4.24 Bombshell

Returning to the interrogation room, I sat back down in the seat across from Ozawa who was jotting something down in a notebook.

Ever since the Thursday morning raid when the narcotics officer had told me to come in for questioning on Sunday, I pored over the few books I owned* on body language and reading people–books I had originally bought to improve my prospects with the opposite sex–to learn how I might lie more convincingly.

What I gleaned was this: keep your hands away from your face, especially your mouth; try not to swallow so much; smile from time to time; if you insist on touching your nose, do so deliberately–give it a good rub; and, never tug at the collar of your shirt. You should also hold your hands out, revealing the palms to show that you’re being open; refrain from maintaining eye contact for too long because, contrary to what common sense my have you believe, liars usually do not look away when they stretch the truth; and, to build rapport with the person questioning you, subtly mimic his body language.

“Ozawa-san, you’ve asked me why my cousin sent her medicine,” I began, leaning forward, my hands on the desk, palms open. “I honestly don’t know. We haven’t had much contact since she left Japan. We’ve never once spoken over the phone, and as for e-mail, we only mail each other a few times a year.”

My nose started to tickle, but I resisted the temptation to scratch it.

“I was surprised when Naila mailed me last month to say that she had sent a package for my birthday. It was totally unexpected. I can’t remember the last time anyone sent me anything. I’m sure Customs has records, so you can verify this with Nakata-san.”

My nose and my eyes were now itching like a son of a bitch, but I kept my hands on the desk, as far away from my face as possible.

“As for why she would send her medicine, I really can’t say. She never mentioned it in the few mails she wrote. She never asked if I had wanted it, and I never asked for her to send it.”

My whole goddamn face felt as if it were crawling with ants. My mouth was becoming a pool of saliva.

“Earlier I mentioned that Naila might have sent the medicine because she might have been under the impression, the false impression mind you, that I wanted it.”

“And what would have given her that impression?” Ozawa said.

“I’d been feeling down in the dumps,” I said, my body as itchy as a leper’s.

“Why?”

“A lot of things,” I answered. “My wife remarried in April . . . the university work had become boring and uninspiring . . . and I was about to turn forty.”

“And you told your cousin these things?”

“No.”

“No?”

I took my handkerchief out and gave my nose a nice, long blow to try and rein in all the tics driving me bonkers.

“No,” I said, returning the handkerchief to my pocket and placing my hands back on the desk. “I mentioned them to my aunt, Naila’s mother. We’ve always been close and it’s always been easier to talk to Aunt Michelin than to my own mother about what’s bothering me. My aunt must have blabbered on to Naila about how depressed I was and then Naila must have decided to send me her medicine. This is all conjecture on my part, of course. The fact of the matter is that I have no idea why my cousin sent her medicine, and, frankly speaking, I’m rather pissed off that she would do such a reckless, irresponsible thing.”

“Okay, okay,” Ozawa said, closing his notebook and resting his pen on top of it. He leaned back in his seat and massaged his left shoulder a bit. “That should be enough for today.”

When Nakata came and stood in the doorway, Ozawa turned to him to say that we were finished.

I sat back in my own chair and started to breathe a little easier. I’d done it. I’d gotten through the day without cracking, without spilling the beans, without incriminating myself, without . . .

“Boncoeur,” Nakata said.

“Yes?”

“We need you to come back tomorrow.”

“Yes, you said so before. One o’clock, right?”

“Right, one o’clock,” Nakata said. “Oh, yes, one other thing . . . “

“What’s that?”

“We may arrest you tomorrow.”

To continue reading No.6, please visit Amazon.

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*Pease, Allan & Barbara, The Definitive Book of Body Language, London: Orion Books Ltd., 2004.

Dimitrius, Jo-Ellen & Mark Mazzarella, Reading People, New York: Random House, 1998.

注意：この作品はフィクションです。登場人物、団体等、実在のモノとは一切関係ありません。

© Aonghas Crowe, 2010. All rights reserved.

~ by Aonghas Crowe on January 5, 2010.