The Honjin Murders

by Seishi Yokomizo

  “Kosuke, when you first arrived were the shutters—?”

  “They were closed. I reached in through the hole made by the axe and undid the bolt. Take a look outside, over by the stone lantern.”

  Ginzo stepped onto the engawa floor and looked out through the open rain shutter. Just to the right of the stone lantern lay a katana. It gleamed dully in the morning mist.

  There’s no hiding anything in the countryside. News travels fast, and by daybreak the whole village had erupted with rumours that a second tragedy had befallen the Ichiyanagi family. News had spread to the surrounding villages too. But in the midst of the commotion there was one more piece of intelligence. This piece of news changed the face of the case completely…

  That morning around nine o’clock a man came bicycling in from K—town, requesting an urgent meeting with the person in charge of the case. As Inspector Isokawa was also on his way to the scene of the latest crime, the two quickly found each other. I will record the man’s statement here.

  There is a female patient currently hospitalized at Kiuchi Hospital in K—. Yesterday, this woman was injured in an automobile accident that occurred in town, and was brought to the hospital, but this morning when she heard about the incident at the Ichiyanagi residence, she became agitated. She claims to know something about the case, and is anxious to meet with the person in charge. She says she knows who the killer is.

  Kosuke was with the inspector when the man related the story, and grew excited as he listened. He was sure it was the same woman he’d seen—the one who’d been on the train from Kurashiki. The one who had attracted his attention, but whom he’d forgotten all about amid all the commotion surrounding the case.

  “Inspector, I think we should go and talk to this woman. I’m convinced she knows something.”

  And so Inspector Isokawa and Kosuke Kindaichi set off together by bicycle for Kiuchi Hospital. The woman was indeed the same one that Kosuke had seen on the train. She lay on a thin mattress. her head and hand bandaged up, but she seemed to be in reasonable shape, considering all that she’d suffered.

  “And would you be the officer in charge of this case?”

  She spoke clearly and politely, and despite her horrific injuries she retained a particular sort of dignity, very probably from her training as a professional educator.

  Isokawa confirmed that he was in charge, and she introduced herself as Shizuko Shiraki, a teacher at S—Girls’ High School in Osaka, and a close friend of the murdered bride, Katsuko Kubo.

  “I see. And you say you have some information about the murder case?”

  Shizuko nodded emphatically, and reached for her handbag. She produced two letters, and handed one of them to Inspector Isokawa.

  “Please take a look at this.”

  It was a letter from Katsuko Kubo to Shizuko Shiraki, dated 20th October, or about a month earlier. The two men each took a deep breath, and began to read. This is an approximation of what I believe they read.

  My Dear Shizuko

  I’m writing to you first and foremost because I owe you an apology. You told me that before my wedding I must bury away my secret in the darkness. Bringing it to light is not the way to bring happiness to married life was what you warned me. But I have broken my promise to you, and have revealed the whole story of that hateful T—to Kenzo. But don’t worry—I don’t regret it one bit. Naturally, at first he was shocked, but in the end he showed the greatest compassion and forgave me. Of course this whole business—the fact that I’m not a virgin—must have hurt Kenzo greatly. But rather than keeping such a secret, and suffering from guilt throughout the whole of my married life, I feel it’s so much better this way. This way I can embark on a happy married life from the outset. Whatever shadow I have cast over my husband’s heart, now with all my greatest effort and affection I will show that I can erase the poor image that Kenzo has of me. So please, my dear friend, don’t worry about me.

  Your friend, Katsuko

  As soon as Isokawa and Kosuke had finished reading the first letter, Shizuko handed them the second. This one was dated 16th November, nine days before the wedding.

