‘Iwase-san, she beat me. I can’t understand why such a formidable opponent wasn’t on my black list. I shouldn’t have underestimated her. But I won’t make the same mistake again. Iwase-san, I swear on my honour that if she should make another attempt on your daughter I will not be beaten again. While I am alive your daughter is safe. This much I promise.’
The passion in the pale-faced detective’s pledge was almost frightening. Having set himself against this unusual and powerful foe, his fighting spirit welled up.
Dear readers, please record the private-eye’s words somewhere in your memory. Will he be able to keep his promise? Or will he fail yet again? And if he should fail, he would have no other choice but to give up his profession…
The following day, Iwase and his daughter changed their schedule and returned in haste to their home in Osaka. They were very uneasy on the way, but rather than stay on in the hotel they preferred to return quickly to their home where they could relax among family.
Akechi Kogorō also advised this course and undertook to guard them en route. As there was no telling where the criminal might intervene, he was extremely careful when they went by taxi from the hotel to the station, when they were on the train, and in the taxi that met them when they arrived at Osaka.
In the end, Sanae’s party returned home without incident. Akechi then became a guest of the Iwase family, never straying far from Sanae’s vicinity. Some days passed with nothing untoward taking place.
Now dear readers, it is time for the author to change the scene and relate the strange experience of a lady who has not yet appeared in our tale. Perhaps this will seem something completely unrelated to the Black Lizard, Sanae, and Akechi Kogorō. However, without a doubt astute readers will easily discern the close relationship between our case and the woman’s strange experience.
It took place one evening shortly after Sanae had returned to Osaka. A young lady was strolling along a street in the bustling district of Shinchi with no particular purpose, looking at the show windows on either hand.
Her coat was fringed with fur at the collar and the cuffs, and it became her well, while her high-heeled legs moved lightly. However, her beautiful face conveyed a somewhat dispirited air. She had about her a rather desperate look as if to say ‘I’m beyond caring,’ and for that reason, she could perhaps have been mistaken for a streetwalker.
Indeed someone had been surreptitiously following her for some time as if she was that type of woman. This vaguely disturbing personage was an old gentleman who wore a brown felt hat and a thick brown coat and carried a stout rattan cane. A large pair of horn-rimmed spectacles sat on his shiny ruddy face and his moustache and hair were completely white.
Although it seemed the young woman knew she was being followed, she made no effort to flee. In fact, using the show window as a mirror, she even looked at the old man with what seemed to be some sort of interest.
Now, in a slightly crooked dark alley just off the well-lit avenue running through Shinchi, there is a café that is famous for its delicious coffee. As if on impulse, the woman glanced back at the gentleman who was tailing her and entered this café. After taking a seat in a booth in the corner hidden from view by a potted palm, what should the brazen miss do but order two cups of coffee! Naturally, one of these was for the old gentleman she presumed would come in after her.
As expected, he entered the café. After peering about in the dark interior, he spied the young woman and with even greater audacity than she had shown he approached her booth.
‘Excuse me, all alone are we?’
So saying, he sat down opposite her.
‘I felt sure you would come so I ordered a coffee for you.’
She outdid him for cheek.
Even the old gentleman seemed to be somewhat taken aback by this, but soon regained his aplomb and looking the beautiful young woman straight in the face asked her a peculiar question.
‘So, what does it feel like to be out of work?’
Now it was the woman’s turn to look shocked. Blushing, she stuttered out, ‘You know about that? Who are you?’
‘I’m an old buffer you know nothing about. But I know a little about you. Shall I show you? Your name is Sakurayama Yōko and you were a typist for Kansai Trading. However, you had an argument with your boss and he fired you today. Well, what do you think? Am I on the mark?’
‘Yes, you are. You’re just like a private eye.’
The desperate look had quickly come back to Yōko’s face and she shrugged off what he had said as though it was not in the least surprising.
‘Wait, I haven’t finished yet. You left the company around three o’clock, but you still haven’t gone home. Neither have you visited any friends. You’ve just been wandering aimlessly around the city. What on earth do you intend to do?’
The old man seemed to know everything. He must have been tailing Yōko constantly since three in the afternoon until the early evening. But why would he undertake such a tiring and foolish task?
‘What do you expect me to do? What if I decide to change my profession and become a streetwalker from tonight?’
A weak couldn’t-care-less smile appeared on her face.
‘Ha, ha. So I look like that sort of a delinquent old man, do I? No, you’re mistaken. And what’s more, you’re not the type that could do such a thing. Do you think I don’t know that you went into a pharmacy about two hours ago to make a purchase?’
He looked at her eyes intently, confident of his impact.
‘Do you mean these? They’re sleeping pills.’
Yōko produced two boxes of Adalin tablets from her handbag.
‘I doubt a young person like you would be suffering from insomnia. No, I’m sure it wouldn’t be that. And why would you need two boxes of Adalin…?’
‘Are you suggesting that I intend to kill myself?’
