Chapter 16 Chapter 16 The Severed Junction

Crossing and Shimoda took charge of the investigation of Mizue Yonekawa. It is the credit of "Kanagawa" to find out the relationship between Mizushima and Osaki and find that Mizushima is familiar with the situation at the scene.If there is nothing here, then "Tokyo" will be too embarrassed. The two walked into the foyer of Mi Chuan's house, and saw a tiger lying across the door, they couldn't help being startled, and after a closer look, it turned out to be a specimen, and then heaved a sigh of relief. "Ma'am, please recall something carefully. In late October three years ago, to be precise, at 6:00 pm on October 23, an accident occurred on National Highway 138 near the Kagozaka Ridge at the junction of Yamanashi and Shizuoka counties. A traffic accident. Do you remember the travel agency that accompanied Yoshio Mizushima on your trip to Europe with you? In that accident, he lost his wife and daughter. Do you and your husband have any clues about that accident?"

After sitting down in the living room, Heng Du first explained the purpose of coming. "Mizushima? Really?" Ruizhi looked surprised. "Madam seems to know something." Facing the policeman's eyes, she tried her best to control the uneasiness in her heart and hastily added another sentence: "No! I've never heard of this. I'm surprised to hear you say it all of a sudden. I always thought Mizushima wasn't married!" "Madam seems surprised." Hengdu continued to chase after her. "Mizushima-kun only met when he accompanied us on a trip to Europe. He is a very cheerful person. He didn't have such a big misfortune, so I was a little surprised."

Faced with the police staring and questioning, Ruizhi said with his head down. "Has your husband ever been to the Fuji Five Lakes for business?" Crossing changed the edge of the inquiry. "He runs around all day looking at the ground, and I can't possibly ask him one by one." When Ruizhi answered, his eyes showed a disturbed look, as if he was deliberately avoiding the police's sight.At this moment, a young woman who looked like a maid brought tea. "Stop rambling!" The two hurriedly stood up to express their thanks. "You're welcome!"

The young maid nodded her head slightly and was about to go out when Rui Zhi called her: "Amy, come here!" After speaking, he took her out of the house.They were whispering outside the door, Ruizhi seemed to be giving orders to the young maid. After a while, Ruizhi came back. "Sorry!" Ruizhi bowed lightly, his eyes were much calmer than before, and his tone of voice seemed much calmer. "Excuse me, Ma'am, was you born in Nirazaki City?" Heng Du continued to ask after taking a sip of tea. "yes." Rui Zhi replied but was thinking about it in her heart.

"I heard that Madam and Jin Jing are from the same town?" Ruizhi had an expected look on his face. "Yes, in high school too. I've already said that." "Isn't it not far from your home along National Highway 137 from Lake Kawaguchi to Kofu?" Ruizhi was taken aback for a moment, and then regained his composure. "I guess so. I don't know anything about geography." "Did you take the national highway 138 and 137 from Hakone on your way home?" "I haven't been back for more than ten years." "Do you have a driver's license?"

"Yeah. But I'm a licensed driver and I rarely drive." After that, Rui Zhi, who regained his calm for some unknown reason, finally failed to find a breakthrough. The last two policemen had to get up and say goodbye. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help." Rui Zhi went from the living room to the hall. In the living room, a chandelier hangs from the ceiling and is surrounded by luxurious paintings and pottery. A stuffed tiger lies at the entrance of the foyer, threatening to creep the visitors.The whole house is filled with the smell of nouveau riche, which makes people feel extremely uncoordinated.

When I went back, I was not as surprised as I was when I knew it was a fake tiger. "How about it?" On the way to the station, Yokoto asked Shimoda. "I always feel that there is something wrong with her tone." "Me too. Her attitude was completely different before and after the servant brought the tea. What did she say to the servant?" Hengdu tilted his head and said to himself. "The furnishings in the house don't seem to be coordinated." "From this, we can see her husband's preference. But after her husband's death, the house has remained intact. From this, it can be seen that the woman also likes this kind of resplendent look."

