The Tokyo Zodiac Murders (22 page)

“But Ayako Umezawa was more of a problem. Reiko and Nobuyo were her beloved daughters and Tokiko knew she would go anywhere to identify them; she would examine their bodies closely, no matter how horrible they looked. And if anything seemed odd, she would certainly say so. Moreover, she was also excluded from the list of suspects, so the police would probably believe what she said—or at least listen to her. Therefore, the body parts that were to be identified as her daughters were buried the deepest.

“I would say that the greatest obstacle Tokiko faced in carrying out her scheme was not the police investigation but the mothers of the victims, because a mother’s intuition can be very powerful.

“It was also important that the first body—which was missing its feet—was found soon after the girls’ disappearance so that the police could start relating the murders to Heikichi’s plan for Azoth. If all the bodies were deeply buried, they would all be decomposed, destroying important bits of evidence—the birthmark and the deformed toes of the ballet dancers. Besides, some of the bodies might never be discovered; Tokiko needed all six burial sites to be discovered before she could feel secure.”

“But wouldn’t testing for blood type have revealed some funny business?” I asked.

“All of the five women were blood type A. What a coincidence that was, especially since they all had a different astrological sign! That fact had inspired Tokiko. But you’re right, Mr
Ishioka—the situation would be different today. If the testing for blood type was done now, something would surely have been discovered. As I’m sure Mr Iida knows well, conventional ABO testing has several different classifications—such as MN, Q and Rh typing. That means that blood can now be classified into a thousand different types. Moreover, forensic medicine can now examine a victim’s chromosomes, bone tissue and many other things for identification. Information can be obtained from blood, sputum, semen, skin, bone, and so on. Even a corpse that has been burnt or decomposed can provide chromosomal evidence. The Azoth murders were successfully carried out in 1936; but they would not be successful today. In this sense, science helps to deter crime in our society, because there are so many ways a criminal can be caught.”

“But how about police stations in remote villages?” I asked. “Do they have the ability to do all that testing?”

“Well, Japan is a relatively small country with an excellent transportation system. From anywhere, within three or four hours, evidence can be sent to centres where sophisticated methods of forensic medicine can be applied. As far as I know, however, MN and Q typing were only discovered many years after the war ended. Do you know about this, Mr Iida?”

“You’re right,” replied Mr Iida. “Back in 1936, there was only ABO typing.”

Kiyoshi nodded. “Any more questions?”

“Yes,” I said at once. “I understand now just how and why Tokiko’s scheme worked. No wonder you screamed in Kyoto when the truth suddenly came to you! But how did you know that Taeko Sudo—or Tokiko—was in Kyoto?”

“Oh, that was easy! Think about her motive, Mr Ishioka.”

“But I’m still in the dark about that. Why did she do it?”

“Well, you have a copy of
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders
. Could you please open it up to the page that shows the family tree?… Yes, there it is. Now think about the circumstances of the Umezawa family. Tokiko was the only child of Tae, Heikichi’s first wife. Among the whole family, Tae was the only one who did not come from a wealthy background, and the only one who didn’t live comfortably.

“This is how I picture it: Heikichi, who was something of a womanizer, dumped Tae in the same way a child throws away a toy when he gets bored with it. He divorced her and married Masako. When Masako and her three daughters moved into the Umezawa house, Tokiko’s life changed, and certainly not for the better. A child is sensitive to such things. Later, Heikichi’s nieces, Reiko and Nobuyo, also joined them. Yukiko and Tokiko were related by blood, but only through Heikichi, who had betrayed Tokiko’s mother. Tokiko must have felt disgusted and alienated. I imagine her loneliness and resentment grew from day to day, turning eventually into a violent rage that struck down the other family members. I didn’t ask her about that yesterday, because we simply didn’t have the time. It would probably have taken a long time for her to explain. Suffice it to say, she committed such a horrible and historical crime both for her own sake and her mother’s sake.

“Tae had faced many difficulties since her parents’ business failed. Her misfortune seemed to end when she married Heikichi Umezawa, a wealthy man; but he took a lover and divorced her. Women these days are strong and clever—they will do anything to keep their marriage intact to avoid financial ruin or social dishonour—but Tae was a very traditional, modest, obedient
woman. She never complained; perhaps she didn’t know what else she could do. Tokiko kept seeing her mother alone and poor and miserable while the Umezawa women were enjoying their luxurious lifestyle. By killing them off, she got vengeance for her mother and also helped her financially.

