Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven
It started raining last night and stopped in the afternoon.Because of the cold air mass going south or something, the air is not as cold as it is in April.Song Gong regretted not wearing a coat to go out.
Before leaving the task force, he reported the destination and the purpose of the trip to Kobayashi.Kobayashi also agrees, but his expression is not very good-looking, probably because he does not have expectations for the harvest.Song Gong himself thought so, so it's no wonder Xiao Lin thought so.It was the same as when he went to find Suwa, except that he followed the steps of the elimination method.
The case is still at a stalemate.A large number of manpower investigations have been mobilized in the past few days, but no strong clues have been obtained.
There was no contact from Kaga either.Songgong knew him well, so he must really be collecting photos of the bridge washing.He could even imagine Kaga carefully looking at the countless photos one by one.From past contacts, Matsumiya knew very well that in order to find out the truth, that cousin would exert extraordinary stamina.
Matsunomiya came to Daikanyama.It was a residential area a few minutes walk from the station, and there were beautiful single-family houses one after another on the road.The location had been confirmed in advance, so he found the house he was going to without getting lost.It was a Western-style house based on dark brown.Okamoto is written on the door plate, and it looks like it has only been built for a few years.
Song Gong pressed the intercom, and a female voice came to respond.
"Hello, I'm Song Gong who called just now." He didn't say the words Metropolitan Police Department.Although there were no people around, no one knew if anyone was listening.
The intercom said "Come in." So Song Gong opened the door and walked to the door.The door opened quickly, and a woman appeared.As expected of someone who has been an actor, his eyebrows, eyes and facial features are very three-dimensional.The skin is very good, and it really doesn't look like a forty-something.
"Miss Emiko Okamoto?"
She replied, "I am."
After showing the police badge, Matsunomiya took out his business card.
"Hi, I'm Matsumiya from the Metropolitan Police Department. I'm so sorry for this sudden visit."
"where……"
"Do you want to stay at home or change places? You can also find a place to drink tea and chat."
"No, please come in. I feel more at ease at home."
"Really? Then I'll interrupt."
With the sound of "Please come in", Songgong entered the house.The entrance hall has a faint scent of aromatics.There are no extra shoes in the spacious shoe-off place, only a pair of larger sneakers and a pair of sandals are placed against the corner.
"Are there any guests?" Song Gong asked.
"My son came back from school just now." She glanced at the stairs next to her.The foyer is elevated, and the handrails on the second floor can be seen when looking up.
Matsumiya was taken to the living room next to the dining room.Although Emiko Okamoto was asked not to bother, she made tea anyway.Songgong said, "Then I'll be impolite." He took a sip.
After putting down the tea cup, she was looking around the room, "Is there something wrong?" she asked.
"I wonder if there will be photos of your acting days hanging in the room."
Emiko Okamoto smiled wryly.
"I won't hang that kind of thing. My days as an actor are very short, and I only played supporting roles, and I don't have any masterpieces. I'm afraid no one knows the stage name of 'Tsukimura Ryumi' nowadays."
"That's not necessarily true. When I checked it on the Internet, there was a lot of information immediately."
Hearing Matsumiya's words, the former actress frowned her beautifully shaped brows.
"I just can't stand the internet. I never mentioned my acting days to my son and he finds out because of the internet...it's really disturbing." It sounds like she's clearly suffering from it.
She was an actress of the troupe "Balalaika" and is from Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture.Her real name is Emiko Okamoto, and her surname was Kajihara before she got married—you can immediately find out about this by searching for "Tsukimura Ryumi" on the Internet, as well as photos of her when she was young.The Internet is indeed convenient for ordinary people, but it may be an annoying tool for artists who have left the entertainment industry.
"I heard about you from Mr. Suwa Takeo." Matsumiya said, "I also mentioned on the phone earlier that I wanted to ask you something about Ms. Asagi Hiromi. It is said that you were an actor, and Asagi Miss is very familiar."
"That's right. I think we were really close at the time, but now we hardly have any contact." Emiko Okamoto said very cautiously.
