Malice by Keigo Higashino Page A

odd way that detectives saw the world.
    I told Detective Kaga about speaking to Miyako Fujio after the funeral. He seemed intrigued by this.
    â€œI never did get it out of her,” I said, “but did she have an alibi?”
    â€œSomeone else is looking into that, but it looks like she does.”
    â€œI see. So I guess there’s no point worrying about her too much then.”
    â€œDid you suspect her?”
    â€œI wouldn’t call it suspicion, but she did have a motive.”
    â€œYou mean the intrusion into her brother’s privacy? But killing Mr. Hidaka wouldn’t fix that.”
    â€œWhat if she realized he wasn’t going to be sincere about his apology, got mad, and killed him in the heat of the moment?”
    â€œBut Mr. Hidaka was still alive when she left the house.”
    â€œShe could’ve come back later?”
    â€œIntending to kill him?”
    â€œSure.” I nodded. “Intending to kill him.”
    â€œBut Rie was still in the house.”
    â€œShe could’ve waited for her to leave, then sneaked in.”
    â€œSo Miyako Fujio knew that Rie would be leaving the house before her husband did?”
    â€œIt might have come up in conversation.”
    Detective Kaga interlaced his fingers on the tabletop. He tapped the tips of his thumbs together repeatedly as he thought. After a while he said, “Did she come in through the front door?”
    â€œHow about the window?”
    â€œSo a woman in a suit came in through the window?” He grinned. “And Mr. Hidaka just sat there, watching her?”
    â€œShe could’ve just waited until he’d gone to the bathroom. Then waited behind the door for him to come back.”
    â€œThe paperweight in her hand?” Detective Kaga swung his right fist up and down.
    â€œI suppose so. Then Hidaka walks in”—I made a fist of my right hand, too—“and she smacks him in the back of the head.”
    â€œI see. And after that?”
    I thought back on what Detective Kaga had told me the other day. “Then I guess she strangled him. With the telephone cord, right? Then she fled the scene.”
    â€œHow did she leave?”
    â€œOut the window. If she’d gone out the front door, it would’ve been unlocked when we got there later.”
    â€œThat’s true.” He reached out for his coffee cup, noticed it was empty, and left the empty cup sitting there. “But why didn’t she go out the front door?”
    â€œI don’t know. Maybe she didn’t want people to see her? Perhaps it was a psychological thing. Of course, if she has an alibi anyway, this is all just fanciful conjecture.”
    â€œTrue enough. She does have an alibi, which would indeed make the story you just told entirely fanciful conjecture.”
    Something about the deliberate way he repeated my own words struck me as odd. “You can go ahead and forget it then.”
    â€œStill, it was an interesting scenario. I was wondering if you could make another guess for me.”
    â€œI’m not terribly good at this, but sure. Fire away.”
    â€œWhy did the killer turn off the lights in the room before leaving?”
    â€œIsn’t it obvious?” I said after a moment’s thought. “She wanted people to think no one was home. That way, even if anyone happened by, they would just leave. It would delay the discovery of the body. Which is, in fact, what did happen.”
    â€œSo the killer wanted to delay the discovery of the body?”
    â€œDon’t all killers want to do that?”
    â€œMaybe,” he said. “If that was the plan, then why was the computer left on?”
    â€œThe computer?”
    â€œYes. When you came into the room, the screen was on. It was in your account.”
    â€œThat’s true. Maybe she didn’t care whether the computer was on or not.”
    â€œI tried a simple experiment after leaving you the other day. We