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

“In accordance with the local organized crime exclusion ordinance, we filed a cease-and-desist order signed by the precinct’s superintendent. I have not been informed of any further problems.”

“Well, just know that when something happens to any company, even if it’s not as large a corporation as Hinode Beer, various speculations both true and untrue emerge—like ants swarming after spilled sugar. The media companies are engaged in a fierce reporting battle as well. Of course, your company’s risk management is top-notch, so I’m sure there won’t be any leaks from the inside.”

An intimidation followed by a wisecrack. Shiroyama paid no attention to either.

“What do you think, Shiroyama-san? Didn’t something else happen other than what you have told us? A threat or blackmail regarding some specific matter—”

“No, there’s nothing.”

“You tell us nothing comes to mind at all, but from tens of thousands of publicly traded companies, the perpetrators have chosen Hinode Beer. If this were a kidnapping where the only objective was money, it could have been any one of the thirty-five board members based at your main office, but they came after you. If we are talking purely about accessibility, your circumstances make it especially difficult. To be honest, the other executives would have been much easier marks. However, the perpetrators took the risk of kidnapping you. Therefore, it’s reasonable to think—”

“I hear you, but nothing comes to mind.”

“Shiroyama-san. You must give the police an accurate account of everything that happened.”

“I told you everything I can remember.”

“It would be a different story if a child had been kidnapped. But when a grown man comes back from a kidnapping unharmed and he cannot give us a single detail to paint a clearer picture of the perpetrators, no one, I assure you—not the police, not the public—will be satisfied. And even though you were taken from in front of your own home by force and kept in confinement for fifty-six hours, you returned alone and with nary a scratch. Besides that, the perpetrators made sure to outfit you with body warming patches when they released you so that you wouldn’t freeze to death. If you don’t start talking, both you and Hinode Beer could be subject to an excessive amount of scrutiny.”

“What do you mean by scrutiny?”

“Maybe you made some kind of a deal with the perpetrators. Or maybe you planned and staged the whole kidnapping yourself. That kind of thing.”

Immediately after Shiroyama had gone into the fire department for help, he had become acutely aware that such suspicions might arise, and by the time he was back in Tokyo, he was already surrounded by disbelieving eyes on all sides. Thinking back, it was almost eerie how the perpetrators had never laid a hand on him. But those same men—the ones who had explained their financial demands and instructed him as to how he should respond to the police’s questioning—must have also obviously known beforehand what kind of public reaction would be triggered once their actions and the instructions they had given him came to light. The entire abduction, confinement, and release must have been the result of their careful calculation of the predicament in which the victim and the corporation would then find themselves. Realizing this, Shiroyama had no doubt that even sitting here now, he was still a pawn in the hands of the perpetrators. Nevertheless, he wondered what other options had really been feasible.

“I for one would like to see these criminals arrested, but I cannot tell you what did not happen.”

“I see . . . Then, what do you make of this case?” One of the investigators pulled a sheet of paper from a manila envelope and handed it to him. Shiroyama’s eyes beheld the words letter of complaint at the top, followed by the claimant’s address and the name hinode beer company, and finally the date november 13, 1990, at the end of the letter. That was enough.

When he looked up, his eyes met the watchful gazes of the investigators.

“I understand your company filed this complaint against the accused, who had sent a defamatory cassette tape addressed to your company. The complaint itself was withdrawn on November twentieth, but how did that come about?”

The question came so abruptly that Shiroyama had to pretend to look down at the letter once more. The text typed out on a word processer blurred before his eyes.

“I’m aware of this case but—”

“As president of the company, when and how did you hear about the cassette tape?”

“I wrote down the exact date in my journal. But I can’t recall it now. Before work started that day, the human resources manager at the time—Tsukamoto—and the vice president with whom Tsukamoto had consulted—Shirai—came into my office. They informed me they had received such a tape and wanted to discuss how it should be handled . . . That’s what I remember.”

“Did you listen to the tape?”

“At the time they handed me a transcript of the tape, but there was so much text I remember not having sufficient time to read it thoroughly.”

“Then who made the decision to file a complaint?”

“I think Shirai suggested it and I approved it. Tsukamoto had informed me that before they received the tape, two slanderous letters from what appeared to be the same person who had sent the tape had been delivered to the office.”

“Why wasn’t the matter brought before the board of directors?”

“The matter didn’t call for it. Ordinarily human resources should have settled it on their own.”

“But the contents of both the letters and the tape, which compelled you to file the complaint, were quite delicate.”

“The contents of the tape were not what mattered. I believe we determined at that point in time that simply receiving letters written under an assumed name and a cryptic tape from an unidentified sender was a problem in and of itself.”

“I heard the same from Tsukamoto-san himself, but on October tenth, 1990, wasn’t there a student named Takayuki Hatano who left in the middle of an interview with your company? Following