Kiyotaka’s group arrived at the office just as Komatsu was about to finish up work and go home. Since Ensho lived on the second floor, he had a key and didn’t need to ring the intercom. Komatsu’s eyes widened when the sliding door suddenly opened, bringing in a noisy crowd of people, but upon seeing who it was—Kiyotaka, Ensho, Aoi, Yilin, and Azusa—his face relaxed into a smile because he thought they were planning on holding an after-party at the office. However, their grave expressions contradicted his assumption.
“Sorry to bother you at this hour,” said Kiyotaka. “We’re hoping to get your input on something and also borrow the equipment here.”
The young appraiser provided a brief rundown of the events that had led them there.
“So that’s how you all ended up here, huh?” said Komatsu.
After experiencing a brief moment of excitement for what he thought was going to be a lively after-party, he couldn’t deny that he was disappointed. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to help them out.
“You wanna set up a remote call with Ailee, who’s in Hong Kong?” asked Komatsu.
“Yes.” Kiyotaka nodded.
“I’ve already booked an appointment with her,” Azusa said proudly.
“Got it.” Komatsu clicked his mouse, prompting the ceiling-mounted projector screen to descend.
Aoi’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wow, I didn’t know you had such a big screen.”
“About a hundred inches, I’d say?” Azusa remarked. “But why go to the trouble of mounting a roll-up screen to the ceiling? Can’t you just use an LCD monitor?”
Kiyotaka laughed. “Komatsu likes this kind of thing.”
“He said he always dreamed of having a home theater,” Ensho added.
Komatsu grimaced. “Leave me alone, guys.”
Amid everyone’s chatter, Yilin merely wore a listless smile.
“All right, get Ailee on the line and hand me the phone,” said Komatsu.
“Here you go.” Azusa fiddled with her phone a bit, then gave it to the detective.
When Komatsu connected the phone to his computer, Ailee appeared on the big screen. She was lounging in an armchair, wearing a red dress with a low neckline and a pearl necklace. Her neatly curled shoulder-length hair, slightly ajar lips, and mole under her eye radiated allure.
“Good evening, Ailee,” Azusa said in English. “Looks like we accidentally wore the same color dress.”
“This auntie put way too much effort into dolling herself up,” Ensho muttered.
“You shouldn’t call a nubile lady ‘auntie,’” Komatsu quietly admonished him.
Ailee was around the same age as Komatsu’s wife, Masami. While not to the same extent as Ailee, Masami put a lot of effort into her appearance and looked youthful and beautiful. She wouldn’t get angry at someone for calling her “auntie,” but one would certainly see her temple twitch in an exaggerated fashion. Aside from relatives, it was safest to avoid calling women that.
“Komatsu, while I do agree, the word ‘nubile’ typically refers to a young lady who’s just reached marriageable age,” Kiyotaka remarked.
“Huh?” Komatsu’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know that. Man, this is embarrassing.”
“She probably doesn’t understand Japanese anyway,” said Ensho.
“No, she definitely knows,” said Komatsu. “Since I also work remotely with foreigners, I have it set up so speech on this end gets translated and displayed as subtitles.”
Ailee cleared her throat. “Sorry for not being young, Kiyotaka.” Japanese subtitles for her spoken English appeared at the bottom of the screen.
“Oh, no.” Kiyotaka smiled. “I believe women become more attractive as they age.” Since he was speaking in English, his words were also subtitled in Japanese.
“Your fiancée looks quite young to me, though,” Ailee said, glancing at Aoi. Although the two had never met, she seemed to recognize Aoi’s face. Azusa had probably shown her a picture.
“Indeed. That’s why I’m looking forward to seeing her become even more charming in her forties, fifties, and sixties,” Kiyotaka declared passionately, placing a hand on his chest. Beside him, Aoi blushed and stared at the floor.
“Uh-huh.” Ailee shrugged. “Anyway, what did you want to ask me about?”
Azusa turned to look at Yilin, who’d been sitting on a desk chair. Yilin stood up and faced Ailee. “Please tell me what you know about my father and Keqing.”
The older woman seemed slightly surprised, but sensing Yilin’s resolve, she gave a gentle nod. “Keqing called Zhifei to say, ‘I’ll kill myself now,’ then died at Lake Como, yes?” The way she referred to Mr. Jing by his first name showed that she was close with him.
Yilin shrank back. “That’s right... But didn’t she say, ‘I’m going to die now’?”
“No, it was ‘I’ll kill myself now.’ That day, Zhifei was attending a Rolling Club meeting when he got the call. Keqing was screaming so hysterically that the people around him could hear ‘I hate you! I’ll kill myself now!’”
“Judging by the tone, is it safe to assume Keqing wasn’t previously aware that Mr. Jing had a mistress?” Kiyotaka asked.
“No, that’s wrong,” Ailee said flatly. “Keqing had another lover even before Zhifei did. They were overlooking each other’s affairs, and divorce was on the horizon. They were practically already living apart at that point.”
“Huh?” Yilin’s eyes widened. Apparently this was news to her.
