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cleaning every nook and cranny with the desperation of someone who doesn’t know what she should do, and so pours everything into doing what little she can.
    I have to protect them,
thought Ishigami. He would never be this close to so beautiful a woman ever again in his life. He was sure of that. He had to summon every last bit of his strength and knowledge to prevent any calamity from happening to her.
    Ishigami looked at the face of the dead man. Whatever expression he’d been wearing had already faded. He looked more like a lump of clay than a person. Still, it was possible to see that this man had been a real looker in his youth. Though he had clearly gained a little bit of weight in recent years, his was the kind of face women found easy to like.
    And Yasuko fell in love with him.
When Ishigami thought this, it was like a little bubble popped inside him and envy spread through his chest. He shook his head, embarrassed at his own capacity to have such feelings at a time like this.
    “Is there anyone he kept in contact with, anyone close that you know of?” Ishigami resumed his questions.
    “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him for years.”
    “Did you hear what he was planning to do tomorrow? Did he say if he was going to meet anyone?”
    “No,” Yasuko said, her head sagging. “He didn’t tell me anything like that. I’m sorry. I know I’m not much help.”
    “No, I just had to ask. Of course you wouldn’t know any of those things. Please don’t worry about it.” Ishigami reached out with a gloved hand and pushed open the dead man’s lips, looking inside his mouth. He could see a gold crown on one of the molars. “He’ll have dental records, then.”
    “He went to the dentist regularly when we were married.”
    “How long ago was that?”
    “We were divorced five years ago.”
    “Five years?” That was too recent for any reasonable hope that they had thrown out his charts. “Does he have a criminal record?”
    “I don’t think so. Of course, I don’t know what he’s been doing since we broke up.”
    “So it’s a possibility, then.”
    “I suppose…”
    Even if the man hadn’t committed any major crimes, he could easily have been fingerprinted for some minor traffic violation. Ishigami didn’t know whether police forensics bothered comparing fingerprints with traffic records, but it wouldn’t hurt to consider the possibility.
    So, no matter how they disposed of the body, its identity would eventually come to light if it was found. They would have to resign themselves to that. Still, they needed time. Leaving fingerprints or teeth behind could hurt their chances.
    Yasuko sighed. To Ishigami it sounded sexual, almost like a moan, and his heart fluttered.
I won’t let you down,
he thought, steeling his resolve anew.
    The situation wasn’t easy, for sure. Once they discovered the identity of the body, the police would almost surely come calling on Yasuko. Ishigami wasn’t sure she or her daughter would be able to withstand tough questioning from the city detectives. Preparing a weak cover story wouldn’t be enough. As soon as the detectives found an inconsistency, the whole thing would fall apart, and the Hanaokas would likely just blurt out the truth.
    What they needed was a perfect defense based on perfect logic.
    Whatever you do, don’t panic,
he told himself. Panicking wouldn’t help them reach a solution. And he was sure their problem had a solution. Every problem had one.
    Ishigami closed his eyes. It was a habit he had developed when confronting particularly ornery mathematical challenges—all he had to do was shut out all information from the outside world, and the formulas would begin to take shape. Except this time, it wasn’t formulas that filled his head.
    After a time, he opened his eyes. First, he looked at the alarm clock sitting on the table. It was eight thirty. Next he looked at Yasuko. She swallowed and drew back.
    “Help me undress him.”
    Yasuko blinked.