The Case of the Sharaku Murders (38 page)

If I had found Mr. Saga's notebook earlier I might have been able to prevent his death. And if I had simply told you that the catalogue was a fake as soon as you found it, the professor wouldn't have had to die either. Without intending to, I had caused the deaths of two people. This sense of responsibility was hard for me to bear.

I had killed the professor—or so I thought. But just then you gave me some startling news: someone had set fire to the professor's house and he had died before he could escape.

My head was in a tumult. Hadn't the professor committed suicide? If not, who would have wanted to kill him? I thought of Mizuno. But that was inconceivable. He and his associates still needed the professor. They needed him to publish his paper and the catalogue so that the Shoei Hypothesis would become unassailable. Until then he was indispensible to them. I still haven't figured out the answer to this riddle.

Then Minegishi discovered Kiyochika's sketchbook.

The discovery of the sketchbook brought about a whole new development. You and Minegishi began to have doubts about the authenticity of Kiyochika's preface to Sato's catalogue. No doubt Mizuno was just as surprised by this development as I was. Then when I heard it was Mizuno who had introduced the two of you, I was astonished at his recklessness. Was he as confident as that? Granted, at that point, no one could have foreseen that the sketchbook would be discovered.

If doubts hadn't arisen about the authenticity of Kiyochika's preface, Mizuno and his associates would probably still be sitting on their paintings, biding their time. They probably planned to wait two or three years to let things cool down before unveiling their “discovery.” Having come this far, it would be fatal for them to do anything out of the ordinary. But now the situation had changed.

No doubt they've realized that sooner or later you and Minegishi will uncover proof the preface is a fake. Though they won't be able to predict how things will play out once that happens, one thing is certain—now they'll be trying to sell the paintings in a hurry.

I'd been planning to wait until that happened to put an end to this in my own way, but before I could, I discovered something unexpected.

For the past few days, as you asked me to, I've been trying to trace that postcard you found tucked away inside the catalogue. It's not a very important clue. At least, that's what I thought at first. But curiously it began to intrigue me. What was written on the card seemed to have no particular significance. So I traced the person whom it was addressed to, which led me to a stamp dealer in Shinjuku, where I found out the name of the last person to own it. The dealer showed me a business card given to him by the man who purchased it. On it was a name that took me by surprise: Fujimura Genzo, the rare book dealer to whom Mr. Saga, on the day he died, had been trying to return the book he had stolen.

A coincidence perhaps?

No, that was too farfetched. Even assuming Mizuno purchased the postcard from Fujimura and just happened to leave it inside the catalogue, the chances that Mr. Saga just happened to steal a book from the same man were virtually nil. It was more logical to suppose that Mr. Saga had stolen the postcard along with the book, but why? It made no sense. It wasn't rare—the stamp dealer had been adamant about that.

There was only one explanation: Fujimura was in cahoots with Mizuno. He was probably the person you spoke to on the phone believing he was an art dealer in Yokote.

But if Fujimura
was
one of the forgers, something didn't quite add up. Why didn't Mr. Saga simply return the book to him directly? Why did Fujimura claim he didn't know Mr. Saga? Why didn't Mizuno bat an eyelash when Inspector Onodera asked him about Fujimura? Doubts flashed through my mind in quick succession.

Mr. Saga must have been murdered.

However much I thought about it, I couldn't find any plausible reason why Mr. Saga should have gone to all the trouble of trying to return a book to Fujimura just before he died. The parcel must have been a trick to make his death look like suicide. So I concluded.

I don't know who exactly killed Mr. Saga. But I know either Mizuno, Kato, or Fujimura is the culprit. It must have seemed to them that Mr. Saga was on the verge of revealing the catalogue was a forgery, so they decided to kill him first.

I was in a quandary.

