The storekeeper slapped his thigh. He was wearing a heavy apron that carried the store's name in big letters. "You mean the night before the suicides. Now I remember. I saw them."
Torigai's eyes lighted up. "What, you saw them both?"
"Yes, I saw them. I remember it because of what happened the following morning. Let me see, that night there were only about ten passengers from the 9:24 train. There are never many, anyway, at that time of night. Among them I noticed a man and a woman who answer your description. I hoped they would stop to buy some fruit so I kept watching them from here."
"Did they buy anything?"
"No. They walked in the direction of the Nishitetsu station and disappeared. I was disappointed. Then there was the excitement the following morning and I wondered if that was the couple who had committed suicide. That's why I remember them."
"Did you see their faces?" Torigai looked intently at the storekeeper as he asked the question.
The man rubbed his chin with one hand. "As you can see, the station is rather far away. Besides, the station lights are behind the people as they come out. From here they are little more than black shadows. I can't see their faces. I know these two only from their pictures in the papers."
"Hmm." Torigai's shoulders sagged a little. "What about their clothes?"
"I don't know about that either. I saw them walk away, and I vaguely recall that the man was wearing an overcoat and the woman was in kimono."
"Could you see the pattern of the kimono?"
"Impossible." The storekeeper smiled apologetically.
A customer was in the shop, selecting oranges. He appeared to be listening to the conversation.
"You say the couple seemed to be heading for the private railway station. Is that in the direction of the beach?" Torigai asked.
"Yes, yes. If you go past that station you'll come to the beach."
Torigai thanked the storekeeper and left. I've found out a good deal, he thought as he walked away. His intuition was correct. While waiting at the station entrance he had had a hunch that perhaps someone in the shop had noticed them, and he was right. It was unfortunate that the shopkeeper had not seen their faces, but Torigai was certain that the two passengers were Kenichi Sayama and Otoki. They had come by train from Hakata, arriving at Kashii railway station at 9:24 on the night of the twentieth. This meant that they had left Hakata station about 9:10 since it was only a fifteen-minute journey.
Assuming Sayama had left the inn at about eight o'clock, after receiving the phone call from the woman, where did they meet and what did they do for that one hour before getting on the train at Hakata? This would be difficult to ascertain, probably impossible. There was no place from which to start checking in a city the size of Hakata.
Torigai was walking slowly towards the Nishitetsu station, pondering the problem, when someone called to him from behind.
"Excuse me!" Torigai turned around. A young man was approaching. "Are you from the police?" His manner was diffident.
"Yes," Torigai answered. The man was carrying a paper bag full of oranges. Torigai remembered seeing him make the purchase at the fruit store he had just left.
"I overheard your conversation while I was buying these oranges," the young man explained as he came up to Torigai. "I want to tell you that I also saw the couple you were inquiring about. It was around 9:30, the night of the twentieth."
"Oh," exclaimed Torigai, his voice betraying his surprise. Looking around, he saw a small shop at the side of the road that looked like a coffee shop and invited the rather shy young man to enter with him. Over a cup of something black and steaming that was said to be coffee he studied the young stranger. "Please tell me what you know."
"I really have little to tell," said the young man, scratching his head. "But when I overheard your conversation, I thought the few facts I have might be of use to you."
"That's kind of you. Please tell me what you know."
"I live here but I commute to Hakata where I work," the young stranger began. "The night before the bodies were found, therefore the night of the twentieth, I too saw a couple who resembled the pictures in the papers of the two who committed suicide. They arrived at Nishitetsu Kashii Station at 9:35."
"Wait a moment." Torigai held up his hand. "You say the Nishitetsu line?"
"Yes. That train leaves Keirinjo-mae at 9:27. It takes only eight minutes to get here." Keirinjo-mae is in Hakozaki, on the extreme eastern edge of Hakata.
"I see. Was it in the train that you saw the couple?"
"No, not in the train. The train had two coaches and I was in the second coach. There were only a few passengers so if they had been in my coach I would have noticed them. They must have been in the first coach."
"Then where did you see them?"
"After I came through the gate and was walking home. I had had a few drinks at Hakata that night and was a bit drunk so I was walking slowly. Two or three passengers who followed me through the gate soon passed me by. They were local people I know by sight. There was also a couple I did not recognize. They came from behind and walked past me quickly. The man wore an overcoat; the woman had a Japanese coat over her kimono. They took the deserted road that leads to the beach. I didn't think anything of it at the time. But then there was the incident the next morning! According to the papers they died around ten o'clock that night, so I wondered if they were not the couple I had noticed."
"Did you see their faces?"
"As I said before, they came from behind and hurried past me so I saw them only from the back."
"How about the color of the overcoat or the pattern of the kimono?"
"I didn't notice that either. The road was dark and I was a bit under the weather. But I did hear something the woman said."
Torigai's eyes brightened. "What did she say?"
"Just as they went past I heard her say, 'What a lonely place!'"
"What a lonely place," Jūtarō repeated to himself, half-mumbling. "What did the man say?"
"He said nothing; he just kept on walking."
"Did you notice anything in particular about the woman's voice?"
"No, it was a pleasant voice. But she didn't have the local accent. People around here don't speak like that. I believe it was a Tokyo accent."
Torigai took a cigarette from a crumpled packet and lit it. The smoke drifted in the air while he thought of other questions.
"That was the local train that arrived at 9:35?"
"No mistake about that. I make a point of always catching the same train, even if I stay over in Hakata for a drink or two."
Torigai pondered the answer. He was trying to determine whether the couple the young man had encountered was the same couple the fruit store dealer had seen, emerging from the main railway station. The young man had not seen them in his coach; he merely took it for granted that they had traveled with him in the same train because they had overtaken him outside the gate. The other train had arrived at the railway station at 9:24. His train had arrived at Nishitetsu Kashii Station at 9:35. Thus, there was a difference of eleven minutes. The distance between the two stations was about five hundred meters. The road to the beach from the railway station passed in front of the private railway station, so the time and place agreed.
"That is all I have to tell you." The young man stood up. He looked at Torigai who was still deep in thought. "I wanted to give you this information when I heard you making inquiries at the fruit store."
"Thank you very much." Torigai asked the stranger for his name and address and bowed low to him to show his sincere gratitude. Just to hear the one remark the woman had made was worth a good deal.
It was already dark when they left the coffee shop.
"What a lonely place!" The words the young man had repeated rang in Torigai's ears. It was as if he himself had overheard them.