Loups-Garous

by Natsuhiko Kyogoku

  Yet if Shizue turned her feelings around it meant she didn’t care if someone she didn’t know got killed. Either way one thing was certain.

  Shizue was a horrible woman. She was horrified at herself.

  It was like she couldn’t face herself.

  She was depressed.

  “And then,” Hinako continued. “Half the investigators left to go to the source of the call. I was left to finish my interrogation with a remaining investigator when we were interrupted by a call from the security company. He received an area-wide alert to the patrol and director. An emergency call. I overheard what they said.”

  “Did something else happen?”

  Something was happening as they spoke.

  “Yes. At exactly 1900 hours, something went awry at the residence of Representative Makino.”

  “Makino,” Ayumi reacted.

  “Then almost all the remaining investigators at the center fled to that scene, and they decided to release me, but on my way out of the center while on the promenade, my accompanying bodyguard from area patrol suddenly got an emergency notification.”

  “That’s what that was…” Kunugi looked over to Ayumi.

  “And then?” Ayumi asked curtly.

  “Ms. Hazuki Makino was then kidnapped by the alleged suspect of this serial killing spree, one undocumented resident.”

  “What the hell?!” Kunugi bolted upright.

  Shizue couldn’t move.

  She was one step behind…again.

  “But I’m sure these were all fabricated truths,” Hinako said.

  “You’re saying they lied?”

  “I believe so.”

  “Do you have proof or is this…a premonition?” Kunugi asked.

  “I inferred it from the way the director of investigations behaved and how he reacted to all the news.”

  “You mean Mr. Ishida?”

  “When the notice was received, it wasn’t yet known if Representative Makino’s case had something to do with the serial killings. That’s to say, it wasn’t yet determined if his call was in fact an event,” Hinako said. “At the very least it could have been a mere security system bug, and that could be resolved by any area patrol or security system representative without involving an investigative director. However, this investigator instructed his men to be at the Makino residence and assure the daughter’s safety at once, before the area patrol had sent him any official report on the matter.”

  “That’s…”

  “Normally, the area patrol would go there first, no?”

  “That’s true, but circumstances are circumstances. If something was reported from the home and it’s known that there is a girl there the same age as a bunch of murder victims, you’d worry,” Kunugi said.

  “Representative Makino has several homes in this area alone,” Hinako said.

  “Oh…that’s right.”

  “The fourteen-year-old girl lives alone in just one of those houses.

  Even a police officer wouldn’t know which house she was in just from hearing the registration number from a security company, would he?”

  “No, I suppose he wouldn’t.”

  “Also…”

  “There’s something else?”

  “After this police officer told his men to go to the scene, after the investigators had left his side, he contacted someone and was given instructions himself. His personal camera was on, and he got a voice message. He said into the camera, “It’s Mao again.”

  Rey Mao. The undocumented resident.

  “Then he said to do as they’d been instructed in the handbook and contact the D&S Processing Center immediately.”

  “And what about that?”

  “The director of investigations, he’s with the police, correct?”

  “Of course. He’s the lieutenant chief of Division R investigations in the prefecture. What…”

  Shizue was struck by the prominence of the sinews on Kunugi’s neck as he spoke.

  “What about it?” he finished.

  “Do the police always give instructions to the area patrol directly?”

  “No. Not normally. We have different protocols for alerts.” As soon as Kunugi said this he relaxed the muscles in his neck and said, “Good point. If he told someone to notify D&S, that means Ishida was talking to an area patrol, as you suggest. In other words, the message sent to all the patrols afterward was written by Ishida himself.”

  It was all made up.

  A truth made of lies.

  “I do not know what is transpiring in this region,” Hinako said. “All I know is that something ominous, something wicked, is about to take place. Earlier when I was passing by, I was able to see all of you. I…it was decided you could be trusted, and so I came to tell you of what has happened.”

  “Decided…by whom? God?” That was how Shizue heard it, at least.

  “No, I decided myself,” Hinako said.

  “Thank you,” Ayumi said to her.

  With the moon behind her again, Ayumi faced Shizue and Kunugi.

  “Miss Fuwa. Mr. Policeman. I have to go now.”

  “Go…go where?”

  Ayumi stretched her thin neck toward the moon.

  “I hate talking to strangers.”

  “Everyone does. Including me,” Kunugi said.

  I don’t care about anyone.

  That was what Shizue wanted to say.

  “That’s why I don’t like this kind of thing. But I can’t go back, either.”

  Ayumi’s gaze pierced through the moon.

  It was no use.

  They weren’t going to be able to stop this girl.

  With the full moon behind her, the girl was frighteningly brave, refined. Shizue felt a strong sense of futility in the face of that image. She had no intention of stopping this girl. She couldn’t even think of a reason why she would try to stop her. Weak and baseless, Shizue had no way of intervening.

  “I’ll be fine,” Ayumi said. She lithely walked off, disappearing into the woods.

  Hinako prayed quietly and then followed after her. The shadows seemed to waver behind them.

