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

by landline that we’ve found a note. If they have any messages for us, come here to let me know. Try to make as little noise as possible when coming and going.”

Officer Sawaguchi gave a brief assent, and then opened the front gate and rushed off. Goda held his hand against the gate so that it would not make another loud clang as it automatically closed, but the cast iron still shuddered heavily. With the exception of the branches above his head rustling in the cold wind, there was not a single sound coming from the surrounding alleys and houses.

Now alone, Goda took out his tape measure and quickly determined the distance from the spot where he had retrieved the note to the front gate, then wrote it down in his notebook. He would not be the one to write up the investigative report; he was merely doing what any detective first to arrive at the scene would do. However, as he went through these motions, he had the feeling—one that he hadn’t experienced in a long while—of scrambling around in the cold depths on his own, and he was forced to recognize that a terrible incident had occurred.

The time was 11:21 p.m. Seventy-six minutes had passed since the incident was assumed to have taken place. It was too late to issue an emergency deployment.

With the note in hand, Goda went back in through the front door. He held up the crumpled paper to show the president’s wife and son, who had planted themselves on the wooden ledge of the raised entranceway platform. “I found this out in the yard. I’m sorry, but please refrain from touching it.”

They both blinked vacantly and then, unable to utter a word, they each looked away quickly.

“Mom, we don’t know anything yet so don’t worry. I’m going to call Shoko.”

Mitsuaki reached for the cell phone, and Goda called out to him, “Please make sure this stays within your family.”

“I know,” Mitsuaki replied with irritation. Then he started to dial his sister.

The president’s wife drooped her shoulders forlornly. Seeming not to know what kind of expression she should be wearing at a time like this, she put on the faintest smile and began to murmur, almost to herself, “My husband, he always says that if something were to happen to him it would cause trouble for other people, so he is rather vigilant about his own safety and yet . . . He’s so concerned with everyone around him, he didn’t want to alarm the neighbors, so since the beginning of the year he has refused the bodyguard that his company had hired for him. I have no idea what we should do . . . And next week is the shareholders’ meeting, too. I’m sure he is out there somewhere now, worrying about the company. He’d been in such a good mood lately, what with orders for the new product coming in so well. Just this morning, as he went off to work, he was telling me that as long as the shareholders’ meeting goes well, he would finally be able to take a break.”

“Does your husband have any chronic illnesses?” Goda asked.

“No, not really.”

“So he is in good health?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t say he’s particularly energetic, but he’s fine.”

No chronic illness. Good health. Goda wrote in his notebook.

11:30 p.m. The intercom buzzed, and when Goda stuck his head out the front door, he saw two men wearing jeans and sneakers outside the front gate. Goda stepped out and opened the gate, letting the two of them in.

Both were young police officers in their twenties; their names were Izawa and Konno. It had been barely six months since they were transferred from Community Police Affairs to CID, so for these rookie detectives, no doubt this situation made their heads spin, and both of them appeared tense. Goda intended to teach them everything from scratch, and he looked the two young men squarely in the eyes.

“Now listen. No matter the circumstances, always put the safety of the victim first. This requires strict confidentiality. Unless instructed from the top, no matter what anyone asks, play dumb and say you’ve got nothing, haven’t heard anything.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Until the Mobile CI Unit gets here, you guys control traffic. Izawa, you’re in charge of the corner of that T-intersection. Konno, you get the corner of the other T-intersection. Confirm the name and address of any passerby and don’t let anyone through other than residents returning home. Same for cars. Be especially on the lookout for newspaper journalists and TV reporters. All right, get to it.”

Goda watched the two men dart out on either side to the T-intersections about seventy meters apart, and he gently closed the gate so as not to make a sound. 11:32 p.m.

He went back inside and confirmed with the wife and son, who were still sitting by the front door, that they had not received any suspicious calls to the house. “It’s getting cold, please wait in the living room,” Goda told them.

Goda had barely finished his sentence when Mitsuaki cried out, “It’s already been an hour and a half! Hurry up and find my father!” and buried his head in his hands.

Goda surmised that by now the perpetrators who had abducted the victim would have already fled to a neighboring prefecture, rather than staying within the city limits where the police hunt could easily reach them. What was more, it was customary for the police to wait until the victim was safely in protective custody before launching a formal investigation, which may have seemed contrary to the family’s wish for a speedy implementation. The victim being who he was, Goda predicted that the heads of MPD would be even more cautious than usual going forward.

Contemplating his own lack of agency both in the present and the future, Goda’s gaze dropped to his feet. As a precinct detective, he did not have the authority to move things from the right to the left. Once the investigation started,