Chapter 8 Chapter 8 The Evidence Under the Cliff

Shiiba Kenichi didn't want to go.Although it has been a year and a half since he got his driver's license, and the young leaf marks on the car windows (marks pasted on the car windows during the driver's training period to remind drivers of surrounding vehicles to pay attention) have been removed, he only drives carefully near his home, Driving skills are not very strong. However, the university's graduation thesis research group invited professors to go on an outing, saying that they wanted to live together outside, and those who had a car must drive here, so he couldn't deny it.What's more, people with less driving experience than Shiiha will drive their own cars to participate as if nothing happened. If Shiiha dare not stick their heads, their self-esteem will not allow it.

The female classmates who usually have a crush also signed up, and Shiiha participated in the camping outing with a tragic mood as if preparing for a big adventure trip.In fact, it was she who joined the training group, and he followed suit. If they didn't go out together this time, what's the point of joining the training group? On the day of departure, the participants came to the campus to assemble, and then shared several cars that came with them.At that time, Shiiha felt that something unpleasant would happen.When riding in groups, the female classmate Shiiha likes gets into the car of others.It doesn't matter, as long as there is a girl in my car, I can save face, but the ones who come up are all naughty boys.

As long as they are honest in the car, they can also drive, and they will make irresponsible remarks about Shiiha's driving skills when they get in the car. At first, she could bear it, but when she entered the "Odawara Highway" from Atsugi, Shiiha couldn't bear it anymore, so she roared angrily: "If you tell me any more, you all will go down!" This rebuke worked, and they Everyone is much more honest, but the car has since fallen into an annoying silence. The two-night-three-day outing was also spoiled by the constant rain.Trapped in a family hotel, either playing poker or playing games, the whole day is just killing time. For Shiiha, who is not good at indoor activities, it really feels like a year.It takes a lot of hard work to remember the rules of the game, so girls are not willing to chat with Shii Ye.

In this situation, Shiiha is absolutely no match for those gentle male classmates.They are good at entertaining girls, chatting and laughing one after another.A clumsy person like Shiiha can only watch the raindrops outside the window in the corner of the room. It seemed that every girl regarded him as an eyesore. He really wanted to go back halfway alone, but felt that doing so would completely ruin his image among the girls. Finally made it to the third day.The rain stopped from midnight, and the weather improved rapidly the next morning.Being able to go home, Shiiha suddenly regained his energy, but at this time it seemed that a basin of cold water had been poured on his head - a gentle boy said to him, since it was hard to come out, why not go for a drive by the sea?

The girl was so happy that she didn't even have time to object, and the matter was settled. "After the rain, the shoulders of the coastal road are soft, so be careful!" the owner of the family hotel warned when setting off.However, the students all thought that their driving skills were superb, so they ignored it at all. Instead, they felt that this was a good opportunity to show off to the girls and were secretly happy. Decided to regroup before departure.People who took Shiiha's car when they came out don't want to take his car anymore.Seeing this, the clever classmates immediately understood that Shiiba's skills were not very good, and they all hid.It seems that Shiiha had to be alone in the car!

Professor does not intervene in group ride either.At this time, a girl suddenly said, "I'll take Shiiha's car!" Shiiha turned her head and saw that it was Matsubara Kiyomi who was her crush.The boys around immediately cast surprised gazes, and the girls were also surprised.The boy who didn't want to continue taking Shiiha's car showed a regretful expression, but now, he is too embarrassed to go back on taking Shiiha's car. Shiba Ye's hanging heart finally fell. "Driving Songyuan, the responsibility is great!" His words were full of sarcasm. "Don't worry, I will drive safely." Shiba puffed up her chest and replied.Originally, his Corolla car was not suitable for flying.The roads in Japan are very mixed. Driving a super luxury car is purely for vanity, and this Corolla is the most practical.

Only a few minutes after departure, the car in front disappeared without a trace.The road was winding on the cliff, and he was the only one who insisted on driving cautiously at the end.The driver in front was deliberately speeding down the steep road as if showing off his skills to the girl in the car. "Shiiha-kun, don't force yourself to chase them, we will drive slowly behind! Really, it's hard to come across such a beautiful scenery." Matsubara Kiyomi's persuasion really made my heart burst.She is the youth idol of the whole school. Her deep eyes and elegant demeanor attract all the boys in the school. Shiiha knows that her heart is more beautiful than her appearance.She heard that her grandfather was a famous chaebol, but she wasn't arrogant about it at all.Vertebral leaves are also only recently known.

