Chapter 13 (2/2)

After giving their parents the news, Douno contacted a nearby funeral holanced at the clock and realized it was already four in the afternoon

The house phone rang suddenly He picked it up It was Douno’s mother

“I saw on TV―they caught the killer, didn’t they?”

“What?” Douno uttered in disbelief

“One of our relatives phoned―I heard you know this man?”

Douno did not remember the rest of what they talked about and how their conversation finished He vaguely recalled hisdown here sometime within today

He hastily went over to the TV and turned it on He flipped through the channels searching for a news program

“Two days ago in the afternoon, a kidnapping was reported The victihter of Mr Takafumi Douno, an officer worker of ― City, ― Prefecture Honoka was found dead near the mouth of a river about fifteen kiloe to the body, and the cause of death is thought to be drowning A hbourhood who is an acquaintance of Mr Douno, is thought to be connected to this case and is currently undergoing questioning”

As Douno sat fixated on the television, he heard his wife call him from behind

“Hey”

Douno whipped around

“Was Mr Kitagawa the killer?”

“―They don’t know for sure yet”

“But they just said he ht be connected to the case It’s him, isn’t it?”

His wife grabbed both his arhly

“Answer me!”

Douno answered without looking at Mariko’s face

“They told me it’s likely”

“I knew it,”funny about hie He never talked to us, but always played with Honoka I thought he just liked kids, but that was all a shoasn’t it?”

“No, I really think Kitagawa cared about―”

“Does a man who care about kids kill the with him? We always invited him over to eat He should be thankful―what reason does he have to hate us? Why did you ever become friends with someone like him?!”

Douno could not bring himself to say they were not old friends, and that they had actually met in prison

“Answer me, please!” Mariko pressed tearfully to the man unable to respond to her

Douno and Mariko’s parents both arrived by eight that evening Douno’s father handled the funeral processes in Douno’s place, as he had no idea how to go about it

On the nine o’clock news, Kitagawa began to be referred to as “the suspect”, and his real name and picture was released His criht Mariko flew off the handle when she heard the fact

“You knew, didn’t you?” she screamed

Mariko’s mother held her as she broke down

“You knew that that man killed so what kind of man he was? How could you have let him play with Honoka?”

“He’s atoned for his criht not have killed―”

“But he did this time, didn’t he?! He killed Honoka!”

Douno could not argue back He could only bow his head as the blame was piled upon him Mariko’s parents also shouted at him

“How could you let your family associate with a murderer?”

Even Douno’s parents bowed their heads to Mariko’s parents, apologizing on behalf of their son

It was too late now to say that Kitagawa had helped Douno immeasurably while he was in prison

Rather than be pitied for the death of his child, Douno was bla acquainted with an ex-convict, and to have involved his wife and child with the likes of such a man

Even at the vigil, he could hear voices whispering around him The man was the husband’s friend It was unbearable for Douno to hear He was just as heartbroken fro his child as Mariko, yet Douno had to be blaoat

Mariko cried throughout the vigil and the funeral A television reporter ca Douno to co

Once the funeral was over, everyone disappeared like the receding tide As soon as things quieted down, Mariko collapsed as if a tense thread had snapped Douno rushed her to the hospital, where the doctor inforue

“―Also, your wife is pregnant,” he added She was in her second month

Mariko, as still unable to accept Honoka’s death, appeared unable to accept the fact that there was another budding life inside her She re as if it were about someone else

But Douno was glad that Mariko was pregnant Before, he had thought it a bad idea financially to have a second child, but after all that had happened, he felt it was better for Mariko to have so to live for He had been careful with contraception, but he now felt like this ti couldn’t have been better

Three days after the funeral, Douno went to work for the first tih, was more attentive than necessary, which made Douno feel even more suffocated

By the time the day was over, Douno was , he had returned ho his car in the lot when he saw a fa him from across the street It was the detective, Kashi+ho had handled Honoka’s case

“hello” Kashi+wai ducked his head

“Thank you for everything” Douno bowed his head as well

“There’s actually been a neitness state Honoka’s case, and I’d like to ask you two or three things about it”

Douno wondered whether he should bring Kashi+wai to his house or not Mariko had finally calmed down If they talked about Honoka in front of her and she broke down, she could harnant body

“Um―well, ht if we talk here?”

“Oh, of course,” Kashi+wai answered Douno ended up talking to Kashi+wai in his car

“I’awa as a suspect He had no alibi during the ti her esti There’s also the witness statement from the primary-school student The man himself denies it, but no matter”

“He’s saying he didn’t do it?”