"It's luxurious enough, but I can't sit still, and I'm sweating all the time." "It's like applying a layer of toad oil." Hengdu smiled wryly. "But it's not just because of that." "That woman seems to know something, she looks very unusual." "What did she say to the servant?" "We'll have to ask her about that servant later. She may be wary now." "That's right! That foyer!" Shimoda suddenly stopped as if remembering something. "What happened to the hall?" "There's something wrong with that foyer!"

"So do I. The foyer doesn't look right on the second floor, but only on the first floor." Yonekawa's house is a duplex apartment, and the foyers of each household are on the second floor. "Because it's an apartment structure, it's impossible for the foyer to be all on the first floor. The reason why I feel wrong is because there is always something missing." "What's missing?" "Maybe I didn't pay much attention to the tiger. I always feel that the hallway looks different when I go in and out." "I didn't notice that."

"It's all because of the tiger. All the attention is on the tiger. But the hall looks different when you go in and when you come out. What's the difference? I can't remember now." "It means that the woman asked the servant to change the appearance of the hall before we left?" "Is there something in the hall that you don't want us to see?" "That is to say, if it is not good for her to let us see, then why is she placed in the hall?" "We went to her and found out that thing was not good for her." "The servant came in after we asked her what clues she had about the traffic accident that happened in Kagezak Ridge three years ago. That is to say, there are things related to the accident in the hall..."

