by Nick Tanner
‘We’re really looking at Ozawa, sir – head of Niigata Kyubin.’
‘Ozawa now? I thought you just said you were looking at the Yoshihara?’
The Chief Super for a further time appeared confused.
Inspector Saito leaned forward and tried to express his thoughts as clearly as he could. ‘Ozawa is in the frame for possible rape and we’re still in the process of checking it all out, but it’s the background to all this which is much more interesting, mainly surrounding the business practices of Niigata Kyubin and their possible links to the Yakuza – hence my mention of the Yoshihara. But, in case you are wondering, there’s still nothing to lead me to think the husband had anything to do with this, sir. Like I said, more nefarious business practices than jealous husband. I confess, at the minute, the only link back to Yamada Eri is possible rape but the whole Niigata Kyubin set-up looks suspicious and underhand. And Sakamoto…,’ he asked, switching the focus of the conversation. ‘Has he found out anything further?’
The Chief Super paused. ‘Not that he’s told me. Yamada is still being held, although since his initial confession he’s not added much more.’
‘Not surprising.’
‘Quite.’
The Chief Inspector thought for a moment.
‘I’ll expect a full written report by the end of the day,’ he finally said looking into the eyes of his Inspector. ‘And Saito… mind how you go. We wouldn’t want you walking into any more… er… doors, would we? Oh, and one other thing. I understand that you saw fit to bring in recruitments, too. Without my express say so, I might add.’
‘It’s only short term, sir – just until the end of the week. I didn’t think you would mind. You are always keen that I work with a larger team.’
‘Yes, well… On your way then,’ grunted the Chief Super. ‘But no more expenses unless you clear it with me first. Got it!’
Inspector Saito left the office once again with the feeling that whatever he did always seemed to be the wrong thing in the eyes of his Chief Super.
Little did he suspect the manoeuvrings that were going on behind his back to destabilise his position.
37 - Sakamoto rues the day that curiosity killed the cat
Tuesday 4th January 9:00am
‘What? Nothing!’ Sakamoto slammed his coffee cup down onto the table causing a proportion of its contents to slosh over the lip and onto his hand and table. He angrily wiped away the spilt liquid with his handkerchief.
‘I did my best,’ mumbled a contrite Deguchi.
‘Well your best wasn’t good enough,’ glowered Sakamoto. ‘What was the point of you going over there, and surrendering useful information, if you got nothing back in return?’
‘Yes, sir. Gomenasai.’
Deguchi bowed low, despite the fact that he considered the task that he’d been ordered to do to be completely beyond his usual remit – and spying on colleagues was that something!
Like many within the department Deguchi had mixed feelings about Sakamoto. He recognised that Sakamoto had the uncanny knack of getting results, that he was ordered and efficient in the execution of his cases and that he was logical and driven in his thinking. He recognised too, that the wider team generally received only perfunctory thanks when things went well and plenty of admonishment when things went badly. Sakamoto was a relentless task master and if Deguchi was honest he was his least preferred senior officer. Neither did he care that much for Inspector Saito, either. Saito tended to regard Deguchi’s somewhat plodding, unimaginative approach with disdain. But at least he respected the way in which Inspector Saito had worked hard over the years to achieve his position. Like most of the department he had also found it hard to hide his incredulity at Sakamoto’s rapid advancement through the ranks. The man had talents, but he wasn’t that good. The nastier rumours that had circulated suggested that on the way up Sakamoto was in the habit of greasing a few palms. Certainly, some hidden force had been parting the waters for him.
Deguchi however, was nothing if not obedient and rumours and innuendo not-withstanding he remained head bowed and allowed Sakamoto full reign to unleash his displeasure at Deguchi’s expense.
‘Gomenasai,’ he said once more. ‘But I did overhear them mention Ozawa, though, sir,’ he offered as a merest morsel of consolation.
‘Ozawa?’
‘Head of Niigata Kyubin – Yamada Eri’s company.’
‘Yes, I know that!’ said Sakamoto irritably. ‘But why would he be concerned with Ozawa? What's that about?’ he mused, tapping his fingers on his lips.
‘I understand that he and Yamada Eri attended a meeting together in Tokyo on the evening she was killed.’
‘What’s that got to do with anything? She was killed in Kamioka!’
‘My thoughts exactly, sir.’
‘She was killed near her home, not in Tokyo which is why, in my book, it places the emphasis of any enquiry onto a local perpetrator – namely her husband. You know Deguchi,’ Sakamoto said, fixing Deguchi in the eye and pointing his finger at him in a professorial manner. ‘It is often the simplest route to solving a crime that is the surest, with the obvious candidate not being by-passed in favour of a more convoluted solution.’
‘I understand,’ replied Deguchi deferentially.
‘Which is precisely what Saito appears not to be doing, luckily for us. He can make a fool of himself, chasing down meetings in deepest Tokyo, but not me!’ He raised himself out of his seat and made his way over to a near-bye filing cabinet and opened the top drawer. ‘But that tie, Deguchi, the tie! What news on that?’
