John Doe

東野圭吾の 'The Devotion of Suspect X' を読み始めました。森下だの篠崎の地名が出て来たので、宮部みゆきと同様に江東区か江戸川区で育った作家かと思いましたが、大阪生まれで東京に移ったのは作家になってからだとWikipediaに書かれていました。最初に引用するのは殺人事件後に死体が発見された後の個所からです。
'There was a bicycle nearby. Some people from the local station in Edogawa already came to pick it up.'
'A bicycle? Probably junk somebody threw out.'
'It was a little new for that. And both of the tires were flat. Someone put a hole in them with a nail or something.'
'Humph. The victim's, then?'
'Hard to say. It had a registration number on it, so we might be able to find out who owned it.'
'Well, I hope it was the victim's,' Kusanagi said. 'Or else this is going to be a real tricky one. Heaven or hell.'
'How's that?'
'This your first John Doe, Kishi?'
Kishi nodded.
"John Doe" が身元不明の人を指したり、あるいは名無しの権兵衛とか、実名の代わりに使うのは知っていましたが、実際の文章で見たのは初めてだと思います。一応辞書の説明を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: An anonymous party, typically the plaintiff, in a legal action.: For prosecutors, indicting John Does through their DNA might seem more than fair.

・Collins Dictionary: John Doe is used to refer to a man whose real name is not known or cannot be revealed, for example, for legal reasons.: In fact he's not John Doe anymore, we have an ID.