[Discussion] Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino (Detective Galileo #2) | Chapters 7 – 13

Hey mystery lovers, welcome back to another Salvation of a Saint discussion!

Note on spoilers: As the books of the Detective Galileo series can be read independently, please use spoiler tags if you want to refer to anything that happened in The Devotion of Suspect X.

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Summary:

Seven

  • Ayane confronts Hiromi about being her husband's lover. Hiromi admits it.

Eight

  • Kusanagi talks to Ayane's parents about Ayane's weekend in Sapporo. He also checks her alibi with the sushi place she went to. Meanwhile, Utsumi talks to Ayane's friend Saki and checks Ayane's alibi with the hot springs.

Nine

  • Utsumi visits the physicist Manabu Yukawa to ask for his opinion on the case.
  • Yukawa reasons that it would have been very hard for Ayane to have committed the murder.
  • They also conclude that Hiromi is unlikely to be the murderer as she would have washed the kettle, on which traces of the poison have been found.

Ten

  • Kusanagi goes to get Hiromi for further questioning.
  • Ayane tells him she knows about the affair. Kusanagi tells her about the traces of poison in the kettle.
  • When Utsumi arrives, she tells Kusanagi why she believes that Hiromi is not the criminal.
  • Ayane calls Kusanagi to tell him her husband used to drink bottled water only.

Eleven

  • Utsumi realises that Hiromi doesn't understand either, why she and Ayane remain so close.
  • Hiromi says she made the coffee with water from the tap. Ayane had told Hiromi that she thinks using so much bottled water isn't very economical and to not worry about her husband's preference too much.
  • Utsumi learns that Hiromi is pregnant.
  • The police theorises some more about bottled water.

Twelve

  • Kusanagi visits Tatsuhiko Ikai at his office. At the party on Friday evening, a lot of bottled water was consumed.
  • Ikai also says that Mr Mashiba was only interested in women to have children. Maybe because he didn't have any family growing up.
  • Ayane asks Kusanagi to water her flowers.
  • Yukawa, Utsumi and Kishitani are at the Mashibas' house, when Kusanagi arrives there. Yukawa is experimenting with a kettle. He covered some powder at the bottom of the kettle with gelatin. It might be possible that the gelatin only dissolved when water was boiled several times in the kettle.

Thirteen

  • It's the day of Yoshitaka's funeral.
  • Kusanagi questions Hiromi about Yoshitaka's ex-lovers. One may have been a writer, one a tea lover.