To-Be-Announced

Another grey cloudy afternoon I’m spending confined to a company car; this time a black 900 turbo. The automobile is certainly nice enough, but a cage is a cage is a cage and this dull claustrophobia is worsened by droning percussion of the rain. I’m waiting for my Saab contact. It’s got to be some kind of power move making me wait. But I expect it, and surely he does too; so what’s the point? I’m in no position to ask. I fill the cupholder with a nearly empty Pressbyrån paper coffee cup. To-go.

Running on bad sleep. No sleep. I click on the radio to stay awake and it scans. Saab has outfitted my 900 with all sorts of occupational gadgetry including a 3 band radio antenna. I get radio from most of Europe proper and with some half hearted adjustments the scan stops at Radio 99. Ninety-Nice Point Nine Frequency Modulation. A sweet bubbling reggae number bounces off the stock Blåpunkt system.

“If you cheat (cheat), lie (lie),
play around with me
that ain’t right baby.”

This slowly fades out to a brief silence and a radio voice lets me know we are in the middle of a Robbie Ellington marathon. Who? “Next up is a little tune he calls ‘Be Mine’” lisps the voice. Is the rain slowing? Is the car expanding? I take a long slow breath and the Robbie E music washes into the Saabs interior. This one is equal parts love-y dove-y but in a more determined sense. I’m thinking of Erin again. I see the sun pushing through the clouds on the other side of the canal. I turn off the car and step out into a mist which may as well be a cloud. I’m done waiting and am going for a walk.

司ちゃん事件は無抵抗な幼児の誘拐と、執拗な身代金要求が特徴だった一方、本事件は計画性に関してはあちらより強いものの、被害者は成人であり、身代金要求の回数もはるかに少なかったため、安田は「過去の量刑基準からすればSさん〔木村〕の事件のほうが量刑は軽い。