The Inugami Curse

by Seishi Yokomizo

  “Just a minute,” Kindaichi interjected for the first time. “Could you please tell us what happened then in detail? If it was exactly eleven o’clock when you left your room, then that means it must have been about two or three minutes past eleven when you arrived here. Was Také already here?”

  “Yes, he was. He was standing by the edge there, looking out over the lake and smoking a cigarette.”

  “When you came up the stairs to this observation deck, was there anyone else about?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t notice anyone. But it was so cloudy and dark last night, I don’t think I would have noticed even if someone had been.”

  “I see. Then, you told Také about the watch.”

  “Yes.”

  “And the watch?”

  “I gave it to him. He was very happy and said he would ask Mr. Furudate to bring the scroll over first thing tomorrow and compare the prints.”

  “What did Také do with the watch?”

  “I think he put it in his vest pocket.” Since Také’s body had not been discovered yet, however, they had no way of knowing whether it was still there.

  “And about how many minutes did you remain here talking?”

  “Not more than five, I would think. I didn’t want to stay alone with Také in a place like this for very long, so I said what I had to as quickly as possible.”

  “I see. So you went your separate ways by about seven or eight minutes past eleven. Who left first?”

  “I did.”

  “Then, Také remained behind alone. What was he doing?”

  Tamayo suddenly flushed. For some time, she stared straight ahead with blazing eyes, crumpling her handkerchief in her hands. Suddenly she shook her head fiercely, as if angry, and said, “Také acted very rudely toward me. As I started to leave, he suddenly pounced on me, and… I think it must have been then that I lost my brooch. If Monkey hadn’t come just then, I don’t know what would have happened to me.”

  Tachibana and Kindaichi exchanged glances. “So Monkey was here, too.”

  “Yes, I thought I’d managed to sneak out without him noticing, but he had found out and had followed me here. But I’m so thankful now that he did. If he hadn’t come…”

  “What did Monkey do to Také?”

  “I’m not sure of the details. After all, Také had me in his arms and I was desperately trying to free myself. But all of a sudden, Také cried out and fell. Yes, that was when the chair was overturned. Také fell onto the floor. I looked up, and there was Monkey standing there. He helped me, and I ran away from this place as fast as I could. Také was still on the floor on his knees, muttering abuses.”

  “I see, then the murderer must have come after that, killed Také, and cut off his head. Did you notice anyone as you were leaving?”

  “No, I didn’t. Like I said, it was pitch black outside. Besides, I was so upset.” Tamayo’s tale had come to an end.

  “Well, thank you very much,” Chief Tachibana said. “I’m sorry to have troubled you.”

  At his words Tamayo stood up, but Kindaichi stopped her. “Just a moment. One more question. What do you think about that masked man? Do you think that really is Kiyo or…”

  The blood drained from Tamayo’s cheeks. For a long time, she stood staring fixedly at Kindaichi’s face, but soon answered in an emotionless voice, “Of course, I’m convinced it’s Kiyo. Také’s and Tomo’s suspicions are absurd.”

  Yet, Tamayo had deliberately set out to trick him into giving her his fingerprint.

  “Thank you very much. That’s all, then.”

  Tamayo acknowledged Kindaichi with her eyes and descended from the observation deck. Almost simultaneously, Furudate returned.

  “Oh, you’re still here. Matsuko is asking all of you to come to the house.”

  “Any particular reason?”

  “Yes,” said Furudate, a slightly bewildered expression on his face. “It’s about, you know, the hand print. She says she wants to have Kiyo make a hand print in front of everyone.”

  The Abandoned Boat

  The wind that had begun to gust earlier became increasingly stormy, and shadowy blasts and rain thrashed the waters of the lake in frenzied fury. As with all mountain storms, a peculiar sense of the surreal hung in the air. The clouds overhead were oppressively low, and the lake groaned as if possessed, while the dark, turbid waters surged, frothed, and tumbled with a fiendishness different from that seen at sea. Anyone daring to peer into the depths of the lake would have quaked at seeing the eerie masses of dark weeds intertwining, tangling, and rubbing against each other like a woman’s hair. A single bird, propelled by the wind, darted diagonally across the lake like a spirit.