“I reckoned that if Tokiko’s crimes were motivated by her love and sympathy for Tae, there was one place she would be drawn to: Sagano, in Kyoto. It had been Tae’s dream to open a boutique there, because it was the only place she had fond memories of. But Tae died in Hoya without fulfilling her dream. I felt Tokiko would want to make her mother’s dream come true.

“I immediately went to Sagano and visited the police station. I asked if there was a shop around there that sold little handbags or sachets and was called something like Tae’s; it was reasonable to think she’d name her shop after her mother. They told me there was a bag shop called Megumi’s. I went along to check it out, and, sure enough, forty-three years after the murders, Tokiko was there. She had changed her name to Taeko Sudo.”

“And do you think she was the model who was with Heikichi on 25th February?”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure of it.”

“What about the mystery of the locked studio?”

“Ah, that’s simple. You’ll recall that on the night of the murder, it started to snow while Tokiko was posing for her father. The snow gave her the idea of making the misleading shoe prints. Heikichi was close to her and took two sleeping pills in her presence. Perhaps she was pretending she was about to leave. When his back was turned, she hit him on the head with some flat object, killing him. She cut his beard, and moved his bed and his body. She put one of his legs under the bed so
that it would look like he fell as it was being pulled up to the ceiling with ropes. She then went out of the door, wearing her own shoes and carrying his. She went to the window, which she’d previously opened, and with a length of string or rope looped the sliding bar, pulling it into place. She wasn’t so successful with the padlock—she couldn’t lock that from outside.

“Then she walked, still in her own shoes, to the street. Next, on her toes this time, she walked in long strides back to the studio door. She slipped her father’s shoes on, and, stepping very carefully onto her own toe prints, she walked to the street again.

“She must have spent the night outdoors; she could have gone back to her mother’s house, but it was too late for a train or a bus. Taking a cab was out of the question, since the driver would remember her. She must have walked somewhere and hid on that cold, snowy night. She probably disposed of her weapon somewhere.

“The next morning, she returned to the Umezawa house. She must have been carrying her father’s shoes in a bag. She cooked breakfast for him as usual, carried the meal to the studio, looked in the window, and then screamed and ran for help. She might have thrown the shoes into the vestibule through the window. The Umezawa women came running to the studio and together they managed to break the door down. They would not have noticed the shoes. In the chaos, I would guess Tokiko secured the padlock as she was cleaning up the debris around the door.”

“I see,” I said. “So when she was questioned by the police, she said that the door had been locked.”

“That’s right.”

“And her mother lied for her?”

“Correct. She said that Tokiko had spent the night at her house.”

“Then Tokiko killed Kazue and trapped Mr Takegoshi?”

“Yes, that is the most detestable part of the story. Unlike the Umezawas, Mr Takegoshi had no reason to suffer. It might be too late now, but we finally know the truth and can offer up our prayers for him. Mr Ishioka, could you please bring me the container of kerosene from the next room?”

I went out and found the tank we used for lighting the heater in winter. When I returned, Kiyoshi was standing by the sink. He dropped Takegoshi’s note into it and poured some kerosene on it.

“Please all come over here,” he said. “Do you have any matches or a lighter, Mrs Iida?… Ah, good. May I use one?”

I volunteered that I had some.

“Thank you, Mr Ishioka, but I think it would be better to use Mrs Iida’s.” He took a book of matches from Mrs Iida, struck one and tossed it into the sink. The note flared up immediately.

The four of us stood around the sink as if we were at a campfire. Kiyoshi poked the burning note with a stick and black ashes flew up into the air.

“It’s finally over,” said Mrs Iida in a very low voice.

After the departure of Mr and Mrs Iida, Kiyoshi went straight back to his normal routine. I returned to my apartment still buzzing with excitement. In fact, for me the case wasn’t closed—not until I saw Kiyoshi’s achievements recognized publicly. I was looking forward to that.

And I still couldn’t comprehend the whole story. My mind was full of questions:

How had Tokiko obtained the toxic substances?

Where and how had Tokiko hidden over the past forty years as Taeko Sudo?

How did she dare to risk being a nude model for her father?

Was Tae involved in the plot from the beginning?

