by Asa Nonami
Kasahara questioned his daughter about the people she hung around with later, people she got mixed up with when she escaped from the hospital to the seedy area of Kabukicho; but among them, Emiko had been a mere faceless "buyer," and she had nothing to tell.
In the beginning Kasahara never intended to use the wolf-dog in his grand scheme, but having spent so much of his life training police dogs, even after retiring from the force he kept gravitating to dogs. He worked at pet shops and kept dogs of his own. "When I found out about wolf-dogs, I had to have one. When I finally got my own wolf-dog, I was blown away by his personality and brains."
He had acquired Gale by sheer chance, and Gale exceeded anything Kasahara dreamed of. Of course, since wolf-dogs came in all varieties, not all would have been like Gale, so their encounter was like destiny. Even though Gale saw Emiko rarely, he developed a bond with her, and was even able to understand her speech. When they went on walks together, if children made fun of her, from the time he was a puppy he would bare his fangs menacingly. Seeing Gale so protective of Emiko—almost as if he was reading Kasahara's thoughts—Kasahara decided to train him: "From the start, he seemed to understand that this was his mission, his role as a member of the family."
As Kasahara proceeded with the training, sometimes Gale's prodigious intelligence did not surprise him so much as disturb him. "Wolf-dogs grow amazingly fast. I got Gale when he was three months old, and I started training him two months later."
Gale had a strong will, and was not content to obey meekly. His intelligence made up the difference. He did not seek constant praise from his master; rather he seemed to be thinking of ways to smooth and cement the relationship, ways to receive unfailing love. There was no need to train Gale in the basic points of good behavior that most dogs needed to work on: to come immediately when called, to walk at the same pace as his handler, not to howl unnecessarily, and so on.
"He had a vulnerable side, too. If you scolded him too hard, he would be down in the dumps for a day or two. He seemed to be worrying, what if he doesn't trust me anymore, what if I've lost his affection?"
Gradually, Kasahara trained Gale in the same ways he had trained police dogs: obedience, alarm, search, and so on. He began with "sit" and "heel," then moved on to obedience training using commands of "stay,” “fetch," "down," and so forth. This Gale seemed to find tiresome, although he enjoyed vigilance training with commands like "guard" and "track." Usually in the police dog training center, dogs were trained to attack by setting up a third person as suspect; the dog would express anger and excitement before attacking, and stay engaged until the command "stop." But Kasahara taught Gale to carry out attacks on designated targets without excitement, and without hearing the command "stop." Also, he often had him practice using the sense of smell to follow a trail or to select one item out of several. His goal was to get Gale to attack in response to a particular scent.
"Gale's disposition has both a hard side and a soft side. He's proud and obstinate, but he's also very sensitive. You can't force him, and he's temperamental, not like a German shepherd, for instance. In the beginning I had my share of troubles with him."
But he was just as often pleasantly surprised. The animal's superb memory, tenacity, and stamina surpassed anything in Kasahara's experience; often he found himself profoundly moved. But in the end he appropriated Gale's abilities for his own purposes of revenge. As one year went by, then two, he began to feel that this was what Gale, too, wanted.
"The time I really saw what unusual ability Gale had was about six months ago, when I took him to visit Emiko. When we got out of the car at the hospital, he ran off and didn't come back. Yet when I arrived home that night, he was there, lying in his pen. Gale had abilities that can't be learned through training. He was able to think for himself, act on his own volition."
Exceptional powers of memory, exceptional composure and discretion, exceptional strength. In all of these ways, he was completely reliable. To Kasahara, Gale was far more trustworthy than the average shallow human. And while they were stalking Teruo Hara, whom Kasahara had finally found, Gale had also grown familiar with the scent of Ogawa, who worked in the same building.
Hoping to learn more about Hara, Kasahara had spoken to Ogawa when they met by chance by the riverbed. One time only, they had stood and talked. Never suspecting that this man out walking his dog recognized him from elsewhere, Ogawa responded with friendliness and willingness to chat, in order to cover up his chemical experiment. Neither man had had any idea what the other was up to.
"The only reason Gale failed to kill Hara on his first attempt, when he attacked him as he was walking down the street late at night, was because at that very moment a car came flying out of a nearby alleyway."
Hara had jumped out of the way, startled not by Gale but by the car. Gale, too, had been surprised, and was momentarily sidetracked. Even then, he resumed his attack on Hara's leg, but Hara screamed as another car pulled out on to the street, and Kasahara, who was watching, commanded Gale to stop. That was the only time he rescinded an order to pursue and kill. Kasahara decided then and there that Gale should not bother with a target's legs, and he retrained Gale to go straight for the jugular.
Several days later, in the underground parking garage of the restaurant, Kasahara saw Hara and Ogawa exchange greetings in passing. Then Ogawa had called out to Hara, and handed him something. That was the belt with the timed incendiary device planted in it.