  Dear Shizuko

  Please help! I’m in a state of panic. Yesterday I went with my Uncle Ginzo to Mitsukoshi Department Store in Osaka. (Please forgive me for not dropping by to see you—I couldn’t really with my uncle there.) We were there to buy things for the wedding ceremony, but who do you think I ran into? It was T—. I was so horrified. Can you imagine? He’s changed so much since those days. He’s become so wild and degenerate. He was in the company of another youth who you could tell at a glance was some kind of gangster… I must have turned white at the sight of them. My heart seemed to turn to ice and my whole body started to tremble. Of course, I had no intention of saying a word to him. But then… but then T—waited until my uncle’s attention was elsewhere and he approached me. With a horrible smirk on his face, he put his mouth right up to my ear and whispered, “Getting married, are you? Congratulations.” I felt so shamed, so humiliated. Shizuko, what should I do? I’d never set eyes on him since that day we broke it off six years ago. I’d buried him deep in the past, or so I thought. I’d told Kenzo, and he’d forgiven me for that reason. The two of us had vowed never to speak T—’s name ever again. And then to bump into him now! Of course, that one incident in Mitsukoshi was all. After that T—left without a backward glance… But Shizu-chan, what should I do?

  Yours, Katsuko

  Inspector Isokawa finished reading and couldn’t contain his excitement.

  “Shiraki-san, do you mean that you believe this ‘T—’ to be the killer?”

  “Yes, I think he must be. I can’t imagine anyone more likely to have committed such a heinous crime.”

  Shizuko Shiraki spoke as if delivering a stern lecture to her pupils. She went on:

  “T—’s real name is Shozo Taya. He’s the son of a wealthy family from Suma in Kobe. When he first met Katsuko he was wearing the uniform of some medical university. Later it transpired that he wasn’t a student at that university at all—he’d taken the entrance examination three times and failed each time. Katsuko was an intelligent young woman, but she fell prey to the same kind of predator that so many unsophisticated country girls newly alone in the city do. Taya completely took advantage of her.

  “Katsuko didn’t enter into a relationship with him lightly. She was in love, fully intending to marry him one day. But that dream barely lasted three months. As well as discovering that he wasn’t really a medical student, she also learned of many dubious activities he was involved in. By the fourth month she decided she had to break it off. I was the one who went with her to help her do it, and he was totally brazen. He admitted everything: ‘You found me out—well, never mind. I get it—it’s over.’ Still, his parting words were somewhat reassuring. He looked at Katsuko, who was in tears, and said, ‘Kubo-san, don’t worry, I won’t be a burden to you any longer.’ And after that, as Katsuko wrote in that letter, she never saw Taya again, never even heard talk of him.

  “However, I have to admit that I heard rumours from time to time: that he’d gone bad, that he was sleeping around, and eventually joined the yakuza. I even heard he was into extortion and blackmail. That’s the kind of man that Katsuko was once romantically involved with. I’m convinced that when he heard that she was getting married, he couldn’t stand it. I’m sure that it was Taya who killed Katsuko and her husband.”

  Kosuke listened enthralled, and waited for Shizuko to finish. Then he pulled out a photograph and showed it to her. It was, of course, the one that Inspector Isokawa had given to him the previous day, the “mortal enemy” from Kenzo’s photograph album.

  “Shiraki-san, is the man in this photograph Taya?”

  Surprised, Shizuko reached out and took the picture, but immediately shook her head.

  “No,” she said firmly. “That’s not him. Taya is far more handsome.”

  CHAPTER 12

  The Grave Is Opened

 
; Shizuko Shiraki’s story had a remarkable impact on Kosuke Kindaichi and Inspector Isokawa. Although they each took away a different impression from it, within the story was the key to solving the case. However, neither of them would completely understand that until later.

  For now, Kosuke and Isokawa left Kiuchi Hospital deep in thought. Although they were considering the exact same set of circumstances, their expressions were poles apart. Inspector Isokawa looked as if he’d swallowed a very bitter-tasting bug, but Kosuke Kindaichi looked bizarrely cheerful. In fact, he looked positively thrilled as he rode back, one hand on the bicycle handlebar and the other scratching his scalp through his wind-blown tangle of hair.

  The two cycled through the town in silence following the river, and were approaching the turning for the road that led back to O—village when all of a sudden Kosuke shouted to Isokawa to stop.

