Chapter 15 second quarter

Takehachi Sochii returned to the editorial department.The atmosphere in the editorial office is a bit strange.The editors come up with: "Mr. Dijing, where have you been? We are looking for you everywhere!" "I went out for an interview." Seeing the nervous expressions of the editors, Takehachi gasped, "What? What happened?" "Something has happened! Mr. Yamazaki is dead, and someone found his body." "What? A corpse?" Takehachi Sochii seemed to have received a blow to the head.He had some premonition before, but he was still shocked when the real thing happened.

"Yes. After a while, the police contacted and said that a man like Mr. Yamazaki was strangled to death near Arai, Hongomiya Town, Adachi County, Fukushima Prefecture." "What? Strangling? Really?" Takehachi Sokui asked in an unusual voice. "Hmm. Whether it's him or not is still uncertain. If we don't go to him, the police won't be able to figure it out." "So, who's gone?" "Mr. Yamazaki's wife has already gone to the scene. In fact, you work under Yamazaki, so it is most suitable for you to go. I wanted you to go, but I couldn't find you anywhere, so I had to let her go first."

The editors didn't bother to ask him where he was, but just stared at him, expecting his answer. "I'm very sorry. I'll be right there!" he said excitedly. "Okay. Then you go!" "Can you tell me more about the situation, how did you find the body?" "No detailed report has been received yet. The local police said that there was a duralumin box sent from Tokyo, which contained the corpse. Therefore, it was presumed that the victim may be from Tokyo, and a note was submitted to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department." "What? Sealed in a duralumin case?"

"That's right." The editor frowned and said, "The duralumin box was mailed from Tabata Station. After receiving the local note, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department investigated the report of people under its jurisdiction missing. The newspaper only knows that the Metropolitan Police Department had a brief phone call with Mrs. Yamazaki. You can go to the scene and the truth will be revealed.” "Then I will go at once." "That's the way to go. Two or three people should have gone, but now there are not enough people in the club, so you have to go by yourself. Do everything according to the camera!"

"Understood." Takehachi received the travel expenses from the editorial department. "When you get there, get in touch with the agency as soon as possible," the editors told him. "It must be. Where in Fukushima Prefecture?" "Arai, Adachi County." "Where do you get off?" "I didn't investigate, I don't know." Takehachi found out the county-by-county atlas of the editorial department.Find Adachi County in Fukushima Prefecture, and the nearest station is called "Wubaichuan". Takehachi Sochii rushed to Ueno Station, and an express train departed ten minutes later.He bought a ticket to Koriyama.Wubaichuan is two stations north of Koriyama, and the express train does not stop there.

It takes four hours to Koriyama.It was evening when the bus departed from Ueno, and it was already 8:30 in the evening when we arrived at Koriyama. Sotsui Takehachi went straight to the Koriyama Police Station.He didn't know where the Arai in Anda County was under the jurisdiction, but since it was near Koriyama, it might be under the jurisdiction of the Koriyama Police Department. The Koriyama Police Station is off duty, and only the officers on duty are sitting there.Takehachi Sokui explained his purpose. "To ask about this, please go to the search headquarters. Go inside, there is a sign on the door, and they will tell you."

Takehachi walked through the dimly lit corridor.There are many single rooms on both sides of the corridor.On the door of the room at the end, there is a note that reads "Search Headquarters for Box Corpse Incident".The lights in the room were bright, and some figures were moving back and forth on the glass windows. Suzui suddenly had a real feeling that Yamazaki Jiro was killed, and he pushed open the door. Sitting behind the desk in the middle of the room was a fat man in his forties, wearing a buttoned shirt and smoking low-quality cigarettes.The duty officer led Bottom Well to the desk.They exchanged business cards.The other party is "Koriyama Police Station Alternate Sergeant Usuda Yoichiro".

"I am the search director for this incident. Please take a seat." Because Di Jing was from the victim's unit, the search headquarters was very polite to him.There were three or four people beside Director Usuda looking at him. "I'm here on assignment from the newspaper. I heard that Mr. Yamazaki's strangled body was found nearby. Is that really Mr. Yamazaki?" Sotsui asked. "That's not wrong!" The fat director replied, "After Mrs. Yamazaki's inspection, it has been confirmed." Usuda made it very clear, and it seems to be true.Usuda took the file from the assistant beside him:

"We still have something to ask you. Let me introduce the situation first. The body was packed in an old hard aluminum box. It was discovered at around 8:00 am on the 17th. The location is two stations north of Fukushima Prefecture. Arai near the Wubai River, this is the scene.” He took out the photo from a thick paper bag and showed it to Takehachi Sukui.It seems that it was developed and printed immediately after taking pictures in the morning.The photo shows the duralumin box that was found.The chest is in the grass, there is a field nearby, and there are trees around the grass. Although it's just an ordinary duralumin box, it makes people feel a little disgusted when they think about the things inside it.

"It was discovered by the nearby farmers. They thought it was strange, so they came to report. The police at the police station checked the appearance and reported it to the department. This is what happened when the box was opened." The director took out another photo. In the photo was a man with bent knees, his hands and feet were forced in randomly, and his head was turned to one side. Although the head is slightly darker, it is indeed the appearance of Yamazaki Haruhiro. "How is it? Is it this person?" The director stared closely at Takeuhachi's face. "It's...not wrong." Takehachi Sujii said nervously.