  Surrounded by this raging storm, the twelve-mat room deep inside the Inugami villa was fraught with tension. Among the members of the clan once again assembled before Sahei’s photograph, inner conflicts no less violent than the storm outside were seething in ominous silence. The masked Kiyo sat with Matsuko at the head of the room, with the handscroll from Nasu Shrine. In addition, a sheet of white paper, an inkstone with red ink, and a brush were placed in front of them. Takeko, the mother of the murdered Také, sat limp and dispirited, eyes red from weeping, but she shot looks in Matsuko’s direction that bristled with inordinate hostility. Tomo, with frightened eyes, constantly bit his fingernails.

  Kindaichi studied the faces of the people in the room, one by one, but it was Tamayo whom he watched with the most interest. Even he, however, could not fathom her true feelings, for she simply sat pale and icily beautiful. Surely she harbored serious doubts about the masked man, scheming as she had to obtain his fingerprint, and now that he had voluntarily stepped forward to give them his hand print, her mind must be racing. Yet Tamayo simply sat cold and exquisite.

  A man immediately identifiable as a policeman entered the room and, acknowledging everyone with his eyes, seated himself next to Chief Tachibana. He was a forensics officer the chief had summoned, and his name was Fujisaki.

  “Mrs. Matsuko,” Tachibana said quietly, prompting her to begin.

  Matsuko nodded and said, “Before I ask Kiyo to make a hand print, I would like you all to hear something.” She cleared her throat softly. “I’m sure you have already heard, Chief Tachibana, but a scene similar to this one occurred last night in this very room. Také and Tomo tried to force Kiyo to give them his hand print. At that time, I refused flatly, because they were so rude, treating Kiyo like a common criminal. I was so mortified, I swore to myself that I would never, ever let Kiyo do anything so undignified. Now, however, everything has changed, since this terrible tragedy has befallen Také, and…” Matsuko glared at Takeko, “these people seem to think that Kiyo and I were involved in some way. Even though they say nothing, I can see it in their eyes. Thinking back, though, I guess I can understand their feelings. I admit we may be partly to blame. The fact that I refused so stubbornly last night to let Kiyo make a hand print—if that caused them to suspect that we might have something to hide, or caused them to think we might have killed Také, then that was bad judgment on our part. I regret the way I acted, and I realize that circumstances forbid my being stubborn any longer. So, I’ve decided to have Kiyo make a hand print in front of everyone, with Chief Tachibana as witness. I hope you all now understand how I feel.”

  Matsuko looked around at the others in the room, but no one gave an audible reply. Only Chief Tachibana answered with a nod.

  “Alright, then, Kiyo.”

  The masked Kiyo held out his right hand, trembling with what was no doubt excitement. Matsuko dipped the brush deep in the red ink and spread it over his hand until it was bright red.

  “Now, the paper.” Kiyo spread his fingers wide and placed his hand full on the white paper. Pressing down firmly on his hand, Matsuko looked around at the others in the room with spiteful eyes. “Look, everyone,” she said. “Kiyo’s hand print. No fraud, no tricks. Chief Tachibana, you’ve witnessed it, alright?”

  “Yes, of course. Yo
u can move your hand now.”

  Kiyo lifted his hand, and Tachibana approached and picked up the sheet of paper. “Where’s the scroll?”

  “I have it.” Furudate took the scroll out of his portfolio and handed it to Chief Tachibana.

  “Okay, Fujisaki, I’m giving these to you,” said the chief. “How long before you’ll know for sure?”

  “Well, it will take some time for me to write an accurate scientific report, but just to determine if the two hand prints are identical or not, I should only need an hour.”

  “Good. Then, get to work. I should tell everyone in this room that Fujisaki here is an authority on fingerprints. He may be working in these rural parts, but you can rely on his expertise completely. Alright, Fujisaki, we’re depending on you.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  As Fujisaki stood up to go with the two hand prints, Matsuko stopped him. “Just a minute. You said an hour?”

