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the killer returned, this time entering through the window with a single purpose in mind. That purpose, I need hardly say, was to kill Kunihiko Hidaka. It makes the most sense to assume that this impulse to murder stemmed from something that happened during the killer’s first visit.
    Now we must consider who visited the Hidaka household on the day of the murder. At present, we know of two people: Miyako Fujio and Osamu Nonoguchi.
    At the beginning of our investigation, we focused on these two as the prime suspects. We were somewhat astonished to find that both of them had alibis.
    Miyako Fujio had returned to her home by six o’clock the evening of the day in question. We have two witnesses corroborating this: her fiancé, Tadao Nakazuka, and a man who was going to assist with their wedding, Kikuo Ueda. They were meeting to discuss the couple’s nuptials, to be held next month. Ueda is Nakazuka’s boss at work, with no direct personal connection to Miyako Fujio. It is difficult to imagine that he would falsify his account to cover for his subordinate’s fiancée. Furthermore, according to Rie Hidaka, Miyako Fujio left the Hidaka household a little after five o’clock, which, considering the transportation routes and distance between the Hidaka and Fujio houses means an arrival time of six o’clock makes perfect sense. We have to conclude that her alibi is sound.
    Now, for Osamu Nonoguchi.
    I can’t deny that I have some personal feelings concerning this individual. He was a colleague at my former position, and as such he knew me during those less-than-happy days.
    Were our personal connection to cast a shadow on my investigation in any way, I’d be obliged to remove myself from the case. However, I’m determined to view our shared history as objectively as possible while continuing to pursue this case. Note that I don’t intend to forget said history. For I believe that history could prove an important weapon going forward.
    The following is Mr. Nonoguchi’s alibi for the day in question:
    Having been visiting at the Hidakas’, he left around four thirty in the afternoon shortly after Miyako Fujio arrived. He went straight home and worked until around six o’clock. At that time, his editor from Dojisha Publishing, a Mr. Yukio Oshima, arrived and they began their meeting. Soon after, a call came from Kunihiko Hidaka, saying he wanted to talk about something, and asking Mr. Nonoguchi to come to his house at eight o’clock.
    Nonoguchi and Oshima went to a nearby restaurant and ate, after which Nonoguchi left for the Hidaka household. He arrived just around eight o’clock to find the house apparently empty. Growing suspicious, he phoned Rie Hidaka. He then waited in the Lamp, a nearby café. He returned to the Hidaka household at around eight forty, just as Rie Hidaka was arriving. Together they went inside and discovered the body in Hidaka’s home office, accessible via a hallway from the living room.
    Taking all of this at face value, Osamu Nonoguchi’s alibi seems nearly perfect. Mr. Oshima from Dojisha Publishing and the owner of the Lamp both corroborate his story.
    However, it’s not entirely ironclad. Even assuming his account is mostly accurate, he would have had an opportunity to kill Kunihiko Hidaka before phoning Rie. To do this, he would have had to go straight from dinner with Mr. Oshima to the Hidaka household, immediately kill Mr. Hidaka, then, after covering his tracks, blithely phone the victim’s wife as though nothing had happened.
    However, according to the autopsy, this scenario doesn’t work. For lunch that day, while out shopping with his wife, Kunihiko Hidaka had eaten a hamburger, and from the state of digestion, we can say that the time of death was between five and six in the afternoon, and certainly no later than seven.
    Osamu Nonoguchi’s alibi holds.
    However, I still suspect he is the murderer. My reason