Chapter 80 - Name and Reality 3 {Combined 5 & 6} (10-12, 13-15 Kitamura's Death Anniversary Grave Visit, 7 Years, Verification of the Roller Search from 1 Year Ago)
After Sudo and his group went out for sightseeing, "escorted" by Sanada and Mayuzumi, Yoshimura immediately complained to Nishida.
"What was that? He should have just gone home today! He could have easily made the afternoon flight."
"Don't say that... I knew it would be like this the moment I heard he was coming. Let's just be glad he brought new information."
"Was it around that time that 'Kankan Settai' became a topic...?"
Around the summer of '95, when Nishida and Yoshimura were chasing the murders of Sada Minoru and Yoneda Masatoshi, the term "Kankan Settai" (T/N: government-to-government entertainment) was making headlines. It referred to local civil servants entertaining national civil servants with taxes (the source being slush funds), and because the method of raising those funds was highly illegal along with the waste of taxes, it even made it into the "Top Ten Buzzwords of the Year." However, as they say, once the danger is past, it's forgotten, and the system was still surviving.
"At the time, our heads were so full of the investigation that we were a bit ignorant of those things in the world." As he looked back, the events of the turbulent year of '95 were revived in Nishida's mind as if they were happening now.
"By the way, I'm meeting Kosaka-san the day after tomorrow. Do you want to come too?"
"Eh, Kosaka-san? That brings back memories! Was he originally from Kitami? Please let me join you!"
"Got it. I'll tell Kosaka-san. Well, I'm going to lunch first." Nishida said this and went out for lunch, inviting Koide and Asada, leaving behind Yoshimura, who couldn't go to lunch together today because he was on the late shift.
Nishida and Kosaka had remained without sharing their addresses, calling it "troublesome," but they had continued a relationship of contacting each other by phone quite often even after Nishida's transfer. On the other hand, they handled New Year's greetings with mobile phone emails instead of New Year's cards.
Nishida was bad at it, but Kosaka seemed to use computers quite a bit. It seemed he and Takeshita shared their addresses and had a relationship where they exchanged New Year's cards and still met, maintaining their interaction. Having shared the investigation as partners, they must have built a closer relationship than Nishida.
In fact, when Takeshita said he was quitting the police, Kosaka had even come all the way to Engaru to try to change his mind, even though he was still stuck in the shooting incident investigation headquarters. Despite having predicted so much that "Takeshita would quit the police," when he actually did, he apparently felt it was such a waste that he wanted to stop him.
And two years ago, Kosaka had taken early retirement from the police as the Detective and Community Safety Section Chief of the Teshikaga Station and had been re-employed at a local "security company" in Kitami, the usual pattern. Even though it was re-employment, he seemed to be leading a fairly busy life. And when Nishida told him over the phone right after his unofficial appointment about his transfer to the "Kitami Regional Headquarters," he had been very happy, including the "reason."
On April 3rd, they met at a shop in the city where they had drunk with Kosaka several times before. It was the first time they had met in person in the five years since they met in March '97 before Nishida left the Engaru Station for his transfer, but Kosaka, who hadn't changed except for some gray hair becoming more noticeable, was already waiting inside the shop.
"Wow, it's been a long time!" When Nishida and Yoshimura called out to Kosaka, who was settled in a back seat, he raised his hand.
"Oh, I've been waiting!"
"Is it... five years with Nishida? About six with Yoshimura?"
"It's been that long for me."
"Yes, I think six years is right for my case too." Nishida and Yoshimura each answered in turn.
"Well, for now, take a seat!" Prompted by Kosaka, the two sat in the seats in front of him. Perhaps because they could truly enjoy themselves, unlike the entertainment the day before, while renewing their old friendship, the three of them drank heavily, but they didn't feel that drunk for the amount they consumed. It might have been because the conversation occasionally touched upon the incident at the time.
"Yoshimura was complaining earlier, but since an investigator came from the Satchou's Kumitai, there must have been some information, right?"
"Well, yeah..." Nishida was evasive, so Kosaka said,
"I see, I'm already an outsider... I just did that in the old spirit, sorry," and lightly tapped his own head with his hand, sensing the reason.
"It's not that I don't trust you, Kosaka-san, but technically that's how it is, so please forgive me for not giving details." Nishida also made an excuse, taking Kosaka's behavior into account.
"No, sorry, sorry." Kosaka apologized again, but Nishida prefaced by saying,
"But if it's just touching on it lightly..." and told him, "It seems there's someone suspicious who is a blood relative of a high-ranking organization of the Aoi-ikka... he's not a yakuza, though."
