Fumiyo was noticeably taken aback. Her face had gone pale, and she was clearly unsure what to do. She stood with a paper bag in her hand, the door still hanging open behind her.
‘We’re investigating a case and had some questions to ask you, Mrs Nishimoto. Sorry to drop in when you were out.’
‘What sort of case?’
‘It’s about the guy from the pawnshop,’ Yukiho said.
Fumiyo held her breath for a long moment. From the looks on their faces, Sasagaki ascertained that they both knew about Kirihara’s death and, furthermore, had discussed it together at some length.
‘Please, have a seat,’ Koga said, offering his chair to Fumiyo. Wringing her hands, she sat down at the table across from Sasagaki.
A fine-featured woman, Sasagaki thought. A little soft under the eyes, but with make-up she’d definitely qualify as a looker. But hers was a cold beauty. The resemblance to her daughter was striking. Sasagaki could imagine any number of middle-aged men falling for her. With Kirihara at fifty-two, there could well have been something between them.
‘Pardon the intrusion, but are you married?’
‘My husband died seven years ago. He was working at a construction site, there was an accident…’
‘I see, I’m sorry. Where are you working now?’
‘At an udon shop in Imazato.’
The name of the shop was Kikuya. Her hours there were from Monday to Saturday, eleven a.m. to four p.m.
‘The udon there any good?’ Koga asked with a smile, but Fumiyo’s face remained hard.
‘I suppose,’ was all she said.
‘I’m sure you’ve heard that Mr Yosuke Kirihara passed away?’ Sasagaki said, getting to the topic at hand.
‘Yes,’ she said in a small voice. ‘It was quite a shock.’
Yukiho went around behind her mother into the back room, where she sat against the closet like before. Sasagaki watched her go before looking back at Fumiyo.
‘The things is, it’s very likely that Mr Kirihara was involved in an incident. We were trying to track down exactly where he went last Friday afternoon and heard that he might have visited you here.’
‘What, my house? No I —’ Fumiyo began, haltingly, when her daughter chimed in, ‘Isn’t he the one who brought the pudding?’
Fumiyo’s bewilderment was almost painful to watch. She moved her thin lips for a moment before saying, ‘Yes, that’s right. Mr Kirihara did come here on Friday.’
‘Around what time?’
‘I think it was…’ Fumiyo looked past Sasagaki’s right shoulder to the small clock atop a two-door fridge. ‘A little before five, I think. Right after I got home.’
‘And what was the purpose of his visit?’
‘No reason in particular. He said he dropped in because he was in the area. He knows I’m a single mother and we’re having a rough time making ends meet. He always dropped by now and then to give advice.’
‘He said he was in the area? That’s a little odd,’ Sasagaki said, pointing at the wrapping paper from Harmony in the trash pail. ‘He brought that, didn’t he? Apparently he went all the way to the station to buy it. Not really in the area, is it?’
‘Well, that may be, but I’m just telling you what he told me. He said he was dropping in because he was in the area,’ Fumiyo said, her head drooping.
‘Right, well, let’s just leave that as that, then,’ Sasagaki offered. ‘Until when would you say he was here?’
‘He left just a little before six, I think.’
‘Just before six? Are you sure?’
‘I’m pretty sure.’
‘So that would mean he was here for about an hour? What did you discuss?’
‘Nothing in particular. Just life.’
‘That’s a fairly broad topic. Did you talk about the weather, money, anything specific?’
‘Well, he did mention the war…’
‘You mean the Pacific War?’
Sasagaki had read in the files that Kirihara had served in World War II. But Fumiyo shook her head.
‘No, some war going on now, overseas. He was saying it was sure to drive up the price of oil again.’
‘Oh, right, the Middle East.’ That would be the Yom Kippur War that had just kicked off at the beginning of the month.
‘He was saying it would wreck the economy. And we might not be able to get oil or anything made from it. The world would descend into a fight to see who had the most money and power – that’s what he said.’
Sasagaki nodded, watching Fumiyo’s downcast eyes as she spoke. It seemed to him that she was telling the truth. The question was why Kirihara had bothered to tell her that. Was he suggesting that he had money and power, so she should stick with him? According to the ledger at the pawnshop, Fumiyo Nishimoto had never once returned money to retrieve any collateral. She was destitute, and Sasagaki realised it was probably in the pawnshop’s best interests to keep her that way. There might have been an angle by which Kirihara benefited personally, too.
He glanced over at Yukiho. ‘And where was your daughter at that time?’
‘She was at the library. Weren’t you, honey?’
‘Yeah,’ Yukiho replied.
‘Is that when you borrowed that book?’ Sasagaki turned to ask the girl directly. ‘Do you go to the library often?’
‘Once or twice a week,’ she told him.
‘On your way home from school, maybe?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Do you have some set days you go, like, every Wednesday and Friday?’
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘I just go whenever I need something to read.’
‘And that doesn’t make you worry?’ he asked the mother. ‘I mean, don’t you want to know where she is when she comes home late from school?’
‘But she’s always home right after six,’ Fumiyo said.
‘Is that when you came home on Friday, too?’ Sasagaki asked Yukiho directly.
The girl nodded.
Sasagaki turned back to the mother. ‘And did you stay home after Mr Kirihara left?’
‘No, actually, I went out shopping. Marukaneya.’
Marukaneya was the name of a supermarket a couple of minutes away by foot.
‘Did you run into anyone you know there?’
Fumiyo thought for a moment before saying, ‘Yes, Mrs Kinoshita. She’s the mother of one of Yukiho’s classmates.’
‘Would you happen to have her number?’
‘Yes, I think so.’ Fumiyo picked up the address book sitting next to the phone and put it on the table. Her finger went to an entry marked Kinoshita. ‘That’s her.’
Sasagaki watched Koga jot the number down in his notebook before continuing.
‘Was your daughter already home when you left for the supermarket?’
‘No, she hadn’t come back yet.’
‘And what time did you return?’
‘A little after seven-thirty, I think.’
‘By which time your daughter had come home, correct?’
‘Yes, she had.’
‘And you didn’t leave the house after that?’
‘No.’ Fumiyo shook her head.
Sasagaki looked over at Koga to see if he had any more questions. Koga shook his head.
‘Right, well, I’m sorry to have taken so much of your time. I’m afraid we might be back again later with more questions,’ Sasagaki said, standing.
Fumiyo saw the two detectives to the door. Seeing that the daughter had remained behind, Sasagaki had one more question for her. ‘Mrs Nishimoto, I have a rather delicate question to ask, if you don’t mind.’
‘Yes?’ she said, her earlier unease returning to her face.
‘Did Mr Kirihara ever invite you out to dinner? Or did you ever meet outside of your home?’
Fumiyo’s eyes widened, but she firmly shook her head. ‘No. Not even once.’
‘I see. I was just wondering why Mr Kirihara had taken an interest in you and your household.’
‘I think he was just a sympathetic man, that’s all. Detective, am I a suspect?’