  “Yes, I’ll come back here to report in an hour’s time.”

  “Fine. Then would everyone come back to this room in an hour? Chief Tachibana, Mr. Furudate, Mr. Kindaichi, I have some food prepared for you in another room, so please help yourselves. Kiyo, let’s go.” Matsuko took the masked Kiyo’s hand and they stood up.

  The others, too, left the room, with a variety of expressions on their faces. Tachibana looked relieved. “Well, that’s that. I think the tension’s made me a little hungry. Mr. Furudate, Mr. Kindaichi, let’s avail ourselves of their hospitality.”

  Guided by the maid, the three men retreated to another room. They had just finished eating when two detectives, soaked to the skin, came bustling in. They were two of the men who had gone to find the missing boat.

  “Chief, could I speak to you?”

  “How’s it going?” asked Tachibana. “You must be hungry. They’ve prepared some food for us, so why don’t you two help yourselves, too.”

  “Yes, we will, but before that, there’s something we’d like you to come see.” From the expression on the detective’s face, it appeared that they had found something.

  “Okay. Mr. Kindaichi, why don’t you come along, too?”

  The storm had intensified further, and the wind blew the rain in torrents from the side. With the detectives in front, the men made their way to the sluice gate, holding their umbrellas at an angle. Two boats moored together with ropes, the one in the back covered with a large piece of canvas, were being tossed on the choppy waters like a couple of leaves.

  “You found the boat.”

  “Yes, we found it abandoned near Kannon Point in Lower Nasu and towed it here. We were lucky. Any later, and the rain would have washed away an important piece of evidence.”

  Climbing into the front boat, one of the detectives tugged on the rope attached to the boat behind, drawing it closer, and then removed the canvas. Tachibana and Kindaichi stared aghast at the sight. Dark blood covered the inside of the boat and a heavy mass of liquid lay on the floor.

  They remained staring with bated breath at this repugnant liquid for some time, but eventually the chief coughed awkwardly and turned to Kindaichi. “Mr. Kindaichi, I’m afraid you were wrong about this one. The murderer did transport the headless corpse in a boat.”

  Kindaichi stared abstractedly at the rain falling on the pool of blood. “Yes, you’re right. I have to admit I was wrong. But, Chief,” said Kindaichi, his eyes suddenly feverish, “why did the murderer see a need to do this? Why display the head so conspicuously on top of the chrysanthemum doll like that and yet feel a need to hide the body? I should think that’s an awfully dangerous thing to do.”

  “I don’t know. But now that we’re sure it was transported in this boat, we’re definitely going to have to drag the lake. Detective, will you see to that as soon as you’ve finished eating?”

  “Yes, sir. By the way, Chief, we’ve learned something else rather strange.”

  “Strange?”

  “Yes, Sawai’s supposed to bring the eyewitness, but… Oh, there he is now.”

  Led by another detective through the pouring rain, there appeared a fortyish man wearing a dark-blue cotton kimono and a dark-blue apron. According to the detective, his name was Kyuhei Shima, and he ran a cheap inn called Kashiwaya in Lower Nasu.

  Although now consolidated into a single city, Nasu had been divided into Upper Nasu and Lower Nasu until a decade or so ago. The Inugami estate was located at the edge of Upper Nasu and was separated from Lower Nasu by an unpopulated tract of land stretching along the lake for about two kilometers.

  The proprietor of the Kashiwaya Inn began his account. “As I just told the detective here, we had an odd guest last night.” According to the innkeeper, the man was clearly a repatriated soldier, for he wore a military uniform and military boots, and had a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. That in itself was not unusual. What was strange was that he had a field cap pulled down over his brow—so low as to hide his eyebrows—and a muffler wound around his neck and face, covering even his nose, so that the only visible part of his face was his two eyes.

  At that time, however, neither the innkeeper nor the maid felt wary of him in any way, so he was provided with a room as he requested. After the maid had carried his dinner up to his room, however, she returned to the front desk with a disturbing report. “There’s something strange about that man. He still has his muffler on even in his room, and when I tried to serve him his rice, he told me to go away. I think he doesn’t want anybody to see his face.”