"I see. That area didn't come into view even after washing it seven years ago..."
"But it hasn't reached the level of solid information yet, at this point." Nishida said this and sipped from his choko.
"By the way, what about the Satchou itself? Can they be trusted? Nishida, what do you think?" Kosaka suddenly spoke in a way that mixed in some anger. Even the National Police Agency, the highest level of the police, had parts that couldn't be fully trusted in '95, especially due to political influence. His talk was likely based on that premise.
"Certainly, it's questionable whether those parts are completely absent, but the political situation now is different from seven years ago in various ways, so it might be better not to have the same feeling as before on that point." Nishida answered while looking at Kosaka.
"I see, the internal structure of the Minyu Party has also changed..." At Kosaka's statement, Yoshimura also nodded silently.
The current Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission was Narusawa Tatsuya of the "Masuzawa Group," a small faction far removed from the Hakozaki faction. Due to Prime Minister Takamatsu Sotaro's "independent personnel moves" that ignored intra-party dynamics, the former Hakozaki faction—now the Umeda faction—which had been the mainstream, was significantly losing power within the administration. In that sense, the political balance that could affect the investigation had changed greatly, even though the ruling party itself remained the Minyu Party. Nishida had also taken that point into consideration when he took up his post.
Naturally, the National Police Agency itself was affected by this, and a Career named Tanoue Arihito (Author's Note: The Commissioner General of the National Police Agency is appointed by the National Public Safety Commission with the approval of the Prime Minister), who hadn't necessarily been at the top of the promotion race, had been appointed as the Commissioner General. There seemed to be "rumors" that Tanoue was the type who disliked political influence on police actions, but naturally, Nishida, who was in the category of "rank-and-file" no matter what, had no way of knowing the reality of that. In any case, it seemed necessary to keep in mind that the situation was changing, including the Organized Crime Department. (Author's Note: Commissioner General Hashizume has been changed to Tanoue in the revision.)
"By the way, the 11th is the monthly anniversary of Kitamura's death. If you have time, how about it? Why don't we go visit his grave?" The three had been talking about small talk and recent events again, but Kosaka suddenly changed the subject.
"Ah, the monthly anniversary... Come to think of it, the anniversary of his death was indeed November 11th..." Nishida looked up at the air and fell silent.
"I was really surprised when that happened." Yoshimura also said this as he took his mouth away from his beer glass and placed it gently on the table.
"Once the investigation had settled down—well, it just went cold—I tried to visit his grave on the 11th of every month as much as possible. Well, I was away until I returned home because I was transferred to Teshikaga right away..." Kosaka made a grim face as he said this.
"Is that so? I also only reported to his grave before I was transferred from Engaru. In any case, Kitamura must be happy that you're still doing that much for him, Kosaka-san."
"But I think he'd be happier with Nishida, who was paired with him for a time, than with me."
"Well, I don't know about that... If that's the case, I'll try to find time to join you."
"It's Kuji Boen, so it's about a ten-minute drive from the city. If it's just offering incense, it won't take that much time."
"If it's there, if my memory is correct, I should allow about an hour including the time for the grave visit and the round trip... The situation isn't urgent, so I'll definitely try to go with Yoshimura. As for the time... I can't really commit at this point."
"I've already taken that day off, so anytime from morning until the sun goes down is fine. I'll prepare everything, so you can come empty-handed. I can get from my house to the Regional Headquarters in about fifteen minutes, so call me with that in mind."
"I'd appreciate that. Then I'll take you up on your kind offer." Nishida said this and accepted Kosaka's proposal.
Since he had work the next day, Nishida returned to his single-person official apartment before 10:00 PM with a slight buzz and first took a bath.
When he did, his head naturally became clear, so before going to bed, Nishida took out the bundle of notebooks he had brought from Sapporo. They were notebooks in which he had written down things that bothered him throughout the investigation seven years ago, serving as both memo pads and diaries, and he felt like looking over them again.
Since it was the first time he had been directly involved in a major case in a management position, he was certainly full of tension and motivation at the time. Of course, the enthusiasm for an investigation shouldn't change based on the size of the case or one's position, and while cutting corners was out of the question, his level of involvement was certainly extraordinary.
Seeing that everything from matters directly related to the case to seemingly trivial daily events during the investigation was recorded in detail, Nishida was looking back on those days.
