The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino [56]
And something else had been tugging at Kusanagi’s brain: the two unexpected visitors he had seen while he was on stakeout outside Benten-tei. Manabu Yukawa and the math teacher who lived next door to Yasuko Hanaoka.
TEN
A little after six P.M., a green Mercedes pulled into the underground parking lot. Kusanagi had confirmed it was Kuniaki Kudo’s car earlier that day. The detective stood up from his seat at the coffee shop across the street from the lot and fished a few yen out of his wallet to cover the two coffees he’d bought. The second cup was still on the table, almost full.
Kusanagi jogged across the street and into the apartment block’s parking complex. The building had entrances on the first floor and the basement floor, both fitted with an autolock system. People who parked their cars here always used the more-convenient basement entrance. Kusanagi wanted to catch Kudo before he disappeared inside the block of apartments. The detective wanted to avoid having to call up to Kudo’s apartment via the intercom system. That would give Kudo time to prepare himself.
Luckily, Kusanagi got to the entrance first. He was standing off to the side, with one hand against the wall, catching his breath, when Kudo came up. Kudo, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, walked past him without a pause.
Kudo had his key out and was just putting it into the door when Kusanagi called out from behind. “Excuse me, Mr. Kudo?”
Kudo straightened up and pulled out the key. He turned around and took in the detective with a glance, sizing him up. A frown spread across Kudo’s face. “Yes?”
Kusanagi flashed his badge at him. “Sorry to bother you like this. I’m with the police. I was wondering if you could help me.”
“The police … you’re a detective?” Kudo lowered his voice, his eyes narrowing.
Kusanagi nodded. “Yes. I was hoping I could talk to you about Ms. Yasuko Hanaoka?”
Kusanagi was watching closely to see how Kudo would react when he heard Yasuko’s name. Kudo should know about the case, and if he looked unduly surprised or startled, then Kusanagi would know something was fishy. Kudo frowned and nodded grimly. “Very well. Do you want to come up to my place? Or is a café better?”
“Your apartment would be just fine, thanks.”
“Sure thing. It’s a little messy…”
Not so much messy as desolate, Kusanagi thought when they got up to the apartment. There was hardly any furniture. Just two plush chairs, one of them large enough to seat two. Kudo waved Kusanagi toward it.
“Can I get you something to drink? Tea?” Kudo asked without taking off his suit jacket.
“No thank you. I won’t be long.”
“All right,” Kudo said, but he went into the kitchen anyway and brought out two glasses and a plastic bottle of cold oolong tea.
“Do you have any family?” Kusanagi asked suddenly.
“My wife passed away last year. I have a son, but, for various reasons, my parents are taking care of him at their house,” Kudo explained, speaking evenly.
“I see. So you live alone?”
“Pretty much, yes,” Kudo said, his expression softening. He poured the tea into the two glasses and placed one in front of Kusanagi. “Is … this about Mr. Togashi?”
Kusanagi had been reaching for the glass, but now he pulled his hand back. If Kudo wanted to get to the heart of the matter, there was no point wasting time on pleasantries.
“That’s right. As you know, Yasuko Hanaoka’s ex-husband was murdered.”
“She had nothing to do with it.”
“That so?”
“Of course. They broke up a while ago, and they never saw each other. Why would she kill him?”
“As it happens, I’m inclined to agree with you, for the most part.”
“For the most part?”
“There are many couples in the world, and a lot of divorces, and none of them fall apart exactly the same way. If every unhappy couple could just break it off cleanly, become total strangers in the space of a day and never see each other again, well, then we wouldn’t have stalkers. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Often one party breaks