“I was using something I’d picked up from Yukawa. If liquid nitrogen was used in the crime, he said, whoever handled it would have to have worn leather gloves. Takagaki’s expression changed when I brought up the subject of glove prints, so I thought, maybe I’m onto something.”
“Nice.” Mamiya picked the statement off the desk. “The way they transported the liquid nitrogen — that was a surprise.”
“Honestly, I was skeptical when Utsumi first told me about Yukawa’s theory. It was only after we went to see Maya Miyazawa that I started thinking he might be onto something.”
Yukawa had theorized that the liquid nitrogen had been transported concealed inside one of the treasure chests. Still, the idea that all the members of Team Kikuno were in on it hardly seemed plausible. It seemed more likely that Maya Miyazawa, the team leader, was the only one involved. Even she probably had no idea how dangerous the cargo was and probably took no direct part in the loading and unloading of the chest. The person who handled that task had to be someone more intimately associated with Saori Namiki.
That was when they thought of Tomoya Takagaki. Suddenly, the fact that he had talked to Maya Miyazawa after the parade and that unexplained gap of thirty or forty minutes felt very suspicious.
“By that time, we had already reviewed all the security-camera footage in an effort to find someone with a large piece of baggage. What we had failed to scrutinize were the start and the end points of the parade. The performers were carrying large props and pieces of scenery around in those areas, but we didn’t see that as problematic, as long as they stayed in those two areas.
“Did Takagaki remove the item from the treasure chest at the end of the parade? When we started asking that question, we realized something else: There had to be another person who had put the item into the treasure chest at the start of the parade.
“We assumed that this individual would be as close to — or possibly even closer to — Saori Namiki than Takagaki. That left us with a short list of candidates. We asked those people to come in for questioning and Inspector Kishitani and his team are currently interviewing them.”
Mamiya nodded. He seemed pleased.
“Do you think that there were more accomplices?”
“Perhaps. But the functions of the different individuals all had a different level of importance. Take Takagaki as an example. Although he knew that the plan was to punish Hasunuma, no one filled him in on the details. There may be other people who played their part knowing even less than he did. This morning, I sent an investigator to Yamabe Shoten, the rice merchant, to speak to the proprietor there. He admitted lending his minitruck and a trolley to Tojima, as well as buying some bottled water for him. Tojima gave him the staff jacket in advance and told him to put it together with the other things. The explanation Tojima gave was that he’d been asked to help out with the parade at the last minute.”
Mamiya stroked his chin. “Do you think Tojima masterminded it all?”
“I’m pretty sure he did. What I can’t get my head around, though, is the way none of the Namikis seem to be tied in. If the goal was to avenge Saori, then it is weird for the Namiki family not to be involved.”
Mamiya said nothing. Kusanagi interpreted his silence as agreement.
One of the junior detectives sidled over. “Excuse me, sir?”
“What is it?” Kusanagi asked.
“Shusaku Tojima is here, sir.”
Kusanagi and Mamiya exchanged a look.
“The eagle has landed,” Mamiya said.
“I’ll go and look in on him.” Kusanagi saluted the director, turned smartly on his heel, and marched off.
Shusaku Tojima was waiting in the interview room, his shoulders slumping with an air of slighted virtue. Kusanagi exchanged a look with Detective Utsumi, who was once again going to be taking notes, and sat down. “Thanks for coming in.”
“Not at all,” said Tojima, with a curt nod.
His salt-and-pepper hair was cut close to his scalp. His face rugged and tough-looking. He certainly wasn’t most people’s idea of what a successful businessman should look like, but he must have excellent people skills to have expanded a modest family business to its present size. With an opponent like this, things wouldn’t be as easy as they had been with Tomoya Takagaki, Kusanagi thought.
“Has Mr. Takagaki been in touch with you?”
“Mr. Takagaki? Oh, you mean young Tomoya? No. Why?”
Although Kusanagi thought it highly unlikely that Tomoya Takagaki hadn’t phoned Tojima after getting home from the police station the night before, he never expected Tojima to admit it.
“We heard that you and Mr. Takagaki had a very private conversation just a few days before the parade.”
“When exactly?” Tojima tilted his head to one side. “I’m always bumping into that guy. At Namiki-ya and elsewhere.”
“This was outside Namiki-ya. You were sitting in your car and called out to Mr. Takagaki after he left the restaurant. ‘There’s something I need to talk to you about,’ you said. Jog your memory?”
“Ah.” Tojima’s jaw slackened a little and he jerked his chin. “That day.”
“What did you talk about?”
After calmly looking at each of his interviewers in turn, his questioning eyes came to rest on Kusanagi. “What did he tell you?”
“We do the asking here.” Kusanagi smiled sourly. “Just answer the question. What did you talk about?”
“A private matter.”
“Takagaki told us everything.”
Tojima nodded and stretched.
“If he’s already told you, then you’re all right, aren’t you? You can take what he said on trust.”
“Should we?”
“That’s up to you, Officer.”
“‘Help me punish Hasunuma,’” said Kusanagi, looking the other man right in the eye. “That’s what Takagaki told us you said to him.”
Nothing changed in Tojima’s face. If anything, he appeared to relax a little.
“If that’s what he says, then maybe it’s true.”
“Are you denying it?”
“I’m not denying anything, Detective.” Tojima grimaced. “I said maybe it’s true.”
He’s a sly old bugger, this one, thought Kusanagi.
“A certain item was necessary for that punishment. You needed that item delivered to the hut where Hasunuma was living. That’s what Takagaki says you asked him to do. Is that true?”
“Well, if that’s what he says—”
“I am asking you,” Kusanagi interrupted. “Did you ask Takagaki to do that?”
Tojima wasn’t going to cede an inch. “I’ll leave that to your imagination.”
Kusanagi half rose from his chair and leaned over the table toward Tojima.
“What was that item? What did you ask Takagaki to deliver for you?”
“Is it a crime,” Tojima said, glaring right back at him, “if I refuse to answer?”
“What’s your reason for not answering?”
“I don’t want to.”
Keeping his eyes firmly on Tojima and the butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-my-mouth expression on his face, Kusanagi pulled his chair in closer.
“As things stand, Mr. Takagaki’s statement will be used as evidence in court. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“Court? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Tojima shrugged demurely. “Anyway, there’s nothing I can do.”
Kusanagi put his clasped hands on the table.
“When we arrested Hasunuma several months ago, I was put in charge of the investigation. Did you know that?”
“Uh-huh.” Tojima gave a curt nod. “Yutaro told me.”
“Yutaro... Still on first-name terms at your age — isn’t that sweet? That’s friendship for you. And I bet you adored his daughter Saori, too.”