Chapter 3 third quarter

The day after the body was discovered, Kusanagi decided to investigate Aimoto Mika's room again with several investigators, the main purpose of which was to find out the deceased's interpersonal relationship. It was a relatively spacious one-bedroom and one living room. There was a long line of clothes racks lined up against the wall, and all kinds of clothing were hung on it, and the number of jewelry and bags was also considerable.Most of the shelves in the closet are taken up by that stuff. However, the owner seems to be a person who loves to learn.Although it was not big, there was a bookshelf in the room, and Kusanagi couldn't figure out the contents of the books on the bookshelf just by looking at the titles.

"Hey, Utsumi." Kusanagi called to stop the junior policewoman, "Do you know what cold reading is?" "Cold... what is it?" Kaoru Utsumi walked over. "This is it." Kusanagi pointed to the bookshelf, where there was a book titled "Secrets of Cold Reading". "Ah, that, where did I read it." Kaoru Utsumi frowned, "I think it should be magic, tricks or something." "Magic? Really?" Kusanagi became more energetic. "It's a kind of hypnosis." "Hey, which one is it?" "All in all, it's a trick related to those incredible skills."

"Really, okay, then let's take this book away first." Kusanagi put the book into the cardboard box at hand. "I also have something to ask you, what do you think it is?" Utsumi Kaoru took out a photo. It was a photo that could be called almost completely black, but something like words could be vaguely seen on it. Was it taken in the dark on a piece of paper with some words written on it? "The first character should be the Japanese letter 'い', right? Is the next letter 'つ'? I can't see clearly... this is 'も', this is 'て', right? What is this? You Where did you find it?"

"It's on the shelf next to the pillow on the bed. I think it's something important." "Just this photo?" "How to deal with it?" After thinking for a while, Kusanagi replied: "Take back all the things you think are special." "Murdered? That girl?" Holding a mug of instant coffee in his hand, Tang Chuan's body paused, "Why..." He muttered softly, and put the mug on the desk. "The motive is unknown. There are no clues about the criminal." Kusanagi took a sip of coffee and explained the situation when the body was found.

Today, he went out to collect relevant information about the case, and stopped by the Thirteenth Laboratory of the Department of Physics, Imperial University. "I also asked the guest who went out with her. He confirmed that Mika Aimoto-Aiko got off the car in front of the apartment, because he still had the taxi company's receipt, so we also confirmed it to the driver. The driver gave answered in the affirmative.” "That's what happened after that." "The roads around the apartment where she lives are very narrow and there are very few pedestrians. In the middle of the night, it becomes even more deserted. It is very likely that she was attacked or abducted when she wanted to enter the apartment after watching the taxi leave. .The straight-line distance to the place where the body was found is about five kilometers. There is no doubt that the murderer drove."

"So that's the case. The question is whether it was an acquaintance who committed the crime..." "I guess they are acquaintances." Kusanagi said with certainty. One of Tang Chuan's eyebrows moved, "What is the basis?" "The victim was not sexually assaulted, so rape was not the purpose." "Isn't the handbag stolen?" "It's not a simple robbery. The Cartier on her wrist is still wearing well. The price of that watch is no less than two million yen. If the criminal's goal is property, he probably won't let this watch go. .Conversely, assuming it was an indiscriminate killing, there would be no reason to take the handbag."

Yu Chuan nodded and said, "Understood." He reached for the mug. "The murderer should have parked his car on the side of the road and waited for her to go home. Moreover, he may have waited for several hours. Under normal circumstances, there should be witnesses, but..." "Not this time?" Kusanagi said with a bitter face, "Anyway, at such a time, the night around the apartment is quiet." Yu Chuan shrugged, "You said that it was already 3:30 in the morning when they came out of the barbecue shop, so this is also normal." "Assuming it was an acquaintance who committed the crime, then the guest of 'HARP' is the most suspect. If it is the person who sent her home, he should know the address of the apartment. I think so, so I will use the guest who has a record with her An investigation was conducted for the center, but there was no result. Her popularity was not very strong."

"Not popular? She has such a unique skill?" Tang Chuan's eyes widened in surprise. "That's not to say, she is indeed a popular person in the sense of setting off the atmosphere. However, her popularity as a woman is not so high. To sum it up in one sentence, Aiko is not a popular lady. It seems that there is nothing obsessed with her. guests." Tang Chuan snorted, "I think she is that kind of girly woman." "That's right. Although she is cute, she looks like a little girl, and she is also a luxuriously dressed girl, just like a doll. It is interesting that the hostesses say she is so cute , It’s so cute, it’s the kind of look that women love. However, men are different. Men still prefer the more ordinary and vulgar look.”

"That's just your preference." "I'm in the majority. Anyway, it's hard for her to attract customers with her feminine charm. Because of this, she must learn that special skill. I heard that her bowl of rice is not so easy to eat—anyway, No matter how hard I dig around her, I can't find any pornographic news. I really can't figure it out more and more, isn't the criminal among her guests?" "Even between the hostess and the guests, there are not only scandals. I heard that there are quite a lot of money disputes." "Indeed there are. For example, the hostess has to pay the bills that her guests owe in the store. However, that only happens to the hostess on the commission system. She is different. She seems to be No issues. All in all, she's been rated pretty well by everyone, saying she's cheerful, curious, and entertaining to talk about. It's not just that she was murdered. People around her don't speak ill of her out of sympathy."

