Inspector Imanishi Investigates

ELEVEN A Woman’s Death

It was eleven-fifteen p.m. The nurse who took the telephone call remembered the time exactly because she was just about to go to her room to sleep. It was a man’s voice on the telephone.

“Is this Uesugi Clinic?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Dr. Uesugi’s, the obstetrics and gynecology clinic?”

“Yes, it is.”

“There’s an emergency patient here. Could the doctor come right away?” The man’s voice sounded young.

“May I ask who’s calling?”

“It’s a first-time patient.”

“What is the problem?”

“A pregnant woman has collapsed suddenly. She’s bleeding and has fainted.”

“Are you sure she’s pregnant? How far along is she? It’s late. Can it wait until tomorrow?”

“She might be dead by tomorrow morning.” The man sounded as if he were threatening the nurse.

“Wait a moment, please. I’ll ask the doctor.”

The nurse put the receiver down beside the telephone and walked along the corridor to the doctor’s residence at the back of the clinic.

“Doctor,” the nurse called through the paper shoji door, as she stood in the hallway. “Doctor.”

She could see a light through the shoji. The doctor must still be awake.

“What is it?”

“There’s a telephone call about an emergency patient.”

“An emergency? Who is it from?”

“It’s a first-time patient. Apparently a pregnant woman has fallen and is bleeding.”

“Couldn’t you refuse?” The doctor seemed reluctant. He hated to be called out late at night by a stranger who was probably overreacting or confused.

“But he says it’s a severe case and she may die if it’s left until tomorrow morning.”

“Who’s saying this?”

“It’s a man’s voice. It sounds like the patient’s husband is alarmed.”

“Well, I guess it can’t be helped.” The threat that she might die seemed to affect the doctor as well. “Make sure you get the exact address.”

The nurse returned to the telephone. “We’ll be there right away.”

“Thank you so much.” He sounded relieved.

“Your address?”

“There is a wide road leading north from the streetcar stop at Soshigaya Okura. Follow that road and you’ll see a shrine called Myojinsha. If you turn left at the edge of the shrine you’ll see a name plate for Kubota Yasuo at a house with a cedar fence.”

“Are you Kubota-san?”

“No, I’m renting the Kubotas’ cottage in the back. The entrance is through a wooden door.”

“Could I ask your name?” the nurse asked.

“It’s Miura. Miura Emiko. That’s the name of the patient.”

“I understand.”

“Um, will you be able to come right away?”

“Yes, we’ll be there.”

“Please hurry.”

The nurse was not in a good mood. She had been interrupted just as she was about to go to bed. As she was sterilizing the needles, the doctor appeared from the back of the house, coughing from a cold.

“Have you prepared everything?”

“Yes, I just finished sterilizing the needles.”

The doctor went to the pharmacy to collect the necessary medicines.

“Room number three is open, isn’t it?” the doctor asked, coming out of the room.

“Yes.”

“Depending on her condition, we may bring the patient here. Could you go back to the house and tell my wife to get the room ready?”

The doctor packed his bag. He drove while the nurse sat in the passenger seat.

“Let’s see, he said near the shrine?”

“It’s in back of Myojinsha.”

The doctor drove along the empty streets. Eventually the headlights lit the black woods ahead of them and the torii gate to the shrine.

“It has to be this way.” The nurse pointed to a narrow road to the left. “That must be it,” she said, spotting the cedar fence.

Approaching the house, the doctor flipped on his bright lights to read the name plate, “Kubota Yasuo.” He stopped the car and they got out.

“He said they’re renting the back house, and there’s a separate wooden gate that leads to it.”

They found the gate. The doctor turned on a flashlight and pushed it open. The cottage was easy to find. It was a small unit about six yards away from the main house. When he trained the flashlight on its entrance, they saw a piece of paper with “Miura” written on it pasted onto the side of the doorway in place of a name plate. A dim light shone from inside the house.

“Excuse me,” the nurse called as she stood outside the latticed sliding door. “Excuse me.”

No one came out.

“They might be in the back. Don’t worry about it, open the door,” the doctor said.

The door slid open easily. The nurse had the doctor go in first.

“Excuse me.”

Still no one came out.

The doctor was annoyed. It was unheard of to have been summoned by telephone in the middle of the night and not even be greeted at the door.

“Go on inside,” he ordered the nurse.

The nurse was reluctant, but she slipped off her shoes resignedly and stepped up from the small entry way into the house.

“Excuse me, excuse me,” the nurse continued to call out.

There was still no answer. They could not even hear anyone’s footsteps.

“Doctor, no one is coming.”

