Malice by Keigo Higashino

were moving? Do you think it’s such a bad thing to share that emotion with the world?”
    â€œEmotion?” She stared at me curiously. Then she slowly shook her head. “What about a middle-school student who rapes a girl could possibly be moving?”
    â€œSome things have to be said as the backdrop to a moving story.”
    She sighed again. For my benefit. “You’re a writer, too, aren’t you, Mr. Nonoguchi?”
    â€œYes, well, I write children’s books.”
    â€œAnd are you so eager to defend Hidaka because you’re an author yourself?”
    I thought a moment before answering, “Maybe so.”
    â€œWhat a terrible profession.” She looked back at her watch. “I’m sorry, I have to go.” She turned and walked toward the waiting van.
    *   *   *
    I went back to my apartment building, where I found a piece of paper in my mailbox.
    â€œI’m at the restaurant where we ate the other day. Give me a call. Kaga.”
    A phone number I assumed was the restaurant’s was written at the bottom.
    I changed out of my mourning clothes and went straight to the restaurant without calling. He was sitting by the window reading a book. I couldn’t see what the title was.
    He noticed me and started to stand. I waved him back down into his seat. “Don’t bother.”
    â€œSorry to call you out here like this.” He lowered his head. He was aware that today was Hidaka’s funeral.
    I ordered another hot milk from the waitress and sat down.
    â€œI know what you’re after. This, right?” I pulled some folded sheets of paper out of my jacket pocket and set them down in front of him. These were the most recent notes, which I’d printed out before leaving home.
    â€œThanks so much.” He reached out and unfolded the pages.
    â€œActually, could you not read it here? If you read the earlier notes, you know that I wrote about you, too. It would be embarrassing for you to read it in front of me.”
    He grinned. “Of course. I’ll just put these away for now then.” He refolded the pages and put them in his own jacket pocket.
    â€œSo,” I asked after a sip of water, “I hope my notes are a little bit of help?”
    â€œOh, they are,” Kaga said immediately. “There are things you can’t pick up about the atmosphere of the case just by listening to stories, but when you see it all written down, it’s easier to grasp. I wish the witnesses in my other cases would write down everything like this.”
    â€œWell, I’m glad.”
    The waitress brought my hot milk. It came with a spoon to scoop off the layer of froth on the top.
    â€œWhat did you think about the cat?” I asked.
    â€œI was surprised. You hear about cats causing trouble, but I don’t think I’d ever heard about somebody taking it quite so far in dealing with one.”
    â€œAre you investigating the owner?”
    â€œI made the reports to my boss, and someone else is on it.”
    â€œI see.” I drank my milk. I didn’t feel great about casting blame on someone else like that. “Well, other than that, I think everything in my notes is exactly as I told it to you.”
    â€œIt was.” He nodded. “But it’s the details that have really helped.”
    â€œWhat kind of details?”
    â€œWell, like the part where you were talking to Mr. Hidaka in his office. You wrote that Hidaka smoked one cigarette during that time. If we hadn’t read your notes, we never would’ve known that.”
    â€œYes … but just so you know, I’m not really sure it was only one. It could’ve been two. I just remember that he was smoking, so I wrote it like that.”
    â€œNo, it was one cigarette,” he said with finality. “No mistake.”
    â€œOkay.”
    I had no idea what that had to do with anything. Maybe it was just another example of the