“Well,” Kashi+wai tilted his head, “since there was an eye-witness stateo, we’ve had gotten a neitness account”

“A new one?”

“We had a phone call from aat Gancho Bridge on the day of the incident”

Thepushed off a bridge Gancho Bridge was the nearest bridge to the river-mouth where Honoka had been found

“He was about to cross the bridge on the way home from his club activities when he saw a tall wo He re it was”

“Woman?” Douno repeated

“The student’s parents called the police two days ago, saying it bothered them There were nu”

“So does that ht not be the killer?”

“We don’t know,” Kashi+wai said “We still think it is, but you can never be too certain”

Kashi+wai rubbed the top of his nose

“So it seems your wife quit her part-time job―the month before last, was it? Have you heard from her why she quit?”

“She said she didn’t get along with her co-workers”

Kashi+wai listened to Douno talk about his wife, then left without asking anything one, Douno sat alone in his car and thought Once the police decided on a possible perpetrator, they looked for evidence to prove that he was it Either that, or they fabricated it But if the police were still investigating even after catching the suspect, it was likely that the killer was another person

Douno leaned his forehead against the steering wheel Kitagawa h to hter

Four days after Douno returned to work, he got a call froain Douno was still at hen his cell phone rang, and he scrambled hastily into the hallway to answer it

“We’ve arrested the suspect” Kashi+wai’s voice was brisk and businesslike “We’d like to talk to you about it Would you be able to come to the police station with your wife?”

Douno hesitated

“My wife is pregnant and in delicate condition Would I be able to go alone instead?”

“Your wife is also involved in this case, and we’d also like to confirs with her I’m sorry for the trouble, but we’d like the both of you to come”

Douno could tell froave in and took Mariko to the police station with him

“Why do we have to go to the police again?” Mariko asked Douno decided against telling her everything at once, and only told her that the real killer had been found

“Isn’t the killer that man?”

“The detective will tell us the details I don’t know them myself”

Mariko wore a dubious expression in the car throughout the journey When they arrived at the police station and gave the reception Kashi+wai’s name, they were shown into a small room Douno and his wife sat down beside each other

“I’ve already spoken a little to your husband about it, but we’ve arrested the suspect who is responsible forHonoka”

Mariko’s lips were pursed stiffly as she clasped Douno’s hand

“It wasn’t Kitagawa?”

Kashi+wai shook his head

“The suspect’s nauchi Do you know of her?”

Douno shook his head, but Mariko suddenly turned pale

“Mariko, do you know her?” Douno asked her, but Mariko shook her head in a way that neither affire

“Eri Taguchi is the wife of Hiroyuki Taguchi, the er of Sun Supermarket, where your wife used to work She was apparently a forht Her hair is short With a black hat on, a grade school student could easily mistake her for a man”

“You weren’t getting along with the er’s wife as well?”

Mariko bowed her head and covered her ears with her hands

“You haven’t heard anything, have you, sir?”

Douno still could not perceive what lay behind the knoords between Kashi+wai and his wife

“Your wife and the uchi, have been in an extramarital relationshi+p for two years This is clear from witness statements from other employees Your wife quit her job because ru to circulate―aht, ma’am?”

Douno froze with his eyes wide open His mind could not keep up with such an unexpected turn of events He ed to jerk his head toward his wife and ask her, “Is that true?”

There was no answer

“Eri Taguchi has testified to feeling hatred towards your wife for being her husband’s extra Honoka to teach your wife a lesson”

Mariko’s face hite as she trembled violently

“The Taguchi couple doesn’t have children They’ve been getting fertilization treatuchi found out her husband was having an affair with a young woot to her head”

Douno’s wife burst into tears beside hi Douno looked down at his own fingers, white fro his fists

His wife had said at every spare moment that she loved him She had called him a kind husband She had said she was happy If she was satisfied with her life nohy had she carried on an affair for two years?

Douno could not understand the wo beside hi about

When they returned to their apartment, Mariko shut herself up in the bedroo out the facts in his head Mariko had had an affair with her boss at work The man’s wife had found out Consumed by wrath, the wife had killed innocent Honoka

Douno wondered as to blame Was it his wife, who had betrayed him and continued an affair for two years? Was it Douno hi cheated on for two years?

In retrospect, there were nunize―perhaps that was a present from her lover When he had pointed out the red one out for dinner with a friend, Mariko had panicked Perhaps that was a sexualup just as he came home

Should he have been le coht she would be the last person to have an affair

I’ve been betrayed The thought refused to leave him He had tried to protect his family, but he had been betrayed Douno drained the liquor in one draught Did all this happen because of his inadequacy? Was the other man more attractive than him?

