With Kusanagi following he ambled over to the supermarket, where he bought two coffees out of one of the vending machines. He passed one to the detective, and then, carelessly straddling a nearby parked bicycle, he began to sip his own drink.
Kusanagi remained standing. He looked around as he opened the top on his can. “You shouldn’t sit on other people’s bicycles like that. What if the owner comes back?”
“She won’t. Not for some time.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because the owner of this bicycle left it here, then went into the subway station. Even if she was only headed to the next station over, it would take her at least thirty minutes to get there, do whatever it was she was going to do, and then come back.”
Kusanagi took a sip of his coffee and frowned. “That’s what you were doing while you sat there, eating your ice cream?”
“Watching people is a bit of a hobby of mine. It’s quite fascinating, really.”
“It’s good to have a hobby, but I’d rather have answers. Why are you here? And don’t even try telling me this has nothing to do with my investigation.”
Yukawa twisted his body around the seat, examining the back fender.
“Not many people bother to write their names on their bicycles anymore. I suppose that these days they don’t want strangers knowing who they are. But it wasn’t that long ago that everyone would write their names on their bicycles. It’s interesting how customs change with the times.”
Now Kusanagi understood. “This isn’t the first time we’ve chatted about bicycles, is it.”
Yukawa nodded. “I believe you told me that it was very unlikely that the bicycle had been left near the scene of the crime on purpose.”
“Not exactly. What I said was, there wasn’t any point in deliberately leaving it there. If the killer was going to put the victim’s fingerprints on the bicycle, then why go to the trouble of burning fingerprints off the corpse itself? After all, those prints on the bicycle were what led us to the man’s identity.”
“Fascinating. But tell me, what if there hadn’t been any fingerprints on the bicycle? Would that have kept you from being able to identify the body?”
Kusanagi had to think for a full ten seconds before answering. It was a question he hadn’t considered before.
“No, it wouldn’t,” he replied at last. “We used the fingerprints to match the body to the man who disappeared from the rented room, but we didn’t need the fingerprints to do that. I think I told you we did a DNA analysis as well.”
“You did. In other words, burning the victim’s fingerprints off was ultimately meaningless. But, what if our murderer knew that from the start?”
“You mean, he burned off the fingerprints even though he knew doing so would be futile?”
“Oh, I’m sure he had a reason for doing what he did. Just, that reason wasn’t to hide the identity of the body. What if he did it to suggest that the bicycle he planted nearby wasn’t a plant at all?”
Kusanagi blinked, momentarily at a loss for words. “So what you’re trying to say is that it was a plant, placed there to confuse us somehow?”
“Yes. It’s the somehow I haven’t figured out yet,” Yukawa said, dismounting from the bicycle. “I’m sure he wanted us to think that the victim got there on that bicycle by himself. Why would he want us to think that?”
“To hide the fact that the victim couldn’t have gotten there by himself,” Kusanagi said. “Because he was already dead when the killer carried him there. That’s what the captain thinks.”
“And you disagree with that theory, yes? I assume because your lead suspect Yasuko Hanaoka doesn’t have a driver’s license.”
“Well, all bets on that are off if she had an accomplice.”
“Right, but let’s focus on the time that bicycle was stolen. I heard it was taken sometime between eleven in the morning and ten at night, and I wondered how you were able to pinpoint the time it was stolen so precisely.”
“Because that’s what the bicycle’s owner told us. It’s not rocket science.”
“Indeed,” Yukawa said, gesturing emphatically with his can of coffee. “And how were you able to find out that it was her bicycle so quickly?”
“That’s not rocket science either. She reported it stolen. All we had to do was compare the registration number on the bike to the one on the police report she filed.”
Yukawa groaned at his response. Kusanagi could see his hard stare, even behind his sunglasses. “What is it? What’s bothering you now?”
“Do you know where the bicycle was when it was stolen?”
“Of course I do. I was the one who questioned the owner.”
“Then, could you take me there? It’s around here, isn’t it?”
Kusanagi felt the intensity of Yukawa’s gaze. He was about to ask, “Why bother?” but decided against it. The physicist’s eyes had that gleam they got whenever he was close to formulating a hypothesis.
“It’s over this way,” Kusanagi said, and he headed for the site.
The place was only fifty meters or so from where they had been drinking their coffee. Kusanagi stood in front of a row of bicycles.
“She said that she had it chained to the railing along the sidewalk, here.”
“The thief cut the chain?”
“Seems likely.”
“So he had bolt cutters with him…” Yukawa muttered, glancing down the road. “There’s an awful lot of bicycles here without chains. Why would he steal one that was chained?”
“How should I know? Maybe he liked that bike.”
“Liked it?” Yukawa said to himself. “What did he like about it?”
“If you’re trying to say something, why not spit it out?” Kusanagi growled.
“As you know, I came here yesterday as well. And like today, I stood here, observing. Bicycles are left here all day long—lots of them. Some are locked, and some left so blatantly unlocked I think the owners half want them to get stolen. Out of all these bicycles, why did our murderer choose that one?”
“We don’t know it was the murderer who took the bike.”
“Very well. Let’s stick with the original theory. Say it was the victim himself who stole it. Either way, why choose that one?”
Kusanagi shook his head. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at. It was an average bike, nothing remarkable about it at all. He probably just picked one at random.”
“Random? I think not.” Yukawa waved a finger at the detective. “Let me guess: the bicycle was brand-new, or practically brand-new. Well? Am I right?”
Taken aback, Kusanagi reflected on his discussion with the bicycle’s owner. “Yeah, it was,” he replied after a moment. “Now that you mention it, she did say she’d only bought it a month ago.”
Yukawa nodded, a satisfied look on his face. “As I expected. The owner of a brand-new bicycle with an expensive chain on it is a good deal more likely to file a report with the police if it’s stolen. Our thief expected this, and that’s why he brought the bolt cutters.”
“You mean he went for a new bike on purpose?”
“Indeed.”
“Why?”
“There can be only one reason. The criminal wanted the bicycle owner to file a report. Somehow, having a police report on file claiming the bicycle was stolen worked in our criminal’s favor. Probably because it would lead the investigation down the wrong path.”
“So you mean to say that even though we think the bicycle was stolen between eleven in the morning and ten at night, we’re wrong? But how would the thief know what the bicycle’s owner was going to say?”
“He might not know what they would say about the time of the theft, but he could be sure they would at least file a report that the bicycle had been stolen from Shinozaki Station.”