‘I believe her bedroom was quite a sight, filled with posters,’ Diamond said.
More nervous blinking. ‘I wouldn’t know about that.’
‘When you took her out, where did you go?’
‘The movies, a couple of times. She didn’t like clubs. They had the wrong sort of music. She was into serious stuff.’
‘So we are finding out. Did you go to any concerts with her?’
‘No, she liked to go alone. She spent all her pocket money travelling around to catch her favourite players. She had all the gigs on her iPad calendar and if I wanted a date I had to fit around them.’
‘So did you take her drinking?’
‘We were under age. Couldn’t afford it, anyway.’
‘Was she better off than you?’
‘Definitely. She got an allowance from her dad as well as her mother. But she spent most of it on the music.’
‘Tough for you, being second best,’ Diamond said. ‘How do you make any headway with a girl like that? What did she drink — Coke?’
Mikio reddened. Plainly he saw where this was heading. ‘Lemonade actually.’
‘Lemonade doesn’t have much of a kick.’
‘It was her choice.’
‘I expect she was drinking stronger stuff these days.’
He was quick to say, ‘I wouldn’t know. I didn’t see her.’
‘If she still drinks lemonade, there are ways of pepping it up, aren’t there?’ Diamond said. ‘You know all about getting girls in the mood. Ecstasy, GHB, or whatever the latest is.’
Mikio snapped, his voice rising. ‘Look, that’s out of order.’
‘I wasn’t talking about your schooldays. We’ve moved on. It’s a different world here. The girls drink as much as they want of whatever they want and sometimes things get added as well.’
Pushed to the limit, Mikio launched into a defence of his actions. ‘Taki’s been talking to you about me. If she told you I drugged her at the end of last term, it’s a lie. I didn’t add anything to her drink. I don’t do drugs myself and I wouldn’t dream of giving them to girls.’
‘What happened, then?’ Ingeborg said, fixing him with an uncompromising stare.
‘Do you really need to know?’
She didn’t answer and neither did Diamond.
‘Okay.’ Mikio gripped the chair arms. ‘There was this end of term booze-up in a pub. We thought it was a laugh when she was getting giggly and I filled her glass to encourage her, but I didn’t know she was legless. When it was obvious she couldn’t stand properly I felt bloody mean and ashamed. The least I could do was see her home safely, so I drove her back to her place. It wasn’t what you’re thinking. She threw up in my car. I got her to the house and helped her upstairs. If she told you I did anything else, I didn’t. She had vomit down her front. Would you fancy anyone in that state? I opened the door and guided her in and she sat on the edge of her bed and pulled off the smelly top and started unfixing her bra. I decided I’d done my duty and ought to leave fast, so I did. We haven’t spoken since.’
The words had come so rapidly and with such strong recollection Diamond found them convincing. None of it sounded rehearsed. ‘Did you put disinfectant in the car to take down the smell?’
Mikio needed a few seconds to get over his statement. ‘I’ve given it several goes. Air freshener isn’t enough.’
Diamond was ready to move on, whatever Ingeborg had decided. ‘What happened between you two isn’t my concern unless it touches on the death of Mari. Let’s get back to when you were dating her in Yokohama. How did it end? Did you have a row?’
The young man’s eyes rolled upwards. ‘How did it end? It didn’t really. There was never much to it. We stopped seeing each other, but we stayed friends, or she wouldn’t have asked to see me on this visit. I couldn’t compete with the musicians she idolised, and that’s all there is to it.’
‘Did she name any of them?’
‘I don’t remember any names. It was groups mostly, like any pop band, only classical. And you might say she was like any groupie, dead nuts about them.’
‘Is that what you really mean?’ Ingeborg asked, her feminism challenged yet again. ‘A groupie? That’s something more than idolising them. It means she was willing to sleep with them.’
‘Sorry. I shouldn’t have used the word,’ he said, on the retreat. ‘It’s unfair now she’s dead. I don’t know what was in her mind. The music thing was all a bit obsessive, but that’s a stage teenagers go through, isn’t it?’
‘Who were the groups she liked?’
‘They didn’t mean much to me.’
‘The Staccati?’
He shrugged. ‘Don’t know.’
‘Where did that come from?’ Diamond asked Ingeborg.
‘Tell you later,’ she said. ‘But I think we should speak to Taki again before we leave.’
They let Mikio return to his studies. He was out of that office as if a fuse had been lit.
‘What did you make of him?’ Diamond asked Ingeborg. ‘Is this a Japanese crime?’
‘If it is, we need to know a lot more about the motive,’ she said. ‘I was all ready to pin it on him after listening to Taki and how he treated her, but I thought he came across as honest. Jumpy, but truthful.’
Diamond murmured in agreement. ‘And the smell of disinfectant in the car definitely came from the floor in front of the passenger seat, which backs his story. When he first opened the door I thought maybe he’d had a corpse in there and tried to clean up, but you wouldn’t stick a corpse beside you in the front. The boot area was free of the smell.’
‘And he needn’t have shown us the car,’ Ingeborg said. ‘He could have said it was at the other end of the campus.’
Diamond surprised Ingeborg by suggesting she alone should do the follow-up interview with Taki. ‘She’ll respond better to you. In kindness you should tell her Mikio’s version of what happened the night she got drunk. If she’s alone with you and more relaxed she may recall something of real importance.’
On the drive back to Bath, he said, ‘Well?’
‘Well what, guv?’
‘Well, you’re looking pleased with yourself. How did it go?’
‘It was rather sweet. She wept a few tears, but they were tears of relief. She’s given herself a hard time these last few months imagining what happened. I think they’ll be back on speaking terms soon.’
‘And did you get any more from her?’
Ingeborg smiled. ‘I did. I asked about the musicians Mari was keen on. We’d talked earlier about the posters in her room, but we didn’t get down to names.’
‘We asked Mikio and he couldn’t remember any.’
‘Taki did. She said there was one string quartet that stood out and it was called the Staccati.’
‘The name you brought up earlier?’
‘Yes — because they’re based in Bath.’
‘Really?’ He turned to look at her, eyes gleaming. ‘How do you know about that?’
She played casual. ‘Who’s been doing the rounds of all the music colleges? I heard the name and remembered it and what’s more I’ve met one of the players.’
14
The four were united again for the next rehearsal at the Michael Tippett Centre. As if to compensate for the day before, they had a spat-free session, rounding off with an hour’s bar-by-bar dissection of the ‘Grosse Fuge’ and then a run-through.
‘The best yet,’ Ivan said, resting his instrument on its case. ‘We can all improve our intonation, but that will come. Some of your playing was exquisite, Mel.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Some of it?’ Cat said, laughing. ‘Good in parts like the curate’s egg?’
‘I didn’t mean that,’ Ivan said.
‘He can take a joke.’ She turned to Mel. ‘I liked your sound, too, sunshine, and Anthony won’t say a word, but he was quietly purring at those last Arpeggios.’