Douno cradled his head He was angry, hurt, and sad He thought and thought some more, and a possibility arose in his head He headed to the bedroom, where his as

Mariko was curled up in a corner of the room like a child

“Mariko”

His wife lifted her tearful face Douno kept about a metre’s distance as he stood across from her

“U to even have to vocalize them “Did you love him?”

There was no answer from Mariko

“If you really loved him, you should have told me you wanted to end our relationshi+p Soet married So you can do about it”

Mariko shook her head

“I didn’t love him that much,” came her answer in a thin, quiet voice “I love you h”

It was beyond Douno’s understanding If she loved him more, why had she cheated on him? Why had she slept with another man?

“But every day was so dull,” she went on “I was happy, but every day was the sa every single day like this, I was terrified That hen he asked azines, and I was surprised these things could actually happen, but I wasn’t serious”

“You continued a relationshi+p you weren’t serious about for two years?”

Mariko shook her head

“At first, it was just for fun But he got serious about it, and said he’d divorce his wife I didn’t want anything more to do with it, so I tried to break up with him But then he threatened to let you know, and by that time it’d already been a year, and I was attached to him, so I just kind of kept”

Douno bit his lip

“You ended up hurting his wife and me as a result of what you did ‘for fun’”

“I never knew,” Mariko mumbled

“You know having a relationshi+p with a someone, don’t you? You’re not a child anymore”

As Douno scolded his wife, he wondered whether she had always been this kind of selfish woman To him, she had always been an observant, responsible person who cared about others

“You’re angry at lared at Douno “Honoka was murdered because I cheated on you It’s all ”

“Mariko”

“I’, too,” she said shrilly “Don’t look at me like it’s all hter was going to be killed, I would never have cheated in the first place But is it all my fault? Does everyone who cheat have their child killed? No! His wife just happened to be jealous and disturbed in the head, and that’s how it ended up like this!”

Mariko banged her fists on the floor

“Why do I have to be the one to go through all of this? My child was hter! Why do I have to be blamed by everyone?”

Douno could not think of any consoling words to say to her Her selfishness exasperated and saddened him Every human had weaknesses―he knew that He knew, but

A horrifying thought crossed Douno’sall this tis, she would never―but once the seed of suspicion was planted, it was impossible to erase no matter how hard he tried

“That baby in your stomach is it really mine?”

Mariko’s shoulders twitched

“We’ve always used birth control, haven’t we? But they say it’s never a hundred-percent guaranteed, so I thought this time was just”

“I don’t know”

She did not deny it completely Douno could not help but press further

“Did you use birth control with him?”

“How could you asklike that?” Mariko snapped

“It’s iht be his child”

Mariko chewed her lip hard “We didn’t,” she mumbled The world went dark before Douno’s eyes

“He said he physically couldn’t have children that he barely produced any sperm, so he could come inside me and it would be okay That’s why”

“Why didn’t you tell ht not be my child?”

“It was hard for me, too!” Mariko insisted “But how could I say that after e’ve been going through? Tell you I’ht after Honoka’s died?”

“Then, ere you planning to do?” Douno de, if I hadn’t found out, would you have given birth to that man’s baby and raised it as our own?”

“You want ly Douno felt like he had been punched in the face

“This baby is probably his Ti-wise, I feel like it is When I told hied me to have it He pleaded with me not to kill it”

Douno’s breath caught in his throat

“But I’m your wife, so if you tell me to abort it, I will”

Douno’s lips tre to unload a matter as i to thrust upon him her part of her mistake, her responsibility, when Douno had played no part in it? Was this decision one that he necessarily had to make?

At first, he had been glad to hear about the budding life inside Mariko’s belly, despite their situation The fact remained the same, there was still a child there; yet Douno felt his sy rate

“You’re telling me to love it?” Douno said quietly “You wantproof that you betrayed me?”

“My body ht have betrayed you, but my heart hasn’t,” Mariko pleaded “I still love you I love you so much I was so happy every time my friends and everyone told me ‘Mariko, you have such a kind husband’”

“Kind”―Mariko’s words passed through his ears unheard It stirred no happiness in him; in fact, it stirred no emotion in hi room He sat on the sofa for a while, but unable to bear it anyrabbed his car keys and burst out of the house

He jaine He was not set on going anywhere He only drove wherever the car would take hi the kind of reckless passes he could never have iular self Cars honked at him from behind as if to yell at him

Soon, it began to rain The traffic lights turned red Douno sla out into the middle of the intersection