"Japanese Short Story Mystery: The Ransom of Bread 1" Seiichi Oyama

1

Satoshi Terada stood in front of the rusty iron gate and sighed deeply.

Even if the winter sky was clear and cloudless, it could not alleviate the depression in his heart at this moment.

In the corner of a secluded residential area in Mitaka City, a cracked cement wall encloses the area of about 1,000 square meters. Through the iron gate, a three-story building made of red brick comes into view, which looks like it is half a century old. The pillar next to the iron gate is covered with mottled text, and it is faintly recognizable that it reads "Metropolitan Police Department Affiliated Crime Archive".

From today onwards, I will come here to take up my post.

"You've been transferred to the Crime Archive, so report next Monday."

"Crime Library? Why so suddenly..."

"Why? Think about what you've done!"

The conversation with the department leader came to mind like a movie, and the mood gradually dropped to the freezing point.

Satoshi Terada rang the doorbell on the doorpost.

"Hello?" From inside came a hoarse voice.

"Hello, I am Inspector Satoshi Terada who was just transferred here today."

"Ah, you've worked hard. I'll open the door for you right away. ”

From the main entrance of the building, out came a small old man in the uniform of a janitor. Although the old man looked to be over seventy years old, and his face also had a kind look of teasing Sun, his eyes were very sharp. The old guard walked to the door, took out the key to open the lock, and then pulled open the sliding door and made a gesture to Terada Satoshi to please inside.

"The curator is waiting for you, please come with me!"

Satoshi Terada followed the old guard into the main entrance. In front of me was a parking lot four spaces wide, but now only a tattered white van was parked.

Climb the five stone steps to the front door of the entrance. This large wooden door is divided into several areas by the ledge, embedded with brown glass, and many places have faded.

As soon as you step into the wooden door, the light suddenly dims, and the smell of the old building is all around. The walls of the corridor are covered with dots of stains, and the wide corridor stretches straight into the depths. Listening with bated breath, there was not a single sound in the whole building. This is almost indistinguishable from the search lesson that Satoshi Terada had previously worked for.[1]

Entering the door, on the right hand side is the doorman's room, and on the left hand side is the bathroom. At this moment, I saw a middle-aged woman wearing cleaner clothes walking out of the bathroom with a bucket in one hand and a mop in the other. She had curly hair and looked about fifty years old, and as soon as she saw Satoshi Terada, she instantly came to her senses and showed a salivating expression.

"You're the handsome guy who's newly transferred to us, aren't you?" Tall and manly, exactly the type I like!"

Make no mistake, this big sister?!

"My name is Kimiko Nakagawa. Noble nobility, beauty beauty, noble beauty. That's a name that fits my temperament, right? You have to remember it!"

"Good, good. That, my name is Satoshi Terada. ”

"Even the name is so unique!"

Kimiko Nakagawa put her hand into her belt bag and groped for a few times, pulled out a piece of sugar, and said enthusiastically, "Come here, eat a piece of candy!" Saw that she was still wearing the rubber gloves she had just used to clean the bathroom, Terada politely declined. Looking at this scene, the doorman old man smiled bitterly.

On the right hand side at the end of the corridor is the "Curator's Room". They came to the door, and the old doorman knocked on the door.

"Please come in." A muffled voice came from the room.

"There's labor." Satoshi Terada thanked the old man, opened the door and walked in.

The curator's room is more than ten square meters in size. There are windows on the wall opposite the door and on the wall on the left-hand side, but they all pull on the shutters, and it is difficult to enter the light. On the other two walls were tall bookshelves filled with various documents. In the middle of the room, facing the door, a woman is sitting behind a ebony desk intently flipping through documents.

- Snow Girl.

Satoshi Terada's mind suddenly had such an association, I don't know if it was because of this woman's white clothes. Or was it because of her pale, bloodless skin and long black shawl hair? Or is it the illusion of her ageless, doll-like cold and dignified face?

The woman gently supported the rimless glasses with her hand and stared straight at Satoshi Terada. Under those delicate double eyelids and slender eyelashes, a pair of large eyes were as unfathomable as a black hole, as if they would be sucked into it if they were not careful.

"I am Inspector Satoshi Terada, who has been transferred here today, please take more care!"

Satoshi Terada tried to dispel illusions and introduced himself loudly.

