Ruined Map - Abe Kobo [87]
“It’s quite true. I was going to say exactly the same thing a moment ago in front of the pinball arcade. The mental attitude of someone playing pinball is the same as that of a person who disappears. God, that music’s annoying. Look. See that place over there just before the telephone pole, with the entrance at an angle and a little set in from the street? You can’t get in unaccompanied. I suppose people feel guilty because they’re playing the game of missing persons.”
There was a door made of narrow strips of wood with a knocker and creaking hinges. The old-fashioned lighting made the shadows stand out. Besides the bar with high stools there were three tables—a very utilitarian atmosphere. But the unfriendly attitude of the bartender, shaking his leg as he stood behind the bar, went somewhat beyond the bounds of the practical. Leaving me seated on an uncomfortable bar stool, Tashiro went out the rear door to open negotiations with Saeko. He was strangely sure of himself for someone who wasn’t a regular customer.—“A double rye-and-water.” The bartender continued to jiggle his leg without answering, but his movements as he mixed the drink were agile and skilled. There were only two other customers, their heads close together, at the table near the entrance, and judging from the animated tone of the conversation, one of them was not a customer but a shopman involved in business negotiations. The drink was placed before me. The bartender, looking back over his shoulder, turned the knob of the jukebox. At once ear-splitting, frenetic music began, shutting the rest of the bar off from me.
“We’re in luck. They say she’ll be here right away. I’ll have a rye-and-water too,” Tashiro said, rubbing his hands with glee and laughing broadly. He took off his coat and clambered up on the stool next to mine.
“While we’re waiting I’d like you to tell me something. About blackmail … Supposing for the moment some small fuel supplier was being shaken down … what could be the circumstances for blackmail?”
“You have some actual case in mind? For instance, could Mr. Nemuro be involved in it, maybe?”
“No. I swear it has absolutley nothing to do with Mr. Nemuro. It’s only a question based on an assumption. But any world has its underside, invisible to outsiders. Like the door you just passed through. If you didn’t know what it led to, you wouldn’t have any idea of what was inside. At this point, I have to know something about the circumstances. Maybe the blackmailers are swarming like cockroaches at the back door. What are the possibilities of blackmail? If we attack a case theoretically, we can frequently find its real nature in no time at all; it’s a method we use a lot.”
“I’ve been thinking of a lot of things since I received your call. But they’re all specifics and not generalities. There are possibilities, but …”
“Well, fine. Tell me.”
“In the business world there are brokers who buy and sell rights to chain-store orders and blenders who water down gasoline. There’s a big difference in tax rates depending on the type of oil. It’s a thieves’ business where they make money on the difference in mixture. So even retailers, if they’re big enough and if they’re favored geographically, privately go in for blending. Or they actually overorder lamp and spindle oil for diluting and then sell the watered sales slips to the blenders. I wonder if it’s not something like that.”
“We’re getting off the subject. Do you know Mr. Nemuro’s wife’s brother?”
“Her brother? Well, I’ve met her two or three times, but …”
“Somehow he gives you the impression of being a good-for-nothing. A broad-shouldered, lanky fellow. Did he ever visit Mr. Nemuro in the office?”
“Well, that