Chapter 19 second quarter

Qing Jiang's body was about 400 meters away from the intersection of the pedestrian road.He was lying on his back on the ground, raising his hands, as if shouting long live. Mizuho and Wujing were the first to discover the body.In order to chase Qingjiang, they left the mansion and came to the pedestrian path, but what awaited them was only traces of tragedy. Even Mizuho, ​​who was confident in his own ability to bear it, couldn't help but feel a stomach ache when he saw Qing Jiang's body.A large mouth was opened on the back of the corpse, and a large amount of red-black blood flowed out.The blood made his curly hair sticky, and the scalp around the wound was as tattered as an old rag.

Mizuho took the initiative to go back to the mansion to call the police, she really didn't have the courage to stay here alone. When she returned to the mansion, Suzue was alone in the living room.Mizuho hurriedly told Suzuki about the situation, and Suzuki ran up the stairs in a panic.While Suzue went upstairs to report the situation to Shizuka and the others, Mizuho called the police. Ten minutes later, led by Yamagishi, a group of police officers arrived at the mansion. Mizuho and Wu Jing came to the police station in a police car, and made their statements in the corner of the hot and humid room full of smoke.The one who recorded Mizuho's statement was the familiar Yamagishi detective.

"How should I put it—" Yamagishi scratched the back of his ear with the back end of the ballpoint pen, "I really don't know how to express my current state of mind. It's not regret or shame." "You mean the loss to the murderer?" "Losing to the murderer...?" Yamagishi raised an eyebrow and pouted his lower lip. "We did lose, and there is no other way to say it." "This time the case was also done by the real murderer, right?" The real murderer other than Matsuzaki, Mizuho's words emphasize this meaning.Of course, Yamagishi was aware of her hints.

"It's really hard to say." He bent his fat body and approached Mizuho, ​​"Most people in the bureau think that this incident has nothing to do with the incident of the Takemiya family. We really hope so. After all, the previous incident has found a decisive Evidence." "The decisive evidence is the message written by Ms. Mita?" "You know it quite well. Exactly. That's why we started to have the idea that Ms. Mita committed suicide. We suspected that she was the one who proposed the plan to trap Matsuzaki. And this plan ended up killing Souhiko, She couldn't stand the stimulus and chose to commit suicide."

"It feels a bit suspenseful." Mizuho said. "It's really hanging," Yamagishi admitted. "But at this stage, we can't find any other explanations for the time being. Matsuzaki also pleaded guilty, and the search headquarters is also eager to bring this case to an end as soon as possible. A few colleagues and I raised objections , but the higher-ups did not accept it.” "This time Qingjiang was killed, can it be used as material for the opposition of Police Officer Yamagishi?" There was some irony in Mizuho's words. "Looks like we'll have to put an end to some preconceived opinions this time around."

Yamagishi flipped through the notes and tapped on them with a ballpoint pen. "So, let's start the statement." The police asked Mizuho to explain in detail how the body was found.Naturally, Wujing was also mentioned in the explanation, but Sui Sui temporarily concealed that she consulted Wujing about the matter.She felt that telling the police about such things would only complicate matters. "There are several unknown points." Yamagishi said with a bitter face. "The most puzzling thing among them is the doll. Why did Mr. Qingjiang take that doll out?" Mizuho shrugged and shook his head: "I have no idea at all."

"Have you talked about that puppet with Mr. Qing Jiang?" "I haven't talked about the big deal..." Before he finished speaking, a certain scene reappeared in Mizuho's mind.She remembered the conversation with Qing Jiang in the living room last night. "What's wrong?" Yamagishi asked after observing the subtle changes in her expression. Shui Sui hesitated for a moment whether to confess to the police, and finally told the police about the incident with Qing Jiang last night. "Hey, are you talking about the incident? What did you say?"

"Qingjiang and the police hold different views." Mizuho narrated Qing Jiang's assumption last night—Zong Yan was not killed by Matsuzaki at that time, but just pretended to be killed on purpose. Yamagishi seemed interested in this point of view, and his eyes changed. "It's a very interesting hypothesis." He seemed to be amazed from the bottom of his heart. "Why did Mr. Qing Jiang have such an idea?" "I don't know either. He didn't reveal more to me. Then, as if he suddenly thought of it, he talked about some things about his aunt's death. He seemed to be obsessed with why his aunt threw the doll before committing suicide."

"Madam Lai Zi committed suicide?" Yamagishi seemed unprepared for the sudden appearance of this topic, and his face was distorted in shock.Qingjiang's hypothesis can somewhat resonate with him, but on this topic, like Mizuho, ​​he has no grasp of Qingjiang's true meaning at all. "At that time, was anyone listening to your conversation?" He seemed to want to change his mind and asked like this. "It was just the two of us in the living room." Right after saying that, Mizuho remembered the looming figure on the stairs.Could it be that someone was eavesdropping on their conversation at that time?

"There is no way to see through Mr. Qingjiang's intentions." There was bitterness in Yamagishi's words. "Did that puppet be moved to the living room for the first time when we visited your house yesterday?" "yes." "Did anything intriguing happen to that puppet?" "no." The policeman lowered his eyes in disappointment. "But Mr. Qingjiang's hypothesis is already a great gain for us. I will also try to think about it from this line." Yamagishi seemed to be encouraging himself to pull himself together. After the confession was over, it was Mizuho's turn to question the police.She first asked about the cause of Qing Jiang's death.

"This location." Saying that, Yamagishi tapped the back of his head. "Several hits on the back of the head with a metal club." "A bat?" "The club was found about ten meters from the body. It appears to have been picked up from a nearby dump and the surface is cracked. We are investigating its provenance but I am afraid nothing will come of it." "Was he attacked from behind?" Mizuho asked. "It should be. Maybe it was suddenly attacked while walking on the road." "Qingjiang didn't notice the murderer's approach?" Shui Sui knew in his heart that Qing Jiang was not such a dull man. "Perhaps he was thinking about something." On this point, Yamagishi seems to be unsure. "Has anything been stolen?" "The cash in the wallet is missing." "Money was stolen?" "Yes. The wallet was dropped next to the club and only the cash was missing." "That's it..." Mizuho thinks that this is the murderer's disguise, and wants the police to think that this is a robbery and murder. "Have you found anything unusual on the puppet?" "Nothing special was found. There was no trace of being touched. It is not yet clear whether it is connected to previous events." The policeman had a dull expression on his face. Afterwards, Mizuho left the police station together with Wu Jing who had finished his confession elsewhere.The police questioned Wu Jing mainly about the doll. "I told them the curse of that puppet, but they didn't take it seriously at all. They were all yawning." Mizuho felt relieved.Cops are realists. "What they want to ask is not such unreliable things. What they want to know is why that doll appeared in Zhugong's house, and why Mr. Qingjiang is interested in it." "How did you answer them?" "Of course I answered that I don't know. I was telling the truth. So they could only helplessly stroke their beards and pluck their nose hairs, with an extremely impatient attitude. It's like accusing me of not knowing anything." Contrary to the complaints on the lips, from Wu Jing's tone, he seems to be happy with the helpless attitude of the police.What an elusive man. "It's you, what did the police ask you?" After Wu Jing described his experience, it was his turn to ask Shui Sui.Mizuho recounted his conversation with Yamagishi as completely as possible.Wu Jing chewed her every word over and over again, what interested him the most was Qing Jiang's reasoning last night. "It's not an easy idea." The puppeteer's eyes were shining brightly, "Zong Yanshi didn't die at that time—what a bold assumption. And it's also fully reasonable." "Qingjiang seems to have a deeper thought about this hypothesis, but he didn't tell me." "Any deeper thoughts?" Wujing folded his arms and rested his jaw with one hand. "Maybe he was killed because of this deeper thought. By the way, didn't Mr. Qingjiang say anything about this clown?" "It's not that I haven't said..." Shui Sui tells Wu Jing what Qing Jiang said last night.Qingjiang couldn't imagine that Laizi would die in that way, and he was also very interested in what Kaori said about Laizi throwing the doll before he died. "Hey, did Ms. Kaori say such a thing?" The puppeteer was lost in thought. "Want to come to the house for a cup of tea?" Shui Sui invited Wu Jing. "I'd love to," he replied. "Besides, I still have some things I want to teach you." "What's up?" Facing Mizuho's question, Wu Jing just said "all kinds of things." Katsuyuki, Wakako and Nagashima are also in the mansion.Not only them, but also many searchers came in and out, they seemed to come to search Qing Jiang's room. Shui Sui first introduced Wu Jing to everyone.Shizuka and Kaori had known Wujing before, and Katsuyuki and the others stared at him suspiciously. Katsuyuki and the others seemed to know about the incident through the contact of the police, and they rushed over immediately after hearing about it. "The police didn't come to us just to inform about the incident." With a bitter expression on his face, Katsuki smoked a cigarette hastily. "They came to