Shindo met Yanagi at Leisure Land in City Y, on the border of the prefecture. He’d opted to do it on a Sunday. The man appeared, bang on schedule at two o’clock in front of the big wheel. He was wearing a jacket, his pallid features seeming to float amidst the throngs of families. Shindo was wrapped in a warm coat and sitting on a bench. They both resembled tired parents whose weekends had been eaten up by family outings. Yanagi set himself down on the same bench, leaving space for one person between them.
‘It was you,’ Shindo said, keeping his gaze forwards.
‘Sorry?’ Yanagi, too, was looking ahead.
‘You were the one who tried to frame Sone.’
‘Me?’
‘I can see it, you know. The scenario you came up with, acted out. You figured I’d come to you if something came up regarding Station Q. Everything was going to plan.’
‘. . .’
‘I should have realised that something was off. You knew too much from the start. All that detail on Saga and Mitsui. You even knew the day Sone was scheduled for night watch.’ In the periphery of his vision, Shindo thought he caught the Noh mask smirk. ‘Something amusing?’
‘. . .’
‘You told me on the phone that you hadn’t been inside the bar, that time you took the photos of Yaeko Kato.’
‘Sure.’
‘What made you think Yaeko was the mama-san? I seem to remember it wasn’t until the next day that you started looking into her background.’
‘I’d been there before.’
Shindo turned to face him. ‘You didn’t tell me that.’
‘I didn’t think I needed to.’
Shindo looked straight ahead again. ‘Let me be specific. You found out that Atsushi Mitsui owned a Brand Z, Model 36 word processor. You picked one up for yourself and used it to type out the letter. I asked you to look into the case, as expected, and you proceeded to give me one revelatory detail after another. It was after we learned the model of the word processor, right? That was when you’d planned to reveal that Mitsui had one.’
‘Why would I do that? I don’t have anything against Sone or Mitsui.’
Shindo looked up at the sky as he answered. ‘My guess is . . . because you wanted to return to Public Security.’
This time the Noh mask broke into an open smile.
‘You were transferred out. You lost your connections with the executive. That’s why you cooked up this whole fiasco. To impress me with your talents. On the assumption that I’d be heading back there myself.’
Yanagi got to his feet and fixed Shindo with a cold stare. ‘Sir, let me be perfectly clear. I’ve never considered you a superior.’