Somewhat embarrassed, Imanishi answered, “She’s about thirty-seven,” giving his wife’s age.
“Then, these would be most appropriate.” The saleswoman placed five or six obi fasteners on the counter.
Imanishi chose one from among them and asked to have it wrapped. This was the only present he bought for his wife at Yamanaka hot spring.
FOURTEEN Soundless
The day after Imanishi returned from his trip, he reported to work at headquarters. From his office he telephoned Yoshimura.
“Welcome back.” Yoshimura was surprised at Imanishi’s early return.
“I took the night train both going and coming.”
“You must be tired.”
“I rested for a day, so it’s not that bad. Yoshimura, I’d like to talk to you. Could you come over to my house tonight?”
“Are you sure? Aren’t you still tired from your trip?”
“No, that’s no problem. Let’s eat some sukiyaki.”
“In that case, I’d be glad to come over.”
Imanishi did not have any pressing cases. He was able to reach home at six-thirty.
“Young Yoshimura is coming over tonight,” he told his wife. “Could you get things ready? I promised him that we’d have some sukiyaki.”
“Is that so? It’s been a while since he’s visited us, but dear, aren’t you tired?”
“Yoshimura said the same thing. I’m all right. I rested yesterday. He’ll be coming soon, so could you hurry?”
Yoshiko started out for the market, but returned and said, “I showed the obi clip to the woman next door. She complimented me on it, saying it was lovely. I thought it might be a bit flashy for me, but she thought it was just right.”
About an hour later, Yoshimura arrived.
“Welcome.” The voices of Yoshiko and Yoshimura could be heard from the doorway. “He’s here.”
A smiling Yoshimura entered the room.
“Sorry to drag you out like this when you must be tired.”
“It’s you, Imanishi-san, that should be tired. It’s exhausting to take the night train both ways.”
“I guess so. My back still hurts. It didn’t bother me when I was younger. I’m feeling my age.”
“We younger ones can’t take that kind of discomfort either. I’m always surprised at how energetic you are.”
“Don’t flatter me too much.”
Yoshiko brought in the sukiyaki pan. “This isn’t much of a dinner, but please help yourself.” She put a carafe of sake and some tiny cups on the table.
“Thank you for your hospitality,” Yoshimura said.
Yoshiko poured some sake into each of their cups.
“Let’s have a toast, anyway. To our good health,” Imanishi proposed.
Yoshimura raised his sake cup. Imanishi prepared the sukiyaki, poking at the pan with his chopsticks, adding some water, sprinkling in some sugar, and checking the taste.
“How was it there?” Yoshimura asked, after sipping two or three cups of sake.
“I met the person I wanted to see.” Imanishi recounted what had happened at the village near Yamanaka hot spring. Yoshimura listened intently, nodding his head and making agreeable responses.
“So that’s about it. It didn’t result in much, but I went through all the questions I had intended to ask.”
“Even that is quite a bit of corroboration.”
“Go ahead and eat. The meat will get too tough.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“The meat’s from a neighborhood shop, so it’s probably not very good… By the way, how were things at your end, Yoshimura?”
“After you left, I went around right away. It’s only been one day, so I haven’t been able to get much information. But I heard about a curious episode.”
“Hmm, what was that?” It was Imanishi’s turn to show interest.
“Our man doesn’t have many dealings with his neighbors, so I didn’t get that much from them, but his reputation isn’t bad.”
“I see.”
“That area is full of large houses, so neighbors don’t see each other constantly. Since he’s an artist, he probably doesn’t have much in common with his neighbors.”
“What’s this interesting information?”
“It’s like this,” Yoshimura said, emptying his sake cup. “That area gets a lot of those pushy door-to-door peddlers. It’s about these peddlers… One of them went to that house. He stayed for about half an hour, then left with a sickly pale face.”
“A peddler left the house with a pale face? I wonder why. Did he get yelled at?”
“No, that wasn’t it. He went into the entry way and spread out his goods and started delivering his pitch-the usual kind, full of threats. The person who dealt with the peddler was the owner of the house himself. After a while, the peddler gathered up his things on his own and left the house without a word. The neighbors heard about this from the housekeeper.”
“I see.”
“Apparently the story spread because it was so unusual for one of those peddlers to retreat in silence.”
“Was it because he realized that there was no chance for a sale?”
“No, that wasn’t it. Those guys don’t give up easily. They force the householders to buy even a hundred yen worth of goods.”
“I wonder what happened.”
Yoshimura’s story of the peddler continued. “I don’t understand it much myself, but the fact is that the peddler left without a word. That’s not all. Two or three days later, another peddler went to the same house. Interestingly enough, this peddler hurriedly gathered up his things in the middle of his sales pitch and left the house, too.”
“Hmm. Why was that?”
“That’s what I can’t figure out. It sounded interesting to me, so I thought I would bring it up when I saw you.”
Imanishi added some water to the pan. Yoshiko brought in some more sake.
“I’m enjoying the meal,” Yoshimura said to her, bowing his head.
“I’m sorry, it isn’t very much.”
