By the time I reached the station, the meeting between the police, my husband, Rinko Kawai, and her parents had already wrapped up. When the officer told the Kawais they were free to go, her mother spat out, “Stop being such a burden to me! You’re an embarrassment…” She then grabbed a sobbing Rinko by the scruff of her neck and dragged her away. (Does she have a bad relationship with her parents…?) I instinctively started to go after her, but the officer nudged me toward my husband, and I couldn’t follow. Once we got home, my husband and I talked again. According to him, Rinko Kawai lives alone with her mother. Apparently, her mother isn’t much older than I am…
Despite the overwhelming sense of emptiness, I told my husband we had to figure out our next move. “Look, she’s still young and seemed completely lost on how to handle this. We need to sit down and talk with her and her parents one more time. From what I saw today, she can’t rely on them at all… It’s tragic for her to have nowhere to turn.” With that, I had my husband call Rinko Kawai once more.