‘That’s right. You see my dear, I’m not completely unacquainted with the feelings of a young lady. Ah, the heart of youth is beyond the fathoming of adult imagination. Death appears so beautiful, no? The pure-hearted virgin wishes to die with her body unsullied. But alongside this there’s a masochism that seeks to throw self and body into the slimy swamp. And only a hair’s breadth between them. Hah! It’s a trick of youth that makes you babble the words “street walker” and buy your Adalin.’
‘All right then, does this mean you are going to favour me with some advice?’
Yōko spoke coldly and looked at him icily.
‘Oh goodness, no! I wouldn’t do anything so uncouth as to offer advice. I’m going to save you from your predicament.’
‘I wouldn’t do anything so uncouth as to offer advice.
I’m going to save you from your predicament.’
I thought it would be something like that. Thank you, lovely to be “saved” by you I’m sure.’
Her cynical reply suggested that she still misunderstood his intentions.
‘Don’t be so tasteless. I’m seriously trying to help you. I’m not trying to turn you into a kept woman – there’s no strange meaning intended at all. But will you agree to be my employee?’
‘I’m sorry. Do you really mean it?’
Yōko was finally beginning to perceive the old man’s real intentions.
‘Yes, really. Now, forgive me for asking but what was your salary at Kansai Trading?’
‘Just 45,000 yen…’
‘All right then, let’s agree that I pay you a salary of 90,000 yen a month. In addition, I’ll bear your costs for lodging, food, and clothes. As for the job, all you need to do is enjoy yourself.’
‘Ha, ha, ha. Now wouldn’t that be fantastic!’
‘Listen, this isn’t a joke. Actually there are some special circumstances here – so much so that the employer thinks these benefits might be insufficient. Anyway, what about your parents?’
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‘I don’t have any. If they were still alive I probably wouldn’t have had to endure this unpleasant experience…’
‘So now you…’
‘I live all by myself in a small rented place.’
‘Good, good, that’s perfect. Now, will you come along with me just as you are? I’ll sort things out for you at your lodgings later.’
It was a very strange proposal and under normal circumstances, she would certainly not have felt like accepting. But such was Sakurayama Yōko’s state at this time that she was thinking of selling her virtue or committing suicide. This desperation it was that made her nod in agreement.
Outside the café, the old man hailed a taxi and took the woman to the second floor of a ramshackle tobacconist’s located in an area she had never visited near the outskirts of the city. The small, plain room was floored with six discoloured tatami mats and the only objects it contained were a little mirror-stand in the corner and a trunk.
Although the old man’s behaviour was becoming increasingly strange, Yōko was not at all uneasy because he had let her in a little on the secret behind her employment contract while they were in the car en route to the room. Actually, she was beginning to feel considerable interest in her unusual role.
‘All right now, I’ll have to ask you to put some things on. This is one of the conditions of the job.’
From the trunk, he took out a full set of attire, including a brightly patterned kimono exactly suitable for a woman of Yōko’s age, an obi-belt, a long undergarment for the kimono, a black coat with a fur collar, and a pair of zōri sandals.
Before going downstairs he said, ‘It’s only a small mirror stand, but please dress yourself very nicely.’
Yōko changed clothes as she had been instructed, and she was not entirely displeased to be thus wrapped up in luxurious Japanese apparel.
‘Very nice. That’s good – it really suits you.’
The old gentleman had come back upstairs and was standing behind looking at her.
Peering at the mirror Yōko spoke slightly under her breath,
‘But this hair style doesn’t look quite right for a kimono.’
‘I’ve arranged that too. Here you go. You’ll have to put this on.’
The old man pulled out something wrapped in a white cloth from the same trunk. He undid the bundle to reveal a weird lump of hair. It was a high-quality Western-style wig.
Stepping around in front of her, he carefully arranged the hairpiece. The face in the mirror was transformed completely.
‘All right, now this might seem to be going too far, but just put up with it.’
So saying, he produced a pair of rimless spectacles for short-sightedness. Without demur, Yōko took the glasses and put them on.
‘We don’t have much time. We’ve got to be there at ten on the dot, so we have to leave now.’
Chivvied by the old man, Yōko hurriedly bundled up the Western clothes she had taken off, pushed them into the trunk and went downstairs.
Leaving the tobacconist’s, they walked to a major road nearby where an automobile was waiting. It was not the taxi they had used earlier. Though past its prime, the car was chauffeured by an imposing man who appeared to know the old gentleman.
Once they had got in, he started to drive without waiting for any directions. After making several turns on big avenues with street lamps, they eventually came out into a dark suburb.
Then the driver turned and said, ‘We have arrived. How is the time sir?’
‘Just right. It’s exactly ten o’clock. Now turn off the lights would you.’
The driver turned a switch, dousing the head and tail lights as well as the lamp in the passenger cabin. With all lights extinguished, the dark vehicle moved along in the pitch black.
Presently the automobile was moving slowly along beside the concrete wall of a large mansion. It could just be made out by the glimmer from the safety lamps standing at half-block intervals.
‘Right, Yōko-san, get ready. Quickly now.’
The old man spoke as if urging an athlete.
‘Yes. Understood!’
