The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino [64]
“He might not know what they would say about the time of the theft, but he could be sure they would at least file a report that the bicycle had been stolen from Shinozaki Station.”
Kusanagi gulped and stared at the physicist. “You’re saying it was a ploy to draw our attention to Shinozaki?”
“That’s one possibility.”
“We did spend a lot of time and manpower questioning people around the station here. If your theory’s right, that was all wasted time.”
“Not a waste, per se. After all, the bicycle was stolen from here. But I don’t think this case is simple enough that knowing that fact will do you any good at all. No, our little caper was constructed far more craftily and with greater precision than that.”
Yukawa turned abruptly and began to walk away.
“Hey—” Kusanagi hurried after him. “Where are you going now?”
“Home. Where else?”
“Wait a second.” The detective grabbed Yukawa by the shoulder. “There is one more question I wanted to ask you. Why are you so interested in this case?”
“Was I not supposed to be interested?”
“That’s not an answer.”
Yukawa shrugged Kusanagi’s hand off his shoulder. “Am I a suspect?”
“A suspect? Hardly.”
“Then I can do as I please, can’t I? I’m certainly not trying to obstruct your investigation.”
“Okay, then let me be frank. You mentioned my name to the mathematician living next to Yasuko Hanaoka, didn’t you? And you lied to him. You told him I wanted his help with the investigation. I think I have the right to ask what that was all about.”
Yukawa turned to face Kusanagi, his body suddenly tense, and behind his sunglasses, he stared at the detective coldly. “You went to talk to him?”
“I did. Because you wouldn’t tell me anything.”
“What did he say?”
“Now just hold on a minute. I’m the one asking the questions here. What was that all about? Do you think the mathematician is involved?”
Yukawa turned away and resumed walking toward the station.
“Hey, wait—” Kusanagi called to his back.
Yukawa stopped and peered back over his shoulder. “Now it’s my turn to be frank. I’m afraid I can’t give you my full cooperation with this case. I’m looking into it for personal reasons. So don’t expect me to be of much help.”
“Then don’t expect me to give you any more information.”
Yukawa’s eyes dropped to the pavement, then he nodded. “Fair enough. We’ll just each have to go it alone this time around.” He began walking again.
Kusanagi sensed a rare determination in Yukawa’s gait, and he refrained from calling after him again.
After pausing for a cigarette, the detective headed for the station himself. He had decided to delay his departure so he wouldn’t end up on the same train as Yukawa. For reasons Kusanagi couldn’t fathom, his friend had some personal connection to this case and seemed to be determined to solve it on his own terms. Kusanagi didn’t want to do anything to distract him.
What is Yukawa so worried about? Kusanagi wondered as the subway car swayed along the tracks.
Could it really be the mathematician, Ishigami? But if Ishigami was somehow connected to the case, why hadn’t his name come up at all, except as the lead suspect’s neighbor? What was it about him that bothered Yukawa so much?
Kusanagi thought back over what he had seen a couple of evenings before at the lunch box store. Yukawa was there with Ishigami—and Ishigami had told him it was Yukawa’s idea to go there.
Yukawa wasn’t the type to go out of his way to do something without a good reason. He had been after something when he went to that shop with Ishigami. But what?
And then Kudo had shown up right after that … But surely Yukawa would have had no way of anticipating that.
Kusanagi thought back on his discussion with Kudo, but he couldn’t remember the man having said anything about Ishigami. Kudo hadn’t given any names at all, for that matter. In fact, he had plainly stated that he wouldn’t offer any names even if he knew them.
A thought crossed Kusanagi’s mind. What had they been talking about when he said that? He pictured Kudo’s face, the man suppressing his irritation as he spoke of the people who visited