“Of course,” he said, drinking a mouthful of highball. “That’s the obvious solution.”
“No, it’s not.” Emiko raised her head. Her eyes showed a determination she had not displayed so far. “I did as you said before, but now I regret it.”
“Regret it?”
“Yes. You wouldn’t listen to what I said. You don’t know how disappointed I felt. But this time… this time I’m going to do what I want.”
“You can’t,” Sekigawa said. “What are you saying? Where’s your common sense? It was because you did as I said that nothing happened that time before. If we acted according to your selfish wishes, it would have been a tragedy.” Sekigawa let out his breath and continued, “It’s not something to be decided on the basis of temporary sentiment or excitement. You have to be more realistic. For one thing, think about the child that will be born. How unfortunate that child will be…”
“No,” she resisted strongly. “This time I’m going to have my way.”
There was something so determined in her voice that Sekigawa could not continue.
“Please, just this once listen to what I want,” she pleaded, despite the harsh expression on his face. “It’s the second time. The first time I did as you said. But now I know that it was wrong. No matter what happens, I’ll take responsibility.”
“Responsibility?” Sekigawa looked at Emiko in a displeased manner. “What are you saying?”
“I’ll raise the child all by myself.”
“Don’t be unreasonable,” he said in a disagreeable voice. “Do you think you should act out of such sentimentality? It will only lead to misfortune.”
“I don’t care. I don’t have to be happy. I’ll be content just having the proof of your love and raising the child.”
Sekigawa looked aside, exasperated. Then he swallowed the rest of his highball. The pieces of ice clinked against each other.
Emiko was looking downward sadly.
Sekigawa said, “I’ll never agree. I want you to do as I say. You’re just being silly. You haven’t even thought of what will happen in the future. If you do this, you’re the one who’ll regret it.”
“No, I never will,” Emiko said, looking stubborn. “That won’t happen. I intend to have it.”
Sekigawa adopted a placating tone. “Emiko, I can understand how you feel. But you can’t solve anything with love alone. What you think you want can turn out to have unexpected, opposite results.”
Emiko asked sadly, “Do you love me?”
“You know how I feel.”
“Then… then you shouldn’t say such things.” Her shoulders heaved up and down as she breathed and her face was pale. “You should agree to what I want.” Her low voice wavered as tears welled up in her eyes.
“Emiko.” Suddenly gentle, Sekigawa patted her shoulder. “Let’s go. Let’s go and talk this over as we think about it together.”
Emiko pressed her handkerchief to her eyes.
The area was absolutely silent with no people around. It was a quiet street even in the daytime. On either side stretched the long walls surrounding large houses. The street was a steep hill laid with cobblestones. Street lamps etched patterned shadows onto its surface.
Sekigawa stuck both of his hands deep into his coat pockets. Emiko was close at his side, her hand through his arm. Their two shadows moved slowly down the sloping street. Occasional taxi headlights passed, lighting up the couple.
“You say you can’t give it up?” Sekigawa was very displeased.
Emiko pressed her cheek against his shoulder. “I’m sorry.” Her apology did not hide the inner strength of her conviction. “This time I won’t change my mind.” Knowing that Sekigawa would be annoyed with her words, Emiko repeated, “I won’t ever cause any problems for you.” Her voice was full of entreaty.
“Problems?” Sekigawa walked facing straight ahead. “I’m not talking only about the problems it would cause me. I’m also thinking about you.”
The sloping street went downhill and then started to rise again. This area housed foreign embassies hidden behind trees.
“Are you really sure?” Sekigawa asked her.
Emiko was silent. Her silence told him that her mind was made up.
Sekigawa sighed in the darkness.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice quavering. “I’ll never mention your name.”
“I guess it can’t be helped,” Sekigawa said simply.
“What?” Emiko raised her head in surprise.
“I’m saying it can’t be helped.”
“What do you mean?”
“I guess I’ll have to go along with you.” Sekigawa said this as if he were speaking his thoughts out loud.
“Then you’ll forgive me for my selfishness?” Emiko breathed more freely, but she still curbed her happiness.
“I lose,” he spat out. “I’ve been defeated by your stubbornness.”
For the first time, Emiko squeezed his arm with all her might. She suddenly became lively.
“I’m glad.” She grabbed Sekigawa’s arm and swung it back and forth. “I’m so glad.”
She clung to him with her body. Then she buried her face in his chest. Her shoulders quivered.
“What are you doing? Are you crying?” Sekigawa put his hand on her obi and embraced her. The tone of his voice had softened.
She actually was crying softly. Her head, cheeks, and shoulders were shaking with her emotions. A sweet odor rose from the back of her white neck, which showed against her collar.
“I’m sorry,” Sekigawa said gently. “If you’re so determined, I won’t say any more. I’ll cooperate with you as much as I can.”
“Really?” she asked in a tearful voice.
“Yes, really. I was probably too harsh in the way I spoke to you.”
“No, you weren’t.” She shook her head vigorously. “I understand very well how you feel. That’s natural, I think. But, just this time, I want to protect my own life, actually the life that will pass on from you…” Emiko could not continue because she was so wrought up, and her lips quivered.
With a sudden motion, Sekigawa pulled her shoulders toward him and pressed his lips to hers. The tears flowing down her cheeks felt cold to him.
The tall trees trailed over the wall beside them. In the darkness of the shade of the trees, they stood embracing for a long time. Suddenly automobile headlights swept the figures of the couple. The two pulled apart and began walking.
“You don’t have to worry,” Sekigawa encouraged Emiko. “I’ll do all that I can. But in exchange,” he continued as he walked along, “could you do as I ask? You’ll have to quit the club right away.”
To Emiko, these words seemed an unexpected kindness.
“But I feel fine,” she responded cheerfully.
“No, now is the most important time. You don’t want to take any chances. What would you do if you became ill?”
“Well, yes.” Emiko took out her handkerchief and wiped her tears.
“You should tell the madam at the club tomorrow and quit. You can give as your reason something else and say that you want to stop working there.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.” Emiko’s step became brisk, a complete change from five minutes before.
“So, it’s all set. Now that it’s decided, it’ll work out,” Sekigawa said.
When Imanishi arrived home early for a change, he heard his sister’s voice in the back room.
“Welcome home,” his wife greeted him at the entrance. “Oyuki-san is here.”
Imanishi took off his shoes without a word and stepped up into the house.
“Brother, I’ve come for a visit,” his sister greeted him.
“Right. Thanks for having me over the other day.”
He changed his clothes with his wife’s help.
“That’s what I’ve come about today.”
“What do you mean?”
“That bar hostess you were asking about, she suddenly moved out of her apartment.”
“What?” Imanishi stopped untying his necktie. “She’s moved? When was that?”
“It was yesterday afternoon.”
“Yesterday afternoon? She’s not at your place anymore?”
“No. I was surprised, too. She brought it up yesterday, all of a sudden. I’ve never seen anyone move like that.”
“Where did she go?”
“She said she was moving to the Senju area.”
“Where in Senju?”
“I didn’t get details.”
“You fool,” Imanishi unexpectedly yelled at his sister. “You should have told me earlier. Why didn’t you contact me right away at headquarters?”
“Was she that important?” His sister was surprised.
“You wouldn’t understand. It would have been much more helpful if you had told me while she was in the middle of moving than telling me about it now. And if you don’t know where she moved to, what good is that?”
Having been scolded by her brother, Imanishi’s sister looked unhappy. “You didn’t say anything, so I thought it would be all right if I told you about it later.”
Imanishi had not expected Emiko to move again only two months after she had moved into his sister’s apartment building.
“Which moving company did she use?”
“I don’t know.” It seemed that his sister had not paid much attention.
“You’re really hopeless.” Imanishi tightened the knot on his necktie that he has loosened. “Hey, my jacket.”
“Are you going out again?” Yoshiko asked, looking at him in surprise.
“I’m going right to her house.”
“My goodness.” His wife and sister exchanged looks. “I’m getting supper ready. Oyuki-san just arrived a little while ago. Why don’t you go later?”
“I’m in a hurry. Oyuki,” Imanishi said to his sister, “let’s go to your place right away. I want to find out where she moved to.”
“Did that woman do something wrong?” his sister asked.
“No, it’s not that she did something wrong. But there’s something that’s bothering me. And we might be able to find out where she went if we make the effort right now.”
Oyuki showed Imanishi to the second floor, which was divided into five units. Emiko’s had been the one farthest back. Oyuki opened the door and turned on the light. It was a room that got the afternoon sun from the west, fading the tatami. The areas that had been covered by furniture were a darker color. All that was left in the room were the things Emiko no longer needed. In the corner of the closet she had left empty cosmetic and soap boxes, old folded newspapers, and old magazines. She had left the room neat and tidy.
“She was a quiet, nice girl,” Oyuki told her brother. “When I heard that she was a bar hostess, I thought she might be sloppy. But she was much more concerned about neatness than most people.”
Imanishi spread the old newspapers and magazines on the tat-ami. There was nothing unusual about them. The magazines were reviews usually read by intellectuals. Taking one of them, Imanishi flipped through the pages. He then opened it to the table of contents and scanned it. He looked at the other magazines. He opened them to the tables of contents and read through them. He nodded. Next, he looked at the empty boxes. Inside were sheets of old wrapping paper that had been neatly folded. These also showed how tidy Emiko was.
As he was checking through the boxes, he discovered a box of matches. It was from a bar. Imanishi read the name on the label, “Club Bonheur.”
“Is that where she worked?” Imanishi showed his sister the matchbox, printed in yellow letters on a black background.
“It might be. She never told me the name of the bar.”
Imanishi put the empty matchbox in his pocket. He didn’t find anything else.
“Which moving company came to pick up her things when she moved out yesterday?”
“I didn’t notice which one.”
“But you saw the movers, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I saw them. She and a man carried her things from this room to the van outside.”
“Where are the closest movers?”
“There are two near the station.”
