‘Anyway, I think that Kazuto isn’t very happy with Alice here. But, deep down inside, he’s ashamed he’s being jealous about his own cousin. And when you consider that both Maria and you have such a splendid club senior with you…. That’s why he harassed you in such a horrible way.’
‘But it’s just weird, to go all that way for me.’ Maria looked embarrassed. Don’t get so embarrassed over this.
‘But this is nothing more than speculation on your part,’ said Toshiyuki carefully but firmly. ‘He might well have another reason for harassing them.’
There was the sound of the back door opening. Kazuto had returned.
‘Have you cooled down? You’re—,’ Ryūichi started to say, but he had to swallow the rest of his sentence. Kazuto had returned to the hall holding a gun in his right hand.
‘Kazuto!’
‘You!’
Reiko and Ryūichi cried out and everyone gasped in shock. I also heard a cry escaping from my own mouth. I considered that this time the muzzle might very well be pointed at my chest, and I could feel the hairs at the back of my neck stand up and my body stiffen.
‘I’ve kept this a secret the whole time. I got it together with the rifle. Compared to the rifle, it might be just a toy, but it’s still a real Smith &Wesson. I tried it out two or three times, but I only had three shots left, so I’ve kept it as decoration. But now I’m showing it to you all. I don’t know which of you stole my rifle and used it to kill the others, but I want you to take a very good look at what I’m holding in my hand. If you’re planning to kill me because I’m the most popular target around here, I’d advise you to think again. I’m not so easy to get. If you come close, I’ll shoot. It’d be legitimate self-defence, so I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot to kill. Take a good look and keep it in mind.’
‘Kazuto!’ The veins on Ryūichi’s temple seemed about to pop. ‘You damn fool, give that toy to me this instant!’
Kazuto ignored him. The gun was now pointing at the floor, but his finger was on the trigger. Anything could happen, so it was best not to excite him. I didn’t think he’d really shoot, but I also didn’t know Kazuto well enough to be sure of that.
‘I won’t shoot now. I don’t know who to shoot, even though the killer must be one of the few people here. Oh, how frustrating! But I’ll be waiting for the killer.’
He turned around, and left as quickly as he’d arrived.
‘The idiot….’
That was all Ryūichi could muster. He stood there with his hand to his forehead as if he had a headache. I felt sorry for him.
‘I don’t mind,’ said Sonobe with a pipe in his mouth. ‘That kid’s always been fainthearted. “Don’t treat me like a fool” was his pet peeve when he was still a child. He only said that whenever he was afraid of a stronger opponent, though. Even now, he’s so scared he doesn’t know what he’s doing.’
‘But that’s why it’s so dangerous,’ said Reiko anxiously. ‘I’d never have guessed he was hiding another weapon. With someone who’s trembling in fear and who flies into a rage so easily in possession of a thing like that, who knows what can go wrong?’
Somebody coughed in displeasure. It was Junji, who was standing with his arms crossed.
‘I don’t think we should assume it’s fear that made him act like that, simply because he yelled at us. If I’d come in here brandishing a pistol, you’d all turn white, wouldn’t you?’
Sonobe frowned at that. He’d been surprised by Junji’s remark.
‘Do you mean to say that Kazuto was simply putting on a performance just now and that he might be the actual murderer behind all the killings?’
‘Yes. Of course, I only wish to point out that we shouldn’t forget that the possibility exists. Consider: he is the person most used to handling a rifle. Is it that strange I think that’s a bit suspicious? But who could’ve guessed he also owned a pistol illegally? Doctor, up until now, we’ve assumed the missing rifle was the only firearm on the island, but now the pistol has popped up. Could it have been the weapon used in the murders?’
‘No, quite impossible. Pistols and rifles leave completely different gunshot wounds. I can absolutely declare that that little thing couldn’t have been the murder weapon.’
‘But you know, considering how things are going, he might even have a machine gun stacked away somewhere. Perhaps the real murder weapon is among them.’
‘No, he can’t be holding any more large firearms,’ Ryūichi declared decisively. ‘When Kazuto first brought that rifle to the island, he carried it in a big and strangely shaped bag. To be honest, everyone wondered what it was at the time. He wouldn’t tell. It was only after we’d arrived here that he opened the bag and out came the rifle. It was just that one rifle. So what I mean to say is that whether it was a rifle or a shotgun, he couldn’t have brought a large firearm with him without us noticing something. That was the only time he brought a strange bag here to the island.’
‘But perhaps somebody else brought a weapon?’ persisted Junji.
‘It’s impossible to bring a bag like that along secretly. It stands out like a sore thumb. Nobody could’ve done that, not even Mr. Hirakawa.’
‘Agreed,’ said Sonobe as he packed tobacco in his pipe. ‘A pistol is a different story, but you can’t bring a rifle along secretly.’
‘I’ll go his room later and get the pistol. I’m sure he’ll give it up when he’s calmed down,’ said Reiko, at which Junji snorted.
‘What if you have Maria go along with you? She can stand in the shadows, negotiating with him through a megaphone.’
Maria put a hand to her forehead, hoping it would all be over soon.
3
After that ordeal, we had another late lunch. Kazuto remained cooped up in his room in the annex, so Reiko and Maria had to bring his lunch to him there. The fool was causing trouble for everyone.
‘How is he?’ asked Toshiyuki when the two returned, to which Maria shook her head as if it was hopeless.
‘He didn’t allow us inside. He told us to leave the food outside. He seemed to be sulking still.’
‘He was just too embarrassed to show his face,’ said Reiko, trying to defend him. ‘I bet he’s regretting it all right now. He did something really stupid.’
‘Fool.’
There was a strange atmosphere at lunch. People talked calmly, as if none of the horrible events on the island had happened and as if Kazuto hadn’t appeared with his gun. Toshiyuki explained in simple terms his newly discovered route for importing beef, while Reiko revealed a unique method her friend recently used to quit smoking. Sonobe talked about some misadventure he’d had while travelling in Germany, while Egami put forth his own observations on the psychology of people from Kyōto. It was the liveliest meal we’d had in the last couple of days. Before I even knew it, I found myself talking about the acoustics of the Ōsaka Symphony Hall.
After lunch, the Inukai couple watched television. To be precise, they switched the television on, but continued talking casually. After a while, I noticed something curious. Satomi had to suppress a yawn several times. I’d noticed during lunch as well.
‘Do you mind if I go up for an afternoon nap?’ she asked her husband. ‘I feel a bit tired, with all that’s happened.’
My suspicions were confirmed. She hadn’t been getting enough sleep at night. But why? Was she out of sleeping pills? No. Although we hadn’t been able to call the boat because the wireless transceiver had been destroyed, the couple’s original plan had been to stay on the island until tomorrow anyway. She would’ve brought the necessary amount of medicine with her. She also should have had enough to spare her husband a few. So why hadn’t she been getting enough sleep? There was only one answer. She hadn’t been taking her medicine. She hadn’t wanted to fall asleep at night. Was there something she needed to do at night? The question grew bigger and bigger in my mind.
‘Shall we go out onto the terrace?’ Maria asked me. I answered ‘Yeah’ absentmindedly, as I was st
ill preoccupied by my growing suspicions. I followed Maria anyway. Egami was once again busy with the doctor tackling the jigsaw puzzle.
Junji was on the terrace. He was sitting on the sundeck, looking at the sea with both his legs spread out. His eyes were set on the faraway High Tide Cape. He called out to me.
‘Did Mr. Egami really not see a light that night?’
He probably meant the light—presumably the light of a bicycle—he’d witnessed on the night Hirakawa was murdered. I could only answer as before. Egami wasn’t doubting his testimony, but wasn’t prepared to claim to have seen things he hadn’t. Junji obviously felt quite frustrated by Egami’s answer.