“All right, I’ll go inside.”

The doctor took off his shoes. A light was on in the main room. There must be someone there, he thought.

The doctor opened the sliding door. Out of consideration for the patient, a towel had been placed around the lamp shade, which made the room quite dark. It was a six-tatami-mat room, with the bedding laid out in the center. A woman was lying there covered by a futon. Her hair trailed out at the side of the pillow.

At first they thought the husband had gone out, perhaps to buy ice. But they could not wait around aimlessly for his return. The doctor turned back the futon. The woman lay with her face toward the wall.

“Hello,” the nurse said in a low voice, “Hello.”

There was no answer.

“Could she be asleep?” the nurse asked the doctor, turning around.

“If she’s asleep, it can’t be that serious.”

The flashlight still in his hand, the doctor walked around the bedding and sat facing the patient.

“Miura-san,” he said to her, focusing on her face.

Even when the doctor called her, she didn’t move. Her expression was full of pain. Her brow was furrowed, her mouth slightly open.

Suddenly he said in a different tone of voice, “Look around the place for someone else.”

The nurse gathered the seriousness of the patient’s condition from the tone of the doctor’s voice. She went toward what appeared to be the kitchen.

“Isn’t anyone here?” she called out two or three times. Still there was no answer. “No, Doctor, no one is here.” The nurse returned and stood behind the doctor.

The doctor had already turned back the covers and placed his stethoscope on the patient’s chest. His concentration in listening for a heartbeat seemed to be more intense than usual.

The nurse went to call the people from the main house. They were a couple in their fifties, who came in, having just been awakened, in confused haste.

“Has something happened?” the wife asked.

“I’m a doctor named Uesugi.”

“Yes, I recognize you.”

“I was just called to this house by telephone. I’m examining a patient. Is her husband here?”

“Her husband?” the man of the house responded. “There’s no husband. She moved in alone.”

“Alone? But some man called me on the telephone a little while ago.”

The doctor looked at the nurse.

“Yes, it was a man. He asked that we come here right away.”

“Well, we didn’t call. We didn’t even know she was ill.”

“Doctor, what seems to be the problem?” The couple fearfully entered the room and peered at the patient from the edge of the bedding.

“She’s in critical condition,” the doctor said.

“What? Critical?” The couple stared, amazed.

“Her heart is still beating, but it’s faint. I don’t think she can make it.”

“What… what happened?”

“She’s expecting.”

“Expecting?”

“Yes, she’s pregnant. I think she’s about four months along. I can’t tell unless I examine her more closely, but she’s had a miscarriage.”

The doctor had hesitated before he used the word “miscarriage.” He had a different opinion. He had chosen to use a softer expression. The couple looked at each other.

“Doctor, what shall we do? This is really distressing,” the wife said.

“Under normal conditions, she should be hospitalized. But in this situation, there’s nothing to be done.”

“What a terrible problem,” the landlord said. His way of stating this revealed the inconvenience he was aware would result from having a person die on his premises.

“Doesn’t she have any family?” the doctor asked.

“No, we know of no one. She just moved here yesterday.”

The doctor looked at the patient’s face again. He ordered the nurse to prepare an injection and quickly gave the patient a cardiac stimulant.

“Is she conscious?” the landlord asked, looking at her.

“No, I don’t think she’s aware of anything anymore.”

Just as the doctor said this, the woman’s lips moved. The doctor watched her tensely.

“… Stop it, please. Oh, no, no. I’m afraid something will happen to me. Stop it, please, stop, stop…” Then the words ceased.

“Imanishi-san,” a young detective called out, “you have a telephone call.”

Imanishi was at his desk writing a status report. He had been put in charge of an unimportant case.

“All right.” He pushed his chair back and stood up.

“It’s from someone named Tanaka.”

“Tanaka?”

“It’s a woman.”

Imanishi could not place the name. “This is Imanishi,” he said, taking the receiver.

“Thank you for coming by yesterday,” said the woman’s voice.

“Yes?” Imanishi was taken aback since he couldn’t tell who it was.

“I don’t think the name Tanaka means anything to you. I’m the madam at the Club Bonheur, which you visited yesterday. I wanted to inform you about Emiko, but perhaps you’ve already heard?”

“No, I haven’t heard anything. Where is she?”

“Emiko’s dead.”

“She’s dead?” Imanishi was shocked. “Is that true?”

“So you haven’t heard yet. Actually, after you left the bar, I had a telephone call from Emiko’s new landlord. He said Emiko had died and that he wanted to contact her parents. He asked me if I knew where they were.”

