Inspector Imanishi Investigates

small golf ball-sized metallic sphere, a tweeter. Some of the others in the group saw this and nodded to each other.

The housekeeper returned. “Please come in. The master was resting, but he will be able to see you shortly.”

“Excuse us.”

The five men were shown to the Western-style living room. The furnishings were simple but elegant. Sheets of musical scores were piled on the mantelpiece. Some photographs of Westerners were displayed. They did not recognize them.

The others took their coats off, but Yoshimura kept his raincoat on. The five men sat, smoking silently. They heard the distant sound of a door close. Perhaps the master of the house had gone to wash his face after rising. It was so quiet a neighbor’s radio could be heard. They were kept waiting for a full twenty minutes. The sound of slippers was heard, and the door opened. Waga Eiryo appeared wearing a kimono. He had just combed his hair.

“Welcome.” He held the name card the housekeeper had given him.

The five men stood up from their chairs.

“Good morning,” one of them said. “We’re sorry to have come like this so early in the morning.”

“No matter.”

Waga looked around at all of them, as if to clarify their positions. When his eyes came to Yoshimura, they opened wide for an instant.

His glance had not been directed at Yoshimura’s face. Waga’s gaze was fixed intently on the raincoat. For an instant, his eyes betrayed alarm and doubt. Imanishi, sitting unobtrusively amongst the others, watched Waga’s face. Waga’s expression of alarm lasted for a mere few seconds. Imanishi let out a sigh.

Waga sat down facing the five men. He took a cigarette out of the case on the table, his hands shaking slightly. The young composer struck a match and leaned forward to light his cigarette. Smoke rose from the corner of his mouth. This fraction of a moment gave him the time needed to regain his composure.

“Could I ask what you have come here for?” Waga raised his eyebrows and turned his eyes toward the officer who had greeted him.

The man took out a piece of paper folded in thirds from his pocket, “We are most regretful, but I must ask you please to take a look at this.”

Waga opened it and read it without showing any reaction. Then a faint smile appeared on Waga’s face. “You’re saying I have violated broadcast laws?”

“Yes. Recently there have been many cases of violations regarding VHF transmissions. We’re charged with overseeing these cases. So we’ve been using radar to find the source of these transmissions. We have found that your house seems to be the source of some high-frequency electronic waves… Waga-san, do you have such equipment?”

“Well, yes,” Waga responded, with a tight smile. “You may know that my music is what is called electronic music. So I use electronic equipment for experiment and practice. But I haven’t done anything that would violate the broadcast laws.”

“Is that so? But if you have such equipment we’d like to see it, if you don’t mind.”

“Please, go ahead.” Waga seemed unconcerned. “It’s over here; I’ll show you.”

“Thank you.”

All five men stood up. Once again, Waga glanced at Yoshimura.

They followed Waga across an outdoor hallway to a separate wing of the house and into an oval room. Its ceiling and walls were completely sound-proofed, like a broadcasting studio. At one side was a glassed-in area like a broadcasting booth. Half of the small studio was taken up by sound mixing equipment.

“This is quite a set up. Waga-san, we’d like to take a careful look at your equipment now,” said one of the officers. “I am afraid it is necessary to ask you to accompany me to headquarters for further questioning about possible violations of Article four, Section one of the Wireless Telegraphy Act, which requires those intending to establish a broadcasting station to be licensed by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.”

Sekigawa Shigeo was also subjected to a long session of detailed questioning by Imanishi and other detectives at his home.

A meeting of the Homicide Division was called. The chief asked Imanishi to summarize. Imanishi stood up to address the team.

“This case has taught us many lessons. The suspect was questioned today with respect to violations of the Wireless Telegraphy Act. We have allowed him to return home this evening, but I remain convinced he is guilty.

“Starting with motive, I cannot help feeling some sympathy for the suspect. Here is a man named Motoura Hideo. His father, Motoura Chiyokichi, contracted leprosy and was divorced by his wife. At this time, he took charge of his only child, Hideo.

“Motoura Chiyokichi led a life of wandering after he became ill, probably trying to find a cure for his disease. In 1938, Motoura, along with his son, Hideo, who was seven years old at the time, arrived in the vicinity of Kamedake, Nita Town, Shimane Prefecture. At that time there was a kindly policeman named Miki Ken’ichi stationed at the Kamedake branch office. Seeing that Motoura was in the terminal stages of his disease, Officer Miki, following the law, arranged for Motoura to enter Jikoen, a sanatorium for leprosy patients. At this time, and according to the regulations, the son, Hideo, was separated from his father, and I assume that Officer Miki arranged for his care at the child-care facility he himself had founded.

“I would like to comment on Officer Miki’s character. He was a very upright policeman. Even now, his good deeds are still talked about.”

Imanishi drank some tea.

“When I went to the location, I heard at great length many anecdotes about his good deeds. I imagine that Officer Miki intended to care for the young boy Hideo after he made arrangements for his disease-ridden father. Perhaps he would even have eventually adopted him, despite his background. Miki was an exceptionally saintly man.

“However, having become accustomed to a wandering way of life, Hideo ran away from Kamedake, despite Officer Miki’s kindnesses, and went off on his own. This is the start of the tragic case that we are investigating…”

Pausing at this point, Imanishi looked around him. All of the men were waiting for his next words with bated breath.

“The whereabouts of Motoura Hideo since that time have remained unknown,” Imanishi continued. “It is thought that he went to the Osaka area. I will go into that later. Officer Miki was promoted to assistant inspector and voluntarily resigned in December 1938. His conduct is something all police officers would do well to emulate.

“Thereafter, Miki-san opened up a general store in Emi-machi in Okayama Prefecture. He adopted his shop boy Shokichi, who married, and lived happily with them during his later years. Here, too, Miki was reputed to be as kind as Buddha.

“This past spring, Miki decided to take a trip to Ise Shrine, which he had long wanted to visit. He left Emi-machi on April 4, and started a leisurely trip, going to Okayama City on the tenth, to Kotohira-cho on the twelfth, and to Kyoto on the eighteenth. We know his itinerary from the postcards he sent to his family from inns at these locations.

“Miki spent the night of May 9 at Futami Inn in Ise City. He happened to go to a nearby movie theater to see some movies. At that theater he saw something. He left the theater that night, but returned the next day to the same theater to confirm what he had seen. What had he seen?

“It was not a movie. It was a commemorative photograph displayed inside the theater. That photograph was of the family of a certain current cabinet minister whom the theater owner respects highly. The group in the photo happened to include a young man who was often at the minister’s home. Reading the description attached to the photograph, Miki discovered that this young man was Waga Eiryo, a prominent young composer.

“This young man’s face reminded Miki of Motoura Hideo, the son of the man with leprosy, whom he had cared for. Hideo was seven years old at the time, and Miki’s recollection must have been hazy, but when he examined the