How did Shusai Yoshida know that Heikichi was left-handed?

I decided that last question was one I could answer myself. I called Yoshida and asked him. His answer was very simple: Tamio Yasukawa had told him!

I opened the paper the following morning, eagerly anticipating coverage of the big news that the Tokyo Zodiac Murders had finally been solved by the master detective Kiyoshi Mitarai. But there was nothing.

I did find one shocking item of news, however: a woman in Kyoto called Taeko Sudo had committed suicide. She had
been found dead on the night of Friday the 13th in the back room of her shop in Sagano. Probably the police had gone there after Iida reported back to his office. She had died from arsenic poisoning. She had left a brief suicide note and some money and an apology addressed to her two female employees. Her relationship to the Zodiac Murders was implied but not explained.

I grabbed the newspaper and dashed off to see Kiyoshi. My head was reeling with more questions:

Had Taeko been keeping some of the same arsenic she used on the Umezawa women?

She must have lived a very lonely life for over forty years. Had she been contemplating killing herself all that time?

But if she had waited this long, why did she have to die without telling the truth to the public?

Apparently the newspaper delivered to me was an early edition, because at the station the kiosk was piled high with newspapers blaring the headlines:
ZODIAC MURDERS SOLVED
and the
KILLER WAS A WOMAN!
I bought a couple of copies before they sold out.

The articles were entirely unsatisfying. Along with a brief explanation of the case, they mentioned only that it had been solved thanks to the constant effort of the police investigators.

There was nothing about how the culprit had cut up the five bodies to make them look like six. And there was no mention of the man who had been central to solving the case.

When I got to Kiyoshi’s office, he was still asleep in his bedroom. I went up to him, pulled his blanket off and announced, “Taeko Sudo is dead.”

His eyes popped wide open.

Kiyoshi sat silent for a while. I waited for him to say something.

Finally, he said, “Kazumi, do you feel like fixing some coffee?”

As he drank his coffee, Kiyoshi read the papers intently, and then put them down on the table.

“‘Constant efforts led the police to success.’ Did you read that?” he said, chuckling. “What would Takegoshi Jr have learnt if he had continued his investigation for a hundred years? Well, he would have spent a lot of money on shoes and made the shoe companies happy, I suppose!”

Kiyoshi seemed to be in a relaxed mood, so I decided to bring up the questions I still had about the case.

“Tokiko was only twenty-two when she committed the murders. How on earth did she get all the toxic substances she used?” I asked.

“I have no idea,” Kiyoshi answered.

“But you had some time to talk to her in Arashiyama, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but we didn’t talk very much.”

“Why not? She was the one person we’d been looking for.”

“Well, Kazumi, I didn’t want to get emotionally involved with the culprit. Anyway, my approach is different from a detective’s. When I saw her, I didn’t feel like I had gone through any great hardship to find her. I didn’t care about what it took to get there. I didn’t care about details.”

I thought he was lying. Kiyoshi liked to behave like a genius, concealing his suffering when he talked to me.

“I’m sure you know how she got the poisons. Please tell me!”

“You’re beginning to sound like a policeman! All those things, such as the seven—or was it six—different substances and the longitude–latitude business were merely dressing. She was so talented, we were distracted by those lifelike decorations on the pillars. But the most important thing is to see the basic structure. No matter how well you examine the decorations, you must be able to grasp the structure of the building. How she obtained the substances is not a mystery at all. She needed them, so she found a way to get them. What good is it to discuss it at all now?”

“OK, point taken. But here’s another question. Could Tae and Tokiko have planned the murders together? Or maybe Tae had planned them and Tokiko carried them out?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You think Tokiko did it all by herself?”

“Yes.”

“I guess it’s possible, but how can you be so sure?”

“Just a hunch.”

“You can’t do this to me, Kiyoshi! Please tell me why you believe that.”

“I can’t really explain it logically. But if the crime had been planned by Tae, I don’t think Tokiko would have gone anywhere near Sagano. However, she moved there, waiting to be discovered eventually. In fact, she even killed herself there. And if Tokiko and Tae were in on it together, you’d think they would have shared the money Tae inherited from Heikichi’s death. But, as far as we know, there were no money transactions of any sort. And if Tae had been involved in the plan, surely she would have moved to Sagano right away and fulfilled her dream? But even though she had money then, it seems she didn’t do anything
to improve her circumstances. That must have been a disappointment to Tokiko. So she moved to Sagano herself—as I told you—to keep her mother’s dream alive. And maybe that’s why she stayed there, despite the risk of being found by somebody.”

