Chapter 9 Chapter 9 "Colonel" debut
From the next day, Wakamiya and Tahara visited various famous printing companies in Tokyo.
Wakamiya visits three or four of Japan's leading printing companies every day.Most printing companies have a technical department. Wakamiya first met with the person in charge of the factory to find out if there is a machine for printing delicate and counterfeit banknotes in the local area.
Due to the counterfeit banknote incident, the printing company had already contacted the Metropolitan Police Department and had seen counterfeit banknotes, so when Wakamiya asked, the factory director, technicians, and the director of the machinery department all said in unison: "This machine for printing counterfeit banknotes is really clever. The machines here can be called the latest machines with modern equipment, and they don’t have the confidence to print counterfeit money.”
Wakamiya also raised the question of whether the rural printing shop would have such a machine, and everyone laughed, "Where would such a thing happen? The machines for printing counterfeit banknotes don't even have the printing company that we claim to be well-equipped. Isn't the rural printing shop dream."
The first-class printing company in Tokyo is naturally the highest-ranking printing company in Japan. Once they deny it, Wakamiya has nothing to say.
On that day, several printing companies he visited all answered him in this way.Everyone laughed when they heard Wakamiya's speculation.
The printing company knows exactly how many printing machines there are in the country, and whether they are domestic or foreign.
A person in charge of a printing company said to him, "The counterfeit banknotes must be printed with pre-war machines. The printing machines are the best from Germany, especially Siemens is the number one in the world. However, after World War II, Japan completely No printing presses were imported into Germany, and it is said that they are no longer manufactured in Germany. From this point of view, it must be a pre-war machine."
"In that case," Wakamiya asked courageously, "could it be using pre-war machines to print counterfeit money?"
This sentence was also denied by that person. "That will not be the case. Everyone knows how many pre-war German machines are in Japan. They are so expensive that country print shops cannot afford them. As far as we know, many were destroyed during the bombing." , leaving only two or three, all in the hands of big companies.”
Wakamiya returns to the newspaper office.Tian Yuan also came back, his face was full of fatigue, Wakamiya knew at a glance that there was nothing to gain.
Tahara said, "I went to a second-rate printing house, and I didn't think it was possible to print such counterfeit banknotes."
Wakamiya originally thought that there must be a precision printing machine printing counterfeit banknotes, and now they have been stored away.The printing industry must be mistaken in thinking that such machines could not exist.
Is it really a paper cutter that was transported from Manazuru to Nagoya Station?
However, this absolutely does not make sense.The parts of these paper cutters were shipped out, and they had to go to Nagoya Station to pick them up. The procedures were cumbersome, and there was no reason for that.
Moreover, these paper cutter parts shipped to Nagoya Station are only part of them.It is not known where the rest of the components were shipped.There were no large machines destroyed by the fire, only small paper cutters. For a shop like Okuda Printing Shop, there is absolutely no need for two.
It must not be the paper cutter that is shipped out, but other machines.And it was shipped separately.
Wakamiya and Tahara had a careful exchange of opinions, and decided to ask the reporter stations near Manazuru to investigate whether anyone used a truck to transport the machine out in the week before and after June 20, who was the transporter, who was the consignee, and who was the transporter. What kind of machine is it.
They spent a week investigating.There were replies from various reporter stations, but none of the answers satisfied Wakamiya.
At this moment, the editor-in-chief Kigu seemed to consider another clue, and called Wakamiya over, saying:
"Let Tahara handle the investigation of the machine. You go to Nagoya immediately."
"To Nagoya?" Wakamiya became nervous.
"Yes. The center of this case is in Nagoya. I think the crux of the problem lies in Okuda Sunsaburo who died in the Kiso River. The police said that he died in an accident, and the investigation is not detailed. You can try it." Mu Gu took out one envelope. "This is the travel expenses. Let's set off immediately. It's not too late to investigate now."
Ruogong agreed, but he really didn't expect the editor-in-chief to put so much effort into it.
"Okuda Sunsaburo went to Nagoya to receive the goods, and then transferred the goods. You have to investigate where he sent the goods to. Okuda Sunsaburo died in Inuyama. You have to investigate where he has been and who he has visited. He went to Whatever else Nagoya is carrying, we have to investigate clearly.” Mu Gu said.
"understood."
"As far as I think, it will be difficult to investigate. Unlike the police, we don't have the right to search, and it's easy to run into obstacles everywhere. You should do your best." Mu Gu stood up, patted Wakamiya on the shoulder and said: "When you get there, put Tell me the address, and if Tahara’s investigation on this aspect comes to fruition, I will notify you.” Wakamiya nodded: “Okay, let’s go right away.”
Wakamiya departs by train at dusk and can reach Nagoya late at night. After the car left Tokyo, the sky became dark, which somewhat resembled my own mood. Wasn't the case still in darkness from the beginning to the end?Occasionally some light appears on hand, but it is fleeting. When will the truth be revealed? Wakamiya took out a notebook and wrote down a series of events in Hokkaido, the Nagoya incident, and the Manazuru incident between the two, and finally linked them together with counterfeit banknotes.However, associating Hokkaido and Nagoya with counterfeit banknotes is too far away. After passing Atami, Wakamiya wrote a short letter to Atami's correspondent Murata in the swaying carriage, reporting the trip to Nagoya. In the middle of the night, Wakamiya arrived in Nagoya.There are hotel personnel in front of the station to attract guests.He chose a hotel near the station to stay.At that time, I originally wanted to go to the Xishan Hotel where I used to live, but it might not be appropriate to go there at night. The body was very tired, and when I opened my eyes again, it was nine o'clock in the morning, and the sun was shining brightly on the window. Today I am scheduled to go to Inuyama for investigation.As he smoked in bed, he worked out a plan of action. After washing his face, he returned to his room, where the maid was making the bed and preparing for breakfast. "Is there a newspaper?" Wakamiya had to read the newspaper. "Yes, bring it right away." The waitress brought the local newspaper. Although it is a local newspaper, the recent political news and diplomatic news are similar to Tokyo newspapers, but the local news on the third page is different from Tokyo.Wakamiya then flipped to the third edition. There is no special news, but the focus is entirely on local news, which is something you don't see in Tokyo. The corruption incident at the local monopoly bureau has expanded, the fire in the countryside has burned five families, and there are cattle competitions and vegetables competitions, that's all the news.Wakamiya suddenly said "Ah!", and it turned out that there was a piece of news recording the "Shimauchi Teruaki Lecture".Sponsored by a local cultural group. Shimauchi Teruaki unexpectedly appeared again. It was the same when I was in Otaru.Wherever Ruogong goes, he always meets him, which can be said to be predestined. Wakamiya felt a little strange. Of course, half of his speeches are for income, and it is not uncommon to do business here and there.But Wakamiya always felt that Shimauchi must have something to do with this case. Beside him, there is also a "lilac girl" who flickers and disappears.I saw her in Sapporo, and I saw her in the residence in Tokyo Island.She came out of her apartment on the island, and Wakamiya followed her, but was hit by a car. Both the driver and the owner of the car that hit him had come to apologize, but until now, Wakamiya had no doubts about Shimauchi. What's more, the "lilac girl" next to the island made him even more disturbed.This time, Wakamiya came to Nagoya, and just after reading the newspaper, he discovered the news about the speech on the island. Wakamiya decided to go to Gifu after going to Inuyama to investigate the mountain. Of course, he had to meet the island for a while, but it might not be because of the "lilac girl". Wakamiya got on the train from Nagoya and headed for Inuyama.The car drove over the Kisogawa bridge, and there are many hotels in this area.The river was turbulent, and the boat rushed downstream like an arrow.The small city on the small hill is Inuyama. Where is Okuda Sunzaburo's body floating?Wakamiya folded her arms and looked at the scenery. There is a souvenir shop by the bridge, Wakamiya walked in.After buying a few things, I casually asked the female shop assistant, "I heard that there was a floating corpse in the river recently." The female clerk replied that there was such a thing, turned her head and pointed to the upper reaches, and said, "It's not far from there. I went to see it. It was a man in his thirties. After the police came, they salvaged the body. I have never I’ve seen something like this before, and it seems like it’s still in front of my eyes.” Wakamiya followed her words, "It's no wonder. Is this person a local?" "No, it looks like someone from the Tokyo area. Later, I saw in the newspaper that he was a resident of Momotaro Hotel." "'Momotaro Hotel'? Where is it?" "Cross this bridge, and it's only a hundred meters away. It's our big hotel here." These materials are more than enough. "The guest and the deceased were friends?" "No," Wakamiya added thoughtfully after finishing speaking, "There is not such a deep relationship, only a little fate." "Ah!" The female clerk immediately opened her eyes wide. "That's a pity. I heard that I came out at night, but I slipped and fell into the river." "That's right," Wakamiya paid. "Where people slip, do people often slip?" "No, there are very few such things." The saleswoman denied. "In the past, a couple of young men and women committed suicide here. As for the accidental death, this is the first time. It must be that the traveler slipped down by accident." Wakamiya