With the children and the suspect secure, Megure takes the wheel of the car and drives to the police station.
Nobody rode shotgun this time. Morimura had the child seated in the middle of the passenger seats, and himself behind Megure. His eyes fixed on them to ensure they complied.
Sato was sat behind the front passenger seat, still cradling the delicate pale child in his arms. She was draped and blanketed by Sato's police coat, suckling the drink carton from the lunch box his wife packed for him.
A sense of uneasiness floated in the car as the stoic Morimura was wide eyed and his mouth was agape – a far cry from his macho nature – and the gentle and fatherly Sato looked every bit detached from reality and ready to go into conflict.
Megure turned the knob of the police radio when a firm voice stopped him. "Shut that shit off" Sato demanded.
At the police station, Morimura was the first to leave the car. He ushered the child out of the vehicle, who followed him into the station by holding onto his large hands.
Megure sat in the car still in horror at what transcribed - the darkest case so far – even if he was only an accomplice to the two leading officers.
Shortly after Morimura entered the station, several police ran out to the car. All of them stopped briefly to stare into the rear passenger seat, witnessing the silhouette of Sato cradling the child.
The officers unlocked the boot, and hauled the battered suspect out and onto a trolley cart, pushing him into the station with Megure following leaving Sato behind.
More heads pop out from doors and windows as the suspect is carted off by an escort team of officers. Mutters and whispers of "what happened to him?" and "who is this guy?" wafted in the air. After the cart entered the building, everyone dispersed except for one.
Superintendent Toji Samezaki stepped out of the building. He took out a cigarette, prepared to light it, then stared at Sato who looked up.
He puts his cigarette back into the packet, approaches the police cruiser, and knocks on the window. Sato nods him in.
"Matsumoto is taking care of the other kid. I thought you'd like some company."
Sato rocked back and forth, both to comfort the child and as a method to calm his mind down. His voice was low and gentle. "What kind of person does this?"
"I wish I knew Sato. Is she okay?"
Sato nodded. "Yeah. She drank that carton just fine…" Sato's voice cracks, and he sniffles "Toji… she's… just like Miwako…" taking deep pants.
"Sato… I'm so sorry. It doesn't get any easier, trust me. I know how you feel brother"
"Your daughter… Isn't she…?"
Toji leans back and takes a deep exhale "Yeah. She's 21 and getting out there in the world. I'm thinking about that shit every night. I drive past the bank she works every shift and lurk there during lunch time because I want to be there to protect her".
Sato sits up and looked Toji in the eye "Toj, you don't want to know what I'd do if this little girl was Miwako".
The bundle in Sato's arms hiccupped and woke up. Toji put his hand on Sato's shoulder "I think it's time we brought her in".
Toji led the Sato through the station, ensuring the suspect was well behind closed doors before they entered. He brought the child into the station's infirmary where a police nurse would check the child for injuries.
As Sato handed the child over to the nurse she began wailing and crying, resisting and fighting off the nurse. Only his reassuring words calmed her down enough to be seated. As Toji beckoned him out of the room the child leapt up, determined to stay by his side.
Sato relented, dismissed Toji, and stayed by her side in for the time. When his police coat was removed, she protested until the nurse placed it next to her within reach.
Beneath the police coat she was draped under, she wore a long white shirt which covered her whole body down to her thigh with a large rip down the centre that exposed her chest.
Under the collar of the ripped shirt were small smears of dried blood. Finger smudges of dirt and residue littered the shirt where she had wiped her fingers.
The nurse cuts up a small safety smock to her size – disposing the dirtied shirt – and uses tape to hold it together. Now clad in modest and importantly clean clothing, she began the physical examination.
The nurse carefully, and meticulously checked her starting from her head ruffling through her hair. It was oily but not unkempt. Her nose blushed a tinge redder than her pale porcelain skin but beneath her eyes were sediments and residue of extensive crying. Residue of food and blood flaked off from her mouth and lips.