‘Sorry, but he clearly said he hadn’t seen it.’
‘I see. But I really did see that light. That was the murderer. I shudder when I think about it. You know the feeling, right? It happened to me once before. I was in middle school. I was cramming the night before an exam, and when I looked up the light in a room in the apartment building across from my room went out. It was around one o’clock at night. I guessed the person in that room had stayed up late and was now going to bed. I decided to go to bed as well and closed my books. And there it was, the next day, in the late edition of the newspaper. The occupant of that room—a single man—had committed suicide. What I’d witnessed, was the moment just before he’d hanged himself, when he switched off the light. I shall never forget the horror that welled up from inside me when I realised that.’
Junji stared out to sea with an expression that seemed to be lamenting everything on this earth. He was just an empty shell, his mind gone.
Was he experiencing a sense of uncertainty and fear of life, as a man who’d just been robbed of his wife? Or was it something quite different: the lethargic feeling which only comes to a man who’s robbed another person of their life…?
His mouth was slightly open and he was murmuring something. I noticed his eyes were shining with tears.
On this island abundant with sun and wind, the tragedy continued to unfold slowly. Nobody could stop it from moving inexorably towards its conclusion. And I felt we were almost there.
4
A gunshot rang out under the blue sky.
That a gunshot would be fired on this day, at this time, was something which must have been decided long, long ago.
Another gunshot.
Something within me had been hopelessly shattered into pieces.
5
The annex.
We stood there bewildered, looking down at the body of a young man lying across the desk. It was Kazuto Arima who had drawn his last breath sitting in the chair.
His right arm was lying across the desk, while his left arm was dangling loosely by his side. Blood had flowed from the black hole in his temple and over his shoulder to his chest. It was already starting to dry. On the desk was the pistol, which appeared to have fallen from his right hand, and a piece of paper. A familiar-looking rifle was leaning against the side of the desk and the faint smell of gunpowder was still hanging in the room.
‘I can’t believe it.’
Ryūichi held his head in his hands and sat down on the bed. Reiko staggered and held herself up against the wall, and Maria ran over to her and held Reiko’s upper arm. Reiko said she was okay and put her hand on Maria’s shoulder.
Kazuto’s death was completely different from the earlier ones. This time the weapon was present. One pistol and one rifle. Two weapons for one death. Too many weapons. As to which of them had been used to blow Kazuto’s brains out, I couldn’t tell just from looking. But the moment I saw the scene, I imagined that Kazuto had shot himself in the head and fallen over the desk, after which the pistol had dropped from his hand onto the desk.
‘He shot himself with the pistol,’ Sonobe said after a quick look at the wound. As I’d suspected. If you wanted to use a rifle for suicide, you’d need to pull the trigger with your toes, but Kazuto was wearing his shoes and seated neatly in the chair.
Egami bent down to look at the pistol on the desk and said simply: ‘It smells.’ He took a look at the piece of paper near Kazuto’s hand. His eyes scanned the paper quickly and he slowly began to read the contents out loud.
I, Kazuto Arima, will end my own life to atone for the sins that I have committed. Kango Makihara, Sumako Makihara and Itaru Hirakawa, were all killed by me. You can hate and curse me for having committed the most vile of human deeds so many times.
I am a murderer who cannot hope for even a sliver of sympathy or compassion. But I ask you to bear with me and continue reading this terrible tale of mine.
The three people I have mentioned are not the only poor souls who have died by my hand. There is one more person whom I have murdered. The fact that that person was my very own brother causes so much pain, my fingers start to tremble as I type this letter.
The death of my brother three years ago was not an accident, but murder. As a deplorable murderer, I have lived the last three years up until now. And the act of trying to protect myself has resulted in a nightmare where I killed three more people.
I will only write briefly about how I came to commit such a horrible act.