went to visit the "Momotaro Ryokan" where Okuda Sunzaburo stayed, and found it as soon as he looked for it.It was still early, and "Momotaro Hotel" gave Wakamiya a nice room. The hotel can overlook the Kiso River. It is not large in scale, but has a good view. After noon, Wakamiya ordered lunch first, and planned to spend the night there.It was a fat female worker in his mid-twenties who greeted him for dinner. While eating, she inquired about Okuda's affairs, because this was a sudden death of a hotel guest, the female worker didn't want to talk about it.Ruogong then gave a few small accounts. "Ah, no need." The female worker refused to take it at first, but finally put it in her arms, and her attitude changed immediately. "Thank you, thank you." "I do paper work, and I'm very interested in that resident's affairs." Wakamiya returned to the original topic. "Is sir a novelist?" the female worker asked Wakamiya's face. "Almost. You don't have to worry, I won't write your hotel in it, just say as much as you know, how about it?" "Okay," the female worker thought for a while, and finally spoke. "The traveler was staying at our hotel, and I happened to be attending him. It was at this time when he came, and I was on duty." "That's a coincidence. Is that person here at this time?" Wakamiya asked. "Yes." The female worker replied. Wakamiya thought about it.Since Okuda came to Inuyama at such a time, he must have stayed in Nagoya the night before. If the train from Atami is an early train, it will arrive at Nagoya in the evening; if it is a late train, it will arrive the next morning. Okuda Sunzaburo probably picked up the goods at Nagoya Station and went through the formalities before coming to Inuyama.Judging from the time, it is most likely that Okuda lived in Nagoya the night before. "What did the guest do after he came to the hotel?" "It seems like nothing is being done in the room." "Aren't you going for a walk?" "I didn't go anywhere. I just went to the Kiso River at night, and an accident happened." Wakamiya then asked the female worker, "How is that guest doing before dusk?" "I brought tea to the room, and when I saw him lying on the bed, I asked if he had caught a cold, and how about making the bed, and he said no." "Did you call?" Wakamiya asked. The female worker slapped her knee and said, "Yes, yes, I called once." "Where are you going?" "Call to Nagoya. He gave me the number and told me to call out." There was a gleam in Wakamiya's eyes. "Do you remember the number?" "Ah," the female worker shook her head, "I don't remember." However, since it is an out-of-city call, the accounting office may have a record.When the hotel bills the guest, the telephone fee should be included in it.Maybe record the phone number at that time. Wakamiya expressed her opinion, and the female worker said, "Then I'll go to the cashier and ask." She walked out immediately. Okuda Sunzaburo called Nagoya.Wakamiya thinks that although the content is unknown, it is necessary to find out who answered the phone first.That night, Okuda died for no apparent reason, and it cannot be said that it had nothing to do with the phone call. The female worker came back in a blink of an eye, said "I found out", and handed over a small piece of paper.Wakamiya saw that there was only a number, but no name of the person who answered the phone. It is difficult to look up the name from the number.Unless there is something special, the telephone company will never say anything. Wakamiya taught her a way. "You call this number and say your name casually. The other party must say that you have made a mistake. Just say that the number is correct. What is your name?" "Understood." The female worker followed Wakamiya's method, picked up the phone on the table, and asked for Nagoya. Before lunch was finished, Nagoya's phone was connected.The female worker immediately picked up the receiver and said, "Hi, hello, is this Mr. Inoue's house? ... Oh, wrong?" The female worker followed Wakamiya's method to deal with it. "...Is the number correct? I'm sorry, who are you? My surname is Yamamoto... What, you are Nishiyama Hotel... Nishiyama Hotel?" Wakamiya who was listening quietly at the side was stunned. The Xishan Hotel is the hotel where the murdered Canghai Hotel Chuntian stayed.Okuda called the Nishiyama Hotel, did he also stay there the night before arriving at Inuyama? It seems that the Xishan Hotel is likely to be their contact point.Wakamiya used to stay at the Xishan Hotel for one night, chatted with the owner and his wife, both of them are very nice, and the impression is still not forgotten. If they use Xishan Hotel as their contact point, there may be two reasons.Maybe it was because the hotel was near the hotel where they worked, or maybe it was because the hotel was in a remote location, small and unnoticed. All in all, Okuda Sunzaburo called Nishiyama Hotel, which is of great reference value. "Do you still remember that after you connected the phone, the guest answered the receiver and said something?" Wakamiya turned around and asked the female worker again. "I didn't hear it. He took the receiver and told me to go away." "So you didn't hear anything?" "When I walked out, I had already started talking. I still heard the first few words." "What are you talking about?" Wakamiya looked closely at the female worker. The female worker thought for a long time before finally making up her mind to speak out. "The guest claimed to be Okuda, and he was looking for someone to talk to. I probably waited for a while for the person on the other side to come. I went to the corridor and heard the conversation inside." "What are you talking about?" "It's about: Yesterday, the colonel was not at home, and we didn't see each other." "What, Colonel?" "That's what it says. I don't understand what it means either." "I don't understand either." Wakamiya said silently. The "Colonel" appeared again.Wakamiya has heard this term twice.At first, it was Goichi Hasegawa who spoke.The second time was about a man who went to the waitress Zhumi to find Yumitoki.Later Zhushi told him. Who is Okuda looking for at the Nishiyama Hotel to answer the phone?And, who is the "Colonel"? Wakamiya was thinking, but the female worker had already left the room.Wakamiya finished his meal in a hurry. "I'm really sorry," the fat female worker came back in a blink of an eye, "Guest, the guest we talked about just now has new materials, and he called twice in total." "Two phone calls? Where did you call?" Wakamiya's eyes flashed brightly. "No, the first call was from Nagoya, and the second call came in from outside. The telephone operator in the accountant said it. It was not long before the customer went for a walk on the Kiso River." "Please explain in detail." Wakamiya leaned over. "I asked our female telephone operator just now. She answered the call, and there was a woman's voice over there." "Female voice?" Wakamiya immediately thought of Yumi. When Haruta was killed at the Nishiyama Hotel, the person next to him was said to be Yumi.This is how the letter received by the Atami Police Station was written. Before Ao Tian died, he received a call from a woman's voice, and Wakamiya intuitively connected it with Yumi. "What's the caller's surname?" Wakamiya asked her. "It is said that I didn't say anything, I just said please pick up Mr. Okuda, and the telephone operator went to the room." "What was on the phone?" "I don't know that. Telephone operators aren't allowed to listen to customers." If he had listened to the content of the phone call at that time, he would probably be able to solve the mystery of Okuda Son Saburo's strange death.What a pity to miss this call. "Is the woman's voice young on the phone?" "Very nice. Must be young." "Well," he fell into deep thought again.The voice of a woman on the phone, if not Yumi, was a young woman. After the woman called, Okuda Sunzaburo immediately said to go for a walk and walked out of the hotel.The call was clearly a means to lure him out. "Okuda, no, what happened when that guest left the hotel?" "It seems to be a little restless." The female worker recalled. If it's a normal walk, there's absolutely no reason to panic.Okuda Sunzaburo, who went out in a panic, must have been called out by the phone and killed. Wakamiya thought deeply—— Okuda was called out by a woman's phone and fell into the water on the banks of the Kiso River and died.Either he died in an accident, or he was pushed down. The two sides of the Kiso River are cliffs in this area, and if you fall down, you will die.However, a woman can't push him down. It must be the woman who called him to trick him out, and the other man pushed Okuda down. Behind Okuda's death, there is at least one man and one woman. So, why did Okuda live in Inuyama? From the perspective of the murderer, Okuda must have been allowed to live there for convenience. According to this inference, Okuda lived in Inuyama not on his own will, but following someone else's instructions. Who gives instructions? There is indeed something strange about Okuda.According to the Metropolitan Police Department and the printing company, it is impossible for a printing shop in the countryside to have excellent printing machines, but Wakamiya is still unwilling to give up his original deduction. At least he never gave up on this idea until he found out what the machine parts were that were transported from Manazuru to Nagoya. Okuda is related to large counterfeit banknotes——. The printing shop he opened in Manazuru is not many years old.What it used to be, no one knows.Moreover, he has to go on a business trip once a month, and it is unknown where he will go.It is not clear why he has to go out by train once a month. According to the investigation by a reporter from Sapporo, Hokkaido, Okuda's appearance is the same as that of the owner of the "Hydney Flower" bar in Otaru.At that time, he was indeed not in Manazuru, saying that he was hospitalized due to illness.It is not clear which hospital he lives in. If someone kills Okuda, is it someone who belongs to another group of counterfeit banknotes?It doesn't look like it, Wakamiya thinks that probably the people of the Okuda Group killed him.There is no evidence for this presumption, just a hunch.Although it is intuition, Okuda Sunzaburo goes out once a month, and it must be around Nagoya.For example, Okuda appears to have been staying at the Nishiyama Hotel the night before his death.There must be a strange place near the Xishan Hotel, so they used the Xishan Hotel as the contact point. But what exactly does "Colonel" mean? Wakamiya began to dispel doubts. "Colonel" presumably does not refer to a colonel in a foreign army, but to an old Japanese soldier.This is deduced