“I see. How did she die?” Imanishi was still astonished. He thought at first that Emiko had been killed. But if it had been murder, there would have been a report filed with the Homicide Division.

“Apparently she was pregnant; she fell and hit herself in a bad place. I was completely unaware that she was pregnant, so I was shocked when I heard.” The madam seemed more surprised about Emiko’s pregnancy than about her death.

“Where did this fall occur?”

“At her new place. It seems she’d just moved in.”

“And the address?” Imanishi picked up a pencil.

“I’ll tell you exactly what the landlord told me. It was Kubota Yasuo’s house, Number xx, Soshigaya, Setagaya Ward. She had rented a cottage in back of the main house.”

Imanishi hurriedly thanked her.

Imanishi introduced himself to Kubota Yasuo, who seemed to be a good-natured man of about fifty.

“We were very surprised,” Kubota said in response to the detective’s questions. “It was almost midnight when a doctor called to us from the house in back. He said that the woman who had just moved in was dying. We rushed over, but she was almost gone.”

“So you hadn’t called the doctor?”

“No. But someone had telephoned him.”

“Did she come to rent the cottage herself?”

“Yes, she did. We always list our cottage with the real estate agent across from the station. She said she heard about it there and came to see it.”

“I see.”

“I never expected anything like this to happen. She said she lived alone, so I thought she would be a quiet tenant, and gladly offered her a lease.”

“Did she say that she worked as a bar hostess?”

“No, she didn’t tell us that. She said that she was planning to go to a dressmaking school during the day, so I had no idea that she was a bar hostess. When I looked through her things after she died, I found something from a Club Bonheur. That’s why I called there last night.”

“Can you tell me about the day she moved in?”

“I can’t really tell you much. Her things were delivered night before last. As you can see, our rear house has its own entrance. I heard the moving van and thought that her things were probably being unloaded. But it was dark, and I didn’t bother to go and watch.”

“How many deliveries were there?”

“It seemed like the van made two trips.”

This agreed with what the employees at Yamashiro Moving Company had said. The times also matched.

“Did she move in the same day she signed the contract?”

“Yes, she did. She came to sign the lease in the morning. And then her things were delivered that night.”

“Did you hear the voices of anyone helping with the move?”

“Well, there’s a garden between this main house and the cottage. When the night shutters are closed, we can’t hear anything from the back house. So I’m afraid I didn’t notice whether there was anyone else helping other than the mover.”

Imanishi asked to see the cottage. The body had already been removed.

“Actually, I was relieved that the police took the body away,” the landlord said, as he guided Imanishi to the house. “I was worried that it might have to be left here since no one came to claim it.”

Imanishi studied the belongings that Emiko had left. A chest of drawers, wardrobe, mirror stand, desk, suitcase, a wicker trunk still sealed up… He checked each item, opening doors and drawers, except for the wicker trunk. He didn’t discover anything new. Almost nothing had been unpacked.

“Her futon was covered with blood, so I wrapped it up in a straw mat and stuck it in the storage shed out back. I’d like to get rid of that as soon as possible, too.” The landlord was upset. “What will happen after the autopsy?” he asked Imanishi.

“I suppose that unless someone comes to claim the body, her remains will be buried in a communal grave.”

“What about her things?”

“There should be some instruction from the police. Please bear with us for a little while longer.”

Imanishi put on his shoes.

It was about a twenty-minute walk from the Kubota residence to the Uesugi Clinic, which was set back inside an impressive gate. It looked like a recently renovated mansion. The approach to the entrance was flanked by a garden landscaped with rocks and plants.

Dr. Uesugi came out of his office to talk to Imanishi. “It was a real surprise. When I got there the situation was already beyond help. There was nothing I could do for her.”

“What was the cause of death?”

“She fell and hit her abdominal area very hard, resulting in a sudden miscarriage. The fetus, however, was dead before she miscarried. The direct cause of her death was loss of blood due to excessive internal hemorrhaging.”

“When you saw her, Doctor, was she unconscious?”

“She was unconscious when I arrived. But she regained consciousness just before she died and said something strange.”

“What? Something strange?”

“She wasn’t completely conscious, she was speaking deliriously. Her words were something like ‘Stop it, please. Oh, no, no. I’m afraid something will happen to me. Stop it, please, stop, stop.’ ”

“Wait a minute.” Imanishi hurriedly took out his notebook. “Please say that again.”

Dr. Uesugi repeated the words. Imanishi carefully wrote them down in his notebook.

“Doctor, why did you decide to report this to the local police station right away?”

“She wasn’t my patient. So it wouldn’t be proper for me to write out a death certificate. I didn’t want to encounter any problems later. That’s why I reported it to the police and requested an official autopsy.”

