CH 17

Half an hour’s drive on a national highway from the burned city center reveals an unchanging landscape of country roads.

It was an area made up of either rice paddies, or otherwise mountains and scattered residential areas. A deserted diner and a decaying tourist information sign.

The succession of landscapes that looked like they were just randomly generated patterns in a lazily created video game reflected the reality of the countryside along the national highway.

The sound of the tires of the vehicle detectives was riding, pounding along the asphalt in a steady rhythm, feels like it’s gradually lulling its passengers to sleep.

[Even so, they said it was a new University-Launched Venture, but don’t you think this place is rather remote, Manda-san?]

Perhaps bored of watching the same scenery for some time, his partner, the young detective Nagai, broached the subject.

Glancing at his partner, Manda thought young detectives nowadays have good communication skills.

In his days, young detectives used to keep quiet until their superiors opened their mouths.

[Yeah. Well, you can’t really open up an industrial waste-related company in the middle of the city.]

It would be troubling if he were to fall asleep at the wheel and cause an accident during a series of all-night investigations, so Manda just decided to go along with the lighthearted conversation.

Even the upper management, who is on edge in their search for the culprit in the arson and murder case that led to the massive fire, would probably agree with him for this.

[I understand that, but it would have been nice if they had an office in the city center. Because of this, we had to come all the way to this remote place to get information.]

[What, Detective Nagai isn’t satisfied with the drive with me? If that’s the case, you can go back to your desk job, you know?]

[No! That drive is fun! ……It’s just, the company we’re interviewing today, that Mass Clean something technology? I don’t think it’s very likely that the President of that company had anything to do with the murder……]

MCTBH <Mass Clean Technology Black Hole> is a University-Launched Venture Company that was recently established by a local university to undertake waste treatment using a new technology.

According to the scraps of local newspapers they had gathered beforehand, a University Professor with a friendly face claimed that he started the company to contribute to the local community and the global environment, and in fact, said company did a lot of work in the aftermath of the recent large-scale fire.

[Well, yeah. However, I found the name of the President of this company among the remains left behind in the office of Kaneda, a moneylender, after the fire. We can’t just ignore it, can we?]

Daiki Gomi. Age 34. University Graduate. After working for a major trading company, he established a recycling shop in his hometown. This year, he switched to the waste treatment business. He partnered with the local university to start a new technology waste management venture. Never married. No criminal record.

He isn’t particularly interesting, just a man with a normal career.

The reason why such a man’s name was left in the remains of the fire is unknown.

It’s possible that it’s just another person with the same name.

[But you see…… That Kaneda was a moneylender and a landshark. He was also quite the flamboyant one, wasn’t he? There must be a lot of people who have a grudge against him…… Seems to me that that yakuza named Hougi is much more suspicious than him, don’t you think?]

Kaneda had taken the trouble to print out a list of his clients and stored it in a fireproof wall safe.

At the investigation headquarters, some of those who had known circumstances were listed high on the list.

In addition to the customer list, Kaneda also kept a notebook, and the names of Gomi and Hougi were found among the burned pages.

[The Anti-Boryokudan department would get information from that Hougi guy. Our department will have our turn after that.]

[However, would someone who starts a company with a University Professor really do something like killing a moneylender…… He should be considerably wealthy, right? If there’s no reason for him to borrow money, there would be no reason for him to get into financial trouble with a moneylender.]

[Well, that’s true……]

[I really think it’s Hougi who really did it. Like, he’d get a big payout after they’d done to him, or something like that.]

[Oi, Nagai, don’t let your prejudice affect the investigation. In the field work, you just do as you’re told. First, we need to interview this Gomi guy.]

[I understand. Ahh, I can already see his place now.]

Moving his gaze farther, through the front glass of the car, Manda began to see a site surrounded by tall galvanized iron walls looming around the agricultural lands.

★　★　★　★　★

When a detective visits without an appointment, even if they had nothing to hide, ordinary people usually get shaken.

However, the young man who answered the door, seemingly one of the employees, didn’t seem to be particularly feeling timid, and saying “Please wait in the office. I will call him right away.”, he urged them inside.

[……Seems like my face had lost some of its impact huh.]

[I guess?]

In the office to which they were ushered, several young male employees were doing difficult-looking calculations on a computer, but it was an empty and rather drab office.

A large sofa for visitors and a large monitor on the wall were the only curious things in this place.

[That’s a big monitor, isn’t it? Do you use it to manage your work?]

[Ahh, that one is for the President’s hobby.]

When Manda casually inquired about this, a young employee responded to him.

[Heehhh……]

“So his hobby is watching movies huh……”, thought Manda. He started imagining how intense movies must be, watching them on this large monitor.

Thinking that President Gomi was beginning to seem more and more like an ordinary man, Manda’s shoulders slumped at the prospect that their visit might have been a wasted one.

[Ahh, the President is back.]

Hearing the front door slide open, Manda turned to see a middle-aged man wearing a dirty jumpsuit coming in.

[I’ll go wash my hands and change, so please wait a moment.]

Briefly informing them, Gomi disappeared into the door at the back of the office.

Holding his breath, Manda stared at Gomi’s back.

★　★　★　★　★

The interview itself took only a few minutes.

To begin with, several people, including employees, testified that the person in question was the office and had an alibi at the day the fire happened.

He also had no motive for the murder.

[Speaking of which, some months ago, Kaneda-san came to my office with a yakuza-like person to screw me into processing the illegal waste from his company. Well, of course, I refused. If we had accepted such illegal waste and had our business license taken away, we would have lost our means of livelihood. He might have some resentment towards me because of that.]

Gomi’s own testimony also revealed why his name was listed in Kaneda’s notebook along with Hougi.

[I guess it really was a miss huh, Manda-san.]

Nagai spoke to him as they drove home, but Manda remained silent.

After a while, when they entered the city center, Manda finally opened his mouth.

[Nagai, what did you think of that Gomi guy?]

[What I think…… Just an ordinary guy…… Ahh, but he had a great body, didn’t he? Did he play rugby or sports like that?]

He had an average build, but he was tall and had a well-developed muscular body that could be seen even from outside of his jumpsuit.

[You’ve read his background, right? He didn’t do any sports in college.]

[Then, does he go to the gym? I heard it’s all the rage for executives to go to the gym and do muscle training.]

[Was that all there is to it?]

[Was that all…… Manda-san, what did you think?]

Hearing the question being returned to him, Manda didn’t answer directly, but changed the subject.

[Nagai, do you know the condition of this victim’s corpse?]

[Yeah…… I heard that he was torn apart with great force, having bite marks on his body…… He was apparently caught in the collapsing building and his body was probably gnawed off by a dog or some other animal.]

[Those bite marks…… They said the body was gnawed on before it was burned. A colleague who joined the agency at the same time as me, working in forensics, told me.]

[Ehhh……?]

[When Gomi came in, I locked eyes with him. I’ve been a detective up to this age and I’ve seen a lot of different people. I’ve stood in front of con artists and murderers. However, his eyes were different from any of them……]

[……How is it different?]

Nagai’s question made Manda shake his head.

[I don’t know……]

[You don’t know, you say……]

Nagai was puzzled by his answer, but Manda only murmured.

[However, there’s one thing I’m sure…… I don’t like his eyes……]

From that point on, Manda kept his mouth shut and ignored Nagai’s attempts to speak to him.