Chapter 7 - Rumbling 2
Furthermore, among the restaurants on the subscriber list, several were scattered that were listed on the police list as "front businesses for organized crime." Therefore, a final decision was made on a policy to increase the efficiency of the roller operation by first prioritizing those with a high possibility of being "directly involved in crime."
"By the way, what are you going to do about the Jomon Tunnel Investigation Committee, Nishida?"
A question flew from Case Chief Officer Kurano.
"Regarding that, since it's either this Saturday or Sunday, I'm thinking of making it Saturday."
Nishida said.
"Do you see the connection to the case as weak, Nishida?"
Deputy Head Makita, the Station Chief, asked after hearing the conversation between the two.
"Yes, at this point. However, it might be necessary to be a little careful."
"Careful, specifically?"
"Deputy Head, in this case, the fireball that was witnessed—that is, the culprit (hoshi) or someone who seems to be a related person—likely hasn't achieved their goal yet. Yoshimi died... at this point, I think the cause of death itself was likely an accident, but because of that, the police intervened at the scene, so after that, restrictions were placed on their actions, and they shouldn't have been able to do anything."
"In other words, they haven't been able to recover Yoneda's body?"
"Exactly. Which means, the danger of it being discovered during the collection of remains existed until we actually discovered the body... the remains. On the other hand, if I were in the position of the 'fireball,' I would have mingled with the remains collection and tried to bring it in a direction to prevent the discovery of the remains at all costs. Meanwhile, taking advantage of that time to recover the remains myself would be almost impossible given the eyes of others and the time, so that would be the only choice. Which means, it wouldn't be strange if the culprit or someone around them was among the volunteers who applied before the morning of June 17, when we discovered the remains, the investigation headquarters was established, and it was publicly reported as news, but after June 9, when Yoshimi Tadayuki's body was discovered by us. Also, it would be better to properly check how many people knew about the plan for this remains collection before the article came out."
"I see... That's a quite persuasive opinion. Is it okay to leave that entirely to Nishida?"
"Chief Officer, you can leave it to me," Nishida said firmly, and Kurano immediately approved it and announced the end of the meeting to everyone.
The roller operation that began the next day had no information that seemed to correspond particularly to the concentrated investigation of organized crime-related restaurants conducted over several days, and had transitioned to the work of steadily clearing the subscriber list. (T/N: speaks without honorific, signaling intimacy/provocation)
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Meanwhile, the pair of Nishida and Kitamura, taking advantage of the gaps in the investigation, headed to Onneyu Onsen in Rubeshibe on Saturday to meet Matsushige Yusaku, the chairman of the Jomon Tunnel Investigation Committee. Matsushige is the president of the long-established Hotel Shochikubai in Onneyu Onsen. After passing through National Route 242, which they had traveled many times from Engaru these past few days, and switching to National Route 39 to arrive at the target hotel, they waited for Matsushige in the lobby. From the look of the lobby, the two got the impression that it was doing quite well.
After a while,
"Sorry to have kept you waiting," Matsushige appeared with a calm voice. He looked to be in his late 40s. He was younger than the age Nishida had imagined beforehand. However, as expected of a president, his demeanor felt dignified, unlike his age-appropriate face.
"We're the ones who are sorry for bothering you while you're busy. I'm Nishida from the Engaru Station Criminal Investigation Division, and this is Kitamura from the Kitami Area HQ."
After receiving the business card from Matsushige, he finished the standard greetings along with showing his police badge. Matsushige glanced at it and urged the two to sit, and perhaps having confirmed that the tea served to the two was almost empty, he instructed an employee to pour more tea.
While the tea was being poured, Nishida spoke to Matsushige, also as a social courtesy.
"This is quite a beautiful hotel."
Then,
"Thank you. This building was rebuilt and reopened in a hotel style in Showa 59 by my father, who was the previous president, from the hot spring inn it was until then, so it might still be in a relatively clean state."
He explained.
"Was it originally a hot spring inn?"
Yoshimura entered the conversation after hearing that, but
"Yes. It means we had to adapt to the times. That said, even now most of the rooms are in a Japanese style, so the content hasn't changed that much."
He replied with a laugh.
And, as if waiting for the employee who poured the tea to leave,
"Well, it was about this survey. I don't know well, but on the phone, you mentioned that it somehow has something to do with the recent body discovery case. I've only seen it a bit on the news and don't understand it well."
Matsushige started from his side.
"Yes. It seems that a person who learned about your survey plan feared the discovery of the body of the person they killed due to the survey, and there's a point where they tried to recover it beforehand."
"Ho, such a thing..."
While drinking tea, Matsushige stared at the teacup for a while, stroking it with his fingertip, and followed with the next words.