  The innkeeper was made a bit apprehensive by the maid’s report. When he went up with the register, he found that the man had finished his meal and had again neatly put on his cap and buried his face deep in the muffler. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary, but when the innkeeper placed the register in front of the stranger, he said, “You write it for me,” and dictated the information.

  “And here it is,” said the innkeeper to Chief Tachibana, showing him the entry in the register: “Sanpei Yamada, age 30, unemployed, 3-21 Kojimachi, Tokyo.”

  “Sawai, did you make a note of this information?” Tachibana asked the young detective.

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Check it out with Tokyo, although it’s probably a fake. Please go on with your story.”

  Prompted by the chief, the innkeeper continued. “I forgot to tell you, but it was about eight o’clock at night when this man first arrived. Then, about ten, he said he was going to visit someone he knew living nearby, and he went out. Of course, he still had his face completely hidden with his cap and muffler. About two hours later, around midnight, I was thinking maybe I would go and lock the front door, and as I was doing so, he came back. It didn’t bother me at the time, but now that I think about it, he was kind of flustered.”

  “Wait, just a minute,” interjected Kindaichi. “Did he have his face hidden then, too?”

  “Yes, of course. It turns out I never once got to see that man’s face, because early this morning, about five o’clock, he suddenly said he was going and left. He had settled his bill the previous night, but we were all talking about what a strange guest he had been and how there must be something going on, when the maid who had gone to clean his room came back with this.”

  The innkeeper spread before them a thin cotton towel, the sight of which made Tachibana and Kindaichi grow wide-eyed in spite of themselves. Printed on it were the words “Hakata Friends of Returning Veterans,” indicating that it was one of the towels distributed to repatriated soldiers in Hakata. It was smeared with thick, dark blood. Clearly it had been used to wipe a pair of bloody hands.

  Kindaichi and Tachibana exchanged glances. The thought that had flashed through their minds was of the masked Kiyo, who had recently been repatriated through Hakata. From eight to ten last night, however, that same Kiyo was supposed to have been surrounded by the members of the Inugami clan in a room deep inside the villa.

  The Mysterious X

  The eyewitness account given by the proprietor of the Kashiwaya Inn suddenly hurl
ed a significant mystery into the midst of the first tragedy to befall the Inugami clan. In summary, the tale he told was as follows.

  Last night, a man who appeared to be a repatriated soldier came to the Kashiwaya Inn in Lower Nasu, located about two kilometers from the Inugami estate. He wanted a room for the night. For now, let us call him X.

  It was about eight o’clock at night when X arrived at the inn.

  X made certain that no one saw his face.

  X identified himself as Sanpei Yamada, unemployed, of 3-21 Kojimachi, Tokyo.

  X went out of the inn at about ten o’clock saying he was going to visit an acquaintance living nearby.

  X returned to the inn around midnight, seeming somewhat disconcerted.

  X left the inn about five o’clock the following morning, saying he had remembered a sudden errand.

  A bloody towel, printed with the words “Hakata Friends of Returning Veterans,” was found in the room in which X had stayed.

  This was what was known about X’s actions from last night to this morning. Thinking about his actions in conjunction with the previous night’s murder at the Inugami estate revealed various interesting correspondences. First of all, based on Tamayo’s statement, Také’s murder could be estimated as having taken place sometime after 11:10. X, who had left the Kashiwaya Inn around ten, could easily have arrived at the Inugami estate by then.

  Second, there was the boat. The bloody boat was discovered in the vicinity of Kannon Point in Lower Nasu, not five minutes away from the inn. Therefore, supposing someone had placed Také’s headless corpse in the boat and, leaving the boathouse around 11:30, made his way out to the middle of the lake, thrown the body into the water, and then turned toward Kannon Point, he would still have had plenty of time to reach the Kashiwaya Inn by around midnight. In other words, the timing of X’s known actions matched the murderer’s in many respects.