The Case of the Sharaku Murders (32 page)

“So Mr. Saga's death—“

“Even if it
was
murder, Fujimura wasn't involved. So I suppose he isn't connected to Yosuke's disappearance either.”

Ryohei said nothing.

“Since then, Fujimura's been keeping a low profile, just minding his shop as usual. Though, come to think of it, he did close up and go off to London for one week last month.”

“London!” exclaimed Ryohei. “When exactly?”

“From the 20th to the 27th.”

It can't be a coincidence
.

“Didn't you read today's news about that Sharaku painting?” Ryohei asked Onodera.

“Yeah. That was London, was it?”

“Yes. And I think Fujimura took it there.”

Ryohei told the detective about the conclusion he had reached that morning. “Yosuke knew the discovery of Kiyochika's sketchbook made it likely the preface to Sato's catalogue was a fake,” he said. “So once he learned Fujimura was involved…”

“Yes, it all fits. That means Kato's probably mixed up in it too. I wonder if he really found that painting up in Yokote?”

“That's the key. It's also possible Fujimura had it all along…”

“Right. We'll have to verify that,” said Onodera.

“But how?”

“Simple. I'll just ring up all the art dealers in Yokote. If that
is
where Kato found the painting, someone up there must know about it.”

“True,” agreed Ryohei. “Damn! I wish I'd thought to ask the name of that shop in Yokote whose owner I spoke to on the phone.”

“I'll ask about that too. I'm sure we can find out.”

Onodera got up and rushed off to find the nearest telephone.

Ryohei's pulse quickened at this unexpected turn of events.

“How strange,” said Onodera returning to the table after some time. He had a puzzled look on his face. “I called all the art dealers in the phone book but no one knows anything about the painting. And no one recalls lending Kato any photo album or speaking to you on the telephone.”

“What?” exclaimed Ryohei. “Do you think someone's hiding something?”

“This is what I found out: First, Akita School paintings
never
turn up in Yokote; all the dealers I spoke to were unanimous on that point. Second, if
anything
of museum quality had been bought or sold there recently, they
would know about it. And, last but not least, they say it's unlikely anyone, even in Akita city, keeps an album devoted exclusively to Akita School paintings.”

“But,” Ryohei objected, “I talked to a dealer there who—”

“That's what Kato
told
you,” the detective shot back. “How do you know he was really an art dealer?”

Ryohei felt as though he had been slapped in the face.

“But if he wasn't a dealer—”

“Kato conned you,” said the policeman.

“You mean the photo album is a fake too?”

“Assuming no one in Yokote is lying to me,” said Onodera, nodding confidently.

“But,” said Ryohei, “if you're right about Kato… if that photo album
isn't
for real, then…”

“Then what?” asked Onodera.

“Well,” replied Ryohei, “then not only is Chikamatsu's preface probably a forgery but Kato's story about a dealer selling two of Shoei's paintings in 1937 is also false. In other words, it's possible Sato's catalogue was created out of whole cloth sometime in the past year.”

“How so?”

Onodera still hadn't grasped the significance of this new set of facts. Ryohei felt irritated at the detective's obtuseness. “Don't you see?” he said. “The photo album Kato showed me which contains photographs of Unmu's work gave Sato's catalogue an alibi, so to speak. It proved it had
to have been published before 1937.
That's
why I couldn't understand how anyone could have forged it, since up until then no one would have believed for a second that Shoei had been Sharaku. But if the photo album is a hoax, then Sato's catalogue could have been made
anytime
—
last year even. In which case there
is
a motive for forging it because nowadays there is a lot of controversy over Sharaku's identity, so one stands to profit by convincing people that Sharaku and Shoei were one and the same.”

Ryohei explained the current situation in the world of ukiyo-e.

“Therefore,” he continued, “if the catalogue dated to before 1937, Shoei's paintings could still be genuine even if the preface were a fake, because back then everyone believed Sharaku was a Noh actor from Awa. It wasn't until
after
the war that alternative theories about his identity began cropping up. On the other hand, if it was made recently, it's likely that both the preface and the paintings are forgeries, because if someone
really
owned a painting of a lion with Sharaku's signature on it, the logical thing would be to show it to an expert. Given all the theories about Sharaku's identity floating around these days, any expert would give it a serious look and not just reject it out of hand. Ergo, the fact that someone went to the trouble of making the catalogue must mean Sharaku's signature on that painting is forged.”

“Hmm. I see what you mean,” replied Onodera, at last sounding convinced.

“The catalogue's a fake,” Ryohei went on. “And if it
was
Fujimura who took it to London, that supposed dealer I spoke to on the phone—”

“—was probably Fujimura, too,” said Onodera, finishing his sentence. Then in utter amazement he added, “I'll be damned… It's sheer brilliance! Not just anyone could have pulled this stunt off.”

“It'd be impossible without first doing extensive research on ukiyo-e,” Ryohei added. Just then, a name popped into Ryohei's head.

“I wonder,” mused the detective, as though reading Ryohei's mind, “whether Saga Atsushi was mixed up in it. After all, if Mizuno was involved it's natural to assume he went to his brother-in-law for help.”

“But,” Ryohei objected, “do you really think Mr. Saga would have agreed?” Somehow he just couldn't bring himself to believe it.

“Ah, that's right.” The detective nodded to himself, as though realizing something. “It wouldn't make sense. He and Professor Nishijima were the two leading experts on Sharaku.”

“So?”

“So why go to the trouble of fabricating a catalogue when you can simply come right out and announce that Shoei was Sharaku? Everyone would have believed him, right? The same holds true even if Mizuno put him up to it. No, Saga wasn't involved. In fact, it's more likely he figured out what Mizuno and the others were up to.”

“And that's why he committed suicide?” asked Ryohei. “To atone for his brother-in-law's crime?”

