Chapter 12 Chapter 12 Suicide Note

Totsukawa decided to continue monitoring Masako's movements. The best result is that she writes a letter confessing all the facts. If this letter can be obtained, Hoshino can be arrested. And, once she finished writing it, it was protected from suicide. Early the next morning, Masako went out for a walk after breakfast. There is a fountain behind the hotel, because it is a sulfur spring, it is very violent and spectacular. Because it's dangerous there, there are guardrails to prevent people from falling. Totsukawa was worried that Masako would commit suicide by jumping over the guardrail, and asked Kamei to monitor nearby.

Taking advantage of this time, Totsukawa sneaked into her room to search. There was a small travel bag in one corner of the room.This room is the size of 8 straw mats. On the table are tea sets such as a thermos, teacup and teapot, as well as letter paper and envelopes. The envelopes were in a bundle, and Totsukawa counted them, there were 10 in total, and it seemed that they hadn't been used yet. The letter paper was also a blank sheet of paper, but when he looked into the wastebasket, there were already several pieces of crumpled letter paper inside, so Totsukawa picked them out. There is only one line written on it.

Totsukawa opened them very carefully and spread them out on the table. Now, I am no longer desperate... Now, I came to Houshenghang Hot Spring to write these down. I…… Very peaceful.I hope it stays like this... I came to this hot spring with a very confused mind, calm down... I haven't finished writing any of the letter papers, and it seems that I can't write any more. Totsukawa crumpled up the four letter papers again, threw them back into the wastebasket and left the room. After 30 minutes, Masako returned from a walk. "There doesn't appear to be any signs of suicide."

Kamei reported to Totsukawa. "The letter was written, but it was thrown away before it was finished. I don't know what to write." Totsukawa told Kamei what he had just discovered. "It would be nice if everything was confessed." Kamei said angrily. After lunch, Masako went out for a walk again. Probably she is desperately adjusting her emotions! Totsukawa called Tokyo again.The Nishimoto detective reported in alarm: "I'm so sorry!" "What's wrong?" "Isao Hoshino is lost!" "Yes. Because he was driving around the city all the time, we were paralyzed. On the way, he got out of his car and got into a taxi, but we didn't know it, and kept staring at his car, It ended up letting him slip away."

Nishimoto said sadly. "Did you go home?" "not at home." "Where did you go?" "We're looking around." Sibbon said. "understood." Totsukawa said. He returned to the room and told Kamei about the disappearance of Isao Hoshino. "Where do you think he's going?" Kamei asked. "Definitely come here!" "come here?!" "Yes! Isao Hoshino was eager to find Masako, so he managed to miss our trail. Since he couldn't find her in the city, he would come here to find her just as we thought."

Totsukawa said confidently. "When did Nishimoto lose him?" "A little before noon." "Then even if he got on the Shinkansen, it would be evening when he got here." Kamei analyzed. "Yes, to get here when it's dark." "Masako has to write a good letter during this time and send it to the police." Kamei sighed. Totsukawa immediately rolled out the train timetable and calculated it. There is a No. 43 train departing from Ueno at 12 o'clock and bound for Morioka. After Isao Hoshino lost track of the police, it is very likely that he boarded the 43rd train quickly.

This train arrives at Morioka and departs at 16:11. Like Totsukawa and the others, he will take a taxi from there. It takes an hour and a half at the fastest to take a bus from there to Houshenghanga Hot Spring. If everything goes well, you can arrive here around 17:40. "It's 1 p.m., 4 hours and 40 minutes!" Kamei looked at his watch and said. "It happened to be dark." "Is Hoshino here to kill Masako?" "Maybe take her back." Totsukawa said. Totsukawa immediately went to the service desk, asked the waiters to look at Hoshino Isao's photo, and told them that as soon as this man arrived, he would notify himself immediately.

At around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Masako suddenly asked for a taxi and left the hotel.Totsukawa and Kamei also hurriedly asked for a taxi to follow her. Because she didn't take the travel bag, so it is considered that she will not leave here. And since the hotel didn't have a phone, it must have been someone who called her out. Totsukawa's car was seven or eight minutes slower than Masako's car, but luckily the two cars belonged to the same taxi company, so Totsukawa asked the driver to use the walkie-talkie to know where Masako was going. "I seem to have gone to Hachimantai."

