Niikura was at a momentary loss for words. He reached for his glass and gulped down some water.
“Punish him...? What sort of punishment?”
“A punishment befitting his crime,” said Tojima. “It wasn’t actually me who came up with this plan. You can probably guess who did.”
“Was it... Yutaro?”
Tojima nodded a couple of times.
“Yutaro and me are childhood friends, friends through thick and thin. We played together, we got up to all sorts of mischief together, and when we got found out, we got hauled over the coals together. That’s the kind of friendship we have.” As he reminisced, the scowl on Tojima’s face briefly softened. “When my best friend said that he wanted a once-in-a-lifetime favor, how could I turn my back on him? Especially, when it involved Saori’s murder.”
Naoki took another swig of water. He still had some coffee in his cup, but his mouth was too parched for that. He needed something else.
“I, uh, find it hard to believe... that Namiki...” Naoki struggled to find the right words. “You’re saying he wants retribution... that he wants to avenge his daughter’s death?”
“It’s only natural for a father to feel that way. I’ve got two kids of my own. If something like that happened to them, I know I’d feel the same.”
“Well, uh...” Niikura wasn’t sure how to respond. He knew he ought to disagree, but that wasn’t what he really felt. He made a first step toward agreeing. “I can understand that.”
“Of course, you can. I mean just now, you said something about wanting to finish the bastard off yourself.”
“No, but—” Niikura put out a hand as if to restrain Tojima. “I also said, ‘If I could get away with it.’ Vendettas aren’t allowed in today’s society.”
“Are you just going to give up then?” Tojima’s eyes seemed to be staring directly into Naoki’s heart. “Are you willing to sit by and let that scumbag get away with this?”
Naoki clenched his right hand and thumped the table a second time.
“It’s maddening. Of course, I don’t want to. The thing is, it’s simply not realistic. I don’t know what you’ve got in mind, but you can be damn sure that if anything happens to Hasunuma, the police will be all over it. Just because the guy deserves to die doesn’t mean the police won’t investigate his death. And Namiki and his family would be the logical suspects. But—” Niikura’s eyes widened suddenly as he stumbled onto the answer to his own half-finished question. “Oh, I get it. If he can avenge his daughter’s death, Yutaro doesn’t mind being arrested. And he won’t tell on anyone who helps him. He’s that committed. Am I right?”
Tojima frowned and placed a finger to his lips. “You’re talking too loudly.”
“Sorry.” Naoki placed his hand over his mouth. He hadn’t realized how loud he was being.
“Mr. Niikura,” said Tojima quietly, drawing himself upright. “You’ve got it exactly right. Yutaro Namiki has made up his mind to go ahead with it. He told me, ‘If it comes to that, I’m not afraid to go to jail.’”
“And it may very well come to that.”
“Hold on a minute. I haven’t finished yet. Like I told you, Yutaro and me are tight, tight since childhood. Do you seriously think I’d be prepared to let someone I’ve known my whole life go to jail?”
Niikura was confused.
“What are you trying to tell me?”
“That Yutaro won’t get arrested. Not him, and not anyone else, either. And we’re going to teach that Hasunuma a serious lesson. We’ve come up with a plan and we want you to be part of it. Let me be clear about one thing: that even if the whole scheme is uncovered, you won’t be charged with a crime.”
“Is that possible?”
“It is — provided we all work together.”
There was a sly glint in Tojima’s eyes.
13
As he read the text message, Tomoya Takagaki felt slightly dazed. This must be some kind of joke, he thought. Then, when he saw who it was from, he realized that it wasn’t.
The sender was Natsumi Namiki. They had exchanged contact details six months ago, when Tomoya had visited Namiki-ya for the first time in ages.
He went there after Detective Sergeant Utsumi had told him about Saori’s body being found. He hadn’t seen any of the Namiki family for around a year at that point. When he wished them good evening and again expressed his condolences, he couldn’t hold back his tears. Saori’s parents wept, too.
Tomoya had started going to Namiki-ya again. Every time he went, he would ask the family how the investigation was coming along, but they never had any news to share. Even though Chief Inspector Kusanagi often came to see them, all he said was the boilerplate: “We are doing all we can to arrest the person responsible.”
The police, however, did notify the family when Kanichi Hasunuma was arrested. When Tomoya got a text from Natsumi telling him the news, his grip tightened on his phone, while his other hand bunched into a fist. Finally, he thought. Finally! Now we can learn the truth, and Saori will be avenged.
That evening, Tomoya went straight to Namiki-ya from work. The place was heaving; many of the regulars were there, including Naoki Niikura, Saori’s mentor. There was general jubilation at Hasunuma’s arrest. The Namikis wept tears of joy and Tomoya wept with them. As the tears coursed down his cheeks, it struck home that he’d not been able to forget Saori.
The way things developed after that wasn’t at all what Tomoya had expected.
He was wondering what was going on with the case, when he got the shocking message from Natsumi. Hasunuma has been released! How could that even be possible?
Tomoya called Natsumi immediately. “We’ve no idea,” she said. Detective Kusanagi had come to Namiki-ya to explain that the prosecutor had decided that there was insufficient evidence to indict.
“Do you seriously expect us to buy that?” Namiki had snapped at Kusanagi. “Are you just giving up?” Kusanagi had protested that, far from giving up, the police intended to work closely with the prosecutor to collect the necessary evidence.
Several months had passed since then and Kusanagi’s promise still remained unfulfilled. So what were the police doing? Tomoya was ignorant about what was going on and Natsumi stopped texting him.
Tomoya eventually tried texting her. How have you all been? Is everyone at Namiki-ya well? was all his message said.
It took Natsumi a while to text him back and when she did, he was horrified. Hasunuma showed up at Namiki-ya about ten days ago, Natsumi said. It was such a shock that they closed the restaurant for several days. They only reopened three days ago.
From the moment he read her text, Tomoya was incapable of focusing on his work. Why had Hasunuma gone to Namiki-ya? What was he planning to do?
As soon as it was quitting time, Tomoya collected his stuff and left the office. Hurrying to the station, he called Rie, his mother, to say he wouldn’t be home for dinner.
“Has something happened?” Rie asked anxiously.
“Sort of.”
“Saori?”
“Yeah.”
“What? Did they finally charge the guy?”
“If only. No, he’s turned up in Kikuno again.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know much. I’ll tell you more when I get home.” Tomoya ended the call and started walking even faster.
He’d discussed the case with his mother after Saori’s body had been discovered. She’d been delighted at the news of Hasunuma’s arrest and indignant at his release.
Recently, though, her attitude had begun to change. She started saying things like, “Hasn’t the time come to put this behind you?” and “It doesn’t matter. Nothing will bring Saori back to life.”