I put my index finger in my ear and scratched inside. I understood how she felt. “You wouldn’t know whether he’s home just by looking from outside, though.”
“I’ll check the garage. If he’s home, his car will be there.”
“I see.” I could only agree. “Is the fax combined with the phone? Or is it—”
“Its own line. One digit different from the phone.”
“When a fax is sent, is there a ring?”
Juri shook her head. “There shouldn’t be.”
“Then even if Mr. Katsuragi is home, he might not read the ransom letter until tomorrow morning. He’d be asleep at this hour.”
“I want to check that, too. It’s been more than twenty-four hours since I left home, right? I want to see with my own eyes if they’re still going on with their daily lives like nothing happened.”
“If the house’s lights are all completely on, then everyone’s worried, you feel moved, and you bail?” I asked in my best sarcastic voice.
“I don’t think I’d ever, so I want to go see. Plus, it can’t be bad for the plan, either, to see how the house is before dispatching the ransom letter.”
“What’s so good about it?”
“We’d be able to check if the police are on standby.”
I laughed. “You think they parked some patrol cars in front of the house?”
“If there are detectives, wouldn’t the house have lights on at least?”
“That’s…” I couldn’t say there wasn’t some truth to it. “But it’s dangerous. The police would definitely notice a suspicious car parking nearby. And your house has security cameras, too. If we get caught by those, then it’s all for nothing.”
“We can just go past the front. That wouldn’t be suspicious.”
I growled and folded my arms. I looked her in the face again. “What if I said no?”
“Then”—she shrugged her shoulders—“it can’t be helped. Do things your way. But I won’t send the fax.”
“Point taken.”
I stood up and went to the window. I opened the curtain a little and gazed down at the nighttime city.
Push or relent? If Juri was having second thoughts, I should probably abort this game. But to judge from her expression reflected in the glass, she didn’t seem scared. The girl had a devil-may-care attitude from the start, and it had been decisive in my coming up with this game.
I turned back to her. “We need a disguise.”
“A disguise?”
“We won’t risk the one-in-a-million chance of them noticing you in the car.”
She seemed to take my meaning and nodded with a smile.
About forty minutes later, Juri and I were in a taxi. I didn’t use my own car because I was afraid of leaving any evidence on the cameras.
En route, we conversed just to the extent that it wouldn’t seem unnatural. Our topics were soccer, TV dramas. We couldn’t come across to the driver as a suspicious couple. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to take any interest in us. Juri wore a jean jacket over a sweatshirt. They were both very puffy, but more than enough young people dressed weirder. I was wearing a leather jacket. To the driver, we were probably a dumb couple idly amusing ourselves in the middle of the night.
The cab entered the Denenchofu residential area. Juri gave detailed directions in my stead. As the Katsuragi residence approached, sweat sprung on my palms.
Finally, we saw the mansion ahead of us, on the right. But it wasn’t like we could have the car slow down.
“Keeping going straight like this, please,” Juri told the driver. She put the hood of the sweatshirt over her head. She also pulled together the front of her jean jacket and drew her chin in to bury her face.
Without losing speed, the car went by the Katsuragi estate on the gate side. In that short amount of time, we focused our eyes to observe the state of the house.
After we’d passed it, Juri and I faced each other. She gave a slight nod, so I did too. It seemed that all the lights in the mansion were off.
At a random spot, we got out of the taxi, walked a little, and then flagged another. On the way back, we were both silent.
Having returned to my condo, we faced each other again by the fax machine.
“Either way, the lights in your house were all off,” I said. “What about the car?”
“It looked like Papa’s was there. If I didn’t see wrong, that is.”
“In other words, Katsutoshi Katsuragi is home. He’s asleep in that house, then. While we’re at it, there didn’t seem to be any police for now.” I looked at the fax. “If we’re sending the ransom letter, this is the best time to do it.”
“Can’t it wait ’til morning?”
“With a new day, the situation will change. And you’ll feel anxious again. Now’s the time to send it. If we’re wasting this opportunity, the game is off.”
Juri was looking at the ransom letter, thinking. I glanced at the clock on the wall. I intended to give her ten minutes. Giving her more time to decide was useless.
Five minutes into the continued silence, she raised her face. “Got it. I’m sending it.”
“You can’t take it back.”
“You better not get cold feet, yourself.”
“Want another toast? A pledge over a drink.”
Juri shook her head and stepped in front of the fax machine. Checking that the letter was set and the status was on-hook, she reached her fingertips toward the number buttons.
Chapter 6
After spending several hours not knowing whether I was asleep or awake, I got up from the sofa. Like usual, I did my calisthenics, pushups, and sit-ups. As I was sprawled on the floor, trying to catch my breath, Juri’s face appeared above me. “Good morning.”
“You’re up early. Or could you not sleep?”
“I’m hungry.”
“Just wait. I’ll make something now.” I got up and went to the kitchen.
The morning menu I decided on was toast, boiled eggs, and vegetable juice. Putting on coffee was a bother.
Nibbling on toast, I started up the computer and checked my email. There were just two. Both of them were trivial messages. Because the automobile park had been scrapped, they were trying to get rid of me as though I were a has-been. I couldn’t let that happen. I would make a comeback no matter what.
Sensing eyes on me, I turned around to Juri staring at the computer screen. I asked her what she wanted.
“I wonder if Papa saw it,” she said haltingly.
“Do you want to check?”
“Yeah.”
I double-clicked the browser icon at the top of the computer. I accessed the CPT Owners Club URL and checked out the bulletin board.
Since the time I’d gone there the night before, there were two new entries. Neither of them seemed like a message from Katsutoshi Katsuragi.
“There’s still no reply,” I said, closing the browser window.
“Maybe he hasn’t seen it?”
“I doubt that. If he keeps a fax machine in his study at home, he’s making the assumption that someone will contact him in an emergency. After he wakes up, he’d normally go check if something’s come in first thing. He must be staring at the ransom letter right now thinking of what to do.” I looked at the clock. It had just passed eight o’clock.
I left the computer and washed down the rest of the toast and boiled egg with vegetable juice.
“Let me predict what your father will do from here on. First, he’ll contact the police. He’s a man with quite some status, so he probably knows one or two people with a close police connection. I’d say an expert kidnapping investigator from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department would arrive at their house within an hour. In that time, your father will call his office to tell them that he won’t be coming in today due to personal business. Furthermore, he’ll warn them not to call him at his home unless it’s really urgent. He’ll call the help and tell her she doesn’t have to come in today, and order his wife and other daughter not to leave the premises. Well, something like that.”