Chapter 15 Chapter fifteen

On the second day and the third day, there was no news of Kayoko's murder in the newspapers.The news published in the newspaper has lost all relations with Kawashima. Needless to say, news of Tian Suo's arrest by the police did not reach his ears.Even Tiansuo himself did not call. Kawashima felt a little relieved.Instead, I feel that there are no major events in the world, and I am just nervous.Since those days, I have lost my appetite, and I can't sleep at night. I just lie down, thinking wildly in my mind, and I can't close my eyes no matter what.I all know that my cheeks are sunken.However, no matter what, as long as everything is peaceful, it will be a happy event.As long as we get through this crisis safely, it doesn't matter how hard it is in the future, and we will never complain.Ordinary life has never been so precious as it is now.

Unexpectedly, on the third day after newspapers and weekly magazines came to search for headlines, the two detectives came to the gate of the yamen again. As soon as Kawashima saw the two of them at the gate, he felt the sound of his heart beating all the way to his ears. "I'm going to bother you again." The older detective said in a familiar tone.The young detective nodded casually. "This time should be the last time. I'm sorry, let's come out and talk." The middle-aged detective looked at the sunshine outside the gate and said softly.The people in the reception room kept looking up and down at the two visitors.

Kawashima walked out the gate, the young agent following behind him.Kawashima felt as if the back road had been cut off, and his heart beat even faster. The three stood on the square next to the building.The young agent paced back and forth, always behind Kawashima, while the older agent lit his cigarette first, with the ugliest expression on his face since several meetings. "Mr. Kawashima, your financial situation is very bad, isn't it?" The agent handed over the cigarette, and because Kawashima waved his hands away from smoking, he put the cigarette back in his pocket and said.

"what?" Kawashima felt hot all over.The detective's eyes sharpened suddenly. "I mean, you recently took out a debt of 200,000 yen from a small money lender. One was from Fukusha in Akasaka, and the other was from Akiyusha in Shinjuku..." "Huh? Oh?" Absolutely never expecting Tanyuan to investigate it so carefully, Kawashima had an illusion for a moment, as if his hands had been tied. "Why do you make the economy so hard? Of course, no one in the salaried class lives well. But you only have a wife, two children, and a family of four. What special interests do you have outside of daily life? "

The agent, who used to be a pleasant face, is now a menacing sarcasm.Behind him, the sound of the young detective's shoes kept ringing in a low voice. "I don't have any amateur interests." Kawashima replied in a low voice. "Don't you bet on horses?" asked the detective. "No gambling." "So, how about playing mahjong? Didn't you lose a lot of money playing mahjong at Hamaoka's house?" Kawashima's lips trembled. "No, it's not just that..." "So, what else is there?" "..." "Also, did you advance a lot of money in the accounting class in the yamen? Although we haven't investigated there yet."

Kawashima couldn't answer.If you have investigated in the accounting class, you will have a better understanding of your miserable situation.Plus, there's the loan of the guards too! "On June 23, the day Hamaoka's wife was killed, you sent a telegram to Tottori Prefecture. The telegram urged you to sell the forest earlier. What's going on?" "That?..." "Do you want to sell it and get cash sooner?" The young detective suddenly turned to the front and interrupted. "Yes, it looks like this." Kawashima was frightened.I really didn't expect that the agents would even investigate the telegraph office.

"Why do you need cash?" "How much money did you lose to Tasho, Tsurumaki, and Kondo?" "That's... close to 300,000 yuan." Kawashima swallowed his saliva and said.The mind has been confused. "Losing so much? It's a lot! It must be too big. How big are you playing?" Kawashima thought to himself that the detectives had probably done a thorough investigation, and they didn't dare to lie anymore, so they just spoke out. "That's too big. It's not just a time-killer. It's a real potluck." The detective listened and said so.Kawashima was surprised again, will he be charged with the crime of gambling together?

