Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Unproven Empty Time

There are three airlines connecting Tokyo-Fukuoka, namely Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airlines and Japan Domestic Airlines that transit in Osaka. Tokyo-Osaka-Fukuoka is a "royal road" in Japan's airspace. From 3 o'clock in the morning to around 11 o'clock in the evening, the flights of various airlines are very crowded. The time required, depending on the plane you take, ranges from one and a half to three hours one way, even if you add the round-trip car from the airport to the city and the crime time, it will take eleven to fourteen hours (registered at the New Tokyo Hotel) Before the signature on the card is Hashimoto's handwriting, the starting point of the blank cannot be limited to the time of arrival at the New Tokyo Hotel) The blank is more than enough.

The detectives volunteered to search for the appointment receptionists of each company.Airline reservations are not the same as hotel rooms in that a seat is not guaranteed without a ticket.It is said that people call this "ticket selling doctrine", but when booking tickets, guests must declare their names and contact addresses, which must be archived as a list of reservations.However, passengers are free to use aliases when declaring their names. There will be no such bastards who go to kill people and go home to declare their real names, but unlike hotels and inns, air passengers rarely use pseudonyms, so as long as these passengers with pseudonyms are found out, according to the relationship between the real name and the pseudonym, when booking tickets The appearance of the flight attendant and the memory of the flight attendant, etc., can roughly find the trace of the murderer.

After identification, the handwriting on the registration card kept by the New Tokyo Hotel and the handwriting on the registration book sent by the hotels in Tohoku and Kyushu are from the same person, but it has not been confirmed that it must be Hashimoto’s handwriting, so it is not yet possible Set the start of the blank time at 11:24 AM. The person who appeared at the New Tokyo Hotel may be another person who was entrusted by Hashimoto and who resembled him. Therefore, the police assumed that the "murderer" left the Tokyo Royal Hotel and went directly to the airport at around 7:00 a.m., and the investigation began with the morning boarding list of the southbound flight (Tokyo-Fukuoka).

It is estimated that it will take 20 to 30 minutes from the Royal Hotel in Hirakawa to Haneda Airport along Expressway No. 1. Flights between 7:30 and 11:00 are the first to be investigated. Then, the estimated time of Arisaka Toko’s death was around 5:00 pm, so the northbound route (Fukuoka-Tokyo) first investigated the flight from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. According to the boarding lists of the Jet, Viscount and YS11 of the three companies during this time period, the police conducted a thorough check on the passengers. Several passengers with pseudonyms appeared, but after investigation, all of them were finally identified and it was confirmed that there was no Hashimoto.The scope of the investigation has been expanded to include before 2 pm on the southbound route and from 5 pm to 9 pm on the northbound route.Each company has different personnel for each type of flight. For the southbound routes in this period, Japan Airlines has ten flights, All Nippon Airways has six flights to Osaka, and there is one flight from Osaka to Fukuoka. Domestic airlines have no voyage.On the northbound route, Japan Airlines has six flights, All Nippon Airways has one flight from Fukuoka to Osaka, and three flights from Osaka to Tokyo, and domestic airlines have none.

Based on the boarding lists of a total of 27 flights, the police inquired the passengers' identities from their contact addresses and ruled out any suspects.Some of them ostentatiously said that they went on an adulterous trip to Beppu with a woman, but they were exposed in front of their wives and caused a lot of quarrels at home, but the investigation went smoothly.As a result, it was found that there was no trace of Kunio Hashimoto in the possible flight from 7:00 am on October 1st to around 5:00 pm in Fukuoka until 10:55 pm in Tokyo. It was only on Japan Airlines flight 128 departing from Osaka at 20:30 and flight 330 at 21:30 that three unidentified aliases headed to Tokyo were found, but all flights departing from Fukuoka connected with these two flights No trace of Hashimoto was found in any of them, so the three may be unrelated.It can be speculated that the murderer will use other means of transportation to get to Osaka besides the plane, but it is absolutely impossible to catch these two flights, so it is desirable that other passengers forged their identities due to certain things.

It can be said to be "mixed with joy and sorrow", so it is.At roughly the same time, a postcard addressed to Uchida and Heika arrived at the search headquarters.This is a Christmas invitation from the Tokyo Royal Hotel. "What are you going to do with this stuff?" Detective Uchida waved a postcard in surprise, with the words "Spend Christmas with your family at the Royal Hotel" written in pen next to the congratulatory message.Uchida's gaze rested on the writing in the pen. Uchida reads the postcard. "Hey! That's pretty laid back!" He couldn't help but clicked his tongue.

"It's from Hashimoto. This guy also respectfully said that if we can come for Christmas, we will give us a discount on the reception coupon. A Christmas coupon for a hotel costs 5,000 yuan or 10,000 yuan. Zhe, we can't afford to go!" Uchida smiled wryly, and handed the postcard to Hiraga.On the postcard, the night scene of the hotel is painted with lights and festoons, and the recipient's name connects Uchida and Hiraga together.The sender was indeed Hashimoto Kunio, and the pen writing on the side was written in elegant handwriting——I'm sorry for the last time.How has the investigation gone since then?You guys have worked so hard.The hotel will hold a Christmas reception. If you can come, I will give you special discounts.Wouldn't it be nice to take a break every now and then during an investigation?The weather is getting colder, please respect yourself. ——

Hiraga always felt that these words were mocking the incompetence of the police.There is no way to be ridiculed. The case that happened in July has reached the twelfth lunar month and has not yet found the clue to solve the case. "Beast!" Pinghe murmured and was about to throw it away, but he couldn't help but stop. "Uchida!" he yelled, surprising everyone present. "These words are enough for handwriting identification!" "Oh! That's right!" Uchida remembered the copy of the registration card he brought back from the New Tokyo Hotel. After identification, it was found that the handwriting on the registration card, the handwriting on the registration book sent by the hotels in Aomori and Kyushu, and the writing on the postcard were indeed written by the same person.

According to the appraiser, the handwriting on the postcard and registration card is professionally called "cursive script", which can directly reveal the author's personality, so it is very convenient for appraisal. "However, it is not known whether these words were really written by Hashimoto." The Murakawa Police Department feels that it cannot be rushed.It's true to say the least.Uchida and Heika didn't even see Hashimoto writing these words with his own eyes.It can also be dictated by Hashimoto or written by the secretary. However, Hiraga came up with a clever trick.That is, I searched for Hashimoto's close friends among the hoteliers in the Keihin area I met at the "Revelation Banquet", and asked them to borrow the letters Hashimoto wrote to them.

"If it's the Keihin area, wouldn't it be enough to make a phone call?" Uchida thought about it. "You must write New Year's cards and condolence letters. There may be sentences like those written to us." Pinghe exhorted.Sure enough, as he expected, there were four or five letters sent to the headquarters, one of which was a letter.That's enough, it doesn't have to be authenticated enough to see that the letters are written in the same handwriting as the registration cards and Christmas postcards. The words on the registration card were written by Hashimoto, which is beyond doubt.As a result, his blank time was shortened even more.

