The waitress greeted him with a smile. 'You've been away a long time,' she said as she took his order.
Mihara came to this shop for coffee almost every other day. The girl has made the remark because he had been absent five or six days; she knew nothing of his trip to Kyushu, of course. He noted several familiar faces in the shop. Nothing had changed while he away; for the waitresses and the customers the days seemed to have passed uneventfully. And not for them only: on the Ginza itself, which he could glimpse through the window, everything looked unchanged. Mihara felt as if he alone had stepped out of the picture for a while. Nobody knew how he had spent those blank days. They appeared to be little interested in Mihara, despite what he had seen or done. This was natural, but the thought left him a little depressed.
The coffee was good. This was one thing he had missed in the country. He emptied his cup, picked up his bag and, ignoring the extravagance, hailed a taxi and drove to the Metropolitan Police Board.
He opened the door marked with the name of Inspector Kasai of the 2nd Detective Section and entered the room. His boss was at his desk. 'I've just returned, sir.'
The inspector turned his head to greet him. 'Welcome back. Must have been a bit strenuous.' He smiled. They were alone except for a new recruit who brought Mihara a cup of tea.
'How was it?'
Mihara opened his bag and took out the materials concerning the suicides of Sayama and Otoki which he had borrowed from the Hakata Police Station. 'Here are the exhibits. The Fukuoka police have concluded it is a simple case of double suicide and are treating it accordingly.'
'Hmm.' The inspector looked at the photographs and read the results of the autopsies and the report. 'I see. A case of love suicide, eh?' he muttered as he put aside the document that he had been studying. He sounded as if he were ready to accept the verdict.
'I'm sorry to have sent you on a futile assignment.'
'No, not entirely futile.'
Inspector Kasai looked up at Mihara, surprise in his glance. 'What do you mean?'
'I learned some interesting facts.'
'Hmm, let me hear them.'
'What I have to say is not the official opinion of the Fukuoka police. Torigai, one of their veterans, gave me some interesting details.' Mihara then told him about the dining car receipt and the walking time between the two Kashii stations.
'Hmm, the assumption regarding the dining car receipt is certainly interesting,' said the inspector. 'Otoki is believed to have left the train at Atami or Shizuoka; is that right? Then, after four or five days, spent no one knows where, she is presumed to have appeared in Fukuoka and telephoned Sayama who had arrived earlier. Is that the way you see it?'
'Exactly,' said Mihara.
'We must check and find out why Sayama let Otoki stop off along the way, and what he had her do during those four or five days at Atami or Shizuoka.'
'Chief, I see you too have your doubts. There's nothing suspicious about the double suicide, as these photos show, but you too believe, don't you, that there is something more to the case, something still obscure?'
The inspector looked away for a moment. 'Mihara, we may be mistaken. But Sayama's death is such a serious blow to the bribery case I'd even want to doubt his suicide. It may just be our professional instinct, aroused in spite of us.'
The inspector could be right: perhaps their state of mind was leading them astray. Nevertheless, Mihara wanted to investigate further. He was not ready to accept the obvious verdict. He felt he could not rest with so many doubts unresolved. When he spoke his mind the inspector merely nodded. He seemed to agree.
'Okay. Let's look into it further, although it may lead us nowhere. As you know, the Asakaze is a super- express; even the third class seats are reserved. If Otoki did get off somewhere along the way her seat would have become vacant. Check into that. I'll send someone to question the conductor of the train.'
Kiichi Mihara went to Tokyo Station the following day. His head was clear and he felt unusually fit, probably because he had slept well the night before. He was young and one good night's rest was all he needed.
He climbed the stairs to platform 13 and stood facing the Yaesuguchi exits. He remained there for over an hour, as if waiting for someone.
