Case 8: Call the Police (Part III)

We ran into a small obstacle the moment we entered… or at least I thought so.

“Working hard, aren’t you, Inspector Mochizuki?” one of the receptionists at the front desk greeted him rather coldly.

“Sure am.”

“And those are…?”

“Important witnesses with crucial testimonies,” he said confidently, not a single muscle in his face twitching.

Time froze for a moment. I actually hadn’t considered the fact that getting two unrelated civilians into a place like this might not be so simple. The receptionist’s eyes looked sharp.

“They are, huh? You sure seem to be getting lots of testimonies like that.”

“Yup. All in a day’s work,” Mochizuki said with a smile.

The woman sighed. “Just go. There are already rumors going around about Kakizaki-san… good luck with that.”

“Thanks. That’s also part of this,” said Mochizuki, bowed to the receptionist and then gestured us to follow.

We walked through a corridor, got into an elevator and got off a certain floor—Criminal Investigation Section, claimed the plaque.

Normally I wouldn’t even dream of going to a place like this, but luckily, we were here for a much lighter mystery.

I somewhat had an image of cops working until late, but the department was mostly deserted. In the back there was an open door leading to a small room.

“Kakizaki!” called Mochizuki. “The cavalry’s here.”

A few moments later, a haggard-looking man peeked from within. “Mochizuki, what are you—” He froze. “Her again… I thought I told you not to bring Shiomi’s daughter here anymore.”

Yua was not deterred by this lukewarm welcome. “Sorry, but I’ve heard about your little problem. Do you want me to solve it for you or not?”

“Good grief…”

He made a somewhat pathetic face, but I guess it couldn’t be helped, considering the circumstances. Yua just walked ahead.

“This is the scene of the crime, correct?”

“Y-yeah,” said Mochizuki, hurrying after her. I walked behind him.

The office itself was… plain, I guess. It wasn’t particularly messy or anything, and there were a few cabinets, a desk with a computer, some family photos, things like that.

Kakizaki groaned as he sat in his chair behind the desk again, rubbing his back.

“You feeling good?” Mochizuki asked.

“No,” the older man grumbled. “I’ve spent like half an hour prostrating to my wife. Besides, my back still hurts from those slaps on the back you and Maruyama gave me during the party.”

“Heh, sorry about that.”

“Where was the cake?” asked Yua, immediately entering business mode. “Where were the stockings?”

“The cake was—well, is there,” said Mochizuki, pointing to the desk, where about half remained. Kakizaki now looked at it forlornly. “And the stockings were found there.” Not far from the desk was a cabinet situated below a window; Mochizuki pointed at the floor.

“Can you explain things from your point of view?” Yua asked the older man. “Maybe there’s something that Mochizuiki-san missed.”

Kakizaki looked displeased, but still relented to her request. “Sure… I opened the office, my darling went in after me and put down the cake. Then Murayama started making an entire show about his cake-cutting techniques and we all watched him… until my darling shrieked when she found the stocking.” There he grimaced. “Anything else? Surely you’ve heard the details from Mochizuki already.”

“Hmm… isn’t the solution rather simple?” I wondered aloud.

The two men looked at me in surprise, but Yua smiled provocatively. “Oh, is it? I’d love to hear aaall about it, then.”

I walked forward to the scene of the discovery. “Couldn’t the culprit have brought it in through here?” I asked, pointing at the open window.

If my thoughts were right, this wasn’t a closed room trick at all.

Yua sighed. “Seriously? That’s your solution?”

“Yes, why not? Wasn’t there a guy who didn’t come with you into the office? Maybe he stayed back and planted the stockings from outside. Say, went to the floor right above us and dangled it down from the window.”

And yet Yua shook her head. “How would you make sure of the timing without being seen? No, I’m afraid that’s rather farfetched.”

I thought I had something for a moment there… but the small detective shot me down.

“Hmm… maybe the twist is that his wife was the one who carried it inside?” I suggested next.