from the fact that the deceased was at Cape Manazuru, Toshio Kurata.Kurata is the one who delivered the wrong suit case to Wakamiya at the Aokai Hotel.According to the police investigation, his real name was Toshio Yokoo, a former soldier who died in Southeast Asia, and his military rank at that time was an army sergeant. The "Colonel" is obviously related to Kurata, that is, "Sergeant Yokoo". Kurata was born in Oita County, and claimed to have died in Southeast Asia. In fact, all the Japanese soldiers on his battlefield were killed in battle, and newspapers even published news that "all jade pieces were broken".The Yoko family had already canceled his household registration after receiving the announcement of his death in battle.Unexpectedly, after the war, he returned to his hometown and his party. After being shocked in the village, he disappeared quietly. From then on, he took Cangtian as his surname and was active in the Atami area. Why is Kurata in Atami?Judging from the fact that he sent the suit by mistake, he was by no means unrelated to the case.And why did the person who received the suit commit suicide by jumping off a cliff in Jinpo?In order to track down the whereabouts of the corpse, Wakamiya visited Atami Zhenyang Temple and found a bouquet of lilac-scented flowers. When it comes to lilac perfume, I think of "that girl".The girl must know the life experience of the man who committed suicide.If you don't know each other before, you will never buy expensive flowers to pay tribute to.What's more, she also sprinkled her own perfume on the bouquet. There are other things that I don't understand.What is the relationship between Kurata who sent the suit, that is, Sergeant Yokoo, and the young man who committed suicide by jumping off a cliff?What is the relationship between Yoko "Sergeant" and "Colonel"? Too many people died in this case.Hasegawa Goichi died in this way, and his niece Yumi also disappeared. Thinking of this, Wakamiya concentrated all the mysteries on Yasuhiro Iwabuchi who committed suicide in Jinpu.If we can understand his purpose or reason for going to Atami, at least part of the fog of this case can be lifted. The person who knows the life experience of the young man who committed suicide is the "lilac girl".She often follows the critic Shimauchi Teruaki like a shadow. Yes, the newspaper said that Teruaki Shimauchi held a lecture in Gifu tonight. "Lilac Flower Girl" will also appear.This time, we must catch her and ask Jinpu about the life experience of the man who committed suicide. She must not say that she didn't know that when Wakamiya and Atami correspondent Murata went to the Atami Temple where the corpse was buried, they did see the bouquet she enshrined in front of the corpse.Wakamiya was courageous enough to leave the Inuyama Hotel.It doesn't take much time to get from Inuyama to Gifu.The lecture will be held at 6:00 p.m. in the auditorium of a certain elementary school. Lectures on the island have always been hosted by magazines.For a famous person like him, it seems superfluous for a sponsor to come forward.The elementary school is a very quiet place in the street, Wakamiya hasn't decided whether to meet him yet.According to the past situation, as soon as he showed up, the other party would be on guard. Wakamiya came to the front of the elementary school where Teruaki Shimauchi's lecture was held.It was just getting dark, and there were more people on campus, probably the audience who came to listen to the lecture.Wakamiya also had three or four middle-aged women walking and talking, and the audience was almost all women. The auditorium was brightly lit, the time had come, but the speech had not yet begun.It is not known whether Teruchi Shimauchi has arrived.The staff room was also lit. Wakamiya stood there, carefully calculating how to contact the island tonight; how to deal with the "lilac girl" if she was found. From the campus, you can see the mountain in the city. This mountain is probably the castle of a general in the Warring States Period in Japan. It can be seen from anywhere in Gifu.On the opposite side of the mountain, the famous Nagara River flows. Wakamiya was looking at this Inaba Mountain in the distance, when he suddenly heard the sound of a car.Turning around and looking over, a car drove up to the school gate. Probably the speaker, Teruaki Shimauchi, has arrived.Wakamiya greeted him quietly. The car stopped at the school gate, the driver opened the door, and the passengers got off.The sound of a car was heard inside the school, and three or four people who looked like teaching staff came out to greet them and beckon them to come in.Wakamiya saw from the back, that person was indeed Teruaki Shimauchi. Wakamiya immediately remembered to pay attention to whether the girl was following behind the island, but she didn't see it.Only one person from the island came out of the car, and the car was parked, and it seemed that it was waiting to pick up the island. The auditorium was already filled with welcome applause, and a continuous stream of female audiences rushed inside, and the island really had some appeal. The speech in the island seems to have begun.Wakamiya walked across the campus, approaching the auditorium, intending to take a look at Shimauchi from the outside. At that point, he hadn't decided what to do next. The auditorium is separate from the teaching building. As far as a small school auditorium in a town is concerned, the building is quite beautiful, made of steel and concrete, and of a rather large scale.Wakamiya walked to the wall.The light in the window is bright, Wakamiya hides behind a tree, but is able to hide in the dark. The applause sounded again, the master of ceremonies delivered a speech, and Shimauchi continued to speak. "Everyone, good night," the voice from the island spread outside through the loudspeaker. "Recently, women's thinking is completely different from the past, and their eyes have begun to pay attention to society. In the past, they were completely indifferent to social phenomena, but recently they tend to be roughly the same as men. This belongs to the self-consciousness of the new era." "Having said that, behind this new phenomenon, there are still the same worries and anguish hidden in the past. You can often see this situation in the service columns of newspapers and magazines..." Wakamiya was figuring things out, but he hadn't made up his mind until now.After the lecture, do you want to meet Shimauchi right away?Or is it just like now, looking from the outside? Wakamiya desperately wanted another car to show up. "Now the most frequently asked questions in the service column are nothing more than marriage issues and mother-in-law relationship issues. No matter how advanced the society is, these problems still exist. Due to the relationship between the new education system, children's issues are different from the past. Marriage issues , the issue of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law remains unchanged..." Wakamiya looked at the night sky while listening to Shimauchi's lecture.There are a few latecomers on campus who are rushing to the auditorium. "I know a woman. I don't need to mention her name. Anyway, she has quite a social status and is quite progressive. However, she also has troubles. The biggest problem is that she doesn't get along well with her in-laws..." Shimauchi's speech began to deepen, and the car that Wakamiya was looking forward to had not yet arrived. "Many people in the newspaper answered that the two sides should trust each other..." The voice on the island suddenly changed. Wakamiya was taken aback.The sound of the island has been cut off, and at the same time, the audience is rioting. Wakamiya didn't recall what happened at that time until later.The voice on the island suddenly became abnormal, as if drunk, indistinct.In a blink of an eye, there was no words, and there was a plop, and someone fell down from the microphone.The women shrieked, terrified.Immediately afterwards, footsteps were chaotic, and many people rushed to the podium. Wakamiya realized that an accident had happened at this moment, and immediately turned to the entrance of the auditorium.Inside, the audience all stood up, but there was no speaker on the podium.Four or five men and women were helping the fallen. The audience sitting in front left their chairs and surrounded the podium in a mess. At this moment, Wakamiya rushed into the auditorium and rushed to the podium.Some of the audience were stunned, some looked at the podium worriedly, and some women kept murmuring: "What's going on?" Wakamiya came to the side of the podium and looked out from the crowd, Shimauchi Teruaki was hugged by someone, his face was pale, his eyes were closed and his mouth was open, his head and body did not move at all. "Call the doctor!" shouted one of them.At that time, someone rushed to the door, and the audience was in a commotion. Wakamiya squeezed into the crowd, and immediately saw that Shimauchi was unconscious. "What's going on?" Wakamiya asked one of them. "Hey," said a person who seemed to be from the sponsoring group, "Suddenly something went wrong. Before Mr. Shimauchi finished speaking, he fell down." The speaker didn't realize that Wakamiya was a journalist, but only regarded him as an audience. "Are there any signs before the speech?" Wakamiya asked. "No, I've always been in good spirits. I was chatting and laughing happily in the reception room, and even after the lecture started, I couldn't see anything wrong. But after two or three minutes, we noticed that Mr. Shimauchi's face suddenly changed. At this moment, he He stopped his voice and fell." Wakamiya looked at Shimauchi's face again.Not only was he unconscious, but he was almost dead.Even if it is judged by ordinary people, I am afraid that it will die in the blink of an eye. The appearance of symptoms attack is a bit like a stroke. A large number of people rushed up and carried the island from the auditorium to the school building.Wakamiya followed behind.Anyone who saw Shimauchi lying on the school stretcher would think it was a corpse. The speech will be unexpected, and the audience will be in chaos. The school doctor finally arrived and immediately examined the island.The organizer of the lecture and school staff surrounded him closely.Wakamiya stood behind and looked around. The doctor immediately felt the pulse of the island and listened to his chest with a stethoscope. As soon as the receiver was on the ear, the doctor shook his head. "It's too late, there is no beating sound." The people around were in a mess and asked, "Doctor, is it an emergency?" "It's not a common disease. It's a reaction to potassium cyanate poisoning." There were