"So what is it you want to ask me? Of course, I intend to cooperate as much as I can."
"Thank you. First, I'd like to ask about the circumstances of how you decided to survey the Ikutahara side this time. Apparently, a large-scale survey has never been done on the Ikutahara side until now."
To Nishida's question,
"Regarding that, since we hadn't collected remains for several years, I talked with the vice chairman, Kugayama, about 'doing it after a while'... Then we thought it might be an idea to try it on the Ikutahara side exit of the Jomon Tunnel this time. It's simply that kind of story."
He replied.
"Which means, it was just a coincidence that it was decided to do it on the Ikutahara side this time, based on an idea or an idea from you and Mr. Kugayama?"
"Yes, it's simply that. There wasn't any specific intention."
"When did you decide that?"
Kitamura asked in a somewhat hurried manner, as if it were his turn.
"Er, I don't remember clearly when it was, but I think it was probably around the beginning of May."
"The newspaper article came out on May 18. According to what I heard at the Tonden Times, they interviewed the chairman on May 12."
Kitamura read out his notes.
"Yes, yes, a reporter named Okamura from the Tonden Times came to interview me, and I talked about various things."
"Between the time the two of you decided and the time it became an article, did you talk about this plan to anyone else?"
"Nishida-san, we're not a secret organization, so it's not that we didn't talk to anyone at all, but the people I talked to about this plan before the article were likely some of the members of the investigation committee, probably about three people."
Matsushige spoke with a wry smile, perhaps feeling he was being looked at with suspicion.
"Of course, it's not that that's bad, but as per the reason I mentioned earlier, we need to grasp how many people knew about this matter before the newspaper article came out, just in case."
"I see... Understood. The people I contacted were Tanaka, Yamamura, and Yokogawa, three veteran members. These people have been members of this investigation committee since my father's generation, so I needed to contact them beforehand."
"Has it been going on since your father's generation?"
Kitamura raised his voice in surprise.
"Yes. This investigation committee was established in the early Showa 30s... Originally, it's an organization made up mainly of local volunteers who actually saw and heard about tako-beya labor. JNR OBs who were actually working near the Jomon Tunnel also participated to some extent. Mr. Tanaka should have joined in that flow. Incidentally, my father had been running the hot spring inn that was the predecessor of this hotel in this Onneyu district, which is far from the Jomon and Kanehana districts, since he was young, so he said he didn't directly see the tako-beya labor, but he was researching local history as a hobby, so he seems to have been plucked as the chairman. And my father died, and I took over after him."
"It's a volunteer organization with quite a history, isn't it?"
"That's right, Nishida-san. However, as expected, aging is a bottleneck. Since the members' ages were already somewhat high at the time of its establishment, quite a few people have died... Among the current members, there are many children of those people. In any case, the number of members has indeed decreased considerably. It's just under 40 people in total. It seems there were over 100 in the past. Now there are more members from other municipalities than those living locally in Rubeshibe. There are some as far away as Sapporo and Asahikawa. Those people are people who research history as a hobby like my father, or university professors. Ah, there was one person in Tokyo too."
"Does someone come all the way here from Tokyo?"
"It seems they were originally someone who spent their student days in Kitami, but since they're in Tokyo for work now, they come during the survey. They were here during the remains collection a few years ago too."
Matsushige answered sincerely even to the question Nishida asked in surprise.
"By the way, were there any people who newly applied to be volunteers because of this newspaper article?"
Nishida changed the topic to one that finally touched the core.
"I think there were about three people."
"Only three people?"
Kitamura spoke while taking notes.
"That's right."
"Then, among them, are there any people who applied after June 9?"
"No, all three should have applied in late May, Kitamura-san."
Kitamura raised his face, which had been dropped to his notebook, looked at Matsushige as if to confirm, then turned his gaze to Nishida with a disappointed expression.
"Is that certain?"
"It's certain as far as I know."
Matsushige said flatly to Nishida's question.
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The interview with Chairman Matsushige ended without obtaining the expected results, and Nishida was in the car on the way back with Kitamura driving. He did get copies of the member list and the list of applicants for this time, but the fact that there were no applicants after Yoshimi's body was discovered was weak as a result of this interview.
"Kakarichou Nishida, what should we do?"
Kitamura asked in a bewildered manner while lowering the sunshade.
"...Well, what should we do?"
Nishida said somewhat absentmindedly while staring out the window. He had been pondering for a while, but it was painful that the focus he thought was "this is it!" was wrong.
"I wonder, to go back to the very beginning, if it's possible that that article wasn't the catalyst?"
"No, I don't think so. Regardless of whether the article itself was the direct factor, the fact that the investigation committee's survey plan for this time influenced the culprit must be correct in terms of timing."