  The tired old beat-up cop and the totally exhausted counselor looked into the darkness of the forest that had just swallowed up two little girls for quite some time after.

  “What do you think?” Kunugi was the first to speak.

  “I don’t think anything.”

  “You think this is all okay?”

  “I don’t, but…no, I do.” Shizue stepped forward to where Ayumi had been standing. “What are we doing? Running away, hiding in a place like this…Isn’t there something we should be doing? This is no good. That’s what I was thinking. But we don’t know who we’re up against. I don’t even know what I’m angry at. All I can see in the darkness is my own face. I am most angry at myself.”

  Kunugi lumbered forward the way he always did.

  “That’s not very like you.”

  “It is though. This is me. I’m a horrible woman.”

  “That has nothing to do with it. But sitting here, I’ve finally figured out who the enemy is.”

  “Huh?”

  “I wasn’t even thinking about it at first. Then I doubted several times. But each time I doubted, I denied the implications of my doubts. It couldn’t be, that was stupid. I second-guessed myself. I’ve been able to go on over twenty years this way as a cop. If my theory is right, I’ve been had, I think. That’s why I deny it.”

  “I don’t understand. You need to explain.”

  Kunugi turned his back to Shizue.

  “You don’t think Ishida is suspect?” he said. “If we buy what that girl was saying, this last call was connected to the deformée character serial killings. The culprits are Kawabata and Nakamura. Embroiled in this is an unrelated event. It’s structured exactly the same way. The reason an unrelated event has been connected to the serial murders is because the police saw an intangible connection no one would be able to make. A fact only the police have access to is a fa
ct the police lieutenant has to know.”

  “That may be, but—”

  “All these investigators after the killer and somehow the killer keeps evading arrest. But what if it’s because the lead detective is throwing them all off…What do you think?” Kunugi said. “Of course they’re not catching him. The director has no intention of catching the killer. And why does the director have no intention of catching the killer? Because he wants to take advantage of the victims of the crime,” Kunugi said.

  “The director…”

  “Yes, the lieutenant,” Kunugi said. “If you’re gaining something from the victims, you’d want to draw out the crime spree. Make it a long ordeal, let the killer keep doing his thing, and throw your own crimes into the mix. Make unrelated events seem related. The real criminal is going to go on committing those crimes, so the investigation will obviously point its head in the right direction. But they will still not be able to catch the guy. But no one’s going to doubt the internal workings of the police. A lot of people dislike the police, but no one would do such a thing. The police will continue to suspect various potential culprits but never actually arrest them.

  “It takes a special kind of nerve to do something that awful,” Kunugi said, practically spitting. “After the crimes, you dump all the sins on that original criminal and catch your breath, but if like last year the suspect has an alibi making it impossible for him to have committed all of the crimes, then you’re in trouble. Weapons can be tied to a crime anyway.”

  “That’s awful.”

  “You got that right.” Kunugi tied up his thought with the word.

  “Awful. Indeed. So I’ve thought this over. But rethinking the situation made me softhearted.”

  “To cover up one’s own crime, you mimic the pattern of another criminal, then overlook the original person’s crime,” Shizue said. “No, you actually force them to commit another one?”

  “That’s right. However, this time something went wrong. In any case, a part of the criminal group ended up dead. But…”

  Meaning there were several criminals?

  “Even with one dead, there was another still living. They had no choice but to use him. That’s why the police approached the Nakamura crime with only one theory. Until you said something about it, Nakamura was going to be the criminal. But they’d lost him, even after proclaiming it was him for so long. Even I didn’t buy that, but there was no way not to believe it.”

  “They let him go in order to continue committing crimes?”

  “I think they might have even been sheltering him as a fugitive.”

  “Nakamura?”

  “Nakamura’s investigation was staffed with an unusual number of people. And if you believe he was the one who provided information about Mao, you can see the thread here. Nakamura was after Yuko. However, he couldn’t get her. She was probably protected by Mao. Then Kawabata died. But in order for the reverse-victimization to continue, they needed Nakamura to continue killing people.”

  “That’s why they hid him?”

  “They probably brought him in. Nakamura’s next target was Yuko Yabe, so they needed him to kill her. That’s why they were so fierce in their search for her. That’s also why they acted so quickly when news of her capture was sent in.”

  “The area patrol aided in killing Yuko?”

  To borrow Ayumi’s terminology, they whisked her away.

  “According to what the young woman was saying earlier, the news was spreading too quickly. It’s hard to believe the culprit was outside. Besides, an actual patrol was attacked. Someone from the outside couldn’t have approached him. But—”

  “Ishida could have.”

  “Could have. He’s a direct heir to the SVC corporation, which is an affiliate company of the area patrol and directly linked to D&S, which manages the area security systems. What’s more he’s the lieutenant of the prefectural police department. In one sense, he can get away with anything. Look. It’s not that the police or the area patrol leaked information to the outside. The enemy was on the inside the whole time. Inside the police operation. The enemy was getting information directly.”

  Kunugi spun around and faced Shizue.

