Free The Devotion Of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino Page A

go and check out that alibi, every bit of it. If anything doesn’t fit, I want you to go back and talk to this Yasuko again.”

Chapter V

    A small pole about thirty centimeters long stuck up from a square box on the lab table. There was a ring, only a few centimeters across, encircling the base of the pole. The strange item would have looked a bit like a carnival ring-toss game were it not for the cord snaking out of the side of the box and the single toggle switch on top.
    “What the heck’s this?” Kusanagi muttered, bending down to stare at the device.
    “I wouldn’t touch that if I were you,” warned Kishitani beside him.
    “Nah, I’m sure it’s fine. If this thing were dangerous, he never would’ve left it lying out here like this.” Kusanagi flicked the switch. The moment he did so, the ring around the pole began to float upward.
    Kusanagi gaped. The ring was hovering in midair, wobbling slightly.
    “Try pushing the ring down,” came a voice from behind him.
    Kusanagi looked around as Yukawa walked into the room, a file folder cradled in his arms.
    “Welcome back. Class?” Kusanagi asked as he turned back to the floating ring. Reaching out gingerly, he tried to push it down with his fingertips. A second later he yanked back his hand. “Yowch! That thing’s hot!”
    “It’s true, I’m not in the habit of leaving dangerous objects lying about. I do, however, assume a basic knowledge of physics.” Yukawa strolled over to the table and flicked off the switch. “This device is only high school–level physics, as a matter of fact.”
    “Well, I didn’t take physics in high school,” Kusanagi said, blowing on his fingertips. Kishitani laughed immoderately.
    “Who’s your friend?” Yukawa asked with a raised eyebrow.
    The smile vanished from Kishitani’s face and he bowed curtly. “Kishitani. I work with Detective Kusanagi. I’ve heard a lot about you, Professor. You’ve helped us out with a lot of cases, haven’t you? They call you Detective Galileo down at the station.”
    Yukawa frowned and waved his hand. “Don’t call me that. I don’t help out because I enjoy it, you know. I just couldn’t bear listening to Detective Kusanagi’s faulty attempts at reasoning on a certain occasion, and I made the mistake of correcting him. I’d be wary of spending too much time with him, if I were you. You might catch whatever he has that’s hardened his brain into a rock.”
    Kishitani guffawed, earning him a glare from his superior.
    “You laugh too much,” Kusanagi grumbled. “Besides,” he said, turning to Yukawa, “you know you enjoy trying to solve our cases.”
    “What’s there to enjoy? Do you know how much valuable research time I’ve squandered on your account? I certainly hope you haven’t brought me another of your annoying, so-called ‘unsolvable’ puzzles today?”
    “No, you’re off the hook for now. We just happened to be in the area, so we dropped in.”
    “Ah, that’s a relief.” Yukawa walked over to a nearby sink, filled a kettle with water, and set it on a gas burner—the start of his usual instant coffee ritual. “So, did you resolve the murder along the Old Edogawa River?” he asked, measuring coffee powder into a cup.
    “How did you know we were working on that case?”
    “Simple deduction. It was on the news the same night you took a call while in my lab. And from the look on your face, I would further deduce that the investigation isn’t going so well.”
    Kusanagi gestured dismissively. “Oh, I wouldn’t say it’s going all that badly. We have a few suspects now. It’s just getting started.”
    “Oh? Suspects?” Yukawa asked over his shoulder, not sounding particularly interested.
    “Actually,” Kishitani chipped in, “I don’t think we’re heading in the right direction, myself.”
    Yukawa lifted an eyebrow at him. “You object to the direction the investigation is taking?”
    “Well, I wouldn’t call it an objection…”
    “I’d