When Yoshiko left the room, Imanishi looked up from his sake cup. “That story about the peddlers is very interesting. When did this happen?”
“About ten days ago.”
“Is there any way we can find those peddlers?”
“The peddlers? I suppose we could check them out.”
“I’d like to find those two peddlers and ask them what happened.”
“If you say so, I’ll try to find them. They aren’t independent peddlers. They’re an organized gang. So if I ask around, I think I’ll be able to get hold of them.”
“I’d like you to do that, and I’d like you to hurry it up.”
“I’ll start on it tomorrow, right away.”
Resting from his sake drinking, Imanishi smoked a cigarette. He seemed to be deep in thought.
“Oh, yes, there was one more thing you asked me to do. About the film.”
“Oh, yes, that.”
“They’re looking for it right now. The ones that have been sent around the country are mostly all collected, but there may still be one left somewhere. I should have a definite answer in two or three days.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“It’s taken a long time, but I feel as if we’re starting to close in on this case, little by little,” Yoshimura said.
“Do you?”
“Yes, I do. Nothing’s definite yet, but that’s my intuition. I feel we’ve come to the moment just before the solution.”
Two days passed. Imanishi waited in the usual oden bar for Yoshimura, who came with another man in tow.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. This is Tanaka.”
“Good evening,” Tanaka bowed his head politely. He was about thirty and wore a leather jacket. From the start, he was both overly courteous and unduly familiar.
“Thanks for coming. Why don’t you sit here?” Imanishi seated the man beside him, and Yoshimura sat on the other side.
“Some sake,
Ma’am,” Imanishi ordered.
“Tanaka here,” Yoshimura explained, “is a member of the Sakurada group in Asakusa. There’s another fellow named Kurokawa, but since he’s off somewhere else right now, I asked Tanaka to come along by himself. I was able to get hold of him through an introduction by a colleague of mine at the station.”
“Well, shall we have a drink first?” Three glasses of sake had been served.
“Thanks. I’ll gladly drink some.” Tanaka raised his glass and bobbed his head.
“Well, thanks for coming. I’m sure you’re busy, so I appreciate it,” Imanishi said, smiling.
“No bother. We’re always beholden to the police, so if there’s anything I can do for you, boss, I’m glad to,” Tanaka said.
“You’ve heard about it from Yoshimura here. I understand you went to sell something and had a strange experience?”
“Yeah,” Tanaka said, scratching his head. “It was a real surprise. I’m amazed that you heard of it.”
“It’s a curious incident, so I wanted to ask you about it in detail. I heard that something strange happened when you spread out your wares at that house. Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s true. But boss, I wasn’t the first one. It was that rascal Tsune who was the first one to go there.”
“Tsune?”
“That’s the other fellow, Kurokawa,” Yoshimura explained.
“I see. And what did Tsune-san say happened?”
“Tsune came back and said something weird,” Tanaka responded to Imanishi’s question, staring at the sake in his glass. “He said he was doing the area around there that day. He went into a house and spread out his goods and was giving his pitch. Then a young man who seemed to be the master of the house came out. He listened to Tsune’s threats quietly. After a while, Tsune felt lightheaded and started feeling sick. He got a bit spooked and left the house quickly. That’s what he said.”
“So you decided to go there in place of Tsune-san?” Yoshimura asked.
“That’s right, boss. I thought Tsune was a coward, so I said I’d go and check that house out. Since my friend had such an awkward experience, I went there, not really to get back at them, but to defend his honor.”
“When did you go to that house?”
“It was two days later. I took some socks.”
“You’re sure it’s the house that Tsune-san had gone to?”
“There’s no mistake. I got directions from Tsune.”
“Then what happened?”
“First a maid came to the door. While I was putting out my goods, she went to the back and returned with the master. He was a young one, twenty-seven or so, wearing a flashy shirt and slacks. When I realized that this was the guy who had made Tsune cower, I made my pitch even more threatening than usual. I said all kinds of things. Usually, the customers flinch when they hear me, but this fellow just stood there calmly listening to me. Then”-Tanaka shook his head-“I started feeling strange, light-headed, like you feel when you’re going down in an elevator. I felt really sick.”
“When you say you felt sick, in what way?”
“I felt sick to my stomach, like throwing up. I could feel my face getting green. I couldn’t take it anymore and wrapped up the socks and rushed out of that house. I couldn’t snicker at Tsune after that.”
“Was there anything unusual going on in the house when this happened?”
“No, that’s just it, there was nothing. It was really quiet.”
“Hmm. It is a strange story,” Imanishi said, putting down his glass.
“It sure is, boss. It was the first time I came across anything like that.”
Three days later, a policeman came to see Imanishi at headquarters.
“Hello.” Imanishi asked him to sit down. “Sorry to have made such a bothersome request the other day,” he said, bowing his head.
“That’s no problem.” The policeman was stationed at a police box under the jurisdiction of the Higashi Chofu police station. He was a stocky man, just over thirty. “I’ve come about that inquiry you made.”
“Yes, yes.” Imanishi leaned forward in his chair.
