I was pretty sure of myself, with all the clues the detective had provided during her little presentation. Therefore, with a serious look, I raised my left hand to speak.
"Yes, Nijima-kun?" Reacted the detective. "You think you know who the culprit is?"
"It seems obvious to me," I said, shaking my head. "The person who got arrested last night, and who assaulted us is the owner, Yoshikawa-san."
This statement made Mrs. Munehara uncomfortable, while the young Sagawa seemed to be thinking.
The detective, on the other hand, continued to look at me for a moment without saying anything, before finally clapping her hands slowly.
"Bravo, Nijima-kun!" she exclaimed. "You were so close!"
I frowned.
What did she meant by saying I 'was so close'?
She understood that I was confused, so she added:
"Tell us already what brought you to that conclusion, will you?"
I then calmly recited all the points that had made me suspect this particular man.
"We know that the assailant is a man, and his voice sounded familiar to me, when we were attacked in the apartment. So it was potentially someone I'd crossed paths with before," I explained. "Furthermore, we know that the culprit was entering Munehara-san's apartment, apparently without her realizing it. So he most certainly had access to the key in the dressing room. But the fact also that he did not try to change the malfunctioning gate..."
She listened carefully, perhaps to compare my deduction with her own observations.
"But, I really don't see Yoshikawa-san doing such a thing..." Ms. Munehara finally spoke up. "He's a very helpful and polite person..."
"Personally, I never saw the face of the person who was breaking in," added the high school student. "And when he was taken away by the police, he already had a jacket on his head to hide his face..."
The detective then shook her head.
"The culprit lives in this residence, too." She said.
"You... You mean the person who was stalking me was one of my neighbors?" Asked Mrs. Muneharan anxiously.
"Yes and no. When I said that Nijima-kun was close to the truth, I wasn't exaggerating," the detective explained while glancing at me.
If I was so close to the truth with my deduction, did that mean...?
"You see, Yoshikawa-san is at most an accomplice of the real culprit," the detective then revealed.
"An accomplice?" Mrs. Munehara repeated, surprised.
She had widened her eyes and opened her mouth slightly, to express her shock; and I also observed that she was having trouble staying still on her armchair.
She must have been so trusting of her landlord that to find out that he was involved in a crime - of which she was the victim - must have been truly horrible to her.
However, the detective didn't give her a chance to digest the information, because already she resumed her explanation.
"When I researched your landlord, I found out that he had a son, a little older than Sagawa-kun here," she said, pointing to the high school student. "But during our visit with Nijima-kun, we didn't see him once..."
I see... So she was already looking for Mr. Yoshikawa's son, when we were watching the surroundings... And that explained the familiar-sounding voice, because sometimes, children had a voice similar to their parents.
I also realized now the importance of discretion in the detective business. After all, everyone was a potential suspect, and anyone could be guilty.
"Since I already suspected Yoshikawa-san and his son, I set a trap for them," she explained. "That's why I told you to leave your lodgings for the night, and why I pretended to be you, Munehara-san."
"Set a trap?" I repeated, incredulous.
I had once again spoken faster than my thoughts, unable to stop myself. Almost as if... I was enjoying taking part in this life-size guessing game.
"If you recall, Nijima-kun, I told Yoshikawa-san that Munehara-san here had talked to people outside the residence about what was going on, but also that she would be alone again tonight. Which was enough to push the culprit to act, if he wanted to try anything on impulse."
So she had knowingly asked me to go out into the street to catch the high schooler, knowing full well that she had drawn a target on her own back...
I didn't like that at all. I didn't like it at all, because she had kept information from me, and didn't tell me about her assumptions.
She had been playing me, since the beginning of the investigation; and I wondered if this was her way, or if it was just another way to discourage me from our potential arrangement.
"So... The person who was stalking me all this time, was Yoshikawa-san's son?" Ms. Munehara asked, shaking like a leaf.
The detective nodded her head.
"Yoshikawa-san knew what was going on, and thought his son had stopped after the incident with the flowers," explained the detective. "That's why he insisted that you change the lock on your door, in case his son kept a copy of the key. As for the defective gate, it was insurance for him, so he couldn't replace it."
