Chapter 34: Labyrinthine Mystery

After attending the court hearing, Shiraishi returned to the precinct to work in the afternoon.

Once he had changed into his uniform, he bypassed all other paperwork and headed straight to the interrogation room.

"Chief, how did the hearing go?" Akasaka asked as soon as he saw Shiraishi.

"Supplementary investigation ordered. The next hearing is in a week," Shiraishi said concisely, looking through the one-way mirror.

***

"I see... I understand, I understand. That must have been unbearable!"

"Madam, you have truly been through so much."

"Regardless, your new life is finally beginning. Congratulations."

"However... Ma'am, my colleague has already checked your vehicle's travel logs. You did go to Mr. Hayashida's apartment that day, didn't you?"

Gen, having gained the woman's trust by constantly validating her complaints, managed to get her to open up. Yamada then entered and whispered to him about the "verified GPS records," prompting Gen to press the issue.

Outside the room, Akasaka and Aoki remained silent, the atmosphere turning awkward. Strictly speaking, checking a civilian's car GPS without a warrant was against protocol. Monitoring traffic cameras was one thing, but snooping directly into someone's personal vehicle was another.

Shiraishi, however, did not speak up. While his own "principles" weren't exactly quantified, he estimated them to be around sixty out of a hundred; he was not averse to irregular but effective investigative methods.

Shiraishi’s standard was simple: "If you can take responsibility, it’s fine."

If there were a risk of causing a major miscarriage of justice, that was a line he could not cross. But if they were wrong and merely faced a complaint, then as long as one wrote a formal apology and reflected on the matter, it was a situation where one could "take responsibility."

Inside the interrogation room, realizing the evidence was irrefutable, Mrs. Hayashida had no choice but to admit it. "Yes, I did go to that man's place that day. I originally wanted to talk about the divorce, but he wouldn't let it go, so we had an argument... but his death has nothing to do with me!"

In Shiraishi's mind, the case records replayed: at around one o'clock, a neighbor had heard arguing and crashing sounds coming from Hayashida's room. When the neighbor knocked to check on them, Hayashida claimed he was on the phone and had accidentally knocked something over...

That had become the evidence that "Hayashida was still alive and alone before one o'clock."

It appeared now that he wasn't alone; rather, Hayashida had likely brushed off the neighbor because he felt that dirty laundry shouldn't be aired in public.

Even so, Mrs. Hayashida continued to insist she hadn't killed him.

Shiraishi observed her expression carefully, frowned slightly, but remained silent.

"Ma'am, it is understandable that you don't want to be involved in this case, but... you didn't leave until after three, did you? So, did you see Mr. Hayashida being killed?" Gen pressed on the most critical point.

***

The time the car departed was after the time of the crime.

"No, the car left after three, but I had already left before two to go to the supermarket for some obscure seasonings." Mrs. Hayashida had previously stated that the deceased had promised to eat a meal she cooked one last time if she agreed to the divorce.

"I see, so when you returned..." Gen probed.

"That's right, I saw his body, and because... I was too scared, I just left," Mrs. Hayashida said impatiently.

However, that "impatience" was a self-protective emotion born of guilt.

"Ma'am, you don't need to be nervous. Did Mr. Hayashida mention anything about meeting someone earlier?"

"No." Mrs. Hayashida shook her head after a moment's thought.

***

Watching Mrs. Hayashida, Akasaka remarked, "This woman... she's very suspicious."

He could also tell that even now, Mrs. Hayashida's words were only half-true—though that was just a gut feeling, not evidence.

"Chief, how is the situation in court? Tsubokura's alibi..." Aoki asked Shiraishi.

"The alibi is true... but it is also fake," Shiraishi said cryptically.

The others outside the soundproof room all looked over.

After Shiraishi summarized the court proceedings, he mentioned how he had questioned the shop clerk after the hearing. He then pulled out the small tablet he carried—to Shiraishi, it was just a larger smartphone.

"Look, this is the blogger's blog from that day. Comparing the exposed sleeves and the hat in her selfies, she must have been wearing this outfit that day..." Shiraishi said, flipping to another full-body photo.

In the photo, she was wearing a white coat over a pale yellow lining, and she was wearing a white hat.

"Eh? Could he have mistaken her for someone else?" Yamada looked stunned—this matched the description the clerk gave of Tsubokura’s attire.

"Mistaken? I think... he actually does own an outfit like that," Shiraishi said gravely.

Aoki realized what Shiraishi meant. "Chief, are you saying... he deliberately misled everyone?"

"While his demeanor cannot be used as evidence, the look on Tsubokura's face when the blogger appeared... well." Shiraishi implicitly acknowledged the theory without stating it outright.

"In other words... Tsubokura knew the blogger had posted on her blog that day and knew the content. Then... probably the very next day, before he was arrested, he wore similar clothes, bought the same coffee at the same time, and after being arrested, he held out for over half a month until the clerk's memory grew hazy before mentioning this?" Yamada finally grasped the situation.

***

"Damn it! This guy... but that clerk and the blogger..." Akasaka was frustrated but helpless.

Even if they asked again, it was useless. The clerk could no longer remember clearly, and if the blogger were questioned about the posting date, she would likely be unable to provide definitive testimony.

In other words, the alibi was real, yet it was highly likely to be fake, relying entirely on the fallibility of human memory.

At this point, unilaterally dismissing the witness testimony would also carry the risk of "coerced confession." Procedurally, the alibi stood, and the witness had not lied.

***

"Wait! If we think about it the other way around... assuming this blogger was truly exploited by Tsubokura, then Tsubokura would first have needed to know about this blogger, knowing that she would go to Beika Park on September 3rd and order the 'Signature Iced Latte'!" Yamada suddenly realized this.

Yamada then took the initiative: "I will investigate the blogger's followers, then contact the platform to verify the data of users who frequently browsed her blog on the day of the crime!"

Prompted by Shiraishi, Yamada also thought to "work backward"—if the theory were correct, Tsubokura must have identified the blog first, committed the crime, and then dressed in similar clothing the next day to confuse the clerk's memory.

Therefore, the "browsing history" might be where he left a trace.

Likewise:

"I'll go look for the surveillance footage from the day after and the day before the crime!" Makotaka Miwa also volunteered.

"Good, and be sure to get some eye drops... buy the good stuff, it's reimbursable," Shiraishi said with a rare touch of humanity—he had noticed her "dry eyes" had only slightly improved and had not disappeared.

However, with manpower stretched thin, Shiraishi could only maintain a limited amount of humanity.

The two young officers left, but the two veteran detectives, Akasaka and Aoki, remained grim-faced.

"But... what about Mrs. Hayashida..." Akasaka felt confused—how could a new suspect appear while the suspicion surrounding the previous one was rising so rapidly?