"For more clarity, please take a closer look at this photo." The director took out another photo. It was a close-up of the victim's head taken out of the duralumin box. Yamazaki Jiro's head was tilted to one side in pain.The mouth is open, and the tongue hangs over the teeth.There is black liquid flowing out of the corner of the mouth, it is blood stains!There is a deep rope mark around the neck. Sokui Takehachi couldn't bear to see him, and felt sick. "It's this person. It's no problem that it's Jiro Yamazaki." Although the small room was stuffy, cold sweat was dripping from Sukui Takehachi's forehead. "Thank you for your cooperation. We have identified the victim. Although Mrs. Yamazaki has read it, it is even more correct to have you from the same newspaper. It is more important for us to identify the deceased. Because Knowing that is almost half the problem.” The director took out a cigarette from the cigarette case and handed it to Takehachi Suzui, but Suzui was not in the mood to smoke. "I want to ask you, why do you think Mr. Yamazaki was killed?" the director asked kindly. "No, I don't know at all." Takehachi wiped his sweat with a dirty handkerchief. "There is no need to worry about this kind of thing!" The director said with a puff of smoke: "Some people think that telling the truth will not be good for the deceased. If you don't tell the whole story, it will be bad for the deceased. You are not with Mr. Yamazaki every day. Work together?" "Yes. I work together every day because Mr. Yamazaki is my boss." "Then you should know a lot of things, even things his wife doesn't know. For example, the relationship between men and women. How about it? Can you cooperate with us?" "I will do my best to cooperate. But Mr. Yamazaki has no such problem." Although Yamazaki Jiro talked with Tamiya at the restaurant in Kagurazaka, it was not an improper relationship between men and women.His murder is still related to the search for Okase Masahira's collection, but this cannot be told to outsiders. "Then think about it slowly! Think about it." The director said calmly: "Let me briefly talk about the matter! We investigated this duralumin box at ten o'clock in the morning on the 17th. The shipping label is hung on the box. The consignor and the consignee are the names, called Yoshida Saburo. The delivery station is Tabata; the receiving station is Koriyama. The goods arrived the day before yesterday—June 16 Standing." Usuda continued to say to Inodeta Takehachi: "It's a very old box. Open the lid, and there is oiled paper inside, and the oiled paper is nothing special." "Excuse me, why is the address of Saburo Yoshida written on the label?" Usuda looked at the file: "The label says 'Ikebukuro 8-508, Toshima-ku, Tokyo'. The handwriting is terrible, and it may have been written with the left hand on purpose. But people who are used to writing with pens suddenly switched to brushes, Levels will drop immediately!" "Is the cause of death still strangulation?" "Yes. There is a deep impression of the rope on the neck. The murder weapon has not been found so far—the rope, possibly hemp rope or something, was wound three times around the neck of the deceased." "What about after death?" "The autopsy was completed at eight o'clock in the afternoon. The autopsy showed that fifty hours had passed since the autopsy." "Then, that is to say." Takehachi Suijing calculated in his mind: "It happened on the night of the 15th." "Yes. Fifty hours after death is also a basic estimate, not very precise. An error of five or six hours is allowed." "That's understandable. There's no real person in that consignor's place!" "Yes. At the beginning, we asked the police to assist in the investigation. The reply was 'there is no such person'. On the morning of the 18th, we sent people to Tokyo to investigate, and the result was the same." "Excuse me, what kind of person picks up the box at the Koriyama station where the goods are received? Does the attendant remember the appearance and clothing of the person who picked up the goods?" "We asked the person on duty, but he couldn't remember clearly. Besides, it was an ordinary box that didn't deserve special attention, which is understandable. According to the dim memory of the person on duty, it was a person who came to pick up the goods with the bill of lading A man of forty-two or three years old, wearing a hunting cap and raincoat." "How about the facial features?" "Unfortunately, the staff on duty really can't remember clearly, just remember that it was a person wearing glasses." "What time did you pick up the goods?" "It was nine o'clock in the afternoon on the 16th. It was the time for shift change, so it was relatively clear. The duralumin box was discovered at eight o'clock in the morning on the 17th, which means that it was exactly eleven hours before the pick-up time." "How big is that box?" "According to the invoice, it is 72 kilograms. The weight of the victim is 61 kilograms. The remaining ten kilograms is the weight of the box and the stuffing." "Did the box go directly to the Cargo Division at Tabata Station?" "Yes. It is not entrusted to the transport service station to handle it." "The staff on duty at the Cargo Section at Tabata Station, do you still remember the face of the shipper?" "I remember." Speaking of this, Usuda's facial expression was quite complicated, it was a confused and somewhat strange expression: "It's a strange thing to say. When I talked to the watchman about the appearance of the shipper, it was somewhat similar to the appearance in my subordinate's memory. It seems to be a joke. After careful consideration, it is somewhat similar to the victim." "Ah!? What did you say?" Sui Jing Takehachi was taken aback. "Even the plainclothes policeman was shocked. When the plainclothes policeman told the appearance of the deceased, the officers on duty said, 'Yes! Yes! That's what he looked like.' to confirm it." "Is that true?" "It's true. And when it comes to what to wear, they keep saying! 'That's it, that's it.'" "That is to say, Mr. Yamazaki checked the box by himself, and then he became a corpse in the box again?" "That's right." Usuda laughed, "It's like magic. The watchman must have made a mistake. These inconsistent testimonies are unbearable. Besides, people's memory also makes mistakes, and it's unrealistic to ask too much. Yes. Besides, the Freight Division at Tabata Station is a very chaotic place." "When did Tabata Station accept that box?" "At 8:30 in the morning on the 15th." Usuda looked at the file and replied, "We investigated how the box arrived at Koriyama Station. It was delivered by the truck distributed by Tabata at 9:30 in the afternoon. The truck from Omiya was reversed at 4:30 every morning. It arrived at Koriyama Station at 19:05 on the 16th." "Oh! It's 7:05 p.m. the day after the delivery of the goods!" "That's right. The man who picked up the goods went there at nine o'clock in the afternoon, which means he was at Koriyama Station for two hours." "I'd like to ask a strange question: Isn't the pick-up man in the raincoat Mr. Yamazaki?" Usuda laughed loudly: "This is really a strange theory. The person who came to pick up the goods turned into a dead body and was found in the box. It is a spectacle... Hahaha. You said that the consignor seemed to be killed That's what the reader thinks! This is a thriller story... But, please note that the time of death is serious and unchangeable. As I said just now, the autopsy shows that fifty hours before the time of autopsy He died before. Therefore, it is estimated that the time of the crime was roughly from the evening of the 15th to the night. That is to say, the victim was killed all day and night before the goods were picked up at Koriyama Station. Could it be that the ghost of the victim appeared, Did you take the box containing your own body?" Takehachi Sukui laughed after hearing that.But he felt a chill rising from the back of his head. "According to the results of Mr. Yamazaki's autopsy, are there any new findings?" He changed the subject. "No. There was no trauma, no toxic reaction or internal organ failure. Only digested food was found in the victim's stomach. After checking the results, I knew it was curry rice." "Curry rice?" "Yes. It's low-grade. The raw materials are cheap, and there are a few pickