‘What about honours, disciplinary actions?’
‘Nothing of note. There’s a mark against him for having misplaced paperwork relating to lost property, but that was a long time ago.’
‘Do you know how he’s thought of, in general?’
‘Not too well, it seems. I’ve just asked someone at Station F. He was a bit depressive, guarded. Liked to act important. Bit of a mess, really. They did say he was relatively good-looking, that he’d been somewhat of a hit in the local bars.’
Mikami felt a wave of nausea.
‘Okay. Did you get anything on the woman?’
‘Also less than salubrious.’
Her name was Natsuko Hayashi. Thirty-seven years old. She’d worked at a massage parlour and was currently romantically involved with a known offender who specialized in breaking and entering. Her husband was serving time on charges of repeated opportunistic theft.
Mikami couldn’t hold back a scornful laugh.
‘Quite the couple. Don’t tell me she was in on charges of theft, too?’
‘Yes, for stealing a bag. From a schoolgirl trying to buy a ticket at the train station.’
Mikami stretched his neck in a circle, letting it all sink in.
‘Seems odd that he owned up.’
‘Hmm?’
‘Kuriyama. It’s not as though his name was on those vouchers he gave her. Why not tell the captain she’d made it all up?’
‘Right. Well, it seems she had made a written statement. He would have realized there’d be trouble if his boss – or his family – ever found out; seems she managed to cajole him into writing out an apology.’
Decisive, physical evidence. Had the Toyo known about that? If they had, then that would explain their being confident enough to go ahead with the article without first obtaining confirmation from the executive.
‘Meaning it’s possible Hayashi was the source?’
Suwa’s eyes hung unfocused for a moment; he blinked a few times, then looked back towards Mikami.
‘Doesn’t seem likely, though, right? I mean, she already had the gift vouchers. They’re probably why she thought about blackmailing Kuriyama in the first place. She wouldn’t have benefited from taking the story to the press.’
‘Okay. Who do you think handed Akikawa the story?’
Unlike on the phone, Suwa’s response was immediate. ‘I don’t have a name, but I’m pretty sure the source was a detective.’
‘What makes you think that?’ Mikami asked, his expression unchanged.
‘It was something my contact in Station F said, someone in Admin. He told me no one had known about Kuriyama’s misconduct and that, even if they had, it would have been suicide to leak the story to the press. He said it simply didn’t make sense for anyone in Admin to be the source.’
‘Doesn’t the same logic apply to detectives? After all, they think they’re the ones in charge of the facilities.’
‘Sure, but the official jurisdiction lies with Admin. And they’re pretty damn serious about maintaining confidentiality; it’s practically beaten into them.’
Unlike detectives, they keep their mouths shut. Suwa gave the impression that this was what he wanted to say. He phrased it differently, keeping the same expression.
‘Hayashi might have mentioned it in passing, to one of the detectives . . . what Kuriyama was doing to her.’
‘And the detective just happened to mention it to the press?’
Catching on to Mikami’s irritation, Suwa leaned in closer. ‘My contact did say that people were acting a bit strangely in the Criminal Investigations Division.’
‘Strangely? How so?’
‘I mean, it must have been a shock, to see the morning paper. The captain called everyone in, so they’re all there in the station, but . . . the thing is, none of the detectives is showing any sign of surprise; he said it’s as though they already knew what was going to happen, that they’re just pretending they didn’t.’
‘You won’t find a detective who shows his surprise openly.’
Even as he said this, Mikami couldn’t help feeling Suwa was probably right. They were talking about a dodgy masseuse and a husband with a penchant for breaking and entering. The couple would be well known among the station’s detectives. The atmosphere in the interrogation room would have been comparatively relaxed, more so than if she’d been a first-time offender. The chances were high that she would have opened up to one of the detectives if the guard had been abusing her. Although, judging by the fact that nothing had happened at the time of the offence, her approach had perhaps been more of an implication than a direct accusation. Either way, what mattered was that the story had probably spread through the division, then, as a secret shared between detectives, to the other stations, possibly even to the Prefectural HQ.
The conclusion was that the leak had probably come from Criminal Investigations. The rumour had made its way to Director Arakida’s office. He had ordered one of the detectives in Station F to look into the facts. Then he’d used the most effective tool he had to pressurize Administrative Affairs – the Toyo, with its circulation of 8 million copies.
Mikami looked back at Suwa.
‘You think the leak came from Criminal Investigations in Station F. Is that right?’
‘Yes.’
‘That Akikawa went all the way to some district station in the middle of nowhere to get the story?’
‘I don’t think he went anywhere to get the story. Someone leaked it to him. He’s pretty well known. Anyone who’d worked here before would know his name.’
‘Why leak the story?’
‘Going by how big it is, I’d say whoever it was wanted to go straight for the captain. Kobogata has a reputation for being difficult, almost obsessively so. Plenty of people would be happy to see him go.’
So that was the reasoning behind his ‘detective’ theory. It certainly wasn’t implausible. Still, Mikami felt confident Suwa would have come up with a different theory, had he known about the conflict surrounding the commissioner’s visit. If he was going to tell him, it had to be now. It felt like the only way he could secure Suwa’s loyalty – to bring him directly into the fold, make sure he didn’t hear it from Akama first. But it was a difficult subject to broach. He had yet to understand many of the core elements himself. It felt wrong to give Suwa only a general summary, highlighting the disquiet and nothing else; it was like handing him a body bag without revealing what was inside.
‘I should probably be heading out.’ Suwa flicked a quick glance at his watch. ‘There was one more thing I wanted to ask first.’
‘Go on.’