The Tokyo Zodiac Murders (19 page)

“Well,
you
have been lucky. If I wasn't here, those people would have called an ambulance.”

“It was just a little pin, Kazumi! And I found it! I pulled out the pin, and WHAM, everything fell into place! What a great magician! Such a simple trick! In fact, it was so simple, we never thought of it… ridiculously simple. What have I been doing? I've been like a mole digging for a radish from the opposite side of the earth… Say something, Kazumi! Laugh at me. Please, everyone, laugh at me! I want the world to laugh at me. I'm so stupid. How could I have been so blind? Any kid would have seen it. Now, I must hurry. What time is it?”

“What?”

“I asked you the time. Aren't you wearing a watch?”

“It's eleven…”

“God! What time's the last bullet train to Tokyo?”

“Er… 8.29, I think…”

“Right, I'll catch that one. Could you wait for me at Emoto's apartment? I'll call you later. So long!” He began to walk away.

“Wait, wait! Where are you going?”

“To meet the killer, of course!”

I was stunned. “Are you crazy? You don't even know where he is, but you're still working on it?”

“It'll take a while, but don't worry. It'll be done by the evening.”

I had been on Kiyoshi's roller coaster all morning, and I felt like I was about to faint. “You don't know what you're doing, Kiyoshi,” I said. “We're not talking about going to a lost-and-found office. What do we do about Yoshida? Aren't we going to meet him?”

“Yoshida who? Who is he? Oh yes, you mentioned him. No, no, there's no need to see him.”

“But why not?” I said, my voice raised.

“Because he isn't the murderer.”

“How do you know?”

“Don't you understand? Because now I know who did it!”

“Wait! You can't be serious?”

Kiyoshi turned the corner and disappeared.

I stood there helpless and exhausted.

What did I do to deserve such a friend? If this is fate, I must have done something very bad in my previous life
.

Now that I was alone again, I had to make a decision. Should I go to see Yoshida? Kiyoshi had said to forget him, but did he really know more than I did?

Ridiculously simple? A ridiculously simple case? What is so ridiculously simple in this case? There has never been a case so ridiculously complicated! Even a kid could see it? Even a kid could see he's mad…

Suppose Kiyoshi had suddenly seen the light, could he possibly find the killer by the evening?

People have been trying to solve this case for forty years—forty years!—and Kyoshi is just going off to find the killer like finding an umbrella he left at a phone booth five minutes ago. If I'm wrong, I'll walk all around Kyoto on my hands…

Kiyoshi could not possibly have obtained any more information than I had. He'd been lying on that bench, starving himself. He hadn't met Yoshida and he hadn't met Umeda. And now, he was saying he knew who did it.

How dare he say that!

I was supposed to wait for his call at Emoto's apartment. That meant he expected me to do nothing and trust that he knew what he was doing.

He surely didn't know what he was doing just a few minutes ago. But what if he needs my help? What should I do? What about my intuition?

My intuition, finally, was to put all my doubts aside and try to figure out how Kiyoshi was going to solve the mystery. What had triggered this sudden realization? It had happened when he saw my taped-up thousand-yen bill. I pulled out my wallet, and looked at it. Nothing was odd about it; there was just a piece of tape on it where it had been torn. What could he have discovered from that? The tape was on both sides of the bill; Kiyoshi had just looked at the front.

What's on the front? Anything written?… Nope. Everything looks legitimate. The face of the legendary statesman Hirobumi Ito. Something about his name? Can't be. Something about it being a one-thousand yen bill? Could be. Frankly, I don't have a clue. Try again: a one-thousand-yen bill means money, financial
matters
. A fight over money—OK, but that's nothing new. Maybe it's—what did he call it?—forgery! Something faked, something counterfeit. Yes! Maybe the murders were faked. Maybe they were a decoy, drawing attention away from some other crime? Nope, that makes no sense either. What other crime, anyway? He said that the bill could be faked if opaque tape were used, but usually it was a ten-thousand-yen bill, not a one-thousand-yen one. So, the higher the denomination the better? That means hundred-thousand-yen bills, if they existed, would be better than ten-thousand-yen bills. But what's the point about opaque tape? Counterfeiters print fake money. They don't put tape on existing bills… Ah, I don't understand!

I gave up trying to figure Kiyoshi out. I would wait for him at Emoto's apartment as he requested. Exhaustion was one reason. Not knowing what else to do was another. I just didn't want that fine line between a madman and a genius to get blurred.

Gentle Reader,

Unusual as it may be for the author to intrude into the proceedings like this, there is something I should like to say at this point.

All of the information required to solve the mystery is now in your hands, and, in fact, the crucial hint has been provided already. I wonder if you noticed it? My greatest fear is that I might already have told you too much about the case! But I dared to do that both for the sake of fairness of the game, and, of course, to provide you with a little help.