The driver said to Totsukawa. "Is Hachimantai near the Hanawa railway line?" "right." "What are you doing there?" "There's a post office closest to here, maybe go to the post office." "The letter is finished!" Totsukawa said to Kamei with a twinkle in his eyes. "Who is it for?" "If it's addressed to the police, thank God!" "But if it's written for her husband Hoshino Isao, then it will be troublesome!" "yes!" "Catch up and grab that letter." Kamei said. "No, it's not sure yet, we can only monitor secretly."

Totsukawa said. And the driver said that in such weather and on the mountain road, it is very difficult to catch up with the car in front. Masako's car first arrived at Hachimantai Station on the Hanawa Line.After getting off the car, she went into the post office. When she left the post office, she held an envelope in her hand and threw it into the mailbox in front of the door. Totsukawa and Kamei were watching all this from a hidden place, when Kamei suddenly called out in a low voice: "what!" Masako didn't seem to notice Totsukawa and the others, and got into another taxi.

Totsukawa and the others hurried into a car too. Masako returned to the Houshenghang Hot Spring Hotel again. "Can I see the letter she threw in the mailbox?" Kamei asked Totsukawa in the car. "Maybe it was addressed to the police, because I saw she seemed to be using a courier envelope." Totsukawa said. "If it's written for a friend or classmate, we have no right to read it." Kamei said regretfully. At around 6:00 pm, they returned to the hotel. They got out of the car, and as soon as they entered the hotel, the service desk attendant came over and whispered: "he came." "Is that the man?" "Yes, that's the man in the photo you showed me." "Then where is he?" Kamei asked. "Because he and that woman are married, I took him to that woman's room." said the waiter. "what to do?" Kamei asked in a low voice. "I don't think he killed her in this hotel. Just watch." Totsukawa said hesitantly. Then, he asked the waiter to check the situation. A waiter went to deliver some snacks, and six or seven minutes later, she came back and said to Totsukawa: "What a quiet couple!" "How about two people?" Totsukawa asked. "The madam kept her face down and said nothing, and the husband was angrily scolding her for some reason." "Can't you hear me?" "I tried desperately to hear it, but I still couldn't get it, and the husband asked me if I had any new guests." said the waitress. "A new visitor?" "Yes, ask if there are any suspicious guests." Obviously, he suspected that someone from the police had come before him. "He also said that if anyone is suspicious, let him know." The waitress added another sentence. "We will be watching all night tonight." Kamei said to Totsukawa. "Yes. However, I don't think Hoshino would kill Masako himself." Totsukawa said. It was getting dark, but Totsukawa and Kamei did not lie down. There was only one corridor between them and the Hoshino couple. Would Isao Hoshino kill Masako in that house?Maybe he thought the police couldn't come, so they would attack her? After thinking about it, Totsukawa didn't feel sleepy anymore, but if he froze like this, he wouldn't be able to arrest the Hoshino couple! "Will Isao Hoshino take Masako back?" Kamei asked while listening carefully to the movement outside the corridor. "Maybe. Isao Hoshino is afraid that Masako will tell the story, so he will definitely imprison her at home." "What if he knows the letter?" Kamei asked. "I don't think Isao Hoshino will know what Masako has been doing these two days unless Masako tells it herself." "Maybe she's being questioned now!" "Isao Hoshino will ask desperately." Totsukawa said. It is now more than 3 o'clock in the morning. Totsukawa and Kamei specially brewed some strong tea to overcome sleepiness. Suddenly, there was a woman's wailing from across the corridor.Totsukawa and Kamei suddenly stood together, opened the door and rushed to the corridor. Totsukawa quickly opened the sliding door of the Hoshino couple. In the center of the room, Isao Hoshino stood blankly, with his wife Masako lying at his feet. The quilt was folded well, as if it hadn't been moved. Kamei squatted beside Masako, feeling her pulse. "How about it?" Totsukawa asked. Kamei shook his head silently. Totsukawa looked at Isao Hoshino with a pale face. "You killed her?" "..." Isao Hoshino nodded silently. "It's so cruel!" Kamei looked at Isao Hoshino with pity.Until today, the evidence of his murder was finally caught. "Why did you kill her?" Totsukawa asked sharply. Hoshino sat down weakly: "She betrayed me!" His voice trembled. "Betrayed you? But she didn't say anything, and hid here alone!" Totsukawa said. "If that's all, I won't kill her." "Then why?" "She betrayed me to the police!" Hoshino said. "Sell it to the police? Are you too allergic? Is Madam really doing this? You let her drink arsenic poisoning, and she didn't resist, didn't she hide here until today?" Totsukawa asked incredulously. Hoshino shook his head lightly: "That's not the case at all! She's