Evil and the Mask

  “Something awkward has come up. I want to move next week’s meeting forward.”

  It sounded like he was in a bar somewhere.

  “Okay. What’s happened?”

  “I’ll tell you then. But put everything on hold until we meet, please. There’s a cop sniffing around.”

  “Okay.”

  “Maybe we should avoid the usual hotel. Do you know somewhere safe?”

  “I think so. I’ll get back to you. Is this cell phone all right?”

  “Yes. Let’s meet the day after tomorrow. Maybe it’s best if we lay low tomorrow, as a precaution.”

  “Okay. I’ve got some new information too.”

  I hung up and sat on the bed. Looking back on my exchange with Aida, I thought about how uneven my pulse had been, how perturbed I was. Even now my heart was still thumping, like a persistent echo. I got up, irritated by my body’s reaction. I was hungry, and that annoyed me too. I thought about going out, but changed my mind because Aida might still be there. I could hear low voices whispering right beside my ear. I ignored them and started walking, but something felt wrong with the floor. It seemed to be sticking to the soles of my feet, as if it had a mind of its own. The second hand on the clock moved sharply, jerkily. I felt the glass was urging me to pick it up and drink more of that stale liquid. I fired up my computer and forced down the rest of the water.

  The video playing on the computer came up on the projector. I watched it again, leaning back on the sofa, trying to forget my unpleasant meeting with the cop. The screen changed from black to orange, and then Kaori appeared, wearing a thin white sweater, resting her elbows on a table in a café. Her beer glass was half empty, and her dinner was salad, spring rolls and a small pizza. She was beautiful, so beautiful that I forgot all about Shintani’s life and the shock of Aida’s visit.

  Suddenly I was surprised by Kaori’s laugh. It was still the same high-pitched laugh it had always been. After an absence of ten years or more I was hearing her again. I moved to the chair by the table. Kaori clapped her hands lightly.

  “I mean, really! Isn’t that incredible?”

  That was Azusa Konishi’s voice.

  “Yeah, yeah, it’s amazing.”

  “So I said, ‘That’s incredible.’ And he looked all smug.”

  Kaori giggled again. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but I smiled too. I took a mouthful of whiskey from a glass that was sitting on the table, and its warmth spread slowly through my body.

  “It was awful. It was all I could do not to laugh.”

  “I’m amazed you managed it,” said Kaori.

  Her cheeks were slightly flushed. I could see the curve of her breasts beneath her sweater. She picked up her beer mug with slender fingers and took a small sip. Her throat moved as she swallowed. Her eyes were moist with alcohol.

  “Lots of guys are like that, aren’t they?” Konishi said. “Hey, have you got a boyfriend?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Anyone you like?”

  “Well, that customer, Yajima, he’s pretty nice.”

  Bad taste, I thought.

  “But a smarmy customer like that, he can suddenly stop coming, you know.”

  “Yeah, maybe. He’s still just a customer, though.”

  “I don’t know why you don’t have a man. You’re so pretty!”

  “What? You’re much prettier, Azumi! You became the top girl at work straight away, didn’t you?”

  Konishi had applied for the job using the name Azumi.

  “I really wanted to be inconspicuous,” said Konishi.

  “But you’re so outgoing!”

  “Maybe.”

  Another giggle. A waiter approached politely and asked if they’d like another drink.

  “Um, a gin and lime.”

  “Beer for me,” said Kaori.

  “More beer?”

  “Well, okay, gin and lime.”

  “Kaori, can’t you think for yourself?”

  “All right then, gin and tonic.”

  Azusa Konishi laughed loudly. The waiter brushed the camera with his arm and the image tilted. Maybe it was hidden in a lighter or something. The picture shook and then the screen went dark. I watched the recording again, then switched it to continuous play. I watched Kaori’s white sweater, listened to Kaori’s laughter. I watched it over and over with a smile on my face.

  Outside it started to rain. In the distance I could hear the sounds of car horns, and the lights in the surrounding apartments went out one by one.

