The Devotion Of Suspect X (21 page)

“What do you mean, ‘strange’?” she asked uneasily.

“They were asking about that guy. The high school teacher? What was his name again? Ishigami?”

Yasuko almost dropped the phone. “What about him?” Her voice was trembling.

“Well, they said they’d heard there was someone who came to buy our lunches just to see you, and they wanted to know who he was and what he did. I think they might have heard something from Kudo.”

“Kudo?”

Yasuko couldn’t imagine how this had anything to do with him.

“Yasuko, I think I might’ve said something to him once … and he must’ve told that to the police.”

Now it made sense to Yasuko. The detectives had talked to Kudo, heard about Ishigami, then gone to Benten-tei to corroborate what he told them.

“And what did you say, Sayoko?”

“Well, I didn’t want to raise any suspicions by hiding it, so I told them the truth. I told them he was a schoolteacher who lived next to you. But that we had just been guessing about his reasons for coming. It’s not like he told us anything.”

Yasuko’s mouth was dry. So the police had finally found Ishigami. Had it been Kudo who put them on the trail? Or was there some other reason they were watching him?

“Hello? Yasuko?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Anyway, that’s what I told them. I hope that was okay? I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?”

She had, but that was the last thing Yasuko could admit.

“No, not at all. I can’t see how it would be a problem. He’s certainly got nothing to do with all this.”

“That’s what I thought. I just wanted you to know that the detectives had come back.”

“Right, thanks.”

Yasuko hung up. Her stomach churned; she wanted to throw up.

She felt sick and queasy all the way back to her apartment. She stopped to do some shopping at a supermarket on the way, but couldn’t even remember what she had bought by the time she made it home.

Ishigami was at his computer when he heard the door of the next apartment open and close. There were three photos up on his screen: two of Kudo, and one of Yasuko as she went into the hotel. He had wanted to get a shot of the two of them together, but he’d been worried that Kudo would spot him; and if Yasuko had happened to see him, too, there would have been a scene. So he had let his better judgment prevail and kept his distance.

Ishigami imagined the worst-case scenario. He’d need these photos then, for sure. He just hoped it never came to that.

He glanced at the clock on his desk before standing. It was almost eight o’clock in the evening. Yasuko and Kudo hadn’t been together for very long. He couldn’t help but make note of how that fact put him at ease.

Telephone card in his pocket, the mathematician left his apartment and walked down the street as usual, taking a careful look around to make sure he wasn’t being watched.

He thought about the detective, Kusanagi. It was strange. Even when Kusanagi had come asking about Yasuko, Ishigami had gotten the feeling that the man was really there because he wanted to know about Manabu Yukawa. What sort of connection did they have? It was hard for Ishigami to plan his next move without knowing whether or not he was a suspect yet.

He called Yasuko’s cell from the now familiar public phone. She picked up on the third ring.

“It’s me,” Ishigami said. “Is now a good time?”

“Yes.”

“Anything happen today?” He wanted to know what she had talked about with Kudo, but couldn’t find a way to ask the question. If he hadn’t tailed the man, he never would have known they’d met at all.

“Er, actually…” she began.

“Actually what? What happened?” He imagined Kudo filling her head with all kinds of crazy ideas.

“The detectives, they came back to Benten-tei. And, well, they were asking about you.”

“About me? How?” Ishigami swallowed.

“Well, it’s kind of a long story, but some of the people at the shop have been talking about you since before all this began. Sorry, I don’t want to say anything to make you angry…”

What was making Ishigami angry was the roundabout way she was giving him the information. She would be no good at mathematics, he could tell.

“I promise not to get angry. Please just tell me as bluntly as possible. What were they saying about me?” Ishigami waited, ready to hear something unflattering about his looks or demeanor.

“Well—I’ve denied it all along, you understand—but some of the people at the shop think that you come there to buy lunches just so you can see me.”

“What?” For a moment, Ishigami’s mind went blank.

“I’m sorry. They thought it was funny, like a joke. That’s how they talk about things. They really don’t mean any harm by it. I don’t even think they seriously believe it themselves,” Yasuko said, vainly attempting to do some damage control.

