The Moai Island Puzzle

by Alice Arisugawa

  Maria looked mournful. For a moment, a shadow darkened our happy talk, but she quickly looked up again and smiled.

  ‘Sorry, it all just came back to me again. He was seven years older than I and always very nice to me. We always spent a week together in the summer, so his death really hit me.

  ‘But let’s change the subject. I hope you, Mr. Egami and Alice, will do your best to find the treasure, so the spirit of my cousin won’t have any lingering regrets about it any more. I want to be able to tell him we finally found it.’

  I wasn’t sure how much Maria was expecting from our brainpower. I’d been mumbling about wanting to go somewhere far away for the summer, when she invited me to her uncle’s villa, and said we could go on a treasure hunt. But perhaps she was really hoping we—or more precisely, Egami—would turn out to be the ace up her sleeve, who would solve the mystery that had baffled so many before us. Talking about helping her cousin’s spirit might have sounded exaggerated, but it might be how she really felt about the whole business. If so, I’d need to give it my best shot.

  ‘A great responsibility for you, Mr. Egami.’ Perhaps Oda was thinking the same way I was as he said those words and tried to read Egami’s reaction. Mochizuki was still staring at the map, even though Maria had said it was impossible to solve it just with that. I was sure he was going to ask her if he could make a copy of it.

  ‘Mochi, although I still believe you have to be on the island yourself in order to solve the puzzle, instead of here on the mainland, I’ll give you a hint. It might be the key to solving the whole thing.’

  ‘A hint? Why didn’t you say so earlier?’

  ‘It was written in the last will which came with the map. “The person who solves the evolving puzzle, will inherit the diamonds.” It specifically said “evolving puzzle.”’

  ‘An evolving puzzle? What does that mean?’

  ‘It’s the key to the puzzle precisely because it’s not that simple. I have no idea what it means either, and everyone else also racked their brains about it.’

  ‘Ah, I see. Okay,’ mumbled Mochizuki, a satisfied expression on his face. ‘I might need to wait for your report on the investigation on the island before I can solve it all, but I’ll try to get as close as possible just by using this map and your hint. I’m not expecting much from Alice and Mr. Egami, so I’ll be waiting for your report.’

  ‘Every morning, while it’s still cool outside, you’ll need to remind yourself that the map’s your summer companion,’ joked Egami.

  After we left Café Lilac, Mochizuki went into a bookshop on the corner, where he made a copy of the map and bought Darwin’s The Origin of Species.

  CHAPTER ONE: JIGSAW PIECES

  1

  August 2nd, departure from Ōsaka.

  Flight JAS 933 arrived at Amami Ōshima Airport at ten minutes to ten. Our trip through the sky had been a short one—just under two hours—but the real ordeal was yet to come. I got a bad feeling about it when we boarded the chartered motor yacht at Naze Port and, as I had feared, the boat rocked. There was a long—very long—three-hour voyage ahead.

  ‘Uugh, I’m feeling sick.’

  Above me, I could hear the captain whistling a merry tune as I lay slumped on the bench seat of the main cabin. I’d taken some motion sickness pills beforehand, but I still didn’t feel well.

  ‘Alice, are you all right?’ asked Maria, who was seated in a lounge chair on the other side of the table. It could have been her constitution, or her familiarity with the voyage, but she was completely unaffected. Egami was absolutely fine as well, and was up on deck staring at the sea. I was the only one in such a pathetic state.

  ‘How can you be seasick on such a fine day? There’s not a single wave out there. Kids these days. No perseverance.’

  Those frustrating words were uttered by Yūsaku Sonobe, a balding doctor in his fifties who, like us, was a guest at Kashikijima’s Panorama Villa. We had met him at Naze Port.

  ‘Dr. Sonobe, please don’t give me a lecture on perseverance. This is just the way my constitution works. Don’t they say Admiral Nelson also suffered from seasickness his entire life? I—I’d be happy if you’d dispense with such unscientific talk.’

  I said this as I desperately tried to suppress the nauseating feeling in my chest. The good doctor snorted in amusement.

