Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Surprising Discovery

When the people around the trunk of the car noticed a moth-like imprint coated with silver powder on the black spare wheel, they forgot that it was discovered by the confused detective - Kosuke Kindaichi, and everyone showed a surprised expression. "Mr. Kindaichi, do you think the moth body fluids and scale powder on the victim's coat came from this moth?" Police officer Hibino swept away his previous unfriendly attitude and asked in a gentle tone. Kosuke Kindaichi's discovery of the moths was purely coincidental, but it also proved that the contradictions he had just pointed out at the murder scene did exist because of this discovery.

"That's the only way to assume at the moment, there seems to be a lot of these moths around here." "Why did moths fly into the suitcase? And it was crushed like this..." Officer Hibino restrained his excitement, looked at the young detective in front of him and said: "Gu Chuan, ask someone to take this moth back for identification, and see if the scales of this moth are the same as the scales on the victim's coat just now." "yes." Detective Furukawa carefully put the squashed moths into plastic bags.Detective Kondo looked at his figure walking away quickly, then turned to look at Kindaichi Kosuke and said:

"Mr. Kindaichi, if the scales on the victim's coat are the same as the moths in the suitcase, what does that mean?" Detective Kondo's tone of speech was not as aggressive as before, and he looked at Kosuke Kindaichi with kindness and surprise. "Mr. Kondo, what do you think of this matter?" "Could it be that Shen Gongwu was stuffed in the suitcase by the murderer?" As soon as he finished speaking, he hurriedly looked around at the people around him. "Mr. Knee, you mean..." "The victim was killed by the murderer somewhere outside before being transported here by the murderer."

Kosuke Kindaichi turned to look at the key chain in Police Officer Hibino's hand and said: "Officer Hibino, is there a key to the villa in the keychain?" "Yes, the key to the front door is in that bunch of keys." "Mr. Kondo, please try again, please? After the trial, take Mr. Asuka and Feng Nudo away from here by the way. They have nothing to do now." Police officer Hibino understood Kosuke Kindaichi's approach: "Kondo, go talk to them both! But please stay in Karuizawa for now." "By the way, please tell them that I will visit them in the villa soon."

"OK." So Detective Kondo took the keychain to try to open it once. When he came back from the villa, Asuka Zhongxi's Cadillac just drove out of the villa. Kosuke Kindaichi looked back, and saw Chiyoko in the car nodding to him, and Tadashi Asuka was blocked by Chiyoko's body. "Have you ever mentioned the trunk of the car to anyone else?" "No, I just said that this bunch of keys was found from the car, and I didn't mention the moth at all." "Is this bunch of keys really Shen Gongwu's?" Kindaichi Kosuke continued to ask. "I showed it to Nemoto Mitsuko, and she said it was indeed Shin Kyogo's keychain."

"So, only the studio key is not on the keychain." "Emimoto Mitsuko doesn't know why this happened. That's right. Mr. Asuka said that everything is up to you, and that he will wait for you at the villa." "Oh, thank you." At this time, Police Officer Hibino looked at Kosuke Kindaichi suspiciously and said: "Mr. Kindaichi... Let's go to that studio and talk. By the way, Furukawa, please check the suitcase carefully. Mr. Kindaichi, it's necessary to take fingerprints, right?" "Of course, of course!" "Maybe the victim's fingerprints can be found."

Detective Kondo muttered to himself. Next, Kosuke Kindaichi, Police Officer Hibino, and Detective Kondo walked towards the studio together. At this time, Shen Kyogo's body had been transported away, and the candles and matchstick puzzles remained at the scene. Officer Hibino opened the door cautiously and looked back at Kosuke Kindaichi. "Mr. Kindaichi, what's your opinion?" "Mr. Kondo, you are an old-timer in the police force, what do you think?" "Oh! You say that, but I feel..." Unexpectedly, the old fox detective would be embarrassed, and his face suddenly flushed.

"It's true that I'm several years older than the two, so... I'll just talk about my own opinion. If the deceased was stuffed into a suitcase by the murderer and transported here, then the question just now can be easily solved." "You said that the deceased was transported in a suitcase, which means that the deceased was already dead at that time?" Officer Hibino then asked the question. "Well, no one is willing to be stuffed into a suitcase!" Detective Kondo said while scratching his gray hair: "Mr. Kindaichi said just now that the murderer and the victim may come back together, or they may return here separately. However, the doubtful point mentioned by Mr. Kindaichi is that if the victim is still alive, if the victim returns here, he will be dead. , so the question can be clarified.”

