1
The new season arrives in Izu half a month before Tokyo.
In April, the mountain cherry blossoms are in full bloom, the fir trees meander along the streets of Amagi, and the wind blows from the branches and leaves, making people feel that the skin on the body is very smooth.
By this time, the mountains were as usual covered with a seductive spring color. The narrow Lyano River emits the sound of flowing water with a moist breath, flowing between the mountains and valleys covered with light.
The humble hot spring inn Ibukiso-san is located on the edge of the Ryo River, about 20 minutes by car from Shuzenji Temple to the south. For Ibuki Sanso, the spring curtain was opened that year with two accidental incidents.
It is said to be a simple one, but Ibukiso was originally a high-end hotel, with luxurious design, villa-style partial houses scattered on the gentle slope from the river to the road, never accepting swarms of group tourists. Only ten years ago, due to Typhoon Izu, the inns along the Ryano River were so badly damaged that the inniers used this as an opportunity to renovate the steel buildings. In contrast, Ibuki Sanso suffered very little, so it was not rebuilt, and unconsciously fell behind the times, giving the impression of an old inn.
It is such a Mountain Villa, coldly received a star Okimura who can be called a first-class media chase, and he really wants to come to stay, and this alone has already flattered Ibuki Mountain Villa, which can be called a rare event.
Makoto Okimura was originally a radio playwright, and after winning the award for the TV script a few years ago, his reputation suddenly rose. Although he was still very young, he was only about thirty-five years old.
But before he became famous, he experienced ups and downs, engaged in various occupations, perhaps because of his youth, his weak and wise face, from time to time skimming a shadow, for young women, has an irresistible charm. Recently, he has made frequent appearances in the media because of his role as a TV presenter and frequent participation in weekly magazine discussions, and he has been admired by people because of his clean and quiet style, and he has become a star chased by the media.
This time when he went to Ibuki Mountain Villa, he did not sneak away from the media.
I heard that he had stayed in this area for the night before he was going to attend a lecture in Ito the next day, on his way home from an interview trip to Nagoya, so in addition to Okimura, there were three officers and secretaries. Later, the date of the speech was temporarily changed according to Okimura's schedule, and the original reservation was full. Despite this, there are several famous hotels near Ito, but Okimura Makoto chose Ibuki-san Villa, perhaps he found out from where, and liked the quaint atmosphere of Ibuki Villa.
Another incident began when a letter of unknown origin was delivered to the gate of the main building of Ibuki-san Village on the eve of their stay in Oki Village, at about 7 p.m. on March 28.
The owner of Ibuki-san Has several rooms. At that time, all the guests who had made reservations for that day had arrived and were about to have dinner. There were only four ladies in the hotel, and it was a busy time, and there was no one on the accounting desk by the gate, and no one paid attention when the letter was sent in.
The first to be discovered was keiko, the waitress foreman. As she walked past the gate with the bowl full of dishes on her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of something white on the black stone steps. It was past the time for the postman to deliver the letter, and Keiko felt uneasy, so she put the basin in the corner of the corridor and walked over to pick it up.
On the front of the white envelope, in red ink, square but very unnatural text, it reads "Okimura Makoto also received." There are no words on the back of the envelope.
In normal times, the letter sent to the mayor of Oki Village should of course be given to him personally. However, whether it is this red ink or the words that can be seen at a glance that are deliberately twisted and twisted in order to cover up the handwriting, the whole envelope gives people a mysterious feeling. Keiko couldn't help but open WeChat. Moreover, the tape at the envelope had fallen off and the note was exposed from the inside. Before she could think it through, Keiko had already pulled out the note on the spot. A white note without the name of any group or organization. The envelope is also boxy text, and it reads—
"I wrote to my husband several times, and he didn't write me back once, so I decided to take revenge. If the husband's face is unbearable to see, the gentleman will definitely regret it for the rest of his life! ”
2
According to the schedule, at about 5:00 p.m. on March 29 of the next day, Okimura Makoto and his party will arrive at Ibuki Mountain Villa.
After the threatening letter was discovered, there was an uproar inside Ibuki Mountain Villa.
About forty minutes later, the criminal police arrived from the Shuzenji police station. The hostess Fumie and the waitress foreman Keiko, as well as two or three main personnel in the hotel, surrounded the criminal police to discuss countermeasures.
Celebrities often receive this type of letter, and most of them only make people sick. This letter also gives people such an impression. The reason for this is that, first of all, the motive for revenge written in the letter is that there is no reply, which is not enough. It is not difficult to imagine that it was a young girl who was deeply in love with Chong Village, who repeatedly wrote love letters but did not get a reply from OkiMura and became resentful, so she wrote such a threatening letter.
The second reason is that the writing is so full of typos that it is simply impossible to read. From this, it is speculated that the person who wrote the letter is still very young and the level of education is not so high, which can only make people disgusted when they see it.
Therefore, the people inside the hotel, including the criminal police, were panicked when they saw the letter, but they did not think too much about it.
However, it cannot be ignored. In particular, the letter was not sent by mail, but directly posted, so it is estimated that the letterer is nearby.
Therefore, the hotel decided to call okimura who were staying in Nagoya overnight to bring them to their attention, and at the same time, before they arrived in Okimura, arrange a plainclothes police patrol near Ibukiso.
Unexpectedly, Fumie contacted the hotel in Okimura, and Okimura took the phone call answered by his secretary Yamaguchi, laughing without concern, saying that this kind of thing is often encountered, don't worry.
At the same time, he also told him that their group was three men, and he had also learned karate when he was a student, and rarely lost his hands, so he hoped that the hotel would try not to alarm the police.
Fu Meijiang put down the earpiece and felt confused for no reason.
After such a toss, they arrived as promised, and they were immediately led to the highest grade "Mountain Moon Pavilion" in the side room.
In Ibuki-san, there are six partial houses around the main building. The three buildings on the west side have been discontinued due to decay, and the east side is lined with "Yamazuki Pavilion", "Stream Pavilion" and "Guri Pavilion" by the river.
In The Kurikaku, there was already a guest who was vital to the hotel, Tokyo's financier Genichiro Nagata.