“In that case he would have left some kind of suicide note. No,” declared the detective, “I think they killed him.”

“Okay, let's review,” said Onodera, noting the dubious expression on Ryohei's face. “Mizuno and Fujimura knew each other. But they were more than just casual acquaintances; that follows from the fact they forged Sato's catalogue. So there's no reason for Saga to have killed himself… Look, we've been assuming Saga committed suicide over the book he stole from Fujimura's shop. Now, according to Yosuke, bibliophiles like Saga have a compulsion to show off every new acquisition. Saga would naturally have shown the book to Mizuno, not thinking of the possible consequences. When Mizuno, being a book dealer himself, learned of the theft, he would have known immediately Saga was the culprit—it's not like Koetsu books are available on every street corner. As soon as Fujimura put the advertisement in the trade journal, Mizuno would have acted to prevent disgrace falling on his brother-in-law and found a way to resolve the situation quietly. Therefore there would have been no reason for Saga to commit suicide.”

Onodera paused for breath.

“That's why I can't believe Saga stole the book,” he continued. “Given Mizuno's relationship to Fujimura, one would expect him to have acted
before
Fujimura placed the advertisement. But the fact is the ad
was
placed. I think it was a trick to create a motive for Saga's suicide. They knew the police would launch an investigation if Saga turned up dead without any plausible motive for committing suicide, so they created one. That includes planting the parcel containing the book addressed to Fujimura in Saga's handwriting. No, Mizuno and Fujimura killed Saga—that's for sure. Their motive was that Saga was on to their forgery. Anyway, that' the way I see it.”

“But Mizuno and Fujimura both have alibis,” Ryohei pointed out.

Onodera looked at him blankly for a moment.

“Mizuno was with Yosuke the whole time,” Ryohei went on. “He told me so himself.”

“Then it must have been Kato,” responded the detective. “Morioka is hardly any distance from Cape Kitayama. It's the
only
possible explanation!” he concluded, his voice rising shrilly.

WHEN THEY WERE FINISHED at the café the two men headed straight over to Kato's antique shop. Of course, they weren't going to meet Kato, who had not yet returned from London, but to check out Kato's alibi for the day of Saga's murder, October ninth. Kato was a bachelor and had no employees, so if he had gone to Cape Kitayama that day he would have had to close up his shop at least for the afternoon. It took five hours to go there and back, even in a hurry.

The two men split up and walked around the neighborhood making inquiries. October tenth had been a Sunday and the eleventh happened to have been a national holiday, so there was a good chance one of the nearby shopkeepers would remember if Kato had closed his shop the day before. However, Kato's alibi turned out to be airtight. The local merchants' association held a five-day bargain sale over the holiday weekend—that is, from October ninth to the thirteenth. In fact, it had all been Kato's idea, and he had kept his shop open throughout the event.

“Why am I not surprised it was Kato's idea?” muttered Onodera bitterly.

The two men gave up and went to a nearby restaurant. It was already past seven in the evening and both of them were hungry.

“Perhaps Mr. Saga was killed somewhere else?” suggested Ryohei.

“Unlikely,” replied Onodera. He proceeded to give Ryohei a detailed account of Saga's movements on the day in question.

“On the night of the eighth he boarded a train in Tokyo,” he said. “We don't have any witnesses, but since we know he arrived at Hachinohe Station around ten o'clock the next morning, that's the only explanation. Now, we're no longer sure if he took the 10:46 train bound for Fudai because we were basing that assumption on the package we found on the train. Be that as it may, he must have reached his cottage around three in the afternoon, because when Yosuke went to the cottage later he saw Saga's bag there. Based on his stomach contents, the coroner puts the time of death around five p.m.—not enough time for Kato to get back to Morioka, or for Fujimura to return to Sendai.

“Do you have witnesses who saw Mr. Saga in Hachinohe?” asked Ryohei.

“No, but he made two phone calls from the station, one to the Fuchu public library and one to Mizuno.”

“Ah, that's right,” remembered Ryohei. “But are you sure he really made the calls from Hachinohe?”

“He must have—the timing fits perfectly. Let's see…” said Onodera, taking out his notebook. “Saga would have caught the 11:50 Towada Express No. 5 from Tokyo on the night of the eighth, which gets in to Hachinohe at 10:13 the next morning,” he explained. “He called the library at about 10:40 a.m. The librarian asked him where he was calling from but Saga didn't answer. Then the librarian happened to overhear an announcement in the background.”

Ryohei leaned forward in his seat.

“The announcement,” Onodera went on, “said that the Kurikoma No. 1 train due in at 10:42 that morning was running five minutes late and had just left Sannohe Station, the stop before Hachinohe. Of course, the librarian didn't actually remember all that—he just remembered hearing the name Hachinohe and that a train was going to be five minutes late, and I looked into it and figured out the rest.”

“Do you think it could have been a tape recording or something?” asked Ryohei.

“Impossible,” said the detective. “You can't predict when a train is going to be late. And even if it
was
,
Fujimura or Kato couldn't have gone to Hachinohe that day. I don't know about Mizuno, but at the estimated time of Saga's death he was in Tokyo.”

“What about the call Mizuno received?”

“Well, we only have his word that Saga actually called him, but all he says is that his brother-in-law sounded very depressed and he got worried and went to his apartment to check up on him. Finding he wasn't home he started looking for him everywhere he could think of before remembering it was the day Saga's book club met at the library. There he ran into your friend Yosuke, who told him he'd gotten a call from the librarian saying the meeting was cancelled. The two went to talk to the librarian and that's when they found out Saga had called from Hachinohe. Mizuno had a feeling his brother-in-law had been on his way to his vacation cottage near Fudai and he said he was going to drive up there right away. And that's how Yosuke ended up going along.”