Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen: A Hypothetical Showdown

Calls to Tomoko Yamahara's house were never answered.Her husband, Yamahara, has been arrested because he is the main culprit of illegal and criminal activities, so it is possible that Tomoko Yamahara has returned to her natal home, or she may not answer the phone at home. The two had no choice but to drop a letter into her mailbox.This is how the letter was written. "After seeing this, if there is a ghost in my heart, there will be a reaction." "It's also possible to pretend to be confused." "The reason why she gave the clues to her brother-in-law is because she hates dealing with the police. She should take action to prevent us from going to the police."

"Anyway, all we have to do now is wait." They are waiting for the fish to bite.Two days later, Yuko hung up the phone excitedly. "Youxin'er is here. Tomoko Yamahara agreed to meet." "Huh? Really?" Although I put such a letter in her mailbox, I still can't believe there will be a real response. Saying that she handed over the evidence to Qing Yuan is based on speculation, and even if the speculation is correct, Qing Yuan is already dead, and there is no proof of death. The police also asked Tomoko whether she was a dining companion, and her answer was different from when Kiyohara forced her (this is also speculation).

Such a smooth catch surprised even the hooker. "It is true. Meet me at the bar of the Royal Hotel at three o'clock this afternoon." "In the bar?" "Please, come together." "OK?" "Just pretend you don't know me and sit nearby. I'll feel more at ease with you here." "It makes me happy that a man like me can give you that feeling." "Tomoko's suspicion hasn't been fully clarified yet. Maybe she's the one who killed her brother-in-law or Masako, so I'm a little scared." "What are you afraid of in a big hotel in broad daylight? If the other party has bad intentions, they should invite you to a remote mountain."

"Appointing to a remote place at the beginning will make people suspicious, and no one will come, so first make an appointment at a hotel, and then try to bring people into the car, and it is common to drag them to some weird places." "In this way, I have a heavy responsibility." Although he thought it was unlikely, but just in case, Shicun decided to go. During the day the hotel bar is a complete vacuum.It is unbelievable that the place will be overcrowded from around 6 o'clock in the evening, and even the door is full of people waiting for seats, presenting a bustling scene like a department store cafeteria.

Most of the guests in this time zone are waiting for the "afternoon tryst".When Yuko arrived at the bar at the appointed time, Tomoko Yamahara had already arrived.She is wearing a plain suit, and her jewelry is also very simple and low-key.It's not that I like it, but I'm jealous and don't want to be too ostentatious.At this time, Shi Cun hadn't seen him yet. Although the two met for the first time, they recognized each other almost at the same time. "Miss Sundae Bridge?" "Mrs. Yamahara?" The two talked at the same time, their eyes met, and it seemed that sparks were about to burst out in an instant.Sit opposite each other at the table.A glass of tropical juice drink was placed in front of Tomoko.Still almost full.Yuko asked the waiter for a glass of soda.

"Trust me, I saw it." Zhizi said after the waiter left. "I didn't expect you to receive it so soon." Yuko said with a low-key attitude. "Mr. Kiyohara's sister-in-law, right?" Tomoko looked at Yuko appreciatively.Zhizi's willingness to meet her means that Yuko's guess is correct, and this sentence is tantamount to admitting that Kiyohara had looked for her. "Yes, Qingyuan is my brother-in-law." "That's right. Kiyohara is really pitiful." He spoke very sincerely. "It turns out that brother-in-law really looked for you."

When Zhizi nodded silently, the waiter came over to deliver drinks.At some point, Shicun was already sitting not far away. "I would like you to describe the circumstances in as much detail as possible. My brother-in-law was killed because of what he heard or received from you." "Are you suspicious of me?" "no." "But doubt it?" "Takasaka Masako was killed and I doubted you at first. But after my brother-in-law was killed, I don't think you are a criminal." "why?" "Brother-in-law visited you because he suspected that you were the murderer of Masako Takasaka. If this suspicion deepened after meeting you, he would report you before he was killed. The reason why I didn't do that is I I think it is because I got evidence or personal testimony from you that the prisoner is not yours. My brother-in-law met you probably after mid-April and before May. My brother-in-law was killed on May 13th or 4th. If you are a prisoner If not, the time in between is too long."