"I want to ask you about the time when you two got very close, that is, before Ms. Asagi and Mr. Suwa got married. It is said that Ms. Asagi once dated other men, and you know about it."
Emiko Okamoto showed a puzzled look, "Are you asking about something so long ago?"
"I heard from Mr. Suwa. He said that Miss Asagi looked weird for a while, and he didn't know what happened to her. You told him that Miss Asagi seemed to have broken up with her boyfriend."
Emiko Okamoto showed a slightly embarrassed expression.
"It's true that this happened when I was only twenty-four or five years old. It turns out that Mr. Suwa even remembers this."
"At that time, Ms. Qianju Hiromi had a boyfriend, right?"
"I think so."
"What kind of person is the other party? Do you know his name?"
"No, I didn't ask his name, and I don't even know what kind of person he is."
"Can you please tell me everything you know?"
Emiko Okamoto shrunk her chin and looked at Matsumiya suspiciously.
"Is this investigating any case? If the police want to know this, why not just ask Hiromi himself?"
"We may ask ourselves in the future. But it is our practice to ask the people around us first."
"Is Bomei involved in any case?"
Matsumiya smiled.
"We are conducting various investigations on everyone related to the victim of a certain case, and Ms. Hiromi Asagi is one of them. Whether Ms. Asagi is related to the case itself is still uncertain. Please take it as a matter of clarifying the relationship." investigation."
"Does something from so long ago help?"
"I don't know. Maybe it won't help in the end, but our police work is like this, please understand." Songgong bowed his head and saluted.
Emiko Okamoto looked dissatisfied, but she nodded.
"Because we are the same age, it is a fact that Bomei and I are very close. However, she has been refusing to tell me about her boyfriend. I only found out by chance."
"How to say?"
"On the night of her birthday, I wanted to give her a gift, so I went to her place to find her. Because she said she had no plans for that day and would stay at home."
"What time is it?"
"I think it was about eight or nine."
"are you alone?"
Emiko Okamoto smiled.
"I also had a boyfriend at the time, and I went with him. But he was waiting for me in the car."
"I see. And then?"
"But Hiromi wasn't home. I was disappointed, so I went back to my boyfriend's car, and at that moment, she came back. And with a man. We stayed in the car, so they didn't seem to notice. I hesitated I know what to do. When I was still hesitating, I saw the two of them parked in front of the apartment..." Emiko Okamoto made a small face and continued, "There was a farewell kiss in the dark. "
"That's it."
"Seeing Hiromi entered the apartment, the man left. I took the gift and went to her house to find her. She was surprised, but still very happy. However, it seems that I came just after she came home. Also kind of surprised. So I'll be honest, I saw her with her boyfriend. She asked me not to tell anyone with a shy face."
"Did you see what that man looked like?"
Emiko Okamoto shook her head.
"It was very dark at that time, and the angle was not good, so I couldn't see clearly."
"About that man, Miss Qianju didn't tell you the details?"
"She said that that person took good care of her before, so she didn't say any more. I don't like to ask questions too much."
"She broke up with the other party, did she tell you herself?"
"No, that's my imagination because she doesn't wear that necklace anymore."
"necklace?"
"A necklace with a ruby pendant. She usually wears it, but she has stopped wearing it since a certain period. Ah, her birthday is in July." Emiko Okamoto said suddenly, "The ruby is the seventh month. It is the birthstone of the moon, so I guess it is probably a gift from her boyfriend."
"Mr. Suwa said that Ms. Asagi looked weird, and that happened to be that period?"
"yes."
Matsumiya nodded, Emiko Okamoto's words sounded reasonable.It is speculated that the necklace is a gift from her boyfriend, and it is probably the same.
"That's all I know. There's nothing else to say."
"Besides you, is there anyone else who might know Ms. Qianju's boyfriend?"
"This... I don't know."
"Finally, I want to ask you a question. Shunichi Watabe, or Mutsuo Koshikawa, do you have any impression when you hear these two names? This is how the words are written." Song Gong opened the notepad, and wrote the two names That page was for Emiko Okamoto.
