Read The Ruined Map for Free Online Page B

combination of time and place. I wondered if there were not, in this self-styled “brother,”characteristics closely resembling those of the sister. The slim neck in proportion to the wide shoulders. But that could be the result of padding or the cut of the clothes. And then his muffled voice, as if produced through woolen vocal cords. The swarthy skin that suggested shrewdness. One could not claim there was
no
resemblance; any human being could more or less resemble any other, for that matter. The face, stiff with a sizing of hostility, was quite out of keeping with the smile. Piercing eyes that never slept, never dreamt. And too, the extravagance of his formal way of speaking, to which he was not accustomed, fitted in poorly with the atmosphere he created. But that did not alter the fact that he was associated with the applicant, and I had no intention of opposing him. What a great mistake it is to suppose that with thirty thousand yen one can engage people’s likes and dislikes.
    “I expected to meet you, of course, last night. Looking for two people is simply beyond me.”
    The man peered again into my face, flipping the metal fitting of the windshield wiper of my car with the tips of his black gloves.
    “You tend to a heavy beard, don’t you? I envy you that. I can grow only a pretty sad excuse for a mustache. Maybe it’s a hormone deficiency, I don’t know.”
    “Anyway, she’s at her wit’s end—I mean your sister—she persists in saying she doesn’t have a notion or even a clue. When we start talking about the basic facts, she says it’s her brother who knows. But where is this brother? She doesn’t know. And then she just drinks her beer alone. It’s as if she didn’t want the riddle of her husband’s disappearance solved.”
    “Hmm. You seem to have a good head. Yes, indeed, you’re pretty quick to catch on.”
    My companion undid the two top buttons of his coat, his smile lingering at the corners of his lips. He slipped his white muffler to the side and turned out the underside of his jacket lapel. There was a thick badge about the size of a thumbnail. It was in the form of an equilateral triangle with the corners rounded and was made of blue cloisonné bordered in silver. In the middle, likewise in silver, stood an
S
in relief. It was a modified form of letter composed of straight lines, and according to how one looked at it, might just as well be representing lightning. Or maybe originally it had not been an S, but lightning all along.
    Unfortunately it was a badge I had never set eyes on before, but I could grasp at once that it was something intended to suggest a special threat. I could understand indeed, but I deliberately said nothing.
    “I think you understand,” he said, quickly flipping the collar of his coat closed. “I don’t want you to have any funny prejudice about me. My sister’s husband’s a fine fellow, the real thing. On that score, I want you to understand perfectly that you can’t call him—how shall I put it?—you can’t say he’s a tramp.”
    “Well then, all the more reason you should be open and tell me anything that might provide a clue.”
    “To say I’m hiding something isn’t nice.” He burst out with a single, abrupt laugh and, after a pause, added: “My sister’s been saying some pretty tall things, I’m afraid.”
    “Unless a disappearance is deliberately planned, it’s impossible to vanish without leaving a single trace of one’s life.”
    “Actually, maybe it was deliberate …” Suddenly he lowered his voice and bent his head, kicking the car tire with the tip of his shoe. “On that score, my views are somewhat different from my sister’s. Because she’s a girl. She can’t standbeing thrown out like an old rag. Maybe she wants some other reason. She’s a girl. If she could, she’d accept an absolutely unexplainable fairy story. But how will you be able to prove something unexplainable? It’s a big order. I know how she