—it's hard to say this in front of the Director—I received a grand separate gratuity... That's why it's in my memory, including the fact that he went missing afterward. Well, there were various other things too..."
He gave a wry smile while scratching his head at Nishida's question. Most likely, Sada Minoru was happy that a "cash cow" had been found. However, although Nishida was quite bothered by the phrase "various other things," he prioritized the things he should hear for the time being.
"And then, you received the request for the location investigation of this person named Hojo Masaharu, right?"
Takeshita asked this time, taking the contents out of the envelope of the report he had brought.
"That's right, but to be precise, about two weeks after I issued the first report—no, no, looking at the date, is it July 24th... At that time, he asked me if I could somehow find the people who appeared in this old letter... He said he would pay a handsome reward."
Kuzuwa said that and showed a paper to Nishida and the others. It seemed to be a copy of a partial excerpt from the letter left by Sada Toru. As expected, the disturbing stories and unnecessary parts had been deleted. And red lines were drawn under the names of Kuwano Kinya, the orphan of Mende Shigeyoshi, and Hojo Masato.
"He already knew that Hojo Masato-san was deceased, and he said there was a story that this person's younger brother, Hojo Masaharu, was working at a place called Kumazawa Fisheries in Noshiro, Akita Prefecture, and he wanted me to look into that."
Saying that, he showed them a copy of the same delivery note from Kumazawa Fisheries that they had seen at the family home in Otaru from the eldest brother, Sada Yuzuru.
"To say more, well, he also requested the other people with red lines, but as expected, there are limits for us with only pre-war information... That's why I turned him down on the spot. Well, for this person called Mende's orphan or whatever, we don't even know the name, so even for a story in progress, unless other information is quite complete, it's a matter we simply cannot undertake. As for the person named Kuwano-san, setting aside the surname, I felt like he wouldn't exist much when considering it as a set with the name, so thinking maybe, even after I turned him down, I did check the phone books for the whole of Hokkaido. But as expected, there was no corresponding person. There are also limits to checking phone books nationwide (Author's Note: Nowadays, there are things that cover the internet and phone books, so if it's listed, it's an era where you get a single-shot answer with a search)."
Saying that, Kuzuwa gave a wry smile, and Nishida and the others nodded in agreement. Since there were limits to the prerequisite conditions even when they investigated Hojo with "police power," it's inevitable for the private sector. Of course, there was also the option of using the connection of being a police retiree to have the police themselves investigate, but as expected, it would have been difficult in various ways to seek an investigation from a jurisdiction other than the one where he had directly been.
"For those reasons, I declined the investigation of people other than Hojo-san. Regarding this person, I received preliminary information from Sada-san that he had been in Takikawa and had worked at Kumazawa Fisheries in Noshiro, Akita Prefecture, after the war, so we undertook it thinking this could be managed, but as you know, we failed to track him. I was thinking I might get another gratuity, but it wasn't that easy."
"I see."
Nishida felt there was no lie because Kuzuwa explained very clearly.
"Is there anything written about the reason for requesting the investigation of the people appearing in this letter?"
Yoshimura asked again.
"Yes, like the president of the Isaka Group, he said an acquaintance was looking for these people. Since we had received the investigation into the same-person theory of Isaka Tasuke-san and Daikichi-san, I thought there was nothing strange about it."
Kuzuwa checked the faces of the advisor and the Director with a glance and waited for the reaction of the detectives.
"Yes. There's no problem," Nishida said with an intentionally pleasant expression to the three people he was facing.
"Which means, following the investigation of Isaka Daikichi-shi's name and the investigation of Hojo Masaharu-shi's location, Sada-san's investigation request to you was concluded with that?"
Takeshita said in a somewhat disappointed way. It might be because nothing in particular had come out.
"No, that's not exactly the case... To be honest, I'm not sure if I should say this or not, but..."
Unlike before, Kuzuwa's tone became strangely hesitant.
"Earlier, you said you learned about the story of Sada-san going missing by calling the company, right?"
At Kuzuwa's sudden turn in the conversation, the three detectives leaned forward.
"Yes. So what happened?"
Yoshimura urged him to continue with a sense of urgency.
"Actually... after that, at the end of August, he consulted me about something a bit strange, or rather, eerie. It was just a consultation, not a request... I didn't even write the specific content on this paper... It's in my memory quite well because there was also such a thing..."
Kuzuwa began to speak while looking at the paper.