She frowned and stared at the notepad, then shook her head and said, "Sorry, I don't remember either of those."
As soon as Song Gong returned to the task force, he found that the atmosphere was a little different.Several detectives were discussing around Kobayashi, including Sakagami.Looking at their appearance, you can feel the vitality that has not been seen for a long time. "Oh, how's it going?" Xiao Lin asked Songgong, his voice seemed to be lighter. Matsunomiya reported what had just been asked by Emiko Okamoto. "Don't you know the real face of the man? Well, there is no way. I don't think it has anything to do with this case. I understand, let's stop this matter. Thank you for your hard work." Song Gong saluted, and looked at the desk by the way, there was a timetable on it.And it was a very old timetable, the date on it was nearly twenty years ago. "What's the timetable?" "This?" Kobayashi picked up the timetable. "It was provided by Kaga from the Nihonbashi Bureau—there is a timetable in his mother's belongings. We also got a copy, and the original is over there." "What happened to the timetable?" "The inspection has made a major discovery. They checked the fingerprints on the cover of the timetable, and the results were consistent with several pairs taken in Mutsuo Koshikawa's house." Song Gong opened his eyes wide, "Really?" "They said it was absolutely true. Now, it is objectively proved that Mutsuo Koshikawa and Shunichi Watabe who used to stay in Sendai in the past are the same person. According to Kanshi and the others, it can be inferred from the number of fingerprints and where they are attached. It's not Kaga's mother that's on the timetable, it's most likely Watabe Shunichi." After listening to Kobayashi's words, Matsunomiya nodded. "The Kaga police department added that his mother rarely goes out, so she probably doesn't know how to use timetables. This is indeed a big discovery." "The surprising thing is yet to come. The supervisor also checked the fingerprints on every page of the timetable. It turned out that the fingerprints were concentrated on one specific page." Xiao Lin showed the photo on the table to Song Gong. The photo was taken on a certain page of the opened timetable.Because it was too dark, I couldn't tell which page it was.But at both ends of the page, several green fingerprints appeared.It looks like it was taken with special light and filters, which is the latest fingerprint inspection technology. "This is the page." Kobayashi opened the timetable. That page is the timetable for the Sengoku Line, the railway linking Sendai and Ishinomaki. "As a result of further detailed inspection by the supervisor, it was found that the fingertips frequently touched this station." Kobayashi was referring to the station "Ishinomaki". "Does this mean that he used to travel frequently between Sendai and Ishinomaki?" "I don't know how often, but it must have been back and forth. The question is, why did he go to Ishiju?" "Speaking of Ishinomaki...is it fishing?" Hahaha——Laughter came from behind, it was Sakagami. "If you say the same thing as me, most people will think so." "Isn't it?" Song Gong asked Xiao Lin. Kobayashi smiled triumphantly. "The Internet generation has never used a paper timetable, so they think so simply. What I see now is the timetable for Sendai to Ishinomaki. The final destination." "Ah!" Song Gong called out, "That's right, it's possible to change trains there." "That's right. In fact, there are other pages where many fingerprints were also detected." Xiaolin turned to the next page of the timetable. That page is the timetable of the Ishinomaki Line.The two ends of this railway are Oguda Station and Onagawa Station, and Ishinomaki Station is in the middle. "There are traces of fingers touching the timetable on this page, which is this station." Xiao Lin pointed out. "Onagawa Station..." Song Gong read it in a low voice, and Xiao Lin nodded seriously. "This is the end of Ishinomaki. This