  “This one time, it didn’t go as planned.”

  “Nakamura was killed before Yabe could be apprehended, you mean.”

  “That’s right,” Kunugi said. His eyes were wide now, visible in the dark. “Once Yuko Yabe was whisked away, obviously Nakamura had to go to work. That’s why he was apprehended. However he was killed before he could kill. That made it impossible for him to have committed all these other killings in the serial crime spree. That’s why Ishida created a new culprit.”

  “Mao,” said Shizue.

  “Yeah. All those who believed Nakamura was the criminal now believe it’s this Mao. Ishida no doubt knew of Nakamura’s death before discovering the body. He trimmed all the branches so he could transplant just the root of his story. He’d already decided that Mao was a bother to Nakamura and his own crew, so if he could make her out to be the criminal, he’d be killing two birds with one stone.”

  “But…” The story works. But…

  “Why?”

  “How the hell should I know!” Kunugi yelled. “Look, you said it yourself. These serial murder cases crop up every year like clockwork, and the only people who deal with the cases are the police. The reason I was suspended was because I suggested we weren’t dealing with a single serial killer. You were under suspicion because of your doubts too.”

  “So what are we supposed to do?” Shizue was yelling now too. “A good-for-nothing middle-aged cop and a high-maintenance counselor with a spotless record, hiding in these goddamned trees. What are we going to do? We’re going to get caught and arrested!”

  “That’s fucking right,” Kunugi said in a louder voice. “That’s why I tried not to bring you into it.” Then, quietly. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

  “This could all just be my imagination. In fact it almost definitely is. But either way, we’re stuck here in this forest and it’s the middle of the night. So what do we do indeed. Should we surrender?”

  “Huh?”

  She didn’t want to think about the future. But it wasn’t like they could stay there forever. There was only so much putting off she could do with reality.

  If today was any indication.

  She was like a child. This was not how adults behaved.

  But Shizue was an adult. As long as she behaved like one, she would have to assume responsibilities like one.

  But…

  Kunugi wasn’t telling a fiction. He was right about everything.

  Shizue couldn’t imagine anything beyond that.

  Kunugi on the other hand looked like he was actually relieved after having said everything he did. But…

  “I for one,” Kunugi started, and scratched his temple with an index finger. “I for one thought I’d sit out my life till retirement bored every day—no fun, no excitement, then one day die. I never thought I’d be in this situation. Look at us! This is like a novel. First of all, that I’d ever be talking to a beautiful woman like you for any length of time…

  “I hope that’s okay. This is about as private as it gets.” Kunugi let out a weak laugh. “Since my marriage failed, I haven’t been able to interact with anyone correctly. I don’t know how much distance to maintain and so I end up alone. Well, I’ve certainly gotten older but when it comes down to it I’m as wet behind the ears as I was when I was fourteen. I’m practically a child. Inconsiderate and imprudent.”

  “If what you’ve said is not a figment of your imagination but the truth, then what?”

  “If it’s true…”

  “If we decide everything you just said is true, then what do we do?

  What course of action would a prudent and considerate adult take?”

  “There is no course of action. Yeah,” Kunugi said. He dropped his head a little.

  “Someone’s coming again.” There was a flashli
ght behind Kunugi. It was close by. Ayumi was able to see so far into the dark, but here Shizue didn’t notice until the light was flashing right behind Kunugi. The grass rustled loudly.

  The bright light shifted into the shape of a cross. Shizue’s eyes couldn’t get used to it. Her vision went completely blank for a moment, and then a flare burst in four directions.

  “Boss? Is that you, Boss?”

  The light shone on Kunugi.

  He blocked the light with a hand and suddenly his filthy appearance was completely revealed.

  “What are you doing here, Boss?”

  “Is that you, Takasugi?”

  The light moved over to Shizue.

  “Shit. Did I walk in on something?” said a young voice. “Get a room, will ya?”

  “That’s not funny. This is no time for jokes. This is—”

  “I know,” the young voice said again.

  He turned off the light.

  An awful kaleidoscope of bright shapes floated in Shizue’s pupils.

  “But aren’t you relaxed, Boss. Something bad must have happened.

  It’s a good thing I’m the one who found you.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “They’re not saying anything to us yet. The brass is going crazy, calling this an unprecedented ill, but we’re in the middle of the crime spree now. This is the last thing we need, Boss. A scandal.”

  “So what are they saying I did?” Kunugi asked.

  “Don’t ask me what you did. But seriously. They said that you behaved inappropriately with a female employee at the community center, that you trespassed into the center during a forced leave of absence, and then you kidnapped both her and one of her kids during a counseling session.”

  “Whaaat?” Kunugi let out in a strangled voice.

  As Shizue’s vision returned, the silhouette of the officer disappeared and was replaced by the master of the man’s voice.

  He was probably the same age as Shizue.

  He had a boyish face for his age. He was wearing a stretchy training suit and had a flashlight in his hand.

  “This guy’s one of my kids from Investigative Unit R I was talking about this afternoon. Takasugi.”