The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino [74]
So Sonoko Sugimura didn’t know that Kudo’s wife had passed away. Kusanagi decided there was little to be gained by telling her, so he kept silent.
For the most part, he guessed that she was right about Yasuko and Kudo’s relationship. Like other experienced detectives, he respected a hostess’s intuition when it came to the affairs of men and women. Sugimura’s observations were in line with his own, only confirming Kusanagi’s hunch that Kudo was innocent. Which meant it was time to change the topic.
He pulled a photograph out of his pocket and showed it to the mama. “Know this man?”
It was a photograph of Tetsuya Ishigami. Kishitani had snapped a shot of the teacher as he left his school one day. In the photograph, the mathematician’s eyes were fixed on some faraway point. It had been taken from an angle, and at a distance, so that Ishigami wouldn’t notice.
Sugimura frowned. “Who’s that?”
“So you don’t know him?”
“No, sorry. I can tell you he’s never come to this club.”
“His name’s Ishigami. That ring any bells?”
“Mr. Ishigami…”
“Maybe Ms. Hanaoka mentioned him?”
“I’m sorry. If she did, I don’t remember it.”
“He’s a high school teacher. Did she ever say anything about seeing a teacher?”
“I don’t know,” Sugimura replied, her frown fading. “I talk to her now and then on the phone, but she’s not said anything of the sort.”
“What about any other relationships Yasuko might be having? Has she asked you for advice with anything, or told you anything about that?”
At this question, Sugimura let slip a wry chuckle. “The other detective who came before asked that as well, and I’ll tell you what I told him: she hasn’t said anything. Maybe she is seeing someone, and she didn’t want me to know, but I don’t think that’s the case. That girl’s got her hands full raising Misato. I’d imagine she hasn’t the time to bother with love right now. Mind you, it’s not just my opinion. Sayoko said something of the sort not too long ago.”
Kusanagi nodded quietly. He hadn’t expected to hear much about a possible relationship between Ishigami and Yasuko here at the club, so he wasn’t too disappointed. Still, hearing someone say that there was no man in Yasuko’s life made it hard for him to feel confident about the theory that Ishigami was Yasuko’s conspirator.
Another customer walked in. Sugimura glanced with interest in his direction.
“You said you kept in touch with Ms. Hanaoka on the phone? I was wondering when you last talked to her.”
“The day that Mr. Togashi was on the news, I think. I was so surprised I had to call her up. I’m certain that I told that to the other detective, too.”
“How did Ms. Hanaoka sound at the time?”
“No different than ever, really. She told me the cops had already been by to talk to her.”
That was us, Kusanagi thought, but he didn’t feel the need to mention that to Sugimura.
“And before that, you didn’t tell her that Togashi been in to the club asking after her whereabouts?”
“I didn’t. Which is to say, I couldn’t bring myself. I didn’t want to make her upset.”
So Yasuko Hanaoka hadn’t known that Togashi was looking for her. And if she didn’t know he was coming, she wouldn’t have had time to devise a plot to murder him.
“It did occur to me to mention it … but at the time, she sounded so happy, there just wasn’t a good moment.”
“At the time?” Something tugged at the back of Kusanagi’s mind. “You mean the last time you talked to her on the phone, when Togashi was on the news? Or some other time?”
“Oh, that’s right, I’m sorry. I was talking about a time before then. Oh, about three or four days after Mr. Togashi dropped in. She’d left a message for me, so I called her back.”
“Around when was that?”
“Let me see—” Sugimura retrieved her cell phone from the pocket of her suit. Kusanagi expected her to go into her list of calls made and