01x04 - Whispering Death

[bunniefuu]

Jack: Over 68 million Americans leave the safety of our borders every year.

If danger strikes, the FBI's international response team is called into action.

♪

Business. It's about fun.

I know.

It's about, you know...

Well, you know what? Let's do this.

Let's just... let's go.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!

We're not at some strip mall back home.

What's your point?

We're at the epicenter of sushi.

Take it all in.

Stop, savor the moment.

I got it.

So what's on the menu, O wise one?

This is oyster on the half shell...

Mm-hmm.

Quail egg yolk...

Smelt roe, chopped green onion, and a dash of mirin.

Oh!

It looks so pretty, I almost don't want to eat it.

I did say "almost."

Good.

Cheers?

Cheers.

Down the hatch.

Mm! Mm!

That is the freshest oyster I've ever had in my life.

Truly amazing.

No doubt.

And that is why you deserve a toast.

[Chuckles]

To my big brother, my best friend, and my business partner.

Future's so bright, it hurts my eyes.

Ha!

[Women speaking Japanese]

Whoa.

Yeah.

No.

You sure?

[Laughing]

No, no.

That just means more for me, bro.

All right. Get out of here.

I'm going.

We have stuff to do tomorrow, so not too late.

Okay, Mom.

Have fun.

♪

[Mid-tempo music playing]

Come on, Clara.

Don't stand me up again.

[Cell phone dings]

All work and no play makes Mae a dull, dull girl.

Wow. What's the special occasion?

What, a girl can't just put a pretty on?

[Chuckles]

Hmm.

Don't be mad.

I'm not mad.

I'm concerned.

You need to have a life outside of work.

It's not that easy.

Yeah, well, it's easier if you try.

We have a long flight ahead of us, so...

Here's some reading material.

Oh, dossiers, my favorite.

Thanks.

Monty, let's download everyone.

Konnichiwa.

American entrepreneur Damian Hall was found dead in Tokyo after a night of fine dining with his brother Kristopher.

Now, the two were visiting Tokyo for some business opportunities, and local police ruled it a su1c1de by hanging.

The Japanese call that Kubitsuri.

Why are we traveling all the way across the world for a su1c1de?

It's the third American death by su1c1de in Tokyo within a week.

The U.S. consulate asked us to take a look.

The first vic, Dee Brown, was engaged to be married when she was found dead in a Japanese school where she taught English.

Her knees are tied together.

That's Jigai, a historic form of female ritual su1c1de meant to preserve a woman's dignity after death.

Second vic, Bobby Freeman, 32, male, a travel blogger who threw himself in front of a b*llet train.

Tobikomi.

Who knew there were so many words for su1c1de?

Well, the practice of su1c1de has been an integral part of the Japanese culture, from the days of the samurai to the kamikaze pilots in World w*r II.

To the Japanese, su1c1de is considered honorable.

Which explains why six Japanese citizens commit su1c1de in Tokyo per day.

And what about Americans in Tokyo?

On average, there's only about five American suicides per year in all of Japan.

So with three suicides in the past week, that's just over 33 times the norm.

And why we're going.

Damian Hall's body was found in a place called Aokigahara.

You're heard of it, Clara.

Aokigahara is a park at the base of Mount Fuji.

Its name means "sea of trees," but it has another more nefarious name...

su1c1de Forest.

Okay, well, that's not creepy at all.

Aokigahara is the most popular destination for suicides in all of Japan, averaging more than one su1c1de per week.

That park's in Tokyo?

Negative, about two hours east.

Did Damian rent a car, take a cab, train, anything?

There's Ben no credit card or ATM activity ever since he left dinner with his brother.

So how did he end up there?

That's what we're gonna find out.

Monty, check the victims' background, see if there's any connection between them.

You got it.

Since these were all seemingly suicides, the Japanese consider them open-and-closed cases.

But if this is foul play, whoever's doing it is showing no signs of slowing down.

♪

[Man grunts]

Jack: A Japanese proverb tells us "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down."

♪

Our contacts at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department are on their way here to greet us.

