Chapter 45 Section VIII

While the detectives were paying attention to the beckoning cat ten years ago at Yajima Hospital, the detectives from the Hotokuji House were paying attention to the cat just now.The first to bring up this topic was the Sunagawa Police Department. "There was a cat in the garden just now. Even though I didn't see it, the cry must be the cat." "The one you threw stones away at the police department? Yes, of course it's a cat, that's for sure." The two detectives said yes, but they were completely wrong.The only detectives who know the truth are at Yajima Hospital, so it is impossible for them to detect the truth.The conversation between the two went in the wrong direction.

"So police department, what happened to the cat?" "I am very concerned about this matter. We have been handling the case in this mansion so far, and all the lucky cats have appeared in front of us. Including the scene of the crime, the main entrance, the back door and the warehouse, there are only lucky cats. In other words, this mansion The mansion is a beckoning cat house. But it’s impossible that there isn’t even a real cat, right?” "That's right. Toyozo-san only feeds and loves Sanhuako. Since Sanhuako is lost, there can't be a real cat in this mansion. So, the cat just now was...?"

"Well, I chased it away inadvertently just now, but that cat may be the rumored three-way girl." "You mean Sanhuazi is back?" "It's not impossible. In the end, the case of Mikako's disappearance can be used as a sign or cause of this murder of Mr. Toyozo. Sanhuako disappeared, and then Mr. Toyozo was killed: Mr. Toyozo was killed, and then Sanhuako came back. Sounds very Is it possible?" "In other words, the disappearance of Sanhuako is related to the murder of Mr. Toyozo?" "Yes. This may be the key to solving the case unexpectedly."

"Are you going to find the cat you chased away just now?" "That's right, it should still be around here." "Then, anyway, let's go to the azalea bushes just now. Perhaps Sanhuako was unexpectedly hit by a stone from the police department and fell there." "Maybe the stone hit Sanhuazi's forehead. It should be impossible, hahahaha!" "Police, what you said is wonderful, ahahaha!" (Note 6) Note 6: The sound of "Sanhua" in Japanese is similar to that of "Brow Heart". But of course the two detectives had no way of knowing that the stone hit the detective's forehead.In short, although this is a reasoning based on misunderstanding, it reaches a conclusion that is almost consistent with the detectives' goals.Simply put, the detectives started looking for the same cat as the detectives.

The detectives walked around the courtyard again, carefully examining the flowers and plants, the gaps in the landscaping stones, or the dead corners of the stone lanterns, but they didn't even hear a sound, let alone a figure.Even so, the criminal police still did not give up and expanded the search area to adjacent dark places or eaves interlayers.The shirts of the two were stained with sweat at some point, but the results were not good. "Hey, Shiki, this will never end. Besides, we only know that Sanhuazi is a large three-colored cat. We haven't even seen its appearance, so we can't find it. If we really want to look for it, we should at least have seen its appearance."

"That's true. Then ask someone to lend us a photo." "Well, let's do that." Shiki entered the mansion to look for his family, and it was his second son, Mikio, who appeared. "Oh, Mr. Detective, what's the matter?" "I would like to borrow a photo of Sanhuazi, it will definitely be useful in future cases." "A picture of Sanhuazi? What a surprise, even the detectives started looking for Sanhuazi. Please wait for me, my father should have it in his study." Miki left Shiki and went to the second floor, and soon went downstairs with two photos.

"I simply picked two photos from the photo album, is this kind of photo okay?" "Yes, no problem... um! This is..." Shiki's eyes stopped on one of the two photos.The cat in the photo has some kind of rod-like object in its mouth. "Is this a toothbrush?" "It's a toothbrush." "What's the point?" "How is it possible, my father must be playing around." Shiki can only agree. "But having said that, I was surprised that the police were looking for Sanhuazi. No, no, no, this is not a joke, I welcome you to do it, at least it is much better than being found by that detective. You have to pay the detective a lot just because you are looking for Sanhuazi It’s a waste of money. Please find Sanhuazi.”