"That is indeed a very optimistic girl," Yu Chuan recalled, "I really want to see that perspective magic again." "Even you didn't see any flaws?" Tang Chuan frowned, "It's not good to be deceived by a fake magician." "Fake magician?" "She mentioned the coat on purpose to lead me to wrong reasoning - she looked at the embroidered surname on the inside of my coat. Because she admitted it, I made that conclusion in my mind and didn't think about it any further When I got home, although I knew that reasoning was wrong, it was too late, because I can't remember the details of the performance."

"That trick fooled everyone, even me." Hearing Kusanagi's words, Yukawa curled his lips unhappily, maybe he wanted to say: Don't compare me with a science idiot like you. "After that, I checked the pockets of my coat, but there was no item with my name on it. However, not only the name, but she also said that my job title was not bad. In other words, the only possibility is that she She peeked at my business card. She must have dabbled in magic before." "In the searches so far, this fact has not been found. However, we found an interesting book in her home, and I think this may be the mystery behind the clairvoyance." Tang Chuan's glasses flickered, "What book is it?" "Well..." Kusanagi opened the notepad, "The title of the book is "The Secret of Cold Reading". I haven't read the content, but the so-called cold reading seems to be a way to read the other party's mind." Tang Chuan showed a look of surprise, and the wrinkles between his brows deepened a bit, "Cold reading? It shouldn't have anything to do with that, right?" "why?" "You said just now that it is a method of reading the other party's mind, but in fact that method does not exist. To be correct, the so-called cold reading technique is a method that seems to read the other party's mental activities, but actually keeps advancing the conversation. Conversation skills are often used by fortune-tellers. For example, suddenly asking the talker "Are you troubled by interpersonal relationships?" In fact, most of people's troubles come from interpersonal relationships. In this way, the conversation The fortune-teller will think that his own thoughts have been interpreted. After that, the fortune-teller will continue to ask some ambiguous questions that are applicable to anyone, while observing the appearance of the other person to obtain information, and use this information As a basis, make your own questions specific. Soon, the other party will have a feeling that they have been completely seen through-this is cold reading." Kusanagi looked at the face of Yu Chuan, who was talking freely, and felt that it was incredible. When did this guy master these miscellaneous knowledge? "You mean it has nothing to do with clairvoyance at all?" "Yes." Tang Chuan blurted out his answer, "Even if you can use cold reading to guess what the other party is thinking, you can't figure out the name anyway. Moreover, she and I hadn't talked much at that time. " Indeed, Kusanagi could only nod his head. "I don't think this deception is one of those tricks that take advantage of a mental blind spot. Having said that, the evidence is pretty scant. If there were any other clues... Like, could all she be able to peek at be business cards? " Tang Chuan muttered to himself. "No, it seems that it's not just business cards, she can also see through bags." "Bag?" Kusanagi said that Mika Aimoto saw through the items in the guest's bag one by one. "What kind of bag is that? A paper bag?" "I knew you would ask that, so when I met that guest, I took a picture of his bag." Kusanagi took out his phone. The guest's name was Takuji Nishihata, he was the head of the accounting department of a printing company, and he was fifty-seven or eighteen years old.The face is huge, so the shoulders are particularly narrow.However, the protruding belly is quite in line with his age.The hair is also very thin, and some curly bangs are pressed tightly on the forehead. When Kusanagi asked about Mika Aimoto going out with him, Nishihata's expression immediately became flustered. "I have sent her off a few times, but that was the only time we went out together. Before, we talked about movies in the store, and the conversation was very speculative, so I said that I would go to see one together next time. About this matter , you can investigate as much as you like. There is absolutely no special relationship between me and her. To be honest, I don’t really want to see it. I had to run away from the company in advance." Regarding the murder incident, he could not provide any clues. It is said that he was alone at home on the night of the incident.Also, he doesn't have a car. "As I said just now, it was the first and last time the two of us went out. We didn't talk about any personal issues, and I don't even know her real name." Xihata said firmly, obviously not wanting to have anything to do with this Pile cases have any ties. Finally, Kusanagi asked about the see-through magic of leather bags, "That magic really surprised me." Nishihata replied, "She took out the commonly used rosary, put her hands together, closed her eyes, and then reported the bags one by one." The items inside, such as napkins, notepads, glasses cases. There must be something mysterious, but I can’t see it anyway.” What Nishihata showed Kusanagi was an extremely ordinary document bag made of brown leather with a zipper on the top. "If you want to see through this bag, you should need an X-ray device, the kind used in airport security checks." Tang Chuan said, looking at the phone screen. "Do you think there's a device like that in 'HARP'?" "Well, it's impossible." "Help me think about it when you are free. However, I don't know if it has anything to do with the case." Kusanagi turned off the phone and put the empty mug on the console, "Excuse me. Regarding the magic, if you If you think of something, let me know immediately."