“And then there’s the eyewitness testimony from that night. A young man — and I’d suspected that whoever found it would be a young man — this guy had been running, a smile on his face and with his right hand in his pocket. On top of that, the cat’s body was discovered in a nearby park at around the same time as the reported gunshots. This guy had been so stoic he didn’t show a trace of disappointment when the gift to his parents was broken. Now he was running by, smiling with apparent excitement. Right? What do you think? It’s not unreasonable that I would be so convinced, is it? I became interested. No, extremely interested.”
When I looked at the man, he was indeed staring right at me. I was waiting for what was going to come next, but he didn’t say anything. I pretended to look fed up, and with a half-amazed expression, I stubbed out my cigarette.
“That’s just arbitrary guesswork, isn’t it? Your own assumptions. This has gone far enough. You don’t have even a shred of proof, do you? That’s some nerve you’ve got, strong-arming me into coming here, when it’s all conjecture, isn’t it? Uh, may I go now? If you continue to harass me, it’ll be me calling the police on you.”
“Strong-arming you?” the man said, a smile on his face.
“That’s right.”
“But to solve a case you always start with guesswork.”
“But don’t you need evidence? In order to convince everyone. First of all, you don’t even know whether the cat was shot with a gun, do you? You’ve just made up your mind that it was. And then that report of the gunshots, someone could have easily been mistaken — it doesn’t prove anything. This is ridiculous. How can you suspect me like this, without any evidence? You must be crazy.”
“No, it’s just a general idea. All we need is conjecture. The evidence comes later. Anyway, we already have proof.”
“What?”
“We have proof.”
“So, please tell me what that might be.”
“Your own attitude. That’s right. You have the gun. I’m convinced of it.”
He laughed to himself in amusement.
“At first, I had imagined the person might be one of those shut-in types, like a hikikomori. Usually it’s those recluses who are really into guns, or so I thought. But you’re different. You care about what you wear. According to the clerk at the convenience store, you’re extremely polite, and you have lady friends — more than just one, even. And then — as I can tell from this very conversation — you assert yourself clearly. The way you tried to psych me out is impressive, but honestly, I think it just gives you away even more. Like someone who’d do something as stupid as killing a cat in a park. To tell you the truth — this will probably make you angry when I tell you — when I first went to your place, it was only to confirm what I already knew. I told you I had been convinced for a long time, but the fact is, I didn’t want to regret it later — my way of doing things is to take care of every last detail that bothers me. Of course, I had thought that someone had the gun, but I wasn’t sure that my deductions about you were entirely correct. As you so kindly pointed out, there were several flaws in my argument.”
“Can I go yet?
“No, wait a minute. But you know, you were extremely eager to hear about this case. You acted as if you weren’t interested, when all the while you really wanted to hear what I had to say. And when I told you I was a detective, that caught you off guard, didn’t it? You were totally flustered. I mean, sure, anyone would be upset to have the police at your door. But you were trying to hide your reaction. If you’ve done nothing wrong, there’s no need to hide your shock, is there? My first impression of you didn’t fit with what I expected, but since I’ve been talking to you like this, now I can believe that you would do something as daring as shoot a cat in a park. Call it a hunch, or maybe it’s just experience — whatever. But I’ve really hit the nail on the head with this one. You’re a strange one, all over the place. You must have shot that cat in the heat of the moment, huh? Even now, everything you say is so theoretical. But that stance, too — something about it seems superficial, just a bluff.”
Again, he laughed to himself as he said this, which only served to irritate me.
“But, you have no proof, do you? You can’t call any of that evidence.”
“That’s true, I must admit. I don’t have a single piece of evidence. Or should I say, evidence is difficult to come by, under these conditions. All you’ve been talking about for a while now is proof. It’s the guilty ones who are so interested in hearing about proof.”
The waitress approached and cleared away my coffee cup. She saw the ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts, and went to replace it with a fresh one. Almost all of the cigarette butts in the ashtray were mine. Without asking my opinion, the detective ordered two more coffees.
“The Arakawa investigation will probably be suspended. First of all, because it’s a suicide. And the people who are in custody, they will either be released for lack of evidence, or just rearrested for some other crime. If we’re lucky, we might even find out about another drug route. But now the problem is the gun you have. My theory is somewhat extreme, as you pointed out, so my boss won’t pay it too much mind. And the gunshot report, also like you say, they’ll probably assume it was a mistake. It was the only report that came in, and anyway, the casualty is gone. There’s no way to search for a bullet. You know, bullets actually travel pretty far. Even if it went through the cat’s body, it could still have gone pretty far. To search for it, we’d need to stop traffic in the area and send out a bunch of officers. All of that takes a long time too. For something very small. Or a stray dog could have swallowed it, a kid could have picked it up and taken it somewhere — that would be the end of it. But I already have my sights on you. Unfortunately for you, I’m watching. It’s unlikely that we’ll find any evidence, so there won’t be a large-scale investigation, but I can’t just let it go. This is off the subject, but being a detective is a very demanding job. My life is busier than you can imagine. That’s why, really, the easiest thing for me would be to wait for you to give yourself away, but it’s too late for that. If there are bullets left — maybe one or two, at this point? — what comes next after shooting a cat is shooting a person. You will give yourself away when you shoot a person. And when that happens it will be too late. I have to do something before then. Am I right? It stands to reason that you are thinking about shooting a person next.”
“I beg your pardon?” My voice shook a little.
“That’s why you’re thinking about shooting a person next, aren’t you?”
He was looking at me when he said this, his expression the most serious it had been yet. I felt as if he had seen right through me, and I sensed my heart starting to race again.
“That’s why I say this, for your sake — right now, please hand over the gun. If you don’t want to do that, then get rid of it somewhere. If you shoot someone, we will definitely catch you. Here I am, right now — I will absolutely connect you to the murder, because the bullet will match the one from Arakawa. But, at any rate, you’re not going to hand it over — no one wants to be arrested. That’s why you should get rid of the gun as soon as possible. Someplace where nobody will find it. Like a garbage dumping area in a park. Take it apart, and throw it away with a bunch of other bits of junk. Do that, and that will be the end of it. You’re still young. I have no intention of giving you advice, but there’s no need to ruin everything just for a little fun, is there? Shoot someone and we’ll get you. Please, keep that in mind. And, one more thing — I don’t mean to lecture you about morality — but when you kill someone, they say that you lose your sense of reason. Of course, it depends on how you do it, but they say they have nightmares every night. You’re still young. There’s no need to do something terrible that will affect the rest of your life, just for the sake of it, is there. .? That’s all I want to say, for now at least. Well, I’ll be back.”