Unfortunately, Officer Inoki did not think it was too much of a coincidence at all. He only felt that this witness had appeared at exactly the right time.
He hurried over and asked the helpful passerby who seemed to have seen the victim some time ago, "Who are you?"
"Hm? Me?" The old man in his seventies, a pipe clenched between his teeth, slowly turned around. "I'm the boat owner who rented a boat to Lawyer Tachibana. My surname is Inuyama—see, that boat rental shop is mine."
"Oh, right, you seem to be a police officer?" He looked up at the tall officer before him, then belatedly remembered something.
"Come to think of it, I just happened to lose a small boat. Oh, the same kind of boat you just pulled up—since you're already here, why not help me find it?"
"What?!" Officer Inoki was not actually an idiot. He instinctively sensed that the missing boat was probably connected to today's incident. He asked excitedly, "Tell me exactly what happened to the boat!"
"Hm?" The old man was somewhat puzzled by the policeman's sudden change in attitude. He took a puff on his pipe.
"Nothing much happened. A person wearing a red baseball cap ran to the pier, untied my boat without saying a word, and took off in it—lots of children saw it happen. This isn't even losing a boat anymore. It was practically robbery."
"A red baseball cap?" The two high school girls were more sensitive to outfits, and the moment they heard those words, they remembered.
"Come to think of it, when we were walking the dog around the cape earlier, we saw a fishing boat pass by. The person on it was wearing a red baseball cap!"
Suzuki Sonoko rubbed her chin in realization. "So John