is the end, and there is nowhere to go. It is reasonable to infer that Watabe's final destination is Onagawa." "Speaking of Onagawa—" "You'll think of a nuclear power plant." The voice came from behind again, but this time it wasn't Sakagami.Turning around, Kaga was walking towards them, holding a paper bag in his hand. "I'm sorry to ask you to come here." Kobayashi said. "Where, I also said on the phone that I was just trying to contact you." Kaga came to them and put the paper bag on the ground, "I heard that the timetable showed fingerprints." "Yes, this is the page with fingerprints." Kobayashi pointed to the timetable of the Ishinomaki Line. Kaga picked up the timetable and whispered: "It's been with me for so long, but I haven't noticed it at all." "It's no wonder that fingerprints cannot be seen with the naked eye. On the contrary, you have never been in direct contact, saving us a lot of effort." "It's just a matter of habit." "Tell me, do you have any impression of nuclear power plants?" Kaga returned the timetable to Kobayashi and said: "Yes. I once heard Ms. Miyamoto Yasuyo say that my mother said that Mr. Watabe Shunichi was engaged in electricity. Just now, I have confirmed it with Ms. Miyamoto on the phone, and it is true. It is just whether it is nuclear power factory, she has never heard of it.” "The traffic is inconvenient now because of the earthquake, but at that time it only took one and a half hours to go back and forth between Onagawa and Sendai. If Watabe Shunichi was an operator of the nuclear power plant, he would usually stay in Onagawa and go to Sendai on holidays." "I feel the same way. According to Ms. Miyamoto, Mr. Watabe often has to work in other places and will leave Miyagi Prefecture every once in a while. And many nuclear energy operators will move to other nuclear power plants after the regular inspection is completed. look for a job." "A job is coming. From the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant operator—hey, let's assign the job." The criminal policeman who was named responded and gathered around the desk with others. "Finally a step forward, so that the face of the department head will be saved." Xiao Lin put the timetable back on the table with a face of peace of mind. "Where is Mr. Ishigaki today?" Kaga asked. "I went to this hall with the administrator. By the way, you said you have something to report to him, right? Let me pass it on for you." Kaga took out a thick photo album from the paper bag on the ground. "Perhaps you already know from Matsunomiya Detective, I am focusing on the July bridge washing event and collecting photos. This is one of them." "I've heard about it. The focus is good, but the project is too huge. How many copies have you collected?" Kaga tilted his head slightly and replied, "The results of searching everywhere... all add up to about 5,000 sheets." Xiao Lin opened his mouth wide, turned to look at Song Gong, but the latter was also speechless. "Are you going to find someone who might be Koshikawa, that is, Watabe Shunichi? Just rely on a portrait sketch?" "This is indeed a very difficult assignment. As soon as I see colleagues who are free, I ask them to help, but the progress is still limited. The so-called portrait sketches, everyone has a different opinion." "I suppose so. So, what do you have to report today?" Kaga opened the photo album in his hand. "I still don't know if I can find Mr. Watanabe, but I found a photo of a very important person, so I brought it here." "An important person?" "You'll know it when you see it." The photo he pointed to was of a group of children cleaning the bridge deck with brushes, while nearby adults took their pictures with cameras. But in this photo, those are just the background.The photographer is clearly focusing on the profile of a woman just in front. Slightly thicker eyebrows, long eyes, slightly curved nose bridge, and tightly closed lips that make people feel strong-willed-it's Hiromi Asagi.
