Chapter 8 Chapter Eight Taking the Calendar

Tokyo.The crime-solving headquarters is continuing to track down the mysterious person that Nezaki confessed. Just seeing the back of that person is impossible to trace.Since Nezaki had indeed seen that person, maybe some circumstances were buried deep in his memory, and he couldn't remember it for a while.The Detective Headquarters asked him questions from various angles in order to awaken his memory. Although the suspicion of Nezaki has not been eliminated, most people in the investigation headquarters prefer that Nezaki is innocent.Nezaki finally took the attitude of cooperating with the police.Since there was no need to worry about Nezaki escaping, the police did not detain him, but only summoned him for interrogation at any time.Nezaki is still at a disadvantage without capturing the person she saw before going to the murder scene.

Nezaki also desperately recalled the situation at that time because the crime detection headquarters did not hold him accountable for concealing criminals.Although he cited the prisoner as a "comrade", he didn't want to be punished on behalf of others. "Do you remember what happened?" "I'm trying to remember." "If the body has no obvious features, is there any strange movement?" "What I saw was the back, and it happened in an instant." "Aren't you trying to remember? You should remember something suspicious!" "I can't always figure it out. My mind is in a mess. I just want to think about something, but it disappears immediately." Nezaki knocked her head anxiously.

"You have to know that the investigation department has not completely dispelled the suspicion of you." "I know that. Am I thinking desperately?" Nezaki clearly understands that as long as the real criminal has not been arrested and brought to justice, he cannot cleanse himself. The investigation continued, and Nezaki was summoned several times. During an interrogation, as soon as Nezaki stepped into the interrogation room, she suddenly had an inexplicable strange feeling, as if this interrogation room was a little different from usual. "What happened to you?"

The Nasu Police Department saw the puzzled look on Nezaki's face at a glance. "Is this the same room as before?" "yes!" "I don't know why, but it doesn't feel like the original one." "This room hasn't changed!" "It's a little different than usual!" "You must be in a daze! How is it? Do you remember anything?" "Wait a minute, is this really the original room?" "You talk about insignificant things! This is the original room. Tell me, so what if it's not that?" This is a Japanese-style room with eight mats, with a low dining table in the middle for recording confessions; there is a closet in the corner, next to the sink, there is a kettle and several tea bowls on it.The bedding was old and yellowed.A forty-watt fluorescent lamp hung from the ceiling.

This was originally the duty room of the police station and was temporarily used as an interrogation room.It's not that there isn't a dedicated interrogation room, but because there's an atmosphere where both parties feel free, it works to good effect. "I always feel like something is wrong." "Wait a minute! Now that you've put it this way, I feel a little different from usual. Hello! Is there anything different in this room from yesterday?" As if infected by Nezaki, Nasu Kanbu turned around and asked the detective who was waiting to record the confession.

"Is it because the advertisement picture on that wall was removed?" The criminal police replied casually. "Yes! There was a poster posted there. What kind of poster was that?" "It promotes savings, and the composition is a bit coquettish. A girl in a miniskirt lifts the hem of her skirt and stands in the river." "That's right, even the advertising posters promoting savings are so provocative. If you remove it, it will naturally feel different!" "Because it has faded, I want to replace it with another one. I took it off yesterday."

"Police!" Nezaki suddenly intervened in the conversation between the two, with a strange light in his eyes. "What happened to you?" "that's it!" "what?" "I remember. The poster is gone!" Nasu realized what Nezaki remembered about the murder. "Speak slowly from the beginning!" "In Hibino's room, it looked a little different that night from the previous few times I went there. There was also an advertising poster on the wall of his room, but it disappeared the night he was killed." "The poster is missing?"

Nasu was thinking about the meaning of this sentence. "The last time I saw that ad, it was still brightly colored and decorated the room beautifully." "What poster is it?" "I remember the mountains in Switzerland. The whole mountain was covered with snow, and it shot straight into the sky like a gun." "But what does the poster have to do with the murder?" "I suddenly thought, is this painting taken away by the criminal? Because there are clues implying the murderer hidden in the painting, in order to destroy the evidence..." "What did you say?"

Nasu was somewhat moved by Nezaki's whims.Usually, clues to the crime are found from the items left by the prisoner. On the contrary, Nezaki captures suspicious points from the things the prisoner took away from the scene. "It wasn't necessarily taken by the prisoner. It could have been removed by the victim himself. When was the last time you saw a poster?" "March 8th or 9th." "Haven't seen it since?" "I didn't see him the night Hibino was killed on March 15th." "Perhaps Hibino took it down during this time?" "Ah! Remembered! That's a calendar!"

"calendar?" "Because the picture of the mountain is so big, I drew it as an advertisement. There is actually a calendar at the bottom of the picture." "You remember correctly?" Nasu's gaze became serious.If that was a calendar, it wouldn't be ripped off casually. "Once, when I went to his place, a phone call happened to come, and he wrote down something at the bottom of the advertisement picture." "Could it be last month's calendar, lost it?" "On March 8th and 9th, why is there still a calendar for February? What's more, he still wrote things down on it."