"Please be more specific." "Okay, let me start with the victim's actions last night. Shin Kyogo drove that car out last night. Although we are not sure what time it was, but according to Nemetsuko, Shin Kyogo was around six Leave here around 1:00. Let’s continue thinking from here, when Shen Feiwu closed the doors and windows of the villa, and as soon as he got into the car, he put this bunch of keys on the seat cushion of the front seat.” "Why did he put the chain of keys on the front seat cushion?" Police officer Hibino raised questions again. "You see, there are six keys in this key chain, which is not convenient to put in the pocket, so he put the key chain on the seat cushion of the front seat."

"I see. What's next?" "Then he went out to meet people. We called this person by the 'X' that Mr. Kindaichi said just now. When Shin Kyogo met with 'X', Shin Kyogo died because of taking potassium cyanate. 'X' and He didn't abandon the victim after his death. He might be worried that the body would be left at the scene of the murder and his identity would be easily exposed. So he searched for the things on the deceased and happened to find the key to the studio. At that time, he thought it was the villa. the key to..." "This is also human nature, because the deceased only had this key on him, and anyone would think that it was the key to the villa."

With the help of Kindaichi Kosuke, Detective Kondo became more and more proud of his words. "So the murderer thought that he could use that key to enter the villa, and as long as he entered the villa, he could get a spoon or a cup. In this way, he could arrange the scene as if the deceased committed suicide. The first scene of the murder was this villa, so the murderer put Shen Gongwu's body in the trunk of Shen Gongwu's car..." "So what's the explanation for the moth in the suitcase? How did it get into the suitcase?" Officer Hibino was still puzzled. Detective Kondo thought for a while, and when he didn't know how to justify himself, Kosuke Kindaichi helped him out at the right time: "Officer Hibino, let's look at it from another angle. The moth was originally not in the suitcase, but in the same room as 'X'. Shin Kyougo accidentally sat on the moth and didn't notice it at the same time. Drink 'X' and bring him a drink mixed with potassium cyanate; when the murderer picked up Shin Kyogo's body, the crushed moth stuck to Shin Kyogo's coat and stuffed them together in a suitcase for transport Come here. How do you feel about that inference?" "Yes, it is like that!" Detective Kondo rattled his stubby fingers. "So, there should be moth scales left on the chair or stool where Shin Kyogo was killed." "As long as 'X' hasn't noticed it and cleaned it up." Police officer Hibino suddenly showed a disturbed expression. He remembered that when Kosuke Kindaichi pointed out that the victim's coat was stained with moth scales, Tadashi Asuka happened to be at the scene. He looked at Kosuke Kindaichi with some disbelief and said: "What about again? 'X' put Shen Gongwu's body in the suitcase, and then drive the body back by himself?" "Yes, because 'X' knows that only Shen Gongwu lives in this villa at night." "Didn't 'X' notice a bunch of keys on the front seat cushion then?" "'X' should not have noticed the bunch of keys. If he had noticed, he could have arranged this murder case more perfectly. When 'X' found the key to the studio in the dead man's pocket, he had already committed a crime. Made a serious mistake." Kosuke Kindaichi smiled and said: "That's right. Mr. Kondo, what do you think of the real murder scene?" Detective Kondo thought for a moment before saying: "Could it be in a villa with a vast courtyard? There is a long distance from the courtyard gate to the entrance, so... Even if the car is parked next to the entrance, people passing by will not notice the car." Asuka Tadashi's villa appeared in Kondo detective's mind.Although Kosuke Kindaichi had only glimpsed it just now, it seemed that only that villa met the conditions mentioned by Kondo Detective. "If that's the case, why is only the studio key not on the keychain? That's a big question." "I don't think it's a big deal, maybe the deceased thought it was more convenient. All in all, there's nothing unreasonable about the fact that the studio key isn't on the keychain." "Since you say so, it must be the case!" Kosuke Kindaichi smiled wryly.However, this problem was quickly resolved. (Why is only the studio key removed from the keychain?) Kindaichi Kosuke was thinking secretly in his heart. Police officer Hibino still can't let go of the key. "In short, 'X' mistook the key in the victim's pocket for the key to the gate of the villa, so he packed the victim's body in a suitcase and drove it here. What's next?" "But