The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino [45]
“I see. That strikes me as an important point.”
“And then there’s the matter of the bicycle. We could assume whoever left it there did so on purpose to make us think that the murder took place on the riverbank, but then there would have been no reason to go to the effort to put the victim’s fingerprints on it. Especially since they went to the trouble of burning fingertips off the body.”
“The bicycle is a mystery. For a number of reasons.” Yukawa tapped his fingers on the tabletop like he was playing the piano. Then he stopped and said, “Either way, isn’t it better to assume that a man probably did it?”
“That’s what most people at the department think. But I still think Ms. A was involved.”
“So Ms. A had a male accomplice?”
“We’re looking into people connected to her now. She used to be a hostess at a nightclub, after all. There have to be some men in her life.”
“An interesting assumption. I can hear the uproar from hostesses across the country already,” Yukawa said with a grin. He took a swallow of beer, then, a serious look returning to his face, asked to see the illustration again.
Kusanagi handed him the artist’s depiction of the victim. It was a rendering of Togashi as he might have appeared dressed in the clothes they’d found near the crime scene.
Yukawa stared at it intently. “Why did the killer feel the need to strip the body, I wonder?” he muttered.
“To help hide the victim’s identity. Same reason he crushed the face and got rid of the fingerprints.”
“Then why didn’t he take the clothes with him when he left? It’s only because he tried to burn them and failed that you were able to come up with that illustration there.”
“Well, he was probably in a hurry. Or he made a mistake.”
“I agree that you can tell someone’s identity from their wallet or driver’s license, but can you really identify someone from their clothes or shoes? It seems like the risk involved in taking the time to take off and burn his clothes would outweigh any benefits. Wouldn’t the killer want to get away as quick as he could?”
“What are you driving at? You think there’s another reason they stripped him?”
“I can’t say for sure. But if there was, then until you figure out that reason, you won’t be able to pin down your killer.” Yukawa traced a large question mark on the illustration with his fingertip.
* * *
The performance of the junior-year group 2 math class on the year-end exams was appalling. And group 2 wasn’t the only sad story; the entire junior class had done poorly. To Ishigami it seemed like the students were getting dumber by the year.
After he’d passed out the answers, the math teacher put up a schedule for make-up exams. The school had set a lowest acceptable score for each subject, and those students who didn’t reach it wouldn’t go on to the next grade. Of course, they prevented all but the most hopeless cases from failing and being held back a year by making them take as many make-up exams as they needed to pass.
Shouts of protest rose from the class when they saw the grades he’d given them. Ishigami ignored the outcry as usual, but one comment rose above the noise and reached his ears.
“Hey, Teach, aren’t there universities that don’t require a math test to get in?” one of the students was saying. “Why should us guys who are going to those schools have to pass math?”
Ishigami looked in the direction of the student, a boy named Morioka. He was leaning back in his chair, scratching his head and looking around at the other students for support. He was a short kid, but he filled the role of class crime boss—even Ishigami, who didn’t have this bunch for homeroom, knew his reputation. The boy already had a long history of warnings for riding to school on a motorbike, which was strictly forbidden.
“Are you going to art school, Morioka?” Ishigami asked.
“Well, I mean … if I do go to university, it’ll be one without a math exam for sure. Not that I plan on going. Besides, I’m not taking the optional math class next year,