Death and The Flower by Suzuki Koji

Author:Suzuki, Koji [Suzuki, Koji]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781941220375
Publisher: Kodansha USA
Published: 2014-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

8

The next day, he visited the police station in his precinct and told them the gist of the story. The assigned officer listened cordially, but that was as far as it went. It was beyond clear that at this point, there was nothing for the police to act on. The officer offered mere consolation: “We’ll step up the neighborhood patrol.” Yoshiaki could only respond with a short bow and a thank-you when he left.

For a week afterwards, Yoshiaki used all his spare time even at work desperately attempting to ascertain the identity of the prank caller.

He called friends he had invited over, opened up about the situation, and asked if they had any clues. He also asked a coworker for advice. He came up empty-handed. Regarding the coworker, Yoshiaki was sorely disappointed by his misguided aperçu that Eriko might be having an affair.

On Sunday afternoon, Yoshiaki went to the roof of the municipal housing project and peered into his own apartment with a pair of binoculars, but it was impossible to see what was happening inside. It would take an astronomical telescope to specify types of stuffed animals. Even such a telescope, however, would be helpless against the blind spot from the floor up to a height of about three feet. From this roof, the visible area was limited to a narrow section of the living room. The baby napped on a cushion on the floor with the stuffed animal right beside her. Yoshiaki couldn’t help but feel that this scenario was implausible.

Perhaps a salesman held a terrible grudge, irritated by the way Eriko had spoken to him on the phone. When Yoshiaki answered calls at home, as soon as he figured out it was a solicitation or sales pitch, he’d hang up in a fairly rude manner. Even though it was an inevitable part of their jobs, some callers probably did get upset. When he brought up the possibility to Eriko, she told him she had taken calls from a real estate agent and a securities firm back in Naka Meguro but that she had been polite in declining their offers. As far as Yoshiaki knew, Eriko’s phone manners were almost too courteous. It wasn’t likely that she’d angered anyone.

Considering the caller phoned both the Naka Meguro apartment and their current place, at one point Yoshiaki suspected their realtor and the moving company. Yet as far as he could remember, there were no issues that would have earned their spite, plus the voice of the prank caller was plainly different. Just to be certain, he called both companies using trumped-up excuses. Both voices that answered were quite unlike the peculiar, lazy speech of the prank caller.

In addition, he checked out by phone the men Eriko had listed: the newspaper salesman, the NHK fee collector, the electrician, the telecom technician … There was no way of knowing the name or number of the religious solicitor, but since Eriko had spoken with him for nearly half an hour, she clearly remembered his speech and there was no need to confirm.

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