  “Ju-just a minute. Wait a moment.”

  Puzzled, Inspector Isokawa got off his bicycle and followed Kosuke into a tobacconist’s on the street corner. Kosuke ordered a pack of Cherry Brand cigarettes.

  “Excuse me,” he asked the shopkeeper. “Does the road branching off over there lead to H—village?”

  “Yes, it does.”

  “So I take that road and then what’s the rest of the route? Is it obvious?”

  “Yes, pretty much. If you go straight along that road, you come to O—village. There’s a local government office there. Ask there for directions to the Ichiyanagi place in Yamanoya. It’s a big old mansion—you can’t miss it. Take the road that runs by the Ichiyanagi front gate. The road takes you up over the hills but it’s a straight run, so there’s no chance of getting lost.”

  Absorbed in her knitting, the shopkeeper barely glanced up.

  “I see. Thank you very much.”

  Kosuke’s expression was jubilant as they left the tobacconist’s. Isokawa stared at him in bewilderment, but Kosuke made no move to explain.

  “Sorry for the hold-up,” he said, jumping back on his bicycle. “Shall we go?”

  Isokawa thought about Kosuke’s question, but he couldn’t for the life of him work out why he’d asked it. Still uncomprehending, he followed Kosuke through O—village, and into the tiny hamlet of Yamanoya, back to the Ichiyanagi residence.

  While the two detectives had been away, Saburo had been moved to the main house and was being attended to by Ryuji and the village physician, Doctor F—. His wound was deep, and he seemed to have contracted tetanus from the injury. At one point he had been in a critical condition, but by the time Isokawa and Kosuke pulled up on their bicycles, there had been a slight improvement and it seemed he might be able to withstand some questioning. Isokawa immediately rushed into the sickroom, but surprisingly Kosuke made no attempt to join them. Instead he dismounted and hurried over to talk to Detective Sergeant Kimura and another young police detective who happened to be in the vicinity. They both looked amazed by what he had to say.

  “Really? You want us to go to H—village right now?”

  “Right. Right. Sorry for the trouble, but could you go house to house and perform a thorough search? I don’t imagine there can be that many homes.”

  “Yes, that’s true but… What about the inspector?”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll explain everything to Inspector Isokawa. This is an extremely important matter. Now, let me give you this…”

  Kosuke handed Sergeant Kimura the photo of the three-fingered man that he had shown to Shizuko Shiraki. Kimura put it away in his pocket, then, both still looking rather perplexed, the detectives hopped on their bicycles and cycled off at full speed. Kosuke watched them leave then headed into the main house. Ginzo was waiting for him just inside.

  “Kosuke, don’t you want to hear what Saburo has to say?”

  “No, it’s fine. Anyway, I can always hear it from the inspector afterwards.”

  “You’ve sent the detectives to H—village. Is there something there?”

  “Yes, well… I’ll tell you about that later.”

  Ginzo looked hard into his friend’s eyes and exhaled deeply.

  He understood. Kosuke was no longer fumbling in the dark. Inside his brain—that replacement for a magnifying glass and tape measure—the building blocks of logic and reasoning were right now being fitted together one by one. The twinkle in his eye gave it away. He had almost solved the puzzle.

  “You learned something in K—town, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, I need to talk to you about that, but not right here. Let’s go inside.”

  They went into the sitting room. No one was there; conveniently for Kosuke and Ginzo, the whole Ichiyanagi family was at Saburo’s bedside.

  What Kosuke needed to say to Ginzo was extremely painful for him to express. He knew Ginzo had loved Katsuko deeply, had trusted her implicitly, and to reveal her secret now was going to cause his friend great distress. But there was no way around it—he had to tell Ginzo what he’d discovered.

  The older man was as shocked as Kosuke knew he would be. He looked absolutely wretched, like a dog that had been beaten.

  “Ko-san, this can’t… I mean… is it true?”

  “I believe it is. There’s no reason for this woman to come all this way to tell us a lie. And I saw the letter that Katsuko wrote.”

