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“So...” Ohno said.

“So nothing!” Saito replied.

The car took a sharp turn and they fell into each other’s arms. They laughed together while the embrace lasted.

At Headquarters, the priest was taken to a cell and Saito accompanied him. He waited while the constable locked the heavy door. Ohno bowed, Saito bowed. They straightened up and studied each other’s smile through the bars of the cell door.

“You understood something, didn’t you, Inspector-san?”

“Oh, yes,” Saito said softly. “Yes, I think I did.”

“Oh, yes,” Ohno whispered. “And it had nothing to do with you or me or even poor Miss Davis.”

“No, it didn’t.” Saito nodded and gazed at Ohno before turning and following the constable out of the cell block. He felt very tired, so tired that he was hallucinating. He wasn’t walking through a dimly lit concrete corridor but floating in a lake of light. The light began to fade as he approached his house and he found that he was shaking his head and talking to himself.