investigate my alibi. Between two and three o'clock in the afternoon-the murderer really knows the time, and I happened to pass by here at that time. I came here from the company to pick up Hanako home. Leave the company It was around one o'clock, and it was about three o'clock when we got home." Last night, Shengzhi and his wife also stayed in this mansion.The company was supposed to be on holiday today, but Shengzhi happened to have something to deal with, so he went out to the company early in the morning.According to what he said just now, he seemed to come to the mansion again to pick up Hanako on the way home from the company. "And then? How did you tell the police?" Shizuka asked. "Well, at least I provided an alibi. When we got home, we greeted the neighbor's wife, but she still remembered the time clearly. I left here at 2:20, and I didn't stop here. Stopped anywhere." Katsuyuki took a deep breath of the cigarette and exhaled the smoke uncomfortably. "They are really rude. Even if there were murders before, it was obviously a robbery and murder, so they would suspect me." "Robbery and murder?" Shizuka asked back. "It's definitely robbery and murder!" he repeated. "That area was not very peaceful. Although the police didn't take it seriously, it was rumored that suspicious people often appeared in that area." Listening to his words, Shui Sui sighed in his heart, it would be a relief if it was really done by the robbers.She also began to consider her own alibi.Before the body was found, she had been with Wujing. Shan'an also knew this, so he probably wouldn't come to find fault. "By the way, does Qingjiang have no relatives at all?" He Hanako looked at Shizuka and asked. "Not at all. Our family adopted him because he was an orphan." "Does that mean he's all alone? Looks like we'll have to arrange a funeral for him." Shengzhi said. "Well, that's exactly what I intend to do." Shizuka replied. When it came to the funeral, the atmosphere at the scene became gloomy as if the sky had changed.Maybe it's because everyone is now realizing the reality of Qing Jiang's death. "Hey, although he has a weird personality, he is really a young man worthy of sympathy." Katsuyuki wrung out the cigarette butt in the ashtray, and his regretful words seemed somewhat artificial.No one present responded to his words. At this time, the investigators came downstairs, and they asked everyone if they could take away some things from Qingjiang's room, but no one answered, which made the skinny policeman who made the inquiry a little embarrassed. "Well, you can do what you want." Shizuka replied on behalf of everyone. "What are you taking with you?" "Unprocessed film, and research papers and stuff." replied the policeman.No matter what, Mizuho couldn't connect such things with this incident.However, the reason why they only took these things away meant that no major clues were found in Qingjiang's room. But the behavior of the police made Mizuho think of something, that is, Zong Yan's puzzle book that Qing Jiang once said was very interesting. —Are the police taking that book away too? If possible, Mizuho would like to investigate the book himself. After the police left, Shengzhi and the others also stood up, "Let's come back tomorrow, and then we can discuss about Qingjiang's funeral." He said to Shizuka. "I'm a little tired too, excuse me first." After finishing speaking, Shizuka told Suzuki not to prepare her dinner, and just went up to the second floor. "me too……" Jiazhi muttered, and everyone's eyes focused on her lips, "The police also came to ask me for an alibi. What are their intentions?" She stroked her cheek with one hand and shook her head slightly. "Don't worry, this doesn't mean that the police are suspicious of you, they just want to know the location of each person involved." Goku said in a calm tone. "Did Kaori stay in the room all day?" Mizuho pretended to be relaxed and asked. "I was listening to radio music until half past two, and Mr. Nagashima came to cut my hair after two o'clock. After that, Mr. Nagashima, have you been in grandma's room?" "It's sort of. But I left in the middle." Faced with Kaori's confirmation, Nagashima nodded ambiguously and stood up. "Of course the police also came to ask me for an alibi. I just answered them that I was in the wife's room first, and then in Miss Kaori's room. I can't remember the exact time. The trouble is that the police always ask for the last The detailed figures are really nerve-wracking." "Most people can't answer it." Kaori looked at Mizuho, ​​as if seeking her approval. "What time did you eat, what time did you go to the bathroom, how can anyone usually remember such things." "If only the police could be so reasonable." Yong Island smiled tiredly, "Then, I'm about to go back." Jiazhi was about to leave to see him off, but he stopped her with his hand. "Can I ask you something?" After Yongdao returned, Wujing came to Kaori's side. "What's up?" "When your mother died." Kaori closed her eyes slightly as if bored, and slowly shook her head. "I'm not in the mood to talk about this kind of thing today." "I can completely understand your mood." The puppeteer blinked slowly, nodded and said. "However, please