Chapter 16 Chapter Six

Totsukawa and Kamei took the Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka the next morning. The Osaka branch of Taiyo Trading Co., Ltd., where Nakata works, is near Osaka Station. The two took a taxi from Shin-Osaka on the Shinkansen to Sun Trading Company.When I arrived at the branch where Nakata worked, it was 9:40, and the staff had of course already gone to work. Totsukawa and Kamei met with Otake, the branch manager.According to Otake, he was also transferred from the Tokyo head office two years ago. "Mr. Nakata said that he will start working tomorrow." Otake said. "That Nakata should have been here on April 1st." Kamei asked instead of Totsukawa.

Totsukawa listened silently. "Yes. However, he said that a friend's wife was killed in Kyushu, and that friend was regarded as a murderer by the police, so he asked for leave and hurried away. Mr. Nakata is really generous." Otake seemed sympathetic to Nakata. "April 1st, what time did he arrive at the company, do you remember?" Kamei asked. "I remember very clearly. We opened at 9 o'clock. On April 1st, he was 3 minutes late and came running. He was still panting and kept bowing to me, saying sorry. " Dazhu smiled. "So, he came to work in the company at 9:30?"

"Yes, it was 9:30. Mr. Nakata looked very sincere and fearful. I checked the time and I remember it was around 30." "Why was he 30 minutes late, didn't he say the reason?" Totsukawa asked for the first time. "We prepared an apartment for Mr. Nakata in Noda. According to him, he took the wrong light rail when he came to work because he was not familiar with it. Hey, I heard that this is the first time for him to come to Osaka." Otake seemed very forgiving. After Totsukawa and Kamei thanked the branch manager, they left the company. "Let's check again and see if Takachiho can go to work at the company in Osaka at 9:30 the next morning after Takachiho killed someone between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on March 31. If not If possible, friends in the police department are innocent." Kamei said.

The two walk into a coffee shop where the morning markdown service isn't out of date yet.For only 350 yen, I ordered coffee, toast, and boiled eggs. The two put the food in front of them, didn't bother to eat, they spread out the timetable they were carrying to check. "Let's think about it in favor of the murderer? At 6 pm on March 31, Okabe Hiromi was killed in Takachiho." Kamei said. "The murderer took the Takachiho Line to Nobeoka, then took the Nippon Main Line to Kokura, and then took the Shinkansen from Kokura to Osaka." Totsukawa looked at the map and pointed to the route, "There is a The electric train departs from Takachiho at 18:51. The previous train departs at 16:03, so I can't catch up."

Kamei flipped through Takachiho's column in the timetable. "Arrived at Nobeoka at 20:27, right?" Totsukawa said. "The uplink of the Nippon Main Line connected to this train is the 'Comet 82' sleeper express train departing from Nobeoka at 21:03, but this train is a seasonal train, so it can't be done." "The next one is the 'Nichinan' express train that departs from Nobeoka at 0:53. If you take this train, you will arrive at Kokura at 6:12 am on April 1st. It seems too late. " "If you take the 'Hikaru No. 20' train departing from Kokura at 6:05, this train will arrive in Shin-Osaka at 9:36. It will take 30 minutes from Shin-Osaka to the Osaka branch of Taiyo Shoji Co., Ltd. near Umeda, so It will be after 10:00 a.m. when we arrive at the company," Kamei said.

"If the Shinkansen is too late, then take the plane?" Kamei asked. "Yes. You can fly between Fukuoka and Osaka." Kamei said, while opening the column of domestic routes, "If you take the ANA flight that departs at 8:00 am, you will arrive in Osaka at 9:00 am." "The question is whether I took that flight, and the time from Osaka Airport to downtown Osaka." "There is a regular bus from Osaka Airport to Umeda, and it takes 30 minutes, so it's in time no matter what. Arrive at Kokura at 6:12 in the morning, can you reach Fukuoka Airport before 8:00?"

