Occupied City (23 page)

The four persons said to be victims of his acts have identified him and this has brought hope to the long-harassed police that these cases may lead to the murder case. For it appears that there was some extremely pressing need for Hirasawa to obtain at least ¥100,000 and thus might have made him desperate enough not to stop at murder. Another point about these charges is that they invariably have to do with banks
.

The police still cannot say as yet whether they believe Hirasawa to be the Teikoku Bank murderer but the attempted swindles, with one connected with a branch of the
Teikoku Bank, place him under the case will be continued with heavy suspicion. Investigation on Hirasawa held on the four charges
.

Authorities Still Pinning High Hopes of Linking Artist with Bank Case

TOKYO, Sept
. 5 –
The Tokyo District Public Procurator’s Office Friday prosecuted Hirasawa Sadamichi, water-colour artist and the latest suspect in the Teikoku Bank holdup-murder case, for falsification of private documents and fraud to which he has confessed, as the period for its investigation of the man as a Teigin murder suspect expired
.

The procuratorial authorities, who are said to be 80 per cent confident that Hirasawa is the Teigin murderer, will continue to investigate his suspected crime after his prosecution for other crimes, it was learned
.

The Yomiuri has also learned that the procuratorial authorities have decided to have the handwriting endorsing a cheque, the only clue to the bank murderer, studied by experts to determine whether the handwriting is not that of Hirasawa
.

A number of people who saw the bank murderer have had a look at Hirasawa but most of them are not sure that he is the murderer
.

On Friday Hirasawa had his hair cropped before a photograph was taken of him. Three officers in charge of the case were dumb-struck at the sight of Hirasawa with his hair cut. They said that the man now answered the description of the murderer
.

Is Hirasawa Sadamichi the actual culprit who perpetrated the diabolic Teikoku Bank mass poisoning murder?

On the left is the hypothetical drawing of the murderer made immediately after the murders on the basis of the description given by the eye-witness survivors
.

On the right is a photo just taken at the special investigation room of the Metropolitan Police Board of Hirasawa with his hair cropped close
.

Teigin Suspect Found to Have Made Big Deposits Under Assumed Names

TOKYO, Sept
. 9 –
Police efforts to trace the source of a large amount of questionable money acquired by Hirasawa Sadamichi have led to a fresh exposure that the latest Teigin suspect deposited a sum of ¥80,000 with the Hongoku-cho branch of the Bank of Tokyo three days after the Teikoku Bank ‘poison holdup case’
.

The latest discovery showed thereby that the water-colour artist, who is known to have had no steady income about that time, opened two deposits under assumed names shortly following the Teigin crime
.

Meanwhile, handwriting experts studying Hirasawa’s handwriting with that on a money order which is believed to have been used by the Teigin criminal, said that there was some likeness between them but declined to give a decisive answer pending a further check-up
.

A fresh slant relative to Hirasawa’s suspected use of potassium cyanide in the Teikoku Bank case was also offered to the police on Monday when a conference of scientific experts clarified that the Teigin criminal did not have to possess expert knowledge in the use of the poison. This has stirred police to make a renewed effort to trace how and where Hirasawa may have possibly obtained the poison
.

Presence of Cyanide in Tempera May Pin Teigin Suspect

TOKYO, Sept. 14 – Police who have been trying hard to establish whether latest Teigin suspect Hirasawa Sadamichi ever possessed or knew anything about potassium cyanide are now believed to have unearthed positive evidence that the 57-year-old artist had frequently used the lethal poison in mixing colour for his tempera paintings
.

Investigators working on the case are said to have found that Hirasawa frequently used potassium cyanide with copper materials and coins to produce light green colour for his tempera paintings. He is said to have neutralized green colour obtained from such a mixing with the white of eggs
.

Furthermore, in producing light green colour, Hirasawa is reported to have used a small syringe similar to the one which the Teigin criminal is said to have used in perpetrating the diabolic crime
.

