Nocturne of Remembrance by Shichiri Nakayama Read Free Book Online Page A

police.
    “Who else lived with you?”
    “Our two daughters. The older one is Miyuki and the younger one is Rinko.”
    “Let’s back up. You wanted to separate from your husband and start a new life. What were you planning to do with your two daughters?”
    “I felt bad, but I was planning to leave them there. I thought that if I had children from a previous marriage, Mr. Yoshiwaki absolutely wouldn’t want me.”
    Mikoshiba wanted to let out a big sigh, but he was right in front of the client. It might sound good to say that she was incapable of lying, but the woman seemed to have no clue how others would react to her words, either. No wonder the jurors had received the blackest impression.
    “So you accept the prosecutor’s closing statement.”
    “Not all of it. It wasn’t planned.”
    But that was in the subjective realm. In court, you faced a judge, a jury, and a seasoned prosecutor accustomed to dealing with criminals—not a psychiatrist. Going on and on about a subjective point would only worsen her impression.
    In any case, the greatest difficulty of this case was that she affirmed the facts of the murder. A comeback was out of the question. From what he had heard so far, getting the decision reversed was nearly impossible.
    “You have admitted to the murder. And the motive is not something for which allowances can be made. What do you want, as a client?”
    “Please get the sentence lightened,” she blurted out loud and clear. “Please get me out of here as quickly as possible.”
    Understandably, Mikoshiba was a bit appalled. Even though she admitted to killing a human being, she abhorred being subjected to punishment. He had seen a great number of haughty, selfish clients, but someone who was so openly self-centered was rare.
    “Don’t you have any desire to atone for the crime?”
    “I do, but more than that I am worried about my daughters.”
    “Hunh?”
    “I can’t leave those children alone for over ten years.”
    “Hey. Didn’t you just say that you were planning to leave them behind?”
    “That was if my husband was still alive. With me as the breadwinner in the family gone, even he would have had to raise those two. But now that he’s dead, I’m the only person who can raise them properly.”
    What she was saying was inconsistent. It was illogical. To begin with, her reasoning revolved purely around herself. Even if she shed large tears in the defendant’s seat, she would not get a fragment of sympathy from the jurors.
    “Do you understand how difficult this will be?”
    “Of course I do. That is why I am asking you to defend me. Rather than a public attorney.”
    Mikoshiba tried to observe Akiko once again. She certainly couldn’t hide the wear and tear that came from age, but even allowing for that, she was hardly in the attractive category. Her voice had a coarse timber, and the tips of her fingernails, which didn’t seem to see much care, were filthy. Just the back of her hands hinted at how rough and red they were. Pulled back into a bun, her hair was full of dandruff. She didn’t appear to have any qualms about the selfishness of her request, and probably didn’t think it was selfish to begin with. Only, it was hard to reconcile her words with a woman who was unremarkable no matter how you looked at her.
    The world had no shortage of people who forgot who they were: women with middling incomes who bought up all the brand-name goods in sight and declared bankruptcy; men with nominal driving experiencewho coveted Ferraris and committed crimes to get their hands on one; middle-aged men with no standout features other than their gray hair and pot bellies dreaming of marrying beauties; junior-high girls, no doubt visitors from a world without mirrors, who believed they could appear together with famous stars and signed up with talent agencies. Meetings of victims of mass swindling schemes were rife with such types.
    Yet Akiko didn’t seem like one of those people. It was