Lady Joker, Volume 1 by Kaoru Takamura (lightest ebook reader .txt) 📕

“We don’t have an understanding at this time.”

During this entire exchange, Director Teraoka kept his eyes downcast. Kubo sympathized with him—it was a natural reaction after suddenly learning that the victim had been rescued in another prefecture after all this time with barely any developments since the incident occurred—and yet, nothing of any import was yet clear. He couldn’t write an article with this.

“Will the fact that there has been no ransom demand impact the direction of the ongoing investigation?” Kubo threw out his question.

“At this time, we have not reached such a decision.” This was their brusque response.

“An abduction and unlawful confinement without a ransom makes no sense! You must be hiding something!”

“No, we are not. That’s all we can say.”

“When and where will you be interviewing Mr. Shiroyama about what happened?” came the angry shout from one of the reporters from a commercial broadcasting company.

“We haven’t decided. First Mr. Shiroyama will receive a medical examination at the Fujiyoshida Police Department, then after determining whether he is well enough to travel to Tokyo, we will decide on the place and time.”

“When will that be announced?!”

合田雄一郎　Yuichiro Goda

Half an hour earlier, at 6:28 a.m., the police phone in Special Investigation headquarters had rung and the switchboard had connected them with the Yamanashi Prefectural Police, who informed them that the victim had been located and taken into custody. The seventy or so investigators who had been dozing here and there assembled in the conference room at once for a verbal briefing on the contents of the report from the prefectural police. Then, six members from Crime Scene and from Search were swiftly redirected to the on-scene investigation, along with the four members from SIT, who had been ordered to rush to the scene. Meanwhile, those from the Victim Assistance Team busied themselves with contacting Hinode’s main office and the team on standby at the scene, but there were no new orders for the Evidence Investigation Squad. Now that the victim was in protective custody, there were still a few hours before they would be able to take his formal statement, and the emergence of evidence, if any, would come later.

As the conference room began buzzing all at once, Yuichiro Goda stepped out and went to the lavatory on the third floor. The moment he heard that the victim had been found, his feet almost took off running without thinking, but the part of him that had instinctively reined himself back in had now taken control. Goda cleared his mind of all distractions as he carefully shaved with a disposable razor, and after washing his face twice with soap, he rolled his sleeves back down. He had gauchely been wearing the same shirt since Friday night, and the cuffs were a bit dirty.

As he left the lavatory, he ran into his colleague Inspector Anzai, whom he had not seen in three days and, with a bit of hesitation, Goda asked, “Find anything?” At the investigation meeting, there had been no mention whatsoever of corporate intrigue or extortion, and those on the fringes had no idea what was happening to the network surrounding Hinode. Frankly, Goda wanted to take anyone involved in investigating those areas, turn them upside down, and shake them until they gave up a clue.

“I’m looking into the National Tax Agency’s audit files,” Anzai whispered with a wry smile. “No doubt the MPD has a huge amount of information. Haven’t hit any jackpots so far, though.”

“You mean they haven’t found any problematic expenditures?”

“Hinode’s probably using some subsidiary or affiliate company that isn’t directly tied to them, or even an overseas corporation, to deal with their accounts. If that’s the case, we’ll never find anything.”

“I know there were a number of rumors about Hinode’s ties to the Okada Association during the incident with Ogura Transport and Chunichi Mutual Bank, and also back when Mainichi Beer was exposed.”

“There’re no leads on Hinode. I’ve heard that at their company, instead of going through their general affairs division, one of the executives is the personal point of contact with Okada. Of course the whole company’s in on it, but their finances check out completely, so as long as there are no internal leaks or whistle-blowers, nothing will come up.”

“Is there any speculation that trouble has been brewing between Hinode and Okada?”

“Even if there were, the company would never say so. Besides, word is that this abduction and unlawful confinement case has nothing to do with that particular channel.”

“It’s not tied up with extortionists?”

“At the very least, they say that the twenty-five crime groups in the Kantō area as well as the seven in Kansai are in the clear. According to what I heard from Fourth Investigation, yesterday the chairman of the Seiwakai sent out a letter of inquiry to the trustees of the Kantō syndicate Hatsuka-kai to determine whether any of them are involved. Then again, that could also be a strategic move on their part.”

“You don’t say . . .”

“The point is nobody’s got a clue so far. Don’t tell anyone I told you.” With that, Anzai disappeared into the bathroom. Goda had been the one who had asked, but he couldn’t help but wonder if Anzai’s vigilance had been dulled by dealing with run-of-the-mill white-collar crime for so many years. At a Special Investigation headquarters where confidentiality was paramount, his loose tongue could be dangerous. Goda calmly concluded then and there that it would be unwise to tap this guy for further information. Nevertheless, he was intrigued to learn that the underworld was not involved in the incident.

When he returned to the conference room, the seven o’clock news on the NHK had started, and people had formed a circle in front of the television. Goda craned his neck from the back of the crowd. On the screen, a photo of the victim appeared behind the news anchor, who was rapidly reading aloud from a script. The victim had the features of an obviously genteel upper-middle-aged man, but