"Oh, this. It turns out that this photo was also mixed in, so I'm so sorry." Teru Yaguchi picked up the photo and shrank his neck.He was about forty-four or five years old.Although he is short in stature, he has a lot of flesh, and his belly is round and protruding in a sweater. "Looking at the date, this seems to have been taken eight years ago." When Kaga asked, Yaguchi nodded briskly. "That's right. It was the third year they asked me to shoot the bridge, and that's when I started to get the focus." "As far as this photo is concerned, it doesn't look like it just happened to be taken." "This is... yes, it was intentional." Yaguchi smiled awkwardly, and put his right hand behind his head, "I was taking pictures of the children washing the bridge, and I accidentally looked around and saw Hiromi Kadokura. She was originally She wears sunglasses all the time, so I didn't notice it, only then she took off her glasses. I used to like her a lot. She seems to rarely perform now, but an actress is an actress after all, the light on her face It’s different from ordinary people, so I secretly pressed the shutter. That’s right, I forgot about this photo. I should have seen it before handing it over to Mr. Criminal Police.” Matsumiya and Kagami's coffee shop in Ginza.They made an appointment here to meet with the freelance photographer Yaguchi.Yaguchi was entrusted by a travel agency to take pictures of Nihombashi's washing activities since ten years ago, and this photo is included in it. "Is this the only one you took?" Kaga asked. "This is the only photo of Hiromi Kadokura. If she finds out, it would be a mess. And like I said, she took off her sunglasses just for a moment." Yaguchi Pouting the straw in his mouth, he drank his iced coffee. "Is she alone? Does no one walk with her?" I don't know—— Yaguchi tilted his head and said: "Maybe, but I didn't see it. I don't remember it very well, but I think she was standing there alone." "Really? Alone..." "Excuse me—" Yaguchi said, looking at Kaga and Matsumiya in turn. "Is this a case? Is there something wrong with this picture?" "No, absolutely not." Kaga replied, "I also explained to you a few days ago that there is a case that may be related to the cleansing of the bridge. After analyzing the photos I borrowed from you, I found that only this one has an actress. So we wondered if something special happened this year." "So that's what happened. No, I don't think anything special happened. It's the same as in previous years. As I said just now, I just took a picture because I happened to see Hiromi Kadokura." "Really? Did you talk to Kadokura-san?" "No." Yaguchi waved his hand. Kaga's gaze turned to Matsumiya, meaning do you have any questions? "Is this the only time you saw Miss Kadokura at the bridge washing event?" Matsumiya asked. "Yes. Maybe she goes every year, but I don't see it." Hearing Yaguchi's answer, Matsumiya saluted and said, "Thank you for your cooperation." As soon as he walked out of the coffee shop, Kaga asked, "What do you think?" "I hit it, I can't be wrong." Songgong replied immediately, "The words on the calendar are related to Asagi Hiromi. Eight years ago, in July, she was on Nihombashi, and it was obviously a private action. Maybe she had I went to Willow Bridge in February, I went to Asakusa Bridge in February. March is..." "Saemon Bridge, and then Tokiwa Bridge in April." "Yes. Like this, she will go to those bridges in the order written in that calendar, maybe every year." "It's possible." "If this reasoning is correct, Asagi Hiromi is connected to the two deceased, Michiko Oshitani and Mutsuo Koshikawa." "That's right." Kaga's voice sank slightly. "I understand Brother Gong's feelings. You don't want to doubt Qianju Bomei, right? But when things have come to this point, we have to put aside our personal relationship." When Matsumiya said this, Kaga stopped unexpectedly. "It would be a lie to say that I have no personal affair at all, and I don't want to doubt that she is also true. But, because of this, it is even more necessary to confirm. Maybe when I looked at those five thousand photos, I hoped not to find her." "Find her? Brother Gong, so you're not looking for the person on the sketch?" "On the face of it. At that stage, wouldn't it be rude to you if I found Miss Qianju without authorization?" "It turned out to be like this, no wonder I feel a little strange." "No matter how patient I am, I don't think I can find a person I have never met from 5,000 photos with just a sketch of a portrait." "Then you said to ask young colleagues to help?" Kaga smiled wryly, "That's a little lie." "It turned out to be like this. That is to say, in the end, Brother Gong also felt that there was something wrong with Qianju Bomei. Because he was an old acquaintance with him, he thought of it all at once." Kaga pointed at Matsumiya's chest with a serious face, "This is it." "What? Which?" "I've always found one thing very strange, that is, this murder has too much to do with me personally. It doesn't matter that Mutsuo Koshikawa is Shunichi Watabe. After being a detective for so long, it is inevitable that the deceased will be known to me. human condition. But even the suspect is, which is too coincidental, and the ways in which I have known the two men are completely unrelated." "I think so too, but it actually happened, and there's nothing to be done about it. You can't just exclude Asagi Hiromi from the list of suspects on the grounds that it's too coincidental." Kaga shook his head, "That's not what I said." "Otherwise what is it?" "What I want to say is - this is not a coincidence, there must be a reason for it." Kaga looked into the distance.
