"Well, then, perhaps some people you know came through the gate that night."
"I believe there were."
"There were? Do you recall their names?"
"There were three, as I remember, all three old acquaintances of mine. I know their names and where they live."
"Excellent. Please let me have that information."
Torigai took it down in his notebook. He thanked both men for their cooperation and left the office. The next few hours were spent largely afoot. The three individuals lived along the Nishitetsu line Torigai visited in turn Wajiro, Shingu and Fukuma stations.
The man residing at Wajiro had this to report:
"I was in the first of the two coaches and remember seeing two women wearing gray coats. One was about forty years old, the other about twenty-six or twenty-seven. Seated to either side of them were some young office girls. I don't believe there was a man in a navy blue overcoat."
Torigai took Otoki's picture out of his pocket and showed it to him. "Was she the younger of the two women?" he asked.
"No, the features were very different."
The man living at Shingu said he had been in the second coach.
"A woman wearing a coat? I don't know. Maybe she was there. Actually, I fell asleep almost immediately. And I don't recall seeing a man in a dark blue overcoat either." Torigai showed him the two pictures but he failed to recognize them.
The last of the three passengers, the one from Fukuma, had more to say: "In the second coach, where I was, there was a woman wearing a coat. Yes, I suppose she could have been about twenty-five or twenty-six."
"Was the coat gray?"
"I don't remember the color. But so many coats are gray, this one could have been also. She was talking all the time to the man seated beside her."
"A man? What type of man?" Torigai was aroused. The answer was disappointing.
"They could have been a married couple. He looked over forty. He was wearing a kimono."
Torigai showed him the pictures but the man saw no resemblance to the couple he had described. He added that he could not remember the color of the man's overcoat.
Torigai returned to Hakata weary and despondent. He had been unable to determine whether Otoki and Sayama had been aboard the train.
When he entered the police station the chief got up immediately from his desk, as if he had been waiting for him. "Ah, Torigai," he said, "someone is here from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Board to see you."
A young stranger, wearing street clothes, was sitting next to the chief. He looked up at Torigai and smiled.
5 Torigai and Mihara
The stranger who stood up to greet Jūtarō Torigai was a man in his early thirties. He was short and sturdily built-so solid, in fact, he made the old detective think of a tree stump. Round eyes looked out at him from under heavy eyebrows, and an unusually clear complexion gave him a youthful appearance.
"You're Detective Torigai? I'm Kiichi Mihara, Assistant Inspector, 2nd Detective Section of the Metropolitan Police Board. I'm very glad to meet you." He bared a row of even white teeth as he smiled and presented his card.
At the mention of the 2nd Detective Section, Torigai knew at once that the inspector had come to investigate the Sayama suicide. The 1st Detective Section dealt with crimes of violence, the 2nd Section was responsible for cases of deception and fraud.
The Tokyo papers were playing up the scandal that had been uncovered in government circles. Kenichi Sayama's section in the X Ministry was the principal target. In fact, a colleague of Sayama's, an assistant section chief, was already under arrest. Only a week before, two leading members of a private organization closely connected with this same ministry had also been arrested. It looked as though the scandal would spread further. The 2nd Detective Section of the Metropolitan Police Board was in charge of the case.
"I've come to check on Kenichi Sayama, assistant section chief in the X Ministry, who committed suicide here," Inspector Mihara said as he settled back in his chair. "The chief has given me the outlines of the incident. He also gave me these materials which are most useful." On the desk were photographs of the scene of the suicides, the report of the autopsies and other documents. "I understand, Detective Torigai, that you have your suspicions about this love suicide."
"You remember giving me your opinion of the case the other day, Torigai?" the chief interjected, drawing nervously on his cigarette. "I repeated it to Inspector Mihara and he was very interested. Please explain it to him in detail." The chief detective's face betrayed his skepticism.
"That's right. I'm interested to hear that you have a different opinion of the Sayama case. I've been waiting to talk to you about it." Mihara's manner had charm.
"Well, it's not really a different opinion. It's hardly more than an idea." Torigai, aware of the presence of his chief, spoke with diffidence.
Mihara's eyes brightened. "Ideas are fine. Please let me hear yours."
Hesitantly, Torigai told him about the dining car receipt, made out for one person. As he spoke, his daughter's remark about love and appetite came to his mind but he refrained from repeating it.
"That's certainly an interesting fact," Mihara remarked in a tone intended as flattery. "Is the receipt on file?"
"Although the deaths were from an unnatural cause, since no crime was involved all the private effects were returned to the families of the deceased," the chief explained.
"Is that so!" Mihara showed his disappointment. "Are you sure the date on the receipt was January 14?" he asked Torigai.
"Yes."
"That's the day Sayama and Otoki left Tokyo Station on the Asakaze. Let me see…" Mihara took a notebook from his pocket. "I have the time schedule of the Asakaze. It leaves Tokyo at 6:30; Atami at 8:00; Shizuoka, 9:01; Nagoya, 11:21 and Osaka, 2 A.M. That would be the following morning, the fifteenth. Therefore, on the fourteenth, the date on the receipt, the last stop would have been Nagoya at 11:21."
Torigai began to grasp what Mihara was trying to say. He realized that this man shared his views of the case. Despite the fact that Mihara had the manner and the appearance of an insurance salesman, it was evident that he came from the prestigious Metropolitan Police Board.
Mihara addressed the chief detective. "I would like to visit the scene of the suicides. I know he's busy, but could I trouble Mr. Torigai to take me there?" The chief reluctantly agreed.
They took the streetcar. Assistant Inspector Mihara, standing next to Jūtarō Torigai and holding on to a strap, leaned over and said to him in a low voice. "The chief doesn't seem to be in very good humor." Torigai smiled, little creases appearing around his eyes. "It happens in every office. I am very interested in your ideas. I thought you might find it difficult to talk in front of the chief so I asked you to come with me."
"We can talk when we get to the beach," Torigai said. He was grateful for Mihara's thoughtfulness, unusual in a man of his age, he felt.
They changed to the Nishitetsu line at Keirinjo-mae and soon arrived at the Kashii station. Less than ten minutes later they were on the beach.
Mihara looked about him with interest. It was a clear day and the sea was sparkling. Mist obscured the distant islands and the horizon.
"Is this the famous Sea of Genkai? I was able to get a glimpse of it from the train window but this view from the beach is much better."
Torigai showed him the spot where the bodies were found. He related the scene at the time of the discovery, describing the position of the bodies, their appearance, their clothes. While he spoke, Mihara studied the photographs he had brought along, nodding his head from time to time.
"The beach here is quite rocky," Mihara presently remarked as he looked around.
"As you can see, nothing but rocks, almost to the water's edge."