Chapter 8 Section VIII

The turboprop flight from Fukuoka Airport arrived in Iki in less than thirty minutes. It is 76 kilometers from Iki to Fukuoka. Qingcun Yishou took a taxi from the airport to Xiangpu.According to Iki Hachiura, Goura is the central area, and the Iki Branch Office of Nagasaki Prefecture is located here. Kiyomura booked a hotel and stopped by the Iki Police Station.Iki is under the jurisdiction of the Nagasaki prefectural police. After receiving the notice from the prefectural police, the director Nishijin Heikuro is waiting for him.Qingcun explained his intention. "August and September sixteen years ago..."

Nishijin was the same age as Kiyomura, and when he heard that he was here to investigate what happened sixteen years ago, the expression on his face suddenly became rigid. "Do yachts often come into port?" "No, that kind of thing rarely enters the port. But because Xiangpu is the best port in Xuanhai, there are often different ships entering the port, taking refuge or for other reasons." "I want to investigate the yacht named Hailing that entered a certain port in Iki in August and September sixteen years ago. Can you help me?" He fixed his eyes on the plump, red-faced Nishijin .

Nishijin replied in confusion: "We will definitely cooperate. But, does anyone remember what happened sixteen years ago?" "You can ask the relevant personnel at the port." "Understood, go investigate immediately." Nishijin knew that Kiyomura was investigating the murder of two prosecutors.He understood that a yacht that entered the port in the summer of sixteen years ago had become the object of investigation closely related to this case, and of course he would do his best to investigate. Qing Cun left the police station and came to the pier. The sea shone in the May sun.The Tsushima warm current makes the island warm all year round.The sun is now as warm as early summer.

Seagulls are flying around in groups. Qingcun stood on the seawall and stared at the sea for a long time. A dilapidated yacht floats on Zhanlan's sea.The hull is white, and the white shadow of the ship undulates on the blue sea. Qingcun stared at the dilapidated Hailing. —What happened on the Sea Ridge? Something must have happened to the Sea Ridge, which broke down here sixteen years ago in the summer.It happened on this white bird-like Sea Ridge that was carrying five prosecutors and a lawyer. In addition to the six people mentioned above, there are two other crew members on the Hailing, namely Takashi Hirota and Yosuke Sanne.Both returned from their voyage to Iki and were killed within a year.

What happened on the Sea Ridge at that time, the helmsman and signalman could not fail to see. ——Then silence? Qingcun had such doubts. Investigator Yano met Hirota Kesanne's family.Sanne has a wife and children, and Hirota, who is unmarried, has parents and brother-in-law in Yamanashi Prefecture.The deaths of these two people still have doubts that the police investigation has not grasped. After understanding, the family has given them a large pension. Hirota and Sanne must have witnessed what happened on the Sea Ridge.That pension was probably the price of being silenced.Things got to the point where witnesses had to be killed.Keep them alive, and five prosecutors and one lawyer will die.

The first is to fake a traffic accident and kill Sangen.Hirota should have been aware of the danger he was facing, or at least had noticed.However, Hirota, who was single, did not reveal his uneasiness to others, and was subsequently killed. Maybe Hirota is a madman and didn't see anything. If you die after dragging the family and the family, you may be able to express your uneasiness to your wife. Or, the killer deliberately arranged this sequence. Are Sangen and Hirota accomplices? —The question is who was the victim of what happened on the Sea Ridge? Qingcun asked silently.The sea did not answer him.

Sixteen years ago in the summer, someone boarded this luxury yacht bound for Iki.This person is closely related to the killer who has not been revealed so far. The figure of the yacht disappeared from Qingcun's eyes.He went back to the hotel.This is a hotel called West Sea House. In Iki, there are more than 20 registered hotels.Iki attracts many tourists.The most people go fishing for the name. There is a lobster for dinner, which is so big that it makes people in Tokyo angry.It is not uncommon to catch two or three kilograms of lobster here. He was served by a waitress in her fifties.

Nowadays, it is rare to see hotels accompanied by hostesses to dinner.Kiyomura chatted with the waitress while drinking wine relaxedly.The wine wasn't bad, but he only had a few glasses with water. The criminal chief is on a business trip, so it doesn't matter if you drink too much.If you are participating in a meeting or negotiation, there is nothing special, of course.But now that he's on an investigative mission, there's no telling when Director Nishijin will visit, and it's impolite to get drunk. "Are you a lawyer?" asked the waitress named Chengdai.She was dark and wrinkled, but a cheerful person.

