work," Kono thought. It took courage to decide the killer was one of the thirteen other participants at the party. Kono believed the solution to a case often depended on the speed of initial investigation and quick decision on whether the death was accidental or murder. But for some reason, when he got into the car that morning, he had the notion the case would drag on for a long time.
He recalled a case in which he had stumbled years ago. He had been on the force only seven years, and had just been made an assistant police inspector. Immediately after promotion he had been lax, and this case developed. It was an instance of youthful error. Thanks to the warm help of his superior, Inspector Takami, the matter concluded without serious consequences. But even now, thinking about it, he broke into a cold sweat.
"It's stupid," he muttered, shaking his head to rid himself of the mean memory.
The car pulled into S Spa. Kono saw the sign on the door of the rented private house: "Investigation Headquarters."
2
Kono sensed a fever of activity as he stepped into the entrance hall. Inspector Takahashi greeted him. They had met before. Still, being met personally by the man in charge gave him a heavy awareness of what the staff expected of him.
"We're running through secondary inquiries, right now," Takahashi said quickly, leading Kono into a small room next to the entrance hall. He told him the general results of the first inquiries. Nodding, Kono said from time to time, "I see," and "Oh, really?"
What Takahashi had to say boiled down to two main points. First, Taro Usami was not the type person that anyone in the company would resent or hold a grudge against. Second, each of the other thirteen people in the room at the time had had a chance to pop the potassium cyanide into Usami's highball.
"The party began at seven. By nine thirty, nobody was feeling any pain. None can recall when Usami drank the drink. That gets me."
"Who made the drink?"
"Well, there's a shortage of waitresses. So these people did a kind of self-service. They all brought bottles and put 'em in one corner of the room. Anybody who wanted a drink helped himself."
"I see."
"But what worries me is Usami's personality. Everybody praised him. I don't think they're lying, either. They really liked him. I can't lay my hands on a motive." He made a face. "But, you know, that company's really piling up loot. I was surprised to hear how much bonus they pay. The bonus of an office girl at Sanei is equal to mine."
"Yeah. An interesting company."
"You know something about it?"
"A little. Seven years ago, there was a case of corruption in the local city office. Sparks flew around Sanei. I ran an internal check on 'em."
"You really know your companies, don't you?"
Kono realized he knew more about Sanei than anybody else on the police. After all, it was a firm he'd had his eyes on since his days in the second department. His remark that Sanei was an interesting company reflected experience and knowledge.
Sanei belonged to a contradictory business type, frequent among companies having demonstrated rapid economic growth, in which business is very good but the company unstable. It paid good dividends and still had a sound internal reserve. The cancer eating away at the company and making it unstable was a two-cause result: strife and factionalism among the executives and conflicts on the labor-union front. On two occasions in five years, presidents and managing directors had been dramatically forced out. Not many companies have such a tempestuous domestic life. Within the sixty staff members, there were two labor unions, each violently opposed to the other.
The major cause of this situation was the nature of the company itself. It had been formed fifteen years earlier by ten small electrical companies who were just beginning to develop. Each company came equipped with its own set of executives and labor unions. Labor unions tend to split up in companies that are new and lack tradition. There seemed no hope of compromise between the two groups at Sanei. The first union called the second the Establishment, and the second criticized the first for being radicals. It was only the steady supply of outstanding, independent technicians, attracted by high salaries, who worked for the company that enabled Sanei to show good business results.
Kono knew these details because of his experience with the second department.
Takahashi said, "Come, sit in on the second interrogation."
"O.K." Kono followed Takahashi from the room.
The purpose of the second questioning was to track down discrepancies in testimony given at the first, which had taken place from two to ten in the morning.
Kono glanced over the brief history of Taro Usami and the list of thirteen suspects that Takahashi had given him. He then read the history of Taro Usami with special care. There were too many names on the list.for him to form any images without personal meetings. Still, he made mental notes of some of their vital statistics:
Managing Director, Kenzo Yokomizo, age 58, 5 years in firm.
Business Bureau Chief, Yozo Misumi, 40, 5 years with firm.
Business Department Chief, Akira Atsuta, 33, 4 years in firm.
Saburo Matsushita, 29, 5 years with firm.
Shinkichi Harada, 28, 2 years with Sanei.
Yoshio Ozaki, 28, also 2 years.
Haruko Nagai, 28, 2 years with firm.
Personnel Department staff:
Shiro Shibaura, 31, 5 years with firm.
Yuzo Nakanishi, 31, 5 years in firm.
Junichi Murayama, 29, 2 years.
Tetsu Nakajima, 26, 1 year.
Yasuko lkenami, 25, 1 year.
And typist, Yumiko Murase, 33, 5 years with firm.
3
One by one, each of the thirteen was summoned from the Happiness Inn, not far away. They were subjected to penetrating questioning. Some seemed nervous, others quite calm. As Kono listened, Taro Usami, the victim, was the thing most firmly fixed in his mind. He believed that, without a clear understanding of the victim's authority and place in the company and of his personality, it was impossible to form an image of the murderer. Whenever he asked a question, it invariably pertained to Usami.
To Kenzo Yokomizo: "Mr. Usami was with the company for ten years, longer than any of you. He was a college graduate. Can you suggest any reason for his slow rise in the firm?"
To Yozo Misumi: "Mr. Usami was the head of the personnel department for seven years. Why did he remain in this position so long?"
To Akira Atsuta: "Was Mr. Usami popular among the technicians?"
To Saburo Matsushita: "Did Mr. Usami seem to favor one or the other of the two labor unions?"
To Yumiko Murase: "Was Mr. Usami popular with the women employees?"
From the answers to such questions, Kono developed a clear image of Usami's personality