Police efforts to ferret out conclusive evidence that Hirasawa
committed the diabolic ‘poison holdup case’ have now entered the fourth week of investigation with the question of Hirasawa’s guilt still unsolved
.

However, in the course of these past investigations, investigators have uncovered a wealth of other circumstantial and puzzling information, strengthening suspicion against Hirasawa in the Teigin case and proving that Hirasawa, at any rate, has been guilty of numerous cases of fraud
.

Teikoku Bank Suspect Is Alleged to Have Used Drugs in Treatment

TOKYO, Sept. 15 – Police authorities investigating latest Teikoku Bank suspect Hirasawa Sadamichi have come across information that the latter personally administered illegal abortion to more than 10 women, the Yomiuri learned.

This information is said to have been tendered to the police by a certain artist and another unnamed person, both of whom are well-acquainted with Hirasawa. The artist friend is alleged to have revealed that Hirasawa personally brought about more than 10 cases of abortion in Hokkaido by claiming knowledge of a method for inducing abortion through physical pressure. The other person is reported to have told the police that Hirasawa induced abortion by the use of drugs
.

Should these allegations prove true, Hirasawa is liable to further indictment on the charge of violating medical practice
.

Furthermore, it is said Hirasawa’s alleged use of drugs may lead to shedding important light on his believed employment of potassium cyanide in the Teigin case
.

New Poison Angle Found; Will It Finally Lead To Hirasawa?

TOKYO, Sept. 20 – Police authorities who have been striving for some time without success to definitely link latest Teigin suspect Hirasawa Sadamichi with the Teikoku Bank case are reported to have turned up a new poison angle involving the daughter of his mistress
.

It has become known that Hirasawa obtained some potassium cyanide from Miss Kamata Michiko, 25-year-old daughter of his mistress, shortly after the end of the war
.

Miss Kamata is said to have told the police that this came about through her acquisition of some potassium cyanide while working as a typist for a firm in Tokyo during the war and shortly thereafter
.

About this time, she said that Hirasawa frequently came to see her mother and is believed to have walked off with her potassium cyanide after she had shown it to him
.

Meanwhile, authorities were said to be investigating other phases of the poisoning case, such as Hirasawa’s possible acquisition of potassium cyanide while working as a member of the special painting material research centre of the Kisarazu airfield during the war
.

Declare Teigin Suspect Is On The Point Of Making Vital Confession

TOKYO, Sept. 26 – Teigin suspect Hirasawa Sadamichi is believed to have been driven to the verge of making a vital confession at any time as a sequel to renewed, detailed police questioning relative to fresh incriminating evidence that has turned up concerning his possession of a large amount of questionable money shortly following the Teikoku Bank ‘poison holdup case’
.

Chief Fujita of the Detective Section, Metropolitan Police Board, commenting on the progress of the latest investigation, said that it may lead the 57-year-old artist finally to come forth with a vital confession
.

‘At any rate, the investigation has reached a highly important stage,’ he said, adding that if such a confession should be made the press would speedily be informed
.

Hirasawa Admits He Administered Poison to Bank Workers; ‘I Confessed My Guilt On Own Free Will,’ Says Hirasawa; Family Stands By Him

IN THE FICTIONAL CITY, again and again I knock on her door, until she says from behind the door, ‘Who is it?’

‘It’s me,’ I say. ‘It’s Takeuchi.’

‘What do you want?’

‘He’s confessed,’ I tell her. ‘Hirasawa has confessed!’

The lock turns. The door opens. Murata Masako stares at me. Murata Masako says, ‘But it wasn’t him. I know it wasn’t him.’

‘But it was him,’ I tell her. ‘He’s confessed everything, says he made the unsuccessful attempts to poison and rob the employees at Ebara and Nakai, that he did what he did at the Teikoku Bank for money, that he needed the money for his tempera paintings and for family reasons, and that it was him and him alone …’

‘I don’t believe it,’ she says. ‘I can’t.’

‘Well, you should and you must…’

‘Why?’ she asks. ‘Why must I?’