The rain has completely disappeared, and Sagami Beach is in front of you.The back of Oshima became a green shadow floating on the water.The sunny day, the picturesque scenery, sharing this beautiful nature with the joyful Kiyomi Matsubara, Shiiha is very happy! The narrow road that can only be driven by one car winds and coils on the cliff, and there are agglomerated rocks scattered under the cliff, where the white waves that rush over are turned into droplets.Push Ye carefully steered the steering wheel.As long as you drive carefully, no matter how dangerous the road is, there will be no problems.

"I feel safe in Shiiha's car." Kiyomi praised. "I can't even drive a speeding car even if I want to." Shiiha told the truth. "That's great! The steering wheel is in your hands, even if you really drive a speeding car, there's nothing I can do about it." "If you say that, I can drive with more peace of mind!" "Shiiha-kun really has his own way!" "So during group activities, I often can't keep up with everyone's beat, which is very annoying." Maybe that factor still exists now, but the "own way" here and now is a blessing in disguise.

"However, Shiiha-kun's unique habits are healthy, and now I feel very safe, as if my feet are on the ground." "Really?" Shiiha was even more excited when Kiyomi praised her.Because driving in this state is more dangerous, he slowed down again. "I'm not lying. In fact, I wanted to take your car when I came here, but I was dragged away by other cars. Shiiha-kun is too modest." Kiyomi said, and glanced at Shiiha complainingly, causing Shiiha missed the sign at the intersection.The car in front was still driving along the coast where the turn was made, and Shiiha gradually felt that she was going the wrong way.

