Ishii was right. Exactly right. There was no way Commissioner Kozuka could come, not now.
They were in the midst of a brand-new kidnapping. To imagine the commissioner walking into this chaos to inspect a kidnapping from fourteen years earlier . . . Mikami couldn’t think of anything more absurd. What would he do, then? Would he force through the inspection, anyway, but reframe it as a visit to the front lines? Or would he use the kidnapping as an excuse to seize control? Would he arrive with a team from the bureau to lead the Investigative HQ, parade NPA leadership as established fact? No, it was too risky. If the kidnapper were to escape, it would be the same as entering into a suicide pact with the Prefectural HQ. They would lose face before the nation and never be able to bring up sequestration again. The visit would be postponed or cancelled outright. As of now – unless the kidnapping was solved straight away – the visit would not be going ahead.
There was no great impact. Mikami’s emotional dial registered no disappointment, no sense of comfort; no exhilaration. All he was left to do was contemplate the irony, almost predestined, of the outcome. The spectre of Six Four ending the Six Four inspection. The prefecture had become Dallas after all, but because of Sato, not because of the Prefectural HQ or Criminal Investigations.
‘Is that enough for now?’ Mikura sounded impatient.
Mikami examined the man again. He looked into his eyes, trying to see right through them. Still an ant, but a confident ant. That had been the impression from the start. Mikura’s composure made it hard to imagine that he had, only three and a half hours earlier, been appointed as one of the lead investigators in a kidnapping case, even though it might turn out to be a hoax. They saw it as a lucky break – the idea was repugnant but it was there, regardless. The kidnapping had saved Criminal Investigations from the commissioner’s visit.
‘Well, if you don’t have any more questions, I’ll—’
‘Of course I’ve got more bloody questions. My information is three and a half hours out of date,’ Mikami said, abandoning decorum as he opened his notebook again. ‘Come on, then . . . the girl’s mother tried calling her daughter on her mobile. What happened next?’
‘She couldn’t get through.’
‘That’s still the case?’
‘Yes. There’s no signal from the phone at all; the battery’s probably been taken out.’
‘Who’s the provider?’
‘DoCoMo.’
‘Have you been able to contact any of her friends?’
‘Her parents don’t even know their surnames, so . . .’
Mikami flipped a page. ‘So they did a bad job of raising her?’
‘They smothered her. It seems her delinquency probably resulted from their excessive interference, when she was in primary and secondary school.’
‘Whose opinion is that?’
‘A city counsellor. One her parents took her to see once.’
Mikami felt a throbbing in his ear.
‘Why did she go home two nights ago?’
‘To pick up some clothes.’
‘How was she acting? Anything out of the ordinary?’
‘She didn’t say anything, although for her that’s apparently normal.’
Mikami turned to a new page.
‘What about warnings, of the kidnapping?’
‘They had some silent calls.’
The throbbing again.
‘How many?’
‘Not sure. We’re still getting information from the parents.’
‘When did they get the calls?’
‘Around ten days ago.’
‘And the number?’
‘Hmm?’
‘They’ve got caller display, right?’
‘Ah, yes. They said the call was made from a phone box.’
Mikami felt a door creak open in his mind. He was letting his emotions get in the way.
‘Anything else of note?’
‘The girl’s mother said she saw a black van she didn’t recognize parked near the house.’
‘When was that?’
‘Three, maybe four days ago.’
‘Could they think of anyone who might bear them a grudge?’
‘They didn’t think so.’
‘What about the phone? Were there any reports of it being lost?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘From the girl. Maybe at a koban?’
‘Oh, we haven’t asked that. Still, if she had, this wouldn’t be a kidnapping—’
‘Have you asked the koban to report in?’
‘Well, no, we—’
‘You need to do that. Not just for phones – there’s a chance it came in as a bag.’
Mikura gave him a perfunctory, uninterested nod.
Mikami turned a page and continued.
‘When did the Home Unit get there? How many officers?’
‘I don’t know the exact time. Five officers.’
‘Did you get the second call on tape?’
‘We didn’t get there in time.’
‘What area was the kidnapper calling from?’
‘Uh . . .?’
‘I’m asking which base station picked up the outgoing signal? You have a three-kilometre radius around the station. You have checked with DoCoMo, right?’
‘All I know is that the call originated inside the prefecture.’
He’d dodged the answer. Was he hiding something?
‘Find out and let me know.’
‘Okay, I’ll ask.’
‘Her father is self-employed; what kind of business is it?’
‘Telling you that would give away their identity.’
‘Okay, so a business with few competitors. Some kind of store?’
‘I suppose, yes, that’s right.’
‘Based?’
‘In Genbu, in the city.’
‘Are they well off?’
‘They said they could just about put the ransom together.’
‘Does the girl have any other siblings?’
‘Yes, a younger sister.’
‘How old?’
‘Eleven. Year six in primary school.’
‘Year six . . .’
Mikami stopped writing. The kidnapper had chosen the elder, not the younger of the two.
‘Exactly – that’s one of the reasons we thought it might be the girl’s own doing.’ There was something like pride in his voice.
‘Maybe the kidnapper was poorly organized. Maybe the crime was sexually motivated at first. Maybe the kidnapper was someone she knew. Surely there are lots of possible interpretations?’
‘Well, yes, I suppose.’
Mikura was acting disinterested, just as he had when Mikami had asked about the lost-property reports. Something was wrong. The kidnapping had only just taken place. In light of that, weren’t they putting far too much emphasis on the idea that it was a hoax? Was that why Mikura’s statements lacked any sense of urgency?
Maybe there was more. Maybe they had evidence, something decisive enough to convince the Investigative HQ that the case was a hoax. It would make sense then. It was possible Mikura’s self-possession stemmed not from the cancellation of the commissioner’s visit but from the optimism he had regarding the case.
Mikami closed his notebook.
‘Why are you keeping Admin out of this?’
‘Excuse me?’
‘In the assembly hall I saw management from Security, Community Safety, even Transport. Why were you so quick to bring them in, yet kept us out for three and a half hours?’