8:00 P.M. Erika immediately left for home as though she’d just finished some tiresome errand. The rest of us stepped through the automatic front door into Building Three.
Tokyo Bay Station Building Three was a relatively new building that was only about ten years old. However, the wanted posters and miscellany pinned on top of each other, the overflowing piles of documents behind the reception desk, and the large, fist-shaped hole in a partition from some unknown person gave the place a worn-in feel, like the building itself had taken on the character of the officers within.
Naturally, it had the tense, anxiety-inducing atmosphere typical of police stations, and the houseplants and sad attempts at levity did nothing to break up that threatening air.
The three men we’d asked to come in voluntarily as witnesses, and the officer watching them, stood in front of the blue lamp that read “Reception.”
Shota Akiyama, Reina’s self-proclaimed boyfriend. 25 years old.
Ken Nakahigashi, Reina’s fiancé. 27 years old.
Koichiro Myoko, Reina’s father. 57 years old.
Nakahigashi was R&D Director at the Yokohama branch of Central Construction, a major general contracting company. He was the the third son of Heiji Nakahigashi, president of Central Construction, and thus a candidate to be the next president of the company.
Nakahigashi was wearing rimless glasses on his pale, white face, which seemed untouched by the sun. He was short and skinny and was wearing an expensive-looking suit. Something about him reminded me of bank workers from back in the day. He appeared calm, but I saw his eyes darting about and could tell he was nervous about the questioning that was about to start.
I looked to his left.
Koichiro Myoko. He was an independent member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, and also Reina’s father.
He was only 57, but the streaks of gray in his hair and deep wrinkles that cut into his face made him seem older. He gave the impression of being unconfident and unreliable. He seemed more like a small shop owner than a politician. I didn’t feel any of the sense of mystery Reina had. The color of his face was awful and he was acting strangely, constantly wiping the sweat away from his face with a green handkerchief, the opposite of Nakahigashi.
All three had been very close with Reina.
Which is why we’d asked them for any photos they had for her. But unbelievably, none of them had even a single one.
The fact that not even her own father had any was a sign of how obsessive she was about never having her picture taken.
“So it’s like, I can refuse to answer, right?” Shota Akiyama barked at Yamaji angrily. “Just let me go home, all right? You’re treating me like a criminal, man. This sucks.”
“It’s voluntary, so legally speaking you can,” I told him. “But you came all the way out here, you should help us out. Don’t you want to find the killer?”
“I’m not worried about it. It was this guy.” He gestured to Ken Nakahigashi with a movement of his jaw.
Nakahigashi sighed openly. “Harsh words, but empty. I wish you’d stop letting your emotions get in the way of your thinking.”
“Lady,” Akiyama blustered. “This guy is messed up. Reina got murdered, and I just heard him fucking blame her for dying at an inconvenient time.”
Nakahigashi furrowed his brown and shook his head wildly as if to suggest the idea was ridiculous. “I did not say that. He doesn’t like me, so he’s twisting my words. Stop trying to trick them. I just meant that I’m only being considered a suspect because of my connection to Reina.”
“What?” Akiyama cried. “That’s the same damn thing! You’re not even sad she died! That’s what I hate the most about you!”
“I am sad. I just think there’s more to sadness than openly performing your emotions like you.”
I thought what Nakahigashi said was reasonable. But I didn’t get the sense that he was really all that torn up either, from the cold expression on his face.
Koichiro Myoko stepped between the two of them, looking bewildered. “Stop the bickering,” he chided. “You’ve both lost someone important.”
But Akiyama didn’t flinch. He raised his eyebrows and got angrier. “You know you’re a suspect, too, right? Are you seriously shaking just because the cops called you in? You must have some serious skeletons in your closet.”
“That’s n-not the case…”
Akiyama noticed that Koichiro Myoko was at a loss for words, which emboldened him to escalate the conversation. “I mean, you knew Reina loved me, and you still pressed her to marry this guy? You were just putting her out there in a marriage of convenience for your own gain. I’ll never trust anyone who’d use her like that!”
It was impossible to misinterpret Akiyama’s accusation. His innocent-looking face had turned bright red with anger.
“Wh-What are you talking about?” Myoko said. “Y-You’re the one who—”
“Shut up!”
Unwilling to put up with this ugly shouting match any further, I raised my voice. “Shota, this isn’t the time or place to vent! You don’t care about finding Reina’s killer? We have to combine all of our abilities to find him! Your account is critical!”
Akiyama finally looked embarrassed and seemed to understand how serious the situation was. The other two also quieted meekly.
