Inspector Imanishi Investigates

“Are there many cases in which pregnant women die from falling down?”

“I can’t say there are none. But she was an extremely unlucky woman.”

“You said that there was internal hemorrhaging in the abdominal area from a fall. There’s no mistake?”

“No, there’s no mistake.”

“Can you tell from the injury what she fell on?”

“It appears that she bumped into something. It must have been something like a rock. Since there were no skin lesions, it must have been a smooth boulder, without sharp corners.”

“What about the fetus?”

“When I saw it, it was on the futon bedding. So we brought it over and examined it as well. The fetus had died while it was in utero. I would say it was a miscarriage. In cases where the fetus is stillborn, we check to see if the stillbirth was the result of a shock to the mother, or if the fetus had died and caused the miscarriage. In this woman’s case, she had the double misfortune of having the fetus die and then falling. That’s why there was excessive bleeding.”

“I’d like to ask you again,” Imanishi persisted. “When you performed the autopsy, you found no special changes in any other internal organs?”

“Imanishi-san, in your position, I know you have to question everything, but unfortunately, as far as I could tell, there were no symptoms of poison.”

“I see,” Imanishi said, looking downcast. “What gender was the fetus?”

“It was a girl,” the doctor answered, his face clouding for a moment.

Imanishi felt as if an unforeseen shadow had passed before his eyes. “Thank you very much for everything.”

“If you ever have any doubts, don’t hesitate to come to me.”

“I may be calling on you again with more questions.”

“Are you on a case that involves this woman?”

“Well, it’s not that definite yet. But there are some things that I am not satisfied about concerning the circumstances surrounding her death.”

“Imanishi-san, do you know when her relatives will come to claim the body?”

“Hasn’t there been any word from the local police?”

“No, we haven’t heard anything yet. They said they were making inquiries in her hometown.”

Imanishi felt his initial sadness return. As he left the medical examination center, he could not put the doctor’s words that the fetus had been a girl out of his mind. Imanishi could picture Emiko as a mother. When he had met her at his sister’s place, he couldn’t picture her as a bar hostess. He had seen only the unsophisticated innocence of a young woman. She had been polite and quiet.

Why had Emiko moved right after she had met Imanishi? Despite his sister’s protestations, Imanishi thought that it was because Emiko had found out that he was a police detective.

The way she had moved was not usual. Probably the man with the moving van was the man who had called Dr. Uesugi. No one knew what this man looked like. The employees at the moving company agreed that he was young, and the nurse at Uesugi Clinic also said that the voice on the telephone was young. Why did he phone the doctor about Emiko and then disappear? He acted just like a murderer even if it was clear from the autopsy that Emiko wasn’t murdered.

It was also a strange coincidence that the distance between the house in Soshigaya where Emiko had died and the lonely field where Miyata had died was not great. If measured in a straight line, these two locations were a little over a mile apart.

Miyata had died just before he was to meet with Imanishi. Emiko’s death had taken place when Imanishi was searching for her. Imanishi had been trailing both of them and now they were both dead.

The locations and the circumstances of these two deaths were too similar. But both seemed to have been from natural causes. Imanishi was deep in thought as he swayed with the motion of the streetcar. He took out his notebook. He looked at Emiko’s last words, the words Dr. Uesugi had said she’d spoken in delirium: “Stop it, please. Oh, no, no. I’m afraid something will happen to me. Stop it, please, stop, stop…”

To whom was she speaking? And what was she crying out to stop?

Three days later, Imanishi visited Nakamura Toyo, who lived in Nakameguro in a small house at the end of an alley. Her husband had passed away ten years ago, and now she lived with her son and his family. She had been hired by Sekigawa to look after his house during the day. Imanishi went to see her after nine o’clock at night.

“I’ve come from an inquiry agency,” Imanishi said to Nakamura Toyo when she came to the entryway. “I’d like to ask you about Sekigawa-san.”

“What kind of questions?” Nakamura Toyo looked at him in surprise.

“I understand that you go to his house every day to do the housekeeping?”

“Yes, I do. I’ve just now returned.”

“Actually, it’s about a marriage possibility.”

“What? A marriage?” Toyo’s face lit up with curiosity. “You mean a marriage for Sekigawa-s^n? What kind of proposal does he have?”

“I’m not at liberty to tell you. My clients have requested that it be kept strictly confidential. That’s why I’d like to ask you various questions about him.”

“Well, for a happy reason like that, I’d be glad to tell you everything I know.”

He could see the figures of her son and daughter-in-law in the sitting room that led off the entryway. “It might be a bit difficult here, so could I trouble you to go somewhere nearby with me? We could talk over a bite to eat.”

Taking off her apron and wrapping a shawl around her shoulders, Toyo followed Imanishi outside. There was a Chinese noodle shop two or three doors down on the main street.

“How about some won ton soup here?” Imanishi asked Toyo.

“That would be fine,” Toyo smiled.

The two of them opened the glass door to a store, which displayed a red paper lantern hung from its eaves. The shop was steamy inside. They sat at a corner table facing each other.

“Hey, two won tons.” Imanishi ordered and pulled out his cigarettes. “Please.”

It seemed Toyo liked to smoke. She nodded her head and took a cigarette. Imanishi lit it for her.

“It must be quite difficult for you,” Imanishi said, “working at the Sekigawa house from early morning until late at night.”

Toyo pursed her lips and exhaled. “Actually, it’s a rather carefree job for me. Sekigawa- san is single, as you know. And there’s no sense in me just sitting around at home. It lets me earn some spending money.”

“You’re lucky to have your health. I guess it’s probably better for our bodies if we work for as long as we can.”

“I agree. I haven’t been sick at all since I started going to work at Sekigawa- san’s.”

While chatting in this way, Imanishi was deciding how he would elicit the information he wanted.

After a while, the two soups were served.

“Please go ahead.”

“I won’t stand on ceremony.” Toyo gave a big smile and split a pair of chopsticks. She sipped the soup noisily, making appetizing sounds.

“Is Sekigawa-san a difficult person to work for?” Imanishi began.

“No, he’s not very difficult,” she answered as she ate. “Since there aren’t any other family members, it’s quite easy for me.”

“But don’t they say that most writers have difficult personalities?”

“Well, when he’s writing an article, he closets himself in his study and doesn’t allow me to enter it. That’s easier for me to deal with.”

“Does he leave his door closed while he’s working?”

“Yes. He doesn’t go as far as locking his door, but he closes it tight from the inside.”

“Is that for very long stretches of time? I mean, that he stays in his study?”

“It depends on the day. Sometimes he doesn’t come out for five or six hours.”