The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino [6]
“I told you, we’re done. Finished. Never again.”
“You can at least listen to what I have to say. Just let me in.”
“I won’t. Go away.”
“Hey, if you won’t let me in I’ll just wait here. Misato should be getting home anytime now. If I can’t talk to you, I’ll just have to talk to her.”
“She’s got nothing to do with this.”
“So let me in.”
“I’ll call the police.”
“Go ahead. What’s wrong with a man coming to visit his ex-wife? The police will take my side. You could at least let him in, ma’am, they’d say.”
Yasuko bit her lip. She hated to admit it, but he was probably right. She had called the police before, and they had never done the slightest thing to help her. That, and she didn’t want to make a scene. Most tenants had a guarantor backing up their rent, but she had moved in here without one. One troubling rumor and she could be kicked out onto the street.
“Okay. But you have to leave right away.”
“Sure, of course,” Togashi said, a light of victory in his eyes.
Yasuko undid the chain and opened the door. Togashi stepped in, taking off his shoes as he glanced around the room. It was a small apartment, just a kitchen and two other rooms. The room closest to the door was done in the Japanese style and was wide enough for six tatami mats on the floor, with a doorway on the right side leading into the kitchen. There was an even smaller Japanese-style room toward the back, and beyond that, a sliding door opened onto a small balcony.
“Little small, little old, but not a bad place,” Togashi commented as he sat down, tucking his legs underneath the low, heated kotatsu table in the middle of the room. “Hey, your kotatsu’s off,” he grumbled, fumbling around for the cord and switching it on.
“I know why you’re here.” Yasuko stood, looking down at him. “You can say whatever you like, but in the end, it’s all about money.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Togashi frowned, pulling a pack of Seven Stars from his jacket pocket. He lit one with a disposable lighter and started looking around more deliberately, noticing the lack of an ashtray for the first time. Getting up, he fished an empty can out of the trash and set it on the table. Sitting back down, he flicked his ashes into it.
“It means you’re only here to get money out of me. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Well, if that’s how you want it to be, then I’m fine with that.”
“You won’t get a single yen out of me.”
He snorted. “That so?”
“Leave. And don’t come back.”
Just then, the door to the apartment flew open and Misato came in, still dressed in her school uniform. She stopped for moment when she saw the extra pair of shoes in the doorway. Then she saw who was there and a look of abject fear came over her face. The badminton racket dropped from her hand and clattered on the floor.
“Hello, Misato. It’s been a while. You’ve grown,” Togashi said, his voice casual as could be.
Misato glanced at her mother, slipped out of her sneakers, and walked in without saying a word. She made a beeline for the room in the back and closed the sliding door behind her tightly.
Togashi waited a moment before speaking again. “I don’t know what you think this is all about, but all I want to do is make things good between us again. I don’t see what’s wrong in asking that.”
“Like I said, I’m not interested. Surely you didn’t think I would really say yes? You’re just using that as an excuse to bother me.”
That had to have hit the mark. But Togashi didn’t respond. Picking up the remote, he turned on the television. It was a cartoon show.
Yasuko sighed and went into the kitchen. She reached into the drawer by the sink and pulled out her wallet. Opening it, she took out two ten-thousand yen bills.
“Take it and leave,” she said, putting the money on top of the kotatsu.
“What’s this? I thought you weren’t giving me any money.”
“This is it. No more.”
“Well, I don’t need it.”
“You won’t leave until you get something. I’m sure you want more, but things aren’t easy for us either.”
Togashi looked at the bills, then up at Yasuko’s face. “Fine, I’ll leave. And I really didn’t come here