“Imagining Mr. Katsuragi’s face as he writes these is kind of hilarious.” Having said that, I thought it might actually be the detectives.
“So he’ll go through with the deal because he confirmed I was okay,” Juri observed, peeking at the screen from behind me.
“Well, I wonder about that.”
“Uh, but…”
“He’s saying that he needs some time to prepare the money. They’re still trying to buy time. That’s why they’re demanding to know the method of exchange. Anyway, those guys are trying to coax us into making a move. Through that, they think they can grab us by the tail.”
“Telling them the exchange method comes after they prepare the money, I guess?”
“Yeah, that’s my thinking.” I left the computer and sat down on the living room sofa. Juri followed me.
I turned over my thoughts. They were about what our opponents were up to. They couldn’t just be lying in wait for us to make our move.
“Hey.” Juri sat down next to me. “How are we getting the money? Do you have some neat idea?”
“Oh…yeah,” I said ambiguously. If I told her I had no idea, what sort of face would she make? I couldn’t afford to lose her trust at this point.
In fact, I was assuming that it would all work out. Outwitting the police wasn’t so hard. They say kidnappings never work, but my hunch was that it wasn’t true and that successful cases simply go unreported. The police were neatly hiding them to save face. Just the cases where the perp was caught were widely reported so that kidnappers always appeared to be dumb even from an amateur perspective. There had to be some in the world who were smart. The families, too, probably didn’t want to complicate things once their precious child had come home. Spilling to the press and earning the culprit’s grudge would do them no good.
“You’re not going to tell me? How the exchange will happen?”
“I’ll tell you in time.”
“Are you trying not to make me feel agitated? You think I’d be scared? I’m not that weak.”
“I don’t think that—” I said with a wry smile. At that moment, I came up with something. Agitated…It wasn’t a bad idea.
Nodding, I stood up. I went to the kitchen, took two cans of beer from the fridge, and came back to the sofa. I put one in front of Juri.
“What are you grinning about? It’s creepy,” she complained.
“I just thought of something fun. Those guys are going to get agitated.”
“Agitated?”
“I’m going to tell them how the exchange will happen.”
Juri was about to pop open her beer, but her hand froze at my words. “Are you sure about that?”
“You’ll see. I won’t just be showing my hand.”
I returned to the computer and connected to the internet again. I performed several operations and accessed the site with the free email service. In the daytime, I had acquired an account there. The name and address were of course fake.
I opened a new mail window. Next, I took out my notebook and punched an address into the to field. It was the one of the person posting as “Julie” on the bulletin board.
“Well then.” I put my hands on the keyboard and took a deep breath.
We are confirming that we received your message. We are extremely delighted that you’ve learned that Juri Katsuragi is safe. Now we just need to move along the business negotiations. Letting this stagnate because of things that don’t matter is just a drawback for both parties. We need to expedite this.
First, we would like you to prepare three hundred million yen as we told you. Please have it all in old ten-thousand-yen bills. Divide that in half and pack it in a caddy bag and in another bag.
Next, a cellphone. It can be the one you normally use.
When the above preparations are complete, notify us in the usual way. At that time, provide your cellphone number. You probably can’t just write it out so you may apply some camouflage.
We pray that you complete the preparations quickly. Juri Katsuragi’s prompt release will be tied to that.
We will tell you this just in case. There is no point in replying to this account. We will no longer use this address or look at emails sent to this address. It is only for this one-time occasion.
After reading it three times over, I sat up straight and carefully tapped the send button. In a few seconds, a notice that the email had gone out flashed on the screen. I immediately logged out.
“A caddy bag and a bag, huh. I see,” Juri, who was watching from behind me, admired. “Because carrying that around isn’t strange.”
“Our opponents would think so, too.”
I glanced sideways at Juri, who tilted her head quizzically, and drank my beer.
When would they notice the email? Soon, no doubt. They had to be checking regularly. Maybe the Katsuragi estate was in an uproar right around now.
I was dying to take a peek at the CPT Owners Club website but decided not to anymore for tonight. Being antsy wouldn’t do me any good. Anyway, the other party was in a strategy meeting. I cut the internet connection and turned off the computer too.
The sound of the fan died down, and the room quieted to a surprising degree. I only heard Juri’s breathing.
“We’re done with the game for tonight. Good work.”
“We’ll finally get that ransom money.” Her chest heaved. “You won’t tell me how yet?”
“You’ll know eventually,” I replied with a smile. I wanted to tell her what I was up to, but she didn’t need to know everything. “Let’s go to sleep for tonight.”
I had Juri sleep in the bed while I lay down on the sofa. She seemed a little dubious about that but didn’t confront me.
To be frank, I was regretting having slept with her. It wasn’t for any reason I could put my finger on. It might’ve been because I’d committed a prohibited move in the game. Or was it guilt, for having touched my precious “merchandise”?
That wasn’t it.
Some kind of alarm was ringing in me as though to say, You can’t take it back now, can you? It was a feeling you could only call intuition.
I didn’t sleep well, probably thanks to that. Only having dozed off a little, I rose at pretty much my usual time. After washing my face in the bathroom, I booted the computer, also by force of habit.
