The Lying Counselor’s Eloquent Reasoning - Chapter 38
Now, a few days later, on Saturday, as planned, Tomomi and Uroma headed for Sayuri’s house.
Naturally, Tomomi wasn’t pleased with the decision to accompany him.
“Why do I even have to be there too?”
“I’m entering the home of a woman who lives alone. If a man like me is alone, Ms. Kiyokawa may feel uneasy about it.”
“Oh, if you put it that way.”
This was an exchange that she had to greatly agree with. It was certainly inappropriate to let a suspicious man like Uroma visit a single woman’s house alone.
Sayuri’s apartment was located about two train stops away from the counseling room, between an office area and a residential area. It was a five-story building, and Sayuri resided on the third floor, at the end of the hallway. Right next to it, another building of roughly the same height seemed to be under construction.
“Thank you for coming all this way. Please come in.”
Sayuri invited them inside at once. Today she was wearing a light turtleneck sweater and a long skirt, making her slender body look even thinner.
Sayuri’s house was a 3LDK apartment with an overall relaxing interior. Until a month ago, she had been sharing this place with her fiancé, James. Even after he passed away, she still retained his room and his personal belongings. Although she hadn’t had a chance to clean it up yet, Tomomi could understand her feelings. She had felt the same way after losing her mother.
“Where is the balcony where Mr. Hirose fell to his death?”
“… It’s at here.”
Sayuri led Uroma and Tomomi towards the bedroom. The room was furnished with a large double bed, presumably used by the two of them, facing a small veranda. Uroma quickly opened the door and stepped out onto it. Tomomi hastened to follow him.
“It’s… quite breathtaking, isn’t it?”
“It wasn’t like this when we first rented the room.”
Sayuri replied to Uroma’s words with a bitter smile. The meaning of her words was instantly evident to Tomomi. Right in front of the balcony, a building was under construction. As a result, even though the balcony faced south, the sunshine was terrible. Shaded by the building, the balcony was rather dim. The scenery was also appalling. In front of her, there was nothing but a blue sheet covering the wall of a building under construction.
“It’s been like this for two months. But not so much on a day off like today.”
“I see. That’s a disaster.” Uroma said, then suddenly grabbed the balcony rail, leaned forward, and glanced down. “The railing here is quite low. For a woman like you, it would be not a problem, but for someone as tall as me, it would be quite challenging.”
Uroma remarked while lifting his legs off the ground with his arms on the railing like a gymnast. No, anyone would have a rough time in that posture, Tomomi tsked in her mind.
“From the pictures on SNS, it seems that Mr. Hirose was also quite massive, how large was he?”
“Jimmy was 192 centimeters tall.”
“Oh! That is indeed huge. I am utterly defeated.” Uroma stated as he turned his body back towards the balcony. For the moment, it appeared that this man was below that height.
“Well, even if he had been that tall, it’s unlikely he would have lost his balance and fallen from here for that sole reason.”
“I agree…”
As soon as Sayuri mumbled, Tomomi was struck by a flash of inspiration.
“Could it be that someone shoved him down?”
Yes, this is a murder case! The brilliant deduction of the great detective, Tomomi, seemed to have begun??or so it seemed.
“I don’t think so. When Jimmy fell from here, the door of the house was locked. There was no sign of anyone entering the room, and the security camera footage from the apartment confirmed no suspicious activity either.”
It was instantly denied by Sayuri…
“Even the police must have investigated the matter at one point or another. It’s a pity you missed your mark, Tomomi.”
When Uroma saw Tomomi, he smirked at her as if she were a fool. Tomomi gritted her teeth.
Afterwards, the three of them went back into the house from the veranda. They looked around the bedroom first, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Then, they proceeded to the room that James had been occupying. It was approximately six tatami mats in size, with wooden furniture and a serene atmosphere. A bookshelf near the wall was lined with American hero comic books, probably for his study purpose. In the middle of the room, a desk with a laptop was placed on it.
“This is the one Jimmy was using. I tried to find out if there were any clues left on it, but it was locked with a password and I was unable to verify what data was on it.”
Once Sayuri explained in a very troubled manner, the great detective Tomomi had another flash of inspiration.
“Then why not simply contact the manufacturer who made this laptop and have them unlock it?”
Yes, that’s right, that way the contents can be checked in no time. And there must be a clue to solve the case??that’s what she thought.
“Actually, I’ve already inquired with them. But they informed me that they can’t do that because it involves the customer’s privacy.”
Once again, Sayuri immediately dismissed Tomomi’s idea…
“Why is that? Mr. Hirose has already passed away, right? Then there’s no need for privacy??”
“There’s no way for the manufacturer to confirm if this is indeed the laptop of the deceased person. That’s a natural response, Tomomi.”
“N-Now that you said it, certainly that’s true…”
If it was a smartphone, who cares, but this was a laptop. Once again, Uroma snickered at her and Tomomi clenched her teeth.
“But there might be a note left somewhere with the password. Let’s look for it.”
After saying that, Uroma began to examine the desk. First, in the top drawer, there was a neat row of blue sunglasses, no doubt used by James. In the bottom drawer were stationery and other small items, and further down were etiquette items such as cologne, wet wipes, and deodorant spray. None of these items seemed to contain any clues to the password – but,
“Oh, this!”
It seemed that Uroma had spotted something in the back of the etiquette drawer. Looking at it, she observed that he was clutching a metal case of tablet candy. It appeared to be a product of a foreign manufacturer, not one that was commonly seen in Japan.
“Ms. Kiyokawa, may I have this?”
“Yes, I don’t mind.”
“Thank you very much. I got a treasure.”
Uroma grinned and shook the tablet case as if showing off his loot. There seemed to be a lot inside, causing a jingling sound.
“Doctor, that’s nasty. No matter how much you like it.”
“Well, it’s a rare imported item, isn’t it? How could I not be intrigued by its taste?”
Uroma tucked the case of tablets into the pocket of his white coat.