‘None, sir.’ He looked down at his fingers – embarrassed. ‘We’ve searched and searched again, the area where she was murdered and all the waste bins, nooks and crannies, you can name in the surrounding area. There’s nothing. We’ve looked over his house, his loft, everywhere.’
‘Remind me precisely what he said he did with it?’ Sakamoto pulled out a file and then closed the drawer.
‘He said he hung it back up in his closet.’
‘And you’ve checked all his ties?’
‘Every single one, sir?’
‘And?’
‘Well – some are obviously more worn than others-’
‘Get the whole damn lot down to forensics,’ interrupted Sakamoto.
‘Okay, sir.’
Deguchi paused.
‘Well on your way. No need to hang around here taking up space.’
Deguchi picked up his things and was happy to escape from Sakamoto’s office. It had crossed his mind, and he was about to mention this to Sakamoto, as to whether or not Yamada had used some other piece of material as a ligature, something other than a tie, but he couldn’t think what that might be. Certainly a handkerchief would be too small and a scarf too thick - a belt possibly?
He felt pleased at this sudden burst of inspiration but for the moment chose to keep his thoughts to himself. It was rare that Deguchi was ever congratulated for showing his initiative but here was his chance. He would return once more to Yamada’s house but this time check out his overcoat belt, possibly even his trouser belts and also see if forensics had picked up any more clues from the injuries sustained to Yamada’s Eri’s neck – in terms of the material of the ligature.
The fact that Yamada had insisted that he’d used his tie, Deguchi chose to ignore for the moment.
*
A frustrated Sakamoto remained in his office flicking paperclips into his now empty cup. He didn’t want to admit it, dared not admit it, but he wondered if this case was getting away from him. He couldn’t deny that the absence of the murder weapon was a severe dent to his position as if they couldn’t find it then it placed doubt on the reliability of Yamada’s confession and the foundations of the whole case would surely crumble.
It galled him that the Chief Super had seen fit to off-load Deguchi onto him whereas Saito had been given Mori. He knew of course that Deguchi was an unreliable Junsa and he’d already made a note of his errors and short-
comings so far and had dug up other evidence in case he needed it in his own defence.
He considered also Inspector Saito’s movements and thinking. It had pleased him no end to hear that Saito had taken a beating – again. It wasn’t particularly that he revelled in seeing others hurt but more that it lent weight to the growing collective feeling that Saito was becoming more and more incompetent as every year passed by. No-one would ever say this outright but it would just come to pass that it was obvious what everyone believed, leaving Saito increasingly isolated and redundant – and that was a very pleasing thought, indeed.
It was also clear to Sakamoto that his curiosity was getting the better of him, insisting that he know further the details of Saito’s direction of thinking and so under the guise of searching for liquid sustenance, he could never really admit to himself that he was up for a bit of snooping, he marched down the corridor, through the open-plan main office and down the stairs to Saito’s floor. As usual Saito’s door had been left casually open but thankfully his office was empty. With an unusual amount of apprehension Sakamoto entered the room glancing around him into the outer office to spot if anyone was taking an interest in his movements. None were that he could see. It didn’t take him too long to spot a number of reports lying on Mori’s desk – the pathology and forensic reports, but also notes that Mori had been typing up. He scanned them quickly, grateful that Mori’s style was succinct and to the point.
It was then that he spotted an unwelcome line bursting with undesirable suppositions. At this point they were only theories but if Saito was intent in following up this line of enquiry then Sakamoto knew there would be hell to pay and it would be he, Sakamoto, who would bear the brunt.
He quickly returned to his own office. He had phone calls to make – and he had to make them urgently.
38 - In which Sergeant Mori reflects on his companions and questions a company chauffeur.
Tuesday 4th January 10:00am
While Inspector Saito was busy updating the Chief Super on their progress, Mori and Junsa Saito did what they could to confirm Sakamoto’s conviction that Eri Yamada had been spotted on the convenience store’s CCTV cameras on her way home. He bore in mind that the last time he’d reviewed the recordings himself he was intent on examining the movements of Yamada rather than his wife and so he was interested to review the recordings once more.
It had taken longer than expected to get hold of them and with both Sakamoto and Deguchi absent from their office he couldn’t immediately find what he was looking for. Eventually on returning to his office a breathless Junsa Saito brought him what he required and he gratefully received it, plugging the pen stick on which they were stored into his PC.
It didn’t take him long to spot a woman matching Yamada Eri’s description enter the store at the time frame as had previously been recorded in the notes. He followed her movements closely trying to pay particular attention to her face. For the most part, however, the woman in shot had her back to the camera and the totality of her action was to look briefly at the magazine rack picking out one publication before putting it back and then leaving. In a moment of irrelevant distraction he wondered what magazine it might have been before he returned to examining her once again. He rewound the recording over and over again. He wasn’t convinced. Superficially it looked like her – a woman wearing a mid-length coat, together with a hat and scarf. It could be her, but then again it could be almost any woman popping into a store to get a brief respite from the cold on her way back home. He opened the file on his desk which he’d started the day before, which included copies of his notes and photographs from his original file in the case. He looked at the photographs of the deceased and then with his heart racing returned to the shots on the CCTV. Something was different. Eri Yamada had not been wearing a scarf that day was his understanding. The woman on the CCTV definitely had. What an incredible lapse thought Mori. Someone, probably Deguchi, was sure to get a roasting for this mistake when this particular fact came to light.