people's voices "buzzing" all around.Everyone thought he had a stroke or a heart attack, but what the doctor said was a big surprise. The doctor looked back and asked, "Who is in charge tonight?" A thin middle-aged man stood up.He was probably an employee of the magazine, and his face was flushed. "I'm going to do an autopsy immediately," the doctor announced. "An autopsy?" The man was surprised again. "That's right. I don't think the deceased committed suicide. Since he didn't commit suicide, of course he killed him. The police must be notified and an autopsy performed," the doctor said. "Okay." The man replied casually, still at a loss. "Anyone please contact the police. According to the law, we don't handle medical cases other than illness and death." The doctor closed the handbag. Next to the dead body on the island, there are still many people around.The faces of the magazine staff completely changed.Misfortune caused an accident, and I don't know what to do. Wakamiya walked up to the man. "Excuse me, where did Mr. Shimauchi go before giving a lecture?" That person regarded Wakamiya as an audience member or a school staff member, and immediately replied, "Before coming here, rest at the hotel, I sent a car to pick her up." "What kind of hotel?" "Nagoya." Nagoya --.Sure enough, the island also lives in Nagoya. "Which hotel in Nagoya?" Wakamiya thought of Xishan Hotel at this time. "It's the Weizhou Hotel in front of the station." The Weizhou Hotel is a big hotel. "Since when did you live there?" "Last night. Mr. Shimauchi arrived in Nagoya last night, and we invited him to stay." "At that time, was Mr. Shimauchi alone?" Wakamiya was still thinking about "lilac girl" when asking this question. "Of course. It is said that no matter where Mr. Shimauchi goes to give lectures, he is alone. Then again, this accident happened, and there is no family to handle the funeral. It is really troublesome." The magazine staff glanced at the corpse of Shimaochi , with a look of embarrassment on his face. Wakamiya continued to ask: "From last night to now, Mr. Shimauchi, is there really no one around? For example, who have you met? Who have you had dinner with?" The people from the magazine thought for a while and said: "I received Mr. Shimauchi and accompanied him to the hotel, but I didn't stay by his side all the time. Today, I just sent a car to pick him up before the speech, and I didn't make contact with Mr. Shimauchi. Mr. has his own business, and I have other things besides arranging the venue, so I don’t have much contact.” From this point of view, it is not certain that the island is alone, and it is necessary to go to the Weizhou Hotel to find out. When Wakamiya walked out of the school gate, the siren of the ambulance was approaching from far away, and it was about to arrive. According to doctors, the deceased died from a reaction to potassium cyanate.From the looks of it, the doctor's diagnosis was probably correct.However, potassium cyanate is a poison that can kill you in five or six seconds.And Wakamiya listened to Shimaochi's speech outside the auditorium window. From the moment he started to falling to the ground, it took at least fifteen minutes.If it is to eat potassium cyanate, it will not delay so much time. Therefore, it is possible that he did not die from eating potassium cyanate, but ate poison similar to the reaction of potassium cyanate, and then fell on the podium.If this is not the case, it will be difficult to make sense. All in all, I have to go to the Nagoya Oshu Hotel where I stayed the night before on the island to investigate and find out what happened.As for on-site news, it can be handed over to local reporters for interviews.Wakamiya came out of school, called the Gifu reporter with the news, and then went to Nagoya. No newspaper reporter had thought of going to the Oshu Hotel for interviews, so Wakamiya had plenty of time.This hotel is just in front of the station, four floors high, Wakamiya took out his business card and asked to meet the person in charge. A man about fifty years old came out and claimed to be an account manager. He was shocked when he heard the news of the sudden death of Shimauchi Teruaki from Wakamiya, and immediately two or three female workers came to listen. Wakamiya asked him, "Has Mr. Shimauchi met any guests at the hotel?" "It doesn't seem to be there. Only the gentleman from the magazine that hosted the lecture came to talk for an hour." Wakamiya remembered the people from the magazine that he met at the venue. "Today, from the morning to the lecture, is there anyone here?" The account manager called the female worker in charge of the room to ask, but she still said no.Then, from the time he checked into the hotel to the time he left the island, he never met anyone else. However, the female worker told Wakamiya that Teruaki Shimauchi went out once this afternoon. "Where are you going?" Wakamiya asked. "I don't know, I went out without saying a word," the female worker replied. "The time is around 3:30 to 5:30. When I come back, the magazine will send a car to pick me up." I went out for two hours on the island, where did I go?Wakamiya immediately thought of Xishan Hotel.There must be something strange near Xishan Hotel. Yes, you must call a taxi when you go out on the island, and you can ask the driver.Unexpectedly, the accountant said that the island went out and came back by taxi. Wakamiya bid farewell and came out, facing the wind and walked to Nagoya Street.I'm going to stay in Nagoya tonight, so why don't I go to the Xishan Hotel, first to see the residents there, and second, to get some news from the hotel maid. As for the matter on the island, there will be detailed records in tomorrow's morning paper.However, once the island dies, the "lilac flower girl" should also appear.Thinking of this, my mind was moved, even violently. The girl has no contact with the island on the surface, but in fact, there must be a secret connection.Once the island dies, if she is killed, she probably won't appear again. Ruogong doesn't think that Dao Nei was killed by her, but if he can see her, he will be able to find out the secrets of Dao Nei.Yes, there must be secrets on the island, so they were killed. After much deliberation, Wakamiya still judged that she would not show up, so she hailed a taxi and ordered to drive to Xishan Hotel.
Wakamiya was looking at the street lamps of famous old houses in the car, but he only thought that he must meet that girl, he must meet.He himself was surprised by this persistent thought. The car stopped at the entrance of Xishan Hotel.It's really a small and dilapidated hotel, far away from the urban area, even the driver wondered why there is such a hotel in this place. Wakamiya stood in front of the door and rang the bell.From the outside, all the rooms are black and dark. It seems that there is no guest, and the business is very light. The lady boss came out to answer the door. Although she was old, she could still vaguely distinguish her beauty when she was young.She also knew Wakamiya and saluted him with a smile on her face. 若宫致意之后，说明想到旅馆住一晚，那知老板娘立刻变了颜色，说道，“那可不大方便啊，偏巧今天晚上都住满了。” “那么老板在吗？”若宫问。 "He went out." "When will you be back?" "I don't know." 从外面看，房间都没有亮，他竟然说住满了客人，这是一怪。居然不知道老板何时回来，这又是一怪。这时，里面有女工招呼老板娘进去，若宫只得告辞。 但是，若宫还舍不得马上就走。面对着这一家漆黑一团的旅馆，觉得里面必有秘密。而且，说不定那女郎就会到来进行联络。 他的幻想居然实现了一半。不过，出现的不是女人，而是男人。不是从外面到来，而是从里面出来。旅馆里走出一个夹着公事皮包、毫无风采的男子，三步并作两步，直向外奔。 若宫连忙叫着他。那人愕然止住脚步，是个商人模样。 “我很想会一会西山旅馆的老板，据说是出去了。是不是真的不在家呢？”若宫向他打听。 对方以为他也是个商人，答说，“是真不在家，我也是来同他见面的。这家旅馆要出售，只有老板娘在家，怎么谈得成。” 若宫一惊。老板竟然要把旅馆卖掉。 “那么，你是来谈买旅馆的生意的。” “是啊，我是做房地产的。”他不疑有他，率直答覆若宫。 “是很早以前就放盘？” “不，就是这两三天的事，出我意料之外。” “生意不好？” “地方僻静，生意就好不了。老板说要回乡，希望马上出手。这种格局，又不便改成普通住家，我都觉得很为难。” 西山旅馆老板夫妇，突然之间竟要卖掉旅馆，真是特别。一定是眼前这一团漆黑的某一件事，使得他们采取这项行动。说不定就是岛内辉秋这件事。 老板娘的表情，先是稳定，后来慌乱。整个旅馆乌灯黑火，竟然说是住满客人，分明是在扯谎。看样子，有必要查清他们为什么要卖旅馆。 “你知道老板是今天早晨什么时候出去的？”若宫再问那房地产掮客。 “不是今天早晨。他好像是昨天晚上出去的。” “啊？”若宫又是一震，“昨天晚上出去，还没有回来。” “我问老板娘，他到底去了什么地方。她推说不知道，我看她那样子，不像不知道。” 若宫同那个人分手，当晚到“若叶屋”旅馆住宿。第二天睁开眼，已经是七点半钟。昨天晚上已经嘱咐好，要把报纸送进来，所以醒后马上打开报纸。 岛内辉秋被害的消息登得很多，若宫活像吃饭一样，要一字一句都吞下去。他最注意的是解剖结果，新闻写道： “岛内遗尸立即运至XX大学法医学部，由S博士执刀解剖。结果证明为氰酸钾致死。但，氰酸钾一经服用，必立即死亡，岛内因何尚能演讲十数分钟，尚成疑问。S博士为慎重起见，决定再用显微镜详查死者脏体，结果可在二十四小时后发表。 “侦查当局认为岛内绝非自杀，现已展开搜查。至于有无与氰酸钾类似而毒效较慢之毒药，尚待研究。” 若宫一口气读完报纸，不觉为之一叹。目前的关键所在系于岛内所服既为氰酸钾，为何不是立即倒毙。难道是一种毒效较慢的新毒药问世？ 大家都知道，氰酸钾是一种结晶体，极似阿斯匹灵，能溶解于水，无论是溶在威士忌，还是溶在果汁中，药效均相同。看样子，绝不会是另外的毒药，如果有，法医学教授岂能不知。 若宫又仔仔细细把报导阅读一遍，没有发现什么新内容。消息后面是岛内辉秋生平介绍，多少有些夸奖得过分。再看看其他消息，并没有什么大事。有一条是发现伪美钞，东京、横滨、大阪方面都有出现。 可是，若宫对于伪美钞并无兴趣，一心一意想着岛内的事，那个“丁香花女郎”不知怎样了。昨天，正如自己所料，她并没有出现；他今天则直觉那女郎有突然出现的可能。她如果同岛内有任何关连，现在一定尚在名古屋某处。 偌大的名古屋到什么地方去寻找她呢？如果在街头遇不到，只有再到西山旅馆去想办法了。 若宫在出动之前，先乘公共汽车到名古屋车站前面的报馆分社。坐在汽车里，眼睛看到的是战后重新整理过的街道，心中所想的却完全是氰酸钾。 想来想去，岛内辉秋绝不可能一边讲演，一边吃毒药，一定是他在到达会场之前就吃下去了。药效很慢，日本似乎还没有这种药，是不是外国的新药呢？ 人们在考虑问题出神时，常常忽发奇想，而且以在电车中、浴缸中、卧床中发生奇想的可能性为最大。现在，若宫在公共汽车一摇一晃中，也突然想起，这种毒药既然不是日本所制，会不会是外国凶手下手的呢？ 若宫的脑筋里又是一闪，他想起今天报纸上发现伪美钞的消息。伪日钞和美钞是不是也有关系呢？ 若宫到了名古屋车站，立即奔向提货处，取出名片，向办事员打听：“有一批用奥田孙三郎的名义从真鹤运来的货，交本人在名古屋车站提货，看样子是转运，你能帮我查一查转运到什么地方吗？” 办事员很亲切，取出纪录来，马上按照若宫所说的日期找到奥田孙三郎的取货纪录，并且说，“由收货人亲自提走了。” “我是想拜托你查一查有没有转运。” “我记得立刻转运走了。” 这倒出于若宫意外。想不到立刻就这样运走了。 可是，办事员又将纪录册翻阅了两三遍，无论如何也寻不到转运纪录。按照奥田孙三郎的姓名，按照货物的重量、品目，都找不到这批货的下落。 若宫只好断念。办事员说，大概从发货人的姓名、货品的重量，打包的样式都改变了。 想在这里发现踪迹，看样子是不可能的了。若宫致谢告辞，来到报馆的名古屋分社，找到老朋友黑崎。 “上次，西山旅馆有个人被杀，这案子有下文没有？”若宫问。 黑崎回称没有，反问他有什么事情又来到名古屋。 若宫听了拔脚便走，黑崎在后面大叫道，“喂，喂，你到哪里去？” “去车站。”其实，若宫并没有去车站，拦住一辆出租汽车，奔赴西山旅馆。昨天去访西山旅馆，因为老板不在，完全未得要领，在外面遇到一名房地产商，才知道西山旅馆正在外卖。若宫非常想见老板一面，他昨晚未归，今天总该回来了吧。 据若宫分析，西山旅馆乃是凶犯的联络站，从这里着手，必有所获。 若宫下了汽车，来到西山旅馆。 站在门口的人，既不是老板娘，又不是女工，而竟是昨天刚见面的房地产商。对方看到若宫，表情也有些意外。 “昨天打扰了。旅馆老板今天在吗？”若宫招呼他。 房地产商答道，“这里的老板夫妇，已经不住这里了。” 西山夫妇竟然卖掉旅馆搬走，若宫眼睛都定住了。 “这事情怪啊，”他好半天才讲出话来。“昨天你不是说，这笔生意，还要有些日子才能谈妥吗？” “这话不错，”房地产商讲来也不得要领，“昨晚以前确实如此，可是到了昨天深夜，老板娘突然到我家里来，要我付款。我说，价钱还未谈妥呢。她说，就按你开的价钱卖给你吧。” “这样急于卖掉？” “我也觉得意外。她说，老板要在东京开一家新买卖，已经去了，所以一定要把这里的旅馆马上顶出去，价钱只好不计了。” “可是，还有登记、买卖等等手续呢？” “老板娘说，无条件相信我，由我办理。今天早晨，我勉强从亲友处筹了一笔款，交给她，她把印监留下就走了。” 若宫听得呆住。这对夫妇分明是展翅高飞了。 对方看若宫那神情，又添了一句：“真是不巧，老板娘刚走了一个钟头。” “她去什么地方？”若宫心跳得砰砰然。 “说是东京。对了，她还说，暂且把东西放在这里，由我保存，等她来取。等那边一切安置好了，就回来一次。” 可是若宫认为，她根本不会再回来了。