written to the police! She's written about nothing. She says I'm done, so I'll..." When Hoshino said this, he stopped talking suddenly. "You know that Madame wrote a letter?" "I'm not as bad as she makes it out to be! If only she'd been smarter when she was driving, our lives would have been smooth!" Hoshino said angrily. Totsukawa quietly reached into his pocket and pressed the switch of the pocket recorder. "When the little girl was run over and killed in Gotemba, was it the lady who drove the car?" "Yes. She ran over the little girl, but it's more than that!" "I know. Did she find Keiko Yasuda who was following behind and witnessed all this? Masako thinks this is the most dangerous witness, maybe she will report to the police out of jealousy?" Totsukawa asked. "Yes, Masako cried to me for some reason." "So you're planning to kill?" "Yes. She said she would kill Keiko Yasuda no matter what. I have no choice." "You made your brother perjure an 'alibi'?" "Yes, it is." "Then you killed your brother? And your wife? What else?" Totsukawa asked. "Don't you admit that Keiko Yasuda was also killed by you?" Kamei walked over from the side and patted Hoshino's shoulder lightly with his hand. Hoshino just stared at the motionless Masako's body. Totsukawa asked further: "If Madame's letter reaches the police, it will be bad for you! Maybe she has written all the bad things about you, so I think you'd better confess everything before then." "I know." Isao Hoshino nodded and said. "I know that even a brother can be unreliable sometimes. He used to be a very ordinary person with a docile personality and always obeyed my words. But since I asked him to help me with that perjury, he It’s changed. He didn’t want to make more money, but then he kept asking me for it. Not only that, but I suddenly realized that he started blackmailing me too.” "In other words, you feel more and more that your brother is a dangerous person?" Totsukawa asked in confirmation. "Yes. I don't know what to say about my brother, but after that incident he changed, he became a different person entirely. The thing that changed him was money." Hoshino smiled slightly, and continued. "He used to hear me complain about him, and his attitude towards me became worse and worse. At first, I was disgusted that he kept asking me for money, but then I gradually became afraid of him. If he just It's not a big deal to take money to eat, drink, and play, but his change of character scares me, and I don't know how to deal with it." "So, you set a trap for Hojo Detective and killed your brother?" Kamei asked. "Yes. One day, he came to me and said that he met a beautiful girl on the tram that day. He couldn't forget it, and he was fascinated by her. He hoped that I could help him find out the name and name of that girl. Address. I asked my former acquaintance, Yuko Hino who worked at Xingshin Office, to investigate. But when I found out that the woman was a female detective from the Metropolitan Police Department’s first investigation department, I was shocked. Being relatives is not a joke, if it is not done well, it will expose Gotemba's running away and the killing of Keiko Yasuda." "Then how did you set up a trap for Hojo Detective?" Totsukawa asked. "Hino Yuko gave me an idea. She said she knew a woman who was very similar to Hojo Sanae, and she could pay some money to replace her. Later, I met that woman. She was indeed very similar, although she was still somewhat different. Just putting on makeup can solve it, such as moles on the eyes, etc. So I conceived a plan in my mind to use this woman to kill my brother. In the plan, if the Hojo criminal police is involved, the police will not let it go gone." "What's her name?" Kamei asked. "Why are you asking this? She's not in Japan anymore!" "Going abroad?" "Yes. The agreed conditions at that time were to give her a sum of money and a passport. She was given 5 million yen at that time! She is already abroad at this moment." Hoshino said angrily. "Who killed your brother on the 'Fuji' train?" Totsukawa asked. "I gave that woman 5 million yen just for that, don't you guys know who killed it?" Hoshino asked back. "Do you think Sanae Hojo will definitely board the Fuji after your brother writes the letter?" Kamei asked. Hoshino smiled "hehe" and said: "I have studied the police profession. If it is an inexperienced police officer, or a female police officer, she likes adventure and is extremely curious. This is especially true if she encounters a strange thing. For the Hojo criminal police That's the way it is. Someone she doesn't know keeps pestering her, and there's a guy who looks a lot like her pretending to be dating a guy, and she must be trying to figure it out. So I think she'll get the letter from my brother. From the Fuji." "Was that letter from your brother?" "Ah, yes. I told him that the beautiful detective was very interesting to him. If he received the letter, he would definitely go there. It is the best time to woo a woman in the night train. When I said this, my brother was very happy. I followed