Imanishi went downstairs. He went straight to the entryway and put on his shoes.
“Are you leaving already?” his sister said in surprise.
“Yes,” he said as he tied his shoelaces.
“You’ve come all this way. Why don’t you have some tea at least?”
“I can’t take the time.”
“Are you in that big a hurry?”
Finishing with his shoelaces, Imanishi straightened up.
“If Miura-san comes back, shall I ask her anything?” his sister said.
“Hm,” Imanishi said, without much enthusiasm. “I don’t think she’ll come back here.”
“Really?”
“She found out that I work for the police. That’s why she moved out so suddenly.”
“But I didn’t say anything to her.”
“Then she must have heard from someone in the building.”
“Does that mean that she has something to hide?” his sister asked, her eyes wide.
“I can’t tell one way or the other yet. On the off chance that she does come around, find out what you can.”
Imanishi walked quickly to the station. He first went to the Yamada Moving Company.
Imanishi showed his police identification. “Did you go to a house called Okada to pick up some items yesterday afternoon? It’s an apartment building, and the person who was moving is named Miura.”
“Let me check.” The clerk went into the back room to ask one of the employees.
“It doesn’t appear to have been us,” the clerk answered, returning to the front. “If we had done the job, we should be able to tell right away, since it was only yesterday. It may have been Ito Movers just down the street.”
“Thank you very much.”
Imanishi entered the other shop and asked the same question.
“Yesterday, you say? I don’t remember anything like that,” the clerk said. “Just to make sure, let me ask our workers.”
The clerk returned. “We didn’t take that job. But one of our men saw someone moving things out when he passed by that address.”
Imanishi asked the young mover, “Do you know which moving company it was?”
“Yes, I do. Their name was written in big characters on the side of the van. It’s one in Okubo called Yamashiro Moving Company.”
“Do you know where in Okubo?”
“It’s right in front of the station. You’ll see it right away if you go out the west exit.”
According to his sister, Emiko had said she was moving to Senju. Senju and Okubo were located in entirely different directions.
Walking out the west exit of Okubo Station, Imanishi saw a large sign for the Yamashiro Moving Company half a dozen storefronts down the main street, just as the young mover had said. It was nighttime, but when he approached the shop, he could see that there were still people inside.
A woman clerk, who had been examining a ledger, stood respectfully as she listened to Imanishi’s question.
“Oh, yes, Miura-san,” she responded.
“Do you know where her things were taken?”
“I’m afraid we didn’t deliver them to the new location.”
“What does that mean?”
“At her request, we brought her belongings here.”
“Here?” Imanishi looked around the dimly lit space, but did not see anything.
“Yes, but then someone came to pick up her things.”
“You brought her things here and unloaded them, and then someone came to pick them up again?”
“Yes, that’s right. It was a bother for us, too, so we weren’t happy about it. Fortunately, her belongings were called for right away.”
“Was it this woman named Miura who came to pick them up?”
“No, it wasn’t a woman. It was a man of about twenty-seven or twe
nty-eight.”
“Did he come in a van?”
“Yes, he did. But it was a small van, so he had to make two trips.”
“Was there a name written on the van?”
“No. It wasn’t from a moving company, it was a private van.”
“You said the man was twenty-seven or twenty-eight?” Imanishi asked, “What did he look like? For example, was he thin or fat; what was his hair like?”
“Let me think… I seem to remember him as being very thin,” the woman clerk answered after a few moments.
“No, he wasn’t that thin,” a man who was in the room put in. “He was quite stocky.”
“Was he?” The woman clerk was unsure now.
“No, he wasn’t. He wasn’t that stocky.” Another man put in his opinion. “His hair was carefully parted. His coloring was light and he wore glasses.”
“He wasn’t wearing any glasses,” the woman clerk retorted immediately.
“Yes, he was.”
“I don’t think he was wearing any.” She turned toward the other man, asking for confirmation from him.
“He could have been wearing glasses, but then again maybe he wasn’t.”
Each of them gave a different description of the man’s features. The move had taken place just the day before, and already their memories were contradictory.
Imanishi changed his line of questioning. “You said he came to load up twice?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Where did he say he was taking the things?”
“I didn’t hear anything about that.”
“Then about how much time passed between the time he left with the first load and the time he came for the second load?”
“Let me see. I think it was about three hours.” On this point, there was no disagreement.
“Thank you very much.”
Imanishi boarded a streetcar at Okubo Station and went to Ginza. On the train he did some thinking.
Imanishi arrived at Club Bonheur at about nine o’clock. The writing on the matchbox in his pocket had given him the address. When he pushed open the door, the dim light was hazy with cigarette smoke.
“Welcome.”
Imanishi took a seat at the bar.
The booths were packed with customers. It appeared to be a popular spot. Ordering a highball, Imanishi casually glanced around the room. There seemed to be about ten hostesses, wearing either Western clothes or kimonos. He couldn’t tell which one was Emiko. Because he was sitting at the counter, no hostess came to take care of him.
Inspector Imanishi Investigates Page 18