In the search headquarters, the faces of the criminal police were gloomy, and it was only a few days before the end of the year. "Still, how strange!" At the search meeting, Detective Kobayashi spoke. "The estimated time of Arisaka Toko's death is around 5 pm." Kobayashi reminded. The police officers all showed a disdainful expression of "doing nothing". "And judging from the condition of the body, Hashimoto... No! The murderer fled without seeing the victim die. That is to say, he left the hotel no later than 5 o'clock. From the hotel to Itatsuki Airport, no matter what, there are Twenty minutes is enough. Looking at the flight timetable at that time, there was Japan Airlines flight 392 to Tokyo at 17:30. The arrival time of domestic flights is 20 minutes before departure, so even if there is time, it is still possible. I can’t catch this flight. However, there will be Japan Airlines flight 326 departing from Osaka to Tokyo at 18:15. In order not to cause confusion, I will use military time for that flight at 18:15, the murderer He must be able to catch up. Therefore, flight 326 will arrive at Haneda at 20:20, and it will take up to 20 or 30 minutes from the airport to the New Tokyo Hotel. He will also show up at the hotel at 21:00 at the latest." "I see!" Only then did the police officers show stunned expressions, and at the same time felt helpless at the new questions raised. If Hashimoto takes the plane, as long as there are no accidents and weather conditions, it is possible to show up in front of others around 9 pm.And I learned that there were no such accidents and weather conditions that day. If he is a murderer, he should try to shorten his blank time as much as possible.He didn't shorten the blank time because he couldn't. "However, whether it is 21 o'clock or 22 o'clock, if it is seen that people can take a plane to and fro, it is still very dangerous for the murderer. It closely matches the plane schedule, and I think it should be more suspicious." Murakawa retorted politely. "However, this does not explain why the murderer ran away without confirming the death of the victim. The murderer did not let anyone see him, so the reason why he was in a hurry to leave, I think, could only be to catch up with the transportation to Tokyo." Murakawa remained silent. "You mean Hashimoto has nothing to do with this case?" Yamada asked fearfully. "That's impossible!" Hiraga replied in a decisive tone, his face flushed red.Yamada shrugged in surprise. "I was thinking, why did Hashimoto send a Christmas meal card. The criminal police who searched the headquarters couldn't go to the Christmas reception leisurely and contentedly before the case was solved. If it's just a solicitation, let's leave it alone, and write some polite words. If we help It's another matter to ask him what he's doing. But we're going to verify Hashimoto's alibi. If you're a smart person, you should know that we're verifying his alibi and won't take us very well. But he is the complete opposite. We have all sent New Year's cards and added a few words to the postcards, and we are all close friends. He sent the police a postcard like a lover. Why? That is to say, He wants to write us a letter, hoping that we can see his handwriting. He wants us to know that the Yu on the registration card of the New Tokyo Hotel was written by himself. This is the challenge letter given to us by the murderer!" The police officers couldn't help but let out a sigh.Pinghe continued angrily: "He is trying to shorten his free time, and he has arranged it so carefully that it is impossible for him to have nothing to do with the case. He has worked so hard to postpone the start of the morning free time, and it is impossible not to take the trouble to make the afternoon free time The finish line is early. If Hashimoto returns to the hotel before 21:00, he will definitely show up at that time." As soon as Pinghe closed his mouth, Kobayashi began to shake his head and said after receiving his support: "I think it is certain that Hashimoto will go to and from Fukuoka within eleven and a half hours, so I want to use the same method as just now to analyze the route Hashimoto went to. First of all, I arrived at the New Tokyo Hotel at 11:20 in the morning. That's right. It seems that I entered the room. What method was used, most likely using the spare stairs. In short, I escaped from the hotel and rushed to the airport. There happened to be Japan Airlines flight 311 departing at noon and flight 361 departing at 12:30 to Fukuoka. Flight 361 took off later, but because this flight flew directly to Fukuoka, it caught up with Flight 311, which took off earlier in Osaka, and arrived in Fukuoka at 14:05, ten minutes earlier than Flight 311. The murderer cherished time very much, even if it was one hour earlier Minutes are fine, so there is a high possibility of taking flight 366. If you miss these two flights, there will be flight 365, and it will arrive at Fukuoka at 15:45. Once you arrive at the hotel, you must let the victim take poison at the same time. It is impossible to have time Leave traces of sexual intercourse on the victim. In any case, from 15:30 (at this time a murderous man called the victim) to around 17:00, during the period of meeting the victim, having sex, cheating She fled after taking the poison. These things have to be done within an hour and a half, so the murderer is quite nervous. If he can return to the hotel in Tokyo before 22:50 (the time when Hashimoto leaves the hotel), then in terms of time He said that he could stay more relaxed in the victim's room. Let's look at the flight schedule of Japan Airlines. Flight 370 is a direct flight, departing from Fukuoka at 19:00 and arriving in Tokyo at 20:20. Flight 330 is at 20:15 It took off at 22:20 when it took off via Osaka and arrived in Tokyo at 22:20. After that, Flight 376 arrived in Tokyo at 22:40. It would be very difficult to show up at the hotel in Shinagawa at 22:55, and the murderer would not take it. 330 The flight is the 'last' flight for the murderer. And if he takes Flight 330, even if the time to arrive at the airport and the time to cut the ticket are counted as one hour, if he leaves the hotel at 19:00, he will have time. You can relax in the victim's room for an hour. Even if it is not necessary to hang around for so long, you should watch the victim die around 17:00, but the murderer didn't do that. He actually chose the most dangerous path, the victim He ran away without dying. Moreover, it is probably unreasonable where he wasted the two hours he earned by taking such a big risk.The perpetrators are not fleeing or impulsive, but a murderer who is as calculated as a computer.Maybe it was because she was dying to see her dying.It would be even more unreasonable if that was the case, why didn't he even stay for so long?The murderer escaped before 17:00.However, if he is Hashimoto, he can stay in the victim's room until 19 o'clock, and he can watch the victim escape calmly after dying. " "However, this kind of speculation is always based on the assumption of taking a plane. Because he didn't take the route connecting Tokyo and Fukuoka, even if he analyzed the guy's action time based on the flight schedule, it would still be true. It's pointless," Murakawa said. "Yes. There is no sign of him taking a plane. However, he traveled to and from Tokyo-Fukuoka within eleven and a half hours. It's not a plane or a train. It's a means of transportation that goes to and from Tokyo-Fukuoka and kills people." Is there any more? I think the key to solving this mystery lies in these two hours, the 'blank in the blank'." Everyone folded their arms and fell into deep thought.A dull air hung over the meeting. That night, Hiraga wrote a long letter to Detective Uematsu of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police.First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for the care I received during my business trip in October, then I wrote about the investigation process of the case in detail, and finally I wrote——