Tokyo Year Zero (13 page)

‘Of course,’ she says. ‘Of course.’

‘And so when Ryuko didn’t come home, what did you do?’

‘I waited until the next morning,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘And then, first thing, I went straight to see Kodaira.’

‘You went to see him at his home?’ I ask. ‘Where is it?’

‘In Hanezawamachi,’ she replies. ‘In Shibuya Ward.’

‘And what did he say when you went to see him?’

‘He lied to me,’ spits Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘He said Ryuko had never turned up to meet him at Shinagawa station.’

‘Let me just check this,’ I say. ‘When you went to see Kodaira in Shibuya it was the seventh of August?’

‘Yes,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa.

‘And you went to see him because Ryuko hadn’t come home the night before?’

‘Yes.’

‘But Kodaira told you Ryuko had not shown up to meet him at Shinagawa station at ten o’clock on the morning before?’

‘Yes,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘He lied to me.’

‘They all lie,’ says her other daughter.

Now I take out an envelope from my jacket pocket. I open the envelope. I take out the piece of newspaper found in the pocket of the skirt of the pinafore dress on
my
body. Now I place the newspaper advertisement on the table before Mrs. Midorikawa –

I ask, ‘Does this mean anything to you?’

Mrs. Midorikawa looks down at the newspaper advertisement. Mrs. Midorikawa pushes it away. Mrs. Midorikawa looks up at me. Mrs. Midorikawa says, ‘My daughter was not a whore.’

*

Inspector Kai and Room #1 have been busy. Room #1 have an address for Kodaira Yoshio. Inspector Kai and Room #1 have sent two men to the address in Hanezawamachi, Shibuya Ward. Room #1 have stationed two pairs of detectives near the address –

No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape
…

‘It is Kodaira’s sister’s house,’ Inspector Kai is telling us. ‘His younger sister’s house. He lives there with his wife and son…’

Chief Kita knows Kai wants to bring Kodaira in now –

No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape
…

The chief asks, ‘What about his place of work?’

‘It is Laundry Barracks #589,’ says Inspector Kai. ‘Just as he told the mother, but he’s not a cook. He’s been working in the laundry since March this year. In Shinagawa, on the ocean side…’

Now Adachi glances up from his notes. Adachi looks at me –

‘And we’ve both seen this before, detective. Remember?’

The chief asks, ‘What shifts does he work at the laundry?’

‘He’s been working on nights this month,’ replies Kai.

Adachi still looking at me. Adachi still watching my face –

‘Did you find that file, inspector? The Miyazaki file…’

The chief asks, ‘Do we have his family’s address?’

‘Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture,’ says Inspector Kai –

No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape
…

The chief says, ‘Arrest him tomorrow at noon.’

No escape. In the half-light, no escape at all
.

*

I take a different route back to Atago, through Hibiya Park and out onto Hibiya-dōri. The branches of the trees hang low in the hot and overcast light, the leaves on the branches covered in dirt and dust. There were statues in this park before the war turned against us, when there were heroes to celebrate and metal to spare. There were fountains too, when there were hours to play and water to spare. Restaurants and tea-houses, flower exhibitions and symphony concerts, tennis courts and a baseball ground, before they converted it into vegetable gardens and anti-aircraft batteries –

Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton
…

I queue for a streetcar at Uchisaiwai-chō, just down the road from the Imperial Hotel; the Imperial Hotel where there are still
heroes to celebrate and metal to spare, hours to play and water to spare. The old woman queuing next to me is bent double with the weight of the box tied to her back. The old woman telling the queue the story of a small boy in Hongō who waited and waited for his chocolate ration to come and was so excited when the chocolate finally came that he could not take his eyes off the chocolate, that he did not look up from the chocolate, that he did not see the streetcar coming. The queue for our streetcar says nothing. The queue just stands and waits, watching for a streetcar that never comes, listening to the hammering that never ceases –

Ton-ton. Ton-ton
…

*

I am back in the toilets of Atago police station. I have vomited again.
Black bile again
. I stand over the sink. I spit. I wipe my mouth. I turn on the tap. I wash my face. Now I look up into that mirror again –

I don’t want to remember. I don’t want to remember
…

Ishida is waiting for me beside our banner –

‘Did you find Hayashi Jo?’ I ask him –

‘No,’ says Ishida. ‘He’s resigned.’