“I mean, Keqing’s parents were rich, weren’t they? She never stopped bragging that Zhifei’s success was thanks to her family. They did support him, but I doubt he could’ve achieved so much if not for his own talent. Keqing didn’t think so, though. She stuck to the belief that it was one hundred percent thanks to her and her family. Zhifei was grateful to her at first, but since she always treated him like a servant, his feelings drifted elsewhere.”
“Well, that’s understandable,” said Komatsu. He didn’t know much about Mr. Jing, but he could tell the man had his pride.
“Zhifei met Zhilin—Yilin’s mother—after Keqing started spending more time with her lover. Zhilin was a maid at his mansion, by the way.”
There was a flicker of surprise in Yilin’s eyes.
“Zhifei’s parents and sisters all disliked Keqing because she acted like an empress and looked down on everyone,” Ailee continued, “but that didn’t mean they wanted him to divorce her for real. Anyone could see that Keqing intended to demand a huge settlement, and although she was willing to let go of their two daughters, she was determined to take custody of their son, which would mean Zhifei’s assets would go to her family. Even though all of Zhifei’s relatives hated Keqing, they changed their tune the moment divorce was on the table. In particular, his older sister suddenly became inseparable from Keqing. She even went to that lakeside villa with her.”
Yilin was the youngest of four siblings. China’s one-child policy had been in effect at the time, but it had been possible to have more children by paying a penalty called the social child-raising fee.
“So Mr. Jing’s sisters were with Keqing when she died?” asked Kiyotaka.
“Yes, Liming, Zhulan, and their husbands went to Italy with Keqing, leaving their children in the care of their servants. Keqing was in a good mood when they arrived at the villa and even called me.”
“What did she say?”
Ailee looked up as she thought back to that time. “If I recall correctly, she congratulated me on winning the Best Actress Award and commented on the Sun-Drop I bought to reward myself. She said, ‘I’m jealous because I also wanted that gem, but I’ll get my husband to buy me one that’s just as rare as yours.’ She loved jewels too.”
Kiyotaka hummed and folded his arms. “If she wanted the Sun-Drop, why didn’t she buy it herself?”
“She didn’t know where it was until I bought it. I was only able to acquire it because I happened to be introduced to an excellent buyer. That’s why she was bitter about it.”
“I see. After that, while she was staying at the villa, she learned that Mr. Jing’s mistress was pregnant, flew into a rage and called him, then threw herself into the lake, yes?”
“That’s what people say,” Ailee replied solemnly.
“What did you think when you heard the news?”
“I couldn’t believe my ears. I even said it out loud: ‘That can’t be true.’ But you can’t judge people by their appearances. She might’ve been more distraught than one would’ve thought.”
“Have you met Yilin’s mother before?”
“Yes. It was before she became Zhifei’s mistress—she served me tea as a maid. She looked exactly like Yilin does now. In fact, she was so gorgeous that I even told her, ‘You should become a model instead of a maid.’ But she humbly replied, ‘Someone like me could never,’ and explained that she was an unsophisticated girl who’d just come from the countryside. Her father passed away, so she came to the city to work and send money back to her mother.”
Yilin trembled. It was her first time hearing about her biological mother’s background.
“Where is Yilin’s mother now?” Kiyotaka asked.
Ailee shook her head. “I don’t know. I heard she was so shocked by Keqing’s suicide that she went back to the countryside after giving birth. Zhifei tried to stop her, of course, but she couldn’t bear to stay. It seems like she tried to take Yilin with her, but Zhifei prevented her from doing so.”
“Um,” Yilin finally spoke up. “I was always told that my mother took a huge settlement from my father and abandoned me. Was that...a lie?”
Ailee smiled weakly. “I can’t say it’s a lie. Zhifei should still be paying her, and it’s probably a considerable sum. And even though it was Zhifei who stopped her from taking you, in the end, it’s true that she left you behind.”
From a purely factual standpoint, it was an accurate conclusion.
“Right... I suppose so.” Yilin hung her head.
Aoi drew closer to her and placed a hand on her back. “Words can be so scary. The way something is phrased can drastically change how it’s perceived.”
“Indeed.” Kiyotaka nodded and fixed his gaze on the screen. “But based on this story, I find it hard to believe that Keqing took her own life.”
Everyone else fell silent, their expressions bitter. The lack of surprised reactions was probably because they all felt the same way. Komatsu certainly did. They’d only heard Ailee’s one-sided account, but from what Komatsu had heard so far, Keqing hardly seemed like the type of woman who’d be so heartbroken over Mr. Jing’s infidelity that she’d kill herself. Yet that was what the facts stated. But what if there was a different truth hiding behind them?
“Kiddo, do you think Keqing—”
“However...” Kiyotaka continued, cutting Komatsu off, “we do not have enough information to come to a definitive conclusion. I’d like to hear from others, especially the sisters who were with her at the villa,” he said with an icy glare.
The mid-autumn harvest moon peeked through the office window.
The moon shows its face but keeps its far side hidden. The resemblance to the current situation sent a chill down Komatsu’s spine.