Chapter 17 Chapter 3 Manila

Totsukawa immediately made an international call to the Manila Police Department.He wants to know whether the report is true or not.The other party was answered by Rodden Riggs.He is the deputy commissioner of the Manila Police Department.Judging from the name, it seems to be a Spanish immigrant.He speaks English with a Spanish accent, speaking slowly and clearly. On the outskirts of Manila, a Japanese-looking body was indeed found.The face was bloody and bloody. Whether it was Toshio Egami was impossible to determine. "Surely it's Japanese?" Totsukawa asked. "Yes, they are Japanese."

"how tall?" "One meter eighty. Age, I don't know, about thirty or so." Rodden Riggs replied.Its shape is the same as that of Egami. "Does he have a passport with him?" "No. Was it forgotten in the hotel, or was it stolen? I don't know. It seems that the latter is more likely." "why?" "Because the wallet is also missing. And the watch..." "Did the victim wear jewelry?" "No. Only the wallet." "Can I have my fingerprints?" "This..." Rodon Riggs paused for a while and said, "The fingerprints cannot be taken."

"why?" "The fingers were all burned. I don't know what to do. It's very cruel," said Roddenligs.He might be shrugging his shoulders on the other end of the phone.The tone of his voice suggested that. Did the deceased want to completely hide his identity? "Has the body been transported to the Manila Police Station?" "yes." "Is there any trace of the operation in the body?" "Evidence of cecal surgery. Appears to be a recent operation." "We may come to your country once, please take care of us." Totsukawa said.

After speaking with the Philippine Police Department, Totsukawa immediately got in touch with Egami's sister.Miyako also watched TV, she really wanted to fly to Manila immediately. "Let's go together." Totsukawa said to Miyako.Afterwards, he asked Chief Bendo to go to Manila. "Do you think that corpse is Toshio Egami?" Honda asked. "I don't know. It looks a bit like it from the outside, maybe it's Jiang Shang's stand-in." "Did you pretend to die?" "Yes. The bloodied face and the burned fingers always felt like it was done on purpose."

"yes." "It's just that if you don't go to the field to investigate, you can't find out the truth, so..." "Got it, let's go back early." Honda said. In the afternoon of the same day, Totsukawa and Miyako took a Philippine flight to Manila. "Your husband won't have any objections?" Totsukawa asked after he sat down on the plane. "My husband and I are divorced." Miyako said flatly. Totsukawa quickly said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." "It wasn't caused by this incident. There was disharmony before. This incident just made the contradiction superficial."

"Even so, that's not a good feeling." "But, no matter what, I can stand it." "Do you still think Brother Ling is innocent?" "Yes. My brother is not the type to do that kind of thing." Miyako's tone was firm. Four and a half hours later, we arrived at Manila Airport.Stepping off the gangway, a heat wave of 30 degrees hits Totsugawa.He is not used to such high temperature.I heard a strange foreign language in my ears again. "I'm going to the Manila Police Station right now, how about you?" Totsukawa asked Miyako. "I'll go as well."

Totsukawa hailed a taxi and went straight to the police station.Miyako stared intently at the scene outside the car window. "Have you ever been to Manila?" Totsukawa asked.Miyako remained silent, staring at the scenery outside the window intently.Apparently, she has been to Manila. As soon as he arrived at the Manila Police Station, Rodon Riggs greeted him.He is not tall, with clean shaved beard and green beard on his fair face, he is a beautiful southern European man. After Totsukawa introduced Miyako to Rodon Riggs, Rodon Riggs spread his hands and said: "It is undoubtedly a heavy blow to you. I pray in my heart that the corpse is not your brother."

"Thank you." Miyako said gratefully. Rodden Riggs led the two to the mortuary.As soon as the white cloth was lifted, even Totsukawa, who was used to seeing dead people, closed his eyes, which was horrible.The cheeks, eyes, and nose were smashed and bloody. The shape of his face is very similar to that of Jiang Shang.But it's still hard to tell whether it's Jiang Shang or not. The body was completely naked.There were small holes in the chest and abdomen from bullets.Hit at least three times.The fingers, as Rodenligs said on the phone, were all burned and festered, the purpose of which was of course to make fingerprinting impossible.