"no." To a person who does not know his occupation, it is not wrong to ask whether he is a lawyer, a doctor, or a criminal policeman.No one would be offended at being guessed to be in one of the above mentioned professions.However, Qingcun understands people's respect for lawyers and doctors, but he can't figure out how to be flattered by being said to be a criminal policeman.Maybe people, especially men, are born with the instinct of hunting, so they are interested in the profession of criminal police, right? "Then what do you do for work?" "I'm a policeman."

"You don't look like a gentleman." Qingcun smiled wryly.The master can easily be understood as a catcher holding a ruler. "Did you come to fish on vacation?" "no." He dealt with it vaguely for a while, then suddenly changed the subject. "I'm here to investigate a yacht that came into port somewhere in Iki during the summer and autumn sixteen years ago." "Sixteen years ago—" Cheng Dai suddenly looked surprised. Kiyomura looked at Chengdai and sighed.The waitress was about fifty-five years old, and at that time sixteen years ago, she might have attracted a few glances from men.Looking at Chengdai's face, Qingcun felt some kind of heavy accumulation in the past sixteen years.

"There are quite a few ships coming in and out here." Cheng Dai said in a difficult way. "Yes." Qingcun nodded. Sixteen years is a long time.Even if there were records about the Sea Ridge at that time, they should be burned.Except for special content, the official records are only kept for a few years.Because there was nowhere to store a large amount of material from the past, almost all of it was destroyed. This is the result of the passage of time. However, investigators must go back in time.Because over time, many things will naturally disappear, but hatred is not something that will disappear. After dinner, Chengdai cleared away the tableware. Qingcun came to the balcony.Holding a glass of wine and water in his hand, he slowly passed the time. After a while, Chengdai came to prepare the bedding. "Master Policeman." "Don't call me Master. My name is Qingcun." "Then Master Qingcun." Chengdai knelt down to spread the quilt. "Mr. Guan is called Master, and it has nothing to do with what you are investigating. I know that strange incident that happened sixteen years ago. After hearing what you said, I remembered it." "something weird……" Kiyomura repeated softly and put down the wine glass. "Two guests died as a result of that incident." Chengdai glanced at Qingcun. "Sixteen years ago?" Qingcun felt himself trembling slightly. "yes." Cheng Dai nodded. Because it was a strange case, Cheng Dai still remembers it to this day. Sixteen years ago in the summer, in August. I remember it was early August, but I can't remember the exact time.The lodging registration may record the brief situation at that time. There is a mother and daughter staying in Xihai House.I remember being from Tokyo.The mother is about thirty-five years old, and the daughter is four or five years old. I can't remember the name clearly. Mother probably received a call from Tokyo, or hung up from the hotel.After putting down the phone, my mother settled the bill immediately, saying that there was something urgent and she needed to go back to Tokyo immediately. Xihaiwu dissuaded him from going, because a low pressure was approaching. At that time, there were two liners a day from Hakata to Iki.Ferries like the one now have yet to sail and have no home port. Both liners stopped. Impossible to go back. However, the mother and daughter left the hotel, saying they were going to the port to find a boat. It was evening. They never came back after they left. The white mist generated by the low pressure swells on the sea like a galloping white horse.According to Xi Kaiwu's speculation, they probably learned that the regular liner was suspended after they arrived at the port, and other ships could not leave the port.It also takes three hours one way from Iki to Hakata. It is estimated that their mother and daughter have lived in other hotels. The next morning, the low pressure passed. Later in the afternoon, the regular liner departed, and Nishikaiya guessed that they had left on that flight. Nothing else matters. Later, I almost forgot about the mother and daughter. After that, about seven months later, in March of the second year, the matter of the mother and daughter was brought up again. A fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy came to Xihai House.He asked me about the mother and daughter who lived in West Sea House seven months ago, saying that they were his mother and sister.After understanding, it was learned that the mother and daughter went missing after they left Xihaiwu. The boy didn't say anything.After understanding the situation, he said goodbye and left the hotel.The teenager looked a little pitiful, not very old, but very polite. Where did the boy go, Xihaiwu didn't know.Soon, the boy was forgotten. Since then, fifteen years have passed. Now, it is impossible to know the names of the mother and daughter at that time, and the name of the teenager is the same. "A