Chapter 29 fourth quarter

evening of the same day.Tashiro was in the task force of the Hino City Police Station, and a police officer from the station walked in nervously. "Sheriff, regarding the murder of the Mayor of Springfield, a taxi driver offered to provide clues." "Taxi driver?" A strange thought flashed through Tashiro's mind, "Call him here immediately. Is he alone?" "No, the business director of the company came with me." The two pushed open the door of the task force's temporary residence and walked in tremblingly.The business director is an obese old man, and the driver is a young man in his mid-twenties, thin and a bit nervous.

"You came at the right time." Tashiro let the two sit at his desk. "I heard that you have reported the situation?" Tashiro looked at the faces of the two people evenly, and the driver looked worried. "This is my business card." On the business card handed out, it said "Tsukisei Taxi Co., Ltd.", and this person's job title was "Business Director of Ikebukuro Ward Sales Office". "I didn't bring a business card. My name is Nanming Ming." The driver reported his family name. "Mr. Nanbu brought the situation we need, right?" Tashiro asked in an amiable manner in order to relieve the driver's nervousness.

"Yes, to be honest..." The driver opened his mouth, but he seemed to be having difficulty expressing himself freely, and he hesitated to speak. The business director took over. "To tell you the truth, in the investigation of this case, the Metropolitan Police Department appealed to the taxi company to find out if the driver had taken a suspicious person to the scene of the crime in Hino. The driver said that he had taken an unusual passenger. .” "Really? Then why didn't he tell us earlier?" "That's because... just the day before the notification was issued, he went back because of an accident in his hometown of Nagano County. His mother passed away, and he wasted some time for the funeral and aftermath. He didn't go to work for a week, so I don’t know about the report of the incident. After going to work today, I heard other drivers talk about this incident, so I immediately reported it to me.”

"So that's the case." Tashiro turned to the driver, "When did you pick up that strange passenger?" "Ah, it's November tenth." "Do you remember correctly?" "I think it's right, because the work record of No. 10 is from Hino City to Kanda District." "What time was that?" "Around 9:30 in the evening, it happened to be on the way back after I took the passengers to Takahata. I wanted to take a shortcut to Koshu Street, so I took a secluded road. At that time, there was a man waving on the side of the road. He was about 60 years old. people."

"He's going in the direction of Tokyo, right?" "Yes, he said he was going to Kanda District, so I thought it happened to be on the way, so I let him get in the car immediately." "Did that person talk to you?" "Didn't speak in the car, like I said just now, just said a few words when getting in and out of the car." "Well, what about your appearance?" "Stock and stocky, his hair is more than half white, and the wrinkles on his face are deep. By the way, I remember that he also has big eyes and a very big nose." Undoubtedly it was Junji Hayakawa, Tashiro immediately took out Hayakawa's photo and showed it to the driver.This photo was sent by Beipu City Police Station when they decided to investigate Junji Hayakawa.There have been many photocopies of this photo, and this is one of them.

"That's the man." The driver in the south decided it was him after just one glance, "That's right, it's that face." "Then where did he get off in Kanda Ward?" "At the Jimbocho intersection, the guy said 'ah, I know the way here' and got out of the car." "Which direction did the passenger go after getting off the bus?" "Because other passengers got on the bus right away, I didn't pay attention to take a closer look. I remember walking towards Ogawa Town." "It should be quite a long time from Hino City to Kanda Ward..."

"Yes, there were relatively few cars on the road that day, and we walked for about an hour and a half." "During the time on the road, did that person talk to you?" "He has been silent, sometimes looking at the rearview mirror. He seems to be asleep, and he seems to be in deep thought. His eyes are closed, and he can't see what expression he has." "Where's the clothes at that time?" the driver replied, the same as Hayakawa's when he came to Beijing. "I'll ask again, it's half past nine on the night of the tenth, isn't it?"

"Yes, check the records and it will be clear, it must be true." Tashiro tilted his head slightly.Because the presumed time for the mayor of Springfield to be killed was from ten o'clock to twelve o'clock in the evening, and 9:30 was more than 30 minutes earlier than the presumed time for the mayor to be killed.Why is that?If Hayakawa had buried Mayor Haruta's body in the miscellaneous forest before coming out, it should have been later. However, Tashiro reconsidered that the presumed time of death is not necessarily very accurate. Although autopsy and dissection can scientifically explain the cause of death, half of the presumed time of death is based on the feeling of the forensic doctor, so the time difference is inevitable.According to common sense, both the location and time of the ride coincided with the process of Hayakawa killing, burying and leaving in the miscellaneous woods.However, the mayor was with Secretary Arishima until seven o'clock in the evening that day. Is it possible to kill the mayor and bury him at the scene in the next two and a half hours?In Tashiro's mind, the distance from the Urban Hall to Takahata Fudo Station on the Keio Line appeared. Although it is not impossible, it is very reluctant in terms of time.

"Oh, it's really hard for you this time. Thank you for the information you provided." After the driver and business director left, Tashiro quickly wrote down the situation in his notebook.The driver had been questioned carefully, but he did not observe that the passenger soiled his trousers and shoes.However, these situations are logical.Because Junji Hayakawa stayed at the "Birongkan" in Kanda that night, but the hotel didn't seem to have polished the shoes of the customers. When he went to his daughter's apartment the next morning, there was still red soil on the shoes near the scene.

What the hell is going on here?Before going to Beijing, the mayor and Hayakawa made an appointment in Beipu City to meet in Tokyo on the night of the tenth.No matter where the two met, it couldn't be near the scene of the crime. It can be speculated that Hayakawa took Mayor Haruta out.Therefore, it must be Hayakawa who killed the mayor.However, is it certain that Hayakawa is the murderer who killed the mayor?