Keigo Higashino: Salvation of a Saint

The physicist took off his glasses, resting them on the table beside him. ‘Of course there’s no proof,’ he said.

Utsumi looked at him in surprise. ‘Really?’

‘Give it a moment’s thought and you’ll see. If she had done something, she might’ve left a trace. But she killed him by doing nothing. Look all you want for some trace of what she did, and you won’t find a thing. About the only thing you have to go on is the poison they found in the filter, but you told me yourself that evidence is inconclusive. And the detail about the part number on the filter is circumstantial at best. In other words, there’s no way at all to prove she killed her husband.’

‘I don’t...’ Utsumi’s protest trailed away into silence.

‘Didn’t I tell you before?’ Yukawa’s face was grim. ‘It’s the perfect crime.’

Utsumi was going through paperwork at the Meguro station when Mamiya came in from outside and shot her a look. She stood and went over to his desk.

‘I was just talking to the section chief about that case,’ Mamiya said, sitting down. He had a glum look on his face.

‘Did we get a warrant?’

Mamiya gave her a shake of his head. ‘No, we didn’t, and we won’t unless there’s some significant development. We don’t have enough material to identify our killer. I’m impressed as always with Galileo’s detective work, but without proof, we can’t go to trial.’

‘That’s what I was afraid of,’ Utsumi said, her head hanging. This was playing out just as Yukawa said it would.

‘Everyone in administration is pulling their hair out. Who the hell arranges everything for someone to poison themselves, then watches carefully for a year to keep them from doing it? No one believed me at first. Not even I believed me at first. It’s clearly the only answer here, but that doesn’t make it any easier to swallow. It just sounds so... impossible.’

‘I didn’t believe it myself when Professor Yukawa first laid it out.’

‘There’s no accounting for what some people are capable of, clearly. That goes for this woman, Ayane, as well as the professor. You have to wonder what’s going on in those heads of theirs, sometimes,’ Mamiya said, a bitter look on his face. ‘We still don’t even know if he was actually right. And as long as we can’t say for sure, we can’t touch Ayane Mashiba.’

‘What about the Junko Tsukui angle? I hear Forensics checked out her mother’s house in Hiroshima?’

Mamiya nodded. ‘They sent that can that had the arsenous acid in it down to Spring-8. The problem is, even if they do find traces, and those happen to match the arsenous acid used in this case, it’s still not conclusive evidence. It may not even be circumstantial evidence. After all, if Junko Tsukui was Yoshitaka Mashiba’s former lover, it could’ve been him carting around the poison all that time.’

Utsumi breathed a deep sigh. ‘So how do we get proof? Tell me what we need and I’ll find it. I don’t care what it takes! I can’t believe that Yukawa’s right and that this is the perfect crime!’

Mamiya’s face twisted into a scowl. ‘Don’t start barking at me,’ he said. ‘Believe me, if I knew how to get proof, we wouldn’t be in this mess. About the only evidence we have worth anything right now is that water filter with the traces of arsenous acid in it. Section thinks we need to focus on that and get everything out of it we can.’

Utsumi bit her lip. What the chief was saying sounded suspiciously like an admission of defeat.

‘Don’t give me that face, I haven’t given up yet. We’ll find something. It’s not easy to pull off the perfect crime.’

Utsumi nodded in silence, bowed, and left. You’re right, she thought, it’s not easy. But what Ayane Mashiba did would have been nearly impossible for an average person. What if that’s all it takes? What if she pulled it off?

Back at her desk, Utsumi pulled out her mobile and checked voice mail, hoping that Kusanagi had found something, but the only message was from her mum.

Hiromi Wakayama was already there when Kusanagi arrived at the café. He hurried over to the table.

‘Sorry to keep you waiting.’

‘I just got here myself,’ she told him.

‘Well, thanks for coming out. I’ll keep this as short as possible.’

‘Don’t worry on my account,’ Hiromi told him with a soft chuckle. ‘I’m not working right now, so I have plenty of time.’

Her complexion seems to have improved, Kusanagi thought. Back up on her emotional feet, maybe.

A waitress came to hover by their table, so Kusanagi ordered coffee. ‘Milk for you?’ he asked Hiromi.

‘Lemon tea, please,’ she said.

The waitress left and Kusanagi smiled. ‘Sorry. I just remembered you ordering milk last time...’

‘Actually, I’m not really a big fan of milk. And I’m trying to avoid it right now.’

‘Really? Why is that?’

Hiromi lifted an eyebrow. ‘Do I need to answer every question?’

‘No.’ Kusanagi waved his hand. ‘Of course not. Sorry, I was just making small talk. I’ll get down to business. The real question I have for you is about the Mashibas’ kitchen, actually. Do you remember that they had a water filter attachment on their sink?’

‘Sure.’

‘Did you ever use it?’

‘Never,’ Hiromi said without a moment’s hesitation.

‘That was quick,’ Kusanagi observed. ‘I mean, that’s the sort of question people usually have to think about a bit.’

She shook her head. ‘I barely even went into their kitchen. I never helped cook. Why would I touch the sink? I think I told detective Utsumi this, too, but the only time I ever went into the kitchen was to put on coffee or tea when Ayane asked me to, and that was only when she was in the middle of preparing something else and didn’t have time.’

‘So, is it true then that you were never in the kitchen alone?’

Hiromi frowned. ‘I’m not really sure what you’re getting at.’

‘I just need to know if you were ever in the kitchen by yourself. Don’t worry about why. Try to remember for me.’

Hiromi thought about it until wrinkles formed across her brow. Eventually she looked back up at Kusanagi. ‘Maybe not. I always had the feeling I wasn’t welcome in there without Ayane’s permission.’

‘Did she specifically tell you not to go in without permission?’

‘Not in so many words, no. It was just a feeling I had. And — you know, the whole thing about a housewife’s kitchen being her castle.’

‘So they say.’

The drinks arrived. Hiromi squeezed her lemon wedge over her tea and sipped at it, a smile on her face. She looked more alive than Kusanagi had ever seen her.

Certainly more alive than I feel. Everything she was telling him backed up Yukawa’s story.

He took a sip of his coffee and rose from the table. ‘Thanks again for your help.’

Hiromi’s eyes went wide. ‘That’s all?’

‘I’ve heard what I needed to. Take your time,’ he said, picking up the bill and heading for the door.

He was out on the street, looking for a taxi, when his phone rang. It was Yukawa. The physicist said he had something to tell Kusanagi about the poisoner’s trick.

‘I need to check something, urgently. Can you meet?’

‘Sure, I’ll come right over. But what do you need to check at this point? I thought you were pretty confident about your theory.’

‘I am confident. That’s why I need you to come as quickly as you can,’ Yukawa said, and hung up.

About thirty minutes later, Kusanagi was walking through the front gate of Imperial University.