I had read Mr. Saga's diary. He had committed suicide. Or so I had believed. Because of that I had been blind to what they were up to, even though I knew the catalogue was a fake. I thought they had only been after money. I pitied them but it did not make me angry. But I had underestimated them. They were murderers. And I had allowed them to remain at large because of my own hatred and envy of the professor.

Once I realized this I began to suspect they had killed the professor too. At that moment my despair knew no bounds.

I decided to hunt down the killer, or killers, on my own. This had all been my fault. I had to make amends.

Today I made two copies of Mr. Saga's notebook, one for Mizuno and one for Fujimura. Mizuno's already received his. I stuffed it in his mailbox this morning. Tomorrow I'll take the other copy to Sendai and do the same for Fujimura. They're sure to contact each other. Then all I have to do is keep an eye on them and wait for them to make a mistake. They'll dig their own graves. If I'm lucky, I might find out where they've got the paintings stashed—if I can produce any with Shoei's forged signature still on they won't be able to talk their way out of it. I'll leave the rest to Onodera. We're talking about murder after all. I'd like to settle this without dragging ukiyo-e into it. But that might be unavoidable.

It's almost dawn. I have to go now. Mr. Saga's notebook is still sitting on my bookshelf inside the slipcover of his book. I don't want to have to use it. Even without it I hope to be able to prove they murdered Mr. Saga and the professor—though now the catalogue has been destroyed, it'll be difficult to prove it was a fake. If I could just figure out those clues Mr. Saga hid inside the catalogue to trip up Nishijima—so far that's eluded me.

I guess I better be going

I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble. Look after Saeko for me.

RYOHEI could not bring himself to shed a tear.

He knew it was a fake all along. He knew Shoei wasn't real
.

Even though he held the proof in his hands, Ryohei could hardly believe it. Deep in his heart he still believed he and Yosuke had solved the mystery of Sharaku's identity together.

How could he do it! How could he have been so selfish!

All of a sudden, Ryohei was consumed by an irrepressible rage.

Do you think dying absolves you of responsibility? Does that make everything better? Sure, the professor behaved badly. But Mr. Saga… He went too far! How could you say he loved ukiyo-e? If he'd loved ukiyo-e he wouldn't have gone and written Sharaku's name on someone else's painting. Don't you understand that? It wasn't me who was used by Mr. Saga—it was you, Yosuke! He put the future of ukiyo-e in your hands. The burden was too much for him so he foisted it off onto you. And then, satisfied with himself, he went and died… In the end, everyone was thinking about themselves; no one gave a damn about us, the ones who'll have to live with this
.

Saga and Yosuke had been willing to risk their lives to defend ukiyo-e, but they had ended by dragging it through the mud.

How full of ourselves we've all been—imagining ukiyo-e needed us to prove its relevance to the world. What conceit! Ukiyo-e's not some poor cousin who'll starve without our help. It's better than that. If ukiyo-e could be destroyed by one selfish whim of the professor's, then good riddance to it—we can live without it. But ukiyo-e will go on. Mr. Saga and the professor may be gone, but ukiyo-e will thrive. As far as ukiyo-e's concerned, we're just strangers passing in the night. Ukiyo-e doesn't need us. It can survive all on its own.

For the first time, tears welled up in Ryohei's eyes.

After all was said and done, what was left? All Ryohei could think of now was that three people had died in vain. Yosuke's death, in particular, left a void in his life that could never be filled.

Seated in a corner of the café, Ryohei continued to cry, mourning the loss of his friend.

TO HELL with ukiyo-e! I'd rather Yosuke were still alive. I'd sooner destroy what Yosuke and Mr. Saga died trying to protect then allow Mizuno and the others to get away with this.

Having made up his mind, Ryohei put in a call to the Fuchu Police Department and asked to speak to Onodera. Mizuno must have ransacked Yosuke's apartment looking for the notebook. Once the police got their hands on it they would be able to arrest Mizuno. Once they had conclusive proof the catalogue was a fake, they would have Mizuno and his cronies right where they wanted them.

