“But is that possible?” asked Ushikoshi. “We’ve already searched that spare room where no one’s staying. Surely no one’s harbouring a killer in their room?”
“Well, we can’t really say.”
“Hmm. For now, while we have them all gathered here, we should perform a thorough search of all the rooms in the house. But I don’t—”
“No, I reckon you’re right,” said Okuma. “Likely a house like this has some secret space that a person could hide in. I say we should focus on that. That could be how it’s being done. In a weird messed-up place like this, I’ll wager you there’s some trick built in.”
“So what you’re saying,” Ozaki interjected, “is that we have to consider that the owners of this place—in other words, Kozaburo Hamamoto and his daughter, Eiko—must have been in on the plan. But when we consider motive, the Hamamotos, together with Sasaki and Togai, have to be excluded off the bat. They had no connection at all with Kazuya Ueda. And obviously Eikichi Kikuoka is counted out now.
“According to the data when we were researching Ueda, Kozaburo Hamamoto and Eikichi Kikuoka don’t go back all that far. They weren’t childhood buddies or anything like that. They met when they each became presidents of their respective companies. It was through work that their relationship began, specifically when Kikuoka Bearings had dealings with Hama Diesel.
“That all began fourteen or fifteen years ago, but it doesn’t seem that the two men were ever particularly close. Their companies didn’t seem to have any friction in their dealings either. Hamamoto and Kikuoka have met fewer than ten times in their lives. Kikuoka had only become Hamamoto’s house guest very recently—only since Hamamoto built this holiday home. It certainly doesn’t seem that they had the kind of relationship that might lead to murder.”
“And they’re not from the same part of Japan?”
“No, completely different. Hamamoto’s from Tokyo, Kikuoka from the Kansai region. All of their employees told the Tokyo police that until their companies became successful, the two men had never met.”
“Eiko had never met Kikuoka either, I assume?”
“Definitely not. Before this visit, Eiko had only ever met Kikuoka last summer when he came to stay.”
“Hmm.”
“Others have confirmed that Kikuoka only visited this house on those two occasions. Sasaki, Togai, Yoshihiko Hamamoto and Haruo Kajiwara—they all say the same thing, that this was the second time they had met Kikuoka. However you look at it, there really wasn’t enough time for any kind of feud to have developed between them and Eikichi Kikuoka.”
“Yes, common sense would suggest that all the people you’ve named should be excluded as suspects.”
“Yes, as far as motive is concerned.”
“And yet, in all the cases we’ve ever handled, there has never been such thing as a motiveless crime, except for those committed by some sort of pervert or psychopath,” Ushikoshi pointed out.
“That’s right.”
“Grudges, theft, jealousy, sudden rage, sexual urges, money… all kinds of petty reasons like these.”
“And of the names you didn’t mention, there’s the secretary and the protégé and his wife. But there’s also the housekeeper couple, the Hayakawas. How about them?” asked Ushikoshi hopefully.
“Until yesterday we knew nothing about them, but now we’ve found something. We received new information today. Tokyo HQ told us that Mr and Mrs Hayakawa had a daughter around twenty. That daughter met Kikuoka here when he was visiting last summer.”
“Aha!”
Immediately, Ushikoshi and Okuma’s eyes lit up.
“On the curvy side, fair-skinned and rather attractive according to reports. I don’t have access to a photo of her though. If you’d like one I think we can ask the Hayakawas.”
“Got it. And then?”
“The daughter used to work at a bar called Himiko in Asakusabashi in Taito Ward, Tokyo. In August of this year, she came up here for a visit. Kikuoka probably showed an interest in her—apparently, he was an infamous womanizer. Everyone says that about him.”
“Was Kikuoka still single?”
“Far from it. He has a wife and two children—a high school-aged son and a daughter in middle school.”
“Really? He had plenty of energy, then, that one.”
“Kikuoka, although he seemed an open-minded, generous type, also had a rather underhand side to him. It seems that if anyone ever showed him ingratitude at work, he would seem to laugh it off, but later he’d always be sure to get his revenge.”
“Again, the hard life of the lowly employee.”
“With Yoshie, the Hayakawas’ daughter, the same kind of thing happened. Here in front of her parents he didn’t show even a hint of interest, but when he got back to Tokyo, seems he kept showing up at her bar.
“Himiko is one of those places that young people like to hang out. Kind of modern but not too expensive. There are just two people working there—the mama-san and Yoshie. So it was this kind of place that the president of Kikuoka Bearings began to turn up at daily. Was a bit awkward, really.”
“Old lechers with money and status are the worst.”
“That one believed deeply in spending money on women, they say.”
“Quite a philosophy.”
“So it seems. He was kind of a reckless spender. That relationship with Yoshie went on for quite some time, until Kikuoka suddenly stopped coming to the bar.”
“Hmm.”
“By the way, according to the mama-san of Himiko, he’d promised to buy Yoshie an apartment and a sports car but he never did. She was pretty pissed off with him.”
“Very interesting.”
“The mama-san says that Yoshie used to get excited about all the presents he was going to buy her, and so after he disappeared she got very depressed. Anyway, Yoshie got dumped, and her phone calls to Kikuoka were never answered. If she ever did manage to get a hold of him, he claimed that he had never made her any promises.”
“So what did she do?”
“She attempted suicide.”
“What? She died?”
“No. She didn’t succeed. She took sleeping pills, but she was found and had her stomach pumped. I think there was a strong element of revenge against Kikuoka in it. And, according to the mama-san, she probably felt ashamed of having talked about everything so openly too.”
“Well, you could say they’re both at fault in their own way, I suppose. And how are things now?”
“She had recovered quite well, and was getting out and about again, but then at the beginning of last month she was killed in a traffic accident.”
“So she did die!”
“It really was just a traffic accident and had absolutely nothing to do with Eikichi Kikuoka, but the Hayakawas blame Kikuoka for it. They say he killed her.”
“Well, they would… She was their only child… And does Mr Hamamoto know about all this?”
“I’m pretty sure he does. Well, he must know that the Hayakawas’ only daughter died in a traffic accident, surely.”
“So, Kikuoka just nonchalantly decides to turn up at the house where Kohei and Chikako Hayakawa live?”
“He was personally invited by the esteemed president of Hama Diesel. He couldn’t refuse.”
“How terribly unfortunate for him!” said Ushikoshi with heavy sarcasm. “I get it. Kohei and Chikako Hayakawa had a motive for murdering Eikichi Kikuoka. Yesterday they kept it quiet, didn’t they? But what about Ueda?”