tell me. Maybe this has some connection with this incident." Kaori looked at Mizuho with a puzzled face.A puppeteer who should have nothing to do with him suddenly asked himself in a detective tone, and anyone would be confused. "I don't know how to explain it to you..." Mizuho rubbed her palms together and stared into Kaori's eyes. "I asked this gentleman a lot of opinions on the two incidents this time. From the perspective of a bystander, he gave me a lot of opinions that the parties could not think of. This gentleman is a trustworthy person. Can you answer Have a question for him?" Jiazhi lowered her gaze, and after a moment of silence, she raised her head to look at Wujing. "What do you want to ask about when Mama died?" "First of all, the situation at the time of the incident, please describe it in as much detail as possible." Kaori glanced at Mizuho again, and took a deep breath. "That day, my parents and I were the only ones at home. Aunt Lingzhi went out to watch a theater with her grandmother, and Qing Jiang was in college." She began to describe the scene of that day in a calm tone.First, she heard screams when she was in the room with Zong Yan. Zong Yan carried her to the corridor. She saw Lai Zi rushing up the stairs, throwing the doll on the ground and jumping off the balcony.Afterwards, she returned to the room, sat in a wheelchair, and went to the balcony to look at her mother's body—— "I see." Wu Jing nodded after listening to Kaori's description with a serious expression, "If possible, can I have a look at the scene?" "What's wrong, anyway, it won't cause trouble to others." "I'll take you to see it later." Shui Sui at the side volunteered. "Then I'll leave it to you. —By the way, was that doll put away immediately after that incident?" Wujing asked Jia Zhidao. "Yes, Grandma seems to put it in a box and keep it in her room. It was taken out when you came here before." "And keep it in that basement all the time?" "Well, that should be the case, right?" Kaori looked at Mizuho as if seeking approval, "That's right." Mizuho also assured her. "So that's it, I almost understand." Wu Jing said with satisfaction. After that, Mizuho and Kaori guided him to the second floor.It's a guide, but it's actually just showing him the corridors that cross, the balcony where Lai Zi jumped off, and the shelf where the clown is placed. "It's really a unique building." After walking the entire corridor, Wu Jing sighed in admiration. "I finally understand why this mansion is called the Cross Mansion. Who built this building?" "It's my grandfather." Kaori replied. "It's really ingenious." He glanced back down the corridor and sighed again. "It's exquisite enough to move me." Afterwards, Wu Jing came to the balcony and looked down at the backyard for a long time.During this period, the two of Mizuho waited in the corridor, "What a weirdo." Kaori whispered. "He is such a strange person." Mizuho replied. Perhaps after hearing their conversation, the door of the next room was opened, and Shizuka stuck her head out. "What are you doing here?" she asked suspiciously. "I'm sorry to disturb you." Wu Jing immediately came back from the balcony and apologized, "I'm very interested in this building, let the two ladies show me around." "That's it..." Shizuka didn't seem to have any doubts, and turned to Shui Sui and the other two, "I'm boiling water to make tea, do you want to come in for a cup too?" Mizuho and Kaori looked at each other, "Then I'll trouble you." She nodded. "Mr. Puppet Master, come in and drink some good tea." At Shizuka's invitation, Wu Jing also enters the room with trepidation. The Japanese tea was indeed sweet and refreshing, but the atmosphere at the scene was extremely dull.Shizuka chatted about tea and kimono, Kaori and Mizuho just echoed appropriately.Obviously, the incident in Qingjiang just happened, but no one present mentioned this topic—— Wu Jing seemed to have little interest in their chat, staring intently at the huge portrait on the wall.It wasn't until the small talk between Shui Sui and the others came to an end that he asked who the person in the painting was.Shizuka told him that the person in the painting was her husband, and that the painting was part of his will. "Did the old gentleman ask you to decorate this room with his paintings in his will?" "No, not really..." Shizuka explained to the puppeteer how the painting came to this room. "I see." Wu Jing nodded, and looked back at the painting again. "By the way, this painting is really huge. Is the size of the painting specified in the last words?" "No, the last words only require the painting to be as large as possible... After that, it will be arranged by Zong Yan." "Is that so? Oh, what a shocking work of art." Wujing sighed again. Mizuho lied about going to the bathroom to leave Shizuka's room, and sneaked into Qing Jiang's room.Her goal is the puzzle book.The room was neatly arranged, making it impossible to imagine that its owner was a man, and there were hundreds of books neatly arranged on the bookshelves. The book she was looking for was on this small bookshelf, entitled "An Introduction to World Puzzles."Mizuho tucked the book into his sweater.