“I went to that house. I met with the master of the house under the pretext of asking whether he had been victimized by peddlers.”
“Thanks so much for taking the time.”
“I said that we had arrested a peddler and had heard that he had come to the house so I was investigating. The master said he hadn’t bought anything from peddlers, so he had no damage claims.”
“Yes.”
“In making this inquiry, I stayed as long as I could in the entry way.”
“How long were you there?”
“I must have stayed at least fifteen minutes. I started off with just general chitchat and then slowly went through the case.”
“Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”
“I was watching out, but I didn’t notice anything unusual.”
“How was it inside the house?”
“I didn’t hear any voices or any other sounds. Oh, yes, the maid or someone was washing dishes in the kitchen.”
“Did you start to feel sick?”
“No, nothing like that. Since you’d mentioned it, I was trying to notice everything, but I didn’t feel strange at all.”
“I see.” Imanishi tapped his fingers on his desk. His gaze turned contemplative. “Let me ask you once more, there was nothing unusual that you could see inside the house?”
“No, there wasn’t. It’s a normal house and I didn’t feel sick at all.”
“Thank you so much,” Imanishi bowed his head.
“Is that all?”
“Yes, thank you… I may ask you to do something again.”
“Certainly. My duty at the police box is quite light unless there’s an accident, so ask me any time.”
Imanishi saw the policeman out to the main entrance of the headquarters building. The policeman went out to the street, where a cold wind was blowing. Imanishi returned to his room.
“Imanishi-san, you have a telephone call,” a young detective called out.
“Is this detective Imanishi?” The voice was that of a young man. “I’m calling from Nan’ei Film Company.”
“Oh, yes. I’ve been causing you a lot of trouble.”
“That’s quite all right. We’ve found just one copy of the preannouncement of The Road of the Century.”
“What, you’ve found it?” Imanishi asked excitedly. “I would really like to see it.”
“We were finally able to call in the one that was sent out to theaters in the Tohoku region. The screening room is available today. I could show it anytime.”
“Thank you so much. I’ll be over right away.”
“I’ll make sure we’re ready for you.”
Imanishi rushed out of headquarters. The swans swimming in the moat around the Imperial Palace looked cold. The branches of the trees lining the streets were shivering in the wind, scattering yellow leaves.
“Welcome.” The staff member who had been helping Imanishi smiled at him when he entered the building housing the Nan’ei Film Company. “Please come right into the screening room. It’s all ready for you.”
Once again, Imanishi sat alone in the screening room. As the room became dark, his heartbeat quickened. What had Miki discovered in the film? Trying to identify with Miki, Imanishi watched the screen.
The Road of the Century was a major American spectacle film set in the ancient Orient. The preannouncement film began with an explanation of the production. Next, there was a newsreel-like section showing scenes of the premiere held in Tokyo. An Imperial prince and princess entered the hall and bowed as they passed by the receiving line made up of those connected with the film. The faces of the film company officials flashed by in a second, but Imanishi saw none that might have drawn Miki’s attention.
The next scenes were informal shots of prominent guests who had attended the premiere. Faces of people who were familiar from newspapers and
magazines smiled and chatted in the theater. There were some business leaders, but most were from cultural and entertainment fields. Imanishi watched, holding his breath. A narration accompanied the film. Each time a different face appeared on the screen, the voice gave the person’s name. There were no faces that Imanishi recognized.
The prince’s face came on again. Beside him sat a man explaining the film. For three or four seconds the screen switched to the famous people in the audience. The screen changed color and showed scenes from The Road of the Century.
The lights came on in the screening room. Imanishi sat there vacantly.
“How was it?” the staff member asked, standing beside Imanishi.
Imanishi rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry, but could you run through that once again?”
The film was only four or five minutes long. If he had been slightly inattentive, he might have missed something. Imanishi wanted to reconfirm what he had seen, just as Miki had gone to see the same film twice in Ise. The projectionist started the film once again.
Imanishi concentrated once again. He could feel the perspiration in his clenched fists. He was once again unable to discover anything new. He had thought this would be a sure winner. But his hopes were completely dashed.
Imanishi left the screening room and walked outside. What was it that Miki had seen in the movie theater in Ise? It had not been the preannouncement film for The Road of the Century. Imanishi was sure of that now.
Miki had arrived in Tokyo from Ise City and had met the murderer at the cheap bar in Kamata. There had not been much time between those two events. He had arrived in Tokyo on the morning of the eleventh and had been killed that very night. His movements during those nineteen hours were still completely unknown.
Why had Miki gone twice to the movie theater in Ise? Three possible reasons for this had to be considered. First, there might have been a scene that only Miki could comprehend. Second, Imanishi had missed seeing the critical scene. Third, there was some item of interest other than the movies.
Of these, Imanishi was confident that it was not the second reason. He believed that he had not missed the slightest detail in the films.
Imanishi was not as confident about the first reason. However, he could not conceive of a scene that could only have been understood by Miki and not by anyone else.
Inspector Imanishi Investigates Page 26