Totsukawa remembered afterwards that the first call was a month ago. He remembers the call like this: "Is the Totsugawa police station there?" So he took the receiver from the young Nishimoto detective and replied: "I'm Totsukawa." The other party was a woman, and she asked again: "Mr. Police Department?" "Yes, it's me. What's the matter?" "Is there a lady named Hojo Sanae among Mr. Police Department's subordinates?" The other party asked again. ——Oh, it's her business that she wants to inquire! Totsukawa replied while thinking:

"Yes. It was assigned to us a year ago." "What kind of girl is she?" "Please wait a moment." Totsukawa covered the receiver with his hand and looked at Hojo's desk, but she wasn't there.Totsukawa suddenly remembered that she was off today. "Why are you asking about her situation? Is it a marriage investigation or something else?" Totsukawa asked puzzledly. Hojo Sanae should be 26 years old this year. It is really unbelievable that girls of this age are not married. "Ah, let it be." said the woman. "He is beautiful, cheerful, and very active in his work."

Totsukawa thought that if it was a marriage investigation, he had to say a few more good words, so he quickly answered like this. "She must be single at the moment?" "of course." "Miss Hojo has big eyes, fair skin, and a height of about 1.60 meters?" "yes." "I'm relieved to ask this. Then, about my inquiries about Ms. Hojo, can Mr. Police Department keep it a secret for me?" asked the other party. "Why is that?" "Because I doubted her condition, there is really nothing I can do." "But... I don't know your name yet!"

"I'm a person who wants Ms. Hojo to be happy." After speaking, the woman hung up the phone. Puzzled, Totsukawa told Detective Kamei about the contents of the phone call that day. "Then, it must be someone from a private detective agency or Xingxin." Kamei said with certainty. "Maybe." "It must be the man's parents who asked people from the detective agency or Xingxin Agency to understand her situation. Didn't some of our relatives ask us like this?" "But it's a woman who called." "There are a lot of female investigators recently! Especially about marriage investigations."

Kamei said. The next day, Sanae Hojo came to work.But Totsukawa didn't tell her about the phone call. Totsukawa took her to the lounge. "You are not young, don't you plan to get married?" Totsukawa asked tentatively. Sanae blinked her bright, big eyes and said: "Work comes first now, which is the top priority. Marriage should not be considered first." At that time, Totsukawa believed that Sanae denied it because she was shy. She is a 26-year-old girl, it's strange that she doesn't have a boyfriend!From the perspective of the man's parents, if the future daughter-in-law is a policeman, she will have a lot of ideas, so it is reasonable to entrust some agency to investigate.

Ten days later, another woman's voice called. This day happened to be Hojo Sanae's day off too, so she wasn't in class. "I asked you a lot about Ms. Hojo a few days ago, thank you very much." The other party thanked him very respectfully. "Do all police officers have business cards?" the woman asked next. "business card?" "Yes, I think Ms. Hojo should also have a business card." "There should be." "Did it say 'The Police Department's Criminal Division Investigated Section 1 inspected Hojo Sanae'?"

"That's the job. But what about the business card?" Totsukawa asked. "That's great. Thank you, thank you very much!" The other party will hang up the phone after speaking. "You haven't told us your name yet! If it's Hojo Sanae's marriage investigation, which detective agency or Koshin agency are you?" But the other party only said "I'm really sorry about this", and hung up the phone. Totsukawa was very angry, no matter what it was about the happiness or misfortune of his subordinates.But it was useless to be angry, he decided to tell Sanae about it when she came to work the next day.

Sanae laughed as she listened, but gradually her face turned pale. "This must be a misunderstanding!" She said to Totsukawa. "Misunderstand?" "As I explained last time, all my energy is now on work. I have never considered marriage or anything, and I have no such relationship!" "But it's also impossible that you don't have a man... you like. You are a very attractive girl! Maybe you don't take it seriously, but the other party really wants to marry you!" "Thank you for your praise, but I really can't think of anyone who would have such a plan for me."

Sanae said with a confused face. "Maybe someone fell in love with you at first sight when you weren't paying attention!" Kamei interjected aside. "He will entrust a detective agency or Xingxin to find out who you are, where you work, etc." Totsukawa also thinks so. "Yes, it should be analyzed in this way." Kamei nodded, and after speaking, she asked Sanae again: "Do you live in Kawasaya?" "Yes, an apartment near the subway 'Minamigawa Saya' station." "So, you also take the inner ring line of the subway to work?"

"Yes, from Nanhe Saya Station to Kasumigaseki, and then walk." "When you go to work in the morning, you are generally very regular, right?" "Yes, if there is no traffic accident, I usually get on, change and get off at the same time." "That's right. Maybe when you were in the car, there was a man who fell in love with you as soon as he saw you, and commissioned a detective agency or Xingxin to investigate your identity." "If you want to know, you can ask me directly!" "I heard that yin is flourishing and yang is declining recently, and there are fewer and fewer young men with masculinity."

