Maria’s eyes were shining as she looked far away beyond the window. It was rare for her to talk like that without any signs of embarrassment. Okay, I planned to enjoy the same experience that very night.
‘We can go swimming tomorrow. And look for the treasure as well.’
She’d suddenly turned back from a dreaming maiden to her usual brisk self. ‘I’ll show you the house first and then we’ll take a quick look around the island. Oh, but all of our bicycles are gone now.’
‘You have bicycles here?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ replied Maria. ‘It’s a small island, but it’s shaped like a C, so it takes ages to walk to the cape on the other side of the bay. If you wanted to walk between the two capes, it’d take about an hour and a half. So, by way of public transport, we have three bicycles here at Panorama Villa. We’re on Low Tide Cape. The cape on the other side of the bay is called High Tide Cape, and Happy Fish Villa, the holiday home of Mr. Hirakawa, the painter, is built at the top of it. Mr. Hirakawa has his own bicycle, too.
‘Cycling around the island is fun. I’d been thinking of taking a tour now in preparation for the treasure hunt tomorrow, but all of our three bicycles are gone for now.’
‘Ah, Reiko mentioned that, didn’t she?’ Mr. Egami recalled. ‘They’re being used by Mr. Makihara and the Inukais at the moment, as they’re visiting Mr. Hirakawa.’
‘Haha, you’re good at remembering names. “Mr. Makihara and the Inukais.” As if you’ve met them before. Yes, you’re right. They’ve taken all three bicycles now.’
‘Ah well,’ I said, ‘cycling around the island is something we’ll have to look forward to tomorrow. Let’s explore on foot today.’
‘Okay, then let’s go.’
Our room was at the end of the hallway on the first floor, and if you turned left coming out, you would find the back staircase which led downstairs, as well as up to the attic room. Turning right, you would see three doors between you and the main staircase leading down to the entrance hall. On the other side of that staircase were two more rooms. On the wall side of the hallway were as many windows as there were doors opposite, looking out over the sea, just as on the floor below.
‘Look, that’s High Tide Cape over there,’ Maria pointed out
On the eastern cape on the other side of the bay stood another villa, as if the two cliffs were twins. The distance as the crow flies would be about three hundred metres, at a guess. If the sea hadn’t been there, you could have walked the distance easily in a few minutes, but if you took the road that followed the C-shape of the island, it would take you an hour and a half. Even the closest and only neighbour lived quite a distance away on foot.
‘You see there’s a building on the very tip of the cape, just as we are here? That’s Mr. Hirakawa’s Happy Fish Villa. It’s a lodge-style construction, quite small but fancy.’
‘Where does Mr. Hirakawa usually live?’
‘He’s from Tōkyō. He always stays here from the end of July until mid-August, timing his stay every year to coincide with the period when we and our visitors are here. Because it would be rather expensive to have food shipped in for just one person.’
‘Does he paint landscapes? Or is he like a Japanese Gauguin? There don’t seem to be any native women here on the island.’
‘Landscapes are his forte, but that’s not all he does. I have another cousin, Sumako Makihara, and three years ago he painted a portrait of her.’
‘Oh.’
There it was again: three years ago. The last time Maria visited the island was three years ago, so I guess it’s only natural, but still... those words nagged at me somehow. It was as if there was a first chapter to this whole story, a chapter only Egami and I hadn’t read.
‘Are all the rooms on this floor occupied by guests?’ asked Egami, as he looked at the row of six doors and the small staircase in the back. ‘And isn’t there an attic room as well?’
‘The attic room’s not a bedroom. It’s filled with the shells my grandfather occasionally collected, and some of his books on puzzles which we never got rid of. It’s basically a storage room. But that’s something for later, let’s go downstairs.’
We followed her down. She explained that the room next to ours was occupied by the Inukai couple, Toshiyuki and Satomi, and next to them were Sumako Makihara and her husband Junji. Yūsaku Sonobe’s room was just before the main staircase, on the other side of which were Kango Makihara’s room and finally Maria’s. So hers was the farthest from ours.