As soon as the village chief arrived at Ibuki Villa, he ordered a meal from the hotel. The three of them didn't say a word about that matter, as if they had long forgotten everything, which made Fu Meijiang feel quite disappointed.
Unlike the city, at the end of dinner at 6:30, the surrounding area is already early in the night, and everything is quiet. After dinner, the village chief said that he would sort out the manuscript for tomorrow's speech, and he went into the living room. Secretary Yamaguchi and officer Feng An walked by the river alone, and one person watched TV in the lounge of the main building.
At this time, Kwon Teng, a police officer from the Shuzenji Police Station, dressed in plain clothes, quietly patrolled around the YamazukiKaku, mainly monitoring the riverbank. Outside the gate of Ibuki-san, near the highway, patrols are sent by the nearby police station, and there are always people coming and going between the main building and the YamazukiKaku. Therefore, if the gangsters want to get close to Okimura's side, they are most likely to sneak into Ibuki-san along the dark riverbank.
On this night, Ibuki Villa was particularly peaceful. The main building was full of guests with their families, and they had already turned off the lights and slept. In the side room, only the Mountain Moon Pavilion and the Guri Pavilion are still lit. In The Guri Pavilion, Nagata seems to be talking about something with a guest from Atami. In the lush greenery between the side house and the side house, there are low stone lanterns for decoration, and the petals of tsubaki trees and rhododendrons are reflected in the surrounding area.
It's not like what's going to happen. Was that letter a prank? Okimura Ishoma is probably an extraordinarily calm person, he doesn't care, from the beginning it was a prank.
The boss lady, Fu Meijiang, held her cheeks on the accounting table, and the Kwon Teng criminal policeman stood in the corner of the courtyard where the river was blowing, and both of them were thinking so.
Unexpectedly, a moment later, the event would happen in a form that was completely unexpected by them.
At about half past seven, Okimura finished his manuscript, walked out the door in his hotel slippers, and invited Kwon-teng, who was talking to Yamaguchi, for a drink, but Kwon-teng refused because he was on duty. So, the village chief and Yamaguchi returned to the side house together. After a while, Bee Bank, who was watching TV in the lounge, also returned to the room, and the three of them began to drink slowly.
It was almost eight o'clock, Keiko brought sake and dishes, and Okimura stood up again, changed into a kimono-style cotton robe, and said that she wanted to take a bath. He is basically an acute person, and wasting time in vain will feel unbearable. Bee-an grew tall and tall, in stark contrast to Okimura, leaning back in his chair with a big grin and looking at Keiko smirking.
Keiko immediately went to the bathroom to prepare the bath water.
In Ibukiso, in addition to the large communal baths in the main building, the bathrooms in the private rooms are all carriage-style. That is to say, the bath is small, and every time guests take a bath, they have to change the water and put in a new bath.
Keiko scrubbed the tiled bath carefully during the day.
The faucet was thick, and she began to put water out of the tap, and put away her bathrobe and towel beforehand, carefully inspected the dressing room again, and then returned to the room.
As she cleaned up the table, she echoed the men's chatter, and after about ten minutes, Keiko went into the bathroom again, and the bath water was halfway through, and the water temperature was just right for Okimura's preference.
"You can go take a shower."
"Thank you."
The village chief replied happily and stood up on a rattan chair by the porch.
He walked into the dressing room, and Yamada and BeeBank stayed in the living room. Keiko also left Yamazukikaku.
A few minutes later, a scream from the village chief was heard in the bathroom. Yamaguchi and Beebank stood up at the same time. Screams also reached the ears of Kwon-do, who was watching under the bathroom window.
Yamaguchi rushed ahead and slammed open the bathroom door.
The village chief stood at the edge of the bath, his left hand covering his right shoulder, curled up slightly forward, grinning, revealing a look of pain.
"What's wrong?" Bee Bank roared.
The village chief raised his right hand slightly and pointed to the faucet in the bath. The bath water squirts out of the tap in a thick band and pours into the already overflowing bath. The bath water that spews out appears very white and turbid, perhaps at an extremely high temperature. Unsurprisingly, Bee Bank tried it with his hand and raised his eyebrows violently: "So hot!" ”
"Rinse with cold water!"
Kwon Teng rushed in at the main entrance and shouted behind the mountain pass. So Yamaguchi hurriedly twisted open the faucet of the cold water pipe and let Okimura crouch under the faucet. Okimura's rather thin but lean body was scalding red from his shoulders to his right. The moment he touched the cold water, Okimura tilted his cheeks, closed his eyes and groaned "mm-hmm" and did not move.
Yamaguchi's wrinkled face twisted more and more, peering worriedly. Okimura closed his eyes.
"The temperature of the bath water was just right, so I rinsed my shoulders, but suddenly I spewed hot water!"
He was usually very quiet, but then he said in a rough tone.
After cooling down enough, when Yamaguchi covered the burned area with a towel, Bee Bank returned to the living room and picked up the telephone handset. Kwon Watched him on the phone while looking at his watch. It was 8:15.
The telephone in the handset stopped ringing, and it was probably Fu Meijiang's elastic voice.
"There was boiling water in the bathroom just now!"
"What do you say?"
Fu Meijiang seemed to suddenly inhale a cold breath. Bee Bank roared involuntarily.
"Mr. Okimura's shoulders and arms are burned! You send the medicine right away. Call a doctor to see the situation! ”
"Okay. I'll be right away! ”
As soon as the call with Bee Bank ended, the telephone rang again on the side of the Fumei River. A wooden sign with the words "Guri court" flashed a lamp on the side. Some kind of premonition crossed Fumijiang's mind. Her fingers quickly pressed the switch.
"Hey! I'm Nagata. ”
Indeed, Nagata's unpleasant tone was low and vague.
"I've been burned in the bathroom, can I get the waitress to bring medicine?"
The voice, though soft, seemed to be filled with pain.
"I'm sorry, I'll be right away!"
Fu Meijiang quickly took out her first aid kit and pondered the peppermint oil ointment that seemed to heal burns, but the medicine was running out.
Fumie calls out to Keiko and asks her to send the medicines to Okimura's room first, and then immediately pick up the telephone handset. About a hundred meters from the main entrance of Ibuki Mountain Villa, there is a small pharmacy on the other side of the bus station. If you must call a dermatologist, you must go to the ShuzenJi Temple.
