Chapter 8 chapter eight

After Kamei also went back to his room, Totsukawa hung up the phone of Section Chief Honda of Le Jing. Although there was an eight-hour time difference between Paris and Tokyo, Honda was still at the Metropolitan Police Department. After reporting the situation on the second day of the conference, he told Honda about the arrangement of sending Shirai criminal police to guard the Dai Yue couple. "The Paris Police Department was very friendly and sent a female police officer to follow Shirai and a car." Totsukawa said. "Nothing happened today, did it?" "No."

"Please continue to monitor. Let me tell you, in this month, Da Viet has received three threatening letters. You already know the latest incident." Honda said. "What kind of threatening letter?" "Some had razor blades on them, some had strong words, 'Go to hell! Watch out for your head if you don't step down'. None of the letters were signed, but the handwriting indicated that they were written by one person." "Will they rush to Paris on purpose to attack the Dai Viet couple?" "It's hard to say. Maybe he is waiting for him to return to China to find another chance, maybe he feels that France is not well-guarded..."

"understood." "Are you and Kamei okay?" "Everything is fine, except the wine and the French food, which upset the stomach." Totsukawa said. The next day, October 17, was the last day of the convention.The activity ended in the morning. Criminal police representatives from various cities in the world took a group photo after the meeting, and then drove to the Bastille Castle in the north of Grenoble. The castle is 500 meters above sea level, and now you can climb to the top and overlook the surroundings.There is a café in the castle. Totsukawa and Kamei went straight to the castle in a car driven by Nagata.There is a cable car station on the other side of the river, and many tourists go up by cable car.

Considering the driving time of the TGV bound for Ari, Totsukawa and the others simply had lunch at the coffee shop.At this moment, the Dayue couple also came up. "It's back together." Dai Yue greeted Totsukawa with ease. "Going back to Paris today?" "Well, I plan to take the TGV at 14:44 to go back." "Then we are going together again. Most of the criminal police from various countries who attended the meeting took this bus back to Paris." Totsukawa said. "Then we were together on the train." Da Yue said with a smile. At this time, Shirai and Christina also walked into the coffee shop like a couple who were married to each other.

Shirai came to Totsukawa's table as if nothing had happened, looked at the Daigoshi couple who had moved to another table, and said: "It seems to be going back to Paris on the same TGV as us." "It has been confirmed from his own mouth." "I came here by car. I heard from his wife that I want to take the cable car when I go down." Shirai said. Totsukawa hurriedly said: "It's better to try to stop them from doing this, it's dangerous!" The cable car is suspended, and each car can take two people. It has a spherical appearance and is surrounded by glass.Two or three vehicles move together in groups.

The cable car runs rather slowly, and if the murderer had a gun, sitting in the car would make an excellent target. "I'm going to convince them." As he spoke, Bai Bing walked quickly to Dai Yuet's table. The Dayue couple seemed to have accepted his advice and drove down. As if chasing them, Totsukawa and the others also drove down the mountain in Nagata's car.Back at the hotel, after collecting their luggage, they headed for Grenoble. On the platform, the Confucian yellow TGV has already parked there.This is a special fast car that the French are proud of. Recently, the TGV maglev train, which has reached the world's leading level, drove from Paris to the Atlantic coast. The car body is silver gray.

The TGV that Totsukawa and the others are going to ride in was manufactured before. The color of the car body is orange with a white track, and the top speed is 250 or 60 kilometers per hour. There was still some time before the drive, so Totsukawa and the others drank coffee at the cafe on the station plaza. At this time, it was time to break up with Nagata, who was temporarily acting as an interpreter.Totsukawa asked Nagata to write his address in his notebook. "Tell me what you need, and I'll send it as soon as I get back to Japan." "My wife is always clamoring for miso soup and Japanese soba noodles. Fast food will do."

"Send it right away." Totsukawa assured that. The criminal police who attended the meeting also gathered in the square one after another. A big New York Police Department detective, still wearing sneakers, a T-shirt, and jeans. The male and female couple from Scotland Yard in London also arrived.Christina, who was acting with Shirai, said that she would accompany everyone to Paris. Interpols from the Rome Police Department in Italy went to the station to see him off. They said they could cross the border and return home by driving themselves.Come to think of it, Grenoble is not far from the French-Italian border.