When I was looking for a place to turn around, I found that the road had come to an end.The road took a sharp turn on a cliff and disappeared into the pine forest.You can't turn around here. "I'm sorry." Shiiha apologized to Qingmei.Just when he was flattered by the praise, he actually drove the car to the top of the cliff. "The only way is to reverse the car?" Qingmei's expression was a little nervous.At the fork in the road, there should be a warning sign such as the road is blocked, which is undoubtedly missed by the driver. "Song Yuan, just in case, you get off when I reverse the car, okay?" Shii Ye, who was already sweating under his armpit, asked.It is said that reversing can best reflect driving skills.Backing up in such a dangerous situation, it is better to ask her to go down. "It's okay, it doesn't matter." Although Matsubara said so, Shiiha still pushed her to get out of the car.After Qingmei got off the car, she tremblingly approached the edge of the cliff. "Dangerous, don't go any further!" Shiiha reminded Qingmei.Just as he was about to reverse the car, he suddenly heard Mei call out: "It's terrible! There are traces of a car rolling down the cliff!" "What?" Shiiha turned pale in astonishment. "Look, the traces of the wheels extend all the way to the edge of the cliff, and the car has rolled down from there!" Qingmei said more and more vigorously, and Shiiha also got out of the car.As Kiyomi said, the tracks of the tires stretched all the way to the edge of the cliff, as if the car had veered off the road, rolling over the dirt and weeds on the side of the road and falling down the steep slope.The lower part of the steep slope is cut across by the sea, and nothing can be seen further down.The wheel prints are still new. "Yeah!" Shiiha also thought that there must be a car that didn't know that this was a dead end, so it drove straight ahead and fell into the sea. "What should I do?" Qingmei looked at Shiiha in horror. "Call the police immediately!" "However, we can't be sure that a car really fell! Because we can't see the bottom of the cliff." "Call the police first! Now that we see the wheel marks stretching down the cliff, we can't pretend to be deaf and dumb." Shiiha said firmly. April 4th.The Ito Police Station received a report from male and female college students who were driving, saying that there were traces of a car rolling down on a cliff called "Fushan Hot Spring Village" in Hachimano in the Ito City area, so they rushed to the scene and found a car Hanging on the agglomerate rock under the cliff, the body is almost completely submerged in sea water. The coast near here is formed by the lava flowed into the sea by the eruption centered on Mt. Omuro. Due to the erosion of seawater, the coast is full of cliffs at an altitude of 30 to 80 meters and a water depth of 30 to 100 meters.If the car body hadn't been hooked by rocks, it would surely be sleeping in the deep seabed now. If a huge wave hits now, the car is very likely to fall from the rocks into the sea.If it is really swept into the seabed at a depth of 100 meters by the waves, then the salvage work will be much more troublesome. The Ito Police Department, with the assistance of the local fire department, decided to hoist the car body to a transport ship for recovery.Fortunately, the weather has been fine recently and the sea is calm. The recovery of the car body was finally successful.The car is a MKII model produced by T company, and there is a driver in the car.It seemed that the front window glass of the car was broken, and the influx of sea water kept him suffocated in the car.There was no sign of a fellow passenger in the car. Because it is a private car, there is no tachometer installed, so I don't know the running status of the car before the fall.Judging from the situation before and after, it is probably that the driver strayed into a dead end at night, coupled with improper operation, and fell off the cliff. From the driver's license and vehicle inspection certificate held by the driver, it was found that the driver's name was Ryuya Okushi, 18 years old, and lived at No. XX, Sanchome, Shinjuku District, Tokyo.The owner is the father of the driver. Soon a large number of relatives were contacted, and the police asked them to come and identify them. The scene is on the sea cliff of the lava flow in the south of the Kinosaki Coast Izu Marine Park. It is said that Nichiren Master (the founder of the Nichiren sect during the Kamakura Shogunate period 1222-1282) was exiled on the nearby Saya.This area is a long subsidence coast.Geologically speaking, this area belongs to the Amagi volcano area, not the Omuro volcano. The Kinosaki Coast and Izu Ocean Park have attracted many tourists because of the walking trails, and they are relatively lively; while the area around the site is under construction as a villa development area, so it is relatively quiet, with only a few anglers throwing their hooks from the cliff during the day. Judging from the condition of the remains, the time when the car rolled down was between 1:00 am and 3:00 am the night before.The clock in the car stopped at 1:36 a.m., but the deceased was wearing a waterproof watch, which still showed the correct time. The body had bruises from falls due to the impact when the car overturned, but they were not serious; due to the short time in the water, it was hardly affected by aquatic organisms. "I really don't understand why a young man is wandering on this mountain road in the middle of the night?" An elderly criminal policeman named Hatakeyama from the local police station said in thought. "So he lost his way!" the detective Kitazawa who came with him said without hesitation. "However, how did he get lost from the national road and ran