this key is not the key to the gate of the villa after all, and the 29th and 30th years of the Showa era was a period when thieves were rampant, so the villa was equipped with a canopy to make it difficult to break in from the outside. At this juncture, 'X' can't just throw away the corpse! At this time, 'X' noticed that the key was actually the key of the workshop, so he had no choice but to carry the corpse into the workshop, but there was neither a spoon nor a cup in it. It's a million miles away from what 'X' originally planned, so the stage setup for this homicide case looks much rougher." "And what about the matches and candles? Did 'X' bring them here himself?" "That's right. Didn't the time of the victim's death be around nine o'clock? There was a power outage at about 8:03 last night. At that time, the Karuizawa area was blacked out, so no matter where the victim met 'X', he had to With the help of candle light... I think Mr. Kindaichi should have noticed, please look at the small hole at the bottom of that candle." Kosuke Kindaichi also found that the small hole at the bottom of the candle seemed to have been cut by a metal protrusion, so it became larger. "Are there any fingerprints on that candle?" "No. There are traces of being wiped with a handkerchief on the candle. This murder was planned by 'X' from the very beginning." "Do you think that although 'X' came here with the corpse and the candle, he didn't notice the candlestick on the shelf, so he just dripped wax oil on the table to fix the candle on the table?" Officer Hibino spoke without any intonation. "Well, if 'X' brought the candle holder here by himself, it would be easier to show his flaws. The position of the candle is a bit strange, because it was made by the murderer, he must have been very nervous at the time." "And what about those matchsticks?" "Probably the victim was on a whim when he met 'X', or he wanted to use the arrangement of matchsticks to explain the matter. But 'X' wanted to let the police think that this was the first scene of the murder, so he only brought Matchsticks come here without a matchbox." "why?" Kindaichi Kosuke asked Kondo detective with a smile. "Maybe there is an 'X' fingerprint left on the matchbox? Mr. Kanedaichi, those are all red and green matchsticks. The villas in this area all use liquid gas, and the gas shop usually prepares matches for customers; The size is a little smaller than a postcard, and there are red and green matchsticks inside. Two-color matchsticks or matchboxes like this are everywhere in the villas in Karuizawa. 'X' thought that the victim's villa should have matches Box, I didn't expect him to make a wrong move in this move." At this time, Police Officer Hibino looked at Kosuke Kindaichi slyly and said: "Mr. Kindaichi, when you saw the corpse, did you immediately realize that the corpse was moved here from another place?" Kindaichi Kosuke replied with a smile: "I am neither clairvoyant nor can I use spells. How could I know! But there are many contradictions in this, and I have never been able to let these contradictions go unnoticed... We should not let these doubts continue to exist, but treat them as a message, Accumulate one by one. Reasoning does not come out of nothing, it is the accumulation of a lot of information. I continue to accumulate these information, and think about what is going on, and luckily, I found in the suitcase That moth." "The moment you found Yue Fei Moth, did you immediately infer that the corpse was brought in from outside?" "Officer Hibino, these are all based on accumulated experience. I have dealt with cases like this before that attempted to confuse the first scene of the murder by moving the corpse. I just have more experience than you, so I can directly think of this part." "By the way, Mr. Kindaichi, I heard that your experience in handling cases has spread all over the country." Kindaichi Kosuke smiled bitterly and said: "You're flattering! Officer Hibino, don't you admire me so much just because I found moth bodily fluids and scale powder on the dead body, or found a dead moth in the suitcase? That's only in a very accidental situation I saw it, and even if I didn’t, your police would. Although there are already a lot of information here, the mystery in my heart will not be reduced because of this. "Like what you said earlier about the arrangement of matchsticks... Before Shen Gongwu was killed, either he was playing with matchstick puzzles, or he wanted to use matchsticks to explain things. I think the latter is more likely. And it is also possible that You said that the murderer wanted the police to mistake this place for the first scene of the murder case, so he imitated the scene of the first scene of the murder case and reproduced