‘When did Hayashi resign?’

‘Late yesterday evening.’

‘Where is he now?’

‘No one knows.’

‘Good work,’ I tell him. ‘Dismissed.’

I wait until Ishida has stepped into our borrowed office and then I run back to the toilets. I vomit again.
Brown bile
. I walk over to the sink. I spit again. I wipe my mouth. I turn on the tap. I wash my face again. Now I stare into that mirror –

I don’t want to remember
…

No Hayashi. No Fujita –

You can tell which are the men from Room #1 and which are the men from Room #2 by the looks on their faces.
No Fujita
. The anticipation on the faces of Room #1, the resignation on the faces of Room #2.
No Fujita
. Room #1 have a name for their suspect.
No Fujita
. Room #2 still have no name for their victim.
No Fujita
. Detectives Hattori, Takeda, Sanada and Shimoda are sat at the very back of the room.
No Fujita
. Detectives Nishi, Kimura and Ishida sat
at the front.
No Fujita
. None of the men from the Second Team are smiling in anticipation of an arrest as they listen to Inspector Kai –

‘But the mother and sisters had already identified her
haramaki
by its five darned holes and given us details of the whitlow scar on her left thumb, so she was then formally identified by her mother as Midorikawa Ryuko, aged seventeen of Meguro Ward…’

Inspector Kai updating Room #1 and Room #2 about the identification of the body, about the life of the victim, about the name of the suspect and the plan for his arrest at noon tomorrow. The uniforms from Atago, Meguro and Mita have not been invited this evening. This meeting is just for detectives; detectives only –

‘And our two teams of detectives in Shibuya have just reported that the suspect left for his shift as usual at 5:30 p.m. tonight and then arrived at the laundry before 6 p.m….’

I am stood next to Inspector Kai at the front of the room beside Inspectors Kanehara and Adachi –

I am cursing Inspector Kai
…

‘Naturally the detectives from Room #2 will also be able to question the suspect Kodaira about the second body found at Shiba Park and to which we hope he will also provide an identity and a confession and thus spare the blushes of Room #2 again…’

There is laughter from one half of the room –

There is resentment from the other half –

‘I’m just joking,’ laughs Kai. ‘We’re all comrades now.’

There is more laughter and more jeering, fists on desktops and boots on floorboards, backs slapped and hair ruffled –

In anticipation, in excitement –

‘Attention!’ shouts Kai –

Their fists by their sides, their boots together now
…

‘Bow!’ he shouts –

Backs straight and hair flat
…

‘Dismissed!’

They file out
…

And I run out of the meeting room and down the stairs to vomit in the toilets. I vomit in the toilets of Atago police station a third time.
Yellow bile
. I spit. I turn on the tap again. I wash my face. I look up into that mirror again. I stare into that mirror –

I can’t forget. In the half-light, I can’t forget
…

Adachi is waiting for me outside the toilets –

‘We’ve both seen this before, detective…’

Adachi grabs my arm. ‘Where’s Fujita?’

‘Did you find that file, inspector?’

‘I sent him to the Salon Matsu in Kanda,’ I lie but I don’t ask him why; why Adachi wants Fujita. I don’t ask him why because I turn back into the toilets. Back to vomit.
Grey bile
. Back to the sink. Back to the tap. Back to the mirror –

In the half-light
…

Adachi is gone but Nishi and Kimura are waiting for me in the corridor. They are hot and they are dirty. They know I have forgotten about them. They are tired and they are angry –

‘There are no records of a Takahashi of Zōshigaya,’ says Nishi. ‘Because there are no records of anyone because all their records were lost when their ward office burnt down…’

‘But did you go to the address in Zōshigaya?’

Kimura nods and Nishi says, ‘Yes.’

I ask them both, ‘And…?’

‘It’s cinders,’ says Nishi.

I ask, ‘Have either of you seen Detective Fujita today?’

Kimura shakes his head and Nishi says, ‘No.’

‘Right then,’ I say and I take out the envelope from my pocket and hand them the piece of newspaper. ‘Find out which paper this advertisement is from and the date it was run. Then, last thing tonight, before they pull this man in tomorrow, you two are coming with me to Kanda to help me wake up the ladies of the Salon Matsu.’