“That was a good way to deal with the situation,” Imanishi commented. Imanishi certainly wouldn’t have wanted the body taken directly to the crematorium, leaving nothing for the investigation but ashes. “By the way, Doctor, I understand that it was not the landlord who called you about the patient.”

“That’s right. I was summoned by a telephone call as I was about to go to bed. I was finishing a nightcap just after eleven when the nurse came and told me about the telephone call. She asked me whether I was willing to make a house call.”

“Was the caller a man or a woman?”

“Just a minute. I’ll call the nurse in.”

The nurse looked tired and washed out.

Instructed to by the doctor, the nurse answered Imanishi’s query, “It sounded like a young man’s voice. I refused to bother the doctor at first, but he pleaded for a house call because she had collapsed suddenly and was bleeding heavily.”

“Did he say he was the patient’s husband?” Imanishi asked.

“No, he didn’t say that, but I assumed he was her husband. I asked if it could wait until morning, and he said ‘she may die before then.’ ”

“She may die.” Imanishi thought for a while about those words.

“The patient’s heart stopped beating at twelve thirty-four a.m. I took care of a few things after the death and went home. Early the next morning I called the police. So I think the body must have been taken to the police medical examination center.”

“Thank you so much for your help.” Imanishi bowed and left the clinic.

At Soshigaya Okura he boarded a train for Shinjuku. He planned to head directly for the police medical examination center in Otsuka. The train left the station, and he could see the woodlands passing by outside the window. In between the woods were open fields. As he was staring at the woods, Imanishi suddenly remembered that he had been in this area only last month. The place where Miyata Kunio had died was not far from here.

When he realized this, Imanishi took out his notebook and leafed through it. Miyata’s body had been found at Number xx, Kasuya-cho, Setagaya Ward. It was very close to the Soshigaya house he had just left. No wonder the scenery looked familiar.

“I see you’re back again,” the coroner said when Imanishi arrived at the medical examination center. “What is it this time?” he asked.

“Doctor, I know it’s not a homicide, but I’ve come about Miura Emiko who was sent over here for an official autopsy.”

“Oh, that one?” The doctor looked at him with surprise. “Is there something the matter with that case?”

“No, it’s not a criminal case. I’d like to ask a few questions about the body, that’s all. Who performed the autopsy?”

“I did.”

“Oh, good. And what was your opinion after the autopsy?”

“She died from excessive hemorrhaging. She was pregnant,” the doctor said casually.

“Ah ha, so it was death from an illness?”

“Yes. I’d say death from an illness, but she fell carrying a four-month fetus. The fetus died and the fall caused the miscarriage. The fetus was stillborn.”

“There’s no mistake in that?”

“Well, that’s the way it looked to me. But does the great detective have some doubts?”

“I’d have to explain it to you, but there are several strange points about this death.” Imanishi described what he knew about Emiko.

He explained that the accident took place just after she had suddenly quit her job and moved, that a man had telephoned the doctor, but that this man did not appear even after Emiko’s death.

“That does sound strange.” For the first time, the genial expression left the coroner’s face and he became serious. “It’s certain that a man called the doctor on the telephone?”

“Yes. And yet he never showed up.”

“Hmm.” The doctor thought for a while and said, “Someone was on intimate terms with the woman. He might even be the child’s father. But when she died, as so often happens, he thought about his own reputation and disappeared.”

“That’s my theory, too.” Imanishi went on to ask, “Are you sure she wasn’t murdered?”

“No, it wasn’t murder.”

“Are there many cases in which pregnant women die from falling down?”

“I can’t say there are none. But she was an extremely unlucky woman.”

“You said that there was internal hemorrhaging in the abdominal area from a fall. There’s no mistake?”

“No, there’s no mistake.”

“Can you tell from the injury what she fell on?”

“It appears that she bumped into something. It must have been something like a rock. Since there were no skin lesions, it must have been a smooth boulder, without sharp corners.”

“What about the fetus?”

“When I saw it, it was on the futon bedding. So we brought it over and examined it as well. The fetus had died while it was in utero. I would say it was a miscarriage. In cases where the fetus is stillborn, we check to see if the stillbirth was the result of a shock to the mother, or if the fetus had died and caused the miscarriage. In this woman’s case, she had the double misfortune of having the fetus die and then falling. That’s why there was excessive bleeding.”

“I’d like to ask you again,” Imanishi persisted. “When you performed the autopsy, you found no special changes in any other internal organs?”

“Imanishi-san, in your position, I know you have to question everything, but unfortunately, as far as I could tell, there were no symptoms of poison.”