Miyako bit her lip, staring at the dead body without moving. "Is that your brother?" Totsukawa asked in a low voice. "Yes. The chest is broad and the ankles are small, which is very similar to my brother's appearance. The shape of the toes is also very similar." Miyako said.She seemed strangely calm.Totsukawa felt both relieved and surprised. "What about after the cecum operation?" "Have the same scars as this one too." "Are you sure it's your brother?" "Yes. I hope it's not my brother, but it is indeed my brother." Miyako said.

"But why did you make your face look like this, and burn your fingers, making it unrecognizable." "How do I know?" "Is it really your brother?" After Miyako agreed, Totsukawa told Rodon Riggs beside him in English. "Poor, really pitiful." After Roden Riggs said, he hugged Miyako: "I will definitely catch the criminal for you." On that day, Totsukawa and Miyako stayed at a hotel in the city.The next morning Rodden Riggs' voice came over the phone: "A suspect has been caught, please come to the police station." Both Totsukawa and Miyako spoke to Rodon Riggs on the microphone, and then went to the Manila Police Station immediately.

Rodden Riggs proudly said to Totsukawa: "He is the suspect." Rodden Riggs pointed at the man in shackles and sitting on a chair. "Isn't that a child?" Totsukawa looked at Rodden Riggs in surprise.The man was no more than fifteen or sixteen years old. "Don't look at him as a child, he already has a criminal record of attempted murder, and, please see..." Rodon Riggs took out a passport issued by the Japanese government from the drawer and showed it to Totsukawa. That was Toshio Egami's passport.It bears the seal of Japan.Totsukawa handed the passport to Miyako. "This is my brother's passport." After speaking, he held it tightly in his hand. "Does that boy have this passport?" Totsukawa asked Rodden Riggs. "Yes. We have been paying attention to his whereabouts for a long time." Rodden Riggs pointed out a finger and said: "First, his family lives near the place where he was killed on the river. Second, he has a previous criminal record. Third, as soon as he saw me , he fled. His passport and sixty dollars were also found on him." "How did he explain it?" "At first it was picked up. Then it was said that it was taken from the pocket of the corpse." "Don't you believe it?" "I don't believe it. I don't believe he did it alone. He didn't have a gun, though he was a villain. I thought there must be a master with a gun. He was just a coward." "But what's the use of stealing someone else's passport, and it's a passport issued by the Japanese government?" "It's useful. Recently, many rogues and criminals in Japan have fled to Manila and are in urgent need of passports. They take passports to passport forgers, and they can make fake passports in a blink of an eye. That is to say, he can use passports to make huge profits." "I see." "Let me lead you to the place where you were killed on the river," said Rodden Riggs. Rodon Riggs drove himself and took Totsukawa and Miyako to the outskirts of Manila. The city of Manila is full of traffic and bustling.Groups of young people roaming the streets are very eye-catching.The unemployment rate in the Philippines is high, mainly among these unemployed young people. After the jeep drove for 20 minutes, the buildings and vehicles disappeared one by one, followed by coconut trees and paddy fields, presenting a rich pastoral scenery. The scorching sun was shining directly down, blinding.Rodden Riggs drove silently, while Miyako stared at the scenery outside the window intently.Suddenly, a dilapidated concrete building appeared in front of my eyes. The doors and windows were incomplete, the glass was broken, and the machines in the factory were rusted. "This is a textile factory funded by Japan, but it closed down and became ruins." Rodden Liggs said.He wanted to say a few more words, but in front of the Japanese, he swallowed the words again. Rodden Riggs parked near the ruins.It used to be a construction site, but now it is overgrown with weeds and barren. "This is where the body was found," said Rodden Riggs, pointing to the grass.The grass was crushed very messy and dark, probably a pool of blood. The three got out of the car and stood in the steaming grass.The sun was too harsh to keep one's eyes open. "Brother Ling, why did you come here?" Miyako shook her head. "What did she say?" asked Rotenriggs.Totsukawa translated Miyako's words into English.Rodden Riggs immediately said: "Jiangshang was kidnapped and killed here, because there is no one living here, and he can do whatever he wants." Indeed.It is desolate here.No car horns could be heard, no people could be seen.There is nothing but weeds, dilapidated factory buildings, and rusty machines. Miyako put a bouquet of flowers at the place where her brother was killed. At the middle of the day, in order to thank Rodon Riggs for his assistance, Totsukawa invited him to a Spanish restaurant for dinner.The two drank and ate.After drinking and eating, Rodenligs played the guitar enthusiastically, and sang while playing, with skillful skills and a mellow voice, which surprised Totsukawa.Of course, Rodden Riggs is an excellent policeman, and he cleverly found out the hotel where he was staying on the river. There is a luxurious Lisa Hotel near Manila Bay.In the hall stood a guard with a gun.American guests are happily playing poker by the pool. Rodon Riggs led Totsukawa and Miyako into the hotel lobby. "If you want to know something, please tell me." "Please show me the room where my brother lived." Miyako said. The guest rooms are scattered around the gourd-shaped pool, and the attendant leads them to a building.The building looks simple from the outside, but it is well-equipped and luxurious inside.The accommodation fee is very expensive, about two hundred dollars a night. "Does my brother live here alone?" Miyako asked the waiter directly in English. "Live with a woman, a Filipino woman." After the waiter answered in English, he exchanged a few words with Rodun Riggs in the local dialect. "That woman is a waitress at a certain club," Rodden Riggs said to Totsukawa. "Can I see her?" "It's not easy to find her. Besides, she has nothing to do with this matter. According to the waiter, Jiang Shang lived here with the waitress on the night of the 14th, and she left alone the next morning. After Jiang Shang settled the account one day later, Leaving the hotel. His body was found shortly after." "Did someone call him outside?" Totsukawa asked the waiter. "No." "How did he look when he paid the bill?" "Smiling. And said 'I'm very happy in the Philippines. Thank you.' and walked out of the hotel." Who was Jiang Shang brought to the "Desolate Villa" and killed? While Miyako continued to look around the room, Totsukawa walked towards the pool. Two young men, what appear to be newlywed travelers, are floating in a pool of water.An elderly Caucasian couple sitting by the pool and talking. "That's weird..." Totsukawa thought hard about what happened to Jiang Shang. Rodun Riggs believed that the Filipinos were out of their wits and killed Egami Toshio.The teenage murderer, armed with Egami's passport and dollars, has now been apprehended. "But..." Totsukawa thought, "If the criminal is a Filipino, then why kill Egami, disfigure his face, and burn his fingers? Is it necessary? To the Filipino criminal, Egami is just a rich Japanese. Completely There is no need to disfigure or burn your fingers." "According to Rodden Riggs, the teenage criminal stole passports and money from the body pockets. Is this testimony reliable? If so, then..." After Totsukawa and Miyako thanked Rodon Riggs, they returned to the hotel. "I want to cremate my brother's body in Manila and bring the remains back to Tokyo," Miyako said. Totsukawa invites Miyako to a cafe for coffee. "Please tell me about your brother." Totsukawa said. "My brother is dead." "Yes, I know. I'm going to write an investigative report on the case." "What do you want to know?" "Does your brother speak English well?" "Very fluent. He travels a lot overseas, so he speaks good English. But what does that have to do with the case?" "It doesn't matter. Another question, your brother has been to the Philippines more than once, right?" "I've been here about five or six times." "Thank you." Totsukawa said.But he did not say why the question was asked. The next day, Miyako went to the city to find a crematorium.Totsukawa went with Rodden Riggs to meet the forger.This gentleman is forty-five or sixteen years old, has been in the classroom several times, and claims that he is currently engaged in "proper work".In front of Totsukawa, he skillfully forged a passport issued by the Philippine government, which was almost identical to the real one, to the point of confusing the real one. Japanese