"If so, did the culprit give up? Or did they decide it would be okay at that depth?"
"I don't think so. If they were going to give up that easily, would they have put in that much effort and dug up the whole area?"
"You have a point. Then, does it mean they thought there was no point in monitoring the remains survey?"
"It's not an impossible story."
"Conversely, if they thought it was necessary to monitor as per the Kakarichou's assumption, does it mean they had applied just in case as insurance even before they 'excavated' it themselves? In my thinking, one is that they were already a member of the investigation committee, and the other is that they are among the three people who applied after the article."
"I hadn't thought that 'he' was that thorough, but should we consider it...?"
"Either way, we're going to investigate the members, so I think that kind of thinking is fine."
Nishida was somewhat saved by Kitamura's words, but his feeling remained fuzzy because his detective's intuition hadn't hit the bullseye.
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Meanwhile, Takeshita, the Shunin of the Violent Crimes Unit, was paired with Kosaka, the Violent Crimes Unit Chief of the Kitami Station Criminal Investigation Division, who had been his partner since the investigation headquarters (chouba) was established, and was executing a roller operation based on the Kitami Tonden Times subscriber list. Among the support group this time, Kosaka was the only one who came as support from another station besides the detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department of the Kitami Area HQ.
Kosaka was a veteran detective in his early 40s, and his rank at the Kitami Station Criminal Investigation Division was Violent Crimes Unit Chief, the same as Nishida. According to what Takeshita heard, he was in the 1st Investigation Division of the Asahikawa Area HQ before the Kitami Station. When a detective of this level returns to a regular station, they are often given treatment at the Unit Chief level or higher. His transfer to the Kitami Area HQ or Kitami Station was due to a transfer request to be near his parents' home in Rubeshibe for their nursing care. In his own speculation, he thought he was assigned to the Kitami Station because he had experience working at the Kitami Area HQ before.
Takeshita thought that the fact that Kosaka was the only one from a nearby station in this support group, and was an unusually high-ranking detective at the Unit Chief class, was due to the small scale of the investigation headquarters, as well as his experience, skill, and the fact that he was a local from Rubeshibe. Kosaka likely thought so too.
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Takeshita and Kosaka were mainly investigating the Kitami-based companies that subscribed to the Tonden Times this time, but they obtained no leads from the one company they visited in the morning. It's naturally difficult to narrow down suspicious individuals from a general company, unlike individual subscribers. At the point where nothing turned up at the yakuza-related companies and restaurants, there was a considerable limit to inquiries in "this direction."
In the middle of filling their stomachs in a hurry at a family restaurant in the city to prepare for the three companies they had to visit in the afternoon, Kosaka, who was looking at the list, muttered.
"Ah, here, huh."
When Takeshita noticed and reacted,
"Well, just a bit..."
He replied somewhat grumpily. And after letting out a sigh,
"It was about eight years ago when I was in the Kitami area... A bit of suspicion was cast on the president of this Isaka-gumi, which we're scheduled to visit in the afternoon."
He continued.
"Suspicion?"
"The president here was a key person of interest in a certain case. To be precise, the previous president, Takeshita."
Kosaka, who had been speaking while looking at the list, raised his face for a moment to look at Takeshita, then dropped his gaze to the paper again.
"That sounds interesting, could you tell me more, Kosaka-san?"
Takeshita was suddenly intrigued.
"It's a finished story, so I guess it's fine... It was eight years ago in early autumn, late September."
After saying that, Kosaka paused for a moment and then opened his heavy mouth.
"At that time, a man named Sada, who was living in Sapporo and was 65 at the time, I think, left his family saying he was going to meet an acquaintance in Kitami 'to receive a loan of funds' and never came back. Since there was no word for a week, his family got worried and reported it to the police. The Kitami Station investigated upon receiving that, and for the time being, it was found that he stayed at the Central Kitami Hotel in front of Kitami Station."
Kosaka lit a cigarette and continued the story.
"So the Kitami Area HQ, where I was at the time, also got involved and investigated various things, and it was found that he had been in contact with the president of Isaka-gumi on his home phone in Sapporo. The family apparently didn't know specifically about the acquaintance. Furthermore, there were traces of him being in contact with that president at the hotel in Kitami as well."
"I see, at that point, he becomes a key person of interest."
"Yeah. So we decided to voluntarily interrogate President Isaka. It's a natural story. And when it came to the interrogation, he admitted he knew Sada and they were in contact, and even admitted they met in Kitami, but he insisted he didn't know anything after that."
"And you just backed down?"
"Of course, normally we wouldn't have been able to back down, normally..."