But Ishigami barely registered half of what she said. He was wondering how someone else had noticed—someone other than Yasuko.

They were right, of course. He did go to the shop every day just to see her. And he realized that unconsciously he had expected her to notice how he felt. Still, it made his entire body hot with shame to think that someone else, a third party, had noticed first. How they must have laughed to see an ugly man like him head over heels for a beautiful woman like her.

“I’m sorry. You’re angry, aren’t you?” Yasuko asked.

Ishigami hurriedly cleared his throat. “No, no … What did the detectives do, exactly?”

“Like I said, they heard that rumor, and so they came to the shop asking who this person—
you
—were, and the person at the shop gave them your name.”

“I see,” Ishigami said, still burning. “And where do you think the detectives heard that rumor?”

“I … I’m not sure.”

“Is that all they wanted to know?”

“I think so. That’s all I heard.”

Receiver gripped tightly in his hand, Ishigami nodded. This was no time for indecision. He didn’t know how it had happened, but it was clear the police were gradually setting their sights on him. He had to think of an appropriate response.

“Is your daughter there?” he asked.

“Misato? Yes, why?”

“Can I speak with her a moment?”

“Sure, of course.”

Ishigami closed his eyes. He focused all of his energies on divining what detective Kusanagi was planning, what action he would take, what he would do next. Yet, in the middle of his thoughts, there he found the face of Manabu Yukawa. What was the physicist’s role in all this?

“Hello?” came a young girl’s voice over the line.

“It’s Ishigami,” he told her. “Misato … you said you talked about the movie with your friend on the twelfth? Mika was her name, right?”

“Yes. And I told the detectives that, too.”

“Right, so you said. I was wondering about your other friend—Haruka, was it?”

“That’s right. Haruka Tamaoka.”

“You told her about the movie, too, right? Did you talk about it more than that one time?”

“No, just the once. Well, maybe a little.”

“You didn’t tell the detectives about her, right?”

“No, only about Mika. You told me I shouldn’t mention Haruka, so I didn’t.”

“That’s right. But I think it might be time to talk to them about her now.”

Ishigami glanced around the park, making sure no one was nearby, before giving Misato detailed instructions on what she was to do.

Gray smoke was rising from an empty plot next to the university tennis courts. Kusanagi arrived to find Yukawa in a lab coat with the sleeves rolled up, using a long stick to poke at something inside an oil drum. The smoke was coming from the drum.

Yukawa heard his footsteps approaching and looked up. “It seems I have a stalker.”

“Detectives like stalking suspicious people.”

“So I’m suspicious now, am I?” Yukawa asked, a glimmer in his eye. “Do I detect a bold new direction from our stoic hero? It’s just that kind of flexibility you’ll need to rise in this world, you know.”

“Whatever you say, Galileo,” said Kusanagi sarcastically. “Don’t you want to know why I suspect you?”

“I don’t need to ask. People always suspect scientists of being up to no good.” He gave the contents of the oil drum another prod.

“What are you burning there?”

“Nothing much. Some old reports and materials I no longer needed. Can’t really trust a shredder to do the job.” Yukawa picked up a nearby bucket and poured water into the drum. There was a sizzling sound, and the smoke became thicker and turned white.

“I’ve got some questions for you. As a detective, this time.”

“You really are onto something, aren’t you?” Yukawa checked to make sure that the fire was out; then, bucket in one hand, he began to walk away.

Kusanagi followed. “I dropped by Benten-tei after talking to you yesterday. Heard something very interesting there. Don’t you want to know?”

“Not really.”

“I’ll tell you anyway. Seems like your friend Ishigami has a thing for Yasuko Hanaoka.”

Yukawa stopped in the middle of a loping stride. He turned his head and shot a piercing look over his shoulder at the detective. “Someone at the shop tell you that?”

“Something like that. An interesting idea occurred to me while I was talking to you, and I wanted to check at Benten-tei to see if I was right. Theories and logic are all very well, but intuition’s one of the best weapons in a detective’s arsenal.”

“And?” Yukawa turned around to face him. “How does it affect your investigation now that you know he ‘had a thing’ for your prime suspect?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what it means. I know you’ve been trying to hide the fact that you have suspected Ishigami of being Yasuko’s conspirator for some time now.”