"However, you lost so much money, but you didn't owe Tasho, Kondo, and Tsurumaki any money. You paid it off. What's the reason for that?" said the older detective. "Is this... This is because I owed money and made people wait for a long time, it was unreasonable, so I paid it off." Kawashima is walking on thin ice, and he doesn't know whether the detectives have investigated Tiansuo and paid the "hush fee".If you know, then everything will be shattered! "I see. Paying off the gambling debt immediately is of course very loyal, but are those people chasing him closely?"

"..." "You have paid so much gambling debt, of course your life is tight?" "..." Kawashima nodded silently.This is not a matter of saving face, but a matter of hoping that the other party will not see his uneasiness. Did the detectives know about Tiansuo's cancellation of the previous account?Even if Tian Suo didn't say it, I'm afraid Tsurumaki and Kondo would say it too.Kawashima felt tightness in his chest and felt very sad. He even felt that the two agents were constantly looking at his expression. "Mr. Kawashima, maybe this is troublesome, but we want to ask you again, is it true that you said that you didn't meet Tasho at Hamaoka's house that day?"

The older detective changed his attitude slightly and asked him in a low voice. "No, I haven't met." Kawashima denied it.I thought to myself, the key lies in whether the detective knows or doesn't know about writing off a gambling debt. The older detective reluctantly threw the cigarette butt that had been smoked to the ground and stamped it out with his shoes. "The gambling debts you owed to Kondo and Tsurumaki, did Tiansuo come forward and write them off as a lump sum?" Kawashima was stunned.I always felt that Tasho hadn't had time to inform Kondo and Tsurumaki of this matter at that time.I always thought that although Tian Zuo said so on the spot, due to time constraints, he had not been able to get in touch with the two of them.

