hand was slightly shaking, paced around the room taking deep breaths attempting to re-group his composure before greeting his colleagues as they entered the room.
He forcedhimself to focus. There were important matters to hand concerning the Ryozo group. He drew in his stomach, took further deep breaths and then fixed his mouth into a look of confident assurance.
6 - In which Mori reluctantly accepts Sakamoto’s point of view
Friday 31st December 8:30am
Mori made his way alone, somewhat secretively and somewhat more slowly than he wanted to Kawasaki. A full head cold had now descended and he felt weak and heady, was dripping with mucusand as a consequence was hardly enthusiastic about the task ahead of him. The freezing conditions all around him did nothing to ease his mood. Nonetheless he persisted in his covert duty, not before popping into the local doctor and being prescribed the usual bucket load of tablets, clear that despite Sakamoto’s instruction he wanted at least to talk to a few other people before he pulled in Yamada for full interrogative questioning.
Eri Yamada's parents sat silently around the low table in their guest reception room waiting patiently for Sergeant Mori to begin. The heater above the window gently hummed and sent wafts of warm air into the cold room and Mori, thankfully clutching the cup of green tea he'd been offered, thought carefully about what he wanted to say. To his left he had an emergency pack of tissues to deal with his streaming nose.
Similar to the evening before he was looking into the eyes of those who had suffered loss but even so Mrs Tsuchida, particularly, looked like she'd be a sad looking woman even under less trying circumstances.
Mori opened his small notebook and took out his pen from within his jacket pocket. 'Can you think of anyone who would want to kill your daughter?’
Four heartbreaking eyes stared dolefully back. It was an awful question to ask anybody and it was painfully clear they had no-one or no event in mind. They had no need to speak.
Mori blew his nose, not for the first time, and then tried again. 'Was your daughter happily married Mrs Tsuchida?'
'As far as I know.'
'She didn't confide in you at all? No little secrets?'
'No secrets, no. I'm sure they were quite happily married.' Mrs Tsuchida's tone suggested that even if there were any minor indiscretions she didn't appreciate being asked. 'I'm quite sure they were happy!' she repeated again for emphasis. Mori looked across to Mr Tsuchida who stared passively back - his thick, black-rimmed spectacles making his eyes look unusually blank and glassy. Mrs Tsuchida, it appeared, spoke for both of them and was quite clearly the ruler of the roost.
'Do you know why they didn't have any children? Do you know of any specific reason?'
'None that we know of.'
It was becoming a tiring refrain.
'No issues in their sexual relationship?'
'Look! I don't think that is any of your business! And it certainly wasn’t any of ours.' It was Mr Tsuchida who had unexpectedly stepped in, glancing nervously at his wife as he did so.
'My apologies,' bowed Mori. 'But I do need to ask the question, however impertinent or painful it might be. I just need to be certain that there were no problems in their marriage, that's all.'
'My wife's already told you. As far as we are concerned they were a very happy, hard-working couple.'
‘Okay, okay, I understand.' Mori thought quickly again about other angles that may have led to problems or motives. 'Was your daughter a wealthy woman? Had she inherited any money at all, from you from-’
‘No she wasn’t,’ came the firm reply, this time from Mrs Tsuchida. ‘She was a good girl, she worked hard. She was a good wife-’
‘And you have absolutely no idea why such a good, hardworking wife and daughter might have been so brutally murdered?’ interrupted Mori, losing his patience more
He forcedhimself to focus. There were important matters to hand concerning the Ryozo group. He drew in his stomach, took further deep breaths and then fixed his mouth into a look of confident assurance.
6 - In which Mori reluctantly accepts Sakamoto’s point of view
Friday 31st December 8:30am
Mori made his way alone, somewhat secretively and somewhat more slowly than he wanted to Kawasaki. A full head cold had now descended and he felt weak and heady, was dripping with mucusand as a consequence was hardly enthusiastic about the task ahead of him. The freezing conditions all around him did nothing to ease his mood. Nonetheless he persisted in his covert duty, not before popping into the local doctor and being prescribed the usual bucket load of tablets, clear that despite Sakamoto’s instruction he wanted at least to talk to a few other people before he pulled in Yamada for full interrogative questioning.
Eri Yamada's parents sat silently around the low table in their guest reception room waiting patiently for Sergeant Mori to begin. The heater above the window gently hummed and sent wafts of warm air into the cold room and Mori, thankfully clutching the cup of green tea he'd been offered, thought carefully about what he wanted to say. To his left he had an emergency pack of tissues to deal with his streaming nose.
Similar to the evening before he was looking into the eyes of those who had suffered loss but even so Mrs Tsuchida, particularly, looked like she'd be a sad looking woman even under less trying circumstances.
Mori opened his small notebook and took out his pen from within his jacket pocket. 'Can you think of anyone who would want to kill your daughter?’
Four heartbreaking eyes stared dolefully back. It was an awful question to ask anybody and it was painfully clear they had no-one or no event in mind. They had no need to speak.
Mori blew his nose, not for the first time, and then tried again. 'Was your daughter happily married Mrs Tsuchida?'
'As far as I know.'
'She didn't confide in you at all? No little secrets?'
'No secrets, no. I'm sure they were quite happily married.' Mrs Tsuchida's tone suggested that even if there were any minor indiscretions she didn't appreciate being asked. 'I'm quite sure they were happy!' she repeated again for emphasis. Mori looked across to Mr Tsuchida who stared passively back - his thick, black-rimmed spectacles making his eyes look unusually blank and glassy. Mrs Tsuchida, it appeared, spoke for both of them and was quite clearly the ruler of the roost.
'Do you know why they didn't have any children? Do you know of any specific reason?'
'None that we know of.'
It was becoming a tiring refrain.
'No issues in their sexual relationship?'
'Look! I don't think that is any of your business! And it certainly wasn’t any of ours.' It was Mr Tsuchida who had unexpectedly stepped in, glancing nervously at his wife as he did so.
'My apologies,' bowed Mori. 'But I do need to ask the question, however impertinent or painful it might be. I just need to be certain that there were no problems in their marriage, that's all.'
'My wife's already told you. As far as we are concerned they were a very happy, hard-working couple.'
‘Okay, okay, I understand.' Mori thought quickly again about other angles that may have led to problems or motives. 'Was your daughter a wealthy woman? Had she inherited any money at all, from you from-’
‘No she wasn’t,’ came the firm reply, this time from Mrs Tsuchida. ‘She was a good girl, she worked hard. She was a good wife-’
‘And you have absolutely no idea why such a good, hardworking wife and daughter might have been so brutally murdered?’ interrupted Mori, losing his patience more
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