Fu Meijiang instructed the pharmacy to send the medicine quickly. Five minutes later, the owner of the drugstore himself came running with a large bottle of zinc oil, still covered in dust. Fumie poured zinc oil in half into a small empty bottle, handed it to the young waitress Suzuko, who had just returned to the accounting desk, and ordered her to send it to Nagata's room. In normal times, Gurikaku is also responsible for Keiko's service, but tonight is very important, Keiko is only responsible for taking care of Okimura's room, so Nagata's service is handled by the novice Suzuko.
Fu Meijiang also carried zinc oil, followed by Suzuko out of the account desk, huai ge to the room of chong village. At this time, Fu Meijiang's heart felt slightly relieved. Judging from the situation on the phone, Okimura and Nagata's burns were not so serious, and if this was the "revenge" written in the letter, there would be no need to stir up the crowd so much.
3
About thirty minutes later, in the living room of the Yamazuki Pavilion, Okimura, Bee Bank, Yamaguchi, and the criminal police quan fuji, on the hotel side, there were Fumie and Keiko, and seven old men from the boilermaker A Tuan, sitting around a wide table to discuss the case.
As Fu Meijiang expected, the burns in Chong Village were not serious. The boiling water that sprays from the faucet is only a matter of moments, and it is enough to cool it down with cool water immediately. By the time Fu mei wang sent the zinc oil, Okimura had fully recovered his composure, saying that it was not worth calling a doctor. Nevertheless, Yamaguchi re-coated the red and swollen area with white zinc oil, attached a ribbon, attached plastic paper, and then carefully glued it with tape. In order not to let the burned part be pressed, Yamaguchi also specially asked Okimura to take off one of the sleeves of the kimono cotton robe, so it was almost like a knife.
"As a practical question—" Kwon Teng said as he turned his face to the old man who was sitting precariously with his back against the porch pulling the door.
After the burns were bandaged, Kwon-do gathered everyone together. After finally inviting the old man of the A Tuan, everyone's eyes were focused on the old man of the A Tuan. The rosy face of the old man was covered with hard silver whiskers from his cheeks to his jaw.
"The water in the faucet is of moderate temperature, under what circumstances does it suddenly spew boiling water of nearly ninety degrees?"
"Or is it that the hot spring here is forty degrees for a while and ninety degrees for a while, depending on whether it is happy or not?" Seeing that the old man of Ah Tuan was full of absent-mindedness, Bee Bank interjected indignantly.
The old man did not pay attention, he stroked the short hair that was as silver as his beard, and glanced at the bee bank. Then he said in a tone that mocked the ignorance of the other person:
"There's nothing like that!" The hot spring level here is kept at about 30 degrees when it comes out, and when you go to the bathroom in the guest room, the bath water has to go through a boiler once. That is to say, the temperature of the boiler is set at fifty degrees, and then the bath water heated to fifty degrees is heated by a water pump and stored in the water supply pool. It is then sent from the water supply pool to the rooms. When the water was delivered to the room, the water temperature was just right. ”
The old man added in a leisurely tone that it was "each room", that is, the main building and the west side of the room, the east side of the room, the main building and the side room are equipped with water pipes, and the bath water sent to the Mountain Moon Pavilion, the Stream Pavilion, and the Guri Pavilion also has to go through the boiler. Therefore, no abnormality was found in the main jacket, and because the stream pavilion was not used, the result was that boiling water appeared in both the Yamazuki Pavilion and the Guri Pavilion.
"Then, immediately after the boiling water appears, check the boiler, and the thermometer should be set at one hundred degrees." Kwon asked. This was confirmed by himself. "Someone told me about turning on the thermometer."
The tone of the old man seemed to be unconcerned about the situation in which he would be suspected. He was already sixty miles away, and looking at his serious look, he couldn't imagine that he would write a letter of admiration to Okimura. If he had a young daughter, the situation might have been different, but after the death of his wife when he was young, he had lived alone in the boiler room for twenty-five years, and he himself had become part of the boiler room.
"When you turn on the boiling faucet, the bath water that comes out is about forty degrees."
Kwon-teng looked at Keiko. Keiko nodded without hesitation with a calm expression.
"The water temperature was just right when I went in. It's true to think about it, it's less than five minutes..."
As a result, boiling water appeared at 8:05.
Okimura looked at the space with cold eyes.
"Here's the problem. No! This may have been done by someone who knows the inside very well. ”
The old man of Ah Tuan almost said to himself as if sighing, and stroked his short hair again. According to him, the water that flowed out of the bath in the first ten minutes was the water that had accumulated in the cistern beforehand, about forty degrees. The perpetrator may have calculated that there would be boiling water at the beginning, and no one would take the liberty of extending his body under the faucet.
When the water in the water supply pool drops to a certain extent, the bulb will automatically open, and the water heated in the boiler will automatically be sent into the water supply pool. If the temperature of the boiler was set at one hundred degrees, the water sent into the water supply pool was close to one hundred degrees, and the boiling water would flow directly to the faucet in the bathroom.
Therefore, the perpetrator first reduces the water in the water supply pool to a certain amount of water, and after closing the water pipe, sets the temperature of the boiler to one hundred degrees. According to the old man of A Tuan, it is not difficult to do this. The water level in the water supply pool is peeping through the small window, and to change the temperature of the boiler, the scale of the thermometer can be easily moved by simply twisting the screw with a screwdriver.
As for the time of the crime, it can be roughly calculated. Because Gurikaku's guest Nagata arrived at the inn before five o'clock and took a shower thirty minutes later. On this day, he was the first to use the bath water in the side room, and before that, the old man of A Tuan had confirmed that the water in the water supply pool was full, and the temperature of the boiler was kept at fifty degrees as usual. Therefore, the perpetrator did something on the thermometer for an hour and a half from about six o'clock after Nagata's bath to the time when Okimura finished changing the manuscript and taking a bath.
As a rule, Hikari would locate the suspected objects inside Ibuki-san, and if the suspects were not discharged within this range, Kwon Teng intended to request reinforcements from the Department.
He immediately began his investigation. To say that it is an investigation is to understand the situation and fix each practitioner in the position at the time of the crime.