‘How do you know?’ I asked. ‘Had you already heard how the rooms were assigned before we came here? You’ve had no time to ask anybody since we arrived.’
‘Oh no, it’s not as if I heard about the room arrangements beforehand. But the people here this year are almost the same as three years ago, so I just assumed the room assignments would be the same. The only differences between now and then are that Reiko occupied the room Mr. Egami and you are in now, and that Sumako used a twin room all by herself.’
‘So Reiko is staying downstairs this year?’
‘Yes. Three years ago she stayed in a guest room because she was Hideto’s fiancée. She’s probably staying in the room in the rear of the downstairs corridor this year. It’s the room Hideto used three years ago. So Reiko and my uncle are downstairs. Kazuto has a room in the annex.’
How would Reiko feel in the room of her deceased fiancé? Wouldn’t the pain she’d almost forgotten well up again from within the depths of her soul? Or would she find comfort, immersing herself in sad feelings of nostalgia? Either way, it was definitely no business of mine.
At first I’d assumed that the famous paintings hanging in splendid frames on the wall of the main staircase were replicas, but on my way down I realised I was wrong. Rembrandt’s Night Watch, Monet’s Water Lilies, van Gogh’s Cypress, Renoir’s Young Girl Bathing, Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte – 1884: they weren’t replicas but completed jigsaw puzzles of 2,000 pieces or more. I guess they were high-grade puzzles, because they were very well made.
‘Alice, did you think those paintings were were real? There isn’t a single painting in this whole house. Everything hanging here is a completed jigsaw puzzle. I told you my grandfather was crazy about them. Do you want to try one out?’
‘I’ll pass. I’m shuddering at the mere thought of coming all the way here to a sunny island, only to struggle with a pesky puzzle. Ah, sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.’
Maria didn’t seem to mind. ‘You’re right. But a jigsaw puzzle isn’t really that boring. An unfinished jigsaw puzzle has been laid out on the big table next to the staircase downstairs. You know, just as they have as a form of recreation on luxury cruise ships.’
‘Sadly enough, I’ve never been on any.’
‘Neither have I. But it’s a way of getting the guests to play together. I took a peek just now, and this time we’re building Rousseau’s The Snake Charmer,’ Maria explained, as we descended the staircase.
On the pipe-legged table with the glass top, you could already see parts of some flourishing tropical plants and the full moon.
‘Is your poor head starting to hurt, Alice?’
‘No, looks fun, actually.’
I’d changed my mind. My first impression when I saw the completed puzzles in the frames was that it looked like it’d take too much effort, but seeing the pieces of this incomplete puzzle seemed to lure me. The view of thousands of pieces in a disorderly state was something to behold.
Reiko appeared from the dining room with a glass of orange juice on a tray.
‘Oh, are you going out for a walk?’
‘Yes,’ replied Maria. ‘The bicycles aren’t back yet, I assume?’
‘No. Mr. Inukai and the others will stay at Mr. Hirakawa’s until the evening. Sumako said she’d be back to prepare for dinner, but she’s not here yet.’
Maria offered to help but Reiko declined: ‘That’s okay, Maria. You’ve just arrived, so today you just act like a perfect guest.
I’ll have you working on lunch and dinner from tomorrow on.’
‘Okay,’ said Maria simply. Then Reiko noticed that her eyes were fixed on the orange juice.
‘This? Father’s awake now, so I’m taking this to him. It’s his daily routine to sleep for two hours after lunch and then have a cold glass of orange juice.’
‘I’ll say hello to uncle later then. Reiko, you’d better go now, the ice cubes are starting to melt.’
‘Okay. Have a nice walk.’
Reiko gave Egami and me a warm smile and saw us off.
‘Reiko’s so bright again,’ Maria said to herself as we exited the villa. ‘She was still so depressed even after she’d recovered from her neurosis. Even when she smiled, it was always a weak smile, and it almost hurt looking at her.’