As soon as Song Gong returned to the task force, he found that the atmosphere was a little different.Several detectives were discussing around Kobayashi, including Sakagami.Looking at their appearance, you can feel the vitality that has not been seen for a long time. "Oh, how's it going?" Xiao Lin asked Songgong, his voice seemed to be lighter. Matsunomiya reported what had just been asked by Emiko Okamoto. "Don't you know the real face of the man? Well, there is no way. I don't think it has anything to do with this case. I understand, let's stop this matter. Thank you for your hard work." Song Gong saluted, and looked at the desk by the way, there was a timetable on it.And it was a very old timetable, the date on it was nearly twenty years ago. "What's the timetable?" "This?" Kobayashi picked up the timetable. "It was provided by Kaga from the Nihonbashi Bureau—there is a timetable in his mother's belongings. We also got a copy, and the original is over there." "What happened to the timetable?" "The inspection has made a major discovery. They checked the fingerprints on the cover of the timetable, and the results were consistent with several pairs taken in Mutsuo Koshikawa's house." Song Gong opened his eyes wide, "Really?" "They said it was absolutely true. Now, it is objectively proved that Mutsuo Koshikawa and Shunichi Watabe who used to stay in Sendai in the past are the same person. According to Kanshi and the others, it can be inferred from the number of fingerprints and where they are attached. It's not Kaga's mother that's on the timetable, it's most likely Watabe Shunichi." After listening to Kobayashi's words, Matsunomiya nodded. "The Kaga police department added that his mother rarely goes out, so she probably doesn't know how to use timetables. This is indeed a big discovery." "The surprising thing is yet to come. The supervisor also checked the fingerprints on every page of the timetable. It turned out that the fingerprints were concentrated on one specific page." Xiao Lin showed the photo on the table to Song Gong. The photo was taken on a certain page of the opened timetable.Because it was too dark, I couldn't tell which page it was.But at both ends of the page, several green fingerprints appeared.It looks like it was taken with special light and filters, which is the latest fingerprint inspection technology. "This is the page." Kobayashi opened the timetable. That page is the timetable for the Sengoku Line, the railway linking Sendai and Ishinomaki. "As a result of further detailed inspection by the supervisor, it was found that the fingertips frequently touched this station." Kobayashi was referring to the station "Ishinomaki". "Does this mean that he used to travel frequently between Sendai and Ishinomaki?" "I don't know how often, but it must have been back and forth. The question is, why did he go to Ishiju?" "Speaking of Ishinomaki...is it fishing?" Hahaha——Laughter came from behind, it was Sakagami. "If you say the same thing as me, most people will think so." "Isn't it?" Song Gong asked Xiao Lin. Kobayashi smiled triumphantly. "The Internet generation has never used a paper timetable, so they think so simply. What I see now is the timetable for Sendai to Ishinomaki. The final destination." "Ah!" Song Gong called out, "That's right, it's possible to change trains there." "That's right. In fact, there are other pages where many fingerprints were also detected." Xiaolin turned to the next page of the timetable. That page is the timetable of the Ishinomaki Line.The two ends of this railway are Oguda Station and Onagawa Station, and Ishinomaki Station is in the middle. "There are traces of fingers touching the timetable on this page, which is this station." Xiao Lin pointed out. "Onagawa Station..." Song Gong read it in a low voice, and Xiao Lin nodded seriously. "This is the end of Ishinomaki. This is the end, and there is nowhere to go. It is reasonable