Then I remembered the couples at the two Kashii stations the night of the tragedy. One couple, of course, was Sayama and Otoki. Could the other couple have been Yasuda and his wife Ryōko? It was a natural deduction. I found out later I was only half mistaken.
You also said in your letter, "I wonder what part was played by the woman who accompanied Yasuda. If Yasuda was involved in the double suicide he would need a woman accomplice, he could not execute his plan without her help." I've come to appreciate your insight. As soon as I began to suspect Yasuda's wife, I decided to investigate further. But she was at home, convalescing. The question in my mind, of course, was whether she was capable of making the trip to Kyushu. I went to Kamakura and called on her doctor. He told me she was not always confined to her bed. At times, she would visit relatives in nearby Yugawara. Later, I checked her movements on January 20 and found that she was away from the nineteenth to the twenty-first. This appeared in the doctor's records. He sees her only twice a week and had made a house call on the twenty-second. She was running a temperature that day and he asked for the reason. She told him, "I went to Yugawara on the nineteenth and returned this morning. I may be a little tired."
I knew at once what that meant. If she left on the night of the nineteenth, she would reach Hakata the following morning. She could therefore have been at the scene of the suicides in time to see them occur. Yugawara must be a lie; she had gone to Kyushu, I felt sure. I went to her home, lured the old servant out of the house and pressed her till finally I learned that Ryōko had left for Yugawara about two in the afternoon in a rented car.
I located the driver.
She told the driver first to take her to Yugawara. At Yugawara, she ordered him to continue to Atami. He left her there at an inn called Kaifuso and returned to Kamakura.
I was excited. I left immediately for Atami and checked the Kaifuso. This is the information I gathered at the inn: Ryōko visited a woman who was a guest. This woman had arrived on the night of January 14, a little after eight o'clock, and had been occupying the room for five days. From her age and the description, there was no doubt it was Otoki. Of course she had not used her real name; she was registered as Yukiko Sugawara. You will remember that Sugawara was also the name Sayama used at the Tambaya Inn in Hakata. When Ryōko first arrived she asked to see Miss Sugawara. Therefore it was evident that all of this had been planned by Sayama, Otoki and Ryōko. No, not planned; plotted, by Ryōko Yasuda. The two women had dinner together in Otoki's room and left the inn about ten o'clock. Otoki's bill was paid by Ryōko.
Now, Otoki's arrival at the inn around eight o'clock on the fourteenth makes it clear that she came on the Asakaze that pulls in to Atami Station at 7:58. She had traveled with Sayama only as far as Atami. Your reasoning, therefore, with regard to the dining car receipt "for one person" was correct.
The two women left the inn about 10 P.M. on the nineteenth. Checking the timetable, I found that the express Tsukushi, bound for Hakata, left Atami at 10:25. This train arrived at Hakata, the terminus, at 7:45 P.M. on the twentieth.
All the pieces fitted. It was about 8 P.M. when a woman telephoned Sayama at the Tambaya Inn in Hakata. The two women must have called him as soon as they got off the train at Hakata.
I was able to get this far before being stopped once again. Was it Otoki or Ryōko who telephoned Sayama? At first I thought it was Otoki but quickly realized this could not be. Since there was nothing between the two, he would not respond if Otoki called. Sayama had been waiting impatiently for a week for the telephone call so it could not be Otoki. Most probably, it was Ryōko. Because Ryōko was Yasuda's wife and could speak for him. In fact, Sayama was waiting for Yasuda to arrive. So if Ryōko said she had come in his stead, Sayama would react immediately.
Ryōko met Sayama in order to talk to him about the things that were worrying him. But first she led him to Kashii Beach. We don't know exactly what she said but she must have told him her message required the utmost secrecy and she therefore must choose some quiet spot. Kashii Beach was certainly an important feature of the plan.
What worried Sayama were the developments in the bribery case at the ministry. As assistant section chief, he knew all the facts and was aware that he was about to be arrested. It was Ishida, the division chief, who urged him to flee to Hakata under pretense of taking a holiday. Ishida was the central figure in the scandal and if Sayama were arrested Ishida would be in grave danger. So he persuaded Sayama to escape to Hakata. He even arranged for him to take the Asakaze on the fourteenth. He told him that Yasuda would give him further instructions, and asked him to wait at the inn in Hakata.
Sayama did not question these orders from his superior. We should not be too surprised at this. He knew his testimony would be damaging to the man who was his boss and who had helped him in his career. At the assistant section chief level there are many men like Sayama. I know some who have committed suicide under similar circumstances. In fact, suicide is what the criminal in this case was hoping for.
Ishida probably told Sayama that Yasuda would find a way to cover up the scandal and that he should stay away until it blew over. Therefore Sayama must have been anxiously waiting for Yasuda to arrive. But Yasuda did not appear; his wife came instead. Sayama knew Ryōko from previous visits to the Yasuda home. In fact, Yasuda may have invited Sayama to his house in Kamakura purposely to meet Ryōko.
These two-Ryōko and Sayama-came out of the Kashii main railway station unaware that immediately following them were Yasuda and Otoki. The latter got off at the Nishitetsu Kashii Station and took the same road to the beach. No, it was only Sayama who was in the dark; Ryōko knew every detail of the plot. Ryōko talked to Sayama. She told him everything was working out well and not to worry. The night was cold and she offered him whiskey. Sayama liked whiskey; he accepted it eagerly. It contained the cyanide and he dropped dead at her feet. The bottle of fruit juice containing cyanide was left at the scene to cover up the murder.
Yasuda was not far behind. He had arrived at Itazuke Airport at 7:20 on a Japan Airlines plane. He met Otoki somewhere, probably by prearrangement; Ryōko must have delivered the message. Otoki then accompanied Yasuda to the beach. On the way she was overheard by a passerby to exclaim, "What a lonely place!"
On the dark and deserted beach Yasuda offered Otoki a drink containing cyanide. Then he picked her up and placed her body beside Sayama who was already dead. Ryōko was standing nearby. Very likely not more than twenty meters separated the exact spots where Otoki and Sayama met their deaths. It was night and Otoki could not have seen the other couple.
After killing Otoki, Yasuda probably called, "Ryōko!" and from out of the dark Ryōko must have answered, "Yes. Here I am." And with Otoki's body in his arms, Yasuda started making his way in the direction of the voice. I cannot imagine a more dreadful scene.
You remember the beach, I am sure; we looked at it together and found it very rocky. There would be no footprints even if one were to carry a heavy burden. Everything had been skillfully planned. Yasuda must have known the beach well and chose it for the scene of the crime.
It was a double murder, planned by Yasuda and his wife and made to look like a love suicide. Ryōko not only helped to plan it; she helped to carry it out. While Otoki, without a doubt, innocently obeyed the instructions she had received from Yasuda and his wife.
A strange feature of the case is the relationship between Otoki, Yasuda and Ryōko. As you may have gathered from the foregoing, it is evident that Yasuda and Otoki had been lovers. The affair was kept very secret; no one was aware of it. It must have developed during the time Yasuda was frequenting the Koyuki. Otoki had charge of the parties he gave there. The man who sometimes telephoned her at her apartment and with whom she spent the nights away was Yasuda.