"My name is Crimson, and I'm the curator here. Please look after me in the future. ”

The woman didn't have too many greetings, and her tone was unusually cold. When she finished, her eyes fell back on the document in front of her.

"I worked in a search class before and had never been exposed to the work of keeping evidence. When I first arrive, there may be some things that are not well done, but I will do my best to work hard. ”

Terada said duplicitously.

Crimson didn't react at all, still silently reading her documents.

The whole room was filled with silent embarrassment. Generally speaking, in this case, the new boss should not say something like "Come on!" Kind of polite words?

"So, what do you need me to do today?"

"I have questions for you."

Crimson's gaze finally left the file on the desktop.

"Question?"

"Is the cleaning lady using her left or right hand when she hands you sugar cubes?"

"—Huh?"

This question was completely unexpected by Satoshi Terada. What exactly was she trying to ask? Satoshi Terada thought it was a joke at first, but there was no hint of a smile on Terada's pale, expressionless face.

"Left hand? right hand? Which hand handed you the sugar cube? ”

The curator asked again. Although Terada had not paid attention to these details before, he still tried to recall from the vines of memory, trying to find clues to the scene just now.

"Left hand."

"What color is sugar paper?"

"Purple."

"How many times did the doorman knock on the door of this room?"

"Three times."

Satoshi Terada finally understood that the curator was testing his observation and memory. That is to say, the curator had arranged instructions for the janitors and cleaners in advance.

The curator's red lips fluttered slightly, perhaps giving Satoshi Terada a smile.

"Qualified. Welcome to the 'Red Museum'. ”

The Metropolitan Police Department-affiliated Crime Museum in Mitaka City, Tokyo, commonly known as the "Red Museum," is responsible for storing all kinds of exhibits (murder weapons, relics, etc.) and search materials for cases investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department. After a period of time, the Red Museum receives the exhibits from the police station to which the case belongs, for use in the investigation, research and training of search officers to assist in future searches of cases. Established in 1956, the museum is modelled after the London Police Crime Museum – also known as the "Black Museum". However, unlike the world-renowned Black Museum, the Red Museum, although originally positioned to carry out "investigation, research, and training", has now actually become a warehouse of evidence. The only regular staff of the entire museum is the curator and the assistant to the curator. To be honest, working here is a job.

Previously, during the search of the first class, Satoshi Terada had also heard about this criminal database. But after all, when I was in the core department at the time, I felt that this place could not have anything to do with me, so I never paid attention to it. He never dreamed that he would one day be involved with the Crime Archive — until last Friday.

At the beginning of the new year, Satoshi Terada made a major mistake in his work. While searching the residence of a suspected robber, he accidentally left the search documents he had brought with him at the scene. The woman who lived with the suspect took a picture of the search file on her mobile phone and uploaded it to a website. Although the Metropolitan Police Department contacted the website as soon as it was discovered to urgently delete the photos, it was too late, and the photos had already been disseminated to other websites, periodicals, magazines, television programs, and even newspapers. The media of all kinds is full of "How can a searcher make such a low-level mistake?" "Did you start neglecting at the beginning of the new year?" Blame for that. Not to mention the myriad of bloggers and social software that have made the incident even more comical. Even though the Metropolitan Police Department has used its authority to put pressure on the media in hopes of reducing the exposure of the incident, the results have been minimal – the whole incident has spiraled out of control.

For three weeks after the mistake, Satoshi Terada was sitting in the office like a needle in the haystack, remorseful for his negligence. Other colleagues went to the scene to search, but he was ordered to stay in the office to sort out the materials and not to participate in any on-site search. Then, on Friday, he was summoned by his boss, the department chief of the Third Forced Criminal Search Eighth Series. The head of the department said straight to the point:

"I'm really sorry, please give me another chance!"

"Chance? No kidding!"

The head of the department, Imao Masayuki[3] stared angrily at Satoshi Terada.

"Just because of your own mistakes, the entire Metropolitan Police Department has been attacked by public opinion and has become the laughing stock of the world." You've lost all your faces in the Metropolitan Police Department, do you deserve to stay in the search?!"

