Page 62 of Sixty Meters Under

Now, in order to prevent further murders, the resident responsible for Scarlett’s death needed to be discovered and properly punished.

“I can’t accuse you without hard proof, but Ryosuke, you have been acting very strange,” Lennart muttered to himself, but he wished Ryosuke had watched him for some completely different reasons.

You were staring at me far too much. What do you know that I don’t? I have to find out somehow.

While he watched the images unfolding on the screen, the ringing interrupted his train of thought.

“Did you learn anything new?” Lennart asked when he pressed the phone to his ear.

“No. Nothing new for now. I just wanted to say that it looks like Scarlett died from a head wound. I found no other serious wounds on her body, but it’s still too early to conclude anything,”the woman on the other side of the line announced.

“Thanks, Elin.”

“We’re still running blood tests, but the only thing we’ve confirmed so far was a high percentage of alcohol. Though not a deadly amount.”

“I see. Keep testing. We need to be sure there’s no other potential cause.”

“Of course. I understand.”

Chapter 18

Ryosuke didn’t feel the slightest urge to get up. His tears had dried, but he lay on the cold floor for another half an hour and stared at a dot on the tiles.

Another knock on the door snapped him out of his trance.

“Ryosuke? Are you okay?” Ayame called.

Ryosuke pushed himself into a sitting position, and shouted, “Yes. I’m fine!”

“What are you doing? It’s been almost an hour since you locked yourself inside!”

“Nothing.” Ryosuke sighed. He knew he would have to come out and face Ayame, but he felt like he wouldn’t be able to look her in the eye.

“Please, come out. I’m worried about you,” Ayame pleaded.

“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m alright.”

“How do I know that when you’re locked inside?” she insisted.

Ryosuke groaned, frustrated. “Okay. I’m coming out.” He had a hard time getting to his feet.

When he looked in the mirror he noticed his puffy eyes. He knew he couldn’t go out like that, so he leaned over the sink tofreshen up at least a little. While he splashed cold water on his face some older memories came to the surface.

He recalled the time when he and Ayame were just acquaintances, barely talking to each other, and how their relationship has changed overnight. One day she became his fiancé, and they’d been together for almost three years.

His father had almost died, when he was shot during the arrest of a gang of criminals, and if it wasn’t for Ayame’s father, his own father would certainly not have survived. That man saved his father’s life, and out of gratitude Ryosuke agreed to marry his daughter. Ayame was apparently in love with him, and since he was not interested in being in a relationship with anyone anyway, he thought that a marriage concluded in this way would at least be of some use for both families. He wanted to make his parents proud and happy as he always did. That was the most important thing to him. He hoped that some genuine love would blossom afterwards between him and his future wife.

But, at this moment, all that threatened to fall apart. What would his father think of him–about his only son, a murder suspect? Well, not officially, at least for now, but he was well on his way to it. If they could prove that Scarlett wasn’t killed by her husband, then he would probably be the only suspect.

Ryosuke wiped his face with a towel and looked in the mirror again. He still didn’t like what he saw, but it should be enough.

?

Lennart was reviewing the footage back and forth until he came to notice a tape he’d missed. Although he thought that there would be no need to review that particular room, he spotted something that could be relevant to the investigation.

Scarlett entered the room first, and not long after, she was followed by Björn. Lennart was surprised to see him. Although he knew that his brother was a womanizer, he didn’t expect his twenty-six-year-old sibling to go after women older than himself. And married.

The way the two went right to it, Lennart assumed that it wasn’t their first time. He turned on the audio to hear what they were talking about. He felt uncomfortable seeing his brother engaged in sexual liaison, but he had to see if something unusual happened. He sped up the video so he wouldn’t have to watch every detail and put it back to normal speed once they finished and started speaking again.