to infer that Watabe's final destination is Onagawa." "Speaking of Onagawa—" "You'll think of a nuclear power plant." The voice came from behind again, but this time it wasn't Sakagami.Turning around, Kaga was walking towards them, holding a paper bag in his hand. "I'm sorry to ask you to come here." Kobayashi said. "Where, I also said on the phone that I was just trying to contact you." Kaga came to them and put the paper bag on the ground, "I heard that the timetable showed fingerprints." "Yes, this is the page with fingerprints." Kobayashi pointed to the timetable of the Ishinomaki Line. Kaga picked up the timetable and whispered: "It's been with me for so long, but I haven't noticed it at all." "It's no wonder that fingerprints cannot be seen with the naked eye. On the contrary, you have never been in direct contact, saving us a lot of effort." "It's just a matter of habit." "Tell me, do you have any impression of nuclear power plants?" Kaga returned the timetable to Kobayashi and said: "Yes. I once heard Ms. Miyamoto Yasuyo say that my mother said that Mr. Watabe Shunichi was engaged in electricity. Just now, I have confirmed it with Ms. Miyamoto on the phone, and it is true. It is just whether it is nuclear power factory, she has never heard of it.” "The traffic is inconvenient now because of the earthquake, but at that time it only took one and a half hours to go back and forth between Onagawa and Sendai. If Watabe Shunichi was an operator of the nuclear power plant, he would usually stay in Onagawa and go to Sendai on holidays." "I feel the same way. According to Ms. Miyamoto, Mr. Watabe often has to work in other places and will leave Miyagi Prefecture every once in a while. And many nuclear energy operators will move to other nuclear power plants after the regular inspection is completed. look for a job." "A job is coming. From the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant operator—hey, let's assign the job." The criminal policeman who was named responded and gathered around the desk with others. "Finally a step forward, so that the face of the department head will be saved." Xiao Lin put the timetable back on the table with a face of peace of mind. "Where is Mr. Ishigaki today?" Kaga asked. "I went to this hall with the administrator. By the way, you said you have something to report to him, right? Let me pass it on for you." Kaga took out a thick photo album from the paper bag on the ground. "Perhaps you already know from Matsunomiya Detective, I am focusing on the July bridge washing event and collecting photos. This is one of them." "I've heard about it. The focus is good, but the project is too huge. How many copies have you collected?" Kaga tilted his head slightly and replied, "The results of searching everywhere... all add up to about 5,000 sheets." Xiao Lin opened his mouth wide, turned to look at Song Gong, but the latter was also speechless. "Are you going to find someone who might be Koshikawa, that is, Watabe Shunichi? Just rely on a portrait sketch?" "This is indeed a very difficult assignment. As soon as I see colleagues who are free, I ask them to help, but the progress is still limited. The so-called portrait sketches, everyone has a different opinion." "I suppose so. So, what do you have to report today?" Kaga opened the photo album in his hand. "I still don't know if I can find Mr. Watanabe, but I found a photo of a very important person, so I brought it here." "An important person?" "You'll know it when you see it." The photo he pointed to was of a group of children cleaning the bridge deck with brushes, while nearby adults took their pictures with cameras. But in this photo, those are just the background.The photographer is clearly focusing on the profile of a woman just in front. Slightly thicker eyebrows, long eyes, slightly curved nose bridge, and tightly closed lips that make people feel strong-willed-it's Hiromi Asagi.