Quan Teng, who has just turned thirty, is determined to engage in criminal work, dares to think and dare to do, and exudes a sharp breath. Moreover, the hotel is a small hotel with only eleven employees in total. Everyone was quite curious, so they all took the initiative to assist Kwon Teng in the investigation, and the investigation was carried out very smoothly. Before midnight, Kwon Teng was very quick to clear out the persuasive suspects.
4
Just after eleven o'clock in the evening, the waitress Fukami Suzuko was taken into the living room of Okimura. Okimura they have not yet slept, after paying attention to the development of the situation, so after confirming that Suzuko's suspicions are difficult to overturn, Kwon Teng decides to bring Suzuko to Okimura regardless of whether he has it or not. He estimated that this would be more conducive to Suzuko's confession as soon as possible. The boss lady Fu Meijiang was also present during the investigation.
Suzuko has three reasons for becoming a suspect. First, at about 6:30 p.m., a waitress saw Suzuko sneaking out of the boiler room. Second, Suzuko has often been watching TV in the lounge lately, mingling among guests, and has shown great interest in the TV broadcasts hosted by Okimura, which both Fumie and Keiko have reminded her of. Third, when Suzuko's name was mentioned in the investigation, the old man of A Tuan recalled that a few days after making an appointment in Oki Village, Suzuko had pestered the old man of A Tuan to inquire about the boiler room.
Suzuko, who claims to be twenty-one years old, has a round baby face, a plump face like a rosy apple, and a pair of deep myopic glasses on her round and slippery eyes. On closer inspection, she has a rather delicate face, but perhaps because of obesity and lack of interest in dressing, she is also a rural girl who looks bare from the hem of the broken white dot flower skirt of the hotel uniform.
She suddenly visited three months ago with a letter of recommendation from a director of a Tokyo company who had stayed here several times before, and stayed at the hotel. She is neither gentle nor clever, and Fu Meijiang does not like it very much, but now the lack of manpower in the hotel is not to be picky.
Suzuko curled up and sat in front of Okimura, and no matter what she asked her at first, she timidly lowered her head and rubbed the hem of her clothes without making a sound. Gradually, her hand kept reaching for her cheek, as if wiping away tears.
"How's it going? Let yourself be honest. ”
Kwon Teng reprimanded sternly, and Suzuko nodded her head and couldn't help but sob at the same time.
"Why do you do this?"
"I... I wrote ten letters, but not one reply... I don't think I'll ever see mr. Gentleman's handsome face again..."
What are you talking about later? The sound was so soft that it could no longer be heard.
Forget it! Everyone present sighed involuntarily. Kwon Teng looked at Chong Mura and seemed to be asking him what to do. Okimura looked at Suzuko's low-hanging look of fear and felt compassion.
"Such a little girl, even if you deal with her, there is no point."
Although he was dismissive and full of contempt, he turned his face to the side. Maybe he's not good at reprimanding people. In the end, it was Bee Bank who reprimanded her.
"If you ever do this again, I will never forgive you." Letters are not allowed in the future! Do you understand? ”
Needless to say, Fumi wang was relieved. She thought to herself that Okimura would be satisfied with the dismissal of Suzuko the day after tomorrow, and that she might take extra care of Ibuki Sanso in the future. It's not yet known if it's a good thing or a bad thing...
At that time, it was impossible for Fufujiang to know that this "burn incident" was simply not enough compared with the events that followed.
5
At 6:30 the next morning, Keiko brought him breakfast according to Nagata's habit. She stood in front of the sliding door of Gurikoku with a basin containing tea fruits and breakfast.
Nagata, a financier in Tokyo, was born in his mid-fifties to a poor peasant family in the Shuzenji area and owned little land. Since this area became a tourist attraction and became rich in land, he sold his land and lent money to the innkeepers of Shuzenji Temple and Atami, so once a month he always came here to collect money or do something, and always stayed in Ibuki Villa as usual. In his youth, his family was humble, and the imprint of a poor life had penetrated deeply into his marrow, so that he was very stingy with money, and he was inexplicably arrogant, and sometimes showed a dismissive antipathy towards the so-called high-society people. This may be a clear proof of a fervent desire.
Nagata is such a difficult guest to wait, so although Fumie is deeply disgusted and rarely appears in the guest room, she is undoubtedly a very important guest for Ibuki Sanso, so the service to Nagata is always undertaken by Keiko, and Fumie takes care of things like food behind her back.
The inside of the sliding door is not locked, and the thick lattice sliding door opens with a gentle pull. Usually Nagata goes to bed early and gets up early, maybe he has gone out for a walk. However, the doorway was neatly placed with clogs to wear in the yard.
"You're early!" Keiko greeted coldly, but did not say yes.
Keiko hesitated. In order to take care of Okimura's side, she handed over the task of serving Nagata to Suzuko one night last night. After the burn incident, Suzuko lay down with a quilt over her head in the maid's room, not knowing whether she was asleep or awake, and she did not answer anyway. Nagata may have already told Suzuko that he usually wakes up early and goes to bed early, but today he wants to spit on him. But even so, Nagata, who had always been cautious, did not lock the sliding door when he slept, which was strange.
Finally, Keiko walked inside, knelt down and opened the partition slightly, and the room was a little dark. The curtains on one side of the eaves were still tightly closed. Keiko thought so, and suddenly saw the towel rail leaning against the table, and the table was also tilted from the side of the mat, and the tea bowl and tray on the table were hanging on the edge of the table and almost slipped down.
Keiko shouted again, but still did not say yes, so she pulled open the partition and went into the room.
The quilt was laid towards the niche, there was no trace of sleep, a small lamp was lit next to the pillow, the hot water bottle was overturned on the edge of the mat, and the water flowing out penetrated the mat. There was a strange feeling in the ten-stack room.
By the time Keiko found Nagata, a little time had passed. At least that's how Keiko felt. In fact, it may be less than five minutes.
Nagata looked up in the narrow corridor that connected the living room and the bathroom, and the bathrobe on a white background and blue pattern curled up under his body, holding up his fat abdomen. The waistband of his bathrobe wrapped around his reddish-brown neck and knotted tightly under his throat knot.