I checked my email before hopping over to the CPT Owners Club. I glanced at the bulletin board and caught my breath.
Ready (Julie)
Good morning. This is Julie. I’ve finally gotten the money. With this, I should be able to get the dear car I’ve been hoping for. All that’s left is waiting for them to contact me.
By the way, these days, we can choose our plate numbers, yes?
I’d love to pick either:
3XXX or 8XXX
I’ve just started playing golf, so I can’t wait for the day when I can put my golf bag in the trunk and drive.
10
I phoned in to Hotel Gardens and told them I wanted to make a reservation for tonight. I was transferred to the front desk and a male hotelkeeper came on the line. He asked how many people were staying, and I told him it was just me.
“Yes, we can prepare a single room for tonight.”
“If possible, I would like a room facing the avenue.”
“Do you mean on the front side?”
“I guess. And if possible, not too high up.”
“Please wait a moment.”
I was put on hold for about twenty seconds before the hotelkeeper’s voice came back on.
“Thank you. Would a room on the fifteenth floor be fine?”
“The fifteenth floor. Sounds good, I’ll have that room then.”
“Certainly. May I have your name and phone number?”
I told him a bogus name and number, then hung up.
“What hotel?” Juri asked me without getting up from the sofa.
“Gardens. It’s nearby. It’s a pretty decent hotel. The crab egg shark fin soup at the Chinese rest
aurant in there is a delicacy. Apparently, the head French chef is the most medaled old man in Japan.”
Juri had started shaking her head even as I spoke. “I’m asking you why you made a hotel reservation. It can’t be to have a meal at their restaurant. Or are we moving to a new hideout?”
“We don’t need a new hideout. We’re just using the hotel for today.”
“Are you using it for the ransom exchange?”
My shoulders shook with laughter. “I’m doing no such thing.”
“Then what’s the plan? What are you using it for? Just how are you going to do the exchange, anyway?” Juri demanded hysterically.
“Am I being interrogated or what?”
“But you won’t tell me anything. Aren’t we partners?”
“When the time comes, I’ll tell you.”
“Right now isn’t the time? Papa gave his answer on the internet, didn’t he? They’ve finished preparing the money. They also provided a phone number. The only thing left is the exchange.”
I sighed and blinked slowly. “Like I said, this is a once in a lifetime game. It won’t progress that easily. If we don’t go step by step, we won’t get to the goal. This is just another procedure.”
“But you told them to prepare the money…To pack it in a golf bag…”
“A necessary item to get to the next stage. You play videogames, don’t you?”
“I haven’t ever.”
“Really? Anyway, for now just be quiet and watch.”
She probably wasn’t convinced, but nodded begrudgingly.
After finishing brunch, which was the cream stew that Juri had made the night before, I started getting ready to go out. I took a sports bag out of the closet, put a video camera and tape and a tripod into it, then binoculars and such. The binoculars were a gift from a bird-watcher friend of mine.
“You got a reservation for a single room, so I guess you’re going to stay by yourself?”
“Today is Saturday, okay? Do you think a double room would be available? Even if one were, I wouldn’t be able to specify the location or floor.”
“So I can come with you?”
“Be careful not to be noticed by the hotel, though. Also, wear a disguise that won’t look unnatural.”
Juri stood in front of me and looked down at me with her hands on her hips.
“What?” I asked her.
“Don’t ‘what’ me. How are you saying I should disguise myself? I don’t have any clothes nor any makeup. I’d only be able to make myself look like a young homeless person.”
Ha ha ha, I laughed. She had a way with words. “Then you’ll wait in this room. The police must know what clothes you were wearing when you went missing. They’ve probably accounted for the chance that the kidnappers are using a hotel and circulated a notification.”
“I’m going with you no matter what. I don’t know what you’re up to, but surely I can be of some help?”
I looked into her eyes. They said she wasn’t backing down this time. I went over in my head what I would be doing soon. Having her there might prove convenient, in fact. I released my hand from the sports bag.
“Okay, okay. Let’s go.”
“I can come to the hotel, then?”
“First, we go shopping.”
—
There’s no kidnapper anywhere who would do this, I thought. I was going shopping at a department store in Ginza with the girl I’d kidnapped. In a way, I was doing what the police would never expect me to, but I couldn’t keep very calm.
As though she couldn’t care less about my state of mind, Juri rummaged through several racks of clothes. She looked no different at all from the other young women and beautifully melted into her surroundings, so it was hard to complain, but I wanted to tell her, Think about why we’ve come shopping.
At least she wasn’t stupid, and she didn’t make any blunders that would make the staff remember her face. Even as she looked for clothes, she deftly moved around. In fact, I might have been the one making an impression. I’d been standing in front of the window the whole time and watching her with a sour look. But if you thought of me as a man accompanying his young girlfriend’s shopping despite himself, no director would order a retake.
Finally Juri came out of the store. She was carrying a paper bag.
“It seems you’ve somehow managed to buy something. I thought it’d take more time.” I couldn’t resist being sarcastic.