"Shimoda-kun, let's go back right away!" They returned to Yonekawa's house from the station.They stood in the hallway and rang the doorbell, and the young servant opened the door just now. "Hey, what did you lose?" The young servant looked surprised. "Ok!" Hengdu hummed and went in to look around without waiting to let him in.Shimoda then went in and set his sights on the wall above the shoe rack on the right hand side of the door.It's obviously white, and there's only one peg left on top, indicating that something like a picture frame or photo was once hung there.On the left-hand wall hangs a size 6 oil painting of a nude, which accentuates the blankness of the right-hand wall.When I first came, I didn't pay much attention to the tiger in front of my eyes, but now it seems that there were indeed picture frames or photos hanging there. "Where is the thing hanging here?" Shimoda asked the young maid.A troubled look appeared on the young maid's face. "Did Madam ask you to take off the thing hanging here just now? Tell us what it is?" At this time, Mrs. Yonechuan heard the movement in the hall and came out from the inside. "Amy! What's wrong? Ah!" Originally thought that the police had already gone back, but she didn't expect to come back again, and she stood there in a daze. "Oh, ma'am! We came back again when we remembered something." "Where did the things hanging here go?" Crossing asked without any explanation. "Nothing is hung up!" "That's strange. It was here when we came here. The color has changed on this wall. Did you just let her take it off? Say! Am I right?" Facing the piercing gaze of Heng Duan, the young maid showed a look of embarrassment and didn't know what to say. "Is there anything we can't see? Madame, can you tell us what it is?" "..." "We'll know if you don't tell us. We can ask your family or relatives and neighbors. Can you tell us what it is and why it was taken off?" Under the urging of the police, she raised her head in despair and said to the young maid: "Bring the photo you just picked up." After a while, the young maid took it back.It is a photograph of a quarto in a metal frame.At first glance, the photo looks like a bonfire, but on closer inspection, it turns out that the scene of a traffic accident was taken in the picture. A car was burning, and the raging fire pierced the night sky.There's nothing special about the photo, it's just a burning car, and it doesn't deserve to be hung in such a large frame on the wall.If this is the case, even if the attention is attracted by the frontal tiger, it is not surprising that the existence of the frame is not noticed.However, if you look closely, there is a faint shadow of someone in the car surrounded by fire.It was a harrowing image of a human body charred in a burning car. "Ma'am, why did you take this photo..." The policeman suddenly realized what he had just said halfway through. "It was a traffic accident that my husband happened to encounter, so he took a photo of it. He submitted this photo to a newspaper's 'Readers' Photo Contest' and won the third prize." Ruizhi confessed truthfully. "The accident you are talking about is the traffic accident that happened on National Highway 138 on October 23, right?" Crossing Ding asked.Ruizhi nodded. The breakpoint between Mizushima and Yonekawa was finally connected. "But, ma'am, you don't have to take it off if that's all! Madam took it off so suddenly, we'd like to know why?" cross asked. It seems that Ruizhi didn't know that when the police came in, they were attracted by the tiger and didn't see the photo.On the contrary, if the photos are hung like that, it is not easy to attract attention.And even if this photo is known to be related to the accident on October 23, there is nothing against her. "Actually, when you asked me just now, I realized that this photo was taken of the accident that Mizushima was involved in, because it has nothing to do with me, so..." "But the accident has been reported long ago, and the names of the perpetrator and the victim have been released." "But I didn't expect that the victim was Mizushima. The victim's name has long been forgotten." "But madam, it doesn't matter! Even if your husband took a picture of the accident, there's no need for madam to hide it!" "Actually, when he submitted the article, many people raised objections to this photo, saying that instead of saving the people in the car who were suffering in the fire, they stood aside and took pictures. It was because of this that he didn't win the first prize. But I don’t want others to see such cruel photos.” "You didn't answer my question. If you don't want people to see such a cruel picture, you can leave it hanging in the hall in the first place, and you should take it off when your husband dies at the latest. Why would you Hiding it from us? We want to know why!" "..." "Madam doesn't want us to see the photos, is there any secret hidden?" "No, nothing." "Then why did we hide it when we came?" "..." "Was your wife there when your husband took the picture?" "Yes, yes, I was there. Even though I was there, I couldn't stop taking such cruel photos." "You can't lie! Didn't Madam just say that it has nothing to do with you?" Facing the hot pursuit of the police, she didn't know how to respond.At least she didn't think the photo was so cruel at first, so she hung it in the hall after her husband died. "How is it? Madame! Tell us the truth!" Crossing gave a decisive final blow, Rui Zhi collapsed like a deflated ball. "I was actually in another car that happened to be passing there." "Another car?" "Does this have to be said?" "Must! Maybe it will work for us." "That day, in the evening, I sat in Jinjing's car and went for a ride to the Fuji Five Lakes in the name of going back to my hometown. I never thought that Yonekawa would go there that day. Later I asked him and he couldn't help being shocked. Yonekawa said he When we went to Hakone to see the land, we went around the Fuji Five Lakes. Our two cars passed by near there. When we passed the scene of the enemy, the accident had already happened. A car was burning, and a man was holding a child covered in blood I was asking for help. Jin Jing stopped the car and wanted to go down to have a look. I was afraid of being implicated and let him drive over. Yone Chuan came after we left." Mizue spoke intermittently, as if recalling the tragic scene of the accident. "Yone Chuan just took a photo and left like you?" "He said he was afraid of getting the car dirty." "What's