n the day before the incident, the suspect, Fuyuki Yashima, and his livein

girlfriend, Kaori Nakahara, had arranged to see a movie. They agreed to

meet at eight p.m. Yashima, who got there slightly early, went for a stroll

around the neighborhood, in the course of which he came across a helpwanted

advertisement at Stock House, a furniture and home goods store, in

Kyobashi. He went in, but the boss had already left for the day, so an

employee asked Yashima to come back again at six p.m. the day after.”

Kobayashi’s strong voice resounded in the hushed incident room.

Nearly all the investigators were present, and the deputy commissioner and

the rest of the top brass were seated at the dais at one end of the room.

“While Ms. Nakahara knew nothing about the help-wanted advert, we

think this slipped Yashima’s mind rather than being something he was

intentionally keeping secret. The next day, Yashima left the house sometime

after five p.m., when he texted Nakahara to say that he was going for a job

interview. A little after six, Yashima arrived at Stock House, where he

discovered that the job being advertised wasn’t what he had been expecting.

Feeling sorry for him, the Stock House boss gave him the name of a similar

business based in Edobashi and encouraged him to try his luck there.

Yashima then left Stock House and, we assume, made his way toward the

offices of Azuma Furniture, the company he had just been told about. But it

turned out that Azuma had already closed up shop for the day. We do not

know whether Yashima went all the way to the Azuma office or not, but we

conjecture that he ran into Takeaki Aoyagi somewhere near Edobashi

Bridge. Yashima, who had previously been employed at Kaneseki Metals,

accosted Aoyagi in the hope of getting his old job back. He could well have alluded to the business of the workplace accident cover-up at this point. It

seems unlikely that the firm’s head of production would recall someone

who was only a contract worker. The fact that the two of them then

proceeded to a café suggests that Aoyagi felt himself to be in a weak

position. They spent a little under two hours at the café before they left.

Whose idea it was we don’t know, but they then set off in the direction of

Edobashi Bridge. As they were going through an underpass just this side of

the bridge, Yashima checked that there was no one else around, stabbed

Aoyagi, stole his wallet and briefcase, crossed Edobashi Bridge, and ran

away. While we don’t know what route he took, he ended up hiding in the

Hamacho Green Road park. At some point after eleven p.m., he called Ms.

Nakahara and told her that, I quote, he had done something awful and that

something terrible had happened. Precisely then, he was discovered by an

officer on patrol and once more took to his heels. That was when he was hit

by a truck in the middle of Shin-ohashi Boulevard and taken to the

hospital.”

Kobayashi looked up from the sheaf of documents in his hand. “That’s

everything,” he said and sat back down.

Ishigaki turned to the deputy commissioner. “What do you think, sir?

This is what we get if we make a timeline using everything we know,

assuming that Yashima was the perpetrator.”

The deputy commissioner stuck out his lower lip. He didn’t look

happy.

“Where are we with the murder weapon? You didn’t even mention the

knife.”

“Somebody else will provide a report on that. Sakagami.”

Sakagami got to his feet when his name was called.

“We haven’t yet managed to find any evidence that the knife used in

the crime belonged to Yashima. Ever since his first job at a small building

contractor, Yashima was in possession of electricians’ knives and other

knives he used for work, so he could either have purchased the knife in

question himself or been given it by a third party. According to an expert I

consulted, the knife used in the crime is an outdoor knife, suitable for

whittling wood, and often used in woodworking. That’s everything from

me.”

Sakagami sat back down. The deputy commissioner looked as grumpy

as ever.

“That’s not much use. You haven’t explained why Yashima had a knife

on him on that particular day.”

“Apparently, Yashima was hoping to secure a practical job at Stock

House, sir.”

“A practical job?”

“A job as a woodworker, a craftsman. The job on offer turned out to be

a temporary job at a trade fair. Which is why the boss of Stock House

recommended him another firm to apply to.”

“He was hoping to get a practical job as a woodworker and that’s why

he had a knife with him?”

“Since he was after a practical job, he was expecting to have to

showcase his woodworking skills at the interview. In that case, there’s

nothing odd about him bringing his own tools with him.”

“I see where you’re coming from.” The deputy commissioner’s face

suddenly brightened. Crossing his arms, he leaned back in his chair. “They

always say craftsmen have a strong attachment to their own tools. Yeah, I

like that idea. Nice.”

“As an explanation, it irons out any contradictions.”

“Good, let’s go with it. We’ll run with this.”