Wakamiya departs by train at dusk and can reach Nagoya late at night. After the car left Tokyo, the sky became dark, which somewhat resembled my own mood. Wasn't the case still in darkness from the beginning to the end?Occasionally some light appears on hand, but it is fleeting. When will the truth be revealed? Wakamiya took out a notebook and wrote down a series of events in Hokkaido, the Nagoya incident, and the Manazuru incident between the two, and finally linked them together with counterfeit banknotes.However, associating Hokkaido and Nagoya with counterfeit banknotes is too far away. After passing Atami, Wakamiya wrote a short letter to Atami's correspondent Murata in the swaying carriage, reporting the trip to Nagoya. In the middle of the night, Wakamiya arrived in Nagoya.There are hotel personnel in front of the station to attract guests.He chose a hotel near the station to stay.At that time, I originally wanted to go to the Xishan Hotel where I used to live, but it might not be appropriate to go there at night. The body was very tired, and when I opened my eyes again, it was nine o'clock in the morning, and the sun was shining brightly on the window. Today I am scheduled to go to Inuyama for investigation.As he smoked in bed, he worked out a plan of action. After washing his face, he returned to his room, where the maid was making the bed and preparing for breakfast. "Is there a newspaper?" Wakamiya had to read the newspaper. "Yes, bring it right away." The waitress brought the local newspaper. Although it is a local newspaper, the recent political news and diplomatic news are similar to Tokyo newspapers, but the local news on the third page is different from Tokyo.Wakamiya then flipped to the third edition. There is no special news, but the focus is entirely on local news, which is something you don't see in Tokyo. The corruption incident at the local monopoly bureau has expanded, the fire in the countryside has burned five families, and there are cattle competitions and vegetables competitions, that's all the news.Wakamiya suddenly said "Ah!", and it turned out that there was a piece of news recording the "Shimauchi Teruaki Lecture".Sponsored by a local cultural group. Shimauchi Teruaki unexpectedly appeared again. It was the same when I was in Otaru.Wherever Ruogong goes, he always meets him, which can be said to be predestined. Wakamiya felt a little strange. Of course, half of his speeches are for income, and it is not uncommon to do business here and there.But Wakamiya always felt that Shimauchi must have something to do with this case. Beside him, there is also a "lilac girl" who flickers and disappears.I saw her in Sapporo, and I saw her in the residence in Tokyo Island.She came out of her apartment on the island, and Wakamiya followed her, but was hit by a car. Both the driver and the owner of the car that hit him had come to apologize, but until now, Wakamiya had no doubts about Shimauchi. What's more, the "lilac girl" next to the island made him even more disturbed.This time, Wakamiya came to Nagoya, and just after reading the newspaper, he discovered the news about the speech on the island. Wakamiya decided to go to Gifu after going to Inuyama to investigate the mountain. Of course, he had to meet the island for a while, but it might not be because of the "lilac girl". Wakamiya got on the train from Nagoya and headed for Inuyama.The car drove over the Kisogawa bridge, and there are many hotels in this area.The river was turbulent, and the boat rushed downstream like an arrow.The small city on the small hill is Inuyama. Where is Okuda Sunzaburo's body floating?Wakamiya folded her arms and looked at the scenery. There is a souvenir shop by the bridge, Wakamiya walked in.After buying a few things, I casually asked the female shop assistant, "I heard that there was a floating corpse in the river recently." The female clerk replied that there was such a thing, turned her head and pointed to the upper reaches, and said, "It's not far from there. I went to see it. It was a man in his thirties. After the police came, they salvaged the body. I have never I’ve seen something like this before, and it seems like it’s still in front of my eyes.” Wakamiya followed her words, "It's no wonder. Is this person a local?" "No, it looks like someone from the Tokyo area. Later, I saw in the newspaper that he was a resident of Momotaro Hotel." "'Momotaro Hotel'? Where is it?" "Cross this bridge, and it's only a hundred meters away. It's our big hotel here." These materials are more than enough. "The guest and the deceased were friends?" "No," Wakamiya added thoughtfully after finishing speaking, "There is not such a deep relationship, only a little fate." "Ah!" The female clerk immediately opened her eyes wide. "That's a pity. I heard that I came out at night, but I slipped and fell into the river." "That's right," Wakamiya paid. "Where people slip, do people often slip?" "No, there are very few such things." The saleswoman denied. "In the past, a couple of young men and women committed suicide here. As for the accidental death, this is the first time. It must be that the traveler slipped down by accident." Wakamiya went to visit the "Momotaro Ryokan" where Okuda Sunzaburo stayed, and found it as soon as he looked for it.It was still early, and "Momotaro Hotel" gave Wakamiya a nice room. The hotel can overlook the Kiso River. It is not large in scale, but has a good view. After noon, Wakamiya ordered lunch first, and planned to spend the night there.It was a fat female worker in his mid-twenties who greeted him for dinner. While eating, she inquired about Okuda's affairs, because this was a sudden death of a hotel guest, the female worker didn't want to talk about it.Ruogong then gave a few small accounts. "Ah, no need." The female worker refused to take it at first, but finally put it in her arms, and her attitude changed immediately. "Thank you, thank you." "I do paper work, and I'm very interested in that resident's affairs." Wakamiya returned to the original topic. "Is sir a novelist?" the female worker asked Wakamiya's face. "Almost. You don't have to worry, I won't write your hotel in it, just say as much as you know, how about it?" "Okay," the female worker thought for a while, and finally spoke. "The traveler was staying at our hotel, and I happened to be attending him. It was at this time when he came, and I was on duty." "That's a coincidence. Is that person here at this time?" Wakamiya asked. "Yes." The female worker replied. Wakamiya thought about it.Since Okuda came to Inuyama at such a time, he must have stayed in Nagoya the night before. If the train from Atami is an early train, it will arrive at Nagoya in the evening; if it is a late train, it will arrive the next morning. Okuda Sunzaburo probably picked up the goods at Nagoya Station and went through the formalities before coming to Inuyama.Judging from the time, it is most likely that Okuda lived in Nagoya the night before. "What did the guest do after he came to the hotel?" "It seems like nothing is being done in the room." "Aren't you going for a walk?" "I didn't go anywhere. I just went to the Kiso River at night, and an accident happened." Wakamiya then asked the female worker, "How is that guest doing before dusk?" "I brought tea to the room, and when I saw him lying on the bed, I asked if he had caught a cold, and how about making the bed, and he said no." "Did you call?" Wakamiya asked. The female worker slapped her knee and said, "Yes, yes, I called once." "Where are you going?" "Call to Nagoya. He gave me the number and told me to call out." There was a gleam in Wakamiya's eyes. "Do you remember the number?" "Ah," the female worker shook her head, "I don't remember." However, since it is an out-of-city call, the accounting office may have a record.When the hotel bills the guest, the telephone fee should be included in it.Maybe record the phone number at that time. Wakamiya expressed her opinion, and the female worker said, "Then I'll go to the cashier and ask." She walked out immediately. Okuda Sunzaburo called Nagoya.Wakamiya thinks that although the content is unknown, it is necessary to find out who answered the phone first.That night, Okuda died for no apparent reason, and it cannot be said that it had nothing to do with the phone call. The female worker came back in a blink of an eye, said "I found out", and handed over a small piece of paper.Wakamiya saw that there was only a number, but no name of the person who answered the phone. It is difficult to look up the name from the number.Unless there is something special, the telephone company will never say anything. Wakamiya taught her a way. "You call this number and say your name casually. The other party must say that you have made a mistake. Just say that the number is correct. What is your name?" "Understood." The female worker followed Wakamiya's method, picked up the phone on the table, and asked for Nagoya. Before lunch was finished, Nagoya's phone was connected.The female worker immediately picked up the receiver and said, "Hi, hello, is this Mr. Inoue's house? ... Oh, wrong?" The female worker followed Wakamiya's method to deal with it. "...Is the number correct? I'm sorry, who are you? My surname is Yamamoto... What, you are Nishiyama Hotel... Nishiyama Hotel?" Wakamiya who was listening quietly at the side was stunned. The Xishan Hotel is the hotel where the murdered Canghai Hotel Chuntian stayed.Okuda called the Nishiyama Hotel, did he also stay there the night before arriving at Inuyama? It seems that the Xishan Hotel is likely to be their contact point.Wakamiya used to stay at the Xishan Hotel for one night, chatted with the owner and his wife, both of them are very nice, and the impression is still not forgotten. If they use Xishan Hotel as their contact point, there may be two reasons.Maybe it was because the hotel was near the hotel where they worked, or maybe it was because the hotel was in a remote location, small and unnoticed. All in all, Okuda Sunzaburo called Nishiyama Hotel, which is of great reference value. "Do you still remember that after you connected the phone, the guest answered the receiver and said something?" Wakamiya turned around and asked the female worker again. "I didn't hear it. He took the receiver and told me to go away." "So you didn't hear anything?" "When I walked out, I had already started talking. I still heard the first few words." "What are you talking about?" Wakamiya looked closely at the female worker. The female worker thought for a long time before finally making up her mind to speak out. "The guest claimed to be Okuda, and he was looking for someone to talk to. I probably waited for a while for the person on the other side to come. I went to the corridor and heard the conversation inside." "What are you talking about?" "It's about: Yesterday, the colonel was not at home, and we didn't see each other." "What, Colonel?" "That's what it says. I don't understand what it means either." "I don't understand either." Wakamiya said silently. The "Colonel" appeared again.Wakamiya has heard this term twice.At first, it was Goichi Hasegawa who spoke.The second time was about a man who went to the waitress Zhumi to find Yumitoki.Later Zhushi told him. Who is Okuda looking for at the Nishiyama Hotel to answer the phone?And, who is the "Colonel"? Wakamiya was thinking, but the female worker had already left the room.Wakamiya finished his meal in a hurry. "I'm really sorry," the fat female worker came back