Marshland by Otohiko Kaga

Author:Otohiko Kaga
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Sunflower

Jun Akutsu emerged from a taxi and looked up at the building before him, identified by a name plaque as Y. Hospital. A concrete building prettified with imitation brick walls, it might have passed for a condominium at a casual glance, but iron grills over the windows of the wards that extended to the rear were telltale fixtures of a psychiatric hospital. Beside the entrance was a flower bed planted with two rows of small roses arranged in an unnecessarily regular pattern of white and pink blossoms alternating at equidistant intervals.

Akutsu pondered how he should proceed as he watched, first a group of patients pulling weeds from the flower bed, and then the nurse directing the activity. Upon returning to his law office the day before from his visit to Atsuo Yukimori at the detention center, he had immediately consulted a map, and then called the Japan Association of Psychiatric Hospitals to confirm that Y. Hospital was the only psychiatric institution in the vicinity of Jindai Botanical Garden. That morning, he had decided it would be best to simply show up at the hospital, lest he fail to properly convey his objective over the phone. So there he was, but he still hadn’t formulated a strategy for his investigation.

“Oh, well, I could stand here thinking about it forever,” he told himself to muster his resolution, then strode inside. Beyond the entryway, he found a broad corridor that doubled as a waiting room. There were examination rooms, a pharmacy and an office, with more bustle and activity than he had been expecting. The office sofas were fully occupied, and some people were standing. Nurses and pharmacists called out patient’s names at frequent intervals. The scene was no different than one would find at any general hospital. Akutsu proceeded to the reception desk.

“Are you here for an examination?” a woman asked him tonelessly.

“No,” he began impulsively. “I would like to meet with the head nurse.”

“Which head nurse?”

“Um … There are several?”

“There are five, one for each ward, A through E.”

“I see. Is one of them a jovial sort of person?”

“What!” The woman regarded Akutsu suspiciously. Then her expression became compassionate, befitting one accustomed to dealing with psychiatric patients. “Just what is it that you need?”

“It’s a bit too complicated to explain in a few words.” Akutsu hesitated over how to proceed. He could briefly summarize his business, but he didn’t want to do that surrounded by a waiting room full of strangers. The woman’s eyes narrowed, and she was again looking him over suspiciously. Apparently, she didn’t recognize the significance of the attorney’s badge Akutsu wore. He held out his business card and said, “I would like to meet with the hospital director concerning a certain case.”

The word “attorney-at-law” on the business card had the desired effect. The woman retreated to a desk behind her, consulted with someone, and then made a phone call. After a few moments, she emerged through a door into the corridor and politely escorted Akutsu to the director’s office on the second floor.

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