“I see,” Imanishi said, looking downcast. “What gender was the fetus?”

“It was a girl,” the doctor answered, his face clouding for a moment.

Imanishi felt as if an unforeseen shadow had passed before his eyes. “Thank you very much for everything.”

“If you ever have any doubts, don’t hesitate to come to me.”

“I may be calling on you again with more questions.”

“Are you on a case that involves this woman?”

“Well, it’s not that definite yet. But there are some things that I am not satisfied about concerning the circumstances surrounding her death.”

“Imanishi-san, do you know when her relatives will come to claim the body?”

“Hasn’t there been any word from the local police?”

“No, we haven’t heard anything yet. They said they were making inquiries in her hometown.”

Imanishi felt his initial sadness return. As he left the medical examination center, he could not put the doctor’s words that the fetus had been a girl out of his mind. Imanishi could picture Emiko as a mother. When he had met her at his sister’s place, he couldn’t picture her as a bar hostess. He had seen only the unsophisticated innocence of a young woman. She had been polite and quiet.

Why had Emiko moved right after she had met Imanishi? Despite his sister’s protestations, Imanishi thought that it was because Emiko had found out that he was a police detective.

The way she had moved was not usual. Probably the man with the moving van was the man who had called Dr. Uesugi. No one knew what this man looked like. The employees at the moving company agreed that he was young, and the nurse at Uesugi Clinic also said that the voice on the telephone was young. Why did he phone the doctor about Emiko and then disappear? He acted just like a murderer even if it was clear from the autopsy that Emiko wasn’t murdered.

It was also a strange coincidence that the distance between the house in Soshigaya where Emiko had died and the lonely field where Miyata had died was not great. If measured in a straight line, these two locations were a little over a mile apart.

Miyata had died just before he was to meet with Imanishi. Emiko’s death had taken place when Imanishi was searching for her. Imanishi had been trailing both of them and now they were both dead.

The locations and the circumstances of these two deaths were too similar. But both seemed to have been from natural causes. Imanishi was deep in thought as he swayed with the motion of the streetcar. He took out his notebook. He looked at Emiko’s last words, the words Dr. Uesugi had said she’d spoken in delirium: “Stop it, please. Oh, no, no. I’m afraid something will happen to me. Stop it, please, stop, stop…”

To whom was she speaking? And what was she crying out to stop?

Three days later, Imanishi visited Nakamura Toyo, who lived in Nakameguro in a small house at the end of an alley. Her husband had passed away ten years ago, and now she lived with her son and his family. She had been hired by Sekigawa to look after his house during the day. Imanishi went to see her after nine o’clock at night.

“I’ve come from an inquiry agency,” Imanishi said to Nakamura Toyo when she came to the entryway. “I’d like to ask you about Sekigawa-san.”

“What kind of questions?” Nakamura Toyo looked at him in surprise.

“I understand that you go to his house every day to do the housekeeping?”

“Yes, I do. I’ve just now returned.”

“Actually, it’s about a marriage possibility.”

“What? A marriage?” Toyo’s face lit up with curiosity. “You mean a marriage for Sekigawa-s^n? What kind of proposal does he have?”

“I’m not at liberty to tell you. My clients have requested that it be kept strictly confidential. That’s why I’d like to ask you various questions about him.”

“Well, for a happy reason like that, I’d be glad to tell you everything I know.”

He could see the figures of her son and daughter-in-law in the sitting room that led off the entryway. “It might be a bit difficult here, so could I trouble you to go somewhere nearby with me? We could talk over a bite to eat.”

Taking off her apron and wrapping a shawl around her shoulders, Toyo followed Imanishi outside. There was a Chinese noodle shop two or three doors down on the main street.

“How about some won ton soup here?” Imanishi asked Toyo.

“That would be fine,” Toyo smiled.

The two of them opened the glass door to a store, which displayed a red paper lantern hung from its eaves. The shop was steamy inside. They sat at a corner table facing each other.

“Hey, two won tons.” Imanishi ordered and pulled out his cigarettes. “Please.”

It seemed Toyo liked to smoke. She nodded her head and took a cigarette. Imanishi lit it for her.

“It must be quite difficult for you,” Imanishi said, “working at the Sekigawa house from early morning until late at night.”

Toyo pursed her lips and exhaled. “Actually, it’s a rather carefree job for me. Sekigawa-san is single, as you know. And there’s no sense in me just sitting around at home. It lets me earn some spending money.”

“You’re lucky to have your health. I guess it’s probably better for our bodies if we work for as long as we can.”