in a blink of an eye, "Guest, the guest we talked about just now has new materials, and he called twice in total." "Two phone calls? Where did you call?" Wakamiya's eyes flashed brightly. "No, the first call was from Nagoya, and the second call came in from outside. The telephone operator in the accountant said it. It was not long before the customer went for a walk on the Kiso River." "Please explain in detail." Wakamiya leaned over. "I asked our female telephone operator just now. She answered the call, and there was a woman's voice over there." "Female voice?" Wakamiya immediately thought of Yumi. When Haruta was killed at the Nishiyama Hotel, the person next to him was said to be Yumi.This is how the letter received by the Atami Police Station was written. Before Ao Tian died, he received a call from a woman's voice, and Wakamiya intuitively connected it with Yumi. "What's the caller's surname?" Wakamiya asked her. "It is said that I didn't say anything, I just said please pick up Mr. Okuda, and the telephone operator went to the room." "What was on the phone?" "I don't know that. Telephone operators aren't allowed to listen to customers." If he had listened to the content of the phone call at that time, he would probably be able to solve the mystery of Okuda Son Saburo's strange death.What a pity to miss this call. "Is the woman's voice young on the phone?" "Very nice. Must be young." "Well," he fell into deep thought again.The voice of a woman on the phone, if not Yumi, was a young woman. After the woman called, Okuda Sunzaburo immediately said to go for a walk and walked out of the hotel.The call was clearly a means to lure him out. "Okuda, no, what happened when that guest left the hotel?" "It seems to be a little restless." The female worker recalled. If it's a normal walk, there's absolutely no reason to panic.Okuda Sunzaburo, who went out in a panic, must have been called out by the phone and killed. Wakamiya thought deeply—— Okuda was called out by a woman's phone and fell into the water on the banks of the Kiso River and died.Either he died in an accident, or he was pushed down. The two sides of the Kiso River are cliffs in this area, and if you fall down, you will die.However, a woman can't push him down. It must be the woman who called him to trick him out, and the other man pushed Okuda down. Behind Okuda's death, there is at least one man and one woman. So, why did Okuda live in Inuyama? From the perspective of the murderer, Okuda must have been allowed to live there for convenience. According to this inference, Okuda lived in Inuyama not on his own will, but following someone else's instructions. Who gives instructions? There is indeed something strange about Okuda.According to the Metropolitan Police Department and the printing company, it is impossible for a printing shop in the countryside to have excellent printing machines, but Wakamiya is still unwilling to give up his original deduction. At least he never gave up on this idea until he found out what the machine parts were that were transported from Manazuru to Nagoya. Okuda is related to large counterfeit banknotes——. The printing shop he opened in Manazuru is not many years old.What it used to be, no one knows.Moreover, he has to go on a business trip once a month, and it is unknown where he will go.It is not clear why he has to go out by train once a month. According to the investigation by a reporter from Sapporo, Hokkaido, Okuda's appearance is the same as that of the owner of the "Hydney Flower" bar in Otaru.At that time, he was indeed not in Manazuru, saying that he was hospitalized due to illness.It is not clear which hospital he lives in. If someone kills Okuda, is it someone who belongs to another group of counterfeit banknotes?It doesn't look like it, Wakamiya thinks that probably the people of the Okuda Group killed him.There is no evidence for this presumption, just a hunch.Although it is intuition, Okuda Sunzaburo goes out once a month, and it must be around Nagoya.For example, Okuda appears to have been staying at the Nishiyama Hotel the night before his death.There must be a strange place near the Xishan Hotel, so they used the Xishan Hotel as the contact point. But what exactly does "Colonel" mean? Wakamiya began to dispel doubts. "Colonel" presumably does not refer to a colonel in a foreign army, but to an old Japanese soldier.This is deduced from the fact that the deceased was at Cape Manazuru, Toshio Kurata.Kurata is the one who delivered the wrong suit case to Wakamiya at the Aokai Hotel.According to the police investigation, his real name was Toshio Yokoo, a former soldier who died in Southeast Asia, and his military rank at that time was an army sergeant. The "Colonel" is obviously related to Kurata, that is, "Sergeant Yokoo". Kurata was born in Oita County, and claimed to have died in Southeast Asia. In fact, all the Japanese soldiers on his battlefield were killed in battle, and newspapers even published news that "all jade pieces were broken".The Yoko family had already canceled his household registration after receiving the announcement of his death in battle.Unexpectedly, after the war, he returned to his hometown and his party. After being shocked in the village, he disappeared quietly. From then on, he took Cangtian as his surname and was active in the Atami area. Why is Kurata in Atami?Judging from the fact that he sent the suit by mistake, he was by no means unrelated to the case.And why did the person who received the suit commit suicide by jumping off a cliff in Jinpo?In order to track down the whereabouts of the corpse, Wakamiya visited Atami Zhenyang Temple and found a bouquet of lilac-scented flowers. When it comes to lilac perfume, I think of "that girl".The girl must know the life experience of the man who committed suicide.If you don't know each other before, you will never buy expensive flowers to pay tribute to.What's more, she also sprinkled her own perfume on the bouquet. There are other things that I don't understand.What is the relationship between Kurata who sent the suit, that is, Sergeant Yokoo, and the young man who committed suicide by jumping off a cliff?What is the relationship between Yoko "Sergeant" and "Colonel"? Too many people died in this case.Hasegawa Goichi died in this way, and his niece Yumi also disappeared. Thinking of this, Wakamiya concentrated all the mysteries on Yasuhiro Iwabuchi who committed suicide in Jinpu.If we can understand his purpose or reason for going to Atami, at least part of the fog of this case can be lifted. The person who knows the life experience of the young man who committed suicide is the "lilac girl".She often follows the critic Shimauchi Teruaki like a shadow. Yes, the newspaper said that Teruaki Shimauchi held a lecture in Gifu tonight. "Lilac Flower Girl" will also appear.This time, we must catch her and ask Jinpu about the life experience of the man who committed suicide. She must not say that she didn't know that when Wakamiya and Atami correspondent Murata went to the Atami Temple where the corpse was buried, they did see the bouquet she enshrined in front of the corpse.Wakamiya was courageous enough to leave the Inuyama Hotel.It doesn't take much time to get from Inuyama to Gifu.The lecture will be held at 6:00 p.m. in the auditorium of a certain elementary school. Lectures on the island have always been hosted by magazines.For a famous person like him, it seems superfluous for a sponsor to come forward.The elementary school is a very quiet place in the street, Wakamiya hasn't decided whether to meet him yet.According to the past situation, as soon as he showed up, the other party would be on guard. Wakamiya came to the front of the elementary school where Teruaki Shimauchi's lecture was held.It was just getting dark, and there were more people on campus, probably the audience who came to listen to the lecture.Wakamiya also had three or four middle-aged women walking and talking, and the audience was almost all women. The auditorium was brightly lit, the time had come, but the speech had not yet begun.It is not known whether Teruchi Shimauchi has arrived.The staff room was also lit. Wakamiya stood there, carefully calculating how to contact the island tonight; how to deal with the "lilac girl" if she was found. From the campus, you can see the mountain in the city. This mountain is probably the castle of a general in the Warring States Period in Japan. It can be seen from anywhere in Gifu.On the opposite side of the mountain, the famous Nagara River flows. Wakamiya was looking at this Inaba Mountain in the distance, when he suddenly heard the sound of a car.Turning around and looking over, a car drove up to the school gate. Probably the speaker, Teruaki Shimauchi, has arrived.Wakamiya greeted him quietly. The car stopped at the school gate, the driver opened the door, and the passengers got off.The sound of a car was heard inside the school, and three or four people who looked like teaching staff came out to greet them and beckon them to come in.Wakamiya saw from the back, that person was indeed Teruaki Shimauchi. Wakamiya immediately remembered to pay attention to whether the girl was following behind the island, but she didn't see it.Only one person from the island came out of the car, and the car was parked, and it seemed that it was waiting to pick up the island. The auditorium was already filled with welcome applause, and a continuous stream of female audiences rushed inside, and the island really had some appeal. The speech in the island seems to have begun.Wakamiya walked across the campus, approaching the auditorium, intending to take a look at Shimauchi from the outside. At that point, he hadn't decided what to do next. The auditorium is separate from the teaching building. As far as a small school auditorium in a town is concerned, the building is quite beautiful, made of steel and concrete, and of a rather large scale.Wakamiya walked to the wall.The light in the window is bright, Wakamiya hides behind a tree, but is able to hide in the dark. The applause sounded again, the master of ceremonies delivered a speech, and Shimauchi continued to speak. "Everyone, good night," the voice from the island spread outside through the loudspeaker. "Recently, women's thinking is completely different from the past, and their eyes have begun to pay attention to society. In the past, they were completely indifferent to social phenomena, but recently they tend to be roughly the same as men. This belongs to the self-consciousness of the new era." "Having said that, behind this new phenomenon, there are still the same worries and anguish hidden in the past. You can often see this situation in the service columns of newspapers and magazines..." Wakamiya