Erika turned to Asami. “I don’t think he cheated,” she muttered.
“We don’t know that for certain, do we?” Asami muttered back.
Erika’s shoulders slouched. “Guess we don’t.” She looked at Shinji and Teruo. “Do you think he murdered her?”
“We’re just putting the pieces together,” Teruo answered. “We’ll know more soon.” He pulled out the picture of the jogger. “Do you know this man?”
“Never met him and we’ve met all her boyfriends,” Asami said, then paused, her cheeks blanching. “Is he dead too? That’s why you drew a portrait?” Her lower lips trembled and more tears fell down her cheeks. “How did Fumiko die?”
Teruo exchanged a glance with Shinji, probably contemplating sharing the gruesome details, but they needed more information from Ozawa’s friends. From what Asami and Erika were saying, it seemed the speculation that this was a love crime had been off. If the jogger wasn’t Ozawa’s lover—at least according to her friends—he must’ve been tied to her in some other way.
“Strangled with a wire,” Teruo told them, and the two women gaped at him. “Do a wire and a pet tag ring any bells? Have you heard Miss Ozawa make a reference to these objects?”
Asami and Erika shook their heads.
“Did she ever mention anyone who’d want to harm her? Someone with whom she had problems? Maybe arguments? Or someone who stalked her?”
“No… no one,” Asami said.
Erika seemed to be thinking, though, her gaze focused on the wooden floor. Shinji tilted a bit trying to make eye contact with her. Their eyes met and she swallowed.
Erika opened her mouth, hesitated, then spoke, “About anyone wanting to harm her no, but… Fumiko… she told us something when we went out a while ago. She said she has regrets from when she was young. She said she was a terrible person and that she needs to make amends because there are people who still despise her in this world.”
Teruo frowned and clasped his hands together. “Terrible in what way?”
Erika raised one shoulder in a half-shrug. “She refused to say what she did or to whom she did it, only that she wished she hadn’t been so cruel in the past.”
“All right.” Teruo nodded slowly. “In what context did she tell you this? What triggered the discussion? And when did it happen?”
“I think about three weeks or so ago,” Erika said. “I was talking about dumb things I did in high school and she became serious all of a sudden. When I asked her why, she told me she behaved horribly in her youth.”
Asami gave her friend’s forearm a tap. “I don’t remember this part,” she said.
“You were really drunk,” Erika informed her, then turned to Shinji and Teruo. “Then she spoke about the high school reunion she attended and how regretful it made her feel. I found it strange because people usually feel nostalgic, but she seemed rattled.”
“When was the reunion?” Shinji asked.
“September,” Erika replied. “We didn’t go because we met Fumiko in college.”
Shinji held his breath and looked at Teruo. Was it that reunion on the 17thof September? It had to be. Shinji quickly grabbed his phone and showed the picture of Ozawa at the restaurant.
“This one?” he said.
Erika nodded. “Yeah, those are her high school classmates. They were supposed to have the reunion in August, but there was some delay and they had it in September instead.”
“Do you know any of Miss Ozawa’s former classmates?” Shinji asked.
“We don’t,” Asami said. “Not personally, anyway. But we have some friends in common.”
“I see,” Teruo said. “We’re already digging through various social media accounts, but if you happen to find more pictures of this reunion, could you send them to us? Or any links to other accounts of people you think were involved. We want to cover every angle.” Teruo gave them an email address.
“Of course.” Asami wiped her eyes. “Anything to help.”
Teruo bowed. “Thank you.”
They wrapped up the interview with questions on their whereabouts on Tuesday afternoon. Asami worked from home and had no one to confirm her alibi for the entire day. Erika was a mangaka who’d been at her studio working with her team around the clock. Shinji jotted down their personal details for further questioning and confirmation of her alibi. After assuring Ozawa’s friends of doing everything in their power to find the perpetrator, they left.
“What do you think?” Teruo asked as Shinji drove them back to the main road.