My brother was superior to me in all respects and this had planted and fed a feeling of inferiority within me. Three years ago, when I saw how happy he was to spend the summer with his fiancée on this island, my hatred started to rise like mercury in the middle of summer. And finally, my hatred reached a critical point. He told me he had solved our grandfather’s puzzle and had come to ask me to help him dig the diamonds up. I will move on to the conclusion. His solution was correct and we succeeded in getting our hands on the treasure. And that was the moment. Something in my head snapped and before I had even realised, I had kicked him down and was pushing his struggling head down in the water. My brother and I were matched in strength. But because I had caught him by surprise, he did not manage to fight back against me, I who had turned utterly mad. I can’t remember why I became like that. After it was over, I stood there dazed. Had I really hated my brother that much?
I will hurry to the end. My crime had been witnessed by Hirakawa and Sumako, who had been enjoying a secret meeting in the night. They stole the diamonds from me, promised me they would keep their mouths shut and helped me move the body to a completely different spot. But this year, Hirakawa came here to ask me for some more money. I felt both fear and anger when he told me to go and ask my father for money. I decided I couldn’t leave any witnesses alive in this world and killed the two of them. Uncle Kango just happened to be with Sumako at the time and unfortunately became another of my victims. I had nothing against him. I have no words of atonement, I can only shudder at my own sins.
The evidence is in the drawer of the desk, so please keep it safe.
I will bring the curtain down myself.
Everybody, farewell.
Dad, please forgive me if you can.
Kazuto Arima.
After Egami had finished reading, an excruciating silence took over. He stood still for a moment holding Kazuto’s suicide note in his hands, but then gently passed it over to Ryūichi. Crushed by the shock, the father couldn’t even bring himself to read the note himself.
‘What…do you think?’
Egami asked nobody in particular. It was Toshiyuki who managed to come up with a reply.
‘It’s a complete surprise. How terrible…It’s a tragedy, but it seems everything has come to an end now.’
Yes, everything seemed to have come to an end. But I was still not satisfied. It wasn’t that Kazuto’s suicide note contained an unreasonable tale. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe he’d been capable of such a horrible deed. It just felt as if the words “The End” had suddenly appeared in the middle of a film. If appearing in front of us a while ago, swinging a pistol around and crying out that anybody who dared could come straight at him... if all of that had been just an act, okay. But that doesn’t square with him saying it was all over and then shooting himself in the head only two hours
later. Wasn’t this ending too sudden? There was nobody who’d been especially suspicious of Kazuto as the murderer. There was also nobody else who was suspected of being the murderer. If he’d made it this far as a successful murderer, why give up so easily and commit suicide? Was it his conscience at work? I wasn’t sure I was satisfied with that explanation.
‘Could Kazuto really have murdered four people? I don’t believe it....’
Maria’s eyes looked unfocused as she muttered that. I understood what she was trying to say. But that could only be described as a thought based on weak evidence. It had certainly been physically possible for him to have committed the crimes. In my mind, I rejected Maria’s words.
‘This note is strange.’
Everybody looked at Ryūichi after he spoke those words.
‘I don’t believe it. Even his name at the end is typed with a word processor. No matter how much his bad writing might’ve bothered him, don’t you think he’d at least write his name by hand at the end of his suicide note?’
‘I agree,’ replied Egami immediately. ‘I also find that suspicious. There’s no sign of any handwriting there, so there’s no evidence at all that Kazuto wrote—or, rather typed—the note.’
Maria’s eyebrows quivered.
‘So there’s a possibility somebody else besides Kazuto typed that note? If so, then that means Kazuto didn’t commit suicide, and that, just like Sumako and the others, he was murdered….’
‘Wa—wait.’ Toshiyuki’s expression darkened. ‘Maria, please don’t just say whatever pops up into your mind. This might be rude, but Kazuto had a bit of a vain side to him. I think it’s quite possible that he disliked his own bad writing and used a word processor to write his name, even in the moments before his death. There’s a suicide note here and the rifle, too. I think you’d need something more convincing if you’re going to say he was murdered.’
The Moai Island Puzzle Page 23