Free Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino Page B

smart woman’s instinct for self defence.’
    Kusanagi wiped his mouth with one hand and looked at the junior detective. ‘Do you have those instincts, too, Utsumi?’
    She chuckled and shook her head. ‘I’m afraid not. If my husband were cheating on me I’d probably go ballistic.’
    ‘I feel sorry for the guy already. Anyway, I don’t understand how anyone can go on living a regular married life when they know their partner’s unfaithful.’
    He glanced at his watch. It had already been thirty minutes since his conversation with Yukiko Ikai.
    *
    The Ikai residence was as upper-class as the Mashibas’, with a large gate sporting decorative posts covered in brick-shaped tiles. Right next to the gate was an extra garage for visitors, which saved Utsumi the trouble of having to find parking.
    Yukiko Ikai and her husband, Tatsuhiko, were waiting for their visitors inside. Apparently, she had called her husband after Kusanagi talked to her and he had hurried home.
    ‘Everything all right at the office?’ Kusanagi asked.
    ‘We’ve got a great team, so I’m not worried. I’m not looking forward to explaining this to our clients, though. Speaking of which …’ He looked up at the two detectives. ‘What did happen? What’s going on?’
    ‘Yoshitaka Mashiba passed away at home.’
    ‘I know that. But if the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is involved, then this is something more than an accident or suicide, isn’t it?’
    Kusanagi gave a little sigh, remembering that he was talking to a lawyer who likely wouldn’t settle for the usual vague explanations – and who, if he really wanted to, would have other ways of finding out what he wanted to know if they tried to stonewall him. After emphasizing that all facts pertaining to the case were to be kept secret, Kusanagi told the Ikais about the poisoning, and that arsenous acid had been found in the coffee Mr Mashiba had been drinking.
    Yukiko, sitting next to Tatsuhiko on the sofa, put both hands to the sides of her round face. Her eyes were wide and a little red. She was somewhat on the plump side;Kusanagi wondered whether she had always been that way, or whether it was because she had just had a baby.
    Tatsuhiko ran his hands back across his head. His hair was slightly curly, as though he had got a perm some time ago and it was beginning to fade. ‘Well, that explains that,’ he said. ‘When I heard that the police had been called, and there was going to be an autopsy, I thought something was up. That, and I couldn’t imagine him committing suicide.’
    ‘But you could imagine him being murdered?’
    ‘I don’t know what other people might think of him. Still, poison’s no way to go …’ He frowned and shook his head.
    ‘Is there anyone who might have had ill will for Mr Mashiba?’
    ‘If you’re asking me whether he ever butted heads with people, then I couldn’t say no. As far as I’m aware, though, what conflicts he had were strictly about business. I doubt he ever gave anyone reason to dislike him personally. Whenever there was trouble, it tended to be me they pushed out to the front line, not him,’ Tatsuhiko explained, jabbing his thumb towards his own chest.
    ‘What about outside the office? Did Mr Mashiba have any enemies in his personal life?’ Kusanagi asked.
    Tatsuhiko leaned back on the sofa and crossed his legs. ‘I can’t say. He and I were close business partners, but we tended not to pry into each other’s private lives.’
    ‘But he did invite you to parties at his home.’
    Tatsuhiko shook his head dismissively. ‘He invited us to his parties precisely because we don’t pry. It’s moreconvenient that way. These are the lengths to which we busy people have to go in order to attain some semblance of a normal life.’
    In other words, he didn’t have time to lounge around with mere ‘friends’.
    ‘Did you notice anything out of the ordinary when you were at the Mashibas’ house on Friday night?’
    ‘If you mean