was figuring things out, but he hadn't made up his mind until now.After the lecture, do you want to meet Shimauchi right away?Or is it just like now, looking from the outside? Wakamiya desperately wanted another car to show up. "Now the most frequently asked questions in the service column are nothing more than marriage issues and mother-in-law relationship issues. No matter how advanced the society is, these problems still exist. Due to the relationship between the new education system, children's issues are different from the past. Marriage issues , the issue of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law remains unchanged..." Wakamiya looked at the night sky while listening to Shimauchi's lecture.There are a few latecomers on campus who are rushing to the auditorium. "I know a woman. I don't need to mention her name. Anyway, she has quite a social status and is quite progressive. However, she also has troubles. The biggest problem is that she doesn't get along well with her in-laws..." Shimauchi's speech began to deepen, and the car that Wakamiya was looking forward to had not yet arrived. "Many people in the newspaper answered that the two sides should trust each other..." The voice on the island suddenly changed. Wakamiya was taken aback.The sound of the island has been cut off, and at the same time, the audience is rioting. Wakamiya didn't recall what happened at that time until later.The voice on the island suddenly became abnormal, as if drunk, indistinct.In a blink of an eye, there was no words, and there was a plop, and someone fell down from the microphone.The women shrieked, terrified.Immediately afterwards, footsteps were chaotic, and many people rushed to the podium. Wakamiya realized that an accident had happened at this moment, and immediately turned to the entrance of the auditorium.Inside, the audience all stood up, but there was no speaker on the podium.Four or five men and women were helping the fallen. The audience sitting in front left their chairs and surrounded the podium in a mess. At this moment, Wakamiya rushed into the auditorium and rushed to the podium.Some of the audience were stunned, some looked at the podium worriedly, and some women kept murmuring: "What's going on?" Wakamiya came to the side of the podium and looked out from the crowd, Shimauchi Teruaki was hugged by someone, his face was pale, his eyes were closed and his mouth was open, his head and body did not move at all. "Call the doctor!" shouted one of them.At that time, someone rushed to the door, and the audience was in a commotion. Wakamiya squeezed into the crowd, and immediately saw that Shimauchi was unconscious. "What's going on?" Wakamiya asked one of them. "Hey," said a person who seemed to be from the sponsoring group, "Suddenly something went wrong. Before Mr. Shimauchi finished speaking, he fell down." The speaker didn't realize that Wakamiya was a journalist, but only regarded him as an audience. "Are there any signs before the speech?" Wakamiya asked. "No, I've always been in good spirits. I was chatting and laughing happily in the reception room, and even after the lecture started, I couldn't see anything wrong. But after two or three minutes, we noticed that Mr. Shimauchi's face suddenly changed. At this moment, he He stopped his voice and fell." Wakamiya looked at Shimauchi's face again.Not only was he unconscious, but he was almost dead.Even if it is judged by ordinary people, I am afraid that it will die in the blink of an eye. The appearance of symptoms attack is a bit like a stroke. A large number of people rushed up and carried the island from the auditorium to the school building.Wakamiya followed behind.Anyone who saw Shimauchi lying on the school stretcher would think it was a corpse. The speech will be unexpected, and the audience will be in chaos. The school doctor finally arrived and immediately examined the island.The organizer of the lecture and school staff surrounded him closely.Wakamiya stood behind and looked around. The doctor immediately felt the pulse of the island and listened to his chest with a stethoscope. As soon as the receiver was on the ear, the doctor shook his head. "It's too late, there is no beating sound." The people around were in a mess and asked, "Doctor, is it an emergency?" "It's not a common disease. It's a reaction to potassium cyanate poisoning." There were people's voices "buzzing" all around.Everyone thought he had a stroke or a heart attack, but what the doctor said was a big surprise. The doctor looked back and asked, "Who is in charge tonight?" A thin middle-aged man stood up.He was probably an employee of the magazine, and his face was flushed. "I'm going to do an autopsy immediately," the doctor announced. "An autopsy?" The man was surprised again. "That's right. I don't think the deceased committed suicide. Since he didn't commit suicide, of course he killed him. The police must be notified and an autopsy performed," the doctor said. "Okay." The man replied casually, still at a loss. "Anyone please contact the police. According to the law, we don't handle medical cases other than illness and death." The doctor closed the handbag. Next to the dead body on the island, there are still many people around.The faces of the magazine staff completely changed.Misfortune caused an accident, and I don't know what to do. Wakamiya walked up to the man. "Excuse me, where did Mr. Shimauchi go before giving a lecture?" That person regarded Wakamiya as an audience member or a school staff member, and immediately replied, "Before coming here, rest at the hotel, I sent a car to pick her up." "What kind of hotel?" "Nagoya." Nagoya --.Sure enough, the island also lives in Nagoya. "Which hotel in Nagoya?" Wakamiya thought of Xishan Hotel at this time. "It's the Weizhou Hotel in front of the station." The Weizhou Hotel is a big hotel. "Since when did you live there?" "Last night. Mr. Shimauchi arrived in Nagoya last night, and we invited him to stay." "At that time, was Mr. Shimauchi alone?" Wakamiya was still thinking about "lilac girl" when asking this question. "Of course. It is said that no matter where Mr. Shimauchi goes to give lectures, he is alone. Then again, this accident happened, and there is no family to handle the funeral. It is really troublesome." The magazine staff glanced at the corpse of Shimaochi , with a look of embarrassment on his face. Wakamiya continued to ask: "From last night to now, Mr. Shimauchi, is there really no one around? For example, who have you met? Who have you had dinner with?" The people from the magazine thought for a while and said: "I received Mr. Shimauchi and accompanied him to the hotel, but I didn't stay by his side all the time. Today, I just sent a car to pick him up before the speech, and I didn't make contact with Mr. Shimauchi. Mr. has his own business, and I have other things besides arranging the venue, so I don’t have much contact.” From this point of view, it is not certain that the island is alone, and it is necessary to go to the Weizhou Hotel to find out. When Wakamiya walked out of the school gate, the siren of the ambulance was approaching from far away, and it was about to arrive. According to doctors, the deceased died from a reaction to potassium cyanate.From the looks of it, the doctor's diagnosis was probably correct.However, potassium cyanate is a poison that can kill you in five or six seconds.And Wakamiya listened to Shimaochi's speech outside the auditorium window. From the moment he started to falling to the ground, it took at least fifteen minutes.If it is to eat potassium cyanate, it will not delay so much time. Therefore, it is possible that he did not die from eating potassium cyanate, but ate poison similar to the reaction of potassium cyanate, and then fell on the podium.If this is not the case, it will be difficult to make sense. All in all, I have to go to the Nagoya Oshu Hotel where I stayed the night before on the island to investigate and find out what happened.As for on-site news, it can be handed over to local reporters for interviews.Wakamiya came out of school, called the Gifu reporter with the news, and then went to Nagoya. No newspaper reporter had thought of going to the Oshu Hotel for interviews, so Wakamiya had plenty of time.This hotel is just in front of the station, four floors high, Wakamiya took out his business card and asked to meet the person in charge. A man about fifty years old came out and claimed to be an account manager. He was shocked when he heard the news of the sudden death of Shimauchi Teruaki from Wakamiya, and immediately two or three female workers came to listen. Wakamiya asked him, "Has Mr. Shimauchi met any guests at the hotel?" "It doesn't seem to be there. Only the gentleman from the magazine that hosted the lecture came to talk for an hour." Wakamiya remembered the people from the magazine that he met at the venue. "Today, from the morning to the lecture, is there anyone here?" The account manager called the female worker in charge of the room to ask, but she still said no.Then, from the time he checked into the hotel to the time he left the island, he never met anyone else. However, the female worker told Wakamiya that Teruaki Shimauchi went out once this afternoon. "Where are you going?" Wakamiya asked. "I don't know, I went out without saying a word," the female worker replied. "The time is around 3:30 to 5:30. When I come back, the magazine will send a car to pick me up." I went out for two hours on the island, where did I go?Wakamiya immediately thought of Xishan Hotel.There must be something strange near Xishan Hotel. Yes, you must call a taxi when you go out on the island, and you can ask the driver.Unexpectedly, the accountant said that the island went out and came back by taxi. Wakamiya bid farewell and came out, facing the wind and walked to Nagoya Street.I'm going to stay in Nagoya tonight, so why don't I go to the Xishan Hotel, first to see the residents there, and second, to get some news from the hotel maid. As for the matter on the island, there will be detailed records in tomorrow's morning paper.However, once the island dies, the "lilac flower girl" should also appear.Thinking of this, my mind was moved, even violently. The girl has no contact with the island on the surface, but in fact, there must be a secret connection.Once the island dies, if she is killed, she probably won't appear again. Ruogong doesn't think that Dao Nei was killed by her, but if he can see her, he will be able to find out the secrets of Dao Nei.Yes, there must be secrets on the island, so they were killed. After much deliberation, Wakamiya still judged that she would not show up, so she hailed a taxi and ordered to drive to Xishan Hotel.