Kimura nods. Nishi nods. They both bow. They both turn to leave. I wait until they’ve gone and then I run back to the toilets of Atago police station to vomit in the toilets –

But this time I do not vomit –

Nothing comes up.

*

Everything is falling into place
. Back to Shimbashi to give Senju the name.
Everything is turning out fine
. Back to Shimbashi to get some Calmotin.
Falling into place
. Back through the pots and the pans, through the knives and the spoons.
Turning out fine
. Back through the suits and the sardines, the tinned fruit and old army boots –

‘
Red apple to my lips, blue sky silently watching…’

But tonight there are many more pale-suited goons out here, many more patterned shirts and American sunglasses in the alleys and the lanes, in the shadows and the arches –

Trains screaming overhead
…

Eight goons tonight at the foot of the stairs that lead up to his office, their legs apart and their hands in jackets, with twitches in their cheeks and pinpricks for pupils –

In the half-light
…

His office door is closed, his office lights out tonight –

I straighten my jacket. I ask them, ‘Is the boss in?’

‘And who the
fuck
are you?’ asks one of them –

I tell him, ‘Inspector Minami of Metro HQ.’

This goon tells that goon to go up the stairs and so that goon goes up the stairs and taps on the door to the office and then that goon comes back down the stairs and whispers in the ear of this goon and so now this goon says, ‘You’re to wait, Minami of Metro HQ.’

No dice tonight. No calls of odd, even and play
…

Now the door to the office opens. A foreigner, an American, a Victor, comes down the stairs. At the foot of the stairs, this man turns to me and says, ‘Good evening, inspector…’

‘Good evening, sir,’ I reply.

The foreigner, this American, this Victor, he winks at me now and Senju’s goons all laugh along –

‘Up you go now, Minami of Metro HQ,’ says one of the goons as the Victor disappears –

And up I go now –

Senju Akira is sat cross-legged in the dark with only the street lights illuminating the sweat on his skull and the sheen on his skin; Senju Akira naked except for a traditional loincloth –

‘You better have a name for me,’ whispers Senju Akira. ‘Or you won’t be leaving here again tonight…’

I curse him and I curse myself
…

I kneel before him. I say, ‘Hayashi Jo of the
Minpo
paper.’

Senju says nothing.
His eyes on me
. Senju says nothing –

My face to the floor, I say, ‘He was seen with Nodera.’
His eyes on me
. Nothing.

His eyes on me
. Nothing –

‘They were drinking together in the New Oasis.’

His eyes on me
. Nothing.
His eyes on me
…

‘The night before the hit,’ I tell him –

In the dark. Senju shifts his weight. In the dark. Senju hisses, ‘Get out, detective! Go now! Quickly before I change my mind…’

I slide back on my knees towards the door, the stairs –

‘Red apple to my lips, blue sky silently watching…’

In the dark, Senju is getting to his feet. In the dark, Senju is rising, saying, ‘You want your drugs, you be here tomorrow night.’

*

I open the door to the borrowed office at Atago.
Fujita still not here
. They are all asleep now.
Fujita gone again
. I put my head down on my desk.
But Fujita will be back
. I still can’t sleep.
Fujita is safe now
. Tomorrow I will sleep.
Tomorrow Fujita will return. Tomorrow
…

Everything will fall into place. Everything will turn out fine –

Tomorrow Kai and the First Team will make their arrest –

Tomorrow the killer will confess to both crimes –

Tomorrow everything will fall into place –

Everything will turn out fine –

Everything will end –

‘Boss … Boss…’

I open my eyes –

‘The advertisement is from the
Asahi
newspaper,’ says Nishi. ‘It ran on the nineteenth of July…’

‘Thank you,’ I tell him –

Nishi smiles. Nishi asks, ‘So is it time to go and wake up the ladies of the Salon Matsu yet?’

*

The streets are dark and silent now, the heat heavy still, as we walk up Hibiya-dōri and show our passes again and again as we walk in front of the illuminated Dai-Ichi Assurance Building, Emperor MacArthur’s Headquarters opposite the darkened Imperial Palace of the old Emperor, as we walk on up past the Imperial Theatre and the Meiji Seimei building, then the Yūsen building and the Kaijo building, to Marunouchi and Ōtemachi –