Totsukawa and his party left the cafe and entered the station. They boarded the 10-car TGV bound for Paris from the platform. Among the passengers, apart from the detectives who had returned to Paris, there were ordinary tourists and Frenchmen who looked like staff. It is rare to see Japanese people in Grenoble, but here I met a young couple walking over on the platform speaking loudly in Japanese. Both of them were in their mid-twenties, dragging suitcases with casters, and they could be seen as tourists at a glance.The two seemed to be arguing about something, with serious expressions on their faces.

I heard that foreign trains start suddenly without ringing the bell, but here the TGV bound for Paris slowly started after the sharp bell rang. Nagata waved goodbye on the platform, his thin body disappeared in an instant. Totsukawa was still thinking about the Ogoshi couple, and walked to the first-class compartment with Kamei as soon as the car drove. The interior of the TGV is slightly smaller than that of the Japanese Shinkansen, more like the cabin of an airplane. Although this train is composed of 10 carriages, the two carriages at both ends are locomotives, and only the eight carriages in the middle can really carry passengers.

The 8 carriages are numbered from 1 to 8. No. 1 to No. 3 are first-class cars, the seats are next to the aisle, with one row of seats on one side and two rows of seats on the other side. No. 4 to No. 8 are 12th-class cars, all of which have four rows of seats, and half of No. 4 car is a bar. The Dai Viet couple are in carriage 3.The car was empty, except for the two of them and the two secretaries, there were only four or five passengers. Seeing Totsukawa, the male secretary immediately stood up, leaned forward, and said with a serious face: "I have something to say." He led Totsukawa and Kamei to the bar in the next car No. 4. The waitresses at the bar were selling drinks, coffee, sandwiches, whatever. Totsukawa and the others bought coffee and sat down at the empty counter with paper cups of coffee in them. "I'm Secretary Miura." After introducing himself again, he took out an airmail and showed it to Totsukawa. "Yesterday, I received such a letter at the hotel." It says Hotel Grenoble, received by Mr. Ogoshi Shoichiro.Not signed by the sender, but not sent in France, but from Tokyo, postmarked on October 11th. Totsukawa opened the mail. The credit inside said in Japanese: "Have you ever seen a letter signed with the Mask of Justice?" Totsukawa asked Miura. "Yes. When our company bought the land in the Northeast, he said it was unreasonable, so he sent a threatening letter. This time the signature is the same as at that time." "When did that happen?" "April this year." "Since then, has Da Yue ever been plotted against?" "I don't think so. Therefore, President Okoshi dismissed this letter." "As a secretary, don't you see it that way?" "Yes. This time it was sent to the Grenoble Hotel. It is unusual!" "Did Dai Yue's wife read this letter?" "I translated it into French and asked her to read it. Madame doesn't know Chinese characters yet." "Then what does Madam say?" "She was worried, and at the same time she didn't fully understand it all at once, and the translation into French may be a little different." "What's the name of that female secretary?" "Her name is Matsuno Yuki." "Did she read it too?" "Yes, I read it." "What did she say?" "She suggested that she seek protection from the French police during her stay in France, but she was opposed by the president. The president said that this is a personal matter and it is not good to bother the French police. It is best to protect yourself. But as a secretary, I am still worried. , That's why I discussed it with the police department." Miura said. "Understood. We are in this carriage No. 4 all the way to Paris. Please inform us immediately if there is any situation.—" Totsukawa said. They believe that it is best to enter the first-class compartment to protect the older women, but they cannot exercise the privileges of criminal police in France.There should be no problem with two secretaries around. After Miura returned to the first-class compartment, Totsukawa and Kamei read the airmail temporarily stored here again. "The suspect also knew that the Grand Madam was in Grenoble at the Hotel Palucourt." Kamei said. "Just ask the head office of Dayue Group Corporation to find out. I am more concerned about whether the suspect is Japanese." Totsukawa said. "How can foreigners write such Chinese characters?" "Yes. But the taste of translation is very strong. Besides, it also says that it will harm the international community. The land department of Da Viet Group recently purchased land in the United States, Canada, and France. There has been a lot of criticism in the society. Considering With this factor, the suspect may not be Japanese.” "Some time ago, there was such a news in the newspaper, saying that they bought a French chateau and operated a restaurant!" "It's a castle called something in the Laoalu area. According to news, Japan even dared to buy French historical monuments, such as palaces, which aroused public outrage. Dai Viet is also the president of the Japan-French Friendship Association, and