Let me throw down the gauntlet: I challenge you to solve the mystery before the final chapters!

And I wish you luck.

Yours sincerely,

Soji Shimada

I decided not to think about the case any more. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to sit still waiting for Kiyoshi’s call and I’d run out to see Yoshida. I needed to be where Kiyoshi could reach me, but how was I going to kill the time?

Back at Emoto’s apartment, I ate lunch as slowly as I could. I placed the telephone close to me and lay down on the floor. I was still uncomfortable about waiting, but I was determined to cheer myself up. At least my best friend had risen from the grave, regained his positive attitude and was on the move again. Twenty minutes later, the telephone rang. It was much too soon to be Kiyoshi. “Hello, you’ve reached Emoto,” I answered.

“I don’t believe it! It sounds to me like I’ve reached Ishioka!” It was Kiyoshi.

“Is that you? What’s up? Where are you?”

“I’m in Arashiyama.”

“Great. That’s where I saw the cherry blossoms, which you weren’t interested in at all. How’s the brainwork going?”

“Better than ever!” he said, sounding buoyant. “You know Togetsu-kyo, the long wooden bridge? Well, there’s a telephone booth near it in the shape of a shrine.”

“Yes, I know it.”

“Well, that’s where I’m calling you from. Across the street, there’s a teahouse by the name of Kotogiki Chaya. Their rice
cakes are excellent—no sweet beans inside. Come and join us. I’d like you to meet someone.”

“Sure. But who is it?”

“You’ll see. Just come!” It was typical Kiyoshi again—which I reckoned I should be glad about.

“Is this a social thing? Are you just killing time? Have you forgotten about the murderer?”

“Oh, no. You’ll really want to meet this person. And if you don’t, I guarantee you’ll never forgive me. So hurry up and get over here! She is very famous and very busy. She won’t be able to stay long.”

“Is she a movie star or something?”

“Hmm, that’s right, yes, a star—a very big star. Hey, the sky’s clouding over. Looks like rain. Bring an umbrella for me, will you, and borrow one from Emoto for yourself. Hurry up! See you soon!”

I was on my way in a flash, two umbrellas in hand.

But what was going on? A movie star? I mean, meeting a movie star might be nice, but how was this going to help us?

When I got off the train at Arashiyama, the sky had grown very dark, and the wind had picked up. By the time I got to the bridge, there were flashes of lightning in the distance. A spring storm was approaching as fast as my heart was racing.

There were few customers in the teahouse. Kiyoshi was sitting near the window on a bench covered with a red cloth, which
was common in traditional teahouses. With him was a woman in a kimono. He waved me over to them, and I took a seat beside him. There was a good view of the bridge.

“What would you like?” A waitress had come up behind me to take my order.

“
Sakura mochi
, please,” Kiyoshi answered, ordering me the cherry rice cakes which were the speciality of the place. He handed several coins to the waitress.

Although the mystery guest kept her face down, I was able to study her closely. Her face was thin but very pleasant to look at. She looked to be forty-five or fifty years old, and must have been very beautiful as a young woman. She didn’t touch the tea and rice cake in front of her. Why didn’t she look up at us? Was she really a movie star?

Kiyoshi didn’t introduce us, and this made me very uncomfortable as well. “We’ll talk when you get your cake and tea,” Kiyoshi said.

We sat there in silence.

After the waitress brought my
sakura mochi
, Kiyoshi suddenly broke the silence.

“This is Kazumi Ishioka,” he began, speaking to the mystery guest. “He and I have been working together.”

The lady looked up at me for the first time, smiled and bowed slightly. She seemed a bit shy, like a teenage girl. At the same time, there was a maturity and modesty about her. She was very lovely.

Kiyoshi then slowly turned to me, and said an unbelievable thing: “Let me introduce you to Taeko Sudo. She is the person we have admired for so long. She is the culprit in the Tokyo Zodiac Murders…”

I was speechless. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I thought I would faint. The moments of silence that followed Kiyoshi’s statement felt as long as forty years.

Suddenly, a streak of lightning flashed through the teahouse and the silence was broken by a massive roar of thunder. The waitress tried to muffle her scream. Then there came the sound of large drops of rain beating on the roof, and within seconds the rain was falling in torrents.

The view through the window turned into a
sumi-e
ink painting as the rain drove against it. We could see people racing for shelter; some came dashing into the teahouse, clattering the sliding wooden door at the entrance and speaking in loud voices.

I saw this all in a trance—as if all the things in the world were slowly vanishing. A great sense of exhaustion overtook me. I imagined a piece of paper burning and shrinking…

Is Kiyoshi kidding me as usual? If he is, the lady is taking him very seriously…

I returned to the moment. Taeko Sudo? I’d never heard the name. How did Kiyoshi find out that she was the murderer? Did it mean that the murders were committed by someone outside the family? But she only looked about fifty. At the time of the murders, she would have been only a child. How could a child have killed Heikichi, Kazue and the six girls?

Don’t tell me those crimes were committed by a kid! Is this the woman who blackmailed Bunjiro Takegoshi? Is this the woman who sawed and sliced up the bodies of six girls to create Azoth? Does this mean it wasn’t Heikichi, Yoshio, Ayako, Yasukawa or Yoshida, but this woman alone? Why? What was her relationship to the Umezawas? There was no Taeko in the
family tree. Where did she come from? Thousands of people have tried to solve this mystery, but nobody knew of her existence? How could a kid have done it?

And, most importantly, how could Kiyoshi possibly have found her in such a short time? Only a few hours had passed since he ran off from me. Forty years had passed, and then the case was solved in a couple of hours? How could that be?

The rain continued to pour down, punctuated with flashes of lightning. The teahouse grew humid. Still the three of us sat there silently, probably looking like mannequins.

As the storm began to subside, it was Taeko who spoke first.

“I always expected that someone would find me,” she said, her voice slightly husky, suggesting she might be older than she appeared. “I couldn’t believe the mystery remained unsolved for so long, but I had a feeling that the person who solved the case would be a young man such as yourself.”

“Please allow me to ask you one question,” Kiyoshi said matter-of-factly. “Why did you stay here? You could have moved anywhere to keep yourself hidden. You were smart enough to learn a foreign language. You could have lived abroad.”

The sky had lightened to a yellowish grey, as the rain kept falling quietly.

“It’s difficult to explain… Maybe because I have been waiting to meet you… I was so lonely, you see, having never found a man to love. I believed that whoever solved the mystery and found me would have a mindset similar to mine… Oh, I’m not saying that you are an evil person like me or capable of doing the things I did…”

“I understand what you mean,” Kiyoshi responded seriously.

“I am so glad to meet you at last.”

“I am thrice as glad to meet you,” said Kiyoshi.

“And you are a very talented young man. I am sure you will accomplish great things in the future.”

“Thank you. But I wonder if I will ever have the chance to get involved in so challenging a case as this again.”

“No one can know that, so don’t get too much satisfaction from solving this one mystery.”

“Don’t worry. It was not easy because I was blind for so long. Well, we must go before I become too self-congratulatory about my little achievement. It’s very regrettable, Miss Sudo, but when I return to Tokyo, I must report you to a policeman—the son of Bunjiro Takegoshi, as a matter of fact. On a dare, I told him I would solve the mystery. It may have been my pride that made me do it. He had a boorish attitude, and yet I felt a kind of obligation. If I told you why, you would understand. I must meet him tomorrow. Probably he and his fellow detectives will visit you tomorrow evening. You still have time to escape. I certainly won’t stop you. It’s your choice.”

“Even though the statute of limitations has run out, you shouldn’t help a criminal,” she said very simply.

Kiyoshi turned away and laughed. “Unfortunately, I’ve never been to prison. I wish I could explain what it feels like.”

“You are fearless. I used to be, too, when I was young.”

“I thought that the squall would pass quickly, but it seems to be lingering. Please take this umbrella with you,” Kiyoshi said, handing my umbrella to her.

Taeko hesitated. “But I won’t be able to return it to you.”

“Don’t worry. It’s not very valuable,” said Kiyoshi with a smile. The three of us stood up to leave. We stepped outside. I was dying with curiosity, but I didn’t want to destroy the
atmosphere that enveloped the two of them. I felt like an outsider, so I kept quiet.

Taeko opened her purse, and with her left hand she pulled out a red and white silk sachet. “You’ve been most kind. Let me return your kindness with this.”

Kiyoshi accepted the gift with his own left hand and thanked her, somewhat brusquely. He glanced down at it.

Taeko Sudo, under my umbrella, bowed deeply, first to Kiyoshi and then to me. I was flustered, but I bowed in return to her. And then she walked slowly away.

Kiyoshi and I, under one umbrella, headed towards the bridge. As we crossed over it, I turned back. Taeko had turned to look back at us as well, and she bowed again. Kiyoshi and I bowed, too. I couldn’t believe that she was really the serial killer who had caused such a sensation. She kept walking slowly, and nobody paid any attention to her.

The rain tapered off, as the drama of the moment passed.

“Will you explain it all to me later?” I asked Kiyoshi.

“Of course I will, if you’re interested.” “You don’t think I am?”

“Of course you are, but I just thought you might not want to admit you lost the game.”

I was silent.