Dr. Higano, perhaps sensing I was a little embarrassed, too, after my shouting, stepped out in front of the three men. “That reminds me,” he asked them, “have you all seen the victim’s body?”
They all nodded.
“I realize this is a strange question, but was it definitely Reina’s body?”
Nakahigashi frowned. “It was…What exactly are you trying to say?”
Koichiro Myoko nodded, confused. “That’s my daughter. A father would know, even without her face.”
“Yes, we understand,” Dr. Higano said.
Right then, Kondo, also with the 1st Investigative Unit, called over to us, “Yamaji, do you have a sec?”
Kondo had athletic, shortly trimmed hair, a tanned face, and sharp eyes. He was 27, three years older than me, and popular among women officers, perhaps because he was the perfect age. But he wasn’t my type at all.
“Over here,” he called, leading us out into the empty hallway.
Dr. Higano came out so naturally, it was as though he was part of the team. I looked at Yamaji to see whether this was appropriate, but he didn’t seem to care.
Even though we were about to discuss topics that no one outside the unit should’ve had access to, both Yamaji and Kondo included Dr. Higano as though he’d always been there. That’s how much they trusted him.
Kondo put a hand over his mouth and spoke softly. “I think you can probably disregard this, but we had an eyewitness come forward.”
“A witness?” Yamaji asked. “Who?”
“Yeah, about that…” Kondo scratched at his head sheepishly. “The witness said, ‘I saw Reina Myoko today.’”
Yamaji grimaced after hearing this impossible news. “How did this tip get to us in the first place? We only told the media that there’d been a murder. We’ve kept a lid on everything else.”
“So, uh, one of Reina’s coworkers provided the tip.”
“A coworker?”
“I sent you an email,” Kondo said. “Did you read it yet? Reina Myoko had a position at Melto Crown Entertainment, a Hong Kong-based casino operator. I knew you didn’t have a photo yet, so I asked about it, and the photo that should’ve been attached to her resume was gone, apparently.”
Again there was no photo. Reina was incredibly thorough about leaving no evidence of what she looked like.
“Rumors that she’s dead are already spreading around her office,” Kondo continued. “So the witness, a woman she worked with, decided to contact us…apparently.”
“This coworker must’ve known her pretty damn well. You think she’s somehow mistaken?”
“Maybe so. On the phone she was so scared it sounded like she’d seen a ghost.”
Yamaji scratched at his stubble. “Ok, I’ll bite…Where’d she see her?”
“At the foot of the Sky Tree, around Oshiage. She said she saw her riding in the passenger seat of a red car, a foreign model. She didn’t get the license plate.”
That was close to Reina’s apartment.
“You sure she didn’t just see a similar-looking woman in a red foreign car and mistake her for Reina?”
“No, I thought that as well and brought it up, but the witness didn’t know Reina owned a red BMW. She didn’t even know she owned a foreign car. After following up about the details, it sounds like she definitely saw Reina’s particular BMW.”
Reina’s BMW was gone from her parking lot and hadn’t been found yet. But today someone who looked like Reina was riding shotgun in the car?
I wondered whether it really was just a look-a-like.
“Damn,” Yamaji said. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested, but…It’s gotta be a case of mistaken identity.”
“Yeah…” Kondo sighed quietly and scratched his head.
Yamaji’s conclusion was common sense. Kondo seemed to realize this is the conclusion he’d come to.
But I didn’t agree.
Dental records had shown that the body was Reina Myoko. Her father, Koichiro, had also said it was definitely his daughter. That I was well aware of.
Yet I couldn’t help but feel that Reina Myoko was still with us.
However, there was no way I could actually utter such an insane idea. I tried to stuff this feeling away.
“Do you mind, Yamaji?” Dr. Higano asked. He had a serious look on his face and was spinning his finger puzzle. “I think this is an important hint that sheds light on the entire case. It may have something to do with Reina’s secret.”
Yamaji took a fresh lollipop and drummed it against his head. “Sorry, Doc. Someone saw someone else who looks like Reina after she died, and there’s nothing we can do about it. We just don’t have an investigator to spare. There’s nothing we can do.”
“Ah, I see…I guess it can’t be helped. Just, please remember I was very curious about this detail.”
“Yeah, got it.” Yamaji nodded, ended the conversation, and went back to the three men.
“Hmm…” Dr. Higano stopped spinning his puzzle and was still furrowing his brow.
What if Dr. Higano, like me, sensed that she still existed?
The doctor realized I was looking at him. I smiled in an effort to prevent myself from looking away.
“Yuri,” he said and suddenly came right up to me. Then, like he was sharing something terrible, some unspeakable secret, he whispered, “Do you think Reina Myoko might have come back to life?”