Chapter 66

Let's take on the mystery once more at the scene. Prompted by Detective Akaba's words, I move from the hospital to the department store.

Once again I meet up with Detective Akaba at the café on the fifth floor where that murder occurred. She's standing stiffly in front of the elevator, waiting for me.

"Detective Akaba...... thank you very much."

"No, no, I'm the one who should be thanking you. You really helped me. On my own, I couldn't come up with any way to handle the current situation."

Listening to what she says, I think it over too.

How to overturn the suicide theory the police are insisting on right here and now.

For now, I step into the shop since I have to be on the scene. Even though a suicide happened here, they're operating as if nothing happened. It isn't packed, but there are a few customers inside. You'd think it the sort of place where people would mourn a death, but looking at people these days I just don't know anymore. Maybe I'm the strange one for thinking death is something special.

No, this isn't the time to be thinking about that. I'm going in.

The instant I take a step forward, a woman coming out of the shop glares at me. When I see who it is, it's the waitress Haruki.

She seems to have a complaint about what we're doing and starts lodging grievances about the police investigation.

"What are you doing? I already told the police everything, and there's absolutely no problem on our side, right? On the day of the incident you searched every inch for anything like a poison container, didn't you? Nothing in the lockers or in the customers' bags...... The suspicions were cleared, so what is this?"

Detective Akaba fires back at that nonsense with a smile.

"That's not it. Today isn't work; we just came to have some tea with this kid, that's all. Other than that, do you have some reason you don't want detectives coming here......?"

It's just a little heavy. You'd think her timid, yet she's pressing the other side with pressure that comes only from the power of her gaze.

The two stare at each other. In the end, the one who caved first was the waitress Haruki.

"Fine! Go on in, why don't you! I'll show you right to the seat where the guy who killed himself was, just like you wanted!"

What consideration. Well, no, but for us trying to investigate the mystery it was perfect.

They lead me to the seat Mr. Uchima had been in. After checking every inch of the tabletop I sit down. Detective Akaba, sitting opposite me across the table, flashes me a peace sign with a smile. Does she want praise for beating Haruki?

While thinking she has her cute side too, I let her have her wish.

"That was amazing, Detective Akaba."

"Right? I'm not about to lose either."

Feels a bit childish. But whatever.

Pulling myself together, I get her to talk about the incident.

"So, the main topic—does coming here today mean we're doing a scene inspection? I get the feeling there's not much we can actually do at the scene here, though."

"Yeah, that's part of it. But I came to see how the staff here are acting. I don't know if you knew, but apparently on the day of the incident one of them was acting really suspiciously."

"Eh? What did they do?"

I'd only had eyes for Mr. Uchima and for Ms. Hasegawa, who'd been flustered. So the actions of the other staff were outside my field of vision.

"You know how that powdered cheese was empty?"

"Was it......?"

"Yeah. We found out pretty late in the investigation, but when we tried to check if maybe poison had been put in there, the powdered cheese that should've been out was completely gone, container washed clean. Then in the trash......"

"Ah, that is suspicious...... definitely......"

"Definitely......?"

I know.

"Mr. Uchima definitely used it too."

"Right? Then maybe the pesticide in the coffee and sugar was fake?"

She leans over the table, bringing her face and body closer to me. But that's not it.

I tell her nothing suspicious was found in that powdered cheese.

"That's not it. Detective Chikage used it afterwards too. She collapsed from food poisoning, but the hospital proved she hadn't taken any agricultural-chemical poison, right......"

"Ah, really? Chikage-chan too...... then why was the powdered-cheese container washed......"

"Right now I can't say...... ah, come to think of it, there was only one powdered-cheese container, wasn't there?"

"Yeah. The discarded powdered cheese was a single container, and that one was the only one placed out for free use in front of the drink bar on the day of the incident."

"Only one......"

One thing that's been bothering me.

Why did Detective Chikage say the meat sauce Chikage had sprinkled with powdered cheese was "too sweet"? They say there was only one bottle in the shop, so Mr. Uchima must have used the same one.

Did she just not mention it? Maybe it really was just sweet, and Detective Chikage had simply imagined it.

No good. At this rate I can't see any answer to the mystery at all.

If only I'd looked more carefully back then. I'd been so focused on Ms. Hasegawa, who'd rushed over to the collapsed Mr. Uchima, that I hadn't spotted anyone else acting suspiciously.

Zero powers of observation.

If I'm going to play at being a detective, there's a lot more I should be thinking about—I curse myself.

In the end we just talked and left the café without eating or drinking anything. Inside the elevator Detective Akaba, who'd been fidgeting, says,

"We could've eaten something, you know."

"No, I'm not really hungry."

"R-really?"

"Yeah. Honestly, I feel like going the other way...... is that insensitive to say?"

"Not a problem. Then shall we go? I'll wait outside when we get off."

Saying that, the instant the elevator doors open she heads for the first-floor restroom. Looks like another reason for her fidgeting.

Following her advice I head for the restroom too. Unfortunately there's a "Cleaning in Progress" sign. Give up? Go down a floor?

Then it'd be a pain to contact her after she went into the women's restroom.

Oh well. When we parted I could just use the park restroom nearby. Thinking that, I look straight up.

A security camera is pointed right at me.

It's a crazy thought, but if only the culprit had shown up on this security camera. The cameras on the scene had recorded nobody approaching him in the café before he drank the poison. That was also the evidence that let the police conclude it was suicide.

......No.

That's right. While I'm waiting I'll have Chikage-senpai contact Ms. Hasegawa. I want to make how she feels about Mr. Uchima's death part of our investigation plan.

Among those connected to me she was the person closest to Mr. Uchima. I thought she, of all people, would know about the suicide...... but then I remembered that right now there's no immediate way to contact Detective Chikage. I'm supposed to be connected to her through the president. I could contact the president...... no, too much trouble.

Tomorrow I'll have to get in touch with Detective Chikage......

Such gentle thoughts I have now cruelly betray the me of tomorrow.

Early the next morning Ms. Hasegawa was found in the shrubbery. They say she had ligature marks on her neck and was dead, her face contorted in agony.

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