As Ogawa testified: "Telling him it was a new product I was putting on the market, I handed Hara the belt. He was quite pleased. He said now that he was in his thirties, he wasn't getting as much exercise as he needed, and he was a little worried about his fitness. I talked him into putting it on right away. Then I told him, 'Just to see how it works, try checking how many steps you take today, and how many calories you burn up that way' Then, pretending to show him how it worked, I punched in the command sequence on the pedometer, and set the timer on the ignition device."
Ogawa established from this conversation that Hara would be in the building until around midnight that night. "I never thought the device would go off in that restaurant. I didn't need anything near as big a blast as that was. All I needed was for my office to burn."
From Kasahara's perspective, Ogawa had saved him the trouble of killing Hara. As the outlines of the fire at the family restaurant emerged through television and newspaper reports, he realized Ogawa had done the job for him.
"I assumed Hara had other enemies. And then, even though I didn't bring about his death myself, I decided to go look at the place where Hara burned. I went to see the building after the police stopped talking to people there, and happened to run into Ogawa. I blurted out a hello, wanting to thank him."
Don't worry, I won't rat on you, thanks for saving me the trouble: Kasahara wanted to tell Ogawa these things. They shared something in common, both after the same man. For all Kasahara knew, they shared a similar motivation, too. Kasahara suggested he and Ogawa have a cup of coffee, and on that occasion hinted to Ogawa that he knew who was responsible for Hara's death.
Ogawa said: "I broke out in a cold sweat. I thought he wanted to blackmail me. But he acted like a decent guy and never said another word about it, not even when we split up that day. I was creeped out, and so nervous I couldn't sleep that night."
Kasahara said: "To tell the truth, I was worried about what people were thinking. Ogawa knew I owned a wolf-dog. I wanted to find out if he had made any connection between me and these attacks starting getting to get media attention."
Kasahara's own overdriven, workaholic life had helped turn his daughter into a delinquent and a drug addict—and now one careless, rash action ended up costing her life. Once again he broke down and wept uncontrollably before police investigators. His grief contrasted starkly with the carping of Ogawa as he bewailed his ill fortune and his inability to finish the wolf-dog off in the fire.
Kasahara continued: "There was this terrible blast, and the inside of
the house burst into flames. The first thing I did was let Gale out of his pen. I just told him, 'Go!' It wasn't an actual command; it was the first word that popped out of my mouth in desperation. There are all sorts of commands I could have used—'Search,' 'Follow,' 'Run'—and I think they were all rolled up in that one single word. For a moment Gale studied my face, but the fire and smoke were so intense that he instinctively sensed danger, I think, and took off. Then I went to get Emiko, but the fire had spread quickly and the smoke was so blinding, I couldn't keep my eyes open. It got so bad I couldn't take another step. Looking back, I have no idea why I didn't go to my daughter first. But maybe I wanted to entrust Gale with something.
"Of course, no matter how developed a dog's sense of smell may be, once Ogawa got in his car and sped off, his scent would be gone. But with his strength and speed, Gale could cover a lot of ground fast, and since it was snowing that day, the car was held up in traffic; following it might have been pretty easy for Gale. He must have learned to recognize Ogawa's car."
After Hara's death, Kasahara was able, merely by repeated pointing, to indicate to Gale his next target, and get him to attack on his own. Kasahara would follow the designated victim around for days on end, establishing a pattern of movement and searching for a place where he or she would be easy prey. As they tracked different people together, Gale soon learned whom they were after and became quicker than Kasahara at finding the target, issuing a slight growl when he picked up the scent. Kasahara observed the attacks from inside his car, and then drove home alone. Gale unfailingly returned by himself, morning at the latest. He used the Akishima house as his home base—a style of territoriality that was one more sign of the wolf blood running in his veins, as wolves normally roam widely through their territory. According to Kasahara, wherever Gale went, his movements centered on the house, as if he were always recalculating his direction and distance from home.
"Normally this would be unthinkable, but I have the idea that after getting separated from me, Gale remembered following Mizutani around. That dog had such a strong bond with his family, and he hated being alone so much, he must have felt lost without me. It kills me to think of it. Maybe all he could do was to concentrate on me, and the places he and I had gone together, and go back there in hopes of picking up some trace of me. And all the while he must have been turning over that word 'Go!' in his mind, trying to figure out what it meant."
Ogawa reasoned that, even if Kasahara made no threat, sooner or later Kasahara would come after him. So one day he followed Kasahara home from the pet shop where he worked and found out where he lived. He made up his mind to do away with him. He knew that the investigation of the case of the timed incendiary device had stalled; police showed no interest in talking to him about it. This meant that if he used the same chemical as before, he didn't have to worry. This time he made an even simpler explosive contraption, using a plastic bottle. First he cut out the bottom out and then, using a cheap watch and a battery, he attached a timing device using only a spring and Nichrome wire. Then he reattached the bottom of the bottle, and filled it with dry benzoyl peroxide. He made several of these firebombs, and placed them at regular intervals on the perimeter of Kasahara's house.