suit. Afterwards, my plan was realized step by step.” "You think it's the Coke that lured a detective into a trap?" Kamei frowned and asked. "Some police officers are not very good, I just let them suffer a little bit." Hoshino shrugged. "Later, you also killed Hino Yuko and her ex-husband Mimura?" Kamei asked. Hoshino nodded: "You all know." He went on: "The female detective was very happy when she got the money at the beginning, but later she felt that it was too little and wanted more. So she went to her ex-husband Taisuke Mimura and discussed how to blackmail me, saying that I would at least give out again. Five million would be enough. But I know that there is no 'one hundred' for this kind of thing, and I have no other way but to kill them." "Did you kill Yuko Hino first, and then Taisuke Mimura?" "Yes, Mimura called just as soon as Hino was killed. At first I was very angry, but then I got so annoyed that I wanted to kill him too. Because he kept threatening me to find out Hino cause of death." After Hoshino finished speaking, he sighed softly. "Crime is like this. Kill one to silence, in order to hide it, you have to kill another one." Kamei looked at Isao Hoshino with pity and said. "Yes. In order to better protect myself, I had no choice but to design and kill Mimura." Totsukawa contacted the Akita prefectural police and explained the situation. Isao Hoshino was arrested on suspicion of killing his wife. Totsukawa asked Kamei to stay in the County Search Section 1 and report the situation to the section chief. At the same time, he copied a set of Isao Hoshino's recorded statement and sent it to the Xiaguan Police Station. Since Hojo Sanae has been prosecuted for murder, she cannot be released immediately, but according to Totsukawa's information, the Yamaguchi District Prosecutor's Office will soon withdraw the prosecution against her. In order to resolve Hojo Sanae's matter as soon as possible and put pressure on the other party, Totsukawa and Minister Mikami held another press conference.The confession of Isao Hoshino was announced at the meeting. As a result, public opinion quickly turned in the direction of supporting Totsugawa. It can really be said to be "turned upside down overnight"!But this was within Totsukawa's expectations. Television stations and newspapers reported the progress of the incident to the society at the fastest speed. At this time, Kamei also returned from Akita. "After the other party investigates Hoshino Isao and collects evidence, he will be extradited to us soon." Kamei reported to Totsukawa. "Has the letter arrived?" Kamei asked. "Which letter?" "It's the letter from Masako Hoshino from Houshengke Hot Spring! Didn't it say it was addressed to the police? The last time I saw Isao Hoshino, he said he must show him the letter." "Oh, here it is." As Totsukawa said, he opened the drawer of the filing cabinet behind him, took out a letter and handed it to Kamei. Kamei asked while receiving the letter: "Did her letter expose her husband?" Totsukawa smiled slightly: "Let's take a look first." "It really is a courier letter!" While talking, Kamei took out a thick letter paper and looked at it. A total of 9 pages, all written in small print. Totsukawa looked at Kamei silently. After reading the letter, Kamei asked with a very confused expression: "Police, this..." "Surprised?" "Why, from the beginning to the end, Masako said she did it all by herself? And said her husband was innocent?" "right." "But didn't Isao Hoshino say that his wife betrayed him, so he killed her? If he knew the content, he wouldn't have killed her." Kamei said incredulously. "Is such that." "Then why did Masako say something to irritate her husband at that time?" "She ran over and killed a little girl five years ago. The series of murders that followed were all done for her by Hoshino, so she still wanted to protect her husband until the end. It's just that she suddenly knew that her husband had another Xinhuan was stimulated when she was about to abandon her. So, when I met Isao Hoshino in the hot spring, out of a woman's jealousy, she involuntarily said threatening words, so Isao Hoshino could not wait for her to speak calmly The content of the letter...Of course, even if she said it, maybe Hoshino Isao couldn't believe it...he killed Masako in a fit of anger. This is also because he is often in the fear that Masako will betray him." "Masako obeyed him to take poison, and was willing to protect her husband, but Isao Hoshino still didn't believe her." "This is the weakness of human beings!" Totsukawa said not without regret. Kamei's eyes fell on the letter again. "If Isao Hoshino read this letter, what would he look like?" "Is Isao Hoshino going to be sentenced to death?" "I think so, because he killed too many people." "Will you let a man who is going to hell read this letter?" Totsukawa asked. "Isn't it too cruel?" "Maybe. But if Isao Hoshino knew that his wife loved him till death, maybe he would die with peace of mind." Totsukawa said while looking at the distance outside the window.