The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino [49]
“Is that why you wanted to go to Benten-tei, too?”
“Honestly, yes. I wanted to see this suspect for myself. And I gotta say, now that I have, I don’t think she’s capable of killing someone.”
Ishigami was about to tell him that he agreed, but he held back. Instead, he said, “Well, they say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”
“True enough. So, what do you say? How would you answer if the police asked you to spy for them?”
Ishigami shook his head. “Honestly, I’d rather not get involved. I’m not in the habit of prying into other people’s lives, and besides, I barely have the time. It might not look it, but I’m rather a busy man.”
“So I thought. Look, I’ll just tell Kusanagi what you said. That should put an end to the whole idea. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable at all.”
“No, not a bit.”
They were approaching Shin-Ohashi Bridge. They could already see the homeless people’s shanties along the riverside.
“So the murder happened on March tenth, I think he said,” Yukawa said. “Kusanagi mentioned you came home kind of early that day?”
“Yeah. I didn’t have anything scheduled that night. I think I got back around seven—I believe that’s what I told him.”
“After which you holed up in your room, doing battle with those mathematical problems of yours?”
“Something like that.”
As he talked, Ishigami wondered if Yukawa was actually trying to see if he had an alibi. If that was the case, then he already suspected Ishigami of being involved.
“Which reminds me, I have no idea if you have any other hobbies. I mean something other than math.”
Ishigami snorted. “Hobbies? Not really. Math is about all I do.”
“What you do to blow off steam, then? Do you like going for drives?” Yukawa pantomimed gripping a steering wheel.
“No, no. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. I don’t own a car.”
“But you have a driver’s license?”
“Is that a surprise?”
“Not particularly. You’re not so busy that you couldn’t find the time to go to driving school, are you?”
“I got it right after I found out I wasn’t getting a university job. I figured it might be of help in finding work. Of course, it ended up not helping at all,” Ishigami said with a sidelong glance at Yukawa. “What, are you trying to figure out whether I could drive a car?”
Yukawa blinked. “No. Why would I?”
“Given your questions, I just thought you might be.”
“Well I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just wondering if you like to go for drives. Or, more to the point, if you had anything you like to discuss other than mathematics once in a while.”
“Other than mathematics and murder mysteries, you mean.”
Yukawa laughed. “Well said.”
They passed beneath Shin-Ohashi Bridge. The man with gray hair pulled into a ponytail was boiling something in a pot over a makeshift burner. He had a small oil can sitting next to him. A few of the other homeless were out and about.
As they made their way up the stairs by the bridge, Yukawa turned to Ishigami and said, “Well, I’d better be getting back home. Sorry for troubling you with the whole investigation thing.”
“Just apologize to Detective Kusanagi for me. I’m sorry I couldn’t help him.”
“I don’t think there’s any need to apologize. And, I hope you don’t mind if I drop in again?”
“No, I don’t mind.”
“Great. We can drink sake and talk math.”
“You mean talk math and murder.”
Yukawa shrugged and wrinkled his brow. “Maybe so. Though I did come up with a new problem for you. Maybe something you can think about in your spare time?”
“That being?”
“Which is harder: devising an unsolvable problem, or solving that problem? And it’s not an empty question. Unlike the Clay Mathematics Institute prize people, I guarantee this puzzle has an answer. Interesting, no?”
“Very interesting,” Ishigami said, trying to read Yukawa’s expression. “I’ll think about it.”
Yukawa nodded, then turned and walked back toward the main road.
NINE
They had eaten the last of the shrimp, and the wine bottle