some French people must be disgusted. " "It would be easy if we only guarded against the Japanese. The only Japanese people I saw on the platform of Grenoble station were the young couple." Kamei said. "Maybe from Lyon. Although there are few Japanese in Grenoble, there may be a lot of people in Lyon." While Totsukawa was talking, suddenly, a detective from the New York Police Department walked in loudly. Charle, who was in charge of publicity at the Paris Police Department, was speaking French to the passengers in the bar. Shirai, who was next to him, ran to Totsukawa. "It says Mr. Bart's pistol was stolen. So, we're going to go after each one." "That gun." Totsukawa muttered. He thought of Barbet showing himself the special Colt automatic pistol in his hip pocket. Searches of passengers in the bar began.The usually cheerful American detective Bart and his colleagues were also pale and silent. Not finding the Colt automatic pistol, Bart and Char turned to another car. "This is where it gets tricky." Kamei whispered to Totsukawa. "Did the guns be stolen by someone who plotted against Dayue?" "There is such a possibility." "That's a special Colt-style automatic pistol!" "Shoot it and the target will not be spared!" The train arrived at Gare de Lyon. This station is not as Totsukawa imagined, there are not many passengers getting on the train. Even so, I saw four or five Japanese getting into the car.They crowded into the No. 8 car, like a tourist group. Leaving Gare de Lyon, the train accelerated. Bart and his colleagues returned to the bar dejectedly, saying they hadn't found the pistol. By this time, the Japanese criminal police felt that the problem was indeed serious, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.Bart, the New York City detective, was probably sulking himself, gulped down the whiskey, and kicked down the counter again. He was nearly two meters tall, so the other passengers who came to the bar to shop were scared and evacuated. For fifteen or sixteen minutes, the two Americans were drinking at the bar.Char came up and said something to them, and they left the bar together again, probably looking for it again. The train is speeding across the vast wilderness, unlike Japanese Shinkansen trains that go through tunnels for a while and cross iron bridges for a while. Fields, pastures, and forests stretch on and on.The speed may exceed 200 kilometers per hour, but this speed is hardly felt in the car. Just looking at the natural scenery outside the car window, it seems that nothing will happen. "Let's go to the No. 3 compartment to have a look." Just as Totsukawa greeted Kamei, it seemed that a woman's scream came from the direction of No. 3 carriage. The young Shirai and Christina were quicker than Totsukawa and ran towards the No. 3 car. Totsukawa and Kamei followed closely behind. At the junction between Car 4 and Car 3, a Caucasian woman in her mid-thirties stood there trembling all over, with a woman lying face down beside her feet, who looked like a Japanese. Blood gushed from her back and onto the floor. Beside her, Da Yue stood there blankly. The woman on the ground was his secretary. Christina squatted down, regardless of the blood on her hands, felt the woman's pulse, then shook her head sadly. Other detectives also came one after another. Bart rushed over with a bad breath. "What is the murder weapon?" He roared loudly. "It's a pistol." I don't know who answered. "Is it a special Colt automatic?" "The specifics are still unclear." They yelled at each other in English, with bits of French and German thrown in. Dennis and Elizabeth from Scotland Yard in London also arrived. Due to too many criminal police, the situation was chaotic. Charle of the Paris police shouted in French: "Everyone, please be quiet!" Then he said to the trembling middle-aged white woman. "What happened? Please tell me, please?" Shirai translated this French passage to Totsukawa. The woman is a reporter for a magazine in Paris, named Madeleine. "I wanted to interview Mr. Okoshi, and I agreed to do it in the bar in the No. 4 car, and I asked Secretary Matsuno Yuki to be the interpreter. So, the three of us walked towards No. 4 car. Suddenly Ms. Matsuno Yuki fell down behind me. I was scared I jumped a lot, only to see a lot of blood spurting out..." she says. "Did you hear the gunshot?" asked Char. "No, not at all." "Would you like to talk to Mr. Dayue next?" Char turned to Dai Viet. Another secretary, Miura, ran over and translated Char's question. Daigoshi, known in Japan for being unmoved, is now pale. "I can't tell what happened. After agreeing to the interview, my secretary Matsuno Yuki and I followed Miss Madeleine to the outside of the carriage. Just then Matsuno fell down suddenly. I hurried to help her, and Blood on both hands." As he spoke, he stretched out his bloody hands to show to Charles. "At that time, did you hear the gunshot?" "No, I didn't hear anything. At that moment, I didn't know what happened." "Your secretary was killed, do you have any clues?" After Charles asked, Dai Viet spread his hands like a foreigner. "The real thing was trying to kill me. I was terrorized." "heard about it." Char said. "Looks like a gun with a suppressor." Kamei whispered to Totsukawa.