Kamei also laughed when he said this. "But it's too annoying to investigate me behind my back without my knowledge." Sanae frowned. "This female investigator even said she has your business card! So where did she get it?" Totsukawa also began to think that the woman who called was a detective or an investigator from Koshin. Hearing Totsukawa's question, Sanae asked in surprise: "my card?" "Yes. You have been here for a year, how many business cards have you used during this time?" "For the handling of the case, for the convenience of handling the case, I gave them all. Only fifty or sixty." "Hasn't it been given at the fraternity of the police officers in the counties?" "Given it, but I just remember exchanging it with a few people." "Perhaps the investigator got one of them. The title on the card is right." Totsukawa looked at Sanae and said. "Anyway, it's useless for me to explain any more!" Sanae said very seriously.But Kamei smiled and said: "The person who fell in love with you may be the son of an unknown rich man. Maybe one day his parents will show up at your apartment and ask you to be their daughter-in-law. If you find out who you are, Of course it will make you feel more at ease!" "Anyway, it's annoying enough!" Sanae still frowned and said. Afterwards, the phone call about the marriage investigation never came again, and because several cases happened in succession, Totsukawa also forgot about it. Sanae never mentioned it again. On June 14, Sanae rarely came to work. Just before 5:00 p.m., she got a call.Because Totsukawa was busy at the time, the Nishimoto detective picked him up. "I want to rest for two days, the 15th and 16th." "What's wrong?" After hearing Nishimoto's report, Totsukawa asked, if she was not feeling well, she should go and see. "I asked, but she didn't say anything. She seemed very anxious, and hung up the phone after she finished speaking." Sibbon replied. "It's too weird, why don't you just rest without giving a reason?" Totsukawa shook his head in confusion. If you are sick, say you are sick, or go on a trip with your friends, there must be a reason!After all, she is a woman who speaks crisply and does things quickly. "Are you sick?" Totsukawa called her apartment, but no one answered, as if she had gone out. "I'll drop by her house to take a look when I get off work?" Nishimoto said to Totsukawa, because he saw that Totsukawa was very worried. "Go! It's better if you're not sick. Please." Totsukawa said. That day, when Totsukawa was having dinner with his wife Naoko at home, Nishimoto called. "I'm at Hojo-kun's apartment right now!" "How about it?" "Not at home. I asked the administrators, but they don't know. Maybe I really went out for something urgent, but I don't know where to go anyway." "Where is her hometown?" "It seems to be Fukui." "Back home?" "Then we have to wait for her to come back." Nishimoto said helplessly. "Yes!" Totsukawa also hung up the phone in a daze. "What happened?" asked Naoko. "It's about the Hojo female detective." So Totsukawa told his wife about Hojo Sanae. "It's too strange for such a capable girl to rest for two days without giving any reason." "Is it about marriage?" "No one knows about it. However, someone from a detective agency or a Koshin agency has indeed been commissioned to investigate. Ms. Hojo is quite angry about this!" When Totsukawa said that, Naoko laughed "hehe". "But... I don't know if I'm really angry!" "That's true." "Girls at this age are not as excited to get married as they were when they were young. Could it be that she kept a secret and went through the formalities with her husband to see her in-laws?" "Why do you want to keep it a secret?" "For you, you only think about it from work. Maybe she thinks about her personal situation in the future, including wanting to quit?" Naoko said with a smile. Indeed, for a woman who is no longer young, it may be so.Totsukawa agreed with his wife, half sincerely, and half reluctantly. He is 40 years old, and it is difficult to understand the thoughts of young women in their twenties. However, after all, Hojo has been in the first department for more than a year. They had appeared together on several occasions, and he should have known her character very well. Take the matter of telling her about the marriage investigation. Totsukawa couldn't see that she was deliberately hiding her happiness. She was genuinely confused and angry.Totsukawa is very sure of this. So, would she and her boyfriend go to meet her in-laws in such a hurry? "Is there anything else you're worried about?" asked Naoko. "Maybe I'm worrying too much." Totsukawa said. It was 7:16 pm on June 14th. At the same time, the downbound "Fuji" express sleeper train consisting of 14 carriages was flying to the next station, Atami. The train consists of 1 A sleeper car, 1 rest car, 1 dining car and 11 B sleeper cars. Cars No. 1 to No. 6 are for Miyazaki, and the rest are for Oita. The train has a total passenger rate of 50%. It departs from Tokyo Station at 18:20, arrives at Oita at 10:59 the next day, and arrives at Miyazaki at 14:29. At 19:40, Atami. No one in the car was sleeping. Car No. 8 is the dining car, where the passengers are all crowded and noisy, and the passengers who did not go to the dining car are all sitting in their seats and eating