Several criminal police officers rushed from the Xiushan Temple police station in tears. Among them also have the right to vines. The police immediately conducted an on-site investigation. After the investigation, the body was sent for autopsy. Based on the on-site investigation alone, the status of the crime can be roughly speculated.
The cause of death was still strangulation, caused by the belt of the yukata. In addition to this, there were contusions on the back of the deceased's head, but it was not fatal. It appears that the killer used a blunt object—probably a clay incense burner that fell under the niche—to slam it in the back of the head, wrapping a belt around his neck while the other person was dizzy. However, judging from the depth of the contusion, it is not difficult to imagine that the blow was deflected, and the two fought fiercely. Nagata was exhausted and hanged in front of the bathroom. Keiko didn't notice it right away because the partition fan on the side of the living room was closed.
Then there is the time of the calculation of the murder. Then. Last night's burn companion unexpectedly provided Ding convenience for the determination of the time of the crime.
The night before, Nagata arrived at Ibuki-san Villa before five o'clock and took a shower and started dinner at six o'clock. At this moment, an innkeeper named Yamagata Shuzoku, who had arrived from Atami, visited Nagata. Yamagata did not have dinner at Nagata's place, but quietly talked with Nagata's maid for an hour.
Yamagata left at around seven o'clock. That night, Suzuko, the waitress who was in charge of serving Nagata, went to clean up the table and made a face-to-face with Yamagata.
In order to understand the situation in this regard, Suzuko, who was sleeping with her head covered in the maid's room, was shouted up and brought to the police officer. When she heard that it was a police officer, the spit-eyed Suzuko was suddenly scattered and her expression was sluggish, and when she learned that there was another murder in the hotel, she slowly calmed down, and replied very fluently, as if secretly some relief, thinking that this incident would dilute people's impression of last night's burn incident.
According to Suzuko, when she went to clean up the table, Nagata looked at the courtyard with a displeased look and said that he would take a bath before going to bed, and that the bath water he had just used did not need to be changed.
Suzuko cleaned up the dining table, neatly laid out the quilt and left the room. Because she heard Keiko say that Nagata went to bed very early and usually spit between eight and eight thirty when she lived here.
The ledger received a call from Nagata's room saying that he had burned and asked for medicine. It was 8:16. Both Kwon-teng and Fumi-gie remembered that Nagata's call was immediately after the one at Bee Bank.
At 8:20, the pharmacy brought zinc oil. Fumijiang moved the zinc oil into a small bottle and asked Suzuko to send it to Gurikaku, and then Fumijiang also walked to the courtyard to rush to the living room of chong village.
At about 8:25, Suzuko shouted at the door of Gurikaku, "The medicine has arrived." According to Suzuko, there was a light in the bathroom at the time, and a voice of approval came from the bathroom, saying, "I'm not badly burned, and now I'm taking a shower, so let's put the medicine in the doorway."
At that time, Fu Meijiang can also confirm the situation. She was about to go to see Okimura, so she stopped behind Suzuko and watched. According to her, although she did not hear Nagata's voice, she clearly felt Suzuko and Nagata talking.
Suzuko put the zinc oil in the decorative cabinet in the doorway and returned to the main building. Fu Fujiang hurried straight to the Mountain Moon Pavilion.
After entering the living room of Chong Village, Fu Meijiang also looked through the window and from time to time to the decorative cabinet at the entrance of Guri Pavilion. There is another stream pavilion between the two side houses, but the three buildings form a flatter triangle, so you can see part of the entrance to the Guri Pavilion. However, Fumie said that after Suzuko delivered the medicine, she did not see Nagata come out to get the medicine for at least five minutes.
About an hour later, after the old man of Ah Tuan, mainly Kwon Teng, called them to discuss, when Fumie and Keiko left the Yamazuki Pavilion together, the lights of The Guri Pavilion had been turned off, and there was silence inside. Fu Meijiang thought to herself, Nagata likes to spit early, must have gone to sleep, see what he did not say after that, it is estimated that the burn is not serious, wait until tomorrow to apologize. So, Fu Meijiang walked straight through the door of Guri court. For those unpleasant things, Fu Meijiang always hopes to delay and deal with them coldly.
At the same time, on the right wrist of the deceased Nagata, a blister of burns, although small, was found. When Keiko went to Gurikaku in the morning, the white zinc oil applied to the burn was completely absorbed. The container containing the zinc oil is also placed in the decorative cabinet at the door. However, when the police interrogated Suzuko, she remembered that the location of the container was slightly different from the position she had placed last night.
From these facts, Nagata arrived at the door after Fumie arrived at the door from time to time from time to time in the Yamazuki Pavilion to guri pavilion, applied zinc oil on the spot, returned to the room, and then was killed.
6
After noon that day. The search department at the Shuzenji Police Station received an important piece of information.
At 8:30 p.m. last night, the police station patrolling the ramp entrance to Ibuki Mountain Villa on the lower slope found a man running toward the hillside with all his might in the grass on the edge of the ramp.
The inspector was about to routinely go forward for cross-examination when the man got into a car parked in the darkness on the side of the road and drove away. Therefore, the inspector wrote down the car's car number.
"The time is half past eight, is that true?"
Seeing the young patrolman standing with a nervous look, The Director Kurioka asked.
"That's right. I remembered the number and looked at my watch, and it was eight thirty. Also, my watch had just been checked at seven o'clock. ”
Kurioka glanced at Kwon-do next to him, looking disappointed. But, in any case, this intelligence cannot be ignored. The police immediately searched for the owner of the car.
It didn't take long for it to find out that the owner of the car was Yamagata Shuzo, a hotelier in Atami.
He was the same man who visited Nagata last night.
In the evening, Yamagata was summoned by the Atami Police Station.
Yamagata Tsukisho, fifty-five or six years old, has a large fat body on the hot spring, and a broad smile appears on his face, as if he wants to hide the trepidation in his heart. In addition to the criminal police officers of the Atami Police Station, Kwon Teng, who had arrived from the Shuzenji Police Station, and Oda Che, who was a year younger than Kwon, participated in the interrogation.