Under the ruthless words of the head of the department, coupled with deep self-blame, Terada was speechless. He became a police officer one day in order to become a criminal police officer, not a custodian of evidence. However, this time, no matter how he tried to admit his mistake and introspect himself, the department chief put on a "this has been decided" attitude, and there was no room for negotiation. The collar of the suits of the members of the Search Class wore a badge of "S1S", which is an abbreviation of the English "Search 1 Select" of the Search Lesson and a symbol of the identity of the Search Lesson. Satoshi Terada had to return the proud badge to the department chief, and then left under the pity eyes of his colleagues.

Satoshi Terada felt that being transferred to be the custodian of evidence because of a search document was a bad joke made by heaven. Or just resign? Satoshi Terada thought while drinking at home. But after all, I have always regarded the criminal police as a natural duty, and for a moment and a half I really don't know what else to do after resigning. Although he was reluctant to go to work at the Crime Museum, Terada decided to report next Monday. He told himself that one day he would have to return to the search class again, even if he went to the police station to be a search officer, in short, he must return to the ranks of the criminal police again.

After saying "Welcome to the 'Red Museum'", The Crimson Zi continued to say "Follow me" and walked out of the room. The hem of the white robe dances with the steps, and the well-proportioned and beautiful calf lines are faintly visible. Her pace was very fast, and Terada had to follow quickly. Although she is only about one meter sixty-five, because of her slim body, it makes people feel much taller than her actual height.

There are fourteen storage rooms throughout the archive from the first floor to the third floor. Rows of metal shelves were displayed in each vault, filled with plastic evidence chests containing various types of evidence and search materials. To prevent erosion, all exhibits are encapsulated in polyethylene bags. In general, the evidence of each case should be placed in a separate evidence box, but some large cases may require more than a dozen evidence boxes to store information. In addition, if the evidence is too large and the evidence box really can't fit, it can only be put in a plastic bag. When he saw the evidence of a 300 million yen case, Satoshi Terada was indeed a little shocked. The archive holds hundreds of thousands of pieces of evidence and search documents from all cases that have occurred in Tokyo since its establishment in 1956.

The temperatures in all the storage rooms were very comfortable. After inquiry, Terada learned that the temperature of the original storage room was controlled at 22 degrees Celsius throughout the year, and the relative humidity was 55%. It is said that this is the most suitable environment for the storage of evidence.

"What exactly is the purpose of keeping and managing evidence and searching documents?"

"Labeling."

“...... Labeling? ”

"In order to more easily manage the evidence, the two-dimensional code label is now attached to the bag containing the evidence, and the basic information of the evidence can be found on the computer with a sweeping gun." Do you know CCRS? ”

"I know." Satoshi Terada replied. The so-called CCRS is the abbreviation of the Criminal Case Retrieval System, which is the criminal case retrieval system. After World War II, the Metropolitan Police Department entered all criminal cases within its jurisdiction into the system. The system contains basic information such as the name of the case, the time and place of the crime, the name of the victim (in the case of homicide, also includes the cause of death), the method of committing the crime, and the name of the criminal. The name of the case was the so-called "legal name" proposed when the search headquarters was set up. All police stations, forensic doctors, and research institutes under the Metropolitan Police Department can access these data through the system terminal.

"The database we're building now is based on CCRS. You are responsible for labeling and information entry. Next door to the curator's room is the assistant room, and you can use the computer there. ”

“...... I know. ”

Just let me do such a monotonous and unskilled job? Satoshi Terada was eager to leave now, but he still had to endure it, saying to himself over and over again, "One day I will return to the search field again."

"Also, please change into white clothes when you work. The reason why I wear white clothes is to prevent various stains attached to my clothes from contaminating the evidence. Please do the same. ”

Spare me! Satoshi Terada thought to himself. If both librarians were dressed in white, it would be like playing the role of a doctor!

In this way, the working career in the Red Museum officially began.

The evidence box of each case is moved from the storage room to the assistant room, and then the evidence bags are labeled with two-dimensional code labels, corresponding to the case information sent by the curator by e-mail. After completing these procedures, the evidence box is moved back to the storage room, and the evidence box for the next case is moved to the assistant room... Day after day, every day.

It's nine to five, and there's no overtime. During the search lesson, once a case occurred, it had to be investigated day and night, often working overtime until late at night, and even having to spend the night in the office. Compared with the pace of work in the search lesson, there is now a change of one hundred and eighty degrees.