boxed lunches. There are many young photography fans in the carriage, walking back and forth to find suitable shots. There are also some fellow travelers who either play poker together or take pictures together. Some elderly middle-aged male passengers drank beer with gusto. It's a completely normal night train scene. Hoi, the conductor of the train, was patrolling the carriage leisurely, while thinking about what he would do when he reached the destination. Counting from the era of the national railway, Baojing has worked here for almost thirty years.During this period, various things happened, such as a bomb was found in the compartment, and a motor caught fire. These are all big things.Sometimes when passengers give birth to children midway, get injured in accidents, etc., he handles them with due diligence.Therefore, he often received letters of thanks from passengers who were mothers and passengers who recovered after timely treatment. However, the most ideal situation is that nothing happens and you arrive at your destination safely. Numazu, 19:58. Fuji, 20:13. Shizuoka, 20:40. Hamamatsu, 21:36. The train passed the above-mentioned stations one by one, and it gradually became dark outside the window. At 22:46, the train arrived in Nagoya.At this stop there will be a 4 minute stop. At 22:50, the train departs from Nagoya and will arrive at Fukuyama at 3:58 the next morning.During this time, the "Fuji" train will not stop. In fact, the train has to stop halfway because the driver is changing shifts, but the passengers cannot get on and off the train. After a while, the broadcast should start in the car. Hoi looked at his watch, when the door of the flight attendant's room was knocked twice. The door opened and a young girl stood there. She was in her mid-twenties and wore a pair of light-colored sunglasses. "I need to trouble you." After the girl finished speaking, she handed over a business card. "this is my name card." ——Investigation Division 1, Criminal Division, Police Department inspects Hojo Sanae This is a beautifully printed business card. "Are you a policeman?" Baojing was taken aback, he looked at the girl's face again, and couldn't help muttering in his heart, "Is it really a policewoman?" But he still asked: "What do you want?" "I'm looking for someone. He's on this train." "You tell me." "His name is Yamano Michihiro." "It's not enough just to say that, but also to talk about this person's appearance and size." After finishing speaking, Baojing asked again: "Do you want to broadcast in the car? It will be 11 o'clock soon." "Can it broadcast in the car? That would be great." Policewoman Sanae Hojo said as if she was relieved. "Okay then. And... where is this Mr. Yamano Michihiro from?" "It's Setagaya who lives in Tokyo, male." "Understood. Let him come to you?" "No need, I'll just wait for him. Let's just say that a woman from Tokyo is waiting for him in the aisle of Car No. 7." "Okay, that's it." Pauli said. After "Hojo Sanae" walked in the direction of the No. 7 car, Hoi immediately sat down at the table and started broadcasting: "Mr. Yamano Michihiro from Setagaya, Tokyo, there is a lady from Tokyo waiting for you at the aisle of carriage No. 7, please go right away. From Setagaya, Tokyo..." Hoi repeatedly broadcast into the microphone. What kind of person is this man named Michihiro Yamano? Hoi was very interested in this matter. Because the policewoman wanted to see him, he was probably her lover, right? No, if it's a lover, why don't you find it yourself? And this female policeman is only called "a lady from Tokyo", maybe this Yamano Michihiro is a suspect in a certain case, and this policeman named Hojo Sanae has been chasing the car? Baojing thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure out the mystery. It's 11 o'clock in the evening. Hoi faced the microphone again and made the last broadcast in the car: "Please rest, passengers. See you tomorrow morning." After saying this, Hoi turned off the broadcast switch. The lights in the car also suddenly dimmed. Afterwards, Hoi walked out of the crew room in the 13th carriage, and went to inspect the carriages with the flight attendant Miura. They first went to the last car, the No. 14 car, and then walked from here to the No. 1 car. Occasionally in the aisle, one or two passengers who got up to go to the toilet, or were still drinking beer, most of them closed the curtains and took a rest. The 14 single rooms in carriage 13 were all closed and the curtains were drawn down. They went all the way to car No. 7.At this time, Hoi remembered the matter of the female policeman, so he told Miura what happened just now. "What's going on? It's very interesting!" Hoi stood in the aisle of the No. 7 car, looked left and right, but there was no one there. "What does that man named Michihiro Yamano look like? I'm quite interested." Miura also said with a smile. "I always felt as if I was chasing criminals." "Secretly fell in love with a female police officer?" "Maybe, it's so funny!" Pauli said. Halfway through, another flight attendant came and walked with them. "No abnormalities were found in carriages 1 to 5." He said to Hoi. The train ran smoothly. So Baojing went back to the cabin crew of No. 13 carriage. Today may pass without incident again. Poi breathed a sigh