"He suddenly visited the office and asked, 'Kuzuwa-san, how should I go about requesting a paternity test?'"
"A paternity test?"
Yoshimura had a face like he'd been hit by a pea from a pea-shooter, but for some reason, Takeshita was wearing a faint smile. Nishida's reaction was not much different from Yoshimura's.
"Yes. Well, I told him about methods such as blood tests (at that time, DNA testing was by no means mainstream). However, what I heard after that was quite shocking."
Kuzuwa cleared his throat about twice, straightened his posture a bit, and resumed the story.
"He was asking if he could somehow perform a test from a corpse, or rather, remains. Even if he said that, well. We are not the police, after all."
"Ah!"
Nishida and Yoshimura understood here. Takeshita had probably already thought of it, but it must be the story of Mende Shigeyoshi and his orphan.
Most likely, Sada had tried to find Mende's corpse from the contents of Toru's letter.
"For that reason, I answered, 'No, as expected, it's troublesome to be asked that by us.' Then, he confessed a startling story to me."
Saying that, Kuzuwa took a moment to wipe the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, perhaps because he had been speaking passionately.
"Then, you see. He said that the child of Mende Shigeyoshi, whose name was not even known, had been found. A child whose name is not even known, and moreover, from what I had heard from Sada-san, it was an illegitimate child, so even the surname was unknown—can you believe it?"
From Kuzuwa's story, Nishida was convinced that the reason he had said earlier that "there were various other things and it's in my memory" was because of these things.
"But having said that, in fact, Sada-san himself said, 'I was unbelievably lucky,' as I recall, so he seems to have been aware of it himself. Well, for my part, I could only say, 'That's good for you.' However, the story didn't spread further than that, and I never heard from Sada-san again. And regarding whether a test could be performed from remains, I was also a bit curious, so I had an acquaintance who was doing forensics, and I pried it out of him. Then, I obtained a sort of natural conclusion that it's impossible from something that has been cremated."
Kuzuwa wiped the sweat from his forehead again, but it was very clear what kind of actions Sada Minoru was taking at that time. And more than anything, it was revealed that "Sada Minoru thought he had found the male orphan of Mende Shigeyoshi, whose first and last names were unknown," regardless of whether it was a fact. This is a fact that could not have been anticipated before the inquiry.
However, it seems Sada had not conveyed to Kuzuwa that Mende's corpse had been buried in the form of a burial. So Kuzuwa, based on a common-sense assumption, must have asked his acquaintance on the premise that he had been "cremated." Of course, that was not stated in the "excerpt" of the letter given to Kuzuwa either.
Even so, since Sada probably hadn't discovered Mende's corpse at that point, he must have asked in advance in a preliminary sense.
When they left the office, while being buffeted by the building wind, Nishida and Yoshimura were full of the previous story even on the way back to the Hokkaido Prefectural Police Headquarters on foot. However, for some reason, Takeshita's expression had changed to one even more severe than before.
"An interesting story came out, didn't it?"
To Nishida, who spoke to him like that, he replied,
"It has certainly become quite interesting. The problem is whether he had really found Mende's orphan. If we are to scrutinize various other things and make the story consistent, that in itself might be quite a difficult task."
The hardness of his expression seemed to be because he was prepared for an encounter with a new difficult situation due to the progress. While looking at Takeshita like that, Nishida apologized in his heart as a superior, "Sorry for relying on you so much," and walked along the wide sidewalk in the center of the city.
"Team Leader, but hearing the story just now, I feel like we need to revise our recognition of the man named Sada Minoru a bit."
Takeshita suddenly leaked such words.
"Does that have to do with the fact that he was trying to find the other three parties appearing in the bond besides Isaka?"
Nishida spoke out what he was also thinking inside.
"As I thought, you were thinking about it too, Team Leader... If he were simply going to blackmail Isaka for money, he wouldn't think of investigating that far. There may be various purposes, but regarding his trying to find Mende's orphan and Hojo Masaharu, I think it's reasonable to think he was considering giving them some share as well."
"That's right... Because there's no reason to look for them otherwise. Neither of them was present at the 'scene' at that time, and they can't provide any testimony."
Nishida also agreed completely. On top of that, he added with confidence,
"Then what about Kuwano Kinya? My answer is that he tried to find him precisely to get testimony. Testimony that Isaka killed Takamura. It's Toru's handwritten letter, so the credibility is high, but the story of Kuwano, who directly knew the time, would be even higher."