  ‘I see you’re a smooth talker. But you’re absolutely right, there are people who just can’t get used to motion sickness because of their constitution.’

  ‘I—I’m only bad with boats.’

  ‘Okay, we know, so let’s drop this now,’ said Maria, going up the narrow staircase to the deck, leaving the doctor and me alone together.

  ‘Mind if I smoke?’ he asked as he took out a pipe. I was surprised he was polite enough to ask a youngster like myself, so my reply was a bit late. My first impression of him was that of an old geezer with a sharp tongue, but he turned out to be quite the gentleman, not a difficult eccentric at all.

  ‘Then I don’t mind if I do. Physician, heal thyself, they say, but I just can’t give up the habit.’

  With a practiced hand he stuffed the tobacco into his briar pipe, lit it, inhaled deeply once and, with a contented expression, blew smoke towards the ceiling. I felt a sense of admiration for the self-confidence and dignity of this middle-aged man who had found success in life.

  ‘Doctor, do you come to the island every year?’

  ‘No, I’m invited once every three years. Unlike you, I live in Yokohama, so it’s too far to come every year. Anyway, skipping two years between visits is just about right, for by the springtime I’ve already become excited. I don’t swim, I don’t fish, I just spend six days doing nothing at all, but it’s the perfect rest for body and soul. You might not guess it from my appearance, but I’m actually the director of a private hospital. Usually, I’m completely worn out, overwhelmed by work, other miscellaneous affairs and I don’t know what. If I don’t get new life blown into this body once every three years, it’s my heart that’ll stop working before those of my patients.’

  He started to become more talkative, possibly because we were coming closer to the island. A six-day holiday from all the busy work. And when it’s over and he returns to Yokohama, he’ll probably find six days of work piled up waiting for him. That wasn’t the case with me. I felt a little bad because of this luxury of mine, as if I was some sort of nobleman.

  ‘Are you the Arima family physician?’

  ‘Not precisely. My father was good friends with the former head of the family, Tetsunosuke Arima. They came from the same town. They were also team-mates in the Keiō University boat club. And my father happened to be a doctor as well. The current head of the Arimas, Ryūichi, and I are the same age, and I used to come to the island all the time with the whole family. So, well, I guess you could call me a childhood friend who also happens to be a doctor,’ added Sonobe, as he waved his prized briar pipe in front of him. The smoke that came drifting from his pipe had a sweet and enticing scent to it, and even though I didn’t smoke myself, I didn’t find it unpleasant at all.

  ‘To tell you the truth,’ he began again, and his face lit up, ‘there’s another thing I always look forward to. Young people like yourself also stay here and I find it very stimulating to exchange ideas with them. Their stories are sometimes naive, but occasionally it is I who learns something. Speaking of which, it’d be a pleasure if you and that long-haired senior of yours would have a drink with me.’

  ‘I’m sure we’d love to.’

  Perhaps it was the chat that had helped, or maybe because my stomach was completely empty now, but I felt a lot better. I remembered Maria saying the wind felt nice, so I thought about joining her on deck too. I said so to Sonobe, who showed his yellow teeth as he laughed.

  ‘That’s good to hear. Take a look outside.’

  I climbed up to the teak-tiled deck, where I had to close my eyes because of the surprisingly strong wind. Egami and Maria were standing side by side, and his
long hair and her russet hair were dancing around like flames.

  ‘Hey, Alice, feeling better?’

  ‘How long before we reach Kashikijima?’

  ‘Two and a half hours ago, I told you it’d take three hours, so even you should be able to work out it’s another thirty minutes. But look, Alice, you can already see it over there.’

  Maria pointed directly ahead, her eyes squinting as she looked into the distance. The azure sea and the sky, which resembled a rainbow of varying shades of blue, filled my view completely. I could just make out some black spots floating on the horizon. ‘So that’s it,’ I muttered.

  ‘I’m getting so excited,’ said Maria. ‘I haven’t been here for three years. And this time, I’ve got you and Mr. Egami, two splendid men, with me.’

  She pushed away the dishevelled hair that had covered her face and looked straight up at the sky. There was not a single cloud up there.

