"Thank you, Machiko-san," Bessho-san says once she is done. "This news confirms recent speculations. Investigative officers of the Security Service have just completed a series of interviews with the friends and relations of Uekiya-san. It appears that the old grocer closed his store early on the night before the Open House, many hours before the barricades went up on Bergen Street. He had several visitors just before closing the store and remained inside the store all night. Neither his wife nor his two sons nor their wives could account for this break with his usual habits. Neither could they persuade him to leave the store. He claimed to be taking an inventory."