the first scene here, but why did the murderer bring these matches here? It’s simply superfluous!” "Then you mean..." "If Shen Gongwu wants to explain something to the murderer through the arrangement of these matchsticks, these arrangements must have some meaning. Although the arrangement of these matchsticks is somewhat messy, these arrangements contain at least four symbols. Let these arrangements go through If the arranged match sticks are reproduced here, wouldn’t it be fatal to the murderer?” Officer Hibino said in a low voice: "Mr. Kindaichi, Mr. Asuka seems to have some experience with these arrangements. Does he really understand the meaning of these matches?" "This..." Kosuke Kindaichi suddenly showed a smile, and just as he was about to speak with a strange expression, a figure appeared outside the open door of the studio. Standing at the door was Nemoto Mitsuko, followed by a man wearing clothes with the words "Mikawa House" printed on it. "Sorry." Mitsuko Nemoto, around fifty years old, looked into the studio with trepidation. "Ah! Ms. Nemoto, what's the matter?" "This is Sudou, the clerk of 'Mikawa House'. He said he has something to tell you about the key to this studio..." Upon hearing the words "the key to the studio", Officer Hibino couldn't help but look back at Detective Kondo and Kosuke Kindaichi. "Mr. Sudou, please come in, what do you say about the key to this studio?" Detective Kondo's questioning attitude is very cordial. Sudou was about twenty-two or three years old, and walked into the studio with an unnatural expression. "It was about two o'clock yesterday afternoon...my shop is in the old road. At that time, I was riding a scooter to deliver goods in the direction of Yazaki. Suddenly someone called 'Mikawaya, Mikawaya' behind me. I looked back and it turned out to be The owner here; he got out of the car and stood beside it." "and then?" "He asked me where I was going to deliver the goods, and I told him honestly that I was going to Yazaki to deliver the goods to the homes of three other customers; he asked me if I had to make a detour to other places on the way, and I replied no, and I would be there after delivery I want to go back; he went on to say: "So can I borrow you for half an hour?" I asked him: "What can I do for you?" He said: "I want you to go to my house and help me get something." Said Then take a key from this bunch of keys and give it to me." Sudou pointed to the key chain that Detective Kondo was holding. "The key he gave you is the key to this studio?" "yes." "What did he want you to help him with?" "Hoshino Onsen is holding a modern music festival for three days yesterday, today and tomorrow, composed and conducted by Mr. Shinji Tsumura. Since the invitation letter for the concert was placed in this studio, he asked me to come back here Get him that invitation." "Did you agree to his request?" "Well, because I happen to be in this area to deliver." "When you come back here to get the invitation letter, where will Shen Gongwu wait for you?" "He said he was waiting for me at a coffee shop called 'Geelong' on the old road." "At that time, Shen Gongwu was alone? Or did he have friends by his side?" Kosuke Kindaichi asked this question. Sudou moved his eyes to Kosuke Kindaichi for a while, then looked at Police Officer Hibino and said: "Yes, he brought a friend with him." "What kind of person? Male or female?" "It's a lady. I heard that she is Ms. Hochiyoko's daughter—Fute Koji Misa." "Fute Koji Misa?" Police Officer Hibino's eyes under the lens immediately flashed sharply, and Kosuke Kindaichi couldn't help but pursed his lips, as if about to whistle. "Judging from the attitude of the two of them talking at the time... Although Mr. Shen has an invitation letter, he doesn't intend to participate. He met Miss Di Xiaolu in the old road, and at the request of the lady, he reluctantly agreed to watch the music meeting." "So you've come here specifically to tell us about it?" Detective Kondo asked. "yes." "Why doesn't Mitsuko know about this at all?" Nemoto Mitsuko said timidly: "It's like this...Mr. Sudou came here around 2:30. At that time, I just went to the neighbor next door to borrow an electric iron. The electric iron here is broken..." "Anyway, when I arrived here, Ms. Gen was not in the room, and I was afraid of making Mr. Shen wait too long, so I went straight into the studio." "Where is the invitation in the studio?" Kindaichi Kosuke asked. "On the coffee table." "Was the studio door locked at that time?" "Well, it's locked dagger." "You also locked the door when you left here?" "Of course!" "Then you went to Jilang with the invitation letter?" "yes." "When you got there, was Miss Misa still there?" "She's still there, and I always find it weird to see the