"You see it very clearly. Mr. Qingyuan came to my house on April 25th. He said he hoped to meet me in IN THE MOOD. Before asking the waiter, he wanted to take him to meet me in person. Very clever Tactics. He also said that if you don’t want to, you can come to my house. I really can’t refuse. At that time, he believed that Changzi’s dining companion was me. He suspected that I was the prisoner who killed Changzi.” A smile appeared on Zhizi’s mouth. "But he suspects me and I can't help it. Because I really want to kill her. If Changzi is not killed by someone else, maybe I will kill her. No, I will definitely kill her."

"So my letter was right." "Yes. Because you are so right, I want to see what kind of person you are." Tomoko looked deep into Yuko's eyes, and there was no malice in his eyes. "Why didn't you tell the police about that?" "Do you think the police will believe it? It will only deepen their suspicions." "Do you think I'll believe it?" "You won't know unless you meet. And it doesn't matter if you believe it or not." "I just want to know who the culprit who killed my brother-in-law is." "Don't you know who it is, so you want to meet?"

"What did you tell your brother-in-law? Or what did you give him? What did you see when you went to Masako Kosaka's room at around seven o'clock in the evening on March 23?" "There is no recording or anything. Of course, if I was afraid of this, I wouldn't agree to meet you in the first place." "I don't have a recording." "I made an appointment with Masako to have dinner at IN THE MOOD at 7:30 that day. She said that she would go directly to the restaurant from the Royal Hotel. "I felt that Masako must have a tryst with a man in the hotel. So I came out earlier than usual that day, in order to see what Masako's partner was like, so I came to the Royal Hotel.

