Kaga stared at Koki.
“Razor-sharp instincts and brilliant deductive powers.”
“You’re making fun of me now.”
Kaga, his expression serious again, drank down the rest of his coffee.
“We like to explore all the possibilities. Part of our team is exploring that line of inquiry.”
“But what about you, Detective Kaga? Do you suspect my father?”
“Me? Pffff. I don’t really know. Besides, it hardly matters. The job of a precinct detective like me is to support the Metropolitan Police detectives.” Kaga looked at his watch. “It’s getting late. I’d like to stay longer, but I have another appointment. Sorry.”
He picked up the bill and rose to his feet.
“I should pay for this,” said Koki, reaching for the bill.
“You’re still mastering your craft. You need to save your money.” Clutching the bill, Kaga headed for the counter.
4
Koki ducked his head when he saw Naohiro emerge from the building’s lobby. Naohiro didn’t so much as glance at the fast food joint on the far side of the street where Koki was sitting. He hailed a cab and was driven away, even though his normal routine was to take the train home.
A few minutes later, a young woman in a white blouse came out of the same building. This was who Koki had been waiting for. He sprang to his feet, smacking one of his shins hard against the leg of the table.
He left the restaurant and hurried after the woman. She appeared to be headed for the subway. Thank goodness she’s alone, thought Koki.
Koki had known one of his father’s employees since he was a boy. Koki had called the man last night and asked a few questions about what his father had been up to recently. His friend proved very cagey. In the end, Koki lost his temper and just asked straight out if it was true about his father having a mistress.
“No, that’s not true. That’s just gossip. The girl’s young and pretty, so everyone makes her out to be his mistress as a joke. You shouldn’t take it seriously.”
Koki wasn’t going to let his friend be so evasive.
“Tell me exactly what’s going on. I’ll decide if it’s gossip or not,” he declared.
After making Koki promise not to reveal where he’d gotten the information, his friend had told him that the woman’s name was Yuri Miyamoto and that she’d been working as Naohiro’s private secretary since April.
Yuri Miyamoto had to be the woman Kaga had shown him a photograph of. Koki was sure of it.
And now there she was — a tall woman with excellent posture, striding briskly down the street. She took such long strides that Koki had to break into a half run to catch up with her.
When he was right behind her, he brought his breathing under control, then called her name: “Miss Miyamoto?”
She stopped walking and spun around, one hand clutching the strap of her shoulder bag. Her eyes widened at the sight of Koki.
He bowed slightly.
“Sorry to surprise you like this. I’m the son of Naohiro Kiyose. My name’s Koki.”
She blinked a few times and said, “So?”
“I need to talk to you. It will only take ten minutes. Can you spare the time?”
Her uncertainty was obvious from the way her eyes darted from side to side. Getting flustered when someone you didn’t know waylaid you was only natural. Koki waited for her to regain her composure.
She didn’t need long.
“All right, let’s go.” She was looking right into his eyes.
“Mr. Kiyose,” a voice called out from behind him just as he was turning down Amazake Alley. When Naohiro turned around, he saw Detective Kaga hurrying toward him.
“Fancy bumping into you. Or maybe it’s not a coincidence after all?”
Kaga scratched his head and smiled wryly. “Your recent visits to Nihonbashi are the talk of the task force.”
“Am I under surveillance?”
“Let’s not get melodramatic. It’s important for the investigation that we keep tabs on everybody.”
Naohiro shrugged and stuck out his lower lip.
“What do you want with me, then?”
“I have a few questions. The first is, why do you keep coming to Nihonbashi like this?”
“Do I have to answer?”
“Is there a reason you don’t want to tell me?” Kaga shot back with a smile.
Naohiro snorted, then said, “You okay to walk and talk?”
“Exactly what I hoped to do. This is a nice neighborhood for a walk.”
The two men set off side by side. It was evening, and it had cooled down a little. A wind chime tinkled somewhere in the distance.
Naohiro paused in front of the window of a shamisen shop.
“According to my son, Mineko had a special reason for living around here. I want to know what that reason was. That’s why I keep coming here. I’ve got this notion that if I walk around enough, I might be able to figure out what it was. My son tells me it’s none of my business, though.”
Naohiro’s face, which was reflected in the shop window, was etched with grief.
“Mr. Kiyose, why did you agree to divorce your wife?”
Naohiro tottered as if his knees had buckled.
“Do we have to discuss that?”
“It didn’t have anything to do with Yuri Miyamoto, did it? She wasn’t the reason you wanted a divorce. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“That now, when it’s too late, you’ve realized how much you loved Mineko Mitsui... your wife. That’s why you’re doing everything you can to learn something about her life in this neighborhood. Am I right?”
Naohiro slowly shook his head.
“My feelings for Mineko never changed. There’s nothing for me to ‘realize’ about them. Anyway, getting divorced was the right thing to do, the right choice for both of us. It’s because I want to believe that, that I want to find out what Mineko had discovered here in Nihonbashi that made her want a divorce.”
Kaga thought for a moment, then pulled a cell phone out of his pocket.
“Have you got any plans for tonight, Mr. Kiyose?”
“Tonight? No.”
“Then why don’t we grab something to eat? I’d like to talk to you about your wife.”
Koki took Yuri Miyamoto to a café and steered her to a table in the back corner where no one could overhear them.
“I’ll get right to the point,” he said, keeping his voice low. “What’s your relationship with my father?”
“I’m his secretary,” said Yuri Miyamoto, staring into her latte.
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Koki leaned over the table toward her. “I’m asking you whether you have a personal relationship with him.”
Yuri Miyamoto looked up.
“That’s private. I’m not obliged to tell you anything.”
Koki wasn’t expecting her to counterattack. He’d taken it for granted that she would tell him what he wanted to know.
“I’m his son. I think I have a right to know about his relationships with women.”
“If that’s what you think, perhaps you should ask him directly.”
“He wouldn’t tell me the truth. That’s why I’m asking you.”
“All the more reason for me not to talk to you. I’m sure President Kiyose has his own perspective, and mine is in line with his.”
Koki’s left leg started jiggling beneath the table. It happened when he got annoyed. Yuri Miyamoto sat there, completely indifferent, drinking her latte with blank-faced detachment.