Oh, that's nice of them.

Well, they're offended we're here.

Oh. Okay, so not so nice of them.

Well, our very presence here means that we're questioning their investigation, which the Japanese see as disrespectful.

Jack, the ambassador has got the Japanese government to grant you special permission to carry a firearm.

And the rest of us?

That's a negative.

Jack is the rare exception because of his international reputation and rank.

Now, this is considered a high honor because g*ns have been outlawed in Japan since 1971.

Got your business cards ready, Jack?

What, the badge, jet, and w*apon clearance isn't enough?

In Japan, business cards still play a huge role in professional interactions.

Yeah, it's considered rude to not provide a business card to a new acquaintance.

We need to build a bridge between local law enforcement so we can have their blessings to take a look at these supposed suicides.

So we're saying hi to Mom and Dad before we take their daughter out on a date.

Except Dad doesn't have a baseball bat, he has a whole police force behind him.

So everyone will follow my lead.

♪

Hajimemashite.

Hajimemashite.

FBI no Jack Garrett desu.

[Conversing in Japanese]

That was intense.

Silence in Japan shows credibility.

Jack's using his calm to convey authority.

Jack rocks.

Chief Superintendent Kazumi Fukui.

Agent Jack Garrett.

Your department's stellar reputation precedes you.

Kazumi: What can we assist the FBI with?

We believe your findings on the recent American suicides have been investigated with proper care, but we have American families back home who have lost loved ones, and they need closure.

So, with your permission, we'd like to take a closer look at these cases.

[Speaks Japanese]

[Speaks Japanese]

I'm officer Ryo Mirante.

What makes you think that these suicides are anything but?

One of our agents spoke to the families of the deceased, and all of the victims seem to have had everything to live for.

Dee Brown was to be married.

Bobby Freeman's blog posts were being picked up by major sites around the world.

And Damian Hall was young, successful, about to close on a house.

And none of them had a history of mental health challenges.

Even their latest social media posts were very positive, no sign of what was to come.

It's been our experience when someone had committed themselves to the whispering death, they show an uptick in happy behavior.

They believe they have finally found a direction.

Even though it is death, it is comforting to them.

Your continued expertise in this area is welcome, but three American suicides in a week deserves a closer look.

Where would you like to begin, Agent Garrett?

Have you spoken to Damian's brother, Kristopher?

Yes, we took his statement.

Kristopher said he had a business meeting the next morning, so he left the restaurant to get some sleep while his brother stayed behind, drinking.

Hotel secretary confirms that Kristopher returned to his room at the time that he stated.

What did the restaurant employees say?

Damian's death was ruled su1c1de.

Taking statements from any of the other employees was unnecessary.

But Kristopher is at his hotel, if you would like to speak to him.

We may want to circle back with him later, depending on our findings.

Of course.

Can you escort Agent Simmons to where Damian's body was found?

And Agent Jarvis will need to go to the morgue to examine his body.

I will accompany her myself.

Clara and I will go to the restaurant where Damian was last seen and question some of the employees.

World famous Tsukiji Market.

I've been to Tokyo more times than I can count, and I've never been down here.

Well, it's been around since 1923.

This market handles more fish per day than any other market in the world.

Explains the smell.

[Chuckles]

You know, I know they wear them for health purposes, but it's still hard to get used to.

Mm-hmm.

There's something on your mind.

Sorry.

I... I should be more focused on the case.

Yeah, when we're working.

Right now, all we're doing is walking.

Um...

I guess, I, uh... I feel like I'm having a hard time reconnecting since we got home.

Why?

I guess D.C. has changed for me.

Now it's...

It's less of a place and more of a time.

A time when I was married.

Well, I get that.

My kids are growing up, leaving the house, and, suddenly, home feels a lot different.

So what do you do?

I guess we'll know when we're ready.

Here we are.

Let's go see what they know about Damian.

Because of bureaucratic delays in transporting the bodies back to the U.S., all three victims are still here.

Oh, well, seems to be my lucky day.

How is this lucky?

It's just a saying.

See, I'm lucky because all three of the bodies are...

I'm just gonna get to work.

All right, antemortem contusions around the neck, along with the hyoid bone being snapped, all point towards asphyxia.

♪

You see something?

Yep.

Do you see how, at the time of death, these bruises weren't there, now they are?

But how?

The owners of these cars...

They went in, but they didn't come out.

Yeah.

♪

"Let's think once more about the life you are given.

Your parents, your brothers and sisters and children don't suffer alone.

First, please contact somebody. ""

Many of the elders believe su1c1de is respectable and acceptable.

But my generation doesn't feel the same way.

We are wary of this niche tourism.

We don't want our country to be known as the su1c1de capital of the world.

Some say the forest is haunted by the victims of Ubasute.

It's an old Japanese custom of leading elderly women to a forest and leaving them to die of starvation or the elements, thus becoming vengeful ghosts who prowl the forest.

This is where we found Damian.

[Sighs]

♪

You have something?

Yeah, wood shavings.

I think this rope's been moved.

Somebody installed this and had it focused on the crime scene.

It has a transmitter.

This is a network camera with no storage capabilities.

Whoever did this was streaming the footage for viewing somewhere else.

So the question is...

Who's watching?

Well, the kitchen staff was no help.

What about the servers?

They said Damian left first, not Kristopher, which contradicts the statement.

Why would Kristopher lie about who left the restaurant first?

Maybe he's hiding something.

[Cell phone rings]

Simmons and Mae. Yeah, what do you got?

On the tree where Damian was found, I noticed some marks, and underneath it, some wood shavings, which suggest the rope wasn't just swinging, that it was being pulled.

Poor man's pulley system.

If someone else was involved, it might explain how Damian got all the way out there.

We also found a camera.

We believe someone may have been filming all this.

Already have Monty tracking the camera through the serial number.

Let me know what else you find.

Mae?

I found perimortem bruising on the other victims, which is called subcutaneous hypostasis or postmortem staining.

Which tells us the vic was physically manipulated or in some kind of confrontation at the time of death.

Bingo.

Monty: Sorry to crash your party line, Jack, but Tokyo police have discovered another su1c1de in your vicinity.

American?

They didn't say.

Seppuku, better known as Harakiri.

It's when the victim shoves a Kn*fe into their own stomach, disemboweling himself.

This case has nothing to do with your case.

This victim is Japanese, not American.

We have two su1c1de victims from the same area within 24 hours.

That cannot be a coincidence.

It's not.

Look at this watch.

It's on his right wrist.

Which means he's left-handed.

And look at where the hilt of the blade is.

It's in his right hand.

Someone staged this body.

And he froze this way.

He didn't k*ll himself.

He was m*rder*d.

Jack.

♪

[Heavy metal playing]

[Laughing maniacally]

What do we know?

Damian's body was indeed staged and recorded.

As well as the sushi chef's.

All previous victims show postmortem bruising, which proves that they were physically att*cked just before their deaths.

So someone is using su1c1de as a cover for m*rder.

But why?

Perhaps su1c1de left a significant imprint on our unsub at an impressionable age.

But unlike the American victims, the sushi chef is Japanese.

So what's the pattern?

It's not clear yet, but now that we know that this is a m*rder investigation, I want to talk to Damian's brother asap.

I'm sorry to say, but the conclusion to your investigation was incorrect.

♪

Perhaps we should look deeper into this.

Good.

Then we're ready to deliver our initial profile.

Three of the four vics were found in a local school, sushi restaurant, and subway.

Clara: Which tells us our unsub is familiar with the region.

A Tokyo resident.

Yeah, statistically speaking, he is probably of Japanese descent.

Simmons: Based on his ability to reposition and overpower his victims, he's most likely a male, six foot tall, 140 to 160 pounds.

But the average Japanese male is only about 5'7".

So he's a big man on campus.

That might be part of the problem.

In Japan, you don't want to stand out, or you can be ostracized.

Based on the ages of our vics, we believe he's between 25 and 35.

And he's also streaming his kills remotely, which means he's technically sophisticated.

