On Parole by Akira Yoshimura

Author:Akira Yoshimura [Yoshimura, Akira]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harcourt, Inc.
Published: 1999-04-13T17:00:00+00:00

Kikutani shook himself and pulled the pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket. As he struck a match, he recalled that people who were off tobacco for a long time usually got dizzy when they started again. That didn’t seem to be the case with him. True, it tasted bitter, his tongue got a bit numb, and his throat hurt, but he took another puff. He felt a sudden resolve, a determination to stop hesitating and do things.

After his arrest, he was taken to the prosecutor’s office and formally charged. In the process, he learned a good deal. The author of the mysterious letter was Mochizuki’s sister-in-law, who had been a member of Emiko’s dyeing club. After a meeting, she happened to spot Emiko getting into Mochizuki’s car near Chiba Station. Her suspicions aroused, she followed them in a taxi until they pulled into a motel. In the weeks that followed, she began pursuing them with unusual tenacity, and was able to confirm that Emiko and Mochizuki spent time at the motel after almost every meeting. She also learned that when Kikutani was away on school business or fishing, Mochizuki would stay at his house almost without bothering to make a secret of it. She agonized over what to do with this information, worried that her sister, who was in frail health, would be unable to stand the shock. Finally she decided to send the anonymous letter to Kikutani, in the hope of forcing Emiko to break things off.

He also learned that Emiko had died quickly, from eight stab wounds, and while Mochizuki’s injury had healed, there was nerve damage that paralyzed his right hand. The incident received heavy media coverage, and Mochizuki was forced to quit his job. Shortly after the trial, he left town with his wife and children. Why had a cautious man like Mochizuki carried on his affair with Emiko under Kikutani’s own roof? During the trial, he testified that he believed Kikutani, a fishing fanatic, would never cut short one of his beloved deep-sea excursions. He said that Emiko assured him of this, adding that she seemed to be stimulated by having sex with him in her own house, that the whole thing had been mostly her idea. Eventually they got so used to it that the sense of danger disappeared.

Mochizuki’s description of having sex with his wife devastated Kikutani. Eyes closed tight, he was unable to hold his head up. The person he had thought was a chaste woman was really the opposite. As he listened to the detailed testimony about how much she had loved fornicating with Mochizuki, he became convinced that he’d been right to kill her. His only regret was that he had merely wounded Mochizuki. Still, he wondered, why should his wife, who seemed so satisfied with her life, have taken up with Mochizuki? Kikutani had never chased after other women, never gambled away his salary; she’d always been able to count on his coming straight home to her. But something had been lacking.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.