Shiki left under Mikio's encouragement. Zhimu took the two photos back to the courtyard and looked. The Sunagawa Police Department was no longer here. He probably decided that he had searched all the places in the courtyard and gave up, and went to other places to search.Shiki made a simple guess and went around to the back of the mansion.There are farmhouses and warehouses here, and there is light from the small windows on the second floor of the warehouse. It seems that the owner of the warehouse, Kyoshiro Kenzaki, is at home. Shiki, who passed by the warehouse, couldn't enter the door, and went to the old farmhouse that he had been inexplicably caring about for a long time.

Farmhouses always had cats, or so Shiki decided. Maybe it's the smell of the chickens that were raised in it before, which will awaken the dormant wildness in the cat family, or the traditional agricultural atmosphere from ancient times to the present has a healing effect, or maybe it's just the dry straw that makes an excellent bed. In short, cats like farmhouses very much. . Zhimu got between the unused threshers, carts and agricultural tools, and entered the depths of the farmhouse. "Ah, Police Department, you are indeed here." The Sunagawa police station is deep in the farmhouse, and it seems the two have the same idea, but he doesn't look like he's looking for a cat.Shiki instantly mistakenly thought that the Sunagawa Police Department was playing hula hoops.The sight of the police officer hula-hooping in the depths of the farmhouse was an odd sight.

"Police, what are you doing?" "I was looking for a three-flowered cat, but I found something strange... What does this look like?" The Sunagawa Police Department suddenly asked this question.The depth of the farmhouse was very dark, and it was impossible to tell what kind of material the hula-hoop-shaped object in the hands of the police department was made of. Shiki had no choice but to answer his first impression directly. "Hula hoop?" "It does look alike. But if you look carefully, it's not a circle, it's a semicircle." "Semicircular hula hoop?"

"How can a ring cut in half be used as a hula hoop? Besides, this thing is not so small, you see." It is indeed very large, the diameter of the semicircle seems to be two and a half meters, and the material is metal, which seems to be made of aluminum tubes connected in series.The tube is hollow, and although it is bulky, it feels light to hold. The information can only be judged by eyes alone, and it is really troublesome to judge what kind of object it is, so it can only be called a semicircular aluminum tube. "Not only this, but many more. You look inside the farmhouse." Shiki continued to go deep into the farmhouse under the guidance of the Sunagawa Police Department.In the space where unused agricultural tools are lined up, several semicircular pipes occupy the walls of the farmhouse.These semicircular tubes vary in size. The one given to him by the Shachuan Police Department just now seems to be the smallest one. There are semicircular tubes with a relatively large radius on the wall, larger semicircular tubes, larger semicircular tubes, and many semicircular aluminum tubes. It's like drawing concentric circles hanging on the wall, the largest aluminum tube has a diameter of four meters, which is just the right size... "Police, police department, these semicircular aluminum tubes, shouldn't they be the skeleton of the greenhouse! This largest semicircular aluminum tube is almost as big as the greenhouse at the scene of the crime." "I thought so too, but it's not. These metal tubes are flimsy aluminum, and something so flimsy shouldn't actually be durable." "That's right. The steel frame of the greenhouse at the scene of the crime is made of stronger iron pipes, not this kind of aluminum pipes." "Besides, the size is also a problem. The largest semicircular aluminum tube is indeed the same as the greenhouse at the scene of the crime, but the other aluminum tubes are all relatively small. Even though the shapes are similar, each one has a different size. The smallest one is the one I showed you just now. , with a diameter of only two and a half meters, where can one find such a small greenhouse?" "Exactly." At least the Haode Temple family does not have such a small greenhouse, not to mention that there is only one semicircular pipe and it is impossible to build a greenhouse.If you want to assemble a beautiful fish-plate greenhouse, the number of semi-circular tubes of the same size must be at least ten. No matter how many semi-circular tubes of different sizes there are, it cannot be assembled into a fish-plate skeleton. So, the aluminum semi-circular tube here, which looks like a greenhouse skeleton at first glance, is actually used elsewhere? "I don't understand, is this thing related to the murder?" "Well, yes. Greenhouse, greenhouse..." The police department walked out of the farmhouse like reciting a scripture.