onto this side road?" The nearby National Route 135 (Higashi-Izu Expressway) leads to Ito and Shimoda.There are viaducts at the intersections of the East Izu Highway and branch roads, and generally you will not go the wrong way. "Probably came to find a villa or a family hotel!" "Is this possible?" Hatakeyama was still puzzled. "Is there anything suspicious?" "Generally speaking, people who come to villas and family hotels want to arrive as early as possible in order to have a good rest, not to mention that he is here for the first time, so he should arrive as early as possible. However, he did not come until more than 1 o'clock in the middle of the night, it seems What's the secret?" "There's nothing strange about this! After finishing the busy work, I set off from Tokyo at a later time, so I can arrive at night." "That's what I said, but if he doesn't come out so late, can't he?" "Probably because of a traffic jam or a traffic accident on the road!" Kitazawa refused to give in. "I'm going to ask about the traffic situation that day. However, this road is not usually crowded, and I haven't heard of any major accidents." "The reason for leaving at night should be everything!" "I always feel that there must be some reason for him to come out alone. Generally, no one goes to villas or hot spring hotels by himself." "That's your own opinion! Maybe friends and lovers go there first?" "If a friend or lover came to this area to wait first, they must be worried that he didn't arrive on time. In addition, they should have heard the news that a car overturned and fell into the sea, and the driver was suffocated to death in the car!" "It seems that you are suspicious of that young man driving alone late at night, and want to get to the bottom of it?" "If it was suicide, it would make sense." "What if it was neither an accident nor a suicide?" Kitazawa's expression became serious. "It's hard to say now, but there's no need to suspect suicide now." While getting in touch with the family members of the deceased, the police also inquired about family hotels, villas and other places below, but there was no booker who matched the name of the deceased. The relatives of the deceased also said that the dragon left without saying hello the night before, so their whereabouts are unknown.In addition, the roads he passed that day were normal without any accidents. The father of the deceased came from Tokyo on the same day to identify the remains. "It's my son Ryuya, that's right. This bastard has finally become what he is today!" The father shouted angrily, but there seemed to be an element of sadness after losing his son. "You said that your son has finally become what he is today. Did you realize anything before?" Hatakeyama asked straightforwardly regardless of the grief of the deceased's father. "Recently he broke up with a bad friend and looked for a job while working, but he had a bad record in the past, and he was always unhappy in his work, and he seemed anxious." "What bad deeds did you have before?" "I once caused trouble for the police." Father's tone was serious.Now there is no need for him to force himself to speak, as long as he checks the file, he can understand everything. "Who is the bad friend you speak of?" "I don't know too well. When he was in middle school, he had a relationship with some bad boys, and then the circle expanded." "Is there any girl who is close to your son?" "He had a few girlfriends, but not very close." "What is your son doing in Izu alone?" "No idea. He didn't say anything and just drove off with my car." "Has anyone contacted him before going out?" "I don't think so. If there is any contact, it is mostly from the store." "What is he doing now?" "Working part-time in a dance hall in Shinjuku. I said it's okay for him not to do that job, but he said it's shameful to hang around all day, so I let him do it first." "Dance hall work usually ends very late. Did he go out after get off work?" "No, he didn't go to the store that day. He went home in the evening and drove out. I reminded him to be more careful when he just got his driver's license, but he didn't listen. I can't help it. You talk to him about serious things, and he's messing around. I can't control him! So, my mother and I are worried about him." As the father spoke, tears flowed from the corners of his eyes.Hatakeyama watched blankly, trying to figure out the extent of the grief of the father who lost his son. As a result, the father did not say any valuable clues.To be on the safe side, the police asked where Ryuya Okushi worked part-time - the "Adonis" dance hall in Kabukicho, Shinjuku.As my father said, Da Chuan did not show up for work that day. The store said that he was okay at work, but he was just not sure. He came and left whenever he wanted, which was unpredictable. The dance hall said they didn't know about the long list of relationships, and obviously, even if they knew, they wouldn't tell the police. However, after checking Da Chuan Ryuya's resume, he found out an unexpected fact.He was one of the murderers who killed a homeless man in a park in Shinjuku two years ago, and he is still awaiting trial on bail.Is this history related to his death? That's where Hatakeyama's investigation came to an end.Autopsy results: the deceased had seawater in his lungs and stomach, so it was judged as "death by drowning".It seems that he made an operation error or fell asleep while driving, and he overturned and fell into the water together with the car. Hatakeyama, however, was still incomprehensible.He still has the following four unresolved knots in his heart: 1. Why did Da Chuan enter the rollover scene by mistake; 2. Why did you rush to the scene so late? 3. Why drive alone; 4. Can't think of a reason for