The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino [25]
Yukawa frowned and waved his hand. “Don’t call me that. I don’t help out because I enjoy it, you know. I just couldn’t bear listening to Detective Kusanagi’s faulty attempts at reasoning on a certain occasion, and I made the mistake of correcting him. I’d be wary of spending too much time with him, if I were you. You might catch whatever he has that’s hardened his brain into a rock.”
Kishitani guffawed, earning him a glare from his superior.
“You laugh too much,” Kusanagi grumbled. “Besides,” he said, turning to Yukawa, “you know you enjoy trying to solve our cases.”
“What’s there to enjoy? Do you know how much valuable research time I’ve squandered on your account? I certainly hope you haven’t brought me another of your annoying, so-called ‘unsolvable’ puzzles today?”
“No, you’re off the hook for now. We just happened to be in the area, so we dropped in.”
“Ah, that’s a relief.” Yukawa walked over to a nearby sink, filled a kettle with water, and set it on a gas burner—the start of his usual instant coffee ritual. “So, did you resolve the murder along the Old Edogawa River?” he asked, measuring coffee powder into a cup.
“How did you know we were working on that case?”
“Simple deduction. It was on the news the same night you took a call while in my lab. And from the look on your face, I would further deduce that the investigation isn’t going so well.”
Kusanagi gestured dismissively. “Oh, I wouldn’t say it’s going all that badly. We have a few suspects now. It’s just getting started.”
“Oh? Suspects?” Yukawa asked over his shoulder, not sounding particularly interested.
“Actually,” Kishitani chipped in, “I don’t think we’re heading in the right direction, myself.”
Yukawa lifted an eyebrow at him. “You object to the direction the investigation is taking?”
“Well, I wouldn’t call it an objection…”
“I’d prefer you didn’t call it anything,” Kusanagi said with a scowl.
“Sorry, sir.”
“Why apologize?” Yukawa asked, clearly starting to enjoy himself. “You follow orders, yet you have your own opinion—sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Proper, even. Without people to question the status quo, how can we ever hope to arrive at truly rational decisions?”
“Nah, that’s not why he’s against the investigation,” Kusanagi said with a sigh. “He just wants to be a knight in shining armor.”
“What? That’s not why—” Kishitani began.
“It’s okay, you can admit it. You sympathize with the single mother and her daughter. Truth be told, I wish they weren’t suspects myself.”
“Sounds complicated,” Yukawa said, smirking as watched the two detectives’ faces.
“Nothing complicated about it. The man who was killed used to be married, and apparently he’d been searching for his ex-wife just before it happened. So, we had to check out her alibi, that’s all.”
“And she has an alibi?”
“That’s the rub.” Kusanagi scratched his head.
“Oh? You’re not sounding so sure yourself, anymore,” Yukawa laughed as he headed for the kettle. Steam was rising from its spout. “Can I interest you gentlemen in some coffee?”
“Please,” Kishitani said, nodding eagerly.
“I’ll pass,” Kusanagi frowned. “See, there’s something about the alibi that doesn’t feel right.”
“Well, I don’t think they’re lying.”
“On the basis of what? We haven’t finished checking out their story yet.”
“But didn’t you just tell the chief that it was impossible to confirm alibis at ramen shops and movie theaters?”
“I didn’t say it was impossible. I just said it was almost impossible.”
“Ah,” Yukawa joined in as he arrived with two coffees in hand. “So these women, the suspects, claim they were seeing a movie at the time of the crime?” He handed one of the cups to Kishitani.
“Thanks,” Kishitani said, nodding. Then his eyes went wide as he noticed the layers of grime on the cup’s rim. Kusanagi stifled a laugh.
“If the movie’s their alibi, that would seem hard to corroborate.” Yukawa seated himself in a chair.
“But they went out to karaoke afterward. And