“I agree. I haven’t been sick at all since I started going to work at Sekigawa-san’s.”

While chatting in this way, Imanishi was deciding how he would elicit the information he wanted.

After a while, the two soups were served.

“Please go ahead.”

“I won’t stand on ceremony.” Toyo gave a big smile and split a pair of chopsticks. She sipped the soup noisily, making appetizing sounds.

“Is Sekigawa-san a difficult person to work for?” Imanishi began.

“No, he’s not very difficult,” she answered as she ate. “Since there aren’t any other family members, it’s quite easy for me.”

“But don’t they say that most writers have difficult personalities?”

“Well, when he’s writing an article, he closets himself in his study and doesn’t allow me to enter it. That’s easier for me to deal with.”

“Does he leave his door closed while he’s working?”

“Yes. He doesn’t go as far as locking his door, but he closes it tight from the inside.”

“Is that for very long stretches of time? I mean, that he stays in his study?”

“It depends on the day. Sometimes he doesn’t come out for five or six hours.”

“How is the study set up?” Imanishi asked.

“It’s a Western-style room. It’s about the size of eight tatami mats. There’s a desk at the window that faces north. He also has a bed that he can sleep on, and there are bookcases lining the walls.”

If it were possible, Imanishi would have liked to see the study. However, his sense of ethics did not allow him to search a person’s house under a false identity. Unless they had a search warrant police officers were not allowed to enter a house without permission. Imanishi was already feeling somewhat guilty for having lied about being a private inquiry investigator, but this had been unavoidable. If he had told her that he was a police detective at the outset, Toyo would not have told him anything.

“What are the windows like in the house?” Imanishi asked.

“There are two windows on the north side and three on the south side. Also two on the west; on the east side is the front door.”

“I see.” Imanishi drew a mental diagram of the layout.

Toyo looked at Imanishi’s face quizzically as she chewed her won ton. “Is that kind of information necessary for an inquiry for marriage purposes?”

Imanishi was taken aback slightly. “Well, actually, um, after all, my client wishes to know how Sekigawa-san lives on a daily basis.”

“Is that so? I suppose the parents of a young woman would like to know the details about whom their daughter will marry.” Toyo nodded easily. “This what I gather,” she offered. “He’s quite a popular writer now, even though he’s so young. He’s actually quite busy. He once laughed and told me that his income was at about the level of a section chief if he were a regular company employee.”

“I see. He earns that much?”

“Yes, and he’s always working. He does a lot of extra jobs, like taking part in panel discussions for magazines and the radio. It’s all too complicated for me to understand, but my son tells me that he is a very popular young critic.”

“I’ve heard that as well.”

“So if he were to get married, his livelihood is very well assured.”

“I understand. My clients will be relieved to hear that. I’d like to have them feel at ease about another thing as well. Does he have girlfriends?”

“Well.” Toyo gulped down the soup. “He’s still young, and he’s not bad-looking, and he does have a good income and is famous. So it would be strange if he didn’t have a girlfriend, wouldn’t it?” Finishing the last of the soup, Toyo wiped her mouth with her handkerchief.

“So he does have a girlfriend?” Imanishi leaned forward.

“I think he does.”

“Doesn’t Sekigawa-san bring this woman to his house?”

“No, he’s never done that.”

“Then how do you know he has a girlfriend?”

“He gets telephone calls occasionally.”

“Have you listened to these calls?”

“There are two telephones, and the calls can be switched over to his study. I’ve heard calls that have come from her. She seems to be young and has a nice voice.”

“I see, and her name?”

“She never gives her name. She says Sekigawa-san will know who she is. That’s why I think she’s more than a casual acquaintance.”

“I see. And have there been calls recently from this woman?”

“No, I haven’t taken any. Now that you mention it, there haven’t been any for a while. Of course, these calls don’t come that often. I’d say, maybe two or three in a month’s time.”

“That’s not many at all. Have you ever heard Sekigawa-san talking on the phone with this woman?”

“No, I haven’t. He always takes those calls in his study.”

“But can’t you tell something from the way he behaves? For example, if they are on intimate terms, or if she is just a friend?”

“I think they must be on very intimate terms. But this is just my guess. I can’t be sure about it.”

“Is she the only woman who telephones him?”

“No, she’s not the only one. There are several others, but those seem to be work-related, and he talks to them in front of me. The only one he talks to in his study is that one woman. Of course, I don’t know about his previous relationships. Would this sort of thing hinder his marriage prospects?” Toyo began to worry.

“I’ll make sure that it’s presented to my client in the right way. His relationship with that woman is probably over.” Imanishi unthinkingly let this slip out.

