"That is possible, but…" Mihara was thinking, his eyes staring into space. "I believe it was the same couple. I believe they got off the train at the national railway station, walked past the other station, and went to the beach."
Torigai related in detail the information he had received from the station employee of the private railway line on duty at the time, and he repeated the stories he had gathered from the passengers. Mihara took notes while he spoke. "All of this leads to no conclusion," he said, "but it is interesting. Our job is really no sinecure," he added, looking sympathetically at his thin, elderly companion.
The following evening Torigai was on the platform at Hakata Station to see Assistant Inspector Mihara off to Tokyo. It was the express Unzen, leaving at 6:02.
"What time do you arrive in Tokyo?"
"Tomorrow afternoon at 3:40."
"You'll be very tired."
"Thank you again for all your kindness." Mihara bowed, his face wreathed in smiles.
"I'm afraid I wasn't of much help."
"On the contrary. This trip has been most profitable, thanks to you, Mr. Torigai." It was said with real sincerity.
They still had a few minutes before the Unzen, coming from Nagasaki, pulled into the station. They continued to stand side by side, chatting. In front of them trains arrived and departed. A line of freight cars stood on a track nearby. All around them was the noise and bustle of a big railway station.
"Tokyo Station, too, must be very crowded with trains," Torigai remarked as he tried to imagine the scene at the central station in the nation's capital.
"Indeed. It's frantic at times. Trains are continually arriving and departing," Mihara replied. He made the comment in an offhand manner but suddenly he gave a start, as if electrified. He had hit upon an important fact.
At Tokyo Station some people had seen Sayama and Otoki board the Asakaze. These eyewitnesses said that they were standing on platform 13 and saw the couple leave from platform 15. But what about tracks 13 and 14? At Tokyo Station, where trains depart and arrive incessantly, could a person on platform 13 see a train at platform 15 without having some train pull up and obstruct the view?
6 A Four Minute Gap
Kiichi Mihara arrived at Tokyo Station right on schedule. He felt the need of a good cup of coffee after the long train ride from Kyushu. He took a taxi and headed for his favorite coffee shop.
The waitress greeted him with a smile. "You've been away a long time," she said as she took his order.
Mihara came to this shop for coffee almost every other day. The girl has made the remark because he had been absent five or six days; she knew nothing of his trip to Kyushu, of course. He noted several familiar faces in the shop. Nothing had changed while he away; for the waitresses and the customers the days seemed to have passed uneventfully. And not for them only: on the Ginza itself, which he could glimpse through the window, everything looked unchanged. Mihara felt as if he alone had stepped out of the picture for a while. Nobody knew how he had spent those blank days. They appeared to be little interested in Mihara, despite what he had seen or done. This was natural, but the thought left him a little depressed.
The coffee was good. This was one thing he had missed in the country. He emptied his cup, picked up his bag and, ignoring the extravagance, hailed a taxi and drove to the Metropolitan Police Board.
He opened the door marked with the name of Inspector Kasai of the 2nd Detective Section and entered the room. His boss was at his desk. "I've just returned, sir."
The inspector turned his head to greet him. "Welcome back. Must have been a bit strenuous." He smiled. They were alone except for a new recruit who brought Mihara a cup of tea.
"How was it?"
Mihara opened his bag and took out the materials concerning the suicides of Sayama and Otoki which he had borrowed from the Hakata Police Station. "Here are the exhibits. The Fukuoka police have concluded it is a simple case of double suicide and are treating it accordingly."
"Hmm." The inspector looked at the photographs and read the results of the autopsies and the report. "I see. A case of love suicide, eh?" he muttered as he put aside the document that he had been studying. He sounded as if he were ready to accept the verdict.
"I'm sorry to have sent you on a futile assignment."
"No, not entirely futile."
Inspector Kasai looked up at Mihara, surprise in his glance. "What do you mean?"
"I learned some interesting facts."
"Hmm, let me hear them."
"What I have to say is not the official opinion of the Fukuoka police. Torigai, one of their veterans, gave me some interesting details." Mihara then told him about the dining car receipt and the walking time between the two Kashii stations.
"Hmm, the assumption regarding the dining car receipt is certainly interesting," said the inspector. "Otoki is believed to have left the train at Atami or Shizuoka; is that right? Then, after four or five days, spent no one knows where, she is presumed to have appeared in Fukuoka and telephoned Sayama who had arrived earlier. Is that the way you see it?"
"Exactly," said Mihara.
"We must check and find out why Sayama let Otoki stop off along the way, and what he had her do during those four or five days at Atami or Shizuoka."
"Chief, I see you too have your doubts. There's nothing suspicious about the double suicide, as these photos show, but you too believe, don't you, that there is something more to the case, something still obscure?"
The inspector looked away for a moment. "Mihara, we may be mistaken. But Sayama's death is such a serious blow to the bribery case I'd even want to doubt his suicide. It may just be our professional instinct, aroused in spite of us."
The inspector could be right: perhaps their state of mind was leading them astray. Nevertheless, Mihara wanted to investigate further. He was not ready to accept the obvious verdict. He felt he could not rest with so many doubts unresolved. When he spoke his mind the inspector merely nodded. He seemed to agree.
"Okay. Let's look into it further, although it may lead us nowhere. As you know, the Asakaze is a super-express; even the third class seats are reserved. If Otoki did get off somewhere along the way her seat would have become vacant. Check into that. I'll send someone to question the conductor of the train."
Kiichi Mihara went to Tokyo Station the following day. His head was clear and he felt unusually fit, probably because he had slept well the night before. He was young and one good night's rest was all he needed.
He climbed the stairs to platform 13 and stood facing the Yaesuguchi exits. He remained there for over an hour, as if waiting for someone.
It would be incorrect to say that he was looking at the exits themselves. The trains continually passing in front of him obstructed his view and he was unable to see any distance. Platform 13 was used only by the Yokosuka Line which meant that trains made up of many cars were constantly arriving and departing. Trains arrived and departed also from platform 14. On account of this ceaseless movement, Mihara could not see platform 15 from where he stood on platform 13. Even when a train pulled away from platform 13 there would be one alongside 14 to block the view. Since Tokyo Station is a main point of departure, trains waited a long while at their respective platforms. By the time one left from platform 14, another would have arrived at 13. Thus, the tracks between platforms 13 and 15 were never clear and he found it impossible to get an unobstructed view of track 15 from platform 13.
Mihara's hunch was correct. He had received the first hint in something Detective Torigai had said to him at Hakata Station. Now I understand, he said to himself. Although I've stood here for over an hour, I've not been able to see platform 15. What does this mean? Two witnesses, standing here on platform 13, state they actually saw Sayama and Otoki board the Asakaze at platform 15. Could they have had a clear view, even briefly, at the time they claim? Mihara considered the question for a moment longer, then walked along the platform and down the steps to the station offices.