The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino [73]
“Welcome,” she said. “You wanted to speak to me?” The trace of a smile played across her lips.
“We’re police,” Kusanagi announced in a low voice.
Next to him, Kishitani reached into his breast pocket, but Kusanagi stopped him, turning back to the woman. “You need proof?”
“That won’t be necessary.” She took the seat next to Kusanagi, placing her business card on the bar. It read, “Sonoko Sugimura.”
“You’re the mama here?”
“You could call me that,” Sugimura replied with a smile.
“Quite the place you’ve got. Business looks good,” Kusanagi commented, glancing over his shoulder at the tables.
“It’s mostly just for show. I think the owner runs it for the tax break. Most of the customers are indebted to him for one thing or another.”
The detective nodded.
“This whole thing could shut down any day, really. Sayoko was right to get out while she still could and start that luncheon shop of hers.”
Kusanagi suspected business wasn’t all that bad—he even detected a hint of defiant pride in the way the woman casually mentioned her predecessor. This Sonoko Sugimura was a survivor.
“I believe some of our people from the department were down here the other day?”
She nodded. “They came a few times, asking about Mr. Togashi. Is that why you’ve come today?”
“We’re sorry to take your time like this.”
“Well, I told the other gentlemen this, so I may as well tell you, too. If you’re trying to pin this whole thing on Yasuko, you’re barking up the wrong tree. She has no motive, for one.”
“No,” Kusanagi said, waving a hand, “we’re not here because we suspect Yasuko. It’s just that our investigation isn’t going as smoothly as we’d have liked, so we’re trying to make a fresh start.”
“A fresh start, hmm?” the mama echoed with a sigh.
“Previously, you told us that Shinji Togashi had come here on the fifth of March?”
“That’s right. It was quite a surprise, seeing him after all that time. I couldn’t imagine why he would be dropping by now.”
“So you knew him?”
“I’d met him once or twice. I worked together with Yasuko back in Akasaka, you know. That’s where I knew him from. He was a big spender back in those days, always dressed to a T. Quite handsome, too.”
Kusanagi sensed from her tone that this description hardly applied to the Togashi she had met in March.
“And Shinji Togashi was trying to find Ms. Hanaoka, is that correct?”
“I think he wanted to patch things up between them. But still, I didn’t tell him anything. I knew all too well the hell that poor girl had been through on his account. I thought as long as I didn’t say anything she’d be safe, but I didn’t count on the girls. One of them knew about Yonazawa and Sayoko’s lunch shop, and she told that smooth talker everything.”
“I see,” Kusanagi said with a nod. After working for a long time in a business like this, which thrived on human connections, a former hostess would find it nearly impossible simply to disappear.
“Does a Mr. Kuniaki Kudo come here often?” he asked next, changing his line of questioning.
“Mister Kudo? From the printing company?”
“That’s right.”
“Quite often, yes. Though not so much recently.” Sugimura tilted her head. “Has Mr. Kudo done something?”
“No, no. We’ve just heard that he was one of Yasuko Hanaoka’s regulars back when she was a hostess.”
Sugimura’s lips softened and she nodded. “He was. He thought the world of that girl.”
“Were they seeing each other outside the nightclub?”
“Hmm…” The woman tilted her head again. “Some of the girls thought she was, but as I see it, their relationship began and ended at the club.”
“How so?”
“Well, they were closest when Yasuko was in Akasaka. But right around then she started having trouble with Mr. Togashi, and it seems Mr. Kudo found out. After that, he became more like Yasuko’s counselor then her lover. I don’t think things between them progressed very far at all romantically.”
“But after Ms. Hanaoka got divorced, they could have started going out…”
Sugimura shook her head. “Mr. Kudo’s not that sort of man, detective. After he’d been giving her all this advice on how to make things right between