‘Is your mom home?’ Sasagaki asked through the door.
There was no answer until the voice said again, ‘Who is it?’
Sasagaki looked at Koga and smiled wryly. Clearly the girl had been told not to open the door to strangers – a practice he normally would have applauded, except right now it was interfering with his investigation.
Sasagaki kept his voice loud enough that the girl could hear, but hopefully not the neighbours. ‘We’re with the police. We have some questions for your mother.’
Silence.
By her voice, Sasagaki pegged her as a pre-teen, maybe in middle school or about to finish elementary school. He could imagine her freezing when she heard the word ‘police’.
Then came the sound of the door being unlocked. It opened, but the chain was still on. Through the narrow gap he saw a girl’s face with wide eyes. Her skin was remarkably white and as smooth as porcelain.
‘My mother’s not home yet,’ she said, a tone in her voice that put Sasagaki in mind of words like ‘resolute’.
‘Out shopping, maybe?’
‘No, she’s at work.’
‘What time does she usually come home?’ Sasagaki asked, glancing at his watch. It was just past five.
‘Any time now,’ the girl told him.
‘Right,’ Sasagaki said. ‘We’ll just wait outside, then.’
The girl nodded and shut the door. Sasagaki reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out his cigarettes. ‘Kid’s got a good head on her shoulders,’ he said in a low voice.
‘I’d agree,’ Koga said. ‘That, and —’
He was about to say something else when the door opened again, this time without the chain.
‘Could you show me your police thingy?’ the girl asked.
Sasagaki blinked. ‘Sorry, my what?’
‘Your badge.’
‘Oh, right.’ He smiled. ‘Here,’ he said, holding out his badge displayed in his wallet, next to a photo ID.
The girl looked between the photograph and Sasagaki’s face for a moment before saying, ‘You can come in.’ She opened the door.
‘No, that’s OK,’ Sasagaki said, a little surprised. ‘We’re fine outside.’
The girl shook her head. ‘The neighbours will wonder.’
Sasagaki glanced at Koga. He resisted the urge to grin.
The detectives stepped inside. As Sasagaki had guessed it was a small apartment for a family. The room beyond the door was a tiny kitchen-diner with a wooden floor and a small sink. Behind that was another room, only slightly larger, floored with tatami mats.
The girl offered the detectives a seat at the simple table in the front room. There were only two chairs. The pink-and-white checked tablecloth was plastic, with cigarette burns near the edge.
After the detectives had sat down the girl went into the back room and sat up against a closed closet door, where she began reading a book. There was a white label on the cover, indicating it was from a library.
‘What’re you reading?’ Koga asked. She held the book up so he could see. He smiled. ‘That’s quite the book for someone your age.’
‘What is it?’ Sasagaki asked him.
‘Gone With the Wind.’
Sasagaki nodded, impressed. ‘I saw the movie.’
‘Me too,’ Koga said. ‘It was pretty good. Never even occurred to me to read the book.’
‘I don’t read much these days myself.’
‘You and me both. Not even manga, not since Ashita no Joe ended.’
‘What, Joe’s already done?’
‘Yeah, back in May. Now that Star of the Giants is done too I’m all out of reading material.’
‘It’s just as well. Grown men shouldn’t go around reading manga.’
‘I guess.’ Koga shrugged.
The girl didn’t even look up from her book while the detectives chatted. It was as if she’d sensed that they were just saying whatever came to mind in order to fill the silence.
The thought must have occurred to Koga, too, because he said nothing further. Presently he began rapping his fingers restlessly on the table but stopped at a withering glance from the girl.
Sasagaki busied himself looking around the house. Furniture and appliances had been kept to a bare minimum. There was nothing that could be considered a luxury item in the place. There wasn’t even a desk for studying or bookshelves. A small television sat by the window, but it was incredibly old, with a little bunny-ear antenna on top. He imagined it was probably a black-and-white set, one of the ones where, even after you turned on the switch, it took forever for the picture to come on. When it did, there were jagged lines across everything.
It wasn’t just the lack of material possessions. The place seemed unusually austere for a house with a little girl living in it. The fluorescent lights on the ceiling were old, but even that didn’t fully explain the bleak mood.
Two cardboard boxes were stacked right next to where Sasagaki was sitting. He pried open the lid of the top box with his fingertips, taking a peek inside. It was filled to the brim with rubber frogs. They were the kind that had a little tail you could squeeze to make the legs inflate, making the frog ‘jump’. He’d seen them for sale at stalls during street festivals.
‘What’s your name, miss?’ Sasagaki asked the girl. Normally he wouldn’t use ‘miss’ when talking to a schoolchild, but for her it seemed appropriate.
‘Yukiho Nishimoto,’ the girl said, her eyes never leaving her book.
‘Yukiho? How do you write that?’
‘The characters for snow and ear, like an ear of rice.’
‘Nice,’ Sasagaki said. ‘That’s a nice name, isn’t it?’ He looked over at his partner.
Koga nodded. The girl continued reading.
‘Have you ever heard of a shop called Kirihara?’ Sasagaki asked. ‘It’s a pawnshop.’
Yukiho didn’t answer right away. Then she licked her lips and said, ‘My mom goes there sometimes.’
‘Have you ever met the man who runs the shop?’
‘I have.’
‘Has he ever come here?’
Yukiho frowned. ‘I think so,’ she said.
‘But not when you were home, is that it?’
‘He might have. I don’t really remember.’
‘Any idea why he visited?’
‘No.’
Sasagaki reconsidered questioning the girl right now. He had a feeling this would be only the first of many opportunities he would have to talk to her. He resumed looking around the room. He wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but his eyes widened a little when he saw the waste basket next to the refrigerator. It was filled to the brim, and perched on top was some packaging paper with a mark on it from Harmony, the cake shop.
Sasagaki looked over at the girl. Their eyes met but she quickly went back to reading her book. He had the distinct impression that she’d been looking at the rubbish, too.
A short while later the girl looked up again. Then she closed her book and walked past them towards the door.
Sasagaki perked up his ears. He heard footsteps, sandals dragging across the ground. Koga’s mouth opened slightly.
The footsteps approached the door and stopped. There was the sound of a key in the lock.
‘It’s open,’ Yukiho called out.
‘Why didn’t you lock it? It’s not safe,’ said a voice as the door opened. A woman wearing a turquoise blouse came in. She looked in her mid-thirties, with her hair in a bun behind her head.
Fumiyo Nishimoto noticed the detectives immediately. She quickly looked between her daughter and the strange men in shock.
‘It’s OK, they’re police,’ the girl said.
‘Police?’ An unguarded look of fear washed over Fumiyo’s face.
‘Sasagaki, Osaka Police,’ Sasagaki said, standing. ‘This is my partner, Koga.’