The nurse gently wiped her clean with a warm damp cloth before inspecting bruises on her arms – marks of where she had been bound – small cuts to her fingers.
The girl reacted positively to basic nerve tests, but winced when her leg was tapped. As the nurse wiped down her chest, her stomach groaned.
After much checking, prodding, tapping, and examining, someone knocks on the door. Sato peeks through the privacy blinds finding Toji at the door.
"Sato, we really need you here now. We've got him in the questioning room"
Sato flashes an OK, and turns to the nurse who reads off her report.
"I think her tummy hurts, and there is some small injuries. I'll have her cleaned up. She's going to be fine"
He ruffles her hair, and heads for the door.
"Let me go to the toilet first Toji, go without me, I'll be there in a moment"
Inside of the questioning room, Toji sat on the office chair. The suspect had been dressed up in the smock and his feet unshackled. His wrists were cuffed and chained to the chair. A fluorescent light hung overhead, providing a sickly white light onto the table and folder.
The room was totally silent, save for the humming of the light bulb and the clock emitting a faint click every second. The low frequency ambient buzz sickened Toji, who focused on the loud wall clock behind the cuffed suspect. It felt like an eternity.
"Damn he's taking his sweet ass time, what's taking him so long" he thought to himself. He got up from the chair, and turned to the door when it flung open.
It was Sato, his eyes burning with vengeance. He held something in his hand.
"Move Toj"
His arm raised up a revolver. Reflecting a glint of the light, and piercing the silence of the room, Toji could see the snub nosed barrel and the sealed revolver chambers. The cock of the hammer of the six shooter gun was all too familiar to the experienced cop.
Sato has in his hand a .38 snub-nose revolver hammer cocked and all six cylinders loaded, safety off and ready to fire, aimed at the cuffed suspect. Between the barrel of the gun and his target was nothing but air and a cop.
He calmly repeated himself "I said move aside, Toji". The revolver nudges to a side, as if directing him to move.
Toji was taken completely by surprise, stuck frozen in his position like a deer in head-lights "Take it easy Sato… Easy brother, you're pointing it at me".
He raises his other arm to the revolver, entering a shooting stance "Then take a step to the left, let me do this". The revolver shifts again, dictating where someone should move.
As he entered his battle stance, Toji stiffened up "You don't want to do this Sato. This isn't going to accomplish anything". Sato was still, entrenched, and ready to fire.
His eyes beckoned to the corner of his eye, but he shakes his head and steadies the gun "I know. But between you and me, you know this guy will be out in ten years free to do it again"
Toji looked behind Sato. The first set of doors were closed and the privacy shutters were down. This room was sound proofed for privacy. A scream for help would do nothing. And charging into a combat ready gunman wasn't on the menu. "We're police Sato, we don't set the law nor do we judge them. That's up to the courts. This isn't a better alternative. The rules and law is in place for a reason"
He was on the verge of tears. Scrunched up in anger. His gun shook and his body rattled "What else is there huh! She's 10 years old Toj! Nearly Miwako's age! Do you know how hard it is? Do you? I look into her eyes and see my own! This guy did things to that poor girl! That's a life he's ruined. His death is a fair trade."
His gun was lowered, but still pointed forward. Toji straightened himself from his static frozen position "You sure you can live with this? What happens after you murder him in cold blood? Huh? Murder-cop? Let's say you get let off. Can you really look at Miwako in the eyes as the father she knows and loves? You don't want to see her grow up while you're behind bars right? Or behind months of court trials where you're on the stand. Don't do this brother. This isn't right. We are not judge, jury, and executioner"
He lowers his gun and uncocks the hammer. Toji takes the opportunity, dashes forward and pulls him into a hug, taking the revolver into his hands.
"Toji, I couldn't man, I just-"
Toji pulled him in closer, and carefully walked him out of the interrogation room backwards in an embrace. Morimura and Matsumoto looked up and stared at Toji, who simply shook his head.