"That might have been the case too. But I wonder? Regarding Kuwano, there are various other elements for searching, and I don't think we need to narrow it down to one. After all, Kuwano himself snatched away the shares of the other two along with Isaka. From the perspective of Mende's child and Masaharu, he's an enemy. In that case, after finding him, he might have intended to make him apologize to the two or make him pay compensation."
"There's also that way of thinking." Nishida also groaned.
"Also, this is a benefit for Sada in a bad sense, but after finding him, he might have tried to blackmail him like he did with Isaka. In the past, Masaharu testified that he seems to have pocketed the gold dust from the burial site along with Isaka. In this case, it's necessary for Kuwano to have risen to a position where he cares about his reputation to some extent, but Kuwano seems to have been quite sharp-witted, so wasn't there that possibility?"
"That thought is doubtful to me—"
Nishida lengthened the end of his sentence ostentatiously.
"Isaka had the flaw of having killed a person in the past, but Kuwano didn't have that. Just having swiped other people's gold dust 50 years ago doesn't seem to be at a level where he could be blackmailed, given that the statute of limitations is involved."
"Is it weak after all... Maybe it's a bit of a stretch..."
Saying that regretfully, Takeshita walked with a quick pace, kicking rather than stepping on the ginkgo fallen leaves scattered on the sidewalk as if they were spread out.
Yoshimura, who had been on the listening side of the conversation between the two, finally began to speak.
"More than that, the mystery is after all the story of Mende's child at the beginning. How did he know... I think there's no way to know."
Yoshimura seemed to find it difficult to understand. Toward Sada, who explained the seemingly impossible fact of finding a male child whose surname and first name were likely unknown decades later with the words "I was unbelievably lucky," Yoshimura also seemed to strongly have the thought that it was hard to believe. Nishida, while also advancing his steps single-mindedly toward the Headquarters building towering in front of him, had no intention of raising an objection to that natural story.
When they entered the Hokkaido Prefectural Police Headquarters building, they straight away visited the Forensics Division room to check the analysis of the bond they had requested and the restoration of the screen to a state where re-printing was possible. Yashiro, the Senior Staff who had looked after them during the previous Sapporo "expedition" and who hadn't been there yesterday, responded to the three.
"It's been a while. I happened to be off duty yesterday so I was out, but I've heard the story properly. Oh, there's one person who wasn't here last time?"
"I'm Takeshita, the Senior Staff of the Violent Crimes Unit of the Engaru Station Detective Division."
He introduced himself before receiving an introduction from Nishida.
"A Senior Staff like myself... You're quite young... I'm also a Senior Staff of the Forensics Division, Yashiro."
When Nishida and the others first met him last time, it was a more tense situation, and it wasn't a leisurely scene like this where they introduced themselves (because it was immediately after it was revealed that Isaka Tasuke was Daikichi), but today was not the case. However, even if they were both Senior Staff, the Senior Staff of the Headquarters and the Senior Staff of a local station are on different dimensions. Whether it was sarcasm or his true feelings, Nishida couldn't judge.
"So, about the printed bond?"
Nishida asked impatiently to get to the main point.
"Yes, yes... Well, here we go. First, about this paper."
It couldn't be helped that he didn't say bond. Only the people deeply involved in the investigation were using the term bond, and in reality, paper or contract would be the normal name for it.
"The components of the character parts matched those placed on the plate—or whatever it was—that you gave us. There's no doubt he printed with this. And the part corresponding to the blood seal also matched the red ink part on the plate, not blood. We haven't been able to conclude at this point about the light brown stains on the paper, but we're looking at them as probably being components of black tea."
"As expected. I thought that would be the case, but as I thought, was there no mistake..."
Nishida was relieved, and it was confirmed that Sada had been making fakes, but there was one more thing he should check.
"So what happened to the plate?"
"Nishida-san, about that... I want to see if we can actually print with the plate you gave us, but it's hardened, so we're in the middle of dissolving it with chemicals. I got the medicine from the SIL because we didn't have it here."
Saying that, Yashiro pointed to a staff member working at a desk two seats away.
"It's not finished yet. You guys came earlier than I thought, and I thought it would be okay even after noon."
He made an excuse. Takeshita checked his wristwatch, and it was just past 11:00, so this claim might be unavoidable.
"How long will it take?"
When Yoshimura asked, Yashiro said,
"I think we'll make it before lunch. Could you sit around there and wait?"