"I asked for the room number on the phone. I went to her room around seven o'clock. I saw the door was slightly open, and I walked in. I saw that Changzi was dead with a rope wrapped around his neck. It seemed that he had just been killed. Of course I was taken aback. I wanted to call, but I was afraid that if I act rashly, I would attract suspicion for myself, so I didn't call. Just like Mr. Kiyohara felt, I hate Masako. Masako said that her husband's death was caused by Yamahara. , In fact, it was Yamahara who killed him, and then pretended to commit suicide, so Yamahara must pay for compensation. "I persuaded Yamahara that if she agreed to this kind of thing, there would be endless troubles, but Yamahara said it was Kosaka's pension and gave her the money. Masako really got worse, saying that our family can live such a stable life. It was the result of her keeping silent. "Seeing the hated Changzi foaming at the mouth and being strangled to death, I was very flustered at first, and then I even felt a sense of relief. If I were the first to find the corpse in my state, I would definitely attract suspicion. of. "In the eyes of the police, Yamahara was the object of extortion by Masako and had a motive to kill her. "In short, I realized that this is not a place to stay for a long time, and when I was about to leave quickly, I found something under the bed beside the corpse." Speaking of this, Tomoko paused intentionally to test Yuko's expression.Yuko just silently urged her to continue.It's getting dark in the bar.The guests are still sparse.Among them, Secun's back is still in the same position. "That's a suit handkerchief. The kind women wear with silk lace. You can tell it's not Masako's at a glance. She's never used such a thing. And she's wearing a yukata, and she didn't just drop a handkerchief on it." The reason for the place under the bed. I think it must be something dropped by the prisoner. I picked it up immediately and came out." "Why did you pick up something that might be a prisoner?" Yuko interjected. "I didn't think about anything at the time. Thinking about it later, maybe it was to get evidence that I was not a prisoner." "Didn't you mean to cover up the prisoner?" Because he said that he even felt grateful to the prisoner, so it was not surprising that he had such a meaning. "I didn't expect to be here." "Where is the suit handkerchief now?" "Give it to Mr. Kiyohara. He suspected that I was a prisoner, so I showed him the handkerchief. Then he asked if he could lend it to him for a while, so I lent it to him." "Is there anything on the handkerchief that might be a clue?" "It's a specially designed handkerchief with your initials. Embroidered with the letters MN." "MN!" "Have you thought of anything?" "Do you know someone named Motohiro Nagai?" "NAGAI MOTOHILO (Nagai Motohiro's Japanese pronunciation)...the abbreviation is MN. What's the matter with this person?" "President of the fashion company Nagai." "Nagai's... so that handkerchief is Nagai's design. I haven't bought anything from Nagai, so I can't be sure." "Nagai Motohiro and your wife and the Takasaka couple stayed at the Kanzanji Hotel together eight years ago. Didn't you realize it at the time?" "Huh? Really? You even know this?" Tomoko's astonishment did not show any acting skills. "Didn't brother-in-law say this?" "No. I only talked about the trip of the four of us to Guanshan Temple. He said that he found clues from the guest book of the hotel. He took a picture of that page and enlarged it for me to see." "I also know it from there. But I read the message book, after the messages of the four of you were cut off. It just so happened that your messages were excerpted in the hotel's brochure, and that's how I found out." "The police said the same thing. They seemed to suspect that I was the one who made the cut." "I think the person who cut off the message is the prisoner. Because there are clues to track the prisoner on it." When Kiyohara visited Tomoko, he didn't mention Nagai Motohiro's name because he didn't suspect Nagai at that time. After seeing the handkerchief from Zhizi, he looked at the message book in a different way, so he noticed Nagai.Nagai's initials are consistent with those on the handkerchief, which promotes the transformation of the way of thinking and proves the correctness of the transformation. "Are you saying that the prisoner is the president of Nagai?" "I'm not sure about that. Haven't you heard the name Nagai from your husband or from the Takasakas?" "When you say that, I think that at the party held by the company, it seems that someone has introduced them to me, but that's all." "When we met at the party, didn't Nagai and the others say that they stayed in the same hotel as you at Kanzan Temple eight years ago?" "No wow." In other words, this is a matter between Nagai and Takasaka. "Did Masako Kosaka attend the party?" "The gala of the school warehouse business is in principle to be attended by couples together, so I should have gone." "Takasaka Masako and Nagai Motohiro met at the party. Is there anything special that attracts your attention?" "I don't remember. I don't even remember whether the two of them attended. It's always a party with thousands of people." It is indeed difficult to make an impression on a specific participant at a party of that scale. "It's great to see you. To be honest, I'm scared." After saying what she should say, Tomoko said with a sigh of relief. "why?" "When I heard the news that Mr. Kiyohara was killed, I knew that he was killed by the prisoner who killed Masako. As you said, the handkerchief I took from me was the reason why he was killed. He held The clues obtained from me pushed the prisoner too hard, so he was killed. It is very likely that the prisoner knew from Mr. Kiyohara that the handkerchief was obtained from me, so I became his threat. The prisoner would think Maybe I have other clues besides the handkerchief. For example, I may even have seen the prisoner. I realize that killing Kiyohara-san alone will not help at all. "Before I saw you, I was worried that the prisoner would deceive me in the name of Sister Qingyuan to test me. I came here with the intention of confronting the prisoner. At the same time, I also thought that if the person who wanted to see me was really a prisoner, it would be It’s a good opportunity to clarify my suspicions. So I specially chose a big hotel in the city center and invited Mr. Criminal Police.” While Zhizi was speaking, two people stood up in the corner of the bar and walked towards this side.It is Dongju and crossing.The two introduced themselves to Yuko, smiled in Shicun's direction, and said, "There seems to be an acquaintance over there." Although they had already recognized each other, they both pretended to be strangers.