"Well, I don't know..." Even though I said this, my heart felt like I was beaten. "Do you know, although we don't know; but when we asked Kondo and Tsurumaki, they said so. So, they didn't ask you for debts, did they?" "..." "Tian Suo called the two of them and said so. He instructed that Chuan Dao is an ordinary layman, and he should not pursue the gambling debts he owed. Tian Suo's status is a bit like a leader, so the two obeyed him. Meaning, I will no longer pursue debts from you." Kawashima bowed his head.Did Kondo and Tsurumaki tell the agents like this?They probably have more scruples about the police than others because they are doing black business.Kawashima felt his feet sinking into the ground again. "Hey, Mr. Kawashima, since Tasho instructed others in this way, of course he will also cancel his own debt. The reason why Tansho canceled all the gambling debts you owe must be that he met you at Hamaoka's house that day as compensation. The price for you has been agreed upon by the two parties. In other words, it will be a 'hidden money'!" The agent watched Kawashima's face closely. "There's no such thing....Did Mr. Tiansuo actually say that?" Kawashima felt the blood fly away from his head all of a sudden, but he tried his best to calmly ask back. "No, Tiansuo didn't say that. Although I didn't say it, in my impression, it was such a thing." The agent didn't smile at all, and carefully observed whether Kawashima's complexion wavered with cold eyes.The young detective behind walked back and forth two or three times, making the sound of footsteps back and forth. "If this is not the case, Tiansuo will not write off your gambling debts. Not only that, but also the other two people. These people are professional poker players. It is a gambling debt of one hundred yuan. If you don't pay them, I will never agree. They are all in this business." "..." "So, Tian Suo's affection for you is too kind. From our point of view, he not only met you at that place, but also asked you to actively do things for him. For example, there should have been his letter on the paper door." Fingerprints. But we sent someone to check, and none of Tansho's fingerprints were found. Only the fingerprints of Hamaoka who found his wife's body, and he did enter through the back door. So, it was Tiansuo who asked you to wipe off the fingerprints Bar?" "Absolutely no such bastard thing." Kawashima's mouth was hard.In this regard, he still has confidence.Definitely not wiped off by itself.Of course, why even his own fingerprints are gone is still a mystery. However, if the agents thought about it, they would still be in some trouble. "I don't know if there are Tian Suo's fingerprints on the paper door. Could it be that Tian Suo himself said so?" "No, I didn't say that. . . . Actually, even if I didn't say that..." The following is silent.Of course Tian Suo wouldn't say that. If he said it, wouldn't it be a noose for himself. Kawashima remembered what Tiansuo said to him on the phone.According to Tian, ​​it was strange that the fingerprints of the two men had disappeared.Tian Suo couldn't even figure out why his own fingerprints were missing.It can be seen that the fingerprints were not wiped off by Tian. "Okay, let's talk about this." The older agent returned to his formerly friendly tone. "Hey, Mr. Kawashima. If you're willing to admit, at that time, meeting Tasho at the Hamaoka house might have been of great help to us. That's all we're asking for. We'll never make you a suspect; Of course, after admitting it, there will be many problems involved, and we promise to cover it for you. How about doing me a favor?" "Help, of course I'd like to. But, I haven't met him at all. If I insist on saying that I have met him, how can I say it?" Hearing the other party's slightly threatening words, Chuan Dao's heart was pounding, so he had to suppress it forcibly. "Since you say so, I have no choice but to stop here. Maybe this is not a good place to question you at all. Maybe you should choose a place that must be used so that you can answer. I mean, if you go to the police station If you ask a question, at that time, maybe you will seriously consider the question." Kawashima felt that the scenery in front of him suddenly tilted. Two days passed.The news of Tiansuo's arrest did not reach Kawashima's ears.It seems that although the police strongly suspected Tian Suo, they were unable to act because of the lack of strong evidence.The lack of strong evidence is probably his own testimony about seeing Tansho at Hamaoka's house at the time of the murder; when Kawashima thought of this, he felt that his body was as thin as paper and could be broken with a poke.The uneasiness in my heart became more and more obvious.Originally, one should speak out about this matter with a clear heart; however, if he took 30,000 yen from the farmer, he would inevitably be regarded as an accomplice, and then the mahjong game would spread throughout the society. You are in danger of being dismissed.It is precisely because of this that he categorically denies it, and hopes that a miracle will happen to prove that Tiansuo is not the murderer who killed Kayoko. However, such a miracle is unimaginable.Judging from Tian Suo's distressed appearance at the time, apart from him, there will never be anyone else who is the murderer.Unexpectedly, Kawashima still hopes that there must be a miracle, and he completely pins his destiny on the miracle. Three days after the last visit of the two agents, a newspaper suddenly published the news