Wakamiya was looking at the street lamps of famous old houses in the car, but he only thought that he must meet that girl, he must meet.He himself was surprised by this persistent thought. The car stopped at the entrance of Xishan Hotel.It's really a small and dilapidated hotel, far away from the urban area, even the driver wondered why there is such a hotel in this place. Wakamiya stood in front of the door and rang the bell.From the outside, all the rooms are black and dark. It seems that there is no guest, and the business is very light. The lady boss came out to answer the door. Although she was old, she could still vaguely distinguish her beauty when she was young.She also knew Wakamiya and saluted him with a smile on her face. 若宫致意之后，说明想到旅馆住一晚，那知老板娘立刻变了颜色，说道，“那可不大方便啊，偏巧今天晚上都住满了。” “那么老板在吗？”若宫问。 "He went out." "When will you be back?" "I don't know." 从外面看，房间都没有亮，他竟然说住满了客人，这是一怪。居然不知道老板何时回来，这又是一怪。这时，里面有女工招呼老板娘进去，若宫只得告辞。 但是，若宫还舍不得马上就走。面对着这一家漆黑一团的旅馆，觉得里面必有秘密。而且，说不定那女郎就会到来进行联络。 他的幻想居然实现了一半。不过，出现的不是女人，而是男人。不是从外面到来，而是从里面出来。旅馆里走出一个夹着公事皮包、毫无风采的男子，三步并作两步，直向外奔。 若宫连忙叫着他。那人愕然止住脚步，是个商人模样。 “我很想会一会西山旅馆的老板，据说是出去了。是不是真的不在家呢？”若宫向他打听。 对方以为他也是个商人，答说，“是真不在家，我也是来同他见面的。这家旅馆要出售，只有老板娘在家，怎么谈得成。” 若宫一惊。老板竟然要把旅馆卖掉。 “那么，你是来谈买旅馆的生意的。” “是啊，我是做房地产的。”他不疑有他，率直答覆若宫。 “是很早以前就放盘？” “不，就是这两三天的事，出我意料之外。” “生意不好？” “地方僻静，生意就好不了。老板说要回乡，希望马上出手。这种格局，又不便改成普通住家，我都觉得很为难。” 西山旅馆老板夫妇，突然之间竟要卖掉旅馆，真是特别。一定是眼前这一团漆黑的某一件事，使得他们采取这项行动。说不定就是岛内辉秋这件事。 老板娘的表情，先是稳定，后来慌乱。整个旅馆乌灯黑火，竟然说是住满客人，分明是在扯谎。看样子，有必要查清他们为什么要卖旅馆。 “你知道老板是今天早晨什么时候出去的？”若宫再问那房地产掮客。 “不是今天早晨。他好像是昨天晚上出去的。” “啊？”若宫又是一震，“昨天晚上出去，还没有回来。” “我问老板娘，他到底去了什么地方。她推说不知道，我看她那样子，不像不知道。” 若宫同那个人分手，当晚到“若叶屋”旅馆住宿。第二天睁开眼，已经是七点半钟。昨天晚上已经嘱咐好，要把报纸送进来，所以醒后马上打开报纸。 岛内辉秋被害的消息登得很多，若宫活像吃饭一样，要一字一句都吞下去。他最注意的是解剖结果，新闻写道： “岛内遗尸立即运至XX大学法医学部，由S博士执刀解剖。结果证明为氰酸钾致死。但，氰酸钾一经服用，必立即死亡，岛内因何尚能演讲十数分钟，尚成疑问。S博士为慎重起见，决定再用显微镜详查死者脏体，结果可在二十四小时后发表。 “侦查当局认为岛内绝非自杀，现已展开搜查。至于有无与氰酸钾类似而毒效较慢之毒药，尚待研究。” 若宫一口气读完报纸，不觉为之一叹。目前的关键所在系于岛内所服既为氰酸钾，为何不是立即倒毙。难道是一种毒效较慢的新毒药问世？ 大家都知道，氰酸钾是一种结晶体，极似阿斯匹灵，能溶解于水，无论是溶在威士忌，还是溶在果汁中，药效均相同。看样子，绝不会是另外的毒药，如果有，法医学教授岂能不知。 若宫又仔仔细细把报导阅读一遍，没有发现什么新内容。消息后面是岛内辉秋生平介绍，多少有些夸奖得过分。再看看其他消息，并没有什么大事。有一条是发现伪美钞，东京、横滨、大阪方面都有出现。 可是，若宫对于伪美钞并无兴趣，一心一意想着岛内的事，那个“丁香花女郎”不知怎样了。昨天，正如自己所料，她并没有出现；他今天则直觉那女郎有突然出现的可能。她如果同岛内有任何关连，现在一定尚在名古屋某处。 偌大的名古屋到什么地方去寻找她呢？如果在街头遇不到，只有再到西山旅馆去想办法了。 若宫在出动之前，先乘公共汽车到名古屋车站前面的报馆分社。坐在汽车里，眼睛看到的是战后重新整理过的街道，心中所想的却完全是氰酸钾。 想来想去，岛内辉秋绝不可能一边讲演，一边吃毒药，一定是他在到达会场之前就吃下去了。药效很慢，日本似乎还没有这种药，是不是外国的新药呢？ 人们在考虑问题出神时，常常忽发奇想，而且以在电车中、浴缸中、卧床中发生奇想的可能性为最大。现在，若宫在公共汽车一摇一晃中，也突然想起，这种毒药既然不是日本所制，会不会是外国凶手下手的呢？ 若宫的脑筋里又是一闪，他想起今天报纸上发现伪美钞的消息。伪日钞和美钞是不是也有关系呢？ 若宫到了名古屋车站，立即奔向提货处，取出名片，向办事员打听：“有一批用奥田孙三郎的名义从真鹤运来的货，交本人在名古屋车站提货，看样子是转运，你能帮我查一查转运到什么地方吗？” 办事员很亲切，取出纪录来，马上按照若宫所说的日期找到奥田孙三郎的取货纪录，并且说，“由收货人亲自提走了。” “我是想拜托你查一查有没有转运。” “我记得立刻转运走了。” 这倒出于若宫意外。想不到立刻就这样运走了。 可是，办事员又将纪录册翻阅了两三遍，无论如何也寻不到转运纪录。按照奥田孙三郎的姓名，按照货物的重量、品目，都找不到这批货的下落。 若宫只好断念。办事员说，大概从发货人的姓名、货品的重量，打包的样式都改变了。 想在这里发现踪迹，看样子是不可能的了。若宫致谢告辞，来到报馆的名古屋分社，找到老朋友黑崎。 “上次，西山旅馆有个人被杀，这案子有下文没有？”若宫问。 黑崎回称没有，反问他有什么事情又来到名古屋。 若宫听了拔脚便走，黑崎在后面大叫道，“喂，喂，你到哪里去？” “去车站。”其实，若宫并没有去车站，拦住一辆出租汽车，奔赴西山旅馆。昨天去访西山旅馆，因为老板不在，完全未得要领，在外面遇到一名房地产商，才知道西山旅馆正在外卖。若宫非常想见老板一面，他昨晚未归，今天总该回来了吧。 据若宫分析，西山旅馆乃是凶犯的联络站，从这里着手，必有所获。 若宫下了汽车，来到西山旅馆。 站在门口的人，既不是老板娘，又不是女工，而竟是昨天刚见面的房地产商。对方看到若宫，表情也有些意外。 “昨天打扰了。旅馆老板今天在吗？”若宫招呼他。 房地产商答道，“这里的老板夫妇，已经不住这里了。” 西山夫妇竟然卖掉旅馆搬走，若宫眼睛都定住了。 “这事情怪啊，”他好半天才讲出话来。“昨天你不是说，这笔生意，还要有些日子才能谈妥吗？” “这话不错，”房地产商讲来也不得要领，“昨晚以前确实如此，可是到了昨天深夜，老板娘突然到我家里来，要我付款。我说，价钱还未谈妥呢。她说，就按你开的价钱卖给你吧。” “这样急于卖掉？” “我也觉得意外。她说，老板要在东京开一家新买卖，已经去了，所以一定要把这里的旅馆马上顶出去，价钱只好不计了。” “可是，还有登记、买卖等等手续呢？” “老板娘说，无条件相信我，由我办理。今天早晨，我勉强从亲友处筹了一笔款，交给她，她把印监留下就走了。” 若宫听得呆住。这对夫妇分明是展翅高飞了。 对方看若宫那神情，又添了一句：“真是不巧，老板娘刚走了一个钟头。” “她去什么地方？”若宫心跳得砰砰然。 “说是东京。对了，她还说，暂且把东西放在这里，由我保存，等她来取。等那边一切安置好了，就回来一次。” 可是若宫认为，她根本不会再回来了。