strange thing..." Chengdai stared blankly at Qingcun. It is a mystery where the mother and daughter have gone.If he committed suicide in Iki, the body should be found.Of course, if you plunge into the sea, you may not be able to find the body. However, the mother and daughter who were so eager to return to Tokyo would not commit suicide by throwing themselves into the sea.So where did they go?People have all kinds of talk. "Sixteen years ago in early August, was there really a low pressure approaching?" Qing Cun asked. "That's right. In June of the second year, the boss's sister died of illness, so I still remember the situation at that time." "Don't you know their names and addresses?" "Yes, the old lodging registration has been checked." "Oh." Qingcun nodded slowly. Cheng Dai spread out the bedding and left. Kiyomura stared at the dark sea. ——The thirty-five-year-old mother and four- or five-year-old daughter who disappeared from the sea. The teenager who came to inquire about the situation of the mother and daughter. Qingcun seemed to hear the sound of a tsunami caused by low pressure. Iki Police Station. Kiyomura Issori sat opposite the Director Nishijin Heikuro. Nishijin's expression was gloomy. "As a result, no matter who I ask, they can't remember what happened sixteen years ago." "Is it……" He had foreseen that no one would remember a yacht from sixteen years ago.Unless there was something special about the Ridge, there would be no memory of it. It has been the third day since Kiyomura came to Iki.In two days, the Iki Police Department tried its best to help understand the relevant clues and there will be no new situation. "We continue to investigate and report any new developments immediately." "please." After saying a few words of thanks, Kiyomura left the Iki Police Station. A strange incident——Nishikaya Chengyo's words kept reeling in Kiyomura's mind. Yesterday, he contacted the Nagasaki Prefectural Police Headquarters, requesting assistance in investigating the disappearance of the mother and daughter.There are records of people who ran away from home or committed suicide in the file, but there is nothing about the identity of mother and daughter and the relationship between relatives.There is also no record of requests for inquiries. The Iki Police Station also has no documents in this regard. A strange case indeed. Under normal circumstances, the whereabouts of the mother and daughter are unknown, and they should be searched upon request.The mother and daughter say they live in Tokyo.If the family members request an investigation from the Metropolitan Police Department, the Metropolitan Police Department will definitely notify the Nagasaki Prefectural Police to conduct an inquiry.In this way, the county police have to establish relevant file files. It is said that about seven months later, a boy appeared.Except this boy.The mother and daughter should have other family members.Mother made a call to Tokyo or received a call from Tokyo, and was anxious to go back to Tokyo. It seemed that it was not necessarily the young man who called from Tokyo. Generally speaking, such an urgent call is only possible for things like the death of close relatives.If this is the case, why didn't the family members submit an inquiry application? Being able to travel from Tokyo to Iki in summer shows that the family is fairly wealthy. --not understand. Qing Cun paced back and forth, muttering in his heart. The boy's actions are also a mystery.Assuming that the mother and the young daughter have only the boy as their relative, and no other relatives, then the boy's actions are incomprehensible. He was fourteen or fifteen years old, and if he wasn't extremely stupid, he should at least have filed an inquiry with the police.In fact, seven months later, the boy went to Iki alone to check on his mother and sister.Chengdai also remembered that he was very polite. The fog is getting thicker.Qing Cun stopped a taxi and went straight to the airport.Sixteen years ago in early August, mother and daughter disappeared in a storm.Seven months later, the boy came to Iki to find out the whereabouts of his mother and sister. From this, I think that the two prosecutors Shimada and Hiraizumi who were killed were visiting Iki with their friends on the yacht Hailing at home when the mother and daughter disappeared. Sixteen years have passed since then. ——Is there any relationship between the two? The mother and daughter came to the pier knowing that the regular passenger ship was suspended.Regular passenger ships will stop and other ships will not go to sea. Mother and daughter wandering on the pier. The mother and daughter probably spotted the Sea Ridge that was about to leave port.Fifty-foot yachts are luxury vessels capable of ocean-going voyages.Despite the approaching depression and rough seas, it was still possible to sail at seventy knots.The reason for the forced voyage is that the Sea Ridge must return as soon as possible. —Is there a public trial? Five of them were prosecutors with busy schedules.One of them is a lawyer.The court of public trial was probably waiting for them at that time.