of the search for Kayoko's murder.According to the news, there is a very serious suspect in front of him, but he needs the testimony of a third party before he can be arrested, but this third party is a civil servant and seems unwilling to testify.The reason for his reluctance to testify was that the civil servant and the suspect often played mahjong together, and there was a money loan relationship between the two.If this is the case, since a certain civil servant is involved, the Ministry should investigate and deal with it in order to maintain official discipline. After reading this news, Kawashima's face suddenly turned pale.Isn’t the person who is talking about here is himself!Although the police did not officially release it, it was clearly disclosed to journalists and published as secret information.And, not only that, the newspaper that published this news was the newspaper of the reporter who came to visit and lost his temper at the gate of the yamen.Other newspapers did not carry the news. Kawashima immediately felt that this was the newspaper of that conflict.Recently, journalists only hang around the boss in the yamen, and ignore the small staff below. Such an attitude has long been irritating; especially this young journalist, who has learned how to behave badly. On the one hand, his attitude is even more intolerable.Presumably for this reason, the journalist fought back. The next thing that might happen makes Kawashima even more frightened.It was the weekly magazine.It was the weekly magazine of the reporter who came to the civil servants' dormitory to pester him that day.Kawashima remembered that the reporter who was looking for exciting news to make headlines had an outrageous attitude, so he also spoke coldly to each other and broke up unhappy. Weekly magazines are more unscrupulous than newspapers, and only publish irritating news. Since this case can be written like this in newspapers, it may be more embellished and exaggerated in weekly magazines.Kawashima seemed to be crawling in a dark tunnel, at a loss, his limbs trembling. On the fifth day, that weekly magazine placed an ad in the paper. The headline "Murder incident, there is a shadow of the deputy head of a certain department" caught people's eyes.Kawashima didn't even have the courage to buy that weekly magazine.She looked exactly like a slender woman standing there with her eyes tightly closed in front of a roaring beast, at a loss for what to do. Ever since the news was published in the newspaper, Kawashima has noticed a strange change in the atmosphere around him.Everyone respected him a little.This is by no means neurotic.Even when colleagues or subordinates talk to him, they are only limited to the scope of work. After the conversation, they turn around and leave immediately.Absolutely no politeness and pleasantries.The teacher's expression was also extremely stiff.Moreover, there is obvious suspicion in the eyes, and the expression is quite dissatisfied.The head of the section seems to be very afraid that the police will hold him accountable. After the weekly magazine report was published, the miraculous atmosphere became even more pronounced.If they came to ask "Is this you!", of course they didn't, but everyone's eyes showed that this was Kawashima's business.Because he was afraid of the nonsense of that weekly magazine, Kawashima didn't dare to buy a copy to read, so he didn't know what was written in it.However, after reading the reports in the newspapers, it can be roughly expected.The advertisement has already stated "the deputy head of a certain department", which is very specific.Compared with only using the word "civil servant" in newspapers, the scope is narrower and the text is more clear.Things really came to Kawashima's side. The weekly magazine probably knew that the suspect was Tasho, so he listed his occupation and age.The article must have very clearly implied that the relationship between Tian Suo and the deputy head of a certain department is a relationship on the mahjong table. After this murder, in exchange for refusing to testify, the gambling debts were written off. The article must be full of malice. Thinking of this, Kawashima couldn't help hating the two agents deeply.Why leak the story to journalists and sensationalists in weekly magazines?Was it the calm older detective who told the story, or the hot-tempered young detective?No matter which one it is, it is probably because he insisted that he did not meet Tiansuo, so he was very angry.In Kawashima's mind, the four big words "violation of human rights" immediately appeared, but these four words were just a phantom in front of his eyes, because the danger of reality had already crushed this concept. After the weekly magazine report was published, Kawashima was isolated in the surrounding suspicion, and no one spoke to him.Of course, there is no way to deal with contact at work; as soon as the official business is finished, the other party will leave immediately and keep a respectful distance.In addition, the bureau chief sometimes came to Kawashima's lesson for a while.Nothing special.Just walk across the room.The director pretended to be nonchalant, and seemed to pay attention to Kawashima's expression.This is Kawashima's feeling. In addition, in the director's office, it seems that the section chiefs are being called to hold meetings one after another.Kawashima had to think that in the closed director's office, the discussion was about his own advancement and retreat.The whispers were not confined to the chief's office.Whether it is Kawashima's own office or wherever he goes, such as corridors and cafeterias, there are always people whispering behind him.Everyone kept a distance from him. Friends who used to play mahjong together, such as Yokoi, did not have any worries. When they met in the corridor, they stopped Kawashima with a smile: "Hey, that's you, the one mentioned in the papers and weekly magazines, isn't it?" Yokoi deliberately lowered his voice and asked. "No, not me." Kawashima didn't know what the other party's plans were and what questions he wanted to ask, so he made a strong defense nervously. "Really? I always thought it was you." It was clear that Yokoi didn't believe Kawashima's words. "Everyone says it's you?" "..." Judging from everyone's expressions, Kawashima had already guessed this matter; but when Yokoi said it clearly, it was like being punched hard. "So, I have kindly persuaded you a long time ago, don't play mahjong with those guys at Hamaoka's house. Those guys are all veterans, and with your card skills, you can't win no matter what. You can't win It's still a trivial matter, and it is very likely to be implicated in a crime. You are in such a dangerous situation, and you don't know it!" Yokoi's expression was like "Don't you believe it?"Kawashima said nothing.It's true what people say, and it's true. "No, that's not my business, I don't know anything. It's the nonsense of newspapers and magazines. It has nothing to do with me." Kawashima had no choice but to make excuses.Yokoi looked at him with unbelieving eyes: "Hey, you'd better be careful. If you're really involved in such a case, you'll never get over it for the rest of your life." Yokoi said behind his back. Kawashima was silent.The few words Yokoi said just now were clearly representative speeches of the surrounding area.People have already regarded themselves as the criminals involved in the murder of Kayoko. Kawashima was upset.Later, I could only pray secretly, hoping that Tian Suo was not the murderer.If Tian Suo is innocent, he will be saved.Although rumors are flying all over the sky now, as long as Tian Suo is not the murderer, the rumors will gradually fade away.If you want to get out of the crisis, you have to wait for a miracle to appear. A miracle happened. Hamaoka was arrested.Hamaoka was detained overnight at the Metropolitan Police Department, and the next morning, he confessed to killing his wife, Kayoko. Hamaoka had other women.His relationship with Kayoko gradually cooled down.In addition, Hamaoka also noticed that Kayoko and Tada were all dyed.He expected that Tiansuo would come to Kayoko when he was not at home, so he came up with a way to make Tiansuo suspect. Hamaoka returns home half a day earlier than the planned business trip and kills Kayoko.He was hiding at home when Tian Suo, who didn't know about it, came to his house at this time. Tiansuo was shocked when he found Kayoko's body.Although this person has a bold and unrestrained personality, he is very timid.Tian Suo was deeply afraid that he had an affair with Kayoko, and that the suspicion of her death would fall on him.At this moment, Kawashima suddenly pulled the paper door of the back door and stepped into the door.In order not to let Chuan Dao see the dead body, he hurried to Chuan Dao and was at a loss.In order to prevent Kawashima from telling about his visit to Hamaoka's house, he voluntarily canceled the gambling debt and gave 30,000 yen as a "hush fee".In all his actions, he hoped that the suspicion of murder would not be involved in him. After Kawashima left, Tasho also fled the scene in a panic; at this time, Hamaoka came out from his hiding place.First wipe off the fingerprints at home, and then wipe off the fingerprints on the back door.When all the fingerprints were wiped off, even the fingerprints of Tasho and Kawashima were wiped off. After Hamaoka completed these tasks without anyone noticing, he opened the door again.At that time, only Hamaoka's fingerprints remained on the paper door.This is because if you leave all the fingerprints just now, too many fingerprints will arouse the suspicion of the police.Do it now, and it will come naturally. Around seven o'clock, Hamaoka pretended to have just discovered his wife's body, and rushed to a neighbor's house to report the crime.Since he returned home half a day early, but there was no trace of him at the place of business trip, his murder arrangement was finally exposed and he was arrested.Judging Hamaoka's actions was very late in terms of time.This is because the search authorities put all their energy on Tiansuo. Now that Hamaoka has been arrested, Tiansuo's suspicions are all eliminated.However, the relationship between Kawashima and Tiansuo - not only seeing the sparrow, but also taking 30,000 yuan from others as "hush money", was completely exposed.After Tian Suo was released without charge, he explained to the police before leaving: "This matter has been handled well." Kawashima was forced by his boss to submit his resignation.After resigning from the Yamen position, no one will ask for it again.At such an age, coupled with such a resume, it is always difficult to find a way out when seeking a career in this way. In the hot weather, Kawashima went to visit Tansho's home, hoping to take him in as a small employee of a civil engineering company.Until the end, I still gritted my teeth and declared, "I have never met Tian Suo." Thinking about it, Tian Suo himself should be satisfied with his responsible attitude to the end!