“Yes, sir,” Ishigaki replied. He looked rather less cheerful than his

boss.

After the main meeting broke up, the investigators huddled in their

individual groups. Kobayashi, who was Matsumiya and Kaga’s supervisor,

looked morose.

“Do you buy it?” Matsumiya asked Kobayashi, speaking softly.

“The whole knife thing?”

“Yeah.”

Kobayashi grimaced and scratched the tip of one of his eyebrows.

“What do you expect? There’s a lot of pressure from the higher-ups to

cobble together a credible scenario and close up the case quickly. The unit

chief doesn’t like it any more than we do. Do you think we should just roll

over and accept it?”

“No, I don’t.”

“I don’t either. Look, if Yashima was planning to do any serious

woodworking, it stands to reason he’d use a proper woodworking tool. But

what can you do? We’ve got to do as we’re told.”

Kobayashi looked as if he had just bitten into a particularly sour

lemon. Matsumiya realized he had pushed things as far as he could. In the

end, we’re all nothing more than private soldiers, he thought.

The three-man meeting concluded with Matsumiya and Kaga being

detailed to go through Fuyuki Yashima’s phone and question his contacts.

Kobayashi wanted to get a sense of the victimhood Yashima felt about the

workplace accident cover-up. Anything they discovered would be used to

bolster the story that Ishigaki and Kobayashi had come up with.

“Making Yashima the villain of the piece certainly gives us a nice,

neat sequence of events, but is it really okay?” said Matsumiya as he

walked down the corridor alongside Kaga.

Kaga said nothing. His body language was clear enough: no, it wasn’t okay.

“Oh, by the way, I got an email from Kanamori,” Matsumiya said as

they stepped out of the police station. “Says she wants to meet to discuss

the memorial service with you. She texted you, but got no reply.”

“It’s not a priority for me right now.”

“Surely you’ve got time to talk? She’s busy too, you know. If you

don’t reply, then I’ll go ahead and arrange it with her myself, Kyo.”

“Be my guest. More importantly—” Kaga stopped and took a quick

look around. “I’ve got a small favor to ask.”

“About the memorial service?”

Kaga frowned and made a dismissive motion with his hand.

“Absolutely not. About work. I need you to give me some time, starting

right now. A half-day should do it.”

Matsumiya looked his cousin full in the face. “What are you planning

to do?”

“It’s a grandstand play, frankly,” said Kaga, surveying the road in front

of the police station. “The chances are it won’t work out. That’s why I want

to do it alone. If it succeeds, I’ll let you know.”

“At least tell me what you’re looking into.”

After thinking for a moment, Kaga fixed his eye on Matsumiya. “I

heard that Fuyuki Yashima really loved his cocoa.”

“Cocoa?”

“He only drank cocoa—and a lot of it—at the local diner.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Last night, after we split up. I bumped into Ms. Nakahara.”

“You did?”

“Remember what the server in the café said in his statement about

Aoyagi? ‘I don’t recall his exact order, but it was definitely two of the same

thing.’ If Aoyagi was meeting with Yashima, then it’s quite likely they

ordered a couple of cocoas. They have cocoa on the menu at that café.”

“What does that tell us?”

“I checked the autopsy report. There was no cocoa in the undigested

stomach contents.”

Matsumiya’s eyes widened and his mouth gaped.

“I never thought Yashima was in the café in the first place.”

“Meaning that someone else was there with Aoyagi.”

“So it would seem.” There was a faint smile on Kaga’s lips, but his

eyes were deadly earnest.

“And you think that person’s the real culprit?”

Kaga grunted and tilted his head. “That I don’t know. All I know is

that the present scenario falls to pieces if it turns out Yashima was never in

the café.”

“The server at the café didn’t even see Aoyagi’s companion. You’ll

have a struggle proving it.”

“I’m not so sure. There are tried-and-tested tricks to prove that

someone wasn’t in a certain place; techniques we use all the time.”

“Tried-and-tested tricks?” Matsumiya replied after thinking for a

moment. “Are you talking about alibis?”

“That’s the one,” Kaga said with a nod. “If Fuyuki Yashima wasn’t in

the café, then where was he and what was he doing in the roughly two

hours between him leaving Stock House and the murder? That’s what I

mean to ascertain.”

“And how exactly are you going to do this ‘ascertaining’?”

Kaga didn’t answer his question.

“See you tonight,” he said instead. He turned briskly on his heel and

strode off before Matsumiya could get a word in.