“How do you know that?” Toyo asked, surprised.

“I just feel somehow that it is. Oh, yes, I’d like to ask you one more thing,” Imanishi said, as he drank his tea. “This month on the evening of the sixth, was Sekigawa-san at home, or was he out?”

“The sixth, you say. That’s five days ago. I wonder… After all, I leave his house at eight o’clock,” Toyo responded, “so I wouldn’t know about after that time. But I think on the sixth he went out about two hours before I left.”

“How can you be sure? Do you have that date, the sixth, fixed in your mind?”

“That day my daughter-in-law’s parents came for a visit. I remember because my son and his wife asked me to be home early that evening.”

“Ah, I see. Then Sekigawa-san had definitely left the house by six p.m. on the sixth?”

“Yes. Is that kind of information also necessary for your investigation?” Toyo became quite suspicious.

“No, there was just something I was concerned about, so I asked you. But it’s nothing, really. By the way,” Imanishi changed the subject, “you said that there was only one woman’s calls that Sekigawa-san takes in his study. You also said you didn’t know about his previous relationships.”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t there more than one woman whose calls he takes in his study? How about it?”

The woman thought for a bit. “Since we’re talking about an auspicious occasion like marriage, it probably wouldn’t be good for Sekigawa-san if I say anything that wouldn’t be advantageous.”

“No, please tell me everything without any hesitation. I’ll separate out what I think will be good to tell my client and what I should leave out.”

“You will? Actually, it’s just as you suspect,” she admitted. “But there haven’t been any calls from that woman for a while.”

“When was it that those calls stopped?” Imanishi asked.

“I’d say it’s been over a month.”

Imanishi heard this with a start. That was just about the time that Naruse Rieko had committed suicide. “Do you know what that woman’s name was?”

“I don’t know. She just asked to speak to Sekigawa-san. I think, though, that she was a bar hostess.”

“A bar hostess?” This was not the answer Imanishi had expected.

Toyo continued, “Her way of speaking was very common. And the words she used were quite rough.”

This did not fit. Why would Naruse Rieko have used such language? Yet the time frame fit. Imanishi reconsidered, thinking that the way Toyo had heard Rieko’s voice over the telephone might have misled her.

“You’re quite sure that the calls from that woman stopped about a month ago?”

“Yes. Recently, it’s just been the woman with the nice voice, as I said before.”

A silence fell over the table. Toyo stared at Imanishi while he appeared to be deep in thought.

“Does Sekigawa-san have friends over to his house to entertain them?” Imanishi resumed his questions.

“No, he doesn’t do that sort of thing. I don’t know why, but he seems to be the antisocial type. He hardly ever has any friends over. The only guests are editors from the magazines.”

“I see. But he must go out a lot. I suppose he often comes home late at night?”

Toyo responded, “I’m only there until eight o’clock, so I don’t know anything about after that time. But apparently he does come home late at night. The people in the neighborhood say they’ve heard the sound of a car stopping at about one o’clock in the morning.”

“He is young, after all. By the way, I’m changing the subject again, but do you know where he was born?”

“He really doesn’t tell me much about himself,” Toyo answered, a bit miffed. “Can’t you get that kind of information from his family register?”

“Yes, we can. I did get a copy of it. It lists Meguro in Tokyo as his registered domicile.”

“Tokyo, you say?” The woman thought for a bit. “I wonder. I don’t think he was born in Tokyo. I was born in downtown Tokyo, so I don’t know much about the countryside, but his accent isn’t that of a Tokyo native.”

“Then where do you think he’s from?”

“I can’t tell. It really says on his family register that his place of origin is Tokyo?”

“Yes, it does.” Imanishi already knew that Sekigawa had not been born in Tokyo. He had gone to the Meguro Ward office and had seen his family register, which had noted that the registered domicile had been transferred from elsewhere. “Thank you so much for your time.” Imanishi bowed politely to Toyo.

“Not at all. Thank you for the snack.”

Parting from her, Imanishi walked up the slope leading to the streetcar stop. The wind swirled dust around his feet. Imanishi walked away with his shoulders hunched and his head down.

Four days went by. Imanishi returned to police headquarters to find two letters on his desk. One was from the Yokote city hall, and the other from the Yokote police station. Imanishi opened the one from the city hall.

This is in response to your inquiry about Sekigawa Shigeo’s registered domicile.

In 1957, Sekigawa Shigeo transferred his registered domicile from Number 1361, Aza Yamauchi, Yokote City, to Number 1028, Kakinokizaka, Meguro Ward, Tokyo.

