“This other person, then, can do things that aren’t ordinary.”

“Exactly. Professionals are definitely involved.”

“Another thief,” Buzzcut said.

Ushikawa rubbed his bald, misshapen head with his palm, and grinned. “That’s right. Another thief—and a pretty formidable one at that.”

“So at least we understand that professionals are backing her,” Buzzcut commented.

“Correct. Miss Aomame is connected to some sort of organization. And this isn’t some organization run by amateurs in their spare time.”

Buzzcut lowered his eyelids halfway and studied Ushikawa. Then he turned around, toward the door. His eyes met Ponytail’s, and Ponytail gave a slight single nod to indicate he understood their conversation. Buzzcut turned his gaze back to Ushikawa.

“So?” Buzzcut asked.

“So—” Ushikawa said, “it’s my turn to ask you the questions. Do you have any idea which group or organization might want to rub out Leader?”

Buzzcut’s long eyebrows became one as he frowned. Three wrinkles appeared above his nose.

“Listen, Mr. Ushikawa. Think about it. We are a religious organization. We seek a peaceful heart and a spiritual life. We live in harmony with nature, spending our days farming and in religious training. Who could possibly view us as an enemy? What is there to gain?”

A vague smile played around the corners of Ushikawa’s mouth. “There are fanatics in every area of life. Who knows what kind of ideas fanatics will come up with?”

“We have no idea who could be behind this,” Buzzcut replied, his face blank, ignoring Ushikawa’s sarcasm.

“What about Akebono? There are still members of that group at large, aren’t there?”

Buzzcut shook his head once more, this time decisively, meaning this was impossible. Anyone connected with Akebono must have been so thoroughly crushed that there were no fears about them. So there was no trace of Akebono left.

“Fine. So you have no idea who it could be either. The reality is, though, that some organization somewhere targeted your Leader and took his life. Very cleverly, very efficiently. And then they vanished, leaving nothing behind. Like smoke.”

“And we have to find out who is behind this.”

“Without getting the police involved.”

Buzzcut nodded. “This is our problem, not a legal problem.”

“Fine,” Ushikawa said. “Understood. You’ve made that clear. But there’s one more thing I would like to ask you.”

“Go ahead,” Buzzcut said.

“How many people within your religion know that Leader has died?”

“There would be the two of us,” Buzzcut said. “And the two other people who helped transport the body. Subordinates of mine. Only five of the council know about this. That would make nine people. We haven’t told his three shrine maidens yet, but they will find out soon enough. They serve him personally, so we can’t hide it from them for very long. And then there’s you, Mr. Ushikawa. Of course you know about it too.”

“So all together, thirteen people.”

Buzzcut didn’t reply.

Ushikawa sighed deeply. “May I speak frankly?”

“Please do,” Buzzcut said.

“I know it doesn’t do much good to say this now,” Ushikawa said, “but when you found out Leader was dead you should have contacted the police immediately. You should have made his death public. This kind of major event can’t be hidden forever. Any secret known by more than ten people isn’t a secret anymore. You could soon find yourself in a lot of trouble.”

Buzzcut’s expression didn’t change. “It is not my job to decide. I just follow orders.”

“So who makes the decisions?”

No reply.

“The person who has taken over for Leader?”

Buzzcut maintained his silence.

“Fine,” Ushikawa said. “Someone above you instructed you to take care of Leader’s corpse behind closed doors. In your organization, orders from above can’t be questioned. But from a legal standpoint this clearly involves willful destruction and disposal of a dead body, which is quite a serious crime. You’re aware of this, I’m sure.”

Buzzcut nodded.

Ushikawa sighed deeply again. “I mentioned this before, but if by some chance the police get involved, please make it clear that I was never informed of Leader’s death. Criminal charges are the last thing I need.”

“You were never told about Leader’s death,” Buzzcut said. “We hired you as an outside investigator to locate a woman named Aomame, that’s all. You have done nothing illegal.”

“That works,” Ushikawa said.

“You know, we had no desire to have an outsider like yourself find out about Leader’s death. But you’re the one who conducted the initial background check on Aomame, the one who cleared her. So you’re already involved. We need your help to locate her. And we need you to keep the whole thing confidential.”

“Keeping secrets is what my profession is all about. There is nothing to worry about. I assure you that no one else will ever hear about this from me.”

“If it does get out, and we find out that you were the source, this could lead to something unpleasant.”

Ushikawa looked down at his desk again, at the ten plump fingers resting on it. He looked surprised to discover that these fingers were his.

“Something unpleasant,” he repeated, and looked up.

Buzzcut’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Above all we have to keep Leader’s death a secret. And we’re not concerned about the means we use to accomplish this.”

“I will keep your secret. Rest assured,” Ushikawa said. “So far, we’ve worked together perfectly well. I’ve done a number of things behind the scenes that would have been hard for you to do openly. The work hasn’t always been easy, but the compensation is more than adequate. So okay—double zippers on my mouth. I have no religious beliefs, but Leader helped me personally, so I am doing all I possibly can to locate Miss Aomame. I will do my utmost to uncover what is behind this. And I’m starting to see some progress. So please, be patient for just a while longer. Before too long, I should have some good news.”

Buzzcut shifted ever so slightly in his chair. Standing by the door, Ponytail shifted in tandem, moving his weight to his other leg.

“Is this all the information you’re able to share?” Buzzcut asked.

Ushikawa mulled this over. “As I said, Miss Aomame called the Traffic Bureau of the Shinjuku Metropolitan Police Precinct twice, and the other party called her a number of times. I don’t know the other party’s name yet. It’s the police. I can’t just ask them. But an idea did flash through this inept brain of mine. There was something I remembered about the Traffic Bureau in the Shinjuku Precinct. I thought about it a lot, wondering what it was that was clinging to the edges of my pathetic memory. It took quite some time before it came to me. It’s no fun growing old, no fun at all. The drawers where you store memories get harder to open. I used to be able to just yank them open with no problem, but this time it took me a good week before it finally dawned on me.”

Ushikawa stopped talking, and a theatrical smile rose to his lips. He gazed at Buzzcut, who waited patiently for him to go on.

“In August of this year, a young female police officer with the Traffic Bureau in the Shinjuku Precinct was found strangled to death in a love hotel in Maruyama Ward, in Shibuya. Stark naked, handcuffed with her own police-issue handcuffs. Naturally this caused a scandal. The phone conversations between Miss Aomame and the Shinjuku Precinct were in the several months before this incident. There were no calls at all after the murder. What do you think? Too much to see this as mere coincidence?”

Buzzcut was silent for a while, then finally spoke. “So you’re saying that the person Aomame contacted was this female police officer who was murdered?”

“The officer’s name was Ayumi Nakano. Age twenty-six. A very charming-looking young woman. She came from a police family. Her father and older brother were both in the force. She was a fairly top-ranked officer. Needless to say, the police have tried very hard to locate the murderer, but with no luck so far. I apologize for being so forward with this question, but is there any chance that you might know something about this incident?”