“Who’s this cheeky kid, anyway?” grumbled Kakizaki as I hurried to wear an apologetic smile. “My darling would never do that!”

“Sorry… just raising possibilities here.”

However, Yua’s eyes seemed to sparkle in the way that I knew meant she figured out something important.

“That’s it!” she claimed, pointing to me.

“Oh? Was I right this time?”

“No way, right?” said Mochizuki.

“No, Amari-kun is wrong,” she said, to my immense disappointment. “But that probably isn’t too far from the real solution. If my thinking is right… It’s Kakizaki-san himself who carried it in!”

“Huh?” the man groaned, balling his hand into a fist. “What are you even saying, you rude girl? Mochizuki, I told you not to—”

“Now, now, please calm down,” Yua hurriedly interjected, still smiling. “Sorry, I worded it wrong. Kakizaki-san did not carry the stockings… but was made to carry them!”

“…What?”

Yua wore a daring smile, put a hand in her pocket, went past me and out of the room, and suddenly pushed at my back. “Amari-kun, stay as you are. Just walk ahead right now.”

Although confused—and a bit ticklish from her small fingers touching my back—I did as she told me. I didn’t know what I was meant to do, exactly, so I just let her push me ahead.

“Now, look at that cake… looks real fluffy, right?”

“Wait, but that’s…” mumbled Mochizuki.

“So that’s how…!”

“Don’t move!” Ayu rebuked me as I was about to turn my head in confusion, so I froze.

“Yeah, the cake looks good, but what does it have to do with this? It can’t be that the stockings were inside or something, right?”

Yua suddenly tapped my back, having snuck up on me.

“My, Amari-kun—I didn’t know you were a thief,” she suddenly said, giggling to herself.

“A thief? What are you… ah!”

Turning around, I saw it right there: right near the very same cabinet.

A candy wrapping was now on the floor, when it had clearly not been there before.

“Ah!” I called again. “So that’s what you meant—the culprit put the stockings on Kakizaki-san!”

“Exactly!” she said, sounding smug. “Everyone had their attention focused on the cake, so they only noticed the stockings after the fact.”

Mochizuki whistled. “That’s a nice theory, to be sure. But how would the culprit make sure it fell in the right place? No, how had the stockings been attached in the first place?”

“Static electricity,” said Yua, snapping a finger. “All the culprit had to do was rub the material a little, then stick it to Kakizaki. It wouldn’t hold for long, but it didn’t need to, either.”

Mochizuki made an amused chuckle. I clapped my hands.

Only Kakizaki, the man to whom this mattered, did not look amused by this. “Who was it, then?”

“There’s only one person who could’ve done it…” said Yua, raising her finger. “It was… The one who’s not even here, Maruyama!”

A bout of silence flowed.

“Admittedly, it’s much less dramatic when we don’t have the actual culprit in front of us,” she said, sadly shaking her head. “Anyway, he’s the only one who makes sense. He entered last, clapped Kakizaki on the back, then went to demonstrate his so-called cake-cutting skills—making sure you all focused on him, thus delaying the discovery of the stocking as much as possible, while also demonstrating he couldn’t have done it himself,” she explained. “Now, just make him confess and you’re all set.”

Mochizuki scratched behind his head. “I dunno if it’ll be as easy as that… but thanks, young lady.”

“I wouldn’t put it past him… he seemed really pissed that I might be getting promoted soon,” grunted Kakizaki. “I still don’t like this one bit, but I guess I have to thank you too…”

Yua smirked. “You’re welcome. Really, something like this is a piece of cake.” She strutted ahead. “Speaking of… may I have a piece, too?”

“Hah…” said Kakizaki, sounding extremely tired. “Sure, go ahead.”

Watching the girl I fell for devour the cake with stars in her eyes, while Kakizaki looked tired and Mochizuki looked even more tired but also watched her fondly, I couldn’t help but smile.

Yes, my idea really was the right one.