"Let's discuss it again," Totsukawa said. From Xiaokura to Hakata, the earliest means of transportation is the Shinkansen. The Shinkansen train departs from Kokura at 7 o'clock.If you take this train, you can reach Hakata.However, if you take into account that there are taxis waiting and boarding procedures, will you really be able to take the 8 o'clock flight from Fukuoka Airport? It takes 13 minutes by car from Hakata Station to the airport. Calculating in this way, it takes 7:20 to arrive at Hakata Station, and it takes 15 minutes from Hakata Station to the airport, which is 7:35.Moreover, adding the time to change trains, it would be very difficult to catch the plane that takes off at 8 o'clock sharp.

"Your friend is gradually clearing up the suspicion!" Kamei sighed in relief and smiled. If it is impossible, then at least Nakata is innocent of Hiromi's murder. Totsukawa then picked up the toast, put it in his mouth and took a bite, then drank his coffee. "However, the alibi has not yet been established." Totsukawa said cautiously. "But, isn't there a route that can reach Osaka faster than this?" Kamei asked. "It would be fine if that's the case." Totsukawa was still uneasy, checking the timetable, "There are other airports."

"What airport?" "From airports all over Kyushu, you can fly to Osaka." Totsukawa said, writing down the earliest flight to take off. Depart from Oita at 9:05 → Arrive in Osaka at 9:55 Depart from Kumamoto at 7:50 → Arrive in Osaka at 8:50 Depart from Nagasaki at 7:55 → Arrive in Osaka at 9:00 Depart from Miyazaki at 8:10 → Arrive in Osaka at 9:10 Depart from Kagoshima at 7:50 → Arrive in Osaka at 8:55 "Look, even though it's too late to take off from Oita, no matter which one of the other four routes can catch up." Totsukawa said. "However, the question is whether we can catch up with different airports." Kamei said.

The two decided to try to discuss this idea again. The murderer arrived at Nobeoka at 20:27 on the Takachiho Line. ——First, look at the Kumamoto line. Take the 11 Toyo Main Line to Oita, and then take Toyo Kumamoto from Oita. If you take the Nippon Main Line, the "Nichinan" express train departing from Nobeoka at 0:53, the time to arrive at Oita is 3:35 in the morning.If you take the Fengfei Main Line, you can only take the "Volcano No. 2" express train departing from Daisen at 8:27 am.It is generally too late to take this train. ——Then there’s Miyazaki’s line. This can be taken from Nobeoka by taking the down train of the Nippo Main Line.

You can take the limited express train "Nichirin No. 29" departing from Nobeoka at 21:41.If you take this train, you will arrive in Miyazaki at 22:56, so you can still have a good sleep in the hotel or guesthouse before the next morning. Finally Kagoshima this line.If you take this route, the time is too late. After arriving in Miyazaki at 22:56, just take a taxi to Kagoshima Airport. It is about 120 kilometers from Miyazaki to Kagoshima.From 22:56 to 7:55 the next morning, there are 9 hours, and it should be easy to arrive. "If you take a plane from either Miyazaki or Kagoshima, you have time. Nakata may still be innocent," Totsukawa said. "Should we investigate which flight he took on April 1st?" Kamei didn't give up. "Kamei, you can use a pseudonym on domestic flights, right?" "I understand. Regardless of Miyazaki or Kagoshima, if you don't catch the first flight, it will be too late. The flight attendants may be able to remember the faces of passengers." Kamei said. As soon as the two returned to Tokyo, they called the airports in Miyazaki and Kagoshima and asked them to fax the passenger list for the first flight to Osaka on April 1. Soon, the other party faxed the passenger list from the two places. According to the passenger manifest, there were 228 in Miyazaki and 316 in Kagoshima.Nobuo Nakata's name is not on the list.However, it cannot be concluded that he did not take the plane.Because passengers on the plane can also use pseudonyms. Totsukawa decided to investigate all male passengers among a total of 544 passengers. For passengers living in Tokyo, Totsukawa and the others can conduct their own investigations. For passengers living in other places, they can only ask the local police for assistance. The work took a full day, but nonetheless well worth it. All the passengers investigated lived at the recorded addresses. That is to say, none of the passengers on the plane used aliases.Nakata did not take either flight. —is he innocent?