passports, with a stamp on the photo, and Philippine passports, without a stamp on the photo, are relatively easy to forge. "As long as you pay three thousand pesos, you can get a fake passport." The man said nonchalantly. Totsukawa returned to Tokyo before Miyako.Kamei went to Narita Airport to pick up the station. "It's rumored in Tokyo that Egami has been killed in the Philippines. What's the situation there?" Kamei asked, handing the newspaper to Totsukawa.Sure enough, there was news in the newspaper: Toshio Egami, the leader of the jewelry store robbery, had been shot dead in the Philippines. Newspapers also reported on the arrest of a Filipino teenager by the Manila Police Department. "I saw Jiang Shang's body at the Manila Police Station. There were three bullets on the body. And the face was so bloodied that I couldn't make out. All the fingers were burned." "Are you sure Miyako is her brother?" "Yes. From the knife marks on the cecum, broad chest, thin feet and other characteristics, she confirmed that it was her brother." "It's unbelievable, but the incident is finally over!" "Well, I'm afraid that's the only way to go." "Do you have any questions?" "After robbing jewels worth 250 million yuan, Jiang Shang fled to Manila, but was shot to death by Filipinos, and the jewels fell into the hands of others." "Yes. Didn't the Manila police conclude that the murderer was a Filipino?" "However, why do Filipinos conceal Jiang Shang's identity? Is this necessary? I have many doubts about this." "Yes. Even if Jiang Shang's identity is revealed to the world, what does it have to do with Filipinos?" "So disfiguring his face and burning his fingers is puzzling." "But, hasn't Miyako been confirmed to be her brother?" "Yes. But maybe it's gibberish." "nonsense?" "She clearly knew that the body was not her brother, but if she told the truth, the police would question her endlessly, so she spouted nonsense." "So, where is the real Toshio Egami?" "After Jiang Shang fled to Manila, he knew that the police would trouble him sooner or later, so he set up a trap to be killed by a Filipino. He found a man with the same size as himself, took him to the suburbs, and then shot him with a gun. Death. Because the face and fingerprints of this person were different from his own, he was afraid of showing his feet, so he disfigured his face and burned his fingers. Then he put his passport in his pocket. In this way, the myth that Toshio Egami was killed in Manila was created. .” "So, Miyako gave false testimony?" "Yes. That's the only way to explain it. After Jiangshang got a scapegoat, he got a fake passport in Manila, a Philippine passport." "According to you, he is now a Filipino?" "Yes. He speaks fluent English and has been to Manila many times, so being a Filipino should not be too difficult for him." "Is he still in the Philippines?" "No. Maybe he has fled to Thailand or Indonesia. He has jewelry worth 250 million yuan, and he will soon be able to live a leisurely and peaceful life." Totsukawa said. After Kamei heard this, his face was clouded with sadness. "According to what you say, can Jiang Shang be caught? He has changed his name and surname, and his whereabouts are unknown." "Yeah, that's what happened." "How about Miyako? Can she admit to perjury?" "That's the hard part. She seems to be a strong-willed woman, and she loves her brother." "Is she divorced?" "She divorced for her brother. As far as I can see, she will not admit that she has perjured herself." After finishing speaking, Totsukawa shrugged his shoulders and said to himself: "Japan, it's so cold!" After Totsukawa returned to search the headquarters, he immediately reported the situation in Manila to Section Chief Honda.Like Kamei, Honda believes that if Egami is not dead, it will be difficult to find his whereabouts. A day later, Miyako returned to Narita Airport from Manila holding her brother's remains. A TV reporter was waiting for her at the airport and made a detailed report after the interview. Totsukawa and Kamei watched the TV news interviewing Miyako at the search headquarters. The interviewer is a female reporter from CCTV. "I want to ask you a few questions..." She held the microphone and asked as she walked. "Is this your brother's remains?" His tone revealed that it was the ashes of robbers and murderers. Miyako nodded, "Yes." "Did you see your brother's body in Mazulla?" "seen." "Did you recognize it as