“I don’t recall trying to hide anything.”

“Anyway, I found out why you suspected him without your help. We’re going to keep a close eye on him now. Which is why I’m here. I know we decided to part ways yesterday, but I’d like to offer you a peace treaty. In exchange for information from us, I want you to tell me what you’ve found. Not a bad deal, you have to agree.”

“You overestimate my value. I haven’t found out anything. It’s all conjecture.”

“Then tell me what you’re conjecturing,” Kusanagi said, staring at his friend, holding his gaze.

Yukawa looked away first and then resumed walking. “Back to the lab first.”

Back in Laboratory 13, Kusanagi sat down at a table with some mysterious scorch marks on it. Yukawa placed two mugs on the tabletop. It would have been hard to say which mug was filthier.

The physicist mixed some coffee, then followed it with an immediate question. “If Ishigami was a conspirator, what role do you think he played?”

“What, I have to talk first?”

“You’re the one who offered the peace treaty.” Yukawa sat down in a chair, absentmindedly stirring his drink.

“Fine. I haven’t told my boss about Ishigami at all, so this is just my thinking—but if the murder did take place somewhere other than our crime scene, Ishigami must’ve carried the body.”

“Oh? But I thought you were against the whole body transportation scenario.”

“I said all bets were off if she had an accomplice. I still think it was probably Yasuko Hanaoka that did the deed. She might have had help from Ishigami, but she was definitely there.”

“You sound pretty sure of yourself.”

“Well, if Ishigami was the one who killed him
and
carried the body, he’s no conspirator. That would make him the murderer, probably working alone. No matter how big a crush he had on her, I can’t imagine he’d go that far. Also, if he killed Togashi on his own and then Yasuko turned him in, it would all be over now. So she must have borne some of the risk, too.”

“What if Ishigami killed him, but they both helped dispose of the body?”

“I won’t say that’s not a possibility, but the likelihood is pretty low. Yasuko Hanaoka’s movie theater alibi is shaky, but her alibi after that is pretty sound. If she timed it just right, she could have committed the murder and still made her alibi, but she wouldn’t have had time to do that and dispose of a body.”

“What part of her alibi exactly have you not been able to confirm?”

“The time between 7:00 and 9:10 when she says she was watching a movie. The ramen shop and the karaoke place after that all checked out. That, and she did go into the movie theater at least once. We found half of a ticket stub there with her and her daughter’s fingerprints.”

“So you think it was during that two hours and ten minutes that she and Ishigami murdered her ex-husband?”

“They might also have disposed of the body then. But, considering travel time, she must’ve left the scene before Ishigami did.”

“And where did the murder take place?”

“I don’t know that. Except it was probably Yasuko who called Togashi there.”

Yukawa sipped his coffee without a word. He wrinkled his brow bemusedly, as if unconvinced by his friend’s explanation.

“Got something to say?”

“Not particularly.”

“Well if you do, have out with it,” Kusanagi said. “I’ve told you what I think, so now it’s your turn.”

Yukawa sighed. “He didn’t use a car.”

“Huh?”

“I said, Ishigami didn’t use a car. He would need one to carry a corpse, right? Since he doesn’t have a car, he would’ve had to get get one from somewhere. I don’t think he has the means to procure a car in such a way that he would leave no trace behind. Not many law-abiding citizens do.”

“We’ll be checking all of the rental agencies, of course.”

“Good luck with that. I can guarantee you won’t find anything.”

Kusanagi glared at the physicist, but Yukawa seemed unconcerned.

“All I’m saying is that if the murder happened somewhere other than the place where the body was found, then it was probably Ishigami who carried it there. There’s still a good possibility that the murder did take place at our crime scene. If two of them were involved, anything is possible.”

“So,” Yukawa said, lifting the cup of coffee up to his lips, “you think the two of them killed Togashi, caved in his face, burned off his fingerprints, stripped his clothes and burned them, and then walked away?”

“Like I said, they might have left at different times.” Kusanagi looked down at his cup of instant coffee and suppressed a small shudder. “Yasuko would’ve had to reach the movie theater by the time the movie ended, at least.”