I booted my laptop and tried to access the internet, and it worked right away. Just in case, I went to the CPT Owners Club. There was a new message from “Julie.”
Can’t wait (Julie)
Even though I’ve made my offer and prepared the money, I haven’t heard anything from them.
I wonder what they’re doing. Hurry up and give me what’s mine.
The golf caddy bag is crying at the door to be taken out.
Once again, I had to admire the incredibly well camouflaged writing. Anyone reading just this would surely think it was a girl who was bitching about not getting her car.
Anyway, that they were becoming impatient was evident. They couldn’t wait to find out what hand the kidnappers would play.
I took a bottle of mineral water out of the fridge and drank directly from it. I went over the plan again. I was certain that I’d omitted nothing and that there weren’t any holes in it.
I looked at the clock. Over thirty minutes had passed since I’d called. What was Juri doing?
Then, after another half-hour, there was finally a knock at the door.
“Who is it?” I asked just in case.
“Me,” was the reply I heard. I opened the door.
“What in the world were you doing? If you were just changing clothes—” After getting that far, I fell silent. Juri’s hair had turned brown, a brown that was almost blond. On top of that, it was shorter.
Heheh, she giggled. She quickly brushed up her hair.
“What the hell?”
“I dyed it. Not bad, right?” She looked around to appraise the room and approached the window. She looked into the video camera. “What are you filming?” she asked.
I wasn’t the one who ought to be answering questions. “What are you thinking?” I demanded.
“Huh?”
“That hair. You don’t think something as eye-catching as that is dangerous?”
“This? Eye-catching?”
“Look in the mirror.”
“You told me to disguise myself, so I tried my very best. I cut my hair on my own, dyed it myself. I also slipped into my new clothes, so look. Don’t I seem like a totally different person to you?” Her top was sleeveless and red, her bottoms were a black skirt. I was surprised that she had even changed her accessories and shoes. When had she bought them?
“I told you to wear a disguise that wouldn’t be eye-catching.”
Whether or not she’d heard me, she sat down on the bed and bounced her body up and down like a child playing on a trampoline. She was smiling.
“Hey, are you really a pro ad planner? Making a fuss over just this much is weird. Because right now there are fewer girls with black hair.”
“And why do they dye their hair? Is it so they wouldn’t stand out? That’s not it. It’s to be noticed.”
“Maybe at first, but now it’s different. Now black hair is just unfashionable. They don’t want to be that, so they dye their hair.”
I shook my head. It wasn’t the time to be discussing something so stupid. “Anyway, when you get home, change it back. You might have forgotten, but you’re a hostage. It’d be bizarre for a hostage’s hair color to change during the kidnapping.”
“Umm, the kidnappers are funky? They dyed the hostage’s hair for fun?”
“You’ll stop joking soon enough.” I took out the cellphone we had obtained at Akihabara and shoved it in front of her face. “There, the game begins. Call your Papa’s cell.”
“Me?” As might be expected, Juri’s face grew stern again.
“I was going to call, but since you’re here, I don’t need to. I want to make sure that my voice is heard by Katsutoshi Katsuragi as little as possible. Even though it’s very unlikely that your dad would remember it.”
“I call, then what do I say?”
“I’ve thought it out. Come here.” I had her sit in front of the computer. Then, I operated the keyboard and displayed a certain document on screen. It was something I had written while I waited for her. The document was divided into several items.
I pointed at the first bit. “Start with this. When you tell him this, you can hang up right away.”
Juri stared at the sentences with an earnest look. Seeing her face, I realized that it had all been a pose. Being strangely bold as she shopped and dying her hair were merely the flip side of her anxiety.
“Is it going to be okay calling from this phone?”
“Make it as brief as possible. If you take too much time, they’ll be able to specify the area.”
She took a deep breath. She looked at the buttons on the cellphone.
“Right now?”
“Right now. This is the number.” I put a note with Katsutoshi Katsuragi’s cellphone number in front of her. “If you don’t do it fast, the sun will set.”
“And it’s bad if it sets?”
“That video camera isn’t infrared, and the binoculars aren’t night-vision scopes.”
She seemed to take my meaning more or less and nodded wordlessly. With another deep breath, she passed the cellphone to her left hand and brought her right index finger toward the buttons. Looking at the note, she carefully pressed each number. After she finished dialing, she brought the phone to her ear and gently closed her eyes.
I could hear the rings, too. After two, the phone connected.
“Hello, it’s me. Juri. Don’t say anything, just listen to me.” She recast her gaze on the laptop screen. “Ten minutes after this, leave the house. Please load the caddy bag and other bag into the trunk of a car. Papa, you should be the only person in the car. Get on the Metropolitan Expressway and head toward Mukojima Interchange….Mukojima, MU-KO-JI-MA. If you can, follow the legal speeds as much as possible. Well, I’ll contact you again….Sorry, we don’t have the time to talk.”
She hung up and looked at me with plaintive eyes. Her cheeks were a little flushed. I gently kissed her half-open lips.
“Good job.”
“Am I contacting him next time, too?”
“Well, basically, you communicate for me.”
“Basically?”
“You’ll understand soon.”
I accessed the internet again on my laptop. The Japanese Public Highway Corporation had a website that streamed information in real time. I went there. On the LCD display, a map of the Metropolitan Expressway appeared. The routes were indicated by white lines, but colored yellow or red depending on the congestion level. Today it seemed to be moving along more than weekdays, but even so, there were dabs of color here and there.
I followed the course that I thought Katsutoshi Katsuragi would take. There didn’t seem to be too much traffic for now, only a little red before and after Hakozaki Junction.
Alternating between looking at the clock and the map of the Metropolitan Expressway, I finished the bottle of water. I was horribly thirsty. Juri also started drinking a cola. Neither of us said a word. I refreshed the traffic information now and then, but there wasn’t a big change in the situation. Any would be due to an accident. Just not that, I prayed from the bottom of my heart.
I looked at the clock and snapped my fingers. “Juri, the phone.”
With a tense expression, she took the cellphone in hand. “What should I do next?”
“Ask him his present location. That’s all.”
Juri nodded and made the call. “Hello, it’s me. Where are you now?…Uh, Takebashi? You’ve just gotten past Takebashi.”
I gave her an okay sign with my fingers. She hurriedly hung up.
“He said Takebashi.”
“Okay.”
I shifted my gaze to the map of the Metropolitan Expressway. It was clear from Takebashi Junction to Edobashi. He could probably go at forty miles per hour. Edobashi to Hakozaki was moderately congested. That was an issue. The timing. It was all about the timing. I could only trust my instincts.