Yokozaki sat at the counter facing Keiko. Just as he had done the other day, through the steel bars, he stared at her with expressionless eyes. Keiko studied his thin lips and waited for them to open. Yokozaki kept quiet.
About a minute passed. There was no indication that Yokozaki would open his mouth.
“Number Fifteen,” Itami said as he scraped the steel chair on the floor. “You want to say something, don’t you? Don’t hesitate.”
Keiko also became impatient. Come on, speak up. She had put aside her determination not to visit him, thinking that he might give her a hint as to what he was planning.
Her examination of the cardboard shelter the night before last had yielded nothing. All she had as for information was what he himself had said. His remaining silent would mean she had wasted her time coming here when she was so busy. She still had to go on interviews today. There were as yet no leads in the serial street killings.
Ten minutes passed. Yokozaki’s mouth remained shut.
“Hey, Number Fifteen.” Itami’s voice showed his fatigue. “If you’re just going to keep silent, I’m going to end the visit.”
At this, Yokozaki finally opened his mouth. “Thirty minutes.”
“What?”
“I have thirty minutes. The regulations allow me thirty minutes for visiting time. It hasn’t even been half that time yet.”
Itami clicked his tongue in exasperation.
“Besides,” Yokozaki said, with a faint smile on his face, “visiting isn’t just talking. It’s still a visit to just look at the other person’s face.”
Don’t be silly. It seemed she had made a big mistake coming here. This was just the type of insidious harassment this man nicknamed “The Cat” was capable of. If so, it was best to leave quickly.
Keiko leaned forward to stand up. But it was Itami who stood up before she did. Clucking his tongue again in obvious annoyance, he opened the door and shouted into the hallway.
“Hey, Saito, are you busy?”
“No, not so busy,” was the response that Keiko could hear.
“Then trade with me.”
There were footsteps, and then Saito’s trim features peeked in from the doorway. The young officer sat down in the steel chair in place of his chief, who left this boring job midway and departed hastily from the visiting room.
Having missed her timing to leave, Keiko sat down again.
Another minute passed.
Yokozaki opened his mouth again. “When I’m being interrogated, I can tell a lot from the behavior of the detectives.”
What was he saying all of a sudden? Puzzled, Keiko asked, “What can you tell?”
“The progress of an investigation. I can tell how close a case is to being solved.”
As Yokozaki suddenly moved his upper body, Keiko stiffened. With the same faint smile on his face, he placed onto the counter his hands, which had been on his knees. “It seems the real perpetrator has been identified in the case I’m suspected of.”
“So, you didn’t steal, after all?”
“No, it wasn’t me. I don’t know who it is, but the real burglar is someone else.”
Using his arms as supports, Yokozaki leaned his upper body forward.
“The detectives have figured out who it was and are secretly gathering evidence. The next stage is to seek an arrest warrant. There’s no mistake. The atmosphere in the interrogation room is clear.”
Yokozaki’s eyes lit up for an instant.
“But there’d be some trouble if they arrest the suspect, so the detectives are in a quandary.”
The faint smile disappeared from Yokozaki’s face.
“That means, Ms. Hazumi, listen up, it could be as early as tomorrow...” Keiko stopped breathing. Yokozaki placed his face close to the acrylic pane and hissed, “...that I might be released from this place.”
6.
Her headache was no better in the morning. In fact, it was worse. She felt as if the inside of her skull was being hammered with a mallet. She replaced the rice she had hardly touched in the rice cooker and put the side dishes she had not eaten into the refrigerator.
Natsuki was washing dishes at the sink without a word. As the instant water heater was broken, her hands must be numb with cold, but she continued to use the sponge and detergent without complaint. When she finished washing up, Natsuki left the kitchen. Retrieving the morning paper from the mailbox, she opened it up at the dining table.
Keiko snatched the newspaper from her.
Natsuki looked up, her eyes wide.
“I’m off today.”
“Sleep in tomorrow,” last night her boss had said shortly, having peered at her face. She felt humiliated. He must have been truly concerned for her health, but for Keiko it was as if she had heard him say, “You’re not up to dealing with this murder case.”
“I’m off today. I’ll be home all day.”
Natsuki didn’t reply. She just nodded.
The message “Why do you like burglars who target homes when no one is there?” had changed to “Which is more important — a petty thief or your daughter?” in the picture postcard she found in the mailbox last night. Natsuki still couldn’t forgive her mother’s late homecomings.
“Natsuki, I first want to say, write your number nine clearly with the circle. The way it looks, you’re bothering Auntie Fusano.”
On all of the postcards Natsuki had sent, the 9s looked like 7s. That meant that it wasn’t just the second postcard but the first and third ones as well that had been misdelivered to Fusano’s address. So the old woman had brought over all three cards.
“Understand?”
Natsuki didn’t say anything.
“Stop the silent treatment and start talking, why don’t you?” Keiko ripped the edge of the newspaper in irritation. “Also, this is important, so listen carefully. For the time being, from tonight, you’ll go to your grandfather’s to stay. You’ll go to school from there. Don’t worry. It’s just a precaution.”
“I may be released as early as tomorrow.” If Yokozaki’s words were true, he could be released today.
But she wasn’t about to swallow his bluff whole. After she had left the visiting room, she had gone to the burglary section and inquired of the chief detective in charge of the investigation whether Yokozaki would be released immediately. When she heard that it wasn’t the case, rather than feel relieved, she was bewildered by Yokozaki’s stupidity. What meaning did a lie that would be so easily discovered have? If all he could muster was an empty threat like that, he must in fact be the burglar who had stolen money from Fusano’s house. That would make certain his re-incarceration. Then she wouldn’t have to move.
Yes. This was just a precaution.
“All right? Your answer?”
At that, Natsuki pulled an advertising flyer toward her and wrote “Okay” on the back.
Keiko boiled over with rage. “Speak to me decently!” Unable to suppress her anger, she crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it at Natsuki. “Don’t joke around. Can’t you see that I’m really concerned for you? Grow up. You’re too old to throw silent tantrums about trivial things. Why are you being so childish? We have serious things to worry about right now...”
7.
She could hardly open her eyes. It must be the sleep in the corners of them. She rubbed it out. But as she raised herself up, Keiko realized that she had fallen asleep at the dining table.
It took her awhile to recall what had happened. After she had yelled at her daughter, she had pulled herself together.