your brother at a glance? According to Philippine Radio, the deceased was disfigured and his fingers were burned." "My brother and I depend on each other for life. There is no mistake. I recognized the deceased as my brother at a glance." Miyako replied heartily. "Brother Ling broke into a jewelry store in Ginza, robbed jewelry worth 250 million yuan, and killed someone on the Shinkansen. As his sister, how do you feel?" "My brother would never do that kind of thing. The police made a mistake. I hope they will investigate again." Miyako said angrily into the microphone.Totsukawa in front of the TV screen felt that it was a protest to himself. "So, you think Brother Ling is innocent." The female reporter asked. "Of course. That goes without saying!" "I heard that you went to Manila with the police from the Metropolitan Police Department?" "Yes. I went with Officer Totsukawa." "Have you said anything similar to him?" "Yes, I did." "how is he?" "The police are also officials. Once the officials decide on a policy, even if it is wrong, they will stick to it to the end and will not change it. However, my brother is dead. I hope that the deceased will not be hurt." "Who do the Manila police think killed your brother? I heard that a criminal was caught. Have you seen him?" "Yes. The Manila police showed me the Filipino who stole my brother's passport and dollars. He was a kid, though. The Manila police think there is another culprit." "Do the Manila police have the confidence to catch the criminal immediately?" "They seem confident." "Please repeat what you are thinking now." "My brother is innocent. I hope the police will respect the facts." "What are you going to do in the future?" "First bury my brother's remains next to his parents' tomb. Then try to prove my brother's innocence with facts. If you don't do this, your brother will die in peace." Miyako replied. The TV camera followed Miyako's back. "When will Miyako's sad wish come true? Work hard, Miyako." The news report ended with the sad tone of the female reporter. Totsukawa reached out and turned off the TV. "She seems convinced that the corpse is her brother." Kamei said thoughtfully, tilting her head. "I think she is acting. She thinks that her brother is innocent, maybe it is true, but the body in Manila, she knows in her heart that it is not her brother." Totsukawa said. "But people will sympathize with her. The Japanese are tolerant of the dead. The young women's protests only intensify the sympathy," Kamei said uneasily. Indeed, as Kamei said, the Japanese are magnanimous to the dead.Does not like to flog the dead. "My brother is dead, he is innocent." Miyako's defense easily won the sympathy of the society. Of course the police attach importance to the truth, but they cannot completely ignore public opinion.What's more, the body outside Manila, which serves as important evidence, has been cremated. Whether the deceased is really Toshio Egami is no longer possible to investigate. An autopsy report from the Manila Police Department stated that the teeth had been destroyed.Therefore, it is really difficult to determine whether the deceased is Jiang Shang. "How is Detective Nishimoto recovering?" Totsukawa asked. "The doctor said that Nishimoto is young, strong and recovers relatively quickly. He can be discharged from the hospital around the end of the month." Kamei replied briskly. "How's the jewelry store owner doing?" "Boss Wada has been discharged from the hospital. I heard that he will go to Tohoku Hot Spring for recuperation soon. It is Naruko Hot Spring in Miyagi Prefecture." Detective Shimizu replied. "In this way, the jewelry store will not be closed?" "Yes. That is also impossible." "How's the shop girl?" "It's Midori Nakahara, right? She was slightly injured and was not hospitalized. Because the jewelry store was closed, she went back to her hometown of Kagoshima." "There are so many sequelae." Kamei said with emotion. How to search in the future?Totsukawa and Kamei felt at a loss.Contrary to what the police officers thought, TV stations and newspapers kept reporting that Toshio Egami had been killed in Manila. If it was true, then Jiang Shang's death marked the end of the incident, and the search headquarters should be disbanded.Because it is the Manila Police Department's job to investigate the criminal who killed Egami Toshio.They can also investigate the whereabouts of jewelry worth 250 million yuan.