Every morning at 9 a.m., when Satoshi Terada arrives at the office, Terada is already sitting in the curator's office working. By 5:30 p.m., when Satoshi Terada left work, she was still working there. So, Satoshi Terada had never seen her in any other outfit. But how could it be so busy just to keep the evidence and search for information? Satoshi Terada found it incredible. He looked closely for a while before he realized that she had read every search document very carefully. Reading the search documents was indeed essential in order to summarize the summary of the case, but she read it far beyond what was necessary. Could it be that reading boring search documents is also of interest to her? What was she thinking?

Satoshi Terada had hardly ever spoken to Crimson Tsunako, and she didn't speak unless necessary. And, even when talking to her, she often kept reading the documents on deaf ears. More often than not, Satoshi Terada was chatting with the cleaner Kimiko Nakagawa and the doorman Kejiro Otsuka. In addition, the crimson tsubaki never had a smile on his face, always a cold expression, as if the facial muscles lacked the function of smiling.

One day, as usual, Satoshi Terada chatted with Kimiko Nakagawa, who invited him to eat candy, and asked what kind of person the curator was.

"She's a senior civil servant. The rank of police has reached the police, and he is a very intelligent person. Kimiko put down her mop and bucket and replied triumphantly as she introduced herself.

“...... Senior civil servants? ”

Satoshi Terada was very surprised. The "senior civil servants" who passed the National Civil Service Category I Examination (changed to the Comprehensive Title Examination since 2012) and entered the Metropolitan Police Department are only more than 500 out of 250,000 police officers in the country, and they are well-deserved elites. When they enter the Metropolitan Police Department, they are awarded the rank of police supplementary by the Police Department and are then educated in the Police University course. After completing the on-site training at the police station, you will be able to obtain the rank of police department. In his fourth year as a police officer, he was automatically promoted to the police force (now changed to seven years after the reform of the system), and in a few years, he can take up important positions throughout the country. Their promotion is very fast, which is unimaginable to people like Satoshi Terada who started from the grassroots, not so much as the police as the police bureaucracy. In contrast to the field work for which other police officers are responsible, they are responsible for organizing and managing the police. It is a unique example of a senior civil servant serving as director of a crime museum.

"How can a senior civil servant be a curator in such a place?"

"What is this kind of place?" The Crime Archive is a noble place. Kimiko Nakagawa was a little angry and said with a bulging face.

"Ah, that's right. I'm sorry. However, if you are a senior civil servant at the police level, you should be able to serve as the deputy chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, or as the chief of the police department in the prefecture of Tokyo, or, at worst, as the director of the small and medium-sized police station. I think it's rare for a police-level crime librarian to be a curator. ”

"Really? I don't understand that. She has been the curator here for eight years. ”

"Eight years?!"

Satoshi Terada was startled again. Not being transferred for such a long time in the position of curator is also a special case. Although Satoshi Terada knows that her communication skills are very poor, it is not so incompetent, right?

"I came here three years ago as a cleaner. The first time I met the curator, I asked her how long she had been working here, and she said it had been five years. I felt very lucky to meet the curator. ”

"Lucky?"

"Yes, the curator is such a beautiful woman."

“...... Oh, yes. ”

"It's a blessing to be able to work under such a beautiful woman."

"Although she doesn't talk much and her expression is cold, but it's cool, isn't she a living iceberg beauty?" I like it. ”

“...... Is it? ”

For Satoshi Terada, one thing won't change—no matter how beautiful the Snow Girl is, he doesn't want to meet her.

"Then again, what kind of person was the last assistant curator?"

"Not the kind of person who is capable, often dozing off, thinking that Fa'er is lazy, doing stupid things, and doing things not seriously at all." After less than half a year here, he resigned. ”

"Where was that person before he came here?"

"I heard he was in the General Affairs Department of the Metropolitan Police Department."

"What about the previous assistant?"

"It is said that he came from Omori Police Station. It is also the kind of person who can't do things, and resigns in about half a year. ”

Terada thought it must be because the work of managing evidence and searching documents was so dull, plus they had to face a curator who was expressionless and unable to communicate every day, so they couldn't stay. This is the same as the recent "forced exit room" of enterprises that have been hyped up by the media, doesn't the Metropolitan Police Department want to use this place as a "forced exit room"? Because the curator is an indispensable prop here, this senior civil service-level curator has not been promoted for eight years. Thinking about the days ahead, Terada couldn't help but feel hurt.