Chapter 46: Tracing the Source

When investigating a stalker like Tatsuya Nagai, the best entry point is always his past.

Stalkers also need to learn and progress. Given Tatsuya Nagai’s current state, Kiji refused to believe that Miho Nishitani was the very first target he had set his sights on.

Stalkers with such intense, obsessive desires regarding sex mostly start out with much milder forms of harassment.

Investigating a person's general past was not a particularly difficult task for the Metropolitan Police Department.

Within the next few days, Kiji quickly found out that Tatsuya Nagai’s family home was located in Shizuoka, and his father, Yato Nagai, was the president of a steel manufacturing plant.

This explained why the other party could stalk people so unscrupulously; with that kind of background, he naturally had no need to worry about daily expenses.

Later, he went to Yokohama to attend university, and it was presumably during this period that he set his sights on Miho Nishitani.

However, the problem was that Tatsuya Nagai’s background was completely clean, without a single blemish on his record.

Who would believe that?

Connecting this to his family situation, the answer was glaringly obvious.

Just as Kiji was pondering how to dig deeper into the stalker's background, he received a cry for help from Miho Nishitani via phone call.

After being switched to the day shift, she had been pushed down the stairs at the train station while on her way to work today.

The person who committed the act was naturally Tatsuya Nagai.

This was definitely not a good sign. Just as he had feared, the other party's behavior had escalated.

Perhaps it was because his own visits to Miho Nishitani's residence over the past few days had caused him to be perceived as a "competitor," thereby provoking the other party.

He could wait no longer. With the escalation of the stalker's behavior, Miho Nishitani could be in mortal danger at any moment.

Kiji immediately upgraded the case from a private investigation to an official police matter.

"Sato, from now on, you are personally responsible for protecting Ms. Nishitani."

Having arranged the work, Kiji immediately contacted the authorities in Shizuoka.

The person who answered the phone was not the familiar coral-headed Inspector Yokomizo; rumor had it that a murder had occurred at a hotel, so he had led a team out on duty (Note 1).

Regarding this, Kiji could only remark that the crime rate in this world was truly through the roof.

Even so, the Shizuoka police cooperated and faxed over the relevant documents.

Kiji quickly discovered anomalies.

When Tatsuya Nagai was in high school, he had a female private tutor. For reasons unknown, not only did she not work there for long, but shortly after being dismissed, she hanged herself at home.

The reason this record existed was that the Shizuoka police officer investigating the case back then had been exceptionally conscientious. Since no suicide note was found at the time, this dedicated detective had thoroughly investigated the background of Ms. Saya Kamihara.

It was then discovered that before her suicide, she had briefly been employed as Tatsuya Nagai’s private tutor.

Yet the only answer he could obtain was: "We felt her proficiency level was unsuitable, so we dismissed her."

Moreover, because there was truly no evidence to connect the two, coupled with the evidence gathered from the scene and the testimonies of others confirming that Saya Kamihara was indeed in an extremely poor mental state—which aligned with the judgment of suicide—the police had no choice but to close the case in the end.

Judging from that detective's investigation records, had no new evidence emerged, Kiji felt his conclusion could be confirmed as correct.

Saya Kamihara had indeed committed suicide.

However, the crux of the problem was this: clearly, before becoming Tatsuya Nagai’s private tutor, Saya Kamihara had been an intellectual, gentle, and cheerful woman. Why was it that a mere few weeks of tutoring experience had caused her psychological collapse and ultimately driven her to suicide?

From the investigative records, Kiji could clearly discern the previous police officer's suspicions toward the Nagai family, but constrained by the lack of actual evidence, the matter had to be left unsettled.

Yet things were different now.

If one worked backward from Tatsuya Nagai’s current behavior...

The answer was not difficult to guess.

From the perspective of criminal psychology, a gentle private tutor who was close to the perpetrator made an excellent starting point.

The things Ms. Saya Kamihara experienced while serving as a tutor...

As for why no traces were left behind afterward...

When you are extremely wealthy, certain matters are not difficult to cover up.

Yet this was still not enough.

Because no matter what, Saya Kamihara's death was a suicide. Even if the reason for her suicide stemmed from violations suffered during her tenure as a private tutor, it was still not a method that could completely deal with Tatsuya Nagai once and for all.

Furthermore, at that time, Tatsuya Nagai was still a minor.

A minor punishment would not only fail to make him mend his ways, but it was even more likely to further provoke him, making him feel that the law could do nothing to him, thereby rendering him increasingly unbridled.

If viewed purely from the perspective of arresting criminals, this was a good thing, because bolder and more radical criminals would eventually commit crimes that could be brought to trial.

But what about the victims?

Kiji was adamantly opposed to using victims as bait.

Just like Miho Nishitani, whose mental state was already highly unstable and who lacked professional training, throwing her out as bait to face the criminal introduced far too many uncertain variables.

This was not something that could be accomplished by relying solely on courage and youthful passion.

He had to continue pursuing the investigation into Tatsuya Nagai’s past.

Therefore, he needed to make a trip back to Yokohama.

After placing Miho Nishitani securely in a safe house and assigning Sato full responsibility, Kiji finally went home to pack his things and head toward Yokohama.

Sato was still reliable when it came to these matters. These NPC subordinates in the Metropolitan Police Department simply lacked common sense in certain aspects, but their execution capacity was still quite adequate.

It was probably only Takagi who occasionally triggered inexplicable scripted plot deaths by accident.

After throwing a few changes of clothes into a bag, Kiji got into his car and drove to Yokohama.

Upon arriving there, he headed straight for the police precinct.

The person who received him was another Yokomizo.

This case was truly unbelievable; he was entangled with two separate Yokomizos.

"Inspector Higashino wants to investigate a stalking case?" Shugo Yokomizo looked somewhat bewildered. What kind of stalker warranted such a massive fuss?

Kiji did not want to explain too much. Perhaps due to the era, or societal cultural reasons, or perhaps simply because everyone was too busy, the most common flaw of the police in the world of Detective Conan was that they frequently overlooked many details that should have been attended to in advance.

They only ever took action after the incident had occurred, even when warning signs had been present beforehand.

"I want the complaints and violation records of Tatsuya Nagai during his university years in Yokohama. Even illegal parking and speeding tickets—I want them all."

Shugo Yokomizo: "..."

He did not understand.

Was this really how headquarters personnel operated?

"If you want traffic violation records, you might have to go check the Traffic Division's archives."

The digitalization of records had not yet become widespread in this era, which Kiji found extremely difficult to get used to.

Though considering that even many years later, this country was still using floppy disks, and only abandoned them completely because supplies ran out.

Utterly hopeless.

Although Shugo Yokomizo did not understand, he still cooperated properly and even made a special trip to the Traffic Division to help retrieve the documents.

Having obtained what he wanted, Kiji found a desk in a secluded corner, sat down, and got straight to work.

Shugo Yokomizo watched for a while, but ultimately refrained from speaking.

In any case, he still felt that this was a complete waste of time.