"Did anyone else see him after that?"
"Yes, the desk clerk said he saw him leaving the hotel a little before seven, so I guess the desk clerk must have been the last person to see him."
"Did he go out alone?"
"Yes, apparently."
"Do you have any idea where he might have been going?"
"None at all, I'm afraid."
"Had he said anything about going out?"
"No, not a thing."
"So when did you realize that something was wrong— that he had disappeared, I mean?"
"He was supposed to come down to the restaurant at eight the next morning. When he didn't, I waited thirty minutes and then phoned his room, because he had an appointment that required leaving the hotel by 8:50 at the latest. But he didn't answer the phone, and that's when I began to think that something must be wrong. Of course, it never occurred to me then that he could have just disappeared. I was afraid he might have been taken so ill that he collapsed, so I hurried up to his room, but it was empty."
"What did you do for a key? Wasn't the door locked?"
"No, it wasn't. His key was lying on the table."
"Then that means he must have left the hotel without bothering to lock his door, right?"
"Yes, but all he ever kept in a hotel room were personal effects. Anything else, like papers and so on, he always left with me in an attache case. He never kept anything with him that he couldn't put in his pockets, so I don't think he would have worried about locking the door."
"I see. Go on, please."
"After that, I asked the desk clerk whether he had gone out, and I was told that he had been seen going out the night before, but not coming in again. So I had to assume that he had spent the night elsewhere, and all I could do was wait for him. But he never came back." Izawa finished with head bowed, as if in apology.
"And that's the story," said Shishido unhappily. "I wouldn't have thought anything could be seriously wrong myself, but Izawa tells me nothing like this has ever happened before, and he's terribly worried. So I thought it best we consult the police, and Governor Masagi agrees."
"By 'seriously wrong,' may I take it you are referring to the possibility that Mr. Takeda may have been the victim of some kind of crime, Representative Shishido?"
"Er, uh, well, I wouldn't like to put it quite so directly myself, but yes, I guess you can take it that way."
"Do you know of anything in Mr. Takeda's affairs that would suggest that possibility?" asked Nagakura, turning back to Izawa.
"No, I don't. Nothing at all."
"If that's the case, we can act on that assumption. For instance, he might have been involved in a traffic accident. But if there are any indications whatsoever, then we will have to consider the possibility of a premeditated crime. Now how about it?"
Izawa was ill at ease, the perspiration beginning to appear on his forehead. "Well, uh, I still can't think of. . ."
"I'm sure there are some things that Izawa just doesn't know about his employer," interposed Shishido with a smile, to relieve the tension. "I'm afraid Mr. Takeda was no saint, and when you're in business, you can't help but make a few enemies. Some people just take things the wrong way, so it's always possible that somebody had a grudge of some sort."
"Then do you know of any particular possibilities, Representative Shishido?"
"Me? No, no, if Izawa can't think of any, how would I know? I've been acquainted with Mr. Takeda for a long time, but I really don't know that much about him."
"I see." Nagakura sat up straight. "Well, I'll send out orders right away for a search all over the prefecture."
"I'm afraid that won't do, Chief Nagakura," said Governor Masagi. "Representative Shishido thinks the investigation should be kept secret for the time being, and I agree with him. After all, it's hardly been two days, and what if Mr. Takeda suddenly turns up after we've made a big thing of it? Besides, I do think we'd better be awfully careful, just in case he's been kidnapped for ransom, you know."
"You think there is that possibility?" Nagakura frowned, gazing up at the ceiling with his keen eyes. Turned forty-six this year, he had been one of the most promising members of his graduating class at Kyoto University. In a sense, his stint as chief of the Nagano prefectural police was a test, on the results of which his future career would depend.
Unlike the self-governing regions of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kanagawa, with all their big cities, Nagano Prefecture may be thought to be simply a peaceful region blessed with natural beauty and made for tourism, but there are in fact quite a few difficulties involved in its administration. For one thing, there is the great area it covers, fourth in size behind Hokkaido, Iwate, and Fukushima. Moreover, there are differences in the living conditions in the three distinct areas of the northern, central, and southern parts of the prefecture, differences which sometimes give rise to conflict.
In addition, no other prefecture is contiguous to so many others—eight of them, in fact: Niigata, Gunma, Saitama, Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu, and Toyama. Thus anyone using a car to commit a crime can cause the police a lot of trouble. Three years ago, for instance, there had been a series of kidnap-murders of female office workers, masterminded by a woman, in which the kidnappings had taken place and the bodies had been left in various places in the three prefectures of Toyama, Nagano, and Gifu, necessitating a widespread investigation with which sectional rivalries had seriously interfered.
With all of the tourists flowing in, the majority there for mountain climbing, there is a never-ending string of mountaineering accidents to be dealt with, too. Nagakura's predecessor, who had suffered through the series of kidnap-murders, had been quite right in telling him, after turning over his duties, that this was an uncommonly troublesome place.
Nagakura thoroughly agreed. And this case would involve one of the most prominent people in the prefecture. He had a premonition that it was going to turn into a big mess. "I don't think there's much chance that he could have been kidnapped for ransom," he said, half to convince himself. "If he had been, we should have been contacted by the kidnappers by now."
"I suppose not," agreed Masagi, "but if not, then what could have happened to him?"
"Well, what bothers me is that he left the hotel of his own accord. If his disappearance is somehow connected with his departure from the hotel, or else, if perhaps he engineered it himself, then..."
"What do you mean?" broke in Izawa, offended. "Are you suggesting that he's absconded with something?"
"No, I didn't say that. But what if he just got tired of work and decided to take off somewhere for a rest for two or three days without telling anyone?"
"I can assure you that Mr. Takeda would never have done a thing like that."
"That's right. He wouldn't," agreed Shishido. "He just isn't the kind of person who would do such an irresponsible thing."
"Then I'm afraid the police will have to assume the worst," said Nagakura, in as casual a tone as possible, which nevertheless caused Izawa to begin trembling. Shishido shook his head most unhappily.
After leaving the governor's mansion and returning to the police station, Nagakura immediately summoned his top-ranking officers and explained the situation to them, ordering a secret investigation to be conducted by Section Two, and instructing his men to be prepared for the worst. At the meeting, he had made a point of telling Miyazaki that if they