‘You’re quite concerned for her,’ said Egami as he shot a glance behind him. ‘Is she the sister you’ve always wanted? I do agree she has something feminine which you lack.’
‘Am I so un-girl-like? I’m sort of surprised. Nobody has ever said I was boyish, not even when I was a kid.’
‘I never said you were boyish. I’d say you were a shy, girlish boyish girl.’
‘Mr. Egami, what does that even mean? That makes no sense at all.’
‘I think it was quite a striking expression.’
My unwanted opinion was answered by a glare from Maria.
As well as the small path leading down to the landing point, there was another one to the rear of the villa that led down towards the open sea. I couldn’t see where it went because the lady palms growing on this side of the path blocked the view.
‘Oh, that path leads down to the beach.’ Maria had quickly caught my expression and explained immediately. ‘The island only has a couple of beaches where you can swim. The beach down here, and another one directly beneath Mr. Hirakawa’s Happy Fish Villa. If we went down there now, we’d see Sumako and the others, but let’s save the greetings for later. I’ll show you the moai statues first, as a preliminary inspection for tomorrow. Behold their dauntless countenances and set your fighting spirit ablaze!’
‘Dauntless, countenance, blazing fighting spirit….’
‘So?’
‘Not very appropriate words for a girl.’
‘You’re close to getting kicked, Alice.’
4
The path curved gently to the right, with trees blocking our view of the bay to our left. After a while, the sea appeared on our right. It was probably just an illusion, but the faraway horizon appeared to be curved and I stopped in my tracks in awe of the magnificent view.
‘Keep moving, Alice. There’s a spot with a nice view up ahead.’
There she was, interrupting a person who was busy being deeply moved by the island on his first visit. Oh well. I guess Maria was just innocently trying to appeal to me by telling me she knew a place with an even better view. No way I’d ever think of her as not cute.
We continued down the gentle slope.
‘Let’s see, there should be one over there…. Oh, look, there it is.’
Maria stopped, and pointed towards a row of thinly-scattered black pine trees. The sun reflecting from the sea allowed me to see only a dark silhouette, like a needle sticking out from the edge of the cliff.
Maria went into the grass, carefully minding where she put her feet. I nonchalantly tried to follow her into the grass, but she stopped me.
‘It seems to be okay here, but I’m being very careful. Watch where you place your feet. There are yellow-spotted pit vipers on the island.’
I pulled my foot back hastily. It’s nothing to brag about, but I hate snakes. I even jump when the random page of an encyclopaedia I open turns out to be the one on snakes. And did she say yellow-spotted pit vipers? Wouldn’t they, like, represent Japan in any international venomous snake competition? Dark clouds quickly gathered above my previous image of this paradise-like island.
‘Oh, you don’t need to be so afraid. It’s not as if they’re slithering around everywhere. To be honest, I’ve only seen them twice. And only far away in the bushes, crawling away quickly. Walking out at night is scary, but during the day you don’t need to be afraid of stepping on them by accident. But being careful never hurts.’
‘Just to be clear, I’ve no intention of losing my life looking for hidden treasure.’
I followed Maria and Egami. About ten metres from the path, the cliff offered a sheer drop into the sea. There were no railings, of course, so I moved to the edge timidly and peeked down below. Fifteen, sixteen metres below, waves came surging in from afar, broke on the shore and turned into white foam.
‘Alice, that’s dangerous,’ said Maria from behind me. ‘Anyway, look at this moai here, standing in silence, guarding the secret to the location of the treasure.’
I turned round, and saw Maria pointing eagerly. Egami put his hand on his hip and looked amused at this so-called moai statue.
‘It’s pretty well made, actually.’
Just as she’d told us, the statue was about as wide as a utility pole and about one metre high. It was probably made from pine wood. A chisel had been used on the midsection, and, while the face had been cut out rather roughly, it had indeed more or less the same face as those famous stone statues on Easter Island. Dauntless countenances, Maria had said, but considering their drooping eyes, long, thin noses and lips sticking out, cute might have been the better word. A jizō[iii] statue of the southern islands.
