The Lady Killer by Masako Togawa

Author:Masako Togawa [Masako Togawa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782274100
Publisher: Steerforth Press
Published: 2018-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

5

Shinji climbed the cavelike staircase, his footsteps the only sound echoing in the dim gloom. Up and up: seven floors, and his feet, worn out by walking all day, felt like lead. After six the elevators ceased to function and the hall lights were turned off. At last he reached the seventh floor and paused to wipe the sweat from his brow.

He opened the office door. Here, too, dusk had fallen deeply. Mutsuko Fujitsubo, secretary to his chief, was sitting all alone, a vacant expression on her face. She was a modest-looking but ill-favored girl, with her heavy glasses with their thick, amber-colored rims, and she had joined the office immediately after graduating from junior college two years before.

“Hello! Sorry to be back so late! Is the old man still around?”

“Yes. He’s reading the report from the detective agency.” She pointed resignedly to the door at the far end of the office, worn-out by the long wait.

Shinji washed his face with cold water and, refreshed, went into Hatanaka’s room, the girl following him, her shorthand pad in her hand.

The old man straightened up in his deep chair. “You’ve been working hard, I see.” He spoke gruffly, his voice seeming strangled by phlegm. Shinji sat down and without further ado took out his notebook and, watching the girl out of the corner of his eye to see that she did not fall behind, began to make his report. In all that silent building about which the dusk had fallen, it seemed as if only his voice could be heard.

“Today, I completed my interviews with all the women on the list. It transpired that they had all been interviewed by the police, and that the thrust of their questions was the same as mine: did Ichiro Honda ever attempt to strangle them?”

“And did he?”

“I couldn’t get a word out of two of them. And even with the others, you must realize, it wasn’t an easy question to come right out with. But the three who would talk… two denied it plainly, and it was clear to me that there was no such incident in the third case.”

“No wonder they were not called to give evidence by the prosecutors,” snapped the old man.

“Yes, but why didn’t the defense summon them?” asked Shinji.

“Because the fools were trying to cover up his relationships with women! They thought it best to conceal the fact that he was a lady killer; I disagree with them entirely, of course. Honda Ichiro was on trial in a court of law, not a court of morals!”

Just what I thought, too, thought Shinji approvingly. He went on: “I did find out something quite interesting today, though. Michiko Ono, who works at a library, has a nine-month-old son and claims that the father is Ichiro Honda. If we work on her, she might be persuaded to give evidence on our behalf.”

“And for how long did her relationship with Honda last?”

“Only just the once,” said Shinji sheepishly, and the old man groaned audibly.

“But the child isn’t mentioned in the detective agency report.

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