"I never thought it was an attack dog. I'd seen it a bunch of times, but it never howled at me, and that night, too, it never made a peep. I had my own problems; those 'dog bites man' stories didn't interest me. Then at Makuhari the animal came flying at me out of nowhere, and my heart just about froze."
This was Ogawa's account. There was no appreciable difference in the testimony of the two men, it was adjudged. As the investigation proceeded, detectives devoted themselves to compounding evidence and interviewing witnesses, creating a paper whirlwind. Investigation headquarters was disbanded the day after Masanori Ogawa was formally indicted for murder. Over two months had passed since the death of Teruo Hara.
EPILOGUE
It was almost cherry blossom season. The sunshine had more sparkle, and along railroad tracks and on little embankments, yellow rape flowers were in blossom.
"Dead? When did it happen?"
"About two weeks after he came here—no, more like three. Not long after his master's indictment."
This was the MPD kennel for police dogs, located in the Tama Identification Center. Freed from the rigors of her previous assignment, lately Takako had been spending all her time on the case of a serial street slasher. The scrapes and bruises incurred during the spill she took while chasing Gale having healed, she decided to spend her day off enjoying the feel of the spring breeze against her skin, and set off again on her motorcycle. Once she was out riding, for the first time it unsettled her to realize that she had no destination in mind. That never used to matter. Before, she would always just ride and ride to her heart's content before deciding on a destination. Now the idea that she didn't know where to go, didn't know what to aim for, made her anxious.
And then, the next thing she knew, she was heading here. Headquarters had wracked its brains over what to do with the wolf-dog that attacked and killed three people. Unable to send it to the pound or put it in the zoo, they decided to shelter it in a police dog kennel. She didn't have to see Gale, she just wanted to hear how he was doing.
"What did he die of? Was he sick?"
"No, he wasn't sick." The officer assigned to care for Gale was an unassuming man of about forty. Something about him reminded her of Kasahara. He twisted his mouth awkwardly and sighed. "He just wouldn't eat."
Takako stared at this man who was smaller in stature than herself. When she'd first shown up on her 1200cc bike, wearing her leather suit, he looked askance at her; but after she showed him her badge, he nodded in comprehension: "Oh, you're the one." The story of the motorcycle policewoman who chased the wolf-dog over Tokyo expressways that night had spread even to this backwater, far from the noise of the city.
"He was important material evidence, so I did all I could for him," said the man. "I checked with his master about what he was used to eating and bought the same brand of dog food, and I took him to the vet time and again."
"There was nothing physically wrong?"
The man shook his head, and sighed again with evident regret. "I figured maybe he didn't like me, and tried having someone else take over for me for a while. Even brought in something with his master's scent on it to put in his cage. He didn't seem either ill or depressed; more like he'd just made up his mind he wasn't ever going to eat again, and that was that. You could say he was firm in his own mind."
Suicide. The word floated into Takako's mind.
"Are you saying he deliberately starved himself to death? "
"We gave him fluids, did what we could."
“TVs and injections didn't work?"
"He was smart. It worked the first time, but after that the sight of the vet set him off something fierce. He'd snarl and bare his fangs."
That day, when six men carted Gale off before her eyes, he'd been knocked out with tranquilizers. The eyes that had stared into hers were closed, and the muscles that had rippled so magnificently beneath the dense fur lay unmoving. His legs and body were muddy, and while his expression was of course unreadable, he gave off an air of exhaustion. In front of the others she had struggled fiercely to maintain control, but tears had never been far. Had Gale never taken in another mouthful of food?
"Ordinarily he was completely self-possessed, so to speak; even when other dogs barked or people came by, he was as quiet as you please. I mean, the idea that he could ever attack anyone seemed preposterous to me."
"He was that quiet?"
"Only the IVs set him off. We tried a different vet, but it didn't make any difference. That dog knew. Seeing that, I felt dread. Because for a dog like that, ripping someone to pieces might be nothing after all."
"And then he just died?"
The officer sighed again, and nodded. "He had enormous—I don't know what else to call it—mental strength. He just stared off into space, like he was th
inking about something, or waiting for someone. That's what I thought."
"And he lasted nearly three weeks?"
"That's right. One morning when I came in, he was already cold. When we weighed him, he'd lost over twenty pounds."
Takako could not imagine a Gale that was wasted away, cadaverous. Dazed, she left the Identification Center. Gale, with all his life force, all his fierce energy, was gone.
Where should I go?
As she got back on her motorcycle and rode, she felt her shock increase. She was bewildered, rattled, about to lose it. Devastated, she rode on through the halcyon spring sunshine. Under a sky so soft and warm that, after the harshness of midwinter, even the honking of horns sounded gentle, on and on she rode, blending aimlessly with the flow of traffic.
With the passing of days, her impression of the hours spent running with Gale blurred into something of a dream or a vision. Everything about that bitterly cold night had been fantastic and unreal. Only the strange joy and satisfaction she felt as she flew along behind Gale was unforgettable. That, and the look in Gale's eyes when he had stared into hers, was etched indelibly in her mind.