  2

  Kashikijima was a fairly flat island, with tropical plants growing all over it. The boat went halfway around the island. As we looked starboard towards the place we’d be staying—Panorama Villa on the western cape—the yacht slid into the bay. We were told the only place boats could land, even within the bay, was near the tip of the western cape, which was called Low Tide Cape. The boat slowly made its way towards the landing place and finally reached the shore.

  After dropping us off, it turned around immediately to return to Amami. It left quickly and wouldn’t be back until the day we were scheduled to return to the mainland, five days hence. As I watched the boat disappear into the shadow of the cape, I felt a slight unease.

  ‘If you get homesick now, there’s no way back, you know.’

  It was Maria. I replied: ‘Don’t think I’ll get homesick, but what if somebody suddenly turns ill? And I guess sometimes people get hurt, too, don’t they?’

  ‘Alice, I’m not sure whether you’re just worrying too much or have too much common sense, asking these silly questions just at the very moment we’re landing. Dr. Sonobe is with us too, so don’t worry.’

  ‘I know he’s here while we are, but what happens after he’s gone? Anyway, he’s here on holiday. It’s not as if he’s the family doctor.’

  Maria sighed. ‘Then let me put your mind at rest. There’s a wireless transceiver here. My uncle and cousin are both licensed amateur radio operators, so they can call for help in case of an emergency. Happy?’

  ‘I guess so.’

  Egami and Dr. Sonobe were walking a bit in front of us. Sonobe was looking up at the taller club president as he was talking.

  ‘So I heard you’re in some detective fiction club, eh? I’m not really interested myself, but it’s certainly exotic. The act of reading books is itself an utterly unproductive one, of course. Particularly if you’re only reading mystery novels, well, that’s just plain debauchery and dissipation. When I was young, I dabbled a bit with German literature, but detective fiction, that’s something exotic. Anything goes there.’

  I wondered whether the chatty doctor wasn’t in some kind of manic state. My taciturn senior merely mumbled responses under his breath. At the rate the doctor was going, he would probably invite us to have drinks with him that very night.

  We plodded our way up the narrow path leading from the landing place up to Panorama Villa. The sun was still shining fiercely and I felt perspiration dripping down my back. After a hundred metres we reached the top of the hill, where the path widened. An early American style two-storey building stood there, its weatherboards painted white—Panorama Villa. It was long and narrow, with a terrace and large French windows overlooking the bay.

  ‘Yay, we’re finally here, everybody.’

  Maria was the first to run to the door. She had just grabbed the knob when the door opened from the inside.

  ‘Oh, Reiko, hello!’

  ‘Welcome, Maria, it’s been a while. The long trip must’ve been tiring.’

  A woman with a neat short haircut stepped outside. She wore a sleeveless one-piece dress with an ethnic pattern, an ethnic-inspired necklace and thick, wooden bracelets around her wrists. They made her slender white arms look even more fragile.

  ‘I’m here again, Reiko. Good to see you looking so happy.’

  A smile appeared on Sonobe’s face as he greeted her. The woman they called Reiko bowed her head slightly and thanked them simply.

  ‘Reiko, these two are friends from my university club. My senior, Mr. Egami, and Alice Arisugawa, the same year as me. We’re in a detective fiction club.’

  ‘Nice to meet you. I’m Maria’s cousin, Reiko Arima. Thank you for always taking such good care of her.’

  ‘No, she’s the one who takes care of us. Nice to meet you, too.’

  Following Egami, I greeted Reiko in turn.

  ‘Oh, sorry for keeping you here at the door. Please step inside. You can put these slippers on.’

  We stepped into a large hall. To our right, next to French windows overlooking a terrace, stood a rattan table and chairs. The windows were open, white lace curtains swirled in the wind and we had a partial view of blue sky and sea. Immediately to our left, in the far corner, was a television set with chairs facing it.

  To the back of the hall to the left, next to open doors leading to the dining room, was a spacious staircase which led to the floor above and, next to that, a table with a glass top. To the right of the dining room was a long corridor leading to the rear of the house with windows in the right hand wall overlooking the sea.