"There was the discrepancy between Kuwano and Oshima, and the circumstances of Yoneda's murder weren't clear, and although it's unrelated to the main thread, there were also the mysterious words and actions of the victim, Sada Minoru..." Every time he flipped a page, the progress of the investigation for each date and Nishida's state of mind were also chronicled.
Of course, he had looked back at them occasionally until now, and he had seen them during the packing for his move just before his assignment, but after hearing the talk about Kitamura today, different emotions were undoubtedly welling up.
And that day... that is, the day of the Kitami Kyoritsu Hospital shooting incident, November 11, 1995, was completely blank. Basically, it was his daily routine to write at the end of the day, but on that day, after the karaoke contest, he had learned of Kitamura's tragic end and was mentally exhausted, so he was in no state to take notes at all.
"I must definitely make an offering to him..." Nishida muttered this as he continued to flip through the pages until sleepiness overcame him.
On April 9th, information came in from Sudo. It seems they got confirmation that the Abe in question was in Tokyo at the end of October '95. His car, owned by Abe, had been recognized by the N-system on the Shuto Expressway and its vicinity for several days. It was a story that he might have come into contact with Kagami in some way during that trip to Tokyo.
However, they hadn't been able to prove at all that Abe was in Kitami around the crucial date of November 11th. On the other hand, the Himeji Station of the Hyogo Prefectural Police had the basis for the story that Abe was absent from his hometown of Himeji around that time.
A young man who had been injured in a fight with someone who looked like Abe appeared at the station, and the detective division of the Himeji Station had called Abe's home landline for a week from November 8th to November 15th to confirm, but they couldn't get in touch at all. In the end, someone else was arrested due to a case of mistaken identity, so it didn't become a problem at the time, but combined with the fact that he had become flush with cash, it was plausible as circumstantial evidence.
When he reported this at the meeting, Yoshimura pointed out a problem, which was rare for him.
"Considering the age and position, it's likely that Kagami was the primary and Abe, who shot with him, was the subordinate in the crime, but the tone of the speech toward the partner in the tape—who is presumably Kagami—is quite blunt for someone dealing with Kagami, who is over a decade older; that point also bothers me."
Nishida had also wondered about this, but he had left it unquestioned based on the thought that even if he wasn't a member, he was a blood relative of a high-ranking organization of the Aoi-ikka, so there might have been parts that "allowed" such things. However, if they were to be members of a yakuza group and its associates, which is a vertical society, it couldn't be denied that it was a major problem.
"What are they doing about the comparison between the voice on the tape of the guy being called Abe and the voice of the Abe here?"
To Senior Staff Kusaka's question, Nishida stopped at saying, "They shouldn't have confirmed it yet. I think they'll do it after they've solidified things to some extent." He was a suspect who could be a breakthrough, but he was a target with many challenges. Optimism was too dangerous.
On April 11th, with Section Chief Mitani's permission, Nishida decided to go to Kitamura's grave for a little over an hour. He thought he might get a sour look, but it seemed the story was different when it came to the monthly anniversary of a detective killed in the line of duty, and the chief gave him money for flowers out of his own pocket. When he told Kosaka they would join after lunch, Kosaka appeared at the promised time in the parking lot shared by the Regional Headquarters and the Kitami Station.
It took about twenty-five minutes to arrive at Kuji Boen, partly because they stopped at a florist. The outside temperature had already exceeded ten degrees, but some snow that had disappeared from the city still remained slightly in the cemetery. After walking for a while, a fairly grand gravestone came into view; it was the Kitamura family grave.
Kosaka told the two that it seemed the gravestone had been replaced on the occasion of the second anniversary of Kitamura's death. He had apparently been able to arrange his schedule and participate in the second anniversary service.
It was quite clean, likely having been properly cleaned by relatives. They offered the flowers from the Section Chief and themselves, set up candles and lit them, and then transferred the fire to the incense. Then, using a ladle from a bucket of water borrowed from the management office, they poured water over the gravestone and knelt to pray for his soul. For an offering, Kosaka had placed Guarana (Author's Note: A drink with a flavor unique to Hokkaido, similar to cola. Please search for it if you're interested) juice, which he said was Kitamura's favorite.
Nishida thought that, come to think of it, Kitamura did often drink Guarana when they were investigating together, but he didn't know it was his favorite. He heard that Kosaka had also heard it from the bereaved family. Honestly, he thought something more expensive might be better, but since it was something the man himself liked, this would be fine. Once they finished the grave visit, the three decided to return to the Kitami Regional Headquarters.