"You're right, I left Ibuki-san at about seven o'clock and returned to Nagaoka, but... I remembered an urgent matter and went back. That urgent thing, is... In fact, I left the bill with Jun Nagata... No! I've said all that..."
Yamagata's face was ashamed, and the corners of his lips were trembling slightly.
"My brother also opened a small inn in Atami, and he wanted to build another hotel, but he didn't have the funds, so he entrusted me to be a guarantor and raised five million yuan from Nagata Jun. It was the beginning of March, and I promised to return it a month later, so at Nagata Jun's request, I issued a guarantee ticket for return on April 5. ”
"That is to say, when your brother is unable to return it, will you cash in with your guaranteed bill?"
"Yes. The day before yesterday, my brother told me he couldn't come up with the money. However, I can't scrape together five million dollars before five days... So, hey! Yesterday evening I visited Nagata Jun, hoping that he would delay the return period by half a month anyway, but Nagata Jun refused to agree, saying that he sympathized with us, but waved my bill in his hand and laughed at me. At that time, I couldn't help but get angry, saying that he was a man who only recognized money, and let him do whatever he wanted, I kicked the mat and left... On the way home, I changed my mind again, and I felt that I could only beg him again..."
"So, you're going back to Ibuki-san?"
"Yeah... I arrived at the parking lot at Ibuki Villa at 8:15. You can go in from the gate, but I and the hostess are peers, I originally knew, and the boilermaker a group, after meeting I learned that we are classmates in elementary school, that kind of thing makes people know that it is embarrassing, so this time I did not enter the main building, but went directly to the side room. ”
Yamagata parked his car in the darkness by the side of the road and walked straight through the grass to the side of the porch of Gurikaku. At that time, he remembered that it was around eight twenty.
He shouted, and no one said yes. It was a bit dark in the living room but the lights were on in the bathroom. He estimated nagata was taking a bath. The sliding door of the porch was closed and the curtains were closed, but there was a window in the corner that was not locked.
"At my age, I will still do that kind of thing, which is really self-conscious." ...... As soon as I entered the living room and saw that Nagata Jun was not there, I involuntarily drew the guarantee ticket from Nagata's bag and fled. At that time, Nagata's bag was placed on the edge of the niche. ”
Yamagata's fleshy face swelled red and he stammered.
According to him, he went downhill along a path in the grass when he went to Ibuki-san Village, and was spotted by the patrol when he ran up the hill along the trail to the car when he got the guarantee ticket.
"At that time, I thought Nagata Jun was taking a bath, but now in retrospect, Nagata Jun may have been killed." Because I didn't hear the sound of water coming out of the bathroom. ”
Yamagata didn't know about the burn, he added with a frown of conviction.
"How's it going in the living room?" Messy or not? ”
Without waiting for the police officers of the Athai Police Station to ask questions, Kwon Teng interjected.
"I was already confused... I can't remember. Only a small light on the shelf was on, maybe it was faint, but... I just felt the incense burner in the alcove fall to the ground..."
Yamagata revealed a wandering gaze that traced the memory. According to him, when he knelt in front of the niche and approached his purse, he came across a hard object, and he remembered inadvertently pushing it away with his hand.
"Can you be sure?"
"You say you can't be sure... Is that really an incense burner..."
Yamagata ambiguously cannot be confirmed.
"You've been in a relationship with Nagata Jun for a long time, haven't you?"
Knowing that he would not get much more from the situation on the spot, Kwon Teng changed the subject. As a result, Yamagata immediately showed a relieved expression.
"No! Just the last two or three years. To say, his reputation is not very good. ”
"Specifically, what kind of thing are you referring to?"
"I don't know the details, he cares too much about his former poor life, has a strong hatred for celebrities and high-society people, and often probes the privacy of those people for extortion... In this way, I seem to have heard someone say that Masaya Okimura may also be one of these victims. ”
Yamagata squinted his eyes at the faces of the officers, as if to speculate on the officer's reaction to his words.
Kwon Teng stared at his expression and suddenly woke up.
If there had been no scalding incident, wouldn't Yamagata's suspicions have been difficult to overturn?
However, as a result of that incident, it can at least be proved that Nagata was not killed before 8:30, which barely proves that Yamagata was not at the scene. Burn incidents are unexpected accidents for some people, but they are life-saving straws for some people.
7
After leaving the Atami Police Station, Kwon Teng and Oda immediately investigated Yamagata's younger brother, Kenji Yamagata.
After investigation, it was learned that he had been admitted to a hospital in the city for duodenal ulcer the day before the crime, had not left the hospital on the day of the crime, and had not found suspicious persons related to the case around him.
Late at night, the two returned to the Hiyamaji Police Station. The search meeting was convened immediately.
At this time, Tokyo sent information about the victim, Genichiro Nagata.
Nagata, forty-eight years old, appeared older than his actual age, perhaps because of the sharp gaze and calm demeanor that always carried a desolate and sad mood.
He was a financier who had a firm in a building in Meguro, Tokyo, but the company employed only one female clerk, and he almost personally handled the day-to-day affairs, so the female clerk did not know the details, but knew that unlike the simple appearance, there was a huge amount of money flowing in the dark. At the same time, according to the female clerk, Nagata did not know where to draw relations, and had contacts with young politicians and directors.
Among the people with whom he talks business, there are several celebrities of this type.
Nagata had a sister named "Kuniko", thirty-four or five years old. No! On the surface, she is a sister, but in fact, she seems to be a concubine. Kuniko often comes to the office, she looks beautiful, a Japanese-style face, charming, and the long eyes of the show hide the unpredictable demon.
Kuniko works as a host at the Black Rose Bar in Ginza. Celebrities such as directors and writers frequent that bar. A speculation arose; she approached them with her unique charm as a weapon, probed for a handle, and then reported to Nagata. Will Nagata threaten them with this?
This speculation was based on the reflections of the female clerk and the waitresses at the Black Rose Bar, and the officer could not have found evidence. This type of crime, since there are no reports from the victim side, makes it difficult to ascertain the facts.
However, about half a year ago, Kuniko suddenly disappeared from Nagata's side and quit her job at the Black Rose Bar, where she will go. I don't know if it was because of the fallout with Nagata, or because I hid my name to end the life of a barmaid?