of relief.Except for the female policeman looking for someone, there seems to be nothing else going on today, but if it is some kind of case, it will be interesting. At 3:58 a.m., Fukuyama. It was still dark outside.There were no passengers getting off at this stop either. When the train traveled to the Sanyuan area, the sky gradually brightened. "It's time for some sleep." Baojing thought, washed his face, and felt drowsy. At 5:25, the train arrived in Hiroshima, and the sky was completely bright. Several passengers got off at Hiroshima Station. After another hour of walking, the train arrived at Yanai Station. At this time, no matter which car the passengers stood up.Some are dressing and making beds, while others are washing their faces and gargling their mouths. Suddenly, there was a scream from the No. 7 carriage. Car No. 7 is B sleeper with upper and lower berths. On lower berth number 16 near one end of the car, a man in a shirt was dead. Hoi, the conductor of the train who rushed here, saw the back of the man's snow-white shirt stained with bright red blood, and his face suddenly became very pale. "Be calm and composed!" He reminded himself repeatedly, and quickly pulled up one of the man's hanging arms to feel for his pulse. The pulse stopped.People are dead. At this moment, five or six passengers gathered around. "Contact the next station immediately!" Hoi said decisively to Miura.His voice seemed to be 8 degrees higher, and even he himself didn't know he could have such a high voice. At the next stop, Shimonoseki Station, the railway police and criminal police from the Yamaguchi Prefectural Police boarded the train. The detectives turned the bloody dead man over and removed the suit hanging from a corner of the carriage. In Baojing's eyes, these detectives are not so much calm as they are working ruthlessly.They must have been used to such deaths. One of the detectives took out a driver's license from the deceased's suit pocket and compared the photo on it with the deceased's face. "It's me." He said only one word briefly. "He's from Tokyo!" Another criminal policeman looked at the driver's license and added a sentence. "Seijo, Setagaya District, Tokyo, named Michihiro Yamano, 30 years old." He watched and read aloud. "Michihiro Yamano?" Baojing was startled when he heard the name. "what?" The detective immediately noticed Baojing's abnormal demeanor. "What clue do you have?" the detective asked. So Hoi told the criminal policeman about yesterday's policewoman's request to find someone on the train radio, and showed him the business card with the name "Hojo Sanae" written on it. "It's still a detective from the Metropolitan Police Department!" A middle-aged criminal policeman shrugged and said. "Is this female detective still in the car?" He asked Baojing. "I don't know." "Then, please broadcast it!" The middle-aged criminal policeman said. Xiaguan Station stopped for 5 minutes, and the police took advantage of this short time to carry the deceased to the platform on a stretcher.The Yamaguchi prefectural police left two detectives in the car. The train continued on to the Guanmen Tunnel. Hoi turned on the speaker and called Hojo Detective. He hoped that Hojo would come to the No. 7 carriage as soon as possible. But there was no sign of Hojo Sanae at all. During this time, the train reached Simen and stopped at the next stop, Xiaokura. "did not come." "Could you get out of the car already?" "Maybe the card is fake." The two criminal policemen spoke one after the other. At this time, Hoi said with trepidation: "I just remembered..." "What's up?" "I remember that female criminal policeman seemed to be sitting in No. 1 sleeper car of No. 13." "Are you sure?" "I dare not say that, but I think it is indeed in No. 1 sleeper berth." "Where did the ticket go?" "To Oita. She has the ticket!" "Then why doesn't she come to the broadcasting room?" A criminal policeman asked very angrily. "Don't get angry, let's go there and have a look!" So the two criminal policemen went to the No. 13 carriage together with Baojing. The door to berth 1 was closed, and there were curtains on the door and windows, so you couldn't see inside. Baojing knocked on the door with his hand and called a few times, but no one answered. So he opened the car door with the spare key. On the narrow berth lay a young girl. She was lying there in a white dress with a pair of sunglasses thrown on the floor. A detective stepped forward and shook her shoulders, but her hands didn't respond. "How is this going?" Another detective frowned and opened the women's handbag on the table. Inside were driver's licenses, ID cards and business cards. "Sure enough, it's Sanae Hojo from the Metropolitan Police Department's Investigative Section 1 inspector!" "this……" Another detective cut off the conversation and picked up a paper bag from a corner of the floor, which was still stained with blood. The paper bag contained a dagger with a blade twelve or thirteen inches long. The detective carefully pulled the dagger out of its sheath and looked at it. There were obvious bloodstains on the blade. "Is it this woman?" The detective looked at Baojing and asked. "That's right, it's this person! Did she kill someone?" Hoi asked in a trembling voice. "It's not clear yet." The detective sighed.