aside that scenario, wondering if it could have been food poisoning or the like. With food poisoning, when two people eat the same spoiled item, it's not uncommon for both to fall prey to the same symptoms at the same time. Of course, "food poisoning" could involve a wide range of things; there are natural, chemical, and bacterial toxins. But he'd never heard of any toxin that caused sarcomas in the coronary artery. Perhaps some lab somewhere had been performing ultra-secret bacteriological research, and something had mutated and escaped…
Ando looked up again. He was merely speculating, and he knew all too well that guessing would get him nowhere.
Kurahashi approached the table where Ando was sitting and pulled out a chair. He held a file folder, from which he drew out ten or so photos.
"These are from the scene of the accident. I don't know if they'll be of any use to you."
Ando hardly expected that shots of the scene would give him anything to go on. He was convinced that the problem was rooted in irregularities at the cellular level, and not in a driver's carelessness. But since Kurahashi had gone to all the trouble of digging out the photos, Ando didn't feel right about returning them without at least taking a look at them. He glanced through them, one by one.
The first photo was of the wrecked automobile. The hood had been crumpled up until it was shaped like a mountain. Both headlights and the bumper were crushed. The windshield had been shattered, too, but the center pillars hadn't been bent. Although the car itself had been totaled, most of the shock evidently hadn't carried to the back seat.
Next was a shot of the surface of the road. It was dry, and there were no skidmarks, suggesting that Asakawa hadn't been watching where he was going. Where was he looking, then? Most likely at the back seat. Maybe he was even touching the cold bodies of his wife and daughter. Ando recalled the sequence of events he'd worked out in Miyashita's lab three days before.
He flipped through two or three more pictures, laying them on the table like playing cards. There was nothing in them to catch the eye, he thought, but then his hand stopped. He was holding a photo of the car's interior. The camera had been lodged against the passenger's side window and aimed so as to take in the front of the cabin. The seatbelt was draped over the driver's seat, and the passenger's seat was pushed forward. Ando stared, momentarily unsure of what in this picture had aroused his interest.
He'd had the same experience paging absently through books before. Sometimes a word would return to mind and keep him from turning the pages, but he'd be unable to remember where in the book he'd seen it, or, for that matter, what the word was. His palms started to perspire. He could feel his intuition at work. This photo was trying to tell him something. He brought the picture so close to his face that his nose was almost touching it. He examined every corner of it. Then he concentrated his vision on one point, and finally found the thing that had been hiding there.
On the passenger's seat sat the black thing, mostly hidden because the back of the seat had been pushed forward. A section of the front and one of the sides were the only visible portions. A similar flat, black thing rested on the floor of the car, also on the passenger's side, held down there by the headrest of the passenger's seat. Ando gave a little cry of excitement and called Kurahashi over.
"Hey, what do you think this is?" He held the photo out to Kurahashi and indicated where he should look. The short man took off his glasses and looked closely at the photo. Then he shook his head, not so much because he couldn't make out the thing, but because he couldn't figure out why Ando was interested in it.
"What is it?" Kurahashi muttered without taking his eyes from the photo.
"It looks to me like a video deck," said Ando, seeking confirmation.
"That is what it looks like." As soon as he
Ando looked up again. He was merely speculating, and he knew all too well that guessing would get him nowhere.
Kurahashi approached the table where Ando was sitting and pulled out a chair. He held a file folder, from which he drew out ten or so photos.
"These are from the scene of the accident. I don't know if they'll be of any use to you."
Ando hardly expected that shots of the scene would give him anything to go on. He was convinced that the problem was rooted in irregularities at the cellular level, and not in a driver's carelessness. But since Kurahashi had gone to all the trouble of digging out the photos, Ando didn't feel right about returning them without at least taking a look at them. He glanced through them, one by one.
The first photo was of the wrecked automobile. The hood had been crumpled up until it was shaped like a mountain. Both headlights and the bumper were crushed. The windshield had been shattered, too, but the center pillars hadn't been bent. Although the car itself had been totaled, most of the shock evidently hadn't carried to the back seat.
Next was a shot of the surface of the road. It was dry, and there were no skidmarks, suggesting that Asakawa hadn't been watching where he was going. Where was he looking, then? Most likely at the back seat. Maybe he was even touching the cold bodies of his wife and daughter. Ando recalled the sequence of events he'd worked out in Miyashita's lab three days before.
He flipped through two or three more pictures, laying them on the table like playing cards. There was nothing in them to catch the eye, he thought, but then his hand stopped. He was holding a photo of the car's interior. The camera had been lodged against the passenger's side window and aimed so as to take in the front of the cabin. The seatbelt was draped over the driver's seat, and the passenger's seat was pushed forward. Ando stared, momentarily unsure of what in this picture had aroused his interest.
He'd had the same experience paging absently through books before. Sometimes a word would return to mind and keep him from turning the pages, but he'd be unable to remember where in the book he'd seen it, or, for that matter, what the word was. His palms started to perspire. He could feel his intuition at work. This photo was trying to tell him something. He brought the picture so close to his face that his nose was almost touching it. He examined every corner of it. Then he concentrated his vision on one point, and finally found the thing that had been hiding there.
On the passenger's seat sat the black thing, mostly hidden because the back of the seat had been pushed forward. A section of the front and one of the sides were the only visible portions. A similar flat, black thing rested on the floor of the car, also on the passenger's side, held down there by the headrest of the passenger's seat. Ando gave a little cry of excitement and called Kurahashi over.
"Hey, what do you think this is?" He held the photo out to Kurahashi and indicated where he should look. The short man took off his glasses and looked closely at the photo. Then he shook his head, not so much because he couldn't make out the thing, but because he couldn't figure out why Ando was interested in it.
"What is it?" Kurahashi muttered without taking his eyes from the photo.
"It looks to me like a video deck," said Ando, seeking confirmation.
"That is what it looks like." As soon as he
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