Read Online Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino - Free Book Online

hung her head for a moment, then looked up again, blinked slowly, and took a breath. ‘You promise to keep it a secret?’
    ‘As long as it isn’t directly related to the case, we keep all personal information private. It’s standard procedure,’ Kusanagi explained.
    Hiromi nodded. ‘Then … as you suspect, Mr Mashiba and I did have a … special relationship. That, and I visited him earlier over the weekend.’
    ‘Exactly when was this?’
    ‘Saturday night. A little after nine o’clock, I think.’
    A rendezvous while the wife was away, then.
    ‘Had this been arranged in advance?’
    ‘No. He called me at work – I was teaching a patchwork class. He called right about when the class was finishing. He invited me over.’
    ‘So you went, and what happened next?’
    Hiromi thought for a moment, then with growing determination, she looked back at Kusanagi. ‘I spent the night and left the next morning.’
    Utsumi had begun taking notes. Kusanagi glanced at her but couldn’t read anything from her expression.
She’s on to something,
he thought, resolving to ask her about it later.
    ‘When did you drink coffee together?’
    ‘In the morning. I made it. Oh, but we also had coffee the night before.’
    ‘On Saturday night? So you had coffee twice?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Did you make the coffee the night before as well?’
    ‘No. Mr Mashiba had already made it when I arrived. He poured a cup for both of us,’ Hiromi continued, looking down at the table. ‘It was the first time I’d ever seen him make his own coffee. “It’s been a while,” he said.’
    ‘But you didn’t use saucers that evening?’ Utsumi asked, looking up from her notebook.
    ‘No,’ Hiromi confirmed.
    ‘But you made the coffee the next morning – yesterday morning?’ Kusanagi asked.
    ‘Mr Mashiba’s coffee was a little too strong, so he asked me to make it in the morning. He stood there watching mewhile I did it.’ She looked up at Utsumi. ‘We used saucers with our cups that time. Those were the ones in the sink.’
    Kusanagi nodded. So far, her story was checking out. ‘Just to be certain, I should ask whether the coffee you drank on Saturday night and Sunday morning was made from the ground beans at his house?’
    ‘I think so. At least when I made it, I used the coffee in the refrigerator. I don’t know about the coffee Mr Mashiba drank on Saturday night. But I don’t see why he would’ve used anything different. There was plenty left.’
    ‘Have you ever made coffee at the Mashibas’ before this weekend?’
    ‘Only rarely, when Ayane asked me to. She was the one who showed me how to make it without a coffeemaker. That’s how I knew what to do yesterday.’
    ‘Did you notice anything different when you were making the coffee? Was the bag in a different place than usual? Was it the same brand?’
    Hiromi let her eyelids fall closed and gave her head a shake. ‘I don’t remember anything different. It was the same as always.’ When she opened her eyes again they had a gleam of curiosity in them. ‘But I don’t see why it should matter how anything was when
I
made the coffee.’
    ‘Why’s that?’
    ‘Well, because …’ She lowered her face, eyes looking up at them. ‘There wasn’t any poison in the coffee when I made it, right? If someone poisoned the coffee, it would’ve had to have been after I used it.’
    ‘That’s true, unless there was a trick to it, one that involved doing something to the coffee earlier.’
    ‘A trick?’ Hiromi didn’t look convinced. ‘Well, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.’
    ‘You drank coffee that morning. What next?’
    ‘I left. I teach a patchwork class at an arts school in Ikebukuro.’
    ‘What time does the class run?’
    ‘Well, there’s one in the morning, which goes from nine to eleven, and one in the afternoon, which goes from three to six.’
    ‘What do you do between classes?’
    ‘Mostly clean up from the first class, eat lunch, and get