“I see…”

“On the other hand, Tokiko could have left Sagano for the same reason. But now that she’s dead, we’ll never know.”

“We missed the chance of a lifetime!”

“No, we didn’t. We just let it go.”

“Do you think Tokiko might have mailed you a final letter?” I asked hopefully.

“She couldn’t have. I didn’t give her my address or properly introduce myself. Also, I didn’t want to ruin the historic moment with my funny name.”

I let that pass without even smiling. “But did Taeko, or Tokiko, tell you where she went after the murders?”

“Manchuria.”

“Manchuria?… I see. Just like British criminals fleeing to the US.”

“She told me about when she came back to Japan and rode a train. She said that after the vast landscape of the Asian continent, everything seemed so close that the mountains looked like they were jumping into the train. I thought that was very poetic. Don’t you agree?”

“Uh-huh…”

“Ah, the good old days! Today, many Japanese never even get to see the horizon.”

“Japan is rather small; and so is our vision. But look at what she achieved! That bold plan was carried out by one single woman, who was only twenty-two years old at the time!”

Kiyoshi looked up towards the ceiling. “Yes, she was great. She had the whole nation fooled for forty years. I’ve never met such a woman. I take my hat off to her.”

“I do, too, but how did you see through her trick? I know that the taped-up bill gave you a clue, but you must have had some other clues. In the beginning, I told you all I knew about the case, but there wasn’t enough there, was there?”

“You’re right. You told me about the case from an incorrect assumption: that Azoth was created. When I considered all the facts, I couldn’t find anyone who had enough time or space to do that. But whether or not Azoth was created didn’t matter. The crucial key was Heikichi’s note. Many descriptions in it didn’t quite make sense to me, so I got suspicious.”

“For example?”

“There were lots of things… First of all, one thing was fundamentally wrong. In the note, ‘Heikichi’ said it was not for publication and it should be placed with Azoth in the centre of Japan. On the other hand, he said that if Azoth made money, it must go to Tae. That proved he really wanted someone to read the note.

“Second, the killer ought to have taken the note with him, but he didn’t. Without it, how could he give directions to Takegoshi? If Heikichi really had written the note, the killer would have needed to have copied it or memorized it. Anyway, to conceal his crime, the killer wouldn’t have left it. The killer obviously left the note so that the public would see it.

“Third, the author said something about Azoth making a fortune. That struck me as odd. Azoth was going to be created to save the Japanese Empire, not to benefit a specific individual.
And then the author said that part about the money going to Tae. I should have noticed that earlier.

“There were other things. Heikichi was a chain-smoker, but the note said he didn’t like going to nightclubs because he didn’t like the smoky air. Tokiko was writing about herself there!

“What else?… Oh yes, the music. The author said he liked ‘Isle of Capri’ and ‘Orchids in the Moonlight’. They were hit songs in 1934 and 1935. I used to collect music from that period, so I know them very well. Another big hit was ‘Yira, Yira’, by Carlos Gardel—well, it doesn’t really matter. The year 1935 was the year before Heikichi’s death. By that time, he had already locked himself up in his studio, and we know he didn’t have a radio or a phonograph. So he had no way to listen to the latest hits; he could never have sung them. But the songs would have been familiar to Tokiko, because Masako loved to play music in the main house.”

Everything Kiyoshi said made sense. Why hadn’t I thought of any of those things?

“So why did she kill herself without telling anybody about her crimes?” I asked. “What was her intention?”

“Her intention? What do you want me to say? What do we see in the newspapers? Just stereotypes and preconceptions! When a diligent student commits suicide, they always say that it was the overheated competition in entrance exams that killed the kid. That’s such bullshit! People never think about what the truth might be. Most people lead such boring lives, they try to justify themselves by putting everyone else in neat little categories. Taeko Sudo lived for sixty-six years, and then decided to end it all. For all we know, she might have had many
sleepless nights, with her thoughts going around in circles… How could she explain why she wanted to kill herself? And why should she? She chose death, that’s all. You say you’re concerned about the reason she committed suicide, but surely you know why by now, don’t you?”

Still confused, I went quiet.