Miyazaki nodded. “Yeah, I woke up a few times and couldn’t fall back asleep.”
“Ah. I thought maybe you went out with friends.”
Raising his head from the files, Miyazaki looked at Teruo curiously. “I don’t have any friends here, sir. I just moved to the capital yesterday.”
“Oh. Right.”Good job, great detective Teruo. Drink your damn coffee.
Clearing his throat, Teruo took another sip, hoping he didn’t make things awkward for Miyazaki. He couldn’t relate to what it felt like to leave family, friends, coworkers behind and move to a brand new city. But even if he were in that situation, he’d have no one to miss besides Megumi. She had been the only constant in his life for the past thirteen years. The rest were expendable.
Since when did I become this cold?
“It must’ve been difficult,” Teruo said, “to make such a big decision and come here.”
Miyazaki gave him an unexpected shrug. “Not at all, sir.”
“Oh,” Teruo said, again.
“There was nothing keeping me in Hiroshima, so I decided to move. It was between the TMPD and Tohoku Regional Police.”
“Tohoku? But that’s so far.”
“Exactly,” Miyazaki replied.
“Huh…” Teruo nodded, not sure what to say or think about that.
He had this odd impression Miyazaki might’ve left because of those rumors about Sakai Haruna—his late superior officer. Teruo was curious to find out more directly from Miyazaki, but it seemed to be a sensitive subject to broach judging by the superintendent’s reaction. He needed to tread carefully and find a good moment to ask because rumors like those didn’t come from nowhere.
“But you were about to be promoted,” Teruo continued. “Why turn down such an opportunity?”
“I didn’t want to be promoted beyond my ability. I still have a lot more to learn. Where I am right now is good enough for me.” Miyazaki walked toward him and pointed to the envelopes on his desk. “May I?”
“Yes.” Teruo passed a copy of the reports to Miyazaki. There would be time to talk later. They had a murder to focus on. “Let’s start from the very beginning. Suzuki said the rough time of death is no more than ten hours.”
Miyazaki put the copies on the desk and wrote “Monday early morning” on the white board.
“Early morning?” Teruo questioned.
“Of course, it only an approximation, sir, but some people like to jog before work. I’m thinking he went for a run at about five or six in the morning before the park would get crowded.”
Teruo nodded. “Yeah, could be. Let’s leave it at that for now.” Teruo gestured to a photograph of the entire area. “There’s quite a bit of distance between the paved road of the park and the crime scene. What made the jogger walk through a muddy field toward the grove? Perhaps he saw or heard something that caught his attention.”
“Or he knew the criminal,” Miyazaki said.
“Or that.”
With a finger pointed to the reports, Miyazaki continued, “According to the forensics there’s no trace of a body being dragged. The murder took place next to the grove or on the paved road and the body was carried.”
“I don’t think he was carried.” Teruo rummaged through the files. “The victim was tall. He was nearly my height and had an athletic body. He’d be difficult to carry.” Having found the file he needed, Teruo read it.
As he suspected, the depth of the footprints only varied slightly. A person carrying a man weighing maybe up to 80 kg would’ve left a deep footprint. And that wasn’t the only problem. The footprint size suspected to belong to the criminal could fit any gender.
He clicked his tongue. “The victim was murdered near the grove,” he concluded and shoved the file away. He positioned himself in the middle of the office. “Okay, let’s do a bit of role-play. I’m the jogger. You’re the killer. How do you do it?”
Miyazaki immediately got into character. He circled his desk, stealthy as a feline, and approached from behind. He yanked Teruo’s suit jacket, pulled him back and pressed his fist with the marker on Teruo’s bicep, mimicking injecting a syringe.
“Now you’re sedated, so you’ll faint,” he said over Teruo’s shoulder, his warm breath reaching Teruo’s ears. “And I wrap the wire around your throat.” He curled his fingers on Teruo’s neck to make his point.
Teruo’s stomach did a somersault at Miyazaki’s warm touch. The reaction surprised him, but he kept himself in check. The closeness between them gave him an idea and he turned to Miyazaki.