Then why film it?

To admire his work.

Yeah, his propensity towards voyeurism and the nature of these blitz att*cks tells us that he probably is incapable of normal social interaction, and he may be unemployed.

What of the suicides? Why fake them?

Well, it's either a forensic countermeasure, which has been working, or it's a ritual.

The staging of the bodies must mean something.

The unsub could be seeking to purify his victims by giving them honorable deaths.

There's no shame in the act of su1c1de in Japan.

But there is shame in the act of m*rder.

[Phone rings]

Monty, anything on the cell phone and camera we found?

They were both bought at a Kuru Tech vending machine with cash.

Any common thread between our vics?

Sorry, Jack, right now, I'm striking out.

But I'll keep swinging.

Good.

Simmons, Mae, go grab Damian's brother, Kristopher.

I want to have a little chat with him.

Clara and I will head to the police station, interview the sushi chef's wife, see what her husband's story is.

Mrs. Nakano, I'm Jack Garrett with the FBI.

This is Agent Clara Seger.

Mind if we sit down?

Mrs. Nakano, was your husband a sushi chef his whole life?

Yes.

He took great pride in his work.

But it came with a price.

He had little time to be father and husband.

Why did your husband leave Daichan's after 30 years?

He realized Daichan was never going to retire, and if he did, he would most likely leave the business to his son.

Did this cause any bad blood between your husband and his employer?

He never spoke of such things to me.

Once he left Daichan, he cut all ties with him.

Do you know of anyone who would have wanted to hurt your husband?

I'm not sure.

My husband carried a great shame.

It followed him all his life, but maybe it finally caught up with him.

Whatever it is, you can tell us.

It's important that you do, it can help others.

Excuse me.

What is it?

His great shame was that he was different.

This feels like a dead end, Jack.

Well, maybe not.

Mrs. Nakano didn't know if there was any bad blood between her husband and Daichan, so let's go right to the source.

[Phone rings]

What's up, Jack?

Monty, I need you to look into chef Daichan's sushi restaurant.

I need to talk to the owner.

The restaurant closed a month ago and there was no forwarding address.

Track them down, asap.

Hey. So I checked kris' room, the gym, bar area... No sign of him.

Yeah, hotel surveillance shows that he left 10 hours ago, and he hasn't returned.

Hey, Monty... just the man I'm looking for.

I bet you say that to all the boys.

So it seems that Kris has flown the Coop.

Can you get eyes on him?

Or see if he skipped town.

His passport hasn't been scanned anywhere, so he's still in the country.

No activity on his credit cards.

But he did use his ATM card 15 minutes ago at a liquor store not too far away.

All right. Let's roll.

Damian: To my big brother...

Kristopher: We have stuff to do tomorrow, so not too late.

Damian: Okay, Mom.

♪

[Coughs]

[Coughs]

What the hell, man?

Hey, hey. Kristopher Hall? FBI.

We need to speak to you about your brother.

My brother's freakin' dead.

Hey, Jack. Yeah, we got Damian's brother, but he's got his wobbly boots on.

Okay.

You got it, see you soon.

Okay, Jack said take him back to the hotel and pump him with some coffee.

He will meet us as soon as he can.

Come on.

Just waiting on the paperwork to go through so I can take my brother home, or I'd be out of this place already.

What brings you to Tokyo?

Food, business, fun.

This was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime.

What kind of business?

Damian and I have a hedge fund company that's done fairly well in the last few years.

We recently put some money into an American investment group that's redeveloping land in Tokyo.

Taylor investments.

That's right.

So what else aren't you telling us?

I'm telling you everything.

Like that your brother left the restaurant first, not you.

Our reputation is important to our business.

I didn't want it out there that Damian left the restaurant first in the pursuit of some...

Professionals.

So can you describe these professionals?

Dark, tan skin, sunglasses.

They were Japanese, but they had long, blonde, surfer girl hair.

Well, blonde, tanned, sunglasses in Japan should make it easier to find.

I'll see what Ryo and I can dig up.

Excuse us.

Thoughts?