“This is the first time ever I’ve shopped so fast. The staff might remember me if I stayed at the store too long, so I chose stuff randomly.”
“Remarkable, thanks.”
“Then next is makeup. Let’s go to the first floor.” She sounded almost gleeful.
I waited in the tea lounge drinking coffee while Juri finished choosing. I wasn’t sure about leaving her alone, but it wasn’t like my presence would help. I had to take her word that compared to Shibuya, the chances of her running into someone she knew in Ginza were zero.
After about half an hour, she came back. When I saw her face, my eyes opened wide.
“You did your makeup?”
“Well, yeah, while I was at it,” she said, sitting down across from me. The waitress came, so Juri ordered milk tea.
“You didn’t have the staff do your makeup, did you?”
“Why would I? I just borrowed a mirror and did it myself. It’s okay. In a place like that, no one’s looking at other people. Everyone’s just concerned with the face reflected in the mirror in front of them.”
“Give me a break. I’m already worried as it is that they saw your face at the convenience store and the family restaurant.”
“I’m saying it’s okay.” She took her cigarettes out of her handbag, but noticing the seats were non-smoking, returned the pack with an irritated look.
The milk tea came. I watched her face casually as she brought the cup to her mouth. Her makeup wasn’t very thick and leveraged the fine texture of her skin. She had underscored her well-formed eyes and nose, and her face looked more vivid than before.
“What are you staring at me for? Are you still worried?”
“No, not really.” I averted my eyes. “I have another item to shop for.”
“What is it this time?”
“It’s necessary for the game.”
We got in another taxi and I directed it to Akihabara. In the car, I handed Juri five ten-thousand-yen bills.
“What’s this?”
“Cash for shopping. Go and buy it for me.”
“Well, I don’t even know what I’m buying.”
“When the time comes, I’ll tell you. Do as I say.”
Juri became sulky again, but I didn’t want the driver to hear.
We went down Showa Road and then got off. The place was crowded on Saturdays. It was convenient for us since we didn’t want to be seen. Even so, Juri wore a hat that nearly covered her eyes.
I went into an alley, away from a street that was lined with famous electronics stores. There were still a great number of people, but the atmosphere was somehow different. Many of the stores were meant for enthusiasts.
My eyes immediately settled on a man. He was swarthy and bearded—an Iranian.
“Go to that man and ask him if he has a burner,” I said in Juri’s ear.
“A burner?”
“A burner phone. It’s a cell with a fake name.”
“Ah.” She nodded. “I’ve heard of those.”
“Any maker will do. I think fifty thousand should be enough. Pay upfront. After that, he’ll tell you to come with him, so do as he says and follow him. I’ll wait around here.”
“You’re not coming with me?”
“If he mistakes it for a police bust, that’ll suck. I’m having you go buy it in the first place to avoid that. It might be a little scary, but try your best.”
Juri looked anxious for a moment, but soon nodded firmly.
“Okay. I’ll go.” She started walking toward the man.
I watc
hed from a distance as she talked to the Iranian. He didn’t seem all that surprised that a young woman had come to him. It was rumored among some ladies that you could buy a burner here. A woman who’d actually done so had told me.
Just as I thought, they started walking. They turned at a corner. Juri didn’t look around at me. Way to go.
The guy with the goods would be waiting in a car. It was so they could beat a hasty retreat if it looked like a bust.
After about fifteen minutes, Juri came back. I felt relieved.
“Mission complete,” she said. She held up a small paper bag. “I even got a souvenir.”
“A souvenir?”
“A telephone card. They said it’s infinite. It has fifty points right now, but once it gets to zero, apparently it resets.”
I chuckled. “Like you’d ever use a public phone.”
“Well, I don’t have a cellphone right now.” Juri fluttered the card in the air.
Juiced telephone cards must have been the Iranian gentlemen’s main product line until recently. But with the spread of cellphones, the cards stopped selling, so they’d settled on burner phones as a replacement.
“Those guys’ Japanese is good,” Juri marveled. “I wonder how they learn it.”
“People get serious when they need to survive. The same goes for whoever juiced that telephone card. Desperation. The NTT corporation isn’t so desperate, so it’ll be had every time.”
“So to bust them, the police will have to get serious and learn their language.”
“That’s how it is.”
I abruptly stopped walking. Juri, who had been clinging to my arm, pitched forward.
“What? Don’t stop suddenly.”
“I thought of a good way.” I grinned. “Our game begins.”
We went back to the condo by taxi, and I resumed our preparations. When I finally put my laptop in my bag, I was ready.
“I’ll be calling you. I might sound like a broken record, but don’t ever enter the hotel through the front.”
“Enough, I know.”
I was being persistent because I had my doubts, but I refrained from saying so and left. My wristwatch was pointing to three in the afternoon.
I took a cab and arrived at Hotel Gardens in just a few minutes. I got out at the front entrance and headed to the front desk. I was wearing a shirt and necktie under a dark gray suit. I was pretending to be a businessman who’d given up his weekend to come to Tokyo. In fact, the fake number I’d given had a Nagoya area code.