“What? That’s all?”
“That’s all,” Nonogaki said, already turning to leave. Nishiguchi was standing up when Yukawa asked, “Did they try to reproduce what happened?”
Nonogaki stopped and turned. “Excuse me?”
“You mentioned negligence. I’m assuming that meant that there was an accident of some sort at the Green Rock Inn, probably involving carbon monoxide poisoning. I would expect that forensics would be trying to reproduce what happened by experiment.”
“Carbon monoxide poisoning? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nonogaki said.
“Oh? Then whence the negligence?” Yukawa asked, scratching his chin.
Nonogaki’s eyes widened and his nostrils flared. He took a deep breath, said, “Thank you for your cooperation,” and strode swiftly out of the room.
Nishiguchi nodded to Yukawa and started to follow Nonogaki. Behind him, he heard Yukawa said, “They’re not going to be able to reproduce it, you know. The carbon monoxide.”
Nishiguchi stopped. “Why’s that?”
But Yukawa didn’t respond. Instead, he slowly poured himself another glass of wine. Nishiguchi was about to ask again when the physicist said, “I know the men and women in your profession have something they call detective’s intuition.” He picked his wineglass up and swished the liquid around, staring at it. “Well, you might say I have physicist’s intuition.” He took another sip.
Nishiguchi shook his head. It didn’t sound like Yukawa was making fun of him, but he didn’t understand what the man was driving at. Unable to think of anything to say, he turned and left.
Outside, Nonogaki was talking on his phone. He hung up, a sour look on his face, and pressed the elevator button.
“Glad we won’t have to talk to him again. Are all scientists like that?”
“He’s particularly eccentric, I hear.”
“Right, well, I won’t miss him. And it looks like the case is closed anyway.”
“Was there some new information?”
Nonogaki nodded. “Tokyo found Senba. He’s hospitalized out in Chofu. Turns out that the victim used to pay him visits out there. So, our prime suspect’s not a suspect at all.”
The elevator door opened, and the two detectives got in.
There had been a number of question marks left over after the Kawahatas gave their first testimony, but after Sawamura turned himself in, the remaining contradictions had disappeared. That only left the question of why Tsukahara had come out to Hari Cove in the first place, but from what Nonogaki said, it sounded like they had an answer for that now, too. Maybe the case really was closed.
But what Yukawa had said as he was leaving the bar stuck in Nishiguchi’s mind.
While they were questioning the Kawahatas down at the police department, forensics had indeed been up at the Green Rock Inn, trying to reproduce what had happened the night Tsukahara died. The first report to the task force had confirmed the cracks in the wall of the Ocean Room and the presence of exhaust from the boiler pipe. Next, all they would have to do would be to make the boiler malfunction and see if it pumped enough carbon monoxide into the room.
But it had been hours, and the only word from the team was, “We don’t know what happened.”
FIFTY-THREE
Narumi opened the window and felt a warm breeze blow in, carrying the scent of the sea. Outside, the seawall and the road floated in the light of the streetlamps overhead. Everything else, including the ocean beyond, was lost in inky blackness.
She pulled out her phone and checked the time. It was almost 9:00 p.m.
She heard someone running up the steps, and the door opened. Wakana Nagayama came in, carrying a bag from the convenience store in one hand and a cooler in the other.
“Hey, thanks for waiting. Well, they had absolutely nothing down there. I got some sandwiches and some rice balls, and, yeah, that’s about it. Oh, and some instant miso soup and a few snacks to go with the beer.” She laughed, emptying the contents of the bag on the table.
“Thanks and sorry for the trouble,” Narumi said.
“Don’t mention it,” Wakana said, dismissing her with a wave of a deeply tanned hand in front of a deeply tanned face. “That’s what friends are for, right? Helping each other out. And I’m honored you chose me to mooch off of, really, I am. I know the place isn’t much, but you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need, babe.”
“Thanks.”
“So, what’ll it be? If you want some of the miso, I’ll go downstairs and get some water on,” she said, picking up a cup of instant soup.
“No, I’m fine for now. Got anything to drink?”
“Oh ho ho, if it’s drinks you’re after, you’ve come to the right place,” Wakana said, opening the cooler. “We’ve got beer, we’ve got wine coolers, we’ve got everything. What’ll it be?”
“Any tea?”
“Coming up,” Wakana said, pulling out a plastic bottle of green tea.
Narumi took a sip, feeling the cool liquid trickle down her throat as she looked out the window. She reflected back on the events of the day. None of it felt real.
They had released her from the police station a little after eight o’clock. Sawamura’s confession had cleared her of any suspicion, but that hadn’t stopped them from asking her a million more questions and making her wait around for no reason whatsoever. In the end, she’d spent most of the day there. By the time she walked out, she was so exhausted she wanted to collapse in the parking lot and take a nap right there on the asphalt.
She couldn’t even go home and crash, because the Green Rock Inn was off-limits. Worse, the detectives had practically ordered her to call them once she knew where she was going to be staying, so that was hanging over her the whole time. They wouldn’t tell her anything about her parents, either.
After agonizing over it for a while, she’d finally called her friend who worked a part-time job at a marine sports shop. Wakana was studying at a university in Tokyo and came back to Hari to work during the summer. Narumi had taught her when she tested for her scuba instructor’s license two years ago.
She’d told Wakana over the phone what had happened, and Wakana had come to pick her up right away. On the way back to her place, Wakana hadn’t asked any questions. She’d just wanted to be sure that Narumi was okay, confirming Narumi’s suspicion that she’d made an excellent choice of friend to turn to.
She looked up and noticed that Wakana was drinking tea too.
“You can have a beer, you know,” she said. In addition to her skills as a diver, Wakana was an accomplished drinker.
“It’s okay,” she said.
“Don’t go dry on my account. I won’t last a day if I have to deal with a grumpy Wakana!”
Wakana grinned. “Well, if you put it that way.” She put her bottle of tea back in the cooler and pulled out a beer, cracked it open, and took a long swig. “Ah, that’s nice,” she sighed.
Narumi smiled at her friend and found herself wondering what Yukawa would say if he saw Wakana—maybe the same thing he had said to Narumi about not seeming like the country type. Thinking of Yukawa made her think of the Green Rock Inn. She wondered what would happen to it now. Her father had talked about selling it, but who would buy a rundown inn where someone had died? It would cost money to tear it down if they just wanted to try to sell the land. And Narumi still had to find a place to live. Wakana had offered her flat for as many days as she needed it, but Narumi knew there was a limit to that. Ultimately, she guessed she would be going back to Tokyo. She looked up. “Can I borrow your van?”
“My van? Sure, but if you want to go someplace, I’m happy to drive you.”
“No, it’s okay, I’m just going home quickly.”