Well, he's using the present verb tense when speaking.

People who are guilty tend to use the past tense.

He's also provided details in his story, even at his own expense.

So, why don't you go take a hot shower, get some rest.

We might need to speak to you again.

So be available.

♪

[Cell phone rings]

I'm all ears, Monty.

Okay, Daichan and his wife, Reiko, recently lost their business when the building they leased their restaurant in for the last three generations was sold.

And then, Jack, they committed su1c1de.

[Crash]

[Crowd gasps]

[Car alarm blaring]

♪

Jack?

Jack, you okay? What was that?

Yeah, I'm fine, Monty.

But Kris Hall was just m*rder*d.

The room is empty. Unsub's gone.

We found an unconscious security guard near the back fire exit.

Must have been how he got out of here so quickly.

[Speaks Japanese]

Jack.

I think he's using Kris' computer to record all this.

Turn it around.

The unsub is not admiring his work, he's enjoying the aftermath.

[Phone rings]

You rang?

Monty, the camera that Simmons found in the su1c1de Forest was off, but that's because the police had already been there.

The unsub already got his fix.

But the camera in the freezer was still on, just like that one is now.

Meaning the unsub is watching us through Kris' laptop.

See if you can find where this feed is leading to.

Give me a second to hack into the hotel's Internet connection.

Your agent is hacking into a Japanese hotel secured Internet connection.

This is not protocol.

I'm trying to catch a k*ller.

There's no time for protocols.

Okay, so the unsub is bouncing the video off of a torrent-distributed relay service.

No central server, no log files.

I cannot trace how many times the video's been accessed or by whom.

I'm not going to be able to get an I.D. here, Jack.

Mae, did you learn anything about the girls that Damian was with before he d*ed.

They're from an escort service that specializes in Gyaru.

It's a Japanese girly glam style.

They use tanning beds, wigs, and sunglasses to look like California girls.

We reached out to the service, and we talked to the girls, and...

Their alibis checked out.

Yes.

Damian approached them and he didn't want to pay that much, and the girls went on to find another job.

How did you know that, Jack?

Monty, is the company that bought chef Daichan's Taylor investments?

That's affirmative.

The restaurant is our common thread.

Jack, the common thread is not just chef Daichan's, but where it sits.

The Tsukiji Market.

Taylor investment's business plan was to redevelop Tsukiji Market.

Daichan and his wife lost the sushi bar, committed su1c1de just prior to the first American being k*lled.

But Dee Brown is not connected to the market.

See, she d*ed a week after Daichan and his wife committed su1c1de.

Now, because she was found in her school, no one noticed that all three victims live in the same building.

Now, according to Dee's checking account, she had been making monthly deposits to Daichan, who owned her apartment and subleased it to her.

But there's a note here saying that the payments were to stop this month.

Yeah, she was getting married, moving on.

You know, the sushi chef's wife said that her husband left Daichan's when he realized Daichan was gonna leave the business to his son.

Strange that the sushi chef held out so long, knowing that is customary.

Unless he thought there was some reason Daichan's son could not fulfill that commitment.

The police report said that the son, Yukio, first heard the sh*t, found his parents dead, then called it in.

Okay, Yukio has no records and no I.D.

Except for a birth certificate going back 33 years.

He's practically a ghost.

Yukio is the only person at the center of this who's still alive.

The death of his parents could have been the trigger.

He blames all the victims for his parents' su1c1de.

That's why he's using suicidal methods to k*ll.

The blogger badmouthed the market, thus hurting Daichan's business.

And the sushi chef left Daichan's to go to a competitor.

Dee Brown was moving, leaving Daichan without a renter.

And Taylor investments put them out of business, making Damian and his brother the nail in the coffin.

We've got our unsub.

Monty, we need Yukio's family's home address.

♪

[Shouting in Japanese]

[Heavy metal playing]

[Music turns off]

Clear.

Password locked.

Monty, we're in the unsub's apartment.

Can you hack into his computer?

Okay, I need you to look on the back of the router for me.

I've got it.

Great, now read me the ESN.

