‘Is it still on your phone, this text?’
‘Deleted. I don’t keep everything.’
‘When did you receive it?’
‘At least two months ago, possibly longer.’ He was hesitating before each response, as if expecting a trap.
‘And I suppose there’s no way of telling if it was sent from London or Bath?’
‘It’s a mobile phone.’
‘Right. So did you see her after the text arrived?’
‘She didn’t get here.’
‘Let’s not take anything for granted, Mikio. You don’t know if she got here. You’re telling me you didn’t see her here, is that more accurate?’
‘I suppose. I thought she was killed in Bath.’
‘Her body was found there. It isn’t certain she was killed there, unless you know something we don’t.’
He blinked rapidly. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘Do you drive?’
‘Yes.’
‘Got a car, have you?’
‘A Nissan Micra.’
Diamond exchanged a glance with Ingeborg. ‘It crossed my mind that you could have arranged to meet her in Bath, in which case you could tell us what she was doing there.’
Mikio shook his head. ‘I’ve never been to Bath.’
‘Or some place nearby?’
The words came rapidly now. ‘I didn’t see her. I didn’t speak to her on the phone. I received one text and that’s all.’
‘She could have come to Exeter as she promised,’ Diamond said.
‘If she did, I didn’t see her.’
‘Okay, don’t panic, Mikio. Where do you keep your car?’
If anything was likely to panic him, it was more interest in his car. He swallowed hard. ‘On the street outside my lodgings.’
‘Is it there now?’
‘Now? It’s here on the campus.’
‘So would you show it to us?’
They didn’t have far to go. The physics department had its own parking area behind one of the labs. Mikio’s Nissan Micra, a small, blue hatchback, stood only a few spaces from where Ingeborg had parked.
‘I haven’t washed it lately,’ he said.
‘It’s all right,’ Diamond told him. ‘We’re not thinking of buying it.’
They walked around the mud-spattered car. The back seat was covered with textbooks and file covers.
‘There isn’t much room for books where I live,’ Mikio said.
‘Open up, please.’
A sharp odour was apparent as soon as he unlocked the front door.
‘What’s that – disinfectant?’
‘There was a smell I was trying to get rid of. Maybe I should have used something else.’
‘What sort of smell?’
‘Vomit.’
‘Here in the front?’
‘That’s where it was.’
An insight into student life. Diamond glanced around the interior, which hadn’t been cleaned for a considerable time. Forensics would have a field day here if they were ever asked to check it. ‘Is the back open?’
Mikio took them around to the rear door. More books, up to a hundred probably, filled the boot space. Diamond sniffed and got the smell of books. Nothing else. This end of the car hadn’t been disinfected.
‘You can close it. We’re done.’
Back in the office, Diamond resumed in a disarming way. ‘Tell us what Mari was like when you were going out with her in Yokohama.’
Mikio frowned, still wary of being trapped. ‘I already told you we were just schoolkids. Nothing happened.’
‘You’re on about sex, are you?’ Diamond said. ‘I’m interested more in her personality, but if you want to tell us what you got up to – or didn’t – go ahead.’
A sharp breath. ‘No. It’s okay. There’s nothing to say. Personality. What do you want to know? She was popular, good at her studies, especially maths. She lived with her mother in an apartment in one of the best buildings in Yokohama. It was big, well furnished.’
‘You’ve seen inside, then?’
‘Only the hallway and living room.’
‘I believe her bedroom was quite a sight, filled with posters,’ Diamond said.
More nervous blinking. ‘I wouldn’t know about that.’
‘When you took her out, where did you go?’
‘The movies, a couple of times. She didn’t like clubs. They had the wrong sort of music. She was into serious stuff.’
‘So we are finding out. Did you go to any concerts with her?’
‘No, she liked to go alone. She spent all her pocket money travelling around to catch her favourite players. She had all the gigs on her iPad calendar and if I wanted a date I had to fit around them.’