Using the reflections of the female clerks and the files left in the firm as clues, the police found several suspects in Tokyo. However, after investigation, they were not at the scene at the time of the crime and were innocent. Masaya Okimura's name also appeared in the suspected objects, but Kwon Teng himself confirmed that he had not left the room after 7:30 on the night of the crime.
The evidence that the female clerk was not present was unshakable. The police immediately began to investigate Bangzi's whereabouts. However, the killing shows that the murderer is clearly a person with more armpower than Nagata. The suspected set point returned to Yamagata again.
Oda Cut leaned out with a slightly swollen face.
"What came to mind on the train in Izu Hakone just now... Will Yamagata return to Gurikaku around 8:15 a.m., slightly earlier than the time he confessed? After Nagata called the accounting desk to ask for medicine because of a burn in the shower, he killed Nagata? ”
"Are you saying that when Suzuko delivered the medicine afterwards, the answer coming from the bathroom was Yamagata's?"
The administrator, who was approaching retirement age, agreed calmly.
"Exactly. I heard him reply, 'I was in the shower, and the medicine was there.' But when you think about it, even though the scale of the burn is small, even the blisters are scalded out, and it is strange to go to the bath. Nagata had already been killed at that time, could Yamagata have answered in a hurry to drive Suzuko away? It was about 8:25, and it was estimated that Yamagata would immediately turn off the lights in the bathroom and run with all his might, just around 8:30 a.m. to be able to return to the parked car. ”
"However, Nagata's burns were coated with zinc oil. How can this be explained? ”
"If Yamagata had zinc oil on his hand, he could have strangled Nagata and smeared it on it." Nagata called for medicine for the burn, so the waitress would send medicines such as zinc oil sooner or later. Therefore, if it is applied in advance, when the body is found, it will have the effect of delaying the time of death..."
"This kind of reasoning is too accidental, right?" If it's peppermint oil or something like that, it makes sense, but zinc oil..."
Oda seemed to be able to understand such a rebuttal, biting his lip and staring regretfully at the corner of the table.
"Yamagata carries zinc oil beforehand, and such a coincidence is unlikely."
After a brief silence, Kwon-teng looked up.
"What if I knew in advance that there would be a burn incident?" That is to say, if the elementary school classmate Ah Tuan told him to let Suzuko or someone suddenly release boiling water from the tap while Chong Village was taking a bath? ...... I don't think it's impossible. From Suzuko's curiosity and inquiry about the operation of the boiler room, Ah Tuan formulated the method of committing the crime, calculated the arrival time of Okimura and the time of eating, etc., and could roughly calculate the time of bathing. ”
"If you can calculate, what then?"
Kurioka's calm gaze began to show a slight look of excitement.
Yamagata sneaked back to Gurikaku before eight o'clock. At this time, Nagata was probably still in the living room. Yamagata took advantage of Nagata's lack of attention and sprinkled boiling water from a hot water bottle on Nagata's hand, and then smashed the back of his head with incense. At the end of the fight, Nagata was strangled to death. Yamagata then immediately applied the zinc oil prepared in advance to Nagata's hand, and then estimated the time to call the account desk and ask for medicine to cure the burns. However, it does not necessarily have to be consistent with the time of the Mountain Moon Pavilion. Regarding the voice on the phone, the hostess also said that the other party's voice was very light, and at that time, no one would suspect it. ”
No one objected, and all eyes in the room were eagerly focused on Kwon-do.
Later, the same reasoning as Ota's reasoning. At about 8:25, when Suzuko delivered the medicine, the sound coming from the bathroom was of course Yamagata. After Suzuko left the medicine in a decorative cabinet outside the door, Yamagata left The Gurikaku Immediately. The next morning, Suzuko only said that the position of the container had changed slightly, but there was no certainty. At the same time, in addition to Fumie and Keiko, there are two or three fingerprints on the container, and it is impossible to confirm whether there is Nagata's fingerprint, which is not a kind of luck for the murderer? ”
"This analysis is basically reasonable."
Kurioka replied slowly and methodically as he pondered.
"However, there are two or three contradictions."
"First of all, if Yamagata had made a trick in advance through Ah Tuan's point, then why would he take the initiative to say that he and Ah Tuan were elementary school classmates?"
"At first, I was deceived, but then I thought, could Yamagata be a general? The relationship with the Afghan tuan will be known sooner or later after investigation. If that's the case. It's better to say it yourself..."
"Hmm. Such an explanation is also possible, but then there is the question of medicine. Yamagata should not have predicted that the waitress would definitely send zinc oil. If Yamagata's medicine is different from the medicine sent by the maid, isn't it equivalent to exposing yourself? ”
"Herein lies the problem. Maybe Ibuki Sanso has a habit of using zinc oil for burns? Moreover, Yamagata knows this habit..."
Before Kwon Couldo could finish speaking, Kurioka's hand was already reaching for the telephone. Ibuki Sanso was connected immediately.
After relaying the call to Fumie, kurioka put down the handset after talking for two or three minutes. The gesture of putting the earpiece down was helpless, which proved his disappointment.
According to the lady boss, when the medicine was broken, she called the nearby pharmacy and asked them to send the medicine immediately, any medicine, as long as it is effective for burns. Therefore, it was the owner of the pharmacy who chose zinc oil, and Ibuki Sanso did not have the habit of preparing zinc oil often. ”
silent. The heavy atmosphere once again enveloped the cramped room.
"Wait a minute."
Oda's low murmur sounded loud in the room.
"Yamagata said that when he sneaked into Gurikaku, it was as if the incense burner on the niche was lying down. If this were true, Nagata should have been killed before the burn. ”
Oda's eyes searched for Kwon's consent. And then for a split second —.
"Yes!" Kwon-teng let out a roar that surprised even himself. "I knew in advance that boiling water would spew out of the water pipe, and in addition to the old man Ah Tuan, there was another person..."
8
May has just arrived, and the streets of Tokyo are already a summer scene. However, the weather was not good that year, the cloudy mist mixed with smoke covered the sky for several days, and the damp and cold wind made people's footsteps hurry.
