“That looks pretty good too,” the physicist remarked.
The front desk buzzer sounded, so Narumi said, “Enjoy your meal,” and excused herself.
Nishiguchi was in the lobby. He raised a hand in greeting, though he didn’t smile.
“Something more about Mr. Tsukahara?” Narumi asked.
“Something I need your help with, actually,” Nishiguchi said, licking his lips before continuing. “I was hoping I could look inside the building a bit?”
“You want to see Mr. Tsukahara’s room?”
“Er, no, actually, the entire building.”
“What for?” Narumi asked, a wrinkle forming between her eyebrows.
Nishiguchi grimaced and glanced outside. Her eyes followed him out to the front and she stiffened. There was a line of men outside in dark blue police uniforms.
“Who are they?” she asked, her voice a little quieter.
“The forensics team from the prefectural police. I’m sorry, I can’t go into any more detail about this. If now doesn’t work, I can’t force you to let us in, but we’d just be back later with a warrant. But if we could just get this finished with now…”
Nishiguchi was clearly uncomfortable. Narumi gave him another look, then said, “I’ll go talk to my parents. Hang on.” She disappeared into the back.
Shigehiro and Setsuko were just sitting down to dinner in the living room. Their chopsticks stopped in midair when Narumi told them what was going on.
“What’s left to see? Weren’t they all over the place yesterday?” Shigehiro asked, disgruntled.
“He won’t tell me. What should I say?”
Shigehiro looked at his wife, then got to his feet.
“I’ll go too,” Setsuko said, and so the three of them went back out front to talk to the detective.
Back in the lobby, several of the officers had come inside. They were all wearing their hats and carrying bags of various equipment.
Shigehiro asked for an explanation, and Nishiguchi said more or less exactly what he had just told Narumi moments before. The other men were already looking around, scanning every visible inch with their eyes.
“Might you be more specific about where you want to look? I’m just worried about disturbing our guest,” Shigehiro said.
One of the men in the hats took a step forward. “We’d like to see the kitchen first, if possible.”
“The kitchen’s back there,” Shigehiro said, pointing past the counter. The man nodded and began taking off his shoes. Immediately, the others stepped in beside him and took off their shoes. A few went into the kitchen, and Setsuko followed after them.
Another of the men from forensics looked between Shigehiro and Narumi. “Can I see the boiler room?”
“That’s downstairs,” Shigehiro said, walking ahead with his cane. “This way.” He went behind the counter and opened the door to the stairs.
Another man approached Narumi. “Mind showing me the room the victim was staying in?”
Narumi nodded and fetched the key from behind the counter.
NINETEEN
“There are essentially two kinds of fireworks, but while they operate by the same basic principles, the method of propulsion is slightly different. The first, called an aerial shell, works a bit like a cannon. For example, take that straw.” Yukawa paused here to point at the straw in Kyohei’s glass of cola. “If you stuck a wad of tissue paper into one end of that straw and blew on the other, the wad of paper would go flying in the opposite direction, correct? With aerial shells, you place them onto a mortar tube launch pad, then stick a lifting charge underneath. The force and the gas pressure from the lifting charge is what sends the firework up into the sky. With the second type, a skyrocket, the rocket itself explodes, sending a spray of sparks beneath it, vaulting it into the air. It’s just like the water rocket, except with gunpowder in place of water and air pressure.”
Yukawa ate while he spoke, barely pausing for bites. The smoothness with which he was able to give his explanation even while swallowing impressed Kyohei more than what he was actually saying.
“So the fireworks you brought are skyrockets, not the aerial things?”
“Shells, yes. Real aerial shells aren’t purchasable without a license, and you need to be a registered pyrotechnician to get one of those.”
They had stopped by the convenience store on the way back from the ocean to buy the stash of fireworks. It hadn’t been Kyohei’s idea—he had only mentioned setting them off with his uncle the night before.
Kyohei had just finished his rice and was drinking his cola when one of the doors to the dining room opened and a man wearing a blue uniform and a hat poked his head in.
“Oh! Excuse me,” he said, immediately leaving and closing the door behind him.
Kyohei blinked. “Who do you think that was?”
“With that uniform, he’s in forensics. They must be back to do more investigating,” Yukawa said.
A few moments later, Narumi came with some tea. She apologized to Yukawa for the intrusion.
“Any idea what they’re looking for?” he asked.
“I’m not sure, but they seem interested in anything that can generate heat.”
“Such as?”
“Well, they wanted to make sure that all the burners in the kitchen worked, things like that.”
“That’s odd. I fail to see the connection with an accident down by the ocean.”
“Well, the police say it’s related, but they won’t tell me more than that.”
Yukawa sipped his tea and said only, “That is how they operate.”
* * *
They left the dining room after dinner and ran into several men dressed like the one before, wandering around the halls of the inn. Kyohei and Yukawa were stepping out the front door when the doorway to the basement stairs opened and Shigehiro appeared. “More fireworks?” he asked.
“Yeah. Mind if we borrow your bucket?”
“Not at all,” Shigehiro said, his eyes going to the plastic bag in Yukawa’s hands. “Looks like you got some shells in there,” he said.
“Technically they’re skyrockets—I hope it’s okay?”
Shigehiro grinned a little sheepishly and scratched his bald head. “Well, we got away with it last night, but really, the fire department only wants you to set off fireworks right by the ocean. Guess they’re worried about brushfires. Normally I wouldn’t give it a second thought, but with our guests tonight…”
“I understand completely,” Yukawa said. “Wouldn’t want any flying into the inn by mistake. We’ll hold off on the skyrockets tonight,” Yukawa said. Kyohei nodded.
They stepped outside and went around to the back of the inn where there was a small clearing between the building and the woods.
Kyohei was about to light a sparkler, but Yukawa stopped him. “Can you explain the basic principle of how fireworks work?”
“Well, it’s just gunpowder stuck on a stick, right?”
“If it were, it would explode as soon as you lit it.” Yukawa pulled something white from his pocket—a ball of cotton, which he placed on the ground. From his other pocket, he took a nail and some sandpaper. He began sanding the nail above the ball of cotton, so that little black specks of metal began to accumulate below.
“Now we light it,” Yukawa said, touching the flame of a disposable lighter to the ball.
The ball caught flame immediately, sending up tiny sparks. Kyohei shouted with surprise.
“Even metal that doesn’t normally burn will ignite under the proper conditions. Fireworks are essentially metal, several kinds mixed together.”
“Why do they use different kinds?”
“Good question. Let’s try lighting one of the sparklers,” Yukawa said, holding out his lighter.