two of them sitting together." "What kind of weird method?" "I heard that Mr. Shen and Ms. Meisha used to be... father-daughter relationship." Sudou showed an ambiguous smile, then lowered his head. "When you returned the key to the studio to Shin Kyogo, what did he do with that key?" "Ms. Nemoto asked me the same question. I put the key on the table with the invitation letter, and Mr. Shen said thank you, and I left 'Kichiro', so I don't know what he did with the key." "Officer, you can ask Ms. Meisha about this matter!" After Police Officer Hibino nodded, Kosuke Kindaichi next to him continued: "Ms. Nemoto, is there any difference between the clothes Shen Gongwu wore when he went out yesterday afternoon and when you found him this morning?" "Only the jacket is different, and the trousers on his body are the same. He didn't wear work clothes at noon yesterday." "Where's the hat?" "He doesn't like wearing hats. Generally, painters often wear a kind of peaked cap. I once asked him why he didn't wear that kind of hat. He smiled and said he didn't like that kind of thing." (After Shin Kyogo got the key back from Sudou, he probably put it in his pants pocket! That's why the key wasn't chained with other keys. If this is the case, then you must have a good talk with Tsumura Shinji. ) According to the content of the program list found in the pocket of the coat that Shen Gongwu wore yesterday, the concert is divided into two stages: afternoon and evening. The afternoon session starts at 3:00, which is the symposium time for the composer and the audience. Kosuke Kindaichi looked down at his watch. (It's half past three, and Shinji Tsumura should still be in Hoshino Onsen.) "Mr. Kindaichi, we are rushing to Hoshino Hot Springs now, what are your plans?" "If it's convenient, can I go with you? But before that, we might as well investigate this villa carefully." "What's in the villa?" "Let's investigate together, too!" The "investigation" that Kosuke Kindaichi referred to was looking through the book Tadashi Asuka took off the shelf to read just now. The two books that Asuka Zhongxi read are both archaeological documents, one is "The Material Culture of Early" and the other is "History and Monuments of Ur", both of which discuss Mesopin Damia A primer on ancient civilizations. "Mr. Kindaichi, what is this?" Kosuke Kindaichi didn't answer, he turned to the last page of the book and showed it to the two of them, only to see a bright red private seal on it: "This is Mr. Bird's collection!" "Ask evil! It seems that he has met Shen Gongwu recently." "Perhaps! I don't think this book has been borrowed since last year. Mr. Asuka was looking for things in the studio frequently just now, and he was probably looking for this book." "But he didn't say anything." "I don't know whether he thinks there is no need to speak out, or because Ms. Feng is present. But we can know from this incident that Ms. Feng's four ex-husbands may not have any contact with Mr. Asuka." Kosuke Kindaichi flipped through the book "History and Remains of Nyuer" non-stop. After a while, he seemed to find what he was looking for. He grinned and said: "Officer Hibino, look at this. This is cuneiform, isn't it similar to the arrangement of matchsticks just now?" What Kosuke Kindaichi turned over to police officer Hibino was a photo of a clay tablet unearthed in Ur, engraved with ancient Mesopotamian writing and cuneiform writing, which looks a bit like the arrangement of matchsticks. Officer Hibino opened his eyes wide and shouted: "Mr. Kindaichi, are you saying that Shin Kyogo wanted to express something in cuneiform before he died?" Kosuke Kindaichi smiled and said: "It's unlikely. I don't think Shen Gongwu has such a profound knowledge of cuneiform." "But why is Mr. Asuka so concerned about the arrangement of the matchsticks?" "This... Mr. Kondo." Kindaichi Kosuke said interestingly: "Perhaps he regarded the arrangement patterns of these matchsticks as cuneiform characters. He was very interested in the ancient oriental civilization. In his eyes, no matter what it looked like, it was not like the cuneiform characters of Mesopotamia, but like Egyptian hieroglyphs; it's like a Go player who, when he looks up at the hollow in the ceiling, imagines it to be a chessboard, hahaha! And..." "And what?" "Recently, an expert in this field visited Mr. Asuka! I think the reason why Mr. Asuka copied the arrangement pattern of matchsticks was probably to ask that expert for advice. I don't know which expert saw these matchstick arrangements. What kind of reaction will the graphics come out? Haha..." Kosuke Kindaichi laughed while scratching his hair that was messed up like a bird's nest. Police Officer Hibino and Detective Kondo looked at each other with puzzled faces.