‘Even if it doesn’t turn out to be the key to the puzzle, don’t you think it’s a good mascot for the island? Statues exactly like this one are spread all around the island, but even though they know where the treasure is, they won’t tell anyone. Stupid dwarfs.’
Egami touched the statue’s face and back lightly. That was his habit. Once, when we visited an old temple in Kyōto, he also lovingly touched the black pillars and gates that had stood there for hundreds of years.
After he stopped stroking the statue, Egami crouched down and looked it in the eye. He was probably trying to find out what was reflected there. Maria and I stood behind him and peered in front of us, over his head.
‘But there’s nothing reflected there but the bushes on the other side of the road.’
‘Of course,’ replied Egami, still looking at the statue. ‘Maria, is there anything interesting over there, on the other side of those trees?’
‘Just the sea.’
Egami let out a low ‘I see.’ He got up slowly and brushed the dust from his knee. ‘And you said the moai on the island all look in different directions?’
‘Yes. At least, it’s not as if I’ve checked every one of them, but I think Hideto did.’
‘Just before he died?’
‘Yes. He spent his last three days going around checking all the moais. He’d invited Reiko to the island, so he might have wanted to impress her. He was someone who would get totally focused on one thing. And of course, since it was a question of diamonds buried somewhere, I imagine he wanted to find the treasure and give it to his fiancée.’
‘I can understand that,’ I said.
‘Grandfather was a very impressive person, so I think Hideto also wanted to take up the challenge and beat him at his own intellectual game. How’s that for the psychology of a man in his twenties?’
‘I can understand that,’ I said again. I was precisely twenty.
‘How old was Hideto when he died?’ asked Egami. Maria opened her eyes wide as she looked up to the sky and thought.
‘Twenty-four. Reiko is twenty-six this year, so she was twenty-three at the time. They were really the perfect couple.’
‘And Hideto was just one step away from the answer, you said. Had he in fact already solved the puzzle?’
Maria tilted her head slightly as she fell into deep thought again. For my part, I was happy to appreciate her rich repertoire of gestures and expressions.
‘I don’t think he’d solved it. I don’t remember what he said exactly, but it was something like
“The key lies in the direction the moais are facing,” and “I think I’m onto something.” He came to me one night after dinner, while I was washing the dishes, and whispered that to me contentedly. He drowned shortly afterwards. “When I’ve found the treasure I’ll give you a pair of earrings as a present.” Those were the last words Hideto spoke to me. I made fun of him. “You sound confident. Tell me that when you’ve found the treasure and brought it back with you.”’
‘Don’t get all teared up, Girl Detective.’ Egami pointed his finger at Maria. ‘Don’t get all emotional. You’re doing this for your cousin, remember?’
‘Yes. This girl detective will do her best.’
Maria looked up and smiled. She loved being called a girl detective by Egami and had always been disappointed that girls couldn’t get into the Boy Detective Club[iv].
‘Did Hideto perhaps hint at something? Like what direction, or what kind of place, or how the treasure was hidden?’
‘Nothing like that. But let’s stop guessing and accept the challenge of the puzzle head on. It’s a puzzle made by a human, so it must be possible to solve it. Mr. Egami, please use your brains to help us. You too, Alice.’
‘If it’s for you….’
I wanted to be of help, but to be honest, I had no confidence I could. I was good at crossword puzzles, but I had no idea where to even begin with this puzzle and if I’d come across it in a book, I’d have gone straight to the page with the solution. I hoped she wasn’t expecting too much of me.
‘Okay, here’s the plan.’ Egami turned round and faced the sea. ‘Let’s put our faith in Hideto and go around investigating the directions the statues are facing. Starting tomorrow we’ll check out every moai on the map, one by one.’
‘Roger,’ said Maria and I in unison.
Egami’s eyes were fixed on the sea, which shone brightly with diffused reflections. Maria and I faced into a sea breeze. The three of us stood there for a while, without a word being spoken.
The Moai Island Puzzle Page 4