It should be nine hexadecimal characters starting with...

2-1-alpha-3-7-2-3-echo-1.

Jack: How fast can you do this?

Sorry it took me so long.

I need you to find me anything that points to who the next vic might be.

Jack. The slot in the door, dirty dishes, all this take-out, it reminds me of something I read about on the way over.

Hikikomori.

Yes.

Hikikomori is a sociological phenomenon here in Japan.

It's when young people retreat into their rooms.

They cut off all social ties and spend their time watching TV or surfing the Internet.

Yeah, some of them spend up to 30 years in their self-inflicted seclusion.

What causes it?

My people have a keen sense of shame if you do not live up to social pressures.

Well, the pressure to take over the family business could have made Yukio retreat back to his bedroom.

That might explain why the sushi chef thought the son could never take over the restaurant.

So our unsub hears g*nshots.

He's forced to leave his bedroom after many years, and then he finds his parents have committed su1c1de in the living room.

I think you may be correct, Simmons.

Yukio has pictures of his parents' dead bodies on his computer.

How could they sh**t themselves if g*ns are banned?

If you owned the g*n prior to 1971, you were allowed to keep them.

Looks like an old Nambu p*stol from World w*r II...

Probably belonged to Daichan's father.

So Yukio is most likely armed.

I found Yukio's hit list, and there's two extra names on it... Sean Kagame, who is a Japanese-American businessman, and Jarod Taylor, the owners of Taylor investments.

One of them is Yukio's target.

We need to find him before he does.

Whoa, guys, I have an external device trying to contact the computer.

He's recording again.

Means he's about to strike.

Hey, what happened?

[Cell phone rings]

Yeah.

So Yukio knows we're in his home and shut us down, but not before I got his location.

He's in a nightclub in Shibuya Crossing. I'm sending the address now.

Let's go.

[Dance music plays]

[Woman screams]

[Woman shouting]

Ugh.

♪

Aah!

[Screaming]

♪

Lock this place down... Nobody leaves!

He's alive.

Yukio is here, watching.

Clara: Yeah.

He knows we were in his home, he can't go back there.

To savor this moment, he's got to stay here, in it.

Which means we're looking for the one person who is not filming.

Jack, if he's been in his room for years, chances are he has a vitamin D deficiency.

Look for rashes and rickets.

He's also taller than the average Japanese person, so he's gonna stick out in a crowd.

He will be alone, his body language will be stiff and distant... He's not used to these crowds.

♪

[Siren wailing]

Yukio-kun.

They did not care for me.

They were ashamed.

I was weak.

I failed them.

But now they have their revenge.

You think that makes what you did okay?

I gave them each an honorable death.

Which is more than they deserved.

My parents will finally be proud of me.

There's no honor in what you did...

For them or for you.

You're wrong!

What do you know about me?

What do you know about us?!

Yukio, listen to me.

You can have honor.

Turn yourself in right now, right here.

I'm not done yet!

[Screaming]

[Crowd murmuring]

You okay?

[Ryo speaks Japanese]

Thank you for your assistance and your understanding.

We are much more flexible than the world believes.

[Speaks Japanese]

So how much trouble are you in with the boss lady for talking out of turn?

Whatever it is, it was worth it.

Hey.

Please accept this as a token of our appreciation.

Only if you let me send you some American whiskey in return.

Twist my arm.

So, any updates on our burn victim?

Yeah, we were able to get to Sean in time.

He's gonna have a long road ahead of him, but he's gonna be all right.

And his business partner, Jarod, was found safe in their hotel room.

You're not gonna lock yourself in a room for 30 years, are you?

No, our job sort of prevents that.

Can I say something?

Can I stop you?

I admire you, Clara.

You're so giving, so warm, so smart that sometimes I want to punch you.

But the longer that you isolate yourself, the harder it's gonna be to come back to the real world.

So let's just rip off the band-aid and go for it.

Okay.

Really?

Yeah.

But just you and I... No guys.

I am not quite ready for that excitement yet.

Yeah, okay, cool. I'm good with baby steps.

Good.

Let's go home.