"I can't really come every month because of work..." In the car, Nishida set up a defense before Kosaka could say anything, but he was only told,
"No, that's true. I just thought you hadn't visited the grave yet since you just arrived... Since you're in Kitami, I hope you can make it for the anniversary of his death this year."
"I'll be there unless something extraordinary happens. I'd like to have it solved by then if possible!" After Nishida said that, perhaps because they were on their way back from a grave visit, the conversation among the three didn't pick up, and they arrived at the Kitami Regional Headquarters.
"Thank you very much." When the two got out of the car and thanked Kosaka while peering into the driver's seat, he only left them with,
"I can't do anything anymore, but I'm counting on you for the investigation... Well then, I'll contact you again sometime," and drove away.
"It's already been seven years since then... Time flies." As he saw him off, the words Yoshimura muttered emotionally resonated slowly within Nishida as well.
While waiting for investigation information from Team Leader Sudo of the Kumitai, Nishida and his team had begun to investigate what Kagami's movements had been within a few days from the day of the shooting incident. To be precise, it might be more appropriate to say they "resumed" the investigation.
After Kagami's body was discovered a year ago and his identity and involvement in the Kyoritsu Hospital shooting incident were revealed, various speculations flew about regarding the route Kagami took to return to Tokyo from Kitami after the crime. However, since he hadn't been caught in the checkpoints that were immediately set up after the incident, they had reached the conclusion that it was common sense to assume he had been hiding within Kitami city immediately after the crime. Furthermore, although they had conducted a roller search of the surrounding areas seven years ago, they had apparently conducted a similar roller search just in case when the reinvestigation of the case started, considering the possibility that there had been omissions.
However, after the reinvestigation, they had apparently put all their effort into investigating the surname Abe to flush out Abe as Kagami's accomplice, and there was a possibility that the roller search had become perfunctory in practice, so Nishida decided to approach this investigation with the intention of doing it more thoroughly.
First, in terms of verifying the investigation status of the checkpoints and roller operations seven years ago, since the checkpoint system was set up immediately after the incident, it was certain that it would have been absolutely impossible to leave unless they had used forged licenses or something, at least if they had passed through the major roads leading out of Kitami city. Since they checked everything from passengers to the trunk, they would be caught if they were hiding poorly, and if they presented a license with a Honshu address far away, they could be marked just for that. Of course, they also checked the car's license plate, so if it was a stolen car, it would be found out immediately.
In the end, the investigation headquarters at the time had judged that it would normally not be easy to slip through the checkpoints between the day of the incident and the day after next when the checkpoints in Kitami city ended. On the other hand, they also thought that if someone had slipped through narrow residential streets or forests on foot where they wouldn't stand out, there was nothing they could do about it.
Also, for the JR, police officers were immediately placed at each station around Kitami, and a check system was also set up at Hakodate Station, the exit from Hokkaido. Centered on Memanbetsu Airport from the next day (the last flight had already taken off on the day of the incident), the check system was stricter at airports within the prefecture and at ports with ferries to Honshu than for the railway, so it shouldn't have been easy to leave Kitami or Hokkaido for several days.
Therefore, based on the premise that the perpetrators had stayed in Kitami city for a certain period, they had conducted a roller operation in the vicinity where the car used for the escape from the hospital was abandoned, especially checking apartments and the like after the incident. But at the time of the incident, nothing suspicious had come up. This was the same for the reinvestigation a year ago.
Taking that into account, and considering that Kagami himself seemed to have almost no local knowledge, Nishida eventually reached the thought that even if there was a collaborator with local knowledge, he must have stayed somewhere in the city until things settled down. Since Nishida and Yoshimura were not engaged in that investigation at the time of the incident seven years ago, they had no choice but to review the investigation materials from that time to specifically judge how detailed the investigation had been.
According to them, they had apparently checked apartments and rental condominiums for single households within a two-kilometer radius of the vacant lot where the car was abandoned. However, there were no suspicious residents, and it had ended in failure.
Conversely, it meant they hadn't properly investigated other places, and he thought it would be the same after the reinvestigation a year ago. However, since too much time had passed, it seems they had merely re-checked the investigation list from seven years ago during the reinvestigation.
At Nishida's instruction, they decided to list up to a four-kilometer radius (meaning about forty minutes at a fast walk) centered on the residential map from seven years ago and contact real estate agents, landlords, management companies, and the like. Naturally, it would take a lot of time, but since what they could do was limited, they had no choice but to do what they could steadily and painstakingly.