This confirmed the reported transfer of registered domicile recorded in the family register at the Meguro Ward office. Next he opened the one from the police station.

Regarding your inquiry, our response is as follows:

In investigating Number 1361, Aza Yamauchi, Yokote City, we ascertained that the residence is now owned and occupied by Yamada Shotaro (age 51), a distributor of agricultural machinery.

When we inquired of Yamada-san about Sekigawa Shigeo, and said person’s father Sekigawa Tetsutaro and mother Shigeko, he responded that he had no knowledge of these three persons.

According to Yamada-san, he came to this address, which was owned at that time by Sakurai Hideo, general goods merchant, in 1943, and he knows nothing about the previous owners or residents.

Investigating said Sakurai Hideo, we have found that he has moved to the Osaka area. Should you require further investigation regarding Sakurai Hideo, please contact him at Number xx, Sumiyoshi, Higashinari Ward, Osaka City.

Regarding the Sekigawa family, we inquired of several citizens, but found no one who knew of them, and thus terminated the investigation.

Imanishi Eitaro was disappointed. With this response, the investigation into Sekigawa Shigeo’s past in Yokote City, Akita Prefecture had reached a dead-end. Yet Imanishi made one more effort. The merchant Sakurai, who had moved to Osaka, might have known Sekigawa Shigeo’s father Tetsutaro. Imanishi determined to follow this thread as far as it would lead. He took out stationery and carbon paper and began to write yet another inquiry.

He had finished writing and was addressing the envelope when a young detective came over.

“Imanishi-san, a package has come for you.”

“Oh, thanks.”

The package was a thin rectangle. On the address label were the words “Imanishi Eitaro, c/o Homicide Division, Tokyo Metropolitan Police” and on the reverse side was printed “Kamedake Abacus Company, Nita Town, Nita County, Shimane Prefecture” with the name Kirihara Kojuro written in brush ink alongside.

Imanishi opened the package at once. Inside was an abacus in a case. On the cover of the case were the words “Unshu Specialty Kamedake Abacus.” Imanishi took out the abacus. It was a comfortable size. The frame was made of ebony, and the counter beads were slick and heavy. The entire piece had a shiny black gloss. Imanishi tested the counters with his fingers and found that they glided beautifully.

Kirihara Kojuro was the old gentleman Imanishi had met the previous summer when he went to Kamedake to hear the Izumo dialect. Imanishi had forgotten about Kirihara, but the old gentleman had not forgotten Imanishi. He had no idea why Kirihara had sent him such a gift at this time. There seemed to be no letter enclosed, so he could not be sure of the old man’s intentions. But as he was putting the abacus back into its case, a folded piece of paper fell out. Imanishi unfolded the letter. It was written in the old-fashioned, polite language of a bygone era.

My Dear Imanishi-san,

Greetings. I wonder how you have been faring since our meeting last summer. I have been keeping myself quiet in the mountains of Unshu, as usual. We have manufactured a new model of abacus at our factory. It is slightly smaller than previous abacuses, and has been redesigned with office use in mind. My son has given me one of the test models, and I hope that you will not consider it too impolite of me to present it to you. If it might remind you of your visit here this past summer, it would please me greatly.

The palm of the hand holding the abacus

feels the autumn village cold

Kojuro

Imanishi recalled the garden of the tearoom-style house in Kamedake. A haiku aficionado himself, Imanishi was touched by the old man’s letter.

He had gone all that distance and returned without accomplishing anything. But as a by-product, he had become acquainted with the old gentleman. He recalled the zu-zu dialect, which had been hard to understand and had been the cause of much confusion. Putting the Kamedake abacus carefully in his drawer, Imanishi rested his chin on his hand.

Sekigawa seemed to have been born in the Tohoku area, famous for its zu-zu dialect. As a child, Sekigawa Shigeo had been put in the care of Takada Tomijiro, who lived in Meguro. In Sekigawa’s school records, Takada was listed as a relative, but this was not noted in the family register. Checking to see if Takada Tomijiro was from the Tohoku region, Imanishi had found that his original registered domicile was Tokyo. Unlike Sekigawa’s, this was not a transferred registration. What was the connection between Takada Tomijiro, who had been born in Tokyo, and Sekigawa, who had been born in Yokote City, Akita Prefecture?

If only someone in Yokote had known Sekigawa’s father, he might be able to find out about this family. But the reply from the Yokote police station had betrayed that hope. The only remaining chance, and it was a slim one, was that Sakurai Hideo, who had lived in Sekigawa Tetsutaro’s house after him, knew something. He might provide a clue. Yet given the outcome of the investigation so far, Imanishi was not optimistic.