Yōko was all aflutter with the mysterious adventure, but she answered firmly.
Suddenly the car stopped in front of what appeared to be the service entrance to the mansion. At the same time, someone outside jerked open the car door and whispered only ‘Quickly.’
Without saying a word, Yōko dashed out of the car. Then, as she had been previously instructed, she rapidly scuttled in through the small doorway.
At the same time, somebody came bundling out in the other direction like a rubber ball, bumping into Yōko’s shoulder before bouncing into the car seat she had just vacated.
For the space of an instant, Yōko caught a glimpse of the person by the wan light of a distant electric light. She could not suppress an involuntary shudder.
Had she seen a ghost perhaps? Or had everything up to now been a frightful nightmare?
Yōko had seen another Yōko. In the past, she had heard tell of doppelgängers. Was she, then, perhaps seeing one now?
There were now two Sakurayama Yōkos. One had gone in through the side-door – and another had come out and entered the car. And the two people were almost identical in hairstyle as well as clothing. Nor was that all. What scared Yōko to her core was that the other woman’s face appeared to be exactly identical to her own.
However, like a black wind, the car containing this other woman had now disappeared down the road from whence it came, leaving Yōko and her bottomless fears behind.
‘Right, come this way.’
In the pitch black, she suddenly became aware that the face of the shadowy male figure, who had opened the car door a moment before, was now near her ear.
The home of jewel merchant Iwase Shōbei was located in Himematsu, on the Nankai Railway Line south of Osaka. Just recently, the top of the concrete wall surrounding his property had been planted with glass shards.
The local people were suspicious, commenting that Mr Iwase had never acted like that sort of unfriendly person before.
But that was not the only thing strange about the Iwase house recently. First of all, the tenants of the old-style nagaya house at the gate had changed. Although the family of a long-standing employee had lived there until recently, they had suddenly been replaced by the family of a certain local police inspector, said to be a master of kendo swordsmanship.
Poles had been erected here and there throughout the garden, with bright outdoor lanterns hanging from them, and the windows had all been fitted with sturdy steel bars. And in addition to the usual hired help, two well-muscled young men now roomed in the building as bodyguards. The Iwase house was now a small fortress.
And what was he so frightened of, that he felt he had to take such precautions? He was, of course, expecting another attack by the Black Lizard, that woman thief often called the ‘female Arsène Lupin.’ For a terrible danger was drawing close to Iwase’s beloved daughter.
The Black Lizard’s kidnapping plans had been foiled by Akechi Kogorō at the Keiō Hotel in Tokyo, but that hadn’t been enough to make her give up. She had vowed to capture Sanae. No doubt she had already come to Osaka, incognito. It would not be surprising if she was already in Himematsu, close to Iwase’s house.
Akechi was determined never to forget just how tricky she was, what magic she could utilize, as so amply demonstrated at the Keiō Hotel. After that, anyone would have taken these precautions, not just Iwase Shōbei.
And poor Sanae was trapped all alone in an inside room, surrounded by steel bars, and essentially being watched all day long. One adjacent room was occupied by her favourite maid-in-waiting, while Akechi Kogorō slept in the room in front, Akechi having come from Tokyo for that purpose. On both sides of the front hall were the three houseboys and various other maids and helpers. They were all
determined to be the first to run to Sanae’s aid, if it should come to that, and were waiting eagerly.
Sanae stayed hidden away in her room, not taking a single step outside the walls. And on those rare occasions when she walked in the garden, Akechi or the servants were right with her.
Even that sorceress, the Black Lizard, would not be able to find a loophole here! Demonstrating, perhaps, that it was impossible, Sanae had returned here over two weeks ago and there had not been a single sign of the lady thief.
‘Perhaps I was too scared,’ thought Iwase, increasingly often. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have taken her threats so seriously. Or maybe she has seen our preparations, and given up, recognizing she doesn’t have a chance.’
Even as his worries about the kidnapper faded, however, his worries about Sanae grew.
‘I wonder if I’ve been too strict with Sanae. Maybe I shouldn’t have imprisoned her in the living room like I have. She was nervous to begin with, and I’ve only made it worse. It’s like she’s become a different person: silent and still, with a pale face. If I speak to her, she answers as if she hates talking to me, looking elsewhere. I wish I could improve her mood somehow.’
And as he was thinking, he suddenly recalled the Western-style furniture in the drawing room, which had been delivered just today.
‘Of course! She’ll be delighted if she sees that!’
The luxurious set of chairs had been ordered over a month ago, and Sanae herself had chosen the fabric to be used.
Iwase felt much better himself for having thought of it, and promptly went to Sanae’s room in the depths of the house.
‘Sanae, those chairs you liked so much were delivered today. I’ve already had them placed in the drawing room. Come and see them! They look much finer than I had expected!’
He opened the fusuma sliding panel as he spoke, and though Sanae jumped and looked at him, she quickly turned back and slumped down over the table again.
‘Ah… but not right now…’
Her voice revealed she had little interest.
The Black Lizard and Beast In the Shadows Page 7