  ‘Please have a seat over there by the windows. Let’s have something refreshing before I show you your rooms. You can put your luggage here against the wall. Ah, Maria, it’s okay, you sit down too. I’ll be right back.’

  After Reiko had offered us some very nice seats and stopped Maria from getting up again, she went into the dining room. I found myself inadvertently staring at her retreating figure walking elegantly away with her back stretched and her shoulders gently rocking.

  ‘Reiko is really a wonderful person, don’t you think?’ Maria said, as she looked at both me and Egami. My senior only answered with a smile, but I nodded vigorously.

  ‘You could be forgiven for saying: “That’s my cousin. Beauty runs in the family,”’ I said, but Maria shook her head.

  She looked rather sad as she replied: ‘To be honest, Reiko and I don’t share any blood at all. I told you about my cousin who died in an accident here on the island three years ago. Well, his name was Hideto, and Reiko was his fiancée. Hideto’s death was so sudden that Reiko was stunned by it. She became neurotic and had to be admitted into an institution for a while. She couldn’t even talk any more and there was a period when I couldn’t bear seeing her like that. After a year she finally recovered and that’s when my uncle adopted her as his own daughter. Hideto was of course in love with Reiko, but my uncle was also quite fond of her. They had shared their pain over the loss of Hideto and overcome that together, so my uncle had grown very attached to her and considered her part of the family. It might be strange to say this, but it was also lucky in a way that Reiko was all alone in the world, both her parents having already passed away.’

  Sonobe had been nodding as he listened to Maria, and when she paused, he added: ‘I’m happy it turned out as it did.’

  ‘I’m very fond of her, too.’ Maria added and, just at that moment, Reiko appeared in the hall again, bearing a tray with four cups. As she served us, the ice cubes in the cups made a refreshing clinking sound.

  As I stared out of the French windows at the wide sea which stretched as far as the horizon, I couldn’t believe that only yesterday, I’d still been in Ōsaka, the city of clamour. This extreme change in environment almost had me disoriented. For a while, everyone remained silent, and only the rhythmic sound of the waves reached our ears.

  ‘Where’s Arima? And the others?’ Sonobe asked.

  ‘My father is having his afternoon nap at the moment. Mr. Makihara and the Inukais are visiting Mr. Hirakawa at his vi
lla. Kazuto, Sumako and her husband are down at the beach, I think.’

  ‘Oh, so Mr. Inukai and his wife are here this year, too? That should be fun.’

  The doctor took out his briar pipe in leisurely fashion.

  ‘This will be the first time I’ll have met Sumako’s husband. Apart from him and Mr. Egami and Alice here, all the faces are the same as three years ago.’

  Sonobe hadn’t noticed that Reiko had cast her eyes down. Maria, too, felt uneasy and had turned her eyes towards the view beyond the windows. Mr. Egami had noticed their reactions as well, but Sonobe remained oblivious and calmly lit his pipe. It had slipped the doctor’s mind that one person who had been here three years ago actually wasn’t there. It was probably better to avoid the topic of “three years ago” in front of Reiko. I even started to feel bad for having been so inconsiderate as to get all excited about a treasure hunt.

  3

  There was a knock on our door.

  ‘It’s Maria. May I come in?’

  Egami replied in the affirmative.

  The door opened and Maria entered, wearing a tank-top that showed off her shoulders and her chest.

  ‘I see the two of you have already changed into something more comfortable. This room is comfortable too, don’t you think?’

  ‘Yes, nothing to complain about.’

  Egami remained seated on his bed as he stretched his arm out to open the half-open bedside window completely.

  ‘You can even see the sea from here.’

  ‘You can see the sea from all the windows here in Panorama Villa. The sea is all you can see, in fact. But what I love best here are the nights. It’s as if this small island turns into its own separate world, drifting away in the universe. It’s lonely and frightening, but after a while, all kinds of thoughts well up from inside you and, at that point, it feels as if your body fades away as well. It’s really a mysterious feeling. You become smaller than a speck of dust, but despite that, you can still feel your body as you’re being lured by the sound of the waves and slowly wash away. I feel this sensation every night.’