"I have... difficulty in understanding..." Replied the young man, in confusion. "What could this person possibly gain by not replacing it?"
The detective stood up and began to retrieve the documents from the coffee table: several photos, phone records, and probably other pieces of information about the case, which she had to present to the client before I arrived.
I took this as a signal that she had finished her explanation.
This turned out to be correct, because after putting the documents in a cardboard folder, she addressed both Ms. Munehara and the high school student.
"It is precisely because of this that I insisted that you both be present when this matter was explained," she declared. "Given the circumstances, and the fact that your landlord clearly chose his son and not the safety of his tenants, I strongly advise you to move out."
"M... Moving?!" exclaimed the client.
"I think you'll be safer, but also more at peace of mind in another residence than this one," she added. "And I think Sagawa-kun here will be able to help you with your move. Right?"
The high schooler was a little surprised to see this responsibility fall upon him, but he nodded almost immediately, before smiling awkwardly towards the client.
It seemed that these two had developed some sort of bond with each other, thanks to all those discussions they had had at the convenience store, but also with the recent events.
"For my payment, please send the funds to this address," the detective then said, before placing a small piece of paper on the coffee table. "I rely on your discretion."
She then motioned for me to get up, as she headed for the hotel room door. I followed her, wondering what would happen next, when...
"Wait!" exclaimed Mrs. Munehara.
Her intervention made us stop, and the detective turned to the two remaining people in the room. The client looked confused, holding the small piece of paper in her hand.
"Oh, if it's about the room, I've already included the cost in my fee, so don't worry about it." Smiled the detective.
"But..." Started to protest the client, before being interrupted by the detective.
"I'm counting on you to get the funds sent to my account by the end of next week, okay?" She smiled.
Resigned, Mrs. Munehara then bowed forward, closely imitated by the young high school student, before thanking the woman at my side.
Then, leaving the room, and without a word, we headed towards the main hall.
It was strange.
To see her say simple words like 'thank you, thank you very much' with so much gratitude... I wasn't used to seeing such sincerity in these words. It had always seemed so superficial to me. Like something you say without thinking, to please others, or just for the sake of it.
But Ms. Munehara, with her hoarse and uneven voice, offered me a new perspective.
Those simple words had meaning. They had weight.
And suddenly I realized how much I was ignoring some of the things that were essential to social interaction. I had invested myself so little with others, that I hadn't even considered the true intent behind those words.
Entering the elevator after the detective, I saw her press the button for the first floor, which made me rethink her reasoning about the residence gate. I didn't quite understand the connection between the old equipment, and the fact that the landlord was thinking more about his son than his tenants.
"What makes you think that Yoshikawa-san chose his son?" I asked, as the elevator descended in a continuous hum.
She was already typing a text message on her cell phone, and stopped for a moment to answer me.
"This is just my opinion, but I think that if Yoshikawa-san didn't have the gate changed, it was because he was already expecting the worst," she explained.
"The worst?" I repeated to urge her to say more.
"If anything had happened to Munehara-san, he could have always said that someone from the outside had committed the crime," she said as she resumed writing her message. "By not replacing the faulty access gate, it's like he was keeping a door open for his son."
So that was what she had meant by that, then....
The landlord had preferred to be on his son's side, rather than looking out for the welfare of his tenants. He could have prevented Mrs. Munehara's assault, but instead, he had preferred to cover for his son, in case the latter took action.
This was more than disturbing, indeed.
And now I understood why she had advised the client to move.
She continued to write several messages without even glancing at me, which allowed me to observe her a little more during the descent.
She was really energetic, in the way she was. Going very fast, with everything, but also, wanting to be included in whatever was going on around her. Like she always wanted more.
On my side, it was pretty much nothing, until now. The less I was included, the better off I was. However, the fact that she didn't warn me about the dangerous situation she had voluntarily put herself in, offended me.
She was far from having revealed everything about herself, and strangely enough, it seemed to me that she was the one who kept people at a distance, rather than me.
Maybe that was why she didn't like my sudden request. Having to spend time with a stranger must have bothered her, or at least made her uncomfortable. But if anyone should have been uncomfortable in the story it should have been me.
I knew too little about her to form an objective opinion of her, and not enough to drop everything and give up.