Keigo Higashino: Salvation of a Saint

Kusanagi straightened in his chair, staring evenly at the woman across the table, perfectly ready to sit there in silence as long as was necessary.

Hiromi covered her mouth with both hands. Her eyes wandered, unfocused. Then, abruptly, she said: ‘It wasn’t me.’

‘Huh?’

‘It wasn’t me.’ Her voice was pleading. She shook her head. ‘I didn’t poison the coffee. Really. You have to believe me.’

Kusanagi and Utsumi exchanged glances.

Hiromi Wakayama was a suspect, of course, and their most likely suspect at that. She’d had plenty of opportunities to poison the coffee. If she was having an affair with Yoshitaka Mashiba, then it was fairly easy to imagine some rift between lovers providing the motivation. Poisoning him, then ‘discovering’ the body, could have been merely an attempt to camouflage her role.

At this stage, however, Kusanagi intended to avoid any preconceived notions, in order to get as unfiltered a story from her as possible. He had deliberately chosen not to say anything that might sound accusatory. All he had asked was when she had drunk that coffee with Yoshitaka Mashiba. So why was she claiming innocence all of a sudden? Was she, in fact, the guilty party? Had she just skipped ahead, anticipating where all this was leading?

‘We are not accusing you of poisoning him,’ Kusanagi said, with a gentle smile. ‘As I said, all we’re trying to do is establish the timing. If you met with Mr Mashiba and drank coffee, then can you tell us when that was, who made the coffee, and exactly how?’

A pained expression rose on Hiromi’s pale face. Kusanagi still couldn’t tell whether she was simply hesitant because she was unwilling to admit she was having an affair or whether it was something more than that.

‘Ms Wakayama?’ Utsumi put in abruptly.

Hiromi looked back up, startled.

‘We’ve already made certain assumptions about your relationship with Yoshitaka Mashiba,’ the younger detective continued, with all the indifference of a government official explaining how to fill out a form. ‘You can deny it if you like. At which point, we will have to start asking more questions in order to determine the truth. When we set our minds to it, we can usually bring the truth to light... but as part of that process, we have to talk to a lot of people. You understand?

‘I’d like you to give what I just said some thought. If you can be completely honest with us now, we may be able to be a bit more circumspect with our investigation. Say, for instance, if you wanted to tell us something that you’d rather we didn’t repeat to anyone else outside of our office.’

Utsumi glanced towards Kusanagi, nodding her head slightly.

Was that her idea of an apology for speaking out of turn? Kusanagi wondered.

Her advice seemed to have a remarkable effect on Hiromi, however. Perhaps it was easier hearing it from a woman. She hung her head for a moment, then looked up again, blinked slowly, and took a breath. ‘You promise to keep it a secret?’

‘As long as it isn’t directly related to the case, we keep all personal information private. It’s standard procedure,’ Kusanagi explained.

Hiromi nodded. ‘Then... as you suspect, Mr Mashiba and I did have a... special relationship. That, and I visited him earlier over the weekend.’

‘Exactly when was this?’

‘Saturday night. A little after nine o’clock, I think.’

A rendezvous while the wife was away, then.

‘Had this been arranged in advance?’

‘No. He called me at work — I was teaching a patchwork class. He called right about when the class was finishing. He invited me over.’

‘So you went, and what happened next?’

Hiromi thought for a moment, then with growing determination, she looked back at Kusanagi. ‘I spent the night and left the next morning.’

Utsumi had begun taking notes. Kusanagi glanced at her but couldn’t read anything from her expression. She’s on to something, he thought, resolving to ask her about it later.

‘When did you drink coffee together?’

‘In the morning. I made it. Oh, but we also had coffee the night before.’

‘On Saturday night? So you had coffee twice?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did you make the coffee the night before as well?’

‘No. Mr Mashiba had already made it when I arrived. He poured a cup for both of us,’ Hiromi continued, looking down at the table. ‘It was the first time I’d ever seen him make his own coffee. “It’s been a while,” he said.’

‘But you didn’t use saucers that evening?’ Utsumi asked, looking up from her notebook.

‘No,’ Hiromi confirmed.

‘But you made the coffee the next morning — yesterday morning?’ Kusanagi asked.

‘Mr Mashiba’s coffee was a little too strong, so he asked me to make it in the morning. He stood there watching me while I did it.’ She looked up at Utsumi. ‘We used saucers with our cups that time. Those were the ones in the sink.’

Kusanagi nodded. So far, her story was checking out. ‘Just to be certain, I should ask whether the coffee you drank on Saturday night and Sunday morning was made from the ground beans at his house?’

‘I think so. At least when I made it, I used the coffee in the refrigerator. I don’t know about the coffee Mr Mashiba drank on Saturday night. But I don’t see why he would’ve used anything different. There was plenty left.’

‘Have you ever made coffee at the Mashibas’ before this weekend?’

‘Only rarely, when Ayane asked me to. She was the one who showed me how to make it without a coffeemaker. That’s how I knew what to do yesterday.’

‘Did you notice anything different when you were making the coffee? Was the bag in a different place than usual? Was it the same brand?’

Hiromi let her eyelids fall closed and gave her head a shake. ‘I don’t remember anything different. It was the same as always.’ When she opened her eyes again they had a gleam of curiosity in them. ‘But I don’t see why it should matter how anything was when I made the coffee.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘Well, because...’ She lowered her face, eyes looking up at them. ‘There wasn’t any poison in the coffee when I made it, right? If someone poisoned the coffee, it would’ve had to have been after I used it.’

‘That’s true, unless there was a trick to it, one that involved doing something to the coffee earlier.’

‘A trick?’ Hiromi didn’t look convinced. ‘Well, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.’

‘You drank coffee that morning. What next?’

‘I left. I teach a patchwork class at an arts school in Ikebukuro.’

‘What time does the class run?’

‘Well, there’s one in the morning, which goes from nine to eleven, and one in the afternoon, which goes from three to six.’

‘What do you do between classes?’

‘Mostly clean up from the first class, eat lunch, and get ready for the next class.’

‘Do you bring a lunch?’

‘Not usually. Yesterday I went out and ate at a noodle place in a department store that’s nearby...’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘I think I was away from the school building for about an hour. I wouldn’t have been able to go to the Mashibas’ and back in that amount of time.’

Kusanagi chuckled, waving a hand. ‘Don’t worry, we’re not checking your alibi. According to what you told us yesterday, you gave Mr Mashiba a call as soon as your class was finished. Would you care to amend that statement in any way?’

Hiromi frowned and looked away. ‘I did call him. That’s true enough. But my reason was a little different from what I said.’

‘I believe you told us that you were worried about how he was getting along without his wife there?’