‘Asobu?’ call the three little girls –
‘Asobu …? Asobu …?’
*
I knock on the door of the interview room at Meguro police station. I open it. I bow. I take a seat next to the stenographer. Chief Inspector Kanehara and Inspector Kai do not look up but the wife of Kodaira Yoshio glances up at me and then looks away again –
Mrs. Kodaira is younger than her husband, a large woman with full round breasts and a round full face. Mrs. Kodaira is wearing her best summer dress, clutching her handbag –
‘I know he knew this Midorikawa,’ she is saying. ‘But I’m sure he did not kill her. I’m sure there is some mistake…’
‘Your husband has already confessed to the murder,’ says Inspector Kai. ‘And you’ve read his confession. There’s no mistake.’
‘But I want to see him,’ she says. ‘To ask him myself.’
‘Later,’ says Kai. ‘If you answer our questions…’
‘But in the confession it says that the murder occurred at around noon on the sixth of August,’ she says. ‘My husband was working at the laundry until half past two that day and then he came straight home and stayed there with us until the next morning…’
‘How can you be so sure of that?’ asks Inspector Kai.
‘Because it was on that exact day that he asked me to start keeping a diary,’ she says. ‘To write down the times that he worked and the times he came home and the times he went back out…’
‘And why did he ask you to do that?’ says Kai.
‘Because he was worried that the laundry was not paying him for all the overtime and all the night shifts,’ she says. ‘That’s why.’
‘And the first record was made on the sixth of August?’
‘Yes,’ she says. ‘On the sixth of August and I wrote something like, Came straight home from work at 2:30 p.m.’
‘And you still have this diary, then?’ asks Kai.
‘Yes,’ she says again. ‘Back at the house.’
Now Inspector Kanehara places a piece of paper on the table. Now Inspector Kanehara asks her, ‘Do you know what this is?’
Mrs. Kodaira shakes her head and says, ‘No, I don’t.’
‘This is your husband’s time sheet from the laundry,’ says Inspector Kanehara. ‘This piece of paper records the actual days and shifts that your husband worked in August at the laundry…’
Mrs. Kodaira stares down at the piece of paper.
‘And as you can see,’ continues Inspector Kanehara, ‘the sixth of August was actually your husband’s day off that week.’
‘But you see, this is why he wanted me to keep a diary,’ she says. ‘Because they were always making mistakes like this…’
‘It’s not a mistake,’ says Kanehara. ‘We’ve checked.’
Mrs. Kodaira clutches her handbag a little tighter –
Questions. Questions. Questions. Questions …
‘Why would he kill?’ she asks. ‘Why would he?’
‘You’ve read the confession he made,’ says Kai. ‘In the confession he says that he was driven by lust for Midorikawa…’
‘She wanted my husband to get her a job,’ says Mrs. Kodaira. ‘And so she seduced him in order to persuade him to help her.’
‘He approached her,’ says Kai. ‘At Shinagawa…’
‘He gave her food,’ she says. ‘She was hungry.’
‘He told us he put his hand up her skirt,’ says Kai. ‘He told us he put his fingers inside her as they rode on the train…’
‘Exactly!’ shouts his wife. ‘She wanted him…’
‘He raped her,’ says Kai. ‘He murdered her.’
‘He raped her?’ laughs Mrs. Kodaira. ‘You’re joking! This Midorikawa girl seduced him, just like all those others…’
Now I lean forward. Now I ask, ‘What others?’
‘The ones that hang around the barracks,’ she says. ‘He’s told me about them, the shameful way they dress, the shameful way they speak. How they will do anything for food or cigarettes…’
I ask her, ‘Does your husband often talk about women?’
‘Of course he doesn’t,’ says Mrs. Kodaira. ‘And I know you’re trying to make out he’s some kind of sex maniac, raping and killing young women, but he’s just a normal Japanese man…’
‘We haven’t said anything about raping and murdering anyone else other than Miss Midorikawa,’ I tell her. ‘Have we?’
She shakes her head. She clutches her handbag –
Questions. Questions. Questions. Questions …
‘But now I want you to think about last month,’ I tell her. ‘Can you remember which days your husband did not work in July?’
She shrugs her shoulders. ‘He worked all of them…’
Inspector Kanehara places another piece of paper on the table. Inspector Kanehara says, ‘Except the eighth and the twenty-second.’
‘Can you remember what your husband did on those days?’ I ask her. ‘Did he stay at home with you? Did you go for supplies?’
‘He often went for supplies,’ she says. ‘Back to Nikkō.’
Now Kanehara, Kai and I all glance up at each other –
‘I never see them. I never really go back there now …’
‘How often?’ I ask her. ‘Can you remember exactly when?’
But she says, ‘We all need to eat, detective. Need food…’
‘We know that,’ I tell her. ‘And we’re not interested in whether your husband bought stuff legally or illegally. We’re only interested in the dates you think he went looking for supplies…’
‘I can’t remember exactly,’ she says. ‘I’m sorry…’
‘What about last month?’ I ask her again. ‘Your husband’s work-sheet says he had the eighth and the twenty-second off.’
‘Then he must have done,’ she says. ‘If you say so.’
‘So can you remember what he did on those days?’ I ask her again. ‘Did he stay home? Did he go out? What did he do?’
‘How should I know?’ she says. ‘All the days are the same!’
‘But surely not when your husband had a day off?’
‘But I can’t remember the eighth from the twenty-second,’ she shouts. ‘How can I remember one day from another …?’
Now Inspector Kanehara says, ‘Then I’ll try to help you remember. Do you read the newspaper in your house?’
She clutches her handbag. She nods her head.
‘Well then,’ says Kanehara. ‘On the eighth of July there was the story of the baby born with two faces in Nagoya…’
She nods her head. She says, ‘I remember…’
‘And the twenty-second of July was the day that all the schools had to destroy their photographs of the Emperor…’
She nods her head again and says, ‘I know…’
‘Then can you remember anything else about those days?’ asks Inspector Kanehara. ‘Anything about what your husband did?’
‘I was sure he went to work,’ she says. ‘I was sure.’
Inspector Kanehara nods. Kanehara says, ‘I see.’
Now Inspector Kai sits forward again. Now Inspector Kai says, ‘This is not your husband’s first marriage, is it? Nor yours?’
‘My first husband was killed in China,’ she tells us.
‘My condolences,’ says Kai. ‘When did he die?’
‘Almost five years ago now,’ she says.
‘And so how long have you been married to Mr. Kodaira?’