  AFTER I FINISHED talking, the detective lowered his eyes.

  We were in a room on the top floor of a run-down business hotel, but the interior was austere and clean. By parking in the basement of the vast shopping mall next door and walking through the Staff Only corridor, we’d managed to reach the hotel’s underground car-park, so even if someone was following our car, from outside it would look like we’d gone into the mall. The detective had taken the stairs, avoiding both the reception area and the elevator. He had a connection in the hotel, so he knew there were no security cameras in the stairwell.

  “It’s my fault,” he said, bowing deeply. “I’m very sorry.”

  I shook my head slowly.

  “No, it’s just one of those things. That cop, Aida, is kind of obsessed. Trading places with someone can never be entirely straightforward. When you do something unexpected and out of the ordinary, you’ve got to accept the risks.”

  “It was definitely treated as an accident pure and simple. Shintani was never questioned, even informally, and Sae Suzuki’s family didn’t bring a civil case against him either.”

  “Probably,” I began, and then drank some coffee.

  The cup had a red pattern, like deep gashes. I thought idly that my meetings with the detective always seemed to involve coffee.

  “Aida had probably forgotten all about it until he saw me on the security camera. He spotted me, got a surprise and got in touch with Sae’s mother, Yaeko, for the first time in ages. Then he heard that she was seriously ill. That’s probably how it happened, I think. And he just felt that the coincidence must mean something. It’s a real pain. So is the thing with Yajima. The Yajima problem will be fine though, won’t it?”

  He looked down, as though he was thinking. “I don’t think they’ll ever be able to catch the person who gave him the adulterated drugs. Whoever it was, they’d have handed them over under the table or something so that no one could see.”

  “Yeah. Under the table, and I bet he had special clear tape on his fingertips so he didn’t leave any prints. Whoever he was.” I no longer had any fingerprints, in case something like this happened, but I spoke deliberately and took another gulp of coffee.

  The corners of his mouth relaxed as he debated how to respond. “Then there’s no problem. Even if someone saw them talking in the bar, that doesn’t prove he gave him the poison. And they can’t even be certain that the handover took place there. There’d have been hundreds of opportunities. He could have got the drugs a week earlier. A month, even. Since he was a regular user, he probably had a fair stash. The most obvious theories are that he added the poison to the drugs himself to kill himself or that a woman or someone who had ready access to his apartment mixed them.”

  “If they did track down the guy who was talking to Yajima,” I said, “and asked him what the meeting was about, he could just say that he’d been interested in buying some drugs but had changed his mind.”

  “Sounds good to me. If he admits to something, they’re more likely to believe him. It’s like he’s got no reason to hide the fact that he met him.”

  He stood and opened the refrigerator. Then he started speaking again, still with his back to me.

  “But on the other hand, if they found out that this man really did have some kind of connection to Yajima, he’d be in big trouble.”

  He still didn’t turn around.

  “A murder inquiry starts by considering the victim and his associates. That cop
might make the connection between Yajima and Ms. Kaori, but as long as he believes that this Shintani guy really is Shintani, he can’t tie him to Yajima’s death, because he has no motive, no reason to kill him. Obviously there is no link between him and Ms. Kaori either. However, if he works out that this man is not in fact who he appears to be, and if he discovers that he did actually have a motive to kill Yajima and is connected to Ms. Kaori, then the situation becomes very grave. When one lie unravels, the whole story falls apart. The truth comes spilling out.”

  “So I need to completely immerse myself in my role as Koichi Shintani.”

  The room was too warm. The black table in front of me was damp.

  “I’ll have another look at his background. If by some chance he did have something to do with Sae Suzuki’s accident, we’re in a much more difficult position.”

  “Please do. For the time being, Ms. Konishi’s reports on Kaori will be enough.”

  “About that …”

  The detective returned to the couch with two cans of coffee.

  “The organization that was investigating Ms. Kaori, it was a company after all. A corporation in the munitions industry.”

  “Munitions? Why?”

  My throat was dry. I poured the coffee into my cup.

  “After the war the Japanese government banned all arms exports. This company deals with overseas arms manufacturers and acts as a broker for weapons imports and exports in other countries. It’s a legitimate company, but it’s hard to find out much about it. The man who was following Ms. Kaori often visits the building where the company’s got their office. It’s in Roppongi.”

  He handed me a photo of a building.

  “The company register?”

  “I’ve got hold of a list of the directors. We’re still investigating.”

  I glanced at the paper he gave me. I didn’t recognize any of the names.

  “I don’t understand this at all.”

  “Shall I look into Ms. Kaori’s past?”

  He was studying me.

  “Yes, please. Start with her work history rather than her friendships.”

  “Okay.”

  His suit was slightly worn. I knew it helped him blend into his surroundings, but he was quite good-looking and it seemed a waste that he didn’t wear something a little more stylish.

  “I’m making trouble for you,” I said. “One problem after another.”

  He smiled slightly.

  “And you’re paying us accordingly. Anyway, we don’t like doing a half-assed job.”

  “Thank you. I’m worried about Aida, so we won’t meet as often. Call my cell phone and put any recordings from Konishi in the post. Just to be on the safe side. Email leaves a trail.”

  “Understood. We’ll use a different sender’s name every time, so please check all your mail.”

  I realized that even though his clothes and belongings were scruffy, they were all cleaner than they appeared. His carelessly tousled hair was always messy in the same way and the wrinkles in his suit were always in the same places. I saw that his unremarkable black bag was perfectly polished. Such excessive cleanliness struck me as kind of lonely. I finished my coffee and used the room phone to call a cab.

  WE DROVE FOR a while and I got out when I saw Ueno Park. Konishi called and told me that she’d mailed a photo of Kaori and her. She said jokingly that usually she was cool towards people she was checking up on, but that she’d come to like Kaori, perhaps because they were about the same age, and it was quite difficult.

  “And another thing,” she continued in a low voice. “I can’t work out what she wants from life. It feels like she doesn’t really have any big dreams. She said when she was younger she wanted to be a nurse, but …”

  I thought about that. She’d probably have made a good nurse.

  “Thank you. Please keep going.”

  I hung up and looked around me. I couldn’t exactly remember why I’d gotten out in such a crowded place. From a vending machine I bought a coffee and drank it as I walked. An elderly couple was out for a stroll, a mother pushing a baby buggy. A child holding a balloon was smiling proudly. A gang of guys, probably university students, was joking around in loud voices. A beautiful woman was walking along, ignoring her surroundings, eyes fixed on her cell phone. A group of kids with schoolbags. An old man chatting cheerfully on his phone. Surprisingly, he was holding the latest model.

  Happiness is a fortress.

  That’s what my father had said before I locked him up, before I killed him. A young couple, junior high school students, came walking towards me. The boy was striding earnestly and the girl was pretty. When she teased him about something he blushed and got angry. Maybe she didn’t know how seriously teenage boys take themselves, how important they think they are. I grinned.

  Father hadn’t been begging for his life. He didn’t blame me, saying I was murdering him to preserve my self-contained life with Kaori. He knew exactly what would happen to me after I killed him. But I had no desire to destroy this happy scene around me now. Having said that, faced with this mass of other people’s happiness, I didn’t feel like giving them my blessing either. I was just walking. Wondering if in this huge park there were any other murderers. And if there were, did it bother them?

  When I looked back at the high school couple they were holding hands. I watched them expressionlessly. I started having impure thoughts, and left the park and hailed a taxi. Maybe my sudden arousal was their fault? Probably not, I decided. It made no difference if I kept on walking or went home to bed alone. It made no difference if I threw the can of coffee I was holding at someone or if I didn’t. It didn’t matter if I was horny or if I wasn’t. Nothing mattered.

  I WENT INTO d’Alfaro, where I’d met Yajima. I didn’t have any particular reason for choosing that place, but if Aida learned that I hadn’t been back there since Yajima’s death he might get suspicious. I sat at the battered counter and ordered a gin and tonic. As before, the bar was noisy and full of foreigners.