  “But why didn’t Katsuko tell me about it? Why did she confide in this friend?…”

  “Uncle?”

  Kosuke gave Ginzo’s shoulder a sympathetic squeeze.

  “Girls generally don’t confide in their parents or their closest relatives. It’s much easier for them to open up to their friends.”

  “Huh.”

  Ginzo sat for a while looking utterly dejected, but this was an energetic man with only one purpose, one concern in the world, and he couldn’t stay down for long. Presently, his spirit seemed to return to him, and he lifted his head.

  “And so?… What does this mean? Is this man ‘T—’—Shozo Taya—the murderer?”

  “That’s what Inspector Isokawa believes, and it’s what the woman Shizuko Shiraki claims.”

  “So Taya is the three-fingered man?”

  “Actually, he isn’t. I thought he might be, so that’s why I showed the photo to Shizuko, but she was positive that it wasn’t the same man. The inspector is rather upset that the lead turned out to be a dead end.”

  Kosuke’s eyes crinkled. Ginzo looked at him suspiciously.

  “So, Ko-san, what do you think about it? It seems to me that you don’t believe this Taya character had anything to do with the murders.”

  “No, on the contrary. I believe that he had a huge connection to the case—Oh, can I help you?”

  Kiyo, the maid, was looking in through the gap in the shoji doors.

  “Pardon me, I thought the young lady of the house might be in here,” said Kiyo, ready to make a hurried retreat.

  “No, we haven’t seen Suzuko-san. Oh, just a minute, Kiyo-san?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “There’s something I’d like to check with you. That night, after the wedding, who was present at the final sake cup ceremony in the annexe house? There was the village mayor, the bride and groom, and the mother of the groom. Then of course Ryosuke and Akiko?”

  “That’s correct. Nobody else.”

  “And I believe that evening the lady dowager was wearing a kimono bearing the family crest. Were you the one to fold and put it away afterwards?”

  Kiyo was clearly very surprised by the question.

  “No, I didn’t put it away.”

  “So who did?”

  “Nobody put it away. Her ladyship is very particular about her clothes. She never lets anybody touch her kimonos. She always folds them herself. But with what happened that night she hasn’t had the time to do it properly. It’s still hanging in her room back there.”

  Kosuke leapt to his feet.

  “C-c-could you take me to th-that room now?”

  His enthusiasm was so intense that Kiyo was startled. She took several steps bac
kwards and looked as if she were about to burst into tears. Ginzo, who was also surprised by Kosuke’s reaction, tried to soothe her.

  “Kiyo-san, don’t be alarmed. I’ll go along too. So which is Itoko-san’s room?”

  “This way, please.”

  The two followed Kiyo and as they walked Ginzo whispered to the young detective:

  “Ko-san, what is it? Is there something significant about Itoko-san’s kimono?”

  Kosuke nodded emphatically several times. He didn’t trust himself to try speaking again. He knew his stammer would come back.

  Just as Kiyo had said, the family-crest kimono was on a bamboo clothes hanger, which was suspended from a beam in the bedroom. Kosuke began to feel around both of its concealed sleeve pockets until suddenly his face lit up.

  “Ki-Kiyo-san, you can go now,” he said, grinning.

  Kiyo threw him one more uneasy look and left the room. Kosuke watched her go and then reached into the sleeve pocket.

  “Uncle, the secret of the trick has been revealed. You know that one where the conjurer on the stage drops a wristwatch into a magic box and the watch disappears, eventually turning up in the pocket of someone in the audience? Everyone’s seen that trick done. The audience member has been planted and has had an identical watch in his pocket since the start of the show. The solution is that there are two watches, and the challenge for the conjurer lies in pretending to put the first watch into the box while managing to conceal it somewhere else. And look, here it is—that first watch!”

  Kosuke pulled his hand from the kimono sleeve pocket, and held it out for Ginzo to see. There in his palm lay a koto bridge, engraved with a bird on a wave.

  “Ko-san! Is that—?” Ginzo gasped.