It would be incorrect to say that he was looking at the exits themselves. The trains continually passing in front of him obstructed his view and he was unable to see any distance. Platform 13 was used only by the Yokosuka Line which meant that trains made up of many cars were constantly arriving and departing. Trains arrived and departed also from platform 14. On account of this ceaseless movement, Mihara could not see platform 15 from where he stood on platform 13. Even when a train pulled away from platform 13 there would be one alongside 14 to block the view. Since Tokyo Station is a main point of departure, trains waited a long while at their respective platforms. By the time one left from platform 14, another would have arrived at 13. Thus, the tracks between platforms 13 and 15 were never clear and he found it impossible to get an unobstructed view of track 15 from platform 13.
Mihara's hunch was correct. He had received the first hint in something Detective Torigai had said to him at Hakata Station. Now I understand, he said to himself. Although I've stood here for over an hour, I've not been able to see platform 15. What does this mean? Two witnesses, standing here on platform 13, state they actually saw Sayama and Otoki board the Asakaze at platform 15. Could they have had a clear view, even briefly, at the time they claim? Mihara considered the question for a moment longer, then walked along the platform and down the steps to the station offices.
He went to the office of the station master. After introducing himself he said, 'I'm sorry to trouble you but I have a question to ask. Before the Asakaze leaves at 6:30 P.M. from platform 15, can it be seen at any time from platform 13?' The railway official was an older man. He looked at Mihara curiously.
'Are you asking if at any time the tracks between the two platforms are entirely clear?'
'Exactly.'
'Well, I believe there is always one train or another obstructing the view. But let me check, to make sure. Please wait a moment.' He went to his desk and brought out the train charts. His fingers followed the intricate lines that criss-crossed the paper. Suddenly, he remarked, 'There is a break! For a short period there are no trains on tracks 13 and 14 and you should be able to see the Asakaze at platform 15. Well, I never! That is most unusual!' He sounded as if he had discovered something extraordinary.
'There is a break? Then it is possible to see the train?' Mihara was disappointed, but he suddenly became tense when he heard the station master's next words: 'It is possible, but only for four minutes.'
'Only four minutes?' Mihara's eyes widened. His heart missed a beat. 'Please explain that.'
'To be precise,' the official began, 'the Asakaze pulls in on track 15 at 5:49 and leaves at 6:30. It remains at platform 15 for forty-one minutes. Now let's see the arrivals and departures of trains on tracks 13 and 14. On track 13, on the Yokosuka Line, train No. 1703 arrives at 5:46, leaves at 5:57. then, at 6:01, No. 1801 arrives and leaves again at 6:12. After that Yokosuka Line train has departed the regular No. 341, bound for Shizu-oka, arrives at platform 14 and remains till 6:35, blocking the view of the Asakaze on track 15.'
Mihara took out his notebook. He could not take in the details from just hearing them once. The station master, noticing this, said, 'This is probably difficult to follow. Let me write it down for you,' and he gave him an extract of the timetable.
Returning to the Metropolitan Police Board Mihara studied the timetable he had received, then took a sheet of paper from his desk and made a diagram of it. It now became clear to him: from 5:57, when the Yokosuka Line train No. 1703 left from platform 13, to 6:01, when No. 1801 arrived, was exactly four minutes. During that brief interval the tracks were clear and there was an unobstructed view of the Asakaze from platform 13. This meant that the group who saw Sayama and Otoki board the Asakaze happened to be standing on platform 13 during those four minutes.
Mihara knew the importance of the testimony given by these eyewitnesses. Their statements that Sayama and Otoki, talking together intimately, had boarded the Asakaze, provided the basis for establishing the love suicide theory. There was no other evidence that they were intimate. Although it was believed that both had had secret love affairs, the only people actually to observe them together were the witnesses, who chanced to see them while standing on platform 13 during those four minutes. How extraordinary that they should have been there at that particular moment, Mihara remarked to himself. Whereupon, another thought, born of the first one, flashed through his mind. Was it mere chance? There was no end to speculation when one started questioning these strange