If that was the case, they had no choice but to wait. Nishida and the others sat on a long bench, the kind used in hospital waiting rooms, in the Forensics Division room, which had no reception set, and waited for the work to finish.
"Oh, I forgot! When I asked the manufacturing company about the model number of this Print Gocco first thing this morning, they said it was a model sold since '85. Looking at the timeline, it was fully possible to forge with this at the time in '87."
After sitting for a few minutes, at Yashiro's sudden voice, Nishida realized he had completely forgotten that he had requested an investigation into whether it was generally available at the time Sada was killed in the autumn of '87. Although it had been "confirmed" from other elements, he strengthened his conviction that there would be no problem as long as they could actually print.
The work was completed in less than an hour from then, and when they attached the master to the unit and tried printing on copy paper as a test, it was printed just like the fake that had come out together with it.
"With this, you've obtained all the results you can be satisfied with, right?"
Yashiro said that and smiled brightly.
"Yes, it was a help that it was settled earlier than I thought."
Takeshita offered his thanks before Nishida could say it, and immediately brought up a topic to Nishida.
"Team Leader. For the time being, I think we should return the report and the Print Gocco unit immediately."
"Yeah, we have plenty of time, so let's borrow the Director's car and return them. It's better to call beforehand."
Nishida said that and took out his mobile phone, but he sensed that the reason Takeshita was strangely hurrying was probably because he wanted to give a "good report" to Akiko. He is a cold-blooded man but not a heartless one. Yesterday's event probably wasn't something he had heartfully desired either.
Nishida told Akiko that they would visit now to return some of the evidence, and at the same time he finished reporting today's events to Director Toyama, he obtained permission to borrow the car. Also, Toyama told him that the interrogation of Motohashi, which had already begun this morning, was being conducted at a level like a review of what Nishida and the others had done in Osaka. Conversely, Nishida read between the lines that the scenes where he and his team would participate might be required to "hear different things."
When they revisited the Sada residence after lunch, contrary to Nishida's line that "no extra care is necessary," Akiko treated them courteously again. Normally, Nishida would have taken the position of not staying long after finishing the return, but today he thought he should intentionally stay for a while. He judged that it would be better to let Takeshita explain the situation thoroughly.
First, after returning the materials, he ordered him to properly explain the circumstances that could be inferred at that time. And Takeshita explained his idea that Sada Minoru might not have simply intended to blackmail Isaka, but might have also been considering relief for the original "heirs."
When she heard Takeshita's theory, Akiko moved to tears and repeated many times in a hoarse voice,
"Thank you so much. For being so considerate in every way..."
As expected, it was undeniable that the view that her late husband was a victim but at the same time also a perpetrator was deeply hurting the widow.
However, if the facts that came out of the inquiry at the Kataoka Detective Agency this time were able to lighten Akiko's feelings even a little, it must have been a form of atonement for Akiko herself, of course, and for Takeshita—no, for the three detectives. Nishida did not miss that there was more than a little something shining in Yoshimura's eyes.
"Akiko-san must have been hurt after all. If he were a pure victim, she could vent her anger, but it's not like that. Immediately after it was revealed that Isaka was involved, her late husband was also half a blackmailer... She must have become unable to know where to take her feelings."
Yoshimura muttered while driving the car back.
"If he were a shameless person, he would only think of himself, but with that person, he couldn't do it that way."
"It's as the Team Leader says, but with his brother Yuzuru, and his wife and child, they are a refined clan or family, even if it's not just on the surface; it's a deep human karma or something unpleasant for the husband of such a place to be driven into a corner by money trouble, blackmail, and then be killed. I hate it, I really hate it."
Yoshimura stepped on the accelerator as if spitting it out, but Takeshita in the passenger seat remained unresponsive.
From the back seat, Nishida couldn't directly see his expression, so he didn't know well from the side mirror alone, but most likely it wasn't that he had no intention of participating in the conversation, but rather a silence because he had things on his mind. Whether he was reflecting on yesterday's method, or whether he had come to think about the "depth of human karma" in his detective life so far, which wasn't that long, or whether it was both, was not certain...
"That's the kind of thing that happens when you're a detective."
Nishida thought so strongly in his heart, but he didn't dare to throw any talk to Takeshita. And then he stated a comment as if it were someone else's business:
"Whether it was to erase that guilt or out of a sense of justice, he tried to find the heirs who should have originally received it, so despite the depth of karma, wasn't he a decent person in his own way?"