In the hilly area of Mount Kamiyama near Shibuya Station, a densely wooded but very quiet residential area, neon lights that are not commensurate with the buildings stand prominently. The words on the neon lights can be seen clearly even from a long distance, which are the words "white duck". The White Duck Guest House, famous for its cooking, has been in the market since daylight, and half of the guests who come here are couples, and it can be seen at a glance that they are some people who do not want to go to the hot spring hotel. Half of them either come for small talk or write articles alone with their manuscripts. The layout of the side houses spread out on all sides around the main building is always a bit like Ibuki Villa.
On a warm evening, a male guest walked into the Qingshan Pavilion. Perhaps trying to write something, he handed a heavy bag to the maid who led him into the guest room.
As soon as the waitress put her bag in the corner of the living room, the man took off his dark sunglasses, and his indifferent eyes condensed with speculation, staring at the azaleas blooming in the courtyard.
The partition opened again, and the waitress in her work uniform brought refreshments. She put the refreshments on the table, and then slightly opened the newly closed partition to peek out the door, and then looked at the movement in the courtyard, and after confirming that there was no one in the courtyard, she quietly closed the sliding door in the porch. The man's hand rested on her shoulder.
Silent, long and warm embrace. When they separated, both were out of breath.
Okimura Makoto also looked very depressed after these two months, and Kuniko was also more gaunt, so thin that she almost didn't have the face of Suzuko, who was plump and rosy and wore thick myopic glasses. She did not wear glasses, her face was pale, she had lost her former style, but her big wet eyes still flashed with the innate charm that made men lose their souls. If she takes off her work uniform, she is completely a city woman of her prime. However, her face is also similar to that of Bangzi in the Black Rose Bar. Mainly for the sake of the eyelids. The single eyelid, which was originally a little childish, became a clear double eyelid, and the whole face suddenly looked foreign. Moreover, the thin cheeks, somehow bulging slightly, added a hint of resentment to the whole face.
"How long will we have to endure this..."
Inside, as the two fell to the mattress they had made beforehand, Bangzi muttered intermittently. As Okimura hugged her tightly, her lips buried in his chest.
"Bear with me a little longer. When the society forgot about the incident, the police gave up tracking down Bangzi..."
"In order not to attract attention, I also had a special plastic surgery after I left Nagata..."
"No matter how you get a facelift, people who know you well can see it at a glance."
"Nagata didn't notice!"
"That's because he decided you were a waitress from the beginning and didn't pay much attention."
The events of that night came to Mind of Bangzi like a marquee.
Kuniko, who has been living in Ibuki-san Villa since the first month, contacted Okimura based on Nagata's accommodation reservation, set a date for Okimura to come and stay, and threw out a threatening letter, so that everyone in the hotel would focus on Okimura that night. Kuniko was always a waitress of Gurig. Nagata really didn't think to take a good look at Suzuko's face. At seven o'clock, Kuniko took the opportunity to clean up the dinner table and put the hot water bottle full of boiling water under Nagata's table.
The murder was done around 7:15. Nagata had recently been trying to blackmail Okimura, and Okimura quietly visited Gurikaku, pretending to meet occasionally in a hotel and asking for something to talk about, so he went into Nagata's living room. He first deliberately pretended to be careless and sprinkled the boiling water from the hot water bottle on Nagata's hand, and when Nagata was paying attention to his hand, he touched the incense burner in his hand and smashed the back of Nagata's head, but Nagata was retreating backwards without a single blow, but Okimura learned karate when he was a student, and his arm strength was better than Nagata's, and he ended Nagata's life in about five minutes.
Okimura hurried back to yamazukikaku, pretended to have just finished sorting out the manuscript, and invited Nagata and Yamaguchi into the house for a drink.
At eight-sixteen o'clock, Kuniko called the ledger to ask for burn medicine. After answering the phone at the account desk, she put down the handset and turned on the small answering machine that Okimura had recorded in Nagata's tone. At that time, even if the voice is slightly different, no one will doubt it. Kuniko hid the answering machine in her arms and walked quickly back to the account desk, delivering medicine to Nagata is also Kuniko's job.
She claimed that at the gate of Gurikaku, Nagata said, "Put the medicine there," and she put it down at Nagata's orders and returned. This is her impatience. Fumijiang watched the situation behind her back. She was afraid that if Fumie went with her to Nagata's room, her plans would all be disrupted.
Fu Meijiang went to the Mountain Moon Pavilion. Moments later, Kuniko sneaked back into Gurikaku again, using her last courage to smear zinc oil on the hands of the dead Nagata. She turned off the bathroom light, and Gurigot shrouded herself in darkness. When she turned out the window of Gurikaku and saw the lamp in the living room of Chong Village through the fence, the words "accidental event" suddenly appeared in Kuniko's mind.
In the past, when Kuniko fell in love with a man, her purpose was always to cheat. The collaboration between Nagata and Kuniko is tacit. She was adopted by Nagata as a teenager and soon became his mistress. Bunzi did not have the slightest doubt about him. At least until she met Okimura, she was.
Shin-chan falls in love with Masaya Okimura, which is an unexpected accident for Kuniko. No! It's not just Kuniko, it's okimura as well. And, for Nagata, too.
In the beginning, Okimura was the wronged boss of Nagata's use of Kuniko as bait to seduce him. Kuniko soon discovers Okimura's ups and downs before he became famous, and he had associated with violent groups while studying karate at university. After graduating from university and becoming a director, he also gave the leader of the violent group five million yuan as a "training fee". These things became a stain that could not be erased after he became famous.
When Kuniko suddenly found herself with hazy tenderness in her heart, it was too late. Because everything she had to do was through Nagata, Nagata, if he knew that Kuniko had been taken by Okimura, would use his so-called weapon to destroy Okimura by any means.
It's late... These words suddenly caused an ominous premonition to well up in Bunzi's chest. In order to dispel that ominous feeling, she closed her eyes and in her blank consciousness she snuggled deeply into Okimura's arms...
At this time, neither Okimura nor Kuniko heard, and a flurry of footsteps ran close to the living room and stopped outside the door. The two could not have dreamed that with the sound of footsteps, it was the criminal police officers of the Xiushan Temple Police Station. They stubbornly follow the footprints of Suzuko, who disappeared from Ibuki-san Village after leaving a letter defending the burns the day after Nagata was killed.