The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino [83]
It was rare for Yukawa to be so obviously irritated. Shaking his head, he thrust the report back at the student who stood mute before him. The young man bowed his head and left the room.
“Don’t tell me you get angry, too?” Kusanagi remarked.
“I’m not angry. He wasn’t taking his work seriously, so I gave him a little direction, that’s all.” Yukawa stood and busied himself making a mug of instant coffee. “So, find anything out?”
“I looked into Ishigami’s alibi. Which is to say, I went and talked to him.”
“A frontal assault?” Yukawa turned from the sink, the large mug in his hand. “And? How did he react?”
“He claims he was at home for the whole night.”
Yukawa frowned and shook his head. “I asked you how he reacted. Not what he told you.”
“Well, he didn’t seem particularly flustered, if that’s what you mean. Then again, he was warned about my visit before he saw me, so he would have had a little time to get himself in order.”
“Did he seem surprised that you were asking about his alibi?”
“He didn’t come out and ask me why, no. But then again, I didn’t ask him all that directly, either.”
“Knowing him, he knew you’d be coming for his alibi sooner or later,” Yukawa said, half to himself. He took a sip of coffee. “So he was home that night?”
“Yeah. Had a fever, apparently, so he skipped his classes the following morning.” Kusanagi laid the work schedule he’d received from the school office on the table.
Yukawa walked over and sat. He picked up the schedule.
“The next morning … hmm.”
“After the murder, he would have needed time to take care of things.”
“What about the lady from the lunch shop? You know where she was that morning?”
“Of course. Yasuko Hanaoka went to work as usual on the eleventh. And, while we’re on the subject, her daughter went to school as usual, too. Neither of them was even late.”
Yukawa placed the work schedule back down on the table and crossed his arms. “By ‘time to take care of things,’ what exactly do you think he had to do?”
“Well, dispose of the murder weapon, for one thing.”
“It wouldn’t take him more than ten hours to do that.”
“Ten hours?”
“The murder took place on the night of the tenth. If he had to miss school the following morning, that means he needed more than ten hours to ‘take care of things,’ as you say.”
“Well, he would have needed time to sleep.”
“I doubt anyone could sleep if they had a murder to conceal. And if, after concealing it, they ended up without any time to sleep, they’d just go without. He’d have gone to work for sure, even if he had to prop his eyelids open to do it. Showing up on time but exhausted would raise far less suspicion than not coming in at all.”
“Then there must have been some reason he had to rest.”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Yukawa said, lifting his mug.
Kusanagi carefuly folded the work schedule on the table.
“There’s something I have to ask you. Why did you start to suspect Ishigami was involved? I’m just not sure how to proceed without knowing what piqued your interest.”
“That’s a strange thing for you to say. Didn’t you figure out, entirely on your own, that he was fond of Yasuko Hanaoka? Why should my opinion matter at all?”
“Well, it does. See, in order to report all this to my boss, I can’t just say I started to watch Ishigami based on a whim.”
“Can’t you say you were looking into people connected with Ms. Hanaoka, and the mathematician Ishigami’s name came up?”
“I did. And I looked into their relationship. The thing is, I haven’t been able to find a single scrap of evidence they’re closer than they are letting on.”
Mug still in hand, Yukawa began to laugh so hard his whole body shook. “I’m not surprised!”
“What? Why? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing much. It’s just I wasn’t expecting there to be anything between them at all. In fact, I guarantee you that no matter how hard you look, you won’t find even a trace of a relationship.