Audition

by Ryu Murakami

  ‘Who is she?’ he said.

  ‘Call police. And ambulance.’

  ‘Right.’ He turned to run for the phone.

  ‘Shige. Wait.’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘She kept saying something.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘What was she saying?’

  ‘ “Liar, liar” – just that one word, over and over.’ Shige pressed the palm of his hand to his left eye and squinted up at him. ‘What was this all about?’

  Aoyama shook his head weakly.

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘Nothing, really.’