The Devotion Of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino Read Free Book Online

“What?”
    “We have to take off his clothes. Not just his jacket, but his sweater and pants, too. And we’d better do it quick, before rigor mortis sets in.” Ishigami reached for the man’s jacket while he talked.
    “Yes, right,” Yasuko said. She leaned forward to help, but her fingers trembled with revulsion.
    Ishigami paused. “Actually, never mind. I’ll do this. You go help your daughter.”
    “I’m sorry,” Yasuko said, nodding, then stood slowly.
    “Ms. Hanaoka,” Ishigami called to her turned back. She looked around. “You’ll need an alibi.”
    “An alibi? But I don’t have an alibi.”
    “That’s why we have to create one,” Ishigami said. He drew on the jacket he had just taken from the body. “Trust me. Logical thinking will get us through this.”

Chapter III

    “If this is what you call ‘logical thinking,’ I’d enjoy analyzing your brain functions one of these days.”
    Manabu Yukawa, his cheek propped up on one hand, gave an exaggerated yawn. He’d taken off his smallish wire-frame glasses some time ago and set them aside, as if to say,
I won’t be needing these.
    Which was probably true. Kusanagi had been sitting across from him, staring at the chessboard, for over twenty minutes now, unable to think of a way to break out of his predicament. There was nowhere for his king to run; he couldn’t even play the cornered rat and take out a piece or two of his opponent’s on his way down. He had considered every possible move by now, and each led straight to certain defeat.
    “You know, chess really isn’t my kind of game,” Kusanagi muttered.
    Yukawa rolled his eyes. “Here he goes again.”
    “First of all, what’s all this about taking your opponent’s pieces and not being able to use them? They’re the spoils of war! Why can’t I add them to my army?”
    “Don’t go blaming the rules of the game. Besides, the fact of the matter is your opponent’s pieces aren’t spoils, they’re soldiers. When you take them off the board, you’re killing them. Not much use for dead soldiers.”
    “But you can use them in shogi!”
    “Well, credit the man who thought up shogi for being so flexible. I suppose that when you capture pieces in shogi you’re making them surrender, not killing them. That’s why you get to use them again.”
    “Chess should be the same way.”
    “I don’t think going turncoat sits well with the spirit of knighthood. Look, stop making lame excuses, and look at the situation
logically
. You can only move one piece on your turn. And you have only a few pieces that actually can move, and none of those moves will do the slightest thing to stop me. Whatever you do, on my next move I will advance my knight, and—checkmate.”
    “I give up.” Kusanagi slumped in his chair. “Chess is boring.”
    “With you, yes.” Yukawa glanced at the clock on the wall. “Forty-two minutes. And most of that was you thinking. I wonder how it is that a man such as yourself has so much time to waste here. Won’t that hardheaded supervisor of yours chew you out?”
    “Nah, I just cleaned up this stalker murder case. Gotta take it easy a bit
sometimes
.” Kusanagi reached for his dark-stained mug. The instant coffee Yukawa had offered him when he arrived had gone completely cold.
    At the moment, Yukawa and Kusanagi were the only ones in Lab 13 of the Imperial University physics department. The students had all stepped out for classes, which was precisely why Kusanagi had chosen this time to drop in.
    Kusanagi’s cell phone rang in his pocket. Yukawa put on his white lab coat and grinned. “See, they’re onto you already.”
    Kusanagi frowned as he looked at the incoming call display. It seemed Yukawa was right. The call was from a junior detective in his department.
----

    The crime scene was on the Tokyo side of the Old Edogawa River, not far from a sewage treatment facility. Just across the water, on the river’s other bank, was Chiba Prefecture.
Why couldn’t