"Which company prints the calendar?" "It seems to have the name of a travel agency printed on it." "The travel agency's name is..." "I can't remember. Shall I ask the travel agency that printed the pictures of the Swiss mountains?" "Could it be that the travel agency hasn't figured it out yet, how can I check it with just a picture of an advertisement?" "That advertisement picture is very characteristic!" "Is there any writing on it?" "can not remember." "You have to think about it. The name of the advertiser must be printed on the poster." "Advertisers?" "Since printing posters, it is natural to advertise!" "Yes, it has the word 'Europe' on it." "It's useless to have the word 'Europe' on it. With the mountains of Switzerland on it, there must be the word Europe." "Wait a minute! It seems to have the name of an oil company." "Oil? Isn't that a travel agency?" "I remember. It says 'European Attractions' printed on it." After trying hard to remember, Anezaki finally figured out that this poster was printed by a Japanese travel agency that sponsored the "Travel to European Scenic Spots". The crime-solving headquarters immediately asked the Japanese travel agency and asked the agency to send them the posters they printed. Above the poster is a panorama of Mont Dufour, and below it is a twelve-month calendar.The whole picture pays attention to the visual effect of the advertisement painting, highlighting the early summer and midsummer period of the peak season of overseas group travel. At the same time, the police conducted another search of Hibino's house.The poster was nowhere to be found in the room. At this time, a clerk in a flower shop near the Ogikubo apartment provided new evidence.He said that the day before Hibino was killed, when he went to deliver the bluegrass ordered by Hibino, he saw posters posted on the wall. The police believe that during this period, the murderer is more likely to take away the poster than Hibino. Nezaki believes that there are ideas in the posters that are unfavorable to prisoners, and gradually gains the upper hand in the crime-solving headquarters. The investigators first thought of Hozumi Yukiko.Now that she is traveling in Europe, is this somehow related to the disappearance of the poster? After checking with the Japanese travel agency, I learned that Yu Xizi participated in the 23-day "European Scenic Spots Tour" that departed on June 16.In this way, Hozumi Yukiko's suspicion became even greater. However, the results of an in-depth investigation of Hibino and Yukiko proved that there was no connection between the two of them, except that Hibino often went to and from the company Yukiko had worked for, and there was no other relationship.Efforts by the Detective Department to prove their relationship failed. Yu Xizi is now abroad, so she can't ask her directly.Although the advertising poster taken from Hibino's room has a certain coincidence with Yukiko's European travel, but the two cannot be connected, so it can't explain anything. The Nasu Police Department held a meeting to study the next step in solving the case. "What the hell is written on the calendar?" "Probably wrote something about the prisoner." "Did Hibino write something on the day the prisoner went to him?" "If this is the case, it means that this person is a frequent visitor to the Hibino family." If it is an occasional person, there is no need to take away the calendar, just erase the place where his things are recorded. "If you think the person who took the poster was a frequent visitor to a bachelor's house, think it was a woman." "But Hozumi Yukiko has nothing to do with him!" "And all the clues of his relationship with other women were cut off." "Who on earth is it?" "Some time before Hibino's death, it was Nezaki who often visited his house." I just thought I had caught an important clue, but it slipped away from my hand in the blink of an eye. "Could it be that the prisoner didn't write anything important?" The detective Shimoda, who had been silent all this time, raised his head and said.He is the youngest detective under the Nasu Police Department, and his thinking is very quick. "If nothing is written, there is no need to take it away." The most senior mountain criminal policeman retorted. "Perhaps the poster itself can reveal the identity of the prisoner!" "Probably so." The other investigators nodded in agreement with Shimoda. "That is to say, the poster itself has clues to the identity of the prisoner!" Nasu stared at the "Dufour Peak" spread out on the table. "Are there many posters printed?" "It is said that more than a thousand copies were printed and distributed everywhere." "Such a mass distribution, where can I find the one that shows the identity of the prisoner?" While everyone was talking about it, Shimoda made another important point. "Can you put Yukiko Hozumi aside for now. Is it possible that the criminal is an employee of a Japanese travel agency? Can you assume that the criminal himself took the poster to the victim?" Shimoda's words were like seeing the sun through the clouds, which opened everyone's mind at once. If the criminal was an employee of a Japanese travel agency and he brought the posters to Hibino's house, he would feel awkward leaving the posters with the victim after committing the crime.In this way, the box of matches picked up at the scene is of great significance, because there are many opportunities for the staff of the travel agency to get this kind of matches. "Immediately investigate who in the Japanese travel agency often visits the victim. Maybe this time I really caught the clue." Nasu accepted Shimoda's opinion.The low morale of the investigation headquarters revived.