*
On April 19th, information regarding Abe Shinya came in from Team Leader Sudo of the Satchou's Kumitai. It was a result that went against expectations and was completely "white" (innocent). During the time they couldn't get in touch, Abe had gone to Hawaii. As a result of the Himeji Station hauling Abe in for another matter and questioning him, Abe claimed that. This was recorded at the Osaka Immigration Bureau, so it was also confirmed.
As for the reason he was flush with cash, he talked about helping a friend from a vintage clothing store who went to Hawaii with him to bring vintage aloha shirts into Japan, but that hadn't been confirmed yet. However, even if that was a lie, it was physically impossible for him to have caused the shooting incident in Kitami as a perpetrator, based on the immigration records. Several suspicious stories surrounding Abe Shinya, such as his actions in Tokyo, all became meaningless at that point. In the end, the mystery of Abe remained. The new hope had quickly vanished.
The roller operation for the investigation of the hiding place was also continuing in a situation where they were doing it exhaustively but it was taking a lot of time and not producing results. Nishida, while grasping that situation, was thinking various things while staring at the map.
In the midst of this, he noticed that Oshima Kaiji's Kitami office was located about one to two kilometers away from the vacant lot where the car was abandoned. The leadership at the time who directed the investigation headquarters had suspected Oshima's involvement, and it was also within the search area, but even if they thought he was being sheltered under Oshima's direct control, they couldn't have made a move unless they had certain proof that he was there.
If Oshima's people had picked up Kagami and his accomplice by car and sheltered them in Oshima's office for a while, that would be a part beyond the reach of the police investigation. Nishida thought, "No way," but just in case, he scoured the materials on how the checkpoint system was set up chronologically. Then, he noted that while the checkpoints at the edges of the city were fast, it took about thirty minutes after the incident occurred for the checkpoints in the city center to be established.
This wasn't an investigation error; it was a standard move to primarily avoid them escaping outside the city, but if by any chance there was a "safe" place near the center of the city, it could be said to have backfired.
Even if Oshima was involved in the incident, the fact that the idea of directly helping the perpetrators escape didn't come up—considering the course of the Sada Minoru case—might have been one of the factors. In Sada's case, Oshima had merely existed flickeringly in the periphery.
At the point seven years ago, although they had slightly considered the possibility that the Isaka Group, including Isaka Daikichi who was deeply involved in the execution of Sada's murder, might have been involved in the shooting incident, the facilities related to the Isaka Group, including the office building and Isaka's home, were slightly on the outskirts of the city and were excluded because they were quite close to the places where checkpoints were set up.
"Maybe our thinking was naive..." Nishida felt a pang of regret, thinking that even though he wasn't directly directing the investigation, if he suspected Oshima's involvement, he should have been that thorough. It was too late now to question the people at Oshima's office, and there was likely no evidence.
However, if asked whether it was realistically possible to raid a Member of Parliament's office just because it was "suspicious," there was the reality that he had to admit the answer was "no."
At this rate, the moves they could make were becoming narrower and narrower. Nishida had returned to Kitami hoping for a comeback thanks to Kurano's arrangement, but although things had been at a standstill from the start, it felt like he had hit a wall right after taking office.
"Team Leader Onga! Regarding Kagami's murder, what happened with the questioning of the hostess who was the perpetrator and his mistress about our case?" Nishida thought it was a waste of time to think about that and suddenly asked Onga.
"What happened, you ask...?" The earnest Onga was confused by Nishida's sudden question and asked back.
"Sorry for the vague way of putting it! I thought the hostess who was the perpetrator might have known something about Kagami's movements back in '95... But I haven't specifically heard about it yet..."
"Ah, that? The Honchou (Metropolitan Police Department) also apparently asked her, but according to the report, the hostess only started dating Kagami in the summer of '97. It's only natural she wouldn't know about the incident at the time."
"'97, huh... Damn, nothing is useful!" Nishida clicked his tongue at the unpromising report from Onga, but Yoshimura advised him,
"But you know, it's someone else's business to them, right? To the Honchou. It's perfectly possible they missed something, isn't it?"
"I see... Since we've hit such a wall, is it worth trying to question her directly?"
"I suppose it depends on your feelings, Assistant Manager." Although Onga was older, he replied politely as usual to Nishida's near-monologue question.
"Depends on my feelings, huh... Was the budget okay?"
"No problem." Since Onga said that immediately, Nishida was able to make a smooth decision: "Then let's go."