Kosaka was slightly rough in his tone, but he immediately seemed to be mindful of his surroundings and continued in a corrected tone.
"Oshima Kaiji, the member of the Diet elected from this constituency, intervened from Tokyo."
"Oshima Kaiji? Another big name got involved."
Takeshita was genuinely surprised. Oshima was a heavyweight member of the House of Representatives even within the ruling Minyu-to.
"That's right. Isaka-gumi is a powerful supporter of Oshima. So the story became 'if there's no specific evidence, back off,' and various things happened from the Prefectural Police HQ, and in the end, it went cold as it was."
"And you just stopped the investigation? Even if there was pressure from a Diet member, isn't that a bit too timid?"
Takeshita couldn't help but be indignant.
"I think we would have had a way to do it if we had a means to pursue it. But when Isaka and Sada met in Kitami, Matsushima Kotaro, a prefectural assembly member who is a subordinate of Oshima Kaiji, was present... That Matsushima gave testimony that 'the talk between Sada and Isaka was about an investment in Sada's company, and on that point, for the time being, a promise was made that Isaka would provide money, and Sada left saying he would return to Sapporo, and they parted amicably.' The fact that they actually met in Kitami was also backed up by testimony from a restaurant, or rather a ryotei (T/N: high-end traditional restaurant), and it was also confirmed that he returned to the hotel after that, stayed the night, and checked out in the morning."
"After that, you lost his trail?"
"Yeah. It seems he didn't get on the express he was supposed to take to return to Sapporo from Kitami. The express he had told his family he would take to return home."
After hearing the outline this far, a new question arose within Takeshita.
"To go back to the beginning, why was a prefectural assembly member present for a talk about a loan of funds? At that point, it seems suspicious conversely."
"Well, don't say that..."
Saying that, Kosaka pressed his cigarette hard into the ashtray.
"I still think today that it wouldn't have had to 'go cold' depending on the police's (our) determination. That's the only case I've truly regretted in my detective life."
The reason Kosaka said "case" (ken) instead of "incident" (jiken) was likely because the current situation is still in the form of a disappearance, but Takeshita, who was listening, strongly thought that that fact instead made Kosaka's regret seep out. However, Takeshita dared not say anything and poured the water from his glass down his throat until it was empty. The conversation between the two after that did not pick up until they left the restaurant.
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After the meal, the two immediately went to Isaka-gumi for an investigation, and they were met by Kitagawa, the Senior Managing Director. He was a bit surprised that a director-level executive had specifically met them, but it was what he wanted, as he could have a more in-depth conversation than with a low-ranking employee. After exchanging standard greetings in a luxurious reception room, they got down to business.
"Detectives, you have it hard too, going all the way to do inquiries about newspaper subscriptions."
That was the first word from Kitagawa after being told by Takeshita that they were checking the subscription list for the case. It was Takeshita's personal impression, but he felt he was being slightly mocked rather than him truly thinking so.
"Well, this is also work."
Kosaka said as if brushing it off, but immediately returned to a serious face and continued the story.
"Was this Tonden Times made so that anyone in the company could see it?"
"Yes. There was one copy in this 'room' and one copy in the employee break room. The one in the reception room was basically read by guests or executive-level people, and the one in the break room was likely read by employees."
As expected of a quite large company even in Kitami, it seemed they took multiple copies of several newspapers. In this case, a considerable number of people might have seen that article.
"Do you know about how many people were seeing it?"
"About how many, you say?"
Kitagawa asked back to Takeshita's question, but Takeshita reflected that it was indeed a difficult question to understand and rephrased it.
"In other words, about how many people in this company actually see this newspaper?"
"I don't know specifically, of course, but since various local articles are published, I think quite a few people in our company are seeing it. Incidentally, I see it quite a bit too."
Kitagawa spoke after taking a breath. Since it was a company with likely nearly 100 employees, Takeshita felt it was quite difficult to narrow it down with just this. Then,
"Understood. It would likely be useless to ask any more. Thank you for taking the time for something like this."
Kosaka replied curtly to Kitagawa's response and stood up after lightly bowing his head. Kosaka likely also felt that there was no point in asking any more under these circumstances. Takeshita was also feeling somewhat unsatisfied, but he stood up following him. But immediately after that, Kosaka asked Kitagawa an unexpected question.
"I'm sorry for something so abrupt, but why did the Senior Managing Director specifically meet us?"
To the unexpected question, the other party kept his mouth open and was silent for a few seconds, but
"No, I received word from an employee, and after consulting with the president, we simply judged that a person in a position of some responsibility should listen to the story."
He replied.
"Is that so. Sorry for suddenly asking something strange."
Saying that, he bowed his head again, and the two left the reception room.