  A small hole had been punched in the wall, and I felt like it was watching me. It seemed to be imploring me to peer though it, so I turned away and looked at a woman approaching my seat. Something stirred inside me. I watched her casually. She glanced at me briefly and then sat down next to me. There was a half-finished cocktail of some kind on the bar in front of her. I figured she must have been sitting there before I arrived and had just got up to go to the toilet.

  “Excuse me,” I said, looking at her face.

  Her eyes were large, with dark rings underneath, and her full lips were curled up slightly.

  “I’ve got a hundred thousand yen here. Let’s get a room.”

  “Huh?” She stared at me, the smile frozen on her face. She was wearing a short denim skirt and a black, long-sleeved T-shirt that showed the lines of her body.

  “Are you some kind of freak?” she asked.

  “Are you on your own?”

  “Yes, but … What the hell?”

  “So I’m saying I’ve got a hundred thousand yen, let’s find a hotel. If that’s not enough, let’s make it two hundred.”

  After gazing at me for a bit longer, she burst out laughing.

  “Seriously? Wow! That’s the first time anyone’s said anything like that to me. What are you up to? Are you crazy?”

  “No?”

  “Hold on a sec. Let me get this straight.”

  Still laughing, she finished her drink and ordered another in a loud voice. She was probably only a bit younger than I was. Suddenly I realized that I’d seen her in here before.

  “Hey, the other day you were passed out at that table over there, and a black guy was trying to put his arms around you.”

  She looked me in the face.

  “Yeah, that’s right. That was a close call. I was sound asleep. He almost dragged me to that back room. I don’t like foreigners. They’re big.”

  “Big?”

  “Their dicks. And they’re bent.”

  She
was watching me seriously.

  “Really bent! Like they’re alive. As bent as Kuwata’s curve ball.”

  “Kuwata?”

  “Used to play for the Giants. You must know him.”

  I nodded.

  “Me, I’m a Hanshin Tigers fan,” she continued. “My ex-ex-boyfriend was a Tigers fan and I ended up becoming one too. Now if you were a Hanshin fan as well, I wouldn’t mind getting a room.”

  “You don’t go off with a stranger for a stupid reason like that!”

  “Hey, you invited me, remember?”

  She laughed again. The people at the table behind us laughed too, but obviously not at the same thing.

  “So you come to bars like this, hunt out girls who look like they might let you into their pants and start hitting on them? Do you do this often?”

  “Not regularly. And I don’t just talk to girls who look like they might let me into their pants. It’s because you’re kind of pretty.”

  “Nice of you to say so. Though I don’t like that ‘kind of’ so much. But it was quite a good comeback. And the timing is perfect. I need money desperately right now. I need it but I’m flat broke, so I’ve been sulking and spending money on drinks. Seriously, I thought they’d kill me.”

  The bar’s air conditioning was still bad and the room was thick with cigarette smoke. At a table in the distance a woman was crying hysterically and a man was laughing as he comforted her.

  “Kill you?”

  “For real. I really thought they would. And even if they didn’t, I’d definitely have to work as a pro to pay it off, because I didn’t borrow it from a regular bank. I’d rather have sex with you than a whole bunch of other guys.”

  She pushed her face close to mine.

  “But you’re weird. You’re pretty good-looking, so if you’d chatted me up in the normal way you might have got it for nothing.”

  “That’s okay. Let’s go.”

  She continued to stare at my remodeled face, at Shintani’s face.

  WHEN WE GOT to the hotel room she started kissing my ears and neck, saying that she couldn’t possibly ask for two hundred thousand, that my first offer of one hundred would do. I wanted to ask her to put on a white dress, but I missed my chance so I kept my mouth shut. When she asked my name I told her it was Shintani. For some reason she chuckled slightly and said it was funny. I pushed her onto the bed, taking off her clothes. I could smell alcohol on her breath. I put my tongue in her mouth, and accepted her tongue into mine.