"I see. Now, when the train arrived did Mr. Yasuda come directly to the waiting room?"
Kawanishi paused a moment, as if in thought. "Let me see. No, it wasn't right away. The express arrived at 8:34. I was watching for him through the waiting room windows, and when I saw the passengers leaving the station I remember expecting him at any moment. I believe he must have come in about ten minutes later."
Arriving a few minutes late was not a matter of great importance. The important point was that Yasuda had actually arrived by the Marimo express.
Once again, Mihara was disappointed. Yasuda did come to Sapporo on the twenty-first by the express arriving at 8:34. He did stay at the Marusō Inn. There could be no question about these facts. They were just as Yasuda had told him. Mihara felt that he was up against a blank wall.
He was thinking of Inspector Kasai who had supported him so generously. The section chief, Kasai had told him, had been dubious from the beginning. It was the inspector who had been on his side, who had backed him up at every step. Mihara keenly felt his responsibility.
His disappointment showed in his face. Kawanishi, who had been watching him, said somewhat hesitantly, "Mr. Mihara, perhaps I shouldn't say this about Mr. Yasuda, but since you came all the way from Tokyo to inquire about him I must tell you what's on my mind. It's an observation only, mind you. Please don't let it influence you."
"Certainly. What is it?" He looked at Kawanishi with renewed interest.
"I told you that Mr. Yasuda telegraphed me to meet him on urgent business. I did receive such a message, of course, but when we met I was surprised to find that there was nothing at all urgent about the matter we discussed."
"What? Are you quite sure?" His throat had tightened and he was swallowing hard.
"Yes, it's true. It was something Mr. Yasuda could have talked over with me at the office the next day. I found it rather strange at the time."
Mihara thought he could see a tiny crack in the wall in front of him. He was excited. Outwardly, however, he remained calm. Quietly, he asked Kawanishi to repeat his remarks, looking over his notes as he listened.
Yasuda had asked Kawanishi to meet him at the station on urgent business. Since the business was not urgent, why had he done it? What was the reason? Could Yasuda have wanted a witness to the fact that he arrived at Sapporo Station by the Marimo on January 21? Had he selected Kawanishi to be that witness?
That was it! That must have been the purpose! The parallel was clear. Yasuda had had witnesses present during the four-minute train interval in Tokyo Station; in Sapporo he had repeated the performance. If this were true, if it was a plot, then it cast doubt upon Yasuda's assertion that he had arrived on the Marimo Express. It could even mean that he had not come by train.
Mihara recalled a remark Kawanishi had made earlier. "Mr. Kawanishi, you met Mr. Yasuda in the waiting room, didn't you?"
"Yes." Kawanishi looked uneasy. He seemed to fear what he might be asked next.
"You didn't meet him on the station platform?" "No. The telegram said to meet him in the waiting room." "Then you did not see Mr. Yasuda actually get off the train?" "No…" Kawanishi wanted to say that since Tatsuo Yasuda had appeared before him in the waiting room he had no reason to doubt that he had arrived on that train.
Mihara left abruptly. He didn't even remember thanking Kawanishi for his information. He wandered through the unfamiliar streets, lined with acacia trees. His eyes hardly noted where he was going. A single thought occupied his mind. Yasuda was lying! He pretended to have arrived at Sapporo by the Marimo and sent a wire to Kawanishi to meet him in the station waiting room. He showed up at a time to coincide with the arrival of the express. So they had met. The wire from the Sapporo police in reply to Mihara's request for an investigation confirmed the fact that they had met. Since this much was true, anyone would assume that he had arrived by train. Yasuda knew this and had taken advantage of it. At Tokyo Station, he had used the two waitresses from the Koyuki Restaurant as witnesses. In Hokkaido, he had used Kawanishi for the same purpose.
Mihara took out his notebook and went over his memo again. Yasuda had explained it in this way: Left Ueno on the twentieth by the express Towada and arrived at Aomori Station the morning of the twenty-first. Left Aomori at 9:50 on the Sei-kan ferry, arriving in Hakodate at 2:20. Left Hakodate by the express Marimo and arrived in Sapporo at 8:34. As he studied the memo a new idea came to him. Why hadn't he thought of it before? He remembered that on the Sei-kan ferry all the passengers had to register. That register could provide the evidence that would destroy Yasuda's alibi, for if the man had crossed on the ferry as he claimed, his name would have to appear in it.
Mihara tried to control his excitement, for he was still unsure. A month had gone by since January 21. Would the files still be available? The station officials would know, of course. He hurried to Sapporo Station and sought the office of the railway security police. Introducing himself, he asked if they could tell him how long the ferry registers were retained.
"The passenger registers for the Sei-kan ferry are kept for six months," he was informed by the officer on duty. He was immensely relieved.
"They are kept at Aomori, I presume," he said.
"Did the passengers get on at Aomori?"
"Yes."
"Then I don't believe you need to go all the way to Aomori. There should be a copy at Hakodate."
Mihara looked puzzled. "There are identical columns, A and B, on the passenger forms," the security officer explained. "The A section is filed at the port of arrival. In this case, Hakodate would have a copy."
Mihara nodded. He remembered entering the same information in both columns.
"What dates are you checking?" the security officer asked.
"January 21. The ferry that arrived in Hakodate at 2:20 P.M."
"That's No. 17. If you yourself are making the investigation, I'll telephone and ask the Hakodate ferry terminal to have the file ready to show you."
"I'd be grateful if you would. I'll take a train that gets to Hakodate early tomorrow morning."
There was one departing at 10:00 that evening. That meant eight hours to train time and another eight hours for the journey to Hakodate. Mihara walked the streets of Sapporo aimlessly, to kill time, his mind so filled with thoughts of Yasuda that he could remember nothing of what he saw.
It was six o'clock in the morning when he arrived at Hakodate. The wind was bitterly cold. Mihara impatiently waited two hours for the ferry official in charge to report to work.
He was an obliging young man. When he heard Mihara's request he rose at once to his feet. "I received word about this by telephone yesterday. I have the file you asked for. The one for No. 17 on January 21, isn't it?" He brought out several bundles of forms, held together by a piece of string.
"These are divided into second and third class. Which one do you need?"
"It would be the second class, I believe, but it could be the third."
Third class was the far bigger bundle, and it looked as though it would take him a long time to go through the pile. Second class amounted to less than thirty forms. Mihara decided to search through these first. As he looked at them, one by one, he kept saying to himself, Tatsuo Yasuda's name can't be here, it mustn't be here. On the twelfth or thirteenth form his eyes caught a familiar name: "Yoshio Ishida, government official, age 50, Tokyo…"
Yoshio Ishida, again, the division chief in the X Ministry- Mihara remembered only too well. Here was the man under suspicion, the one at the center of the scandal and on whom the 2nd Detective Section was concentrating its attention. Ishida had crossed to Hokkaido on this ferry! A gloomy premonition flashed through Mihara's mind.