"That's true, but what he did is what he did... Conversely, that doesn't affect the goodness of the wife's character at all in my mind," Yoshimura, for his part, was unusually harsh toward Minoru today.
"You're quite severe today," Nishida said.
"He's an idiot for making that kind of thought for that kind lady, an idiot!" he spat out.
"I see, so that's what it was," Nishida said, feeling a strangely warm feeling while looking at Yoshimura reflected in the rearview mirror.
Considering the age difference, it was naturally not a kind of romantic feeling, but looking at Akiko's soft manner toward Nishida and the others, he thought that he might have harbored a liking for her, at least like one for a mother. On top of that, he cautioned Yoshimura,
"Hey, don't speed too much out of irritation," and sat back deeply in his seat.
The car, with all four passengers maintaining silence, proceeded west on the Sapporo Shindo toward Hokudai-dori, the same route as when they had passed the Sasson Expressway above earlier. Then suddenly Takeshita said,
"I forgot to mention it, but the price on the receipt that served as a bookmark earlier was the same as the list price of the book. It was a pattern of receipt without a product name, but it's probably for that book. The date was September 3rd. Since he should have gone to Kitami on September 23rd, he might have been preparing the forged bond from quite a while before."
He told Nishida, who was in the middle of writing in his investigation notes.
"I see..."
Nishida said that and added a note about it to the notes he was just writing.
However, he found himself starting to think that the reason this "capable subordinate" still couldn't read the "hidden" meaning in the letter from Shiino to the imprisoned Motohashi—which Takeshita was obsessed with as a foothold to Oshima Kaiji—was because the "hidden" meaning didn't actually exist in the first place. It was a doubt precisely because he understood Takeshita's talent. However, it was still too early to convince Takeshita of such a thing and make him give up. That thought also existed.
They returned to the Hokkaido Prefectural Police Headquarters as they were, submitted the plate, the bond thought to be a forgery, and the Print Gocco unit to Forensics, and requested an analysis and restoration to a state where re-printing was possible. Then, they contacted the Kataoka Detective Agency through the Sapporo Chuo Station from Headquarters to say they would be coming for an inquiry tomorrow morning.
As expected, there seemed to be a retiree from the Hokkaido Prefectural Police there. By contacting them, there was a possibility that something might be hidden, but it would be the same if they went suddenly without a warrant. And rather, there was also a somewhat convenient "speculation" that by requesting cooperation in advance, the other party would also prepare with a cooperative attitude. Even if it was a speculation, it probably wasn't far off if there was a retiree from the Hokkaido Prefectural Police.
Normally, it would have been a flow of a complete day off, but he couldn't waste the short time he was in Sapporo. Unfortunately, it was becoming a flow where even a half-day off would ultimately be impossible. At least until before Takeshita interrogated Sada Akiko, he had been thinking of going out with his daughter after she came home from school and having dinner out with the family. However, now, his hope had completely shifted to a wishful observation that he wanted to at least keep the time for dining out.
Afterward, they were treated at a high-class sushi restaurant that Toyama frequented. It was on a different dimension from the sushi Nishida had treated his two subordinates to the other day. At the restaurant, while enjoying the food, opinions were exchanged regarding the interrogation of Motohashi starting the next day. As a reality, at this point, the participation of the Engaru group had not been guaranteed, but Toyama said,
"The help of you guys, who are most familiar with the case, will definitely be necessary, and it's certain that he will be sent to Engaru for on-site investigations and interrogations, so probably before too long... It's impossible for our investigators alone to fully grasp everything from the reports, this case... That's why I'm counting on you."
He told the three of them as if to convince them.
"Please leave that to us."
Nishida expressed his gratitude to Toyama on behalf of the group, but in reality, he had enough pride to think, "There's no way they can do it without us."
As expected of a restaurant frequented by high-ranking executives, both the ingredients and the prices were top-notch, but at the same time, the sense of tension never loosened, and with his intoxication remaining halfway, Nishida and Yoshimura returned to their homes by taxi before 9:00 PM. Takeshita, who had neither a home nor a parents' house, headed to a hotel near Susukino that Toyama had booked for him.
After returning home, Nishida handed the sushi he had received as a souvenir from Toyama and the Osaka souvenir to his wife and daughter, and seeing that both were quite happy, he felt as if he had finally obtained a brief moment of rest. However, since it seemed he would end up giving up his plans for tomorrow's holiday after all, Nishida might have found it difficult to bring it up, and he went to bed without being able to say anything.