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

one lie upon another, it was a wonder that a part of his mind was able to remain so coolly detached.

How did he feel, now, about the actions taken by the perpetrators? There was no room for doubt about the intention behind their cash demand. What was more, the reasons they had chosen him—the president of Hinode—as well as why they let him go and what they intended to do hereafter, were all so simple and clear that there was no choice but to accept them. Thus cornered, all that was left for him to do was to focus on figuring out how to respond, but he could not reveal any of this to the police.

“For now, I’m just thankful that I made it back in one piece. I haven’t yet had the wherewithal to analyze the perpetrators’ actions,” Shiroyama responded.

“I see.” The investigator gave a perfunctory nod, then immediately threw out a fresh feeler. “And yet if the motive for the crime is money, then it must be said that this crime group’s actions are extremely peculiar. Even though they left a note claiming ‘We have your president,’ during the fifty-six hours of confinement they made no contact with your family or company. On the other hand, they made their demand for six hundred million clear to you. What’s more, they said they would get in touch later before letting you—their hostage—go. I’m sure you understand, but in the same way that blackmail requires incriminating material, a demand for ransom cannot occur without a hostage . . .” The investigator said this much and, quite inexplicably, he looked at Shiroyama with what could have been construed as either a smirk or a wry smile.

Shiroyama, contemplating how this superficial affect was identical to the pervading mood when he entertained bureaucrats, was convinced that this procedure was indeed a waste of time, an unproductive formality in which neither party could reveal their true intentions, so he merely responded with, “I can understand.”

“But again, seeing as the perpetrators told you they would be in touch, we have no choice but to assume that their demand still stands. If, going forward, this crime group actually makes a demand for cash without there being a hostage, that would mean they didn’t need a hostage in the first place. And if that’s the case, why did they take the risk of kidnapping you at all? I can’t get my head around it.” The investigator searched Shiroyama’s eyes again, and Shiroyama responded with silence.

“Shiroyama-san. What I’m trying to say is that your story’s inconsistent. From the way they kidnapped you and held you captive to their process of letting you go, this crime seems premeditated from start to finish. During the fifty-six hours of confinement, you never detected the third man in the group coming and going from the hideout, and there was no cell phone reception at the hideout due to interference from a magnetic field. If there was no contact from outside to the two men who were watching you, we can only assume that your release was also executed as planned. So if, having released their hostage, the perpetrators are still demanding six hundred million, well, to be honest with you, there’s no way for us to grasp their true intentions—”

“The perpetrators definitely told me they would get in touch about how the money should be delivered.”

“That’s precisely the point. If the perpetrators are after a ransom, it’s reasonable to think that they must have some kind of business with you, the one they kidnapped in order to extract that money. To speak frankly, isn’t there something that you still haven’t told us?”

“I believe I’ve told you everything I can remember.”

“I hesitate to bring this up, but do you have any personal problems that you would rather not be made public? Women troubles or financial issues perhaps . . .”

“There’s no reason for me personally to be extorted.”

“It could be a problem within your family. Or some trouble at the company, over the course of the thirty-six years you’ve worked there—”

“No, nothing.”

“Around the time of the election for the Lower House of the Diet in ’92, an employee at your Hiroshima factory was forced to resign by the company, which cited a breach of employee regulations. It seems there was significant backlash from a certain religious organization following the dismissal.”

Shiroyama was surprised anew. Trying to recall the details about an event of which he had no memory felt like extricating a sheet of memo paper from a mountain of junk, and he shook his head. He realized that former employees or others in the periphery who had learned about the incident in the media must have gone to the police, and the sheer breadth of the incident’s direct and indirect influence sent a fresh chill up his spine.

“In ’93, at your Nagoya branch, wasn’t there a case in which the manager from the second sales division, forty years old at the time, caused an accident while driving a company car? The male victim was a member of a large crime syndicate.”

“I’m aware of that case but—”

“Following the accident, the amount that the insurance company had paid out by the end of last year was around thirty million yen, including full coverage of two years’ worth of medical treatment costs and compensation for temporary disability as well as three million in property damage to the victim’s foreign car. Your company paid him five million in consolation funds. For a mere whiplash injury, one must admit this is an exceptionally large sum, but word has it that your company actually paid closer to ten million in compensation.”

“I understand that we dealt with the aftermath of the accident appropriately after consulting with the prefectural police chief.”

“According to what I confirmed with a person at your company named Ide, manager of general affairs, there were numerous instances of harassment against the company by the syndicate to which the victim belonged regarding the construction of Hinode’s new factory