It didn't bother Ryohei in the least that Saga's act of forgery and the professor's unbridled arrogance might be revealed in the process. He was convinced ukiyo-e was strong enough to survive any such scandal.

When the detective picked up the telephone, Ryohei gave him the titles of four books. Ryohei knew these were the only books Saga had written that had been published with slipcases. If Mizuno hadn't already found it, the notebook would be inside one of them.

Saying he would telephone Saeko immediately to get her permission to search Yosuke's apartment, Onodera rung off in high spirits.

February 20

IT WAS all over.

Onodera had found Saga's notebook, exactly as Ryohei had said, inside one of the slipcases where it had escaped Mizuno's notice. Based on this piece of evidence, the detective took Mizuno into the police station for voluntary questioning on suspicion of fraud. Kato, who had recently returned from London, and Fujimura were picked up for questioning by police in Morioka and Sendai, respectively.

It was Mizuno who had committed all three murders.

Kato and Fujimura proved surprisingly easy to make talk. When they realized the fraud had been discovered they tried to foist all of the blame onto Mizuno. They claimed they only had been acting on Mizuno's instructions and had been thoroughly convinced the catalogue was original.

Mizuno proved a tougher nut to crack, but once Onodera had the flight passenger list analyzed and confirmed that one of the names was in his handwriting, he eventually caved in. Once he had made one confession the rest came spilling from his mouth like an avalanche.

Just as Onodera had deduced, Mizuno had murdered Saga at his office, drowning him in a bucket of seawater collected off Cape Kitayama which he had brought back with him to Tokyo several days ahead of time.

Mizuno was formally arrested on suspicion of murder just three days after he was taken in for questioning.

Nearly fifty hanging scrolls bearing Shoei's forged signature were found in the storeroom attached to Fujimura's shop in Sendai. Each was carefully wrapped up in wax paper and tightly sealed. Just as Yosuke had imagined, if Kiyochika's sketchbook had not surfaced, they had planned to sit on them for a least three years.

Also discovered was the painting bearing Sharaku's signature. This work, dubbed the “Encaustic Lion,” would later appear splashed across the pages of newspapers and magazines throughout Japan and come to symbolize the entire affair. The painting—the artist of which has yet to be identified—will no doubt remain etched into the minds of many people for years to come.

The case had been solved.

“They had it all planned out perfectly.”

Inspector Onodera was seated in a café beneath Ueno Station talking to Ryohei, who had come to see him off.

“About a week before Saga died it appears Fujimura and Kato had been taking turns making threatening phone calls to his apartment—even hinting they might kill him,” said the detective. “Not surprisingly Saga began to feel paranoid. That was why he turned his notebook over the Yosuke. Mizuno denied Fujimura and Kato would go that far, but he managed to convince Saga to move someplace safer.”

“Someplace safer?”

“The rented apartment Mizuno used as his office and storeroom. He probably convinced Saga it was safer because no one ever came there… safer to commit murder too.” Onodera clenched his fist. “It had a bathroom, a shower, a bed and everything—a perfect place for someone to hide out for a few days. Saga felt reassured and moved in there on the night of the eighth. Of course, he took an overnight bag packed with a change of clothes and assorted toiletries.”

Ryohei said nothing.

“In the meantime, Mizuno promised Saga he would smooth things over with the other two up in Tohoku. But he warned Saga he couldn't let up his guard until everything was settled. Both Fujimura and Kato knew the address and phone number of Mizuno's office, after all, so he was told not to go outside or answer the phone under any circumstances, just in case.”

“Hmm. It's no wonder Mr. Saga trusted him,” said Ryohei.

“If he'd been staying anywhere else, Saga would probably have thought Mizuno was just being paranoid,” continued Onodera. “Anyway, with that warning Mizuno set off on the morning of the ninth for Hachinohe, saying he was going to talk to the other two.”