I step forward into her
genkan
. I take her hand in mine. I say, ‘Because it means it’s over, it’s finished now. You don’t have to be afraid any more, you can forget it, forget him. You can move on now, you can start a new life. We can start…’

‘We?’
she laughs. ‘We? Us?’

‘Yes,’ I say. ‘Together …’

‘Are you asking me to marry you?’ she whispers.

‘Yes,’ I say. ‘I’m asking you to marry me.’

‘As a reporter,’ she says. ‘Or as a …’

‘As a man,’ I say. ‘I’m going to quit my job …’

‘You’re going to quit your job? Really?’

‘You don’t believe me?’ I ask her.

In the Fictional City, in the
genkan
to her house, Miss Murata Masako stares at me, Miss Murata Masako stares at me and says, ‘I don’t know what to believe any more …’

‘Believe me,’ I say. ‘Please …’

‘I’m not sure I can …’

‘Then pretend,’ I say. ‘Let’s both pretend …’

IN THE FICTIONAL CITY, I walk her streets and I hear her stories, but I’ve had enough of her streets and enough of her stories, her telephones and her voices, her wires and her cables, her alleyways and her back rooms, all her times and all her places –

‘I just want to know who did it…’

The man slowly folds up the newspaper. He takes off his glasses. He puts the glasses in the breast pocket of his jacket. He sits forward in his chair. He looks up at me and he says, ‘But why?’

‘For me,’ I say. ‘Not for a story, not for the paper.’

The man smiles and says, ‘What difference would it make? They’ve got their man and you’ve got your story …’

‘I don’t want any more stories,’ I tell him.

The man laughs, ‘No more stories? Bit late for that, isn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ I say. ‘But no more stories, please …’

IN THE FICTIONAL CITY, I stand before my editor’s desk –

‘Ah, Takeuchi,’ says Ono. ‘You still here?’

‘Well, not for much longer,’ I say. ‘But I just wanted to say goodbye and also to thank you for all you have done for me.’

‘So you’ve not changed your mind, then?’ asks Ono. ‘Never too late to change your mind, you know …’

‘No,’ I say.

‘Well then, I’m sorry to lose you,’ says Ono. ‘I had high hopes for you, very high hopes for you.’

‘Thank you,’ I say.

‘No, don’t thank me,’ says Ono. ‘It’s probably all for the best. I always told you, in this business there’s no room for doubters, no room for quitters. Don’t get me wrong, I thought you had potential, thought you had a future. But if this business is not for you, it’s not for you. So what is for you? What now, what next, Takeuchi?’

‘The Japan Advertising and Telegraph Service.’

‘Advertising?’ laughs Ono now.

‘Yes,’ I say. ‘Copywriting.’

‘Well, I hope you’ve got a good imagination …’

IN THE FICTIONAL CITY, it is November 1948, and the headlines on today’s newspaper, my old newspaper, all the newspapers read:

In a hotel room full of journalists and policemen, of survivors and witnesses, we are sitting side by side on a stage in our wedding costumes, Masako with her eyes closed, tight –

In the Fictional City, I whisper –

‘Let’s pretend …’

IN THE FICTIONAL CITY, let’s pretend that an innocent man is guilty, that he deserves to be convicted and sentenced to death, and that the police conducted a proper and thorough investigation, let’s
pretend that the Government and GHQ did not conspire to pervert the course of justice, that the newspapers and their reporters were not complicit in their stories, and that everything we read is true –

In this city made of paper, this city made of print –

In this Fictional City, let’s pretend …

Beneath the Black Gate
, in its upper chamber, among the flurries and the flakes, the paper flurries of paper flakes, these black and white flurries of news-paper flakes, this former Master of Insincerities, former Master of Lies, he looks up from the damp floor of the occult circle and now he whispers, ‘Let’s pretend that this city is not a story, not a fiction, not made of paper, not made of print…

‘Let’s pretend that we are not just your stories, not just your fictions, that we are not made of paper, not made of print…