the relationship between Madame and Jin Jing?" Although the guess was close to ten, the police still asked.Facing the cries for help of the dying people, they turned a blind eye and slipped away, which just shows that they are afraid of the relationship between the two being known. "Well, then...you can think whatever you want." "Is it true that your husband passed by by chance?" "Yes. It never occurred to me that he would pass by there. I was terrified afterwards." "Since Madam saw the scene of the accident, she must have remembered it when she saw Mizushima later, right?" "At that time, I was so frightened that no one cared to see what he looked like. I only saw a car burning in the dark, and a man covered in blood crying for help. I didn't even care to look at his face, even It must be different from usual. If you didn’t tell me, I would never have known that the victim of the accident was Mizushima. If I had known, I would have taken it off.” "Did Mizushima come to go through the formalities before departure?" "I've been here two or three times..." As soon as Rui Zhi said the words, he immediately realized the meaning, and his face turned pale. "Did Mizushima see this photo?" "Then I don't know, but it's usually hung in the hallway, so maybe I saw it." "What was his expression at the time?" "I didn't pay much attention. What? Could it be...Mizushima?" Ruizhi's lips trembled. The connection between Mizushima and the dead is finally found.The first victim, Yonekawa, happened to be in a traffic accident, and ignored Mizushima who was crying for help, and took him into the camera as a subject for a photo contest.The second victim, Jin Jing, did not stop to save others because he was afraid that his adultery with Mrs. Yonekawa would be exposed. Had they all extended a helping hand, Mizushima's family might not have died. For Mizushima, they may be more unforgivable than the perpetrators. Since Mizushima and their connection point were discovered among the members of the tour group, the other members were also investigated as a breakthrough point. The results confirmed the fact that on October 23rd, the Bashu couple and the Meigu couple also passed by the scene one after another.They were also begged by Mizushima, but they all slipped away because they were afraid of being implicated. Among the nine, only Anyangji and his wife did not pass by the scene, but during the investigation, it was found that because Kanai's own car broke down, the Anyangji family's car (which Eichiro bought for Noriko) was borrowed. So far, the "common ground" connecting all members has finally emerged. "How did Mizushima find those people?" someone asked. "Didn't Yonekawa contribute to the newspaper's photo contest? Maybe I learned about it from here." "What about the rest?" "Judging from the fact that the Anyangsi couple were also persuaded to take part in the Eastern Journey, maybe they knew it from the license plate number." "They may be mobilized to join the tour group to find out the desperate driver during the tour." "What a stubborn notion!" "This is certainly a stubborn concept. But his wife was dying lying beside him, and none of the passing vehicles stopped to take them to the hospital. To him, they were like inhuman devils." "But how can you write down the plates of all four vehicles in such a distraught situation?" "Maybe they all stopped the car and drove away in fear after seeing the tragedy of the accident. From Mizushima's point of view, the feeling of 'this is saved' was only a few seconds, and he felt that he was stretched out. The rescuers who came out gave up. They must not be spared! So, he wrote down the license plate number of the car he drove away with resentful eyes." "If both Yonekawa and Jinjing were killed by Mizushima, why did the Yashu couple still keep them?" "Isn't Mrs. Yonechuan all right?" "Ms. Yonekawa was not in Yonekawa's car at the time. Although she was in Kanai's car, their relationship has not been disclosed to others, so Mizushima does not know who is sitting in Kanai's car." "What about Meigu?" "Mizushima's resentment is mainly directed at the driver. He has already avenged Meigu, and he doesn't seem to want to stab the fellow driver with the sword of revenge. However, the Bashu couple are still 'intact', who Know what will happen next." "Does that mean that the Bashu couple are in a very dangerous situation?" "It's better to pay attention." This kind of danger has also been raised by the Jinzi International Police Officer before, but because of the need to find a common ground to prove the existence of this danger, the idea of ​​setting up an ambush around the eight bundles was not accepted by the majority. Now, with the discovery of common ground, that danger is very real.Mizushima may have fully sensed that the police have been eyeing him.So the search headquarters decided to remind the Bashu couple just in case.However, the police were told that Yasutsu Takuyuki had gone on a trip yesterday. "Where did he go?" The investigator restrained his inner anxiety and asked Mrs. Bashu. "He never said it. He often travels to find inspiration for the idea of ​​a big work. He drove out yesterday and said he would be back in two or three days. What's wrong with him?" Yashu Taeko seemed to have gotten used to her husband's travels, and she didn't seem particularly worried.However, the discovery of the "common ground" happened to coincide with the trip of Hachitsu Takuyuki, and the investigators vaguely felt an ominous omen. To be on the safe side, I first asked the All Japan Tourism Organization, and the other party replied that Mizushima did not go to work yesterday and did not ask for leave in advance.This has never been the case before. The search headquarters became more and more uneasy.After investigating Mizushima's residence, he found that he hadn't come home since yesterday. Although Mizushima was found to be a major suspect through the idea of ​​changing perspectives, no monitoring measures have been taken against him so far. This cannot but be said to be a major mistake in the search headquarters. Searched the place where the two might go, but found nothing.So far, the search headquarters determined that the murders of Yonekawa and Kanai were the work of Yoshio Mizushima, and issued the No. 1 arrest warrant to the whole country.At the same time, Tokyo and Kanagawa have implemented an emergency warning system, conducted strict inspections of passing vehicles, and requested the assistance of surrounding counties.