I reach through the iron bars, offering a handkerchief. Her fingers tremble as she grabs it.
“Someone tried to drown you… Did you see who it was?” Dazai asks. After a fit of coughing, the victim finally speaks up, still breathing heavily.
“I was…kidnapped. I was visiting Yokohama on business one day until I suddenly lost consciousness… Next thing I knew, I was here.”
Dazai and I exchange glances.
With Dazai’s help, we break the iron bars and remove her handcuffs to complete the rescue. The bars were triple locked with cylinder locks, so I had no choice but to use the butt of my gun to break them.
“My name is Nobuko Sasaki. I teach at a university in Tokyo. I was visiting Yokohama and suddenly lost consciousness…and when I woke up, I was here.”
Even while pale and dripping wet, Miss Sasaki courageously explains what happened to her.
“Miss Sasaki, do you know how many days ago you were kidnapped?”
“I apologize… I can’t say for sure, since I was unconscious for so long… However, judging by how I feel and how hungry I am, I would say it hasn’t been any longer than two or three days…”
The first victim in the Yokohama missing-persons case disappeared thirty-five days ago, and the eleventh victim, seven. If her assumption is correct, then there is a high possibility she’s a victim we didn’t know about.
“…………”
Deep in thought, Dazai keeps silent with his arms crossed.
Miss Sasaki is a slightly thin woman with long black hair. She appears to be around the same age as me. She’s trembling, and understandably so. The kidnapper must have stripped her of everything but her underwear. Aside from Dazai’s overcoat, she’s nearly naked and soaking wet in the middle of the night.
Her hands tightly wrapped around her elbows and her legs stretched out on the floor are especially delicate. The clothes clinging to her body sketch the outline of an alluring figure. I feel almost as if I could see through her remarkably fine porcelain skin. Wet hair clings to her nape as water drips onto her chest. I avert my gaze for absolutely no reason.
“More importantly, there are others trapped here, too! I heard them screaming.”
“What?!”
The other missing people are here, too? Were they being kept prisoner in this building after being kidnapped as well?
“I’ll take you to them! Follow me.” The woman staggers to her feet and turns around.
But…
“…Wait.” I place a hand on Miss Sasaki’s shoulder, stopping her. “Dazai, what do you think?”
“The way she’s dressed makes me feel things,” he says with a straight face.
“Be serious!”
“…Her story’s too good to be true,” Dazai replies, this time crossing his arms. “It’s just too convenient. We came here to investigate a mysterious light and strange voices, and we just happen to find a victim from the missing-persons case? These two cases are separate, completely unrelated, except for the fact that they’re our cases… Miss Sasaki, when was the last time you saw the criminal?”
“I’m sorry, but I never actually saw anyone. When I woke up, the tank was already being filled with water, almost covering my face. I suspect the kidnapper turned on the faucet and left five or so minutes before I woke up.”
That must have been when she screamed. What unbelievable timing.
“Then that’d mean the criminal was here up until a few moments ago, and I highly doubt they didn’t notice us coming. So the question is: Why’d they do it?”
“Perhaps they heard us coming, so they panicked. Or perhaps…”
It’s all an elaborate trap.
But for us to run away in fear of a trap is out of the question. If there’s a high chance the other missing people are here, then there’s no way we can turn back now.
“Thirty-five days have already passed since the first victim was kidnapped. If they’re being kept here, then they don’t have much longer. Dazai, I want you to keep her safe and follow me.” I walk down the hallway, my gun in hand.