What Mori failed to realise at this time was a further significance to his discovery. This would only be revealed, by Inspector Saito, in the days to come.
Mori was keen to check out a few more things particularly the witness statement given by the convenience store holder. He read it through carefully. Most of what was said concerned verification that Yamada Hideki had been in the store which was a fact that was now firmly established and incontestable. It didn’t take him very far. The statement said little about the existence of Yamada Eri and stuck only to a few vague comments concerning other people who may have been in the store at the same time. A description matching the woman on the CCTV had been given but it was nowhere near a positive identification of Yamada Eri.
It all added up to the possibility that Yamada Eri had not taken the train back from Tokyo and she had not walked home up the hill from Kamioka station. This lead to two possibilities - firstly she could have been killed and then dumped at the scene of crime by the murderer or secondly she could have been driven home only to be later attacked – and that person could quite possibly have been Ozawa Kenji.
It was time to check out the chauffeur!
As he and Junsa Saito drove back to Niigata Kyubin for once his mind wandered off the case and onto his colleagues. It wasn’t a monumental realisation that had suddenly gripped him, nor one that was particularly profound, nor for that matter pivotal in the case, but it suddenly struck Sergeant Mori that Inspector Saito had only been back from his suspension for a single day and so much seemed to have happened already.
During Saito’s suspension he had got used to him not being around. He had thought that there would have been a bigger hole in his life, but with Saito absent, Mori’s life and activities simply expanded to fill the void. Life moved on, work moved faster and it was to his dismay that he now looked back on the last three months with the realisation that Inspector Saito hadn’t been needed. He’d also got used to the more traditional methods of crime detection as being presently executed by Sakamoto.
One day in and it was if the last three months had been turned on their head. Within moments of his arrival Inspector Saito had completely realigned the case, he’d thrown hefty spanners into Sakamoto’s hitherto smooth workings, he’d rattled cages and been beaten up.
Mori didn’t know why, but he was worried about his Inspector, which was a feeling he’d never experienced before. It wasn’t just because of the injuries he’d sustained the night before but the purple bruising around his eyes and the cuts across his face had a way of concentrating the mind – they were a very telling image of the state of Inspector Saito’s career.
It was difficult to look at him without knowing that he was in pain. They hadn’t really fully explored the reasons behind the beating and this gnawed away at Mori. It wasn’t that Saito was reluctant to discuss the matter. On the contrary he’d been disarmingly open. But it just didn’t seem right that a senior police officer could be so brutally attacked and nothing be done about it. Like Saito, he hoped that in some way it would all tie back into the current investigation. The Inspector had laughed off his injuries and had pointed to the fact that it was doubtful the hospital would have been content to release him so early if he really was in a bad way, but Mori couldn’t help thinking that he’d been extremely lucky to get away with nothing more serious than a broken nose. It had also crossed his mind that in Saito’s last two days of work, falling before and after his suspension, he’d been badly beaten on both occasions.
He suddenly felt quite envious of the Inspector, closeted away with such a fetching companion and for an instant the image of Junsa Saito kneeling by Saito’s bedside, in a low cut nurses’ uniform, gently dabbing soft cotton wool around his cuts and bruises and tenderly taking his temperature before administering recuperative whiskey sprang invidiously into his mind. He looked across at her sitting demurely in the passenger seat and was once again struck by her good-nature and uncomplicated beauty. He recalled, guiltily, his own
feelings of the day before when he’d felt captivated by her large eyes and charming smile and now as before he thought immediately and awkwardly of his girlfriend, Narase Ren.
Last night between snuffles and sneezes he’d given her a call. It hadn’t quite gone as he’d hoped. He’d felt tetchy and Ren had been as equally as bad-tempered. She’d sent him a present through the post – a new iPhone and he’d neither acknowledged its arrival nor yet used it, particularly in terms of keeping in touch with her. They’d ended up having a pointless argument about why this was and after that they’d found it hard to say anything pleasant to each other. It was a disappointing end to the phone call.
It would be completely wrong to suggest that Sergeant Mori was an unfaithful sort of man – one for whom the slightest disagreement with his partner would see him hurtling off into the darkened dens and dives of deepest Yokohama ‘on the rebound’ but it would be equally true to say that in his current condition a little bit of gentle female sympathy would have been most welcoming. In no way was his state as bad as Saito’s but all the same his head cold was most debilitating. He idly mused that it would have been pleasant indeed to have Junsa Saito attending to his ministration and then, with some shame, he considered not only Ren far away but also the differences between the two men’s reduced circumstances. It was therefore with a rediscovered and more generous frame of mind that he decided that he was quite relieved that Junsa Saito had been with the Inspector the night before. It was right that someone was there to care for him. He needed looking after. So what if that person turned out to be Junsa Saito. In addition he had no genuine desire to test his own levels of temptation much further – there was absolutely no need to stand beneath the plum tree if you had no desire for plums!