"Oh, this. It turns out that this photo was also mixed in, so I'm so sorry." Teru Yaguchi picked up the photo and shrank his neck.He was about forty-four or five years old.Although he is short in stature, he has a lot of flesh, and his belly is round and protruding in a sweater. "Looking at the date, this seems to have been taken eight years ago." When Kaga asked, Yaguchi nodded briskly. "That's right. It was the third year they asked me to shoot the bridge, and that's when I started to get the focus." "As far as this photo is concerned, it doesn't look like it just happened to be taken." "This is... yes, it was intentional." Yaguchi smiled awkwardly, and put his right hand behind his head, "I was taking pictures of the children washing the bridge, and I accidentally looked around and saw Hiromi Kadokura. She was originally She wears sunglasses all the time, so I didn't notice it, only then she took off her glasses. I used to like her a lot. She seems to rarely perform now, but an actress is an actress after all, the light on her face It’s different from ordinary people, so I secretly pressed the shutter. That’s right, I forgot about this photo. I should have seen it before handing it over to Mr. Criminal Police.” Matsumiya and Kagami's coffee shop in Ginza.They made an appointment here to meet with the freelance photographer Yaguchi.Yaguchi was entrusted by a travel agency to take pictures of Nihombashi's washing activities since ten years ago, and this photo is included in it. "Is this the only one you took?" Kaga asked. "This is the only photo of Hiromi Kadokura. If she finds out, it would be a mess. And like I said, she took off her sunglasses just for a moment." Yaguchi Pouting the straw in his mouth, he drank his iced coffee. "Is she alone? Does no one walk with her?" I don't know—— Yaguchi tilted his head and said: "Maybe, but I didn't see it. I don't remember it very well, but I think she was standing there alone." "Really? Alone..." "Excuse me—" Yaguchi said, looking at Kaga and Matsumiya in turn. "Is this a case? Is there something wrong with this picture?" "No, absolutely not." Kaga replied, "I also explained to you a few days ago that there is a case that may be related to the cleansing of the bridge. After analyzing the photos I borrowed from you, I found that only this one has an actress. So we wondered if something special happened this year." "So that's what happened. No, I don't think anything special happened. It's the same as in previous years. As I said just now, I just took a picture because I happened to see Hiromi Kadokura." "Really? Did you talk to Kadokura-san?" "No." Yaguchi waved his hand. Kaga's gaze turned to Matsumiya, meaning do you have any questions? "Is this the only time you saw Miss Kadokura at the bridge washing event?" Matsumiya asked. "Yes. Maybe she goes every year, but I don't see it." Hearing Yaguchi's answer, Matsumiya saluted and said, "Thank you for your cooperation." As soon as he walked out of the coffee shop, Kaga asked, "What do you think?" "I hit it, I can't be wrong." Songgong replied immediately, "The words on the calendar are related to Asagi Hiromi. Eight years ago, in July, she was on Nihombashi, and it was obviously a private action. Maybe she had I went to Willow Bridge in February, I went to Asakusa Bridge in February. March is..." "Saemon Bridge, and then Tokiwa Bridge in April." "Yes. Like this, she will go to those bridges in the order written in that calendar, maybe every year." "It's possible." "If this reasoning is correct, Asagi Hiromi is connected to the two deceased, Michiko Oshitani and Mutsuo Koshikawa." "That's right." Kaga's voice sank slightly. "I understand Brother Gong's feelings. You don't want to doubt Qianju Bomei, right? But when things have come to this point, we have to put aside our personal relationship." When Matsumiya said this, Kaga stopped unexpectedly. "It would be a lie to say that I have no personal affair at all, and I don't want to doubt that she is also true. But, because of this, it is even more necessary to confirm. Maybe when I looked at those five thousand photos, I hoped not to find her." "Find her? Brother Gong, so you're not looking for the person on the sketch?" "On the face of it. At that stage, wouldn't it be rude to you if I found Miss Qianju without authorization?" "It turned out to be like this, no wonder I feel a little strange." "No matter how patient I am, I don't think I can find a person I have never met from 5,000 photos with just a sketch of a portrait." "Then you said to ask young colleagues to help?" Kaga smiled wryly, "That's a little lie." "It turned out to be like this. That is to say, in the end, Brother Gong also felt that there was something wrong with Qianju Bomei. Because he was an old acquaintance with him, he thought of it all at once." Kaga pointed at Matsumiya's chest with a serious face, "This is it." "What? Which?" "I've always found one thing very strange, that is, this murder has too much to do with me personally. It doesn't matter that Mutsuo Koshikawa is Shunichi Watabe. After being a detective for so long, it is inevitable that the deceased will be known to me. human condition. But even the suspect is, which is too coincidental, and the ways in which I have known the two men are completely unrelated." "I think so too, but it actually happened, and there's nothing to be done about it. You can't just exclude Asagi Hiromi from the list of suspects on the grounds that it's too coincidental." Kaga shook his head, "That's not what I said." "Otherwise what is it?" "What I want to say is - this is not a coincidence, there must be a reason for it." Kaga looked into the distance.