“That’s good news,” Masayo said. A second later, she shot a suspicious look Kaga’s way.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“You said, ‘thanks to me.’ That must mean that our spinning tops did play a part in the murder.”
“No, that’s not the case.” Kaga made an apologetic gesture.
“Well then, please tell me what the case is. Be straight with me. After you were here, I read up on the Kodenmacho murder. The papers said that the woman was strangled. That’s when I realized why you were so keen to find out who’d been buying tops here.”
“Oh, and why might that be?” Kaga was looking grave.
“Because of the string, of course. The top was neither here nor there; the important thing was the string, wasn’t it? You can strangle someone with string.” Masayo was jabbing her finger at Kaga’s chest.
It wasn’t actually Masayo who had come up with the idea. Misaki, the part-time clerk, suggested it.
Kaga recoiled slightly, a manufactured expression of surprise on his face.
“Darn it, how did you figure that one out?”
“You hardly need to be a genius to do so. Now, since one of our tops played a part in a murder case—”
“You’re wrong there, quite wrong. You sold your top on the twelfth, right? The murder, however, took place on the tenth. I’m afraid your theory doesn’t pan out.”
Masayo gurgled something incoherent.
Misaki had actually pointed out the same thing. Despite the police’s interest in the store’s spinning tops, the time frame meant that it couldn’t have been used as the murder weapon.
“Using forensic science, we can identify the exact kind of string used to commit the murder. The various tops on the market each have different types of string. And it turns out there’s a lot of different types of string out there.”
At that point, Kaga caught Masayo’s eye. He shot a sheepish grin in her direction. “Anyway, what am I doing lecturing you about string? Talk about preaching to the choir.”
“With traditional string, there’s braided, woven, twisted, and knitted string, and then there’s... let me see...” Half talking to herself, Masayo counted out the different types on her fingers.
“The string on the spinning tops you sell is the braided variety, right?”
“Right. It’s made by braiding multiple fibers together. It’s actually made by machine rather than handmade, but they’re very fussy about the materials used and whether they’re a good match with the top itself. It’s not like any old string will do, you know.”
“I’m sure it won’t,” Kaga agreed. “Anyway, braided string was not used to commit the murder.”
“No? Then I really don’t understand what’s going on. If you knew that, then why bother investigating our tops in the first place? Or didn’t you know what kind of string had been used when you were here last?”
“No, I already knew it wasn’t braided string.”
“More and more mysterious. Well, why, then?” Masayo gave Kaga a hard stare.
Kaga smiled and looked around the shop.
“I was actually transferred here quite recently. I’m a newcomer, still familiarizing myself with the neighborhood.”
“Oh?” Masayo was confused.
“I’m looking around, visiting all sorts of places, trying to get to know the neighborhood as fast as I can. I’ve discovered that a lot of premodern Tokyo culture still survives here; maybe ‘Japanese culture’ is a better word. I imagine you picked this area for your store here because of that?”
“You’re right. I chose this neighborhood because of its special character.”
“This is probably the only district in Tokyo where you can get wooden spinning tops outside of the New Year’s holidays. Your store’s not the only place, either. I found another shop that sells tops: a toy shop on Ningyocho Boulevard.”
“I know the place you mean. They’d be sure to have them.”
“They sell a different line of tops with a different variety of string. The tops there all come with twisted string.”
“Twisted string. Really?”
Masayo called up a mental picture of string with multiple strands twisted together like rope.
“Are you telling me it was twisted string that was used in the murder?”
Kaga didn’t reply. He just smiled evasively and shrugged his shoulders.
“Top string exists for the purpose of spinning tops, not to kill people with. Anyway, I’ve got to be going.”
Kaga spun on his heel and strode briskly out of the shop.
4
When Reiko got back to the apartment, she dumped her shopping bags onto the sofa. Before doing anything else, she opened one of them and pulled out a dark blue box. She took the lid off the box and tore off the white tissue paper wrapping to reveal a new handbag. She took it out of the box and headed for the bathroom. She had already spent ages looking at herself holding the thing in the mirror at the store, but she wanted just one more look.
Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, she experimented with different ways of holding the bag and different poses. Which one made her look the best, and would make other women jealous?
Katsuya hadn’t said anything more about the late credit card payment, so she assumed he’d sorted it all out. To her, that was reason enough to go on a spree. She bought a dress and a load of cosmetics in addition to the bag. She knew that she’d probably spent more than she should, but everything would be fine.
Satisfied that the bag was up to its task, she went back to the living room. She was just about to try on the dress when the doorbell rang.
Probably a delivery, she thought. It was a little after six p.m. Her parents had taken Shota to the zoo, and Reiko was supposed to pick him up from their place at seven.
She lifted the intercom receiver.
“Yes?”
“Sorry to come by unannounced. It’s Detective Kaga. We met a few days ago.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I was here with another detective, Detective Uesugi.”
“Oh yes.”
“Do you have a moment? I’m sorry, but there’s something I need to ask you.”
“Right now?”
“Yes, it’s nothing terribly major. It won’t take long. Five minutes should be more than enough.”
Reiko gave an irritated sigh. He was a detective, so she couldn’t very well send him packing. She wondered what sort of mess Yosaku had gone and got mixed up in.
“Okay then, come on up,” she said.
The doorbell rang while she was still busy hiding the evidence of her shopping spree.
When she opened the door, Kaga was standing there, holding out a white plastic bag.
“They’re ningyo-yaki, half of them with sweet bean paste, half without. The pastry shop where I got them has a very good reputation.”
“Thank you very much.”
Reiko’s parents both had a sweet tooth. The cakes would make the perfect present for them.
She led Kaga into the living room, then slipped into the kitchen. Taking a big plastic bottle of oolong tea out of the refrigerator, she poured out a couple of glasses.
“Where’s your little boy today?” Kaga asked.
“At the zoo with my mom and dad.”
“Sounds nice.”
When she came out of the kitchen carrying the glasses on a tray, she found Kaga standing in the living room, with the top spinning furiously at his feet.
“Wow, that’s amazing,” Reiko said. “Detective Kaga, you really know what you’re doing.”
Kaga turned and smiled. “Oh, hardly.”
“Come off it. It’s spinning perfectly. Neither my husband nor my father-in-law could get the thing to work well. They were hopeless. With my husband, the thing never even got going; it just toppled right over.”