his suicide. The reason why Hatakeyama insisted on Okushi Tatsuya's rollover accident was because he was always haunted by the murder of a driver who pretended to be a taxi rollover accident in the jurisdiction of the Marsh Police Station in July last year.That was the camouflage found on the speed record paper, and this accident reeked of something similar. If someone pushes the victim into a car late at night and makes it fall off a cliff, it will create the appearance of an operating error or a car that overturned due to dozing off driving. "Could it be nap driving?" Hatakeyama's step-by-step speculation made him suddenly enlightened.Nap can be artificially induced: it can be given some alcohol, or it can be given sleeping pills. If the forensic doctor is not allowed to test the food in the stomach of the deceased, it is really difficult to find out.Not to mention that this occasion requires only a small amount of sleeping pills, and you will drink a lot of seawater during the drowning process, so it is even more difficult to find out now. If the murderer knew this knowledge and disguised himself, he would be a cunning fox. Hatakeyama can't forget the tears that Dachuan's father shed.His outward anger concealed the sorrow of losing his son, but in the tears that flowed uncontrollably, he showed his love and pity for the unworthy son. If the prisoner snickered behind the father's tears, it was Hatakeyama's duty to stop the murderer's ecstasy. The doubts condensed in his heart continued to grow, and he came to the scene again.The above has dealt with this matter as a general accident, so the on-site investigation has become a formality. Hatakeyama believes that this is a homicide disguised as an accident, and he wants to overthrow the existing conclusion again. "I'm overwhelmed by Hatakeyama's tenacity! Let me help you too!" The old partner Kitazawa muttered, walking with Hatakeyama. "You don't have to force it, maybe it's just my random suspicion." Hatakeyama was very unhappy in his heart, but he still put on a show of force. "What are you talking about now? I'm like your wife, how can I let my husband run around alone!" The sea is calm in April.When the sun is shining, it feels like early summer.The area around Kinosaki and Ocean Park is crowded with people, but no one gets lost here. The triangle area sandwiched by the East Izu Highway, Yamate and Izu Express is called "Fushan Hot Spring Villa Area". It is currently being developed, but the project has not yet crossed the highway to the coast.There are only sparse wild pine trees on the lava highlands on the cliffs. "Hatakeyama, what are we looking for?" Coming to the scene, Kitazawa stared at Hatakeyama's face like a hound spying on his master's will. "Anything is fine, as long as it is something that doesn't match this place...you have to pick it up!" Hatakeyama almost said the command "Come on, bring it back!", and immediately replaced it with appropriate words, "I just feel strange something, take it back." They were indeed hounds in their swift search of the ground.The sea is very reflective.The surface of the sea, which looks dull at first glance, changes slightly due to the influence of the angle of light and the current.The projection of slowly drifting white clouds is reflected on the blue sea from time to time. The white ship seems to be stuck in the depths of the ocean, changing its position unconsciously.Like scars on human skin, streaks appeared on the surface of the sea.Bounded by this stripe, the color of the sea is constantly changing. The backs of the two were tired, but they were still scrambling on the ground, but in the end they didn't find anything suspicious, not even a drink bottle. "Looks like there's nothing there!" Hatakeyama said, but there was no discouragement on his face.I saw him fumbling for something in the canvas bag, and after a while, he took out a thick rope.Kitazawa said in surprise: "Hatakeyama, do you want to use this rope to hang down the cliff?" "Yes! If the suspicious thing didn't fall into the sea, it must be in the middle of the cliff. There are pine trees and bushes growing there, and there may be something hanging there." "Don't do this. It's too dangerous for the two of us!" "Tie the rope to the pine tree. Just to be on the safe side, you can watch from the side, it must be fine!" "That's impossible! Do you have to do that? There's no way! I can't let your old body hang on the mountainside like a turtle! I'll go down!" Kitazawa said to himself. "Hey, what do you mean by old body and old body?" "Oh, did you hear that?" "Didn't you tell me?" "Then I take it back. You are not old at all, it should be said that you are experienced." "Old body is the same as experienced, I hate the word 'old'!" "Okay, okay, let me go down and have a look!" Kitazawa took the safety rope through his crotch, wrapped it around his shoulders and tied it around his body. Then, he tied the other end of the rope to the thicker rope on the edge of the cliff. On the trunk of a pine tree, for extra safety, he wrapped a rope around his body. "Okay, I'm going down!" Kitazawa held the rope and moved his body tremblingly according to the essentials of climbing a vertical descent. "Be careful!" Hatakeyama reminded.The slope was relatively gentle at first, but became steeper as it went down.The impacted cliff rocks, broken old trees and other traces caused by the overturned vehicle now constitute the "road sign".Although it is a cliff, there are trees growing in the middle, so there is not much fear. There was a sudden whoosh in the ear, it turned out to be a wild bird playing past the ear. Although the body is hung by the rope, but the weight falls on the cliff, and further down, the whole body will be borne by the rope.This