“I’m sorry. You’re angry, aren’t you?” Yasuko asked.
Ishigami hurriedly cleared his throat. “No, no … What did the detectives do, exactly?”
“Like I said, they heard that rumor, and so they came to the shop asking who this person—you—were, and the person at the shop gave them your name.”
“I see,” Ishigami said, still burning. “And where do you think the detectives heard that rumor?”
“I … I’m not sure.”
“Is that all they wanted to know?”
“I think so. That’s all I heard.”
Receiver gripped tightly in his hand, Ishigami nodded. This was no time for indecision. He didn’t know how it had happened, but it was clear the police were gradually setting their sights on him. He had to think of an appropriate response.
“Is your daughter there?” he asked.
“Misato? Yes, why?”
“Can I speak with her a moment?”
“Sure, of course.”
Ishigami closed his eyes. He focused all of his energies on divining what detective Kusanagi was planning, what action he would take, what he would do next. Yet, in the middle of his thoughts, there he found the face of Manabu Yukawa. What was the physicist’s role in all this?
“Hello?” came a young girl’s voice over the line.
“It’s Ishigami,” he told her. “Misato … you said you talked about the movie with your friend on the twelfth? Mika was her name, right?”
“Yes. And I told the detectives that, too.”
“Right, so you said. I was wondering about your other friend—Haruka, was it?”
“That’s right. Haruka Tamaoka.”
“You told her about the movie, too, right? Did you talk about it more than that one time?”
“No, just the once. Well, maybe a little.”
“You didn’t tell the detectives about her, right?”
“No, only about Mika. You told me I shouldn’t mention Haruka, so I didn’t.”
“That’s right. But I think it might be time to talk to them about her now.”
Ishigami glanced around the park, making sure no one was nearby, before giving Misato detailed instructions on what she was to do.
Gray smoke was rising from an empty plot next to the university tennis courts. Kusanagi arrived to find Yukawa in a lab coat with the sleeves rolled up, using a long stick to poke at something inside an oil drum. The smoke was coming from the drum.
Yukawa heard his footsteps approaching and looked up. “It seems I have a stalker.”
“Detectives like stalking suspicious people.”
“So I’m suspicious now, am I?” Yukawa asked, a glimmer in his eye. “Do I detect a bold new direction from our stoic hero? It’s just that kind of flexibility you’ll need to rise in this world, you know.”
“Whatever you say, Galileo,” said Kusanagi sarcastically. “Don’t you want to know why I suspect you?”
“I don’t need to ask. People always suspect scientists of being up to no good.” He gave the contents of the oil drum another prod.
“What are you burning there?”
“Nothing much. Some old reports and materials I no longer needed. Can’t really trust a shredder to do the job.” Yukawa picked up a nearby bucket and poured water into the drum. There was a sizzling sound, and the smoke became thicker and turned white.
“I’ve got some questions for you. As a detective, this time.”
“You really are onto something, aren’t you?” Yukawa checked to make sure that the fire was out; then, bucket in one hand, he began to walk away.
Kusanagi followed. “I dropped by Benten-tei after talking to you yesterday. Heard something very interesting there. Don’t you want to know?”
“Not really.”
“I’ll tell you anyway. Seems like your friend Ishigami has a thing for Yasuko Hanaoka.”
Yukawa stopped in the middle of a loping stride. He turned his head and shot a piercing look over his shoulder at the detective. “Someone at the shop tell you that?”
“Something like that. An interesting idea occurred to me while I was talking to you, and I wanted to check at Benten-tei to see if I was right. Theories and logic are all very well, but intuition’s one of the best weapons in a detective’s arsenal.”
“And?” Yukawa turned around to face him. “How does it affect your investigation now that you know he ‘had a thing’ for your prime suspect?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know what it means. I know you’ve been trying to hide the fact that you have suspected Ishigami of being Yasuko’s conspirator for some time now.”
“I don’t recall trying to hide anything.”
“Anyway, I found out why you suspected him without your help. We’re going to keep a close eye on him now. Which is why I’m here. I know we decided to part ways yesterday, but I’d like to offer you a peace treaty. In exchange for information from us, I want you to tell me what you’ve found. Not a bad deal, you have to agree.”
“You overestimate my value. I haven’t found out anything. It’s all conjecture.”
“Then tell me what you’re conjecturing,” Kusanagi said, staring at his friend, holding his gaze.
Yukawa looked away first and then resumed walking. “Back to the lab first.”
Back in Laboratory 13, Kusanagi sat down at a table with some mysterious scorch marks on it. Yukawa placed two mugs on the tabletop. It would have been hard to say which mug was filthier.
The physicist mixed some coffee, then followed it with an immediate question. “If Ishigami was a conspirator, what role do you think he played?”
“What, I have to talk first?”
“You’re the one who offered the peace treaty.” Yukawa sat down in a chair, absentmindedly stirring his drink.
“Fine. I haven’t told my boss about Ishigami at all, so this is just my thinking—but if the murder did take place somewhere other than our crime scene, Ishigami must’ve carried the body.”
“Oh? But I thought you were against the whole body transportation scenario.”
“I said all bets were off if she had an accomplice. I still think it was probably Yasuko Hanaoka that did the deed. She might have had help from Ishigami, but she was definitely there.”
“You sound pretty sure of yourself.”
“Well, if Ishigami was the one who killed him and carried the body, he’s no conspirator. That would make him the murderer, probably working alone. No matter how big a crush he had on her, I can’t imagine he’d go that far. Also, if he killed Togashi on his own and then Yasuko turned him in, it would all be over now. So she must have borne some of the risk, too.”
“What if Ishigami killed him, but they both helped dispose of the body?”
“I won’t say that’s not a possibility, but the likelihood is pretty low. Yasuko Hanaoka’s movie theater alibi is shaky, but her alibi after that is pretty sound. If she timed it just right, she could have committed the murder and still made her alibi, but she wouldn’t have had time to do that and dispose of a body.”
“What part of her alibi exactly have you not been able to confirm?”
“The time between 7:00 and 9:10 when she says she was watching a movie. The ramen shop and the karaoke place after that all checked out. That, and she did go into the movie theater at least once. We found half of a ticket stub there with her and her daughter’s fingerprints.”
“So you think it was during that two hours and ten minutes that she and Ishigami murdered her ex-husband?”
“They might also have disposed of the body then. But, considering travel time, she must’ve left the scene before Ishigami did.”
“And where did the murder take place?”
“I don’t know that. Except it was probably Yasuko who called Togashi there.”