means that the slope is steeper.Hatakeyama's figure is now hidden above the cliff. "Slow down, slow down!" Hatakeyama shouted from above.Because the steeper the slope, the easier it is to speed up the descent.Kitazawa tied the rope held by his left hand to his left side for "braking".Suddenly, a wild bird flew out from the pine forest halfway up the mountain. "What's the matter?" The top immediately called down. "It's a bird, possibly a rock swallow!" There are many yellow warblers and white-eyes on the coast of Izu, and wagtails and pipiatus often appear. Maybe these wild birds are nesting in the trees on the mountainside! "Is there anything down there?" "Nothing but bird droppings!" "Can we go any further?" "I can do a little more!" "Don't force it! If the slope exceeds 60 degrees, come back!" A slope above 60 degrees gives the impression that it is almost vertical.The sound of the waves lingered in my ears, and the white waves hitting the rocks below seemed to be able to touch my feet. The wild pine trees on the cliff are gone, and the bottom is full of bare rocks.The "cushion" between itself and the reef under the cliff is removed, and the sense of height is immediately highlighted.If you fall from here, there will be no obstructions on the way.A gust of cold air invaded the two thighs.The slope is steeper, stretching out to the sea like the eaves. "It's time to go back!" Kitazawa sent a signal to Hatakeyama, but he immediately called out, "Wait a minute!" Because at this time, Kitazawa noticed that there seemed to be something in the wild bird's nest in the nearby bushes.The wild bird was scared away by Kitazawa. Kitazawa pulled the rope closer to the nest, but found that there seemed to be no eggs inside.He put his feet on the roots of the bushes, stood on tiptoe, reached into the bird's nest with one hand, and took out a handicraft imitating some animal.There is no time to look at it now. This is an item that doesn't match the bird's nest! "Did you find anything?" Hatakeyama asked loudly when he felt that there was no movement. "I'll take it up now!" Kitazawa put his belongings in his pocket and began to climb up using the tree roots and the corners of the rocks. When he finally climbed to a safe place on the cliff, he felt tired all of a sudden.To put it bluntly, he doesn't know how he got down now. "What did you find?" Hatakeyama asked while staring at Kitazawa. "I don't know if this thing has anything to do with the case...it was found in a wild bird's nest." Kitazawa took out the crafts he picked up. "It looks like a wild boar." Kitazawa was out of breath, and Hatakeyama even forgot to say words of comfort, just looking at the handicraft. "Why is this thing in the wild bird's nest?" Kitazawa finally adjusted his breathing. "Did a wild bird pick it up? How big is the bird's nest?" "Not big, only the size of two palms. It seems that the bird is not too big." "So it fell from above?" "However, you can't be sure that it fell with that car, right?" "No, that's very likely. You see, it has no signs of long-term rain and sun, and it has not faded, which means that it has been preserved by people all the time, and it has only recently fallen into a bird's nest." "So it seems..." "No one will throw it down from this remote cliff!" "However, even if it fell out of the car, it's okay, what a big deal! It's not surprising that there are wild boar crafts hanging in the car. Don't many cars have such decorations on the front windows?" "According to the same ratio, it may be left behind by the murderer. Handicrafts such as horses, cows, tigers, and ghosts are quite common, but this paper wild boar is rare! Check out its origin! Oh, you have worked hard La! Well done! Without you, I would not have found it!" Hatakeyama only said a few words of consolation until now. The crafts that Kitazawa picked up from the bird's nest on the cliff are toys made of simple wild boar prototypes, which have a strong taste of folk crafts.The color used for its depiction is clay plastic material, so it is afraid of water. The color of this handicraft did not fall off very much, and its shape hardly changed. Apart from the reason that it was protected in the bird's nest, it also shows that it entered the bird's nest in the middle of the night after the rain stopped on the day of the incident.From the night of the incident to the search on the cliff, it did not rain. Where did this country toy come from?The police first questioned the parents of the deceased, but they said they had little recollection of the incident.Later, I asked the college students who reported the crime, and they also said that it was not theirs. Therefore, it is possible that someone brought it to the scene before dawn on the 4th and after the rain stopped.At least it can be considered this way: after Da Chuan died and before the male and female college students found out, there were other people who came to this cliff waste road.This cannot be ignored. Hatakeyama sent the paper wild boar to folk handicraft experts for appraisal, hoping to find a breakthrough from the "native land". However, the experts looked at it for a long time, but did not say where the stuff was produced. "Among the paper-making crafts, the products in Miharu Town, Fukushima Prefecture are the most famous, but this one is not made there. There are many local toys in other shapes, but this is the first time I have seen this wild boar toy. It has a simple shape. , but it’s not as sophisticated as those made by famous artists. I think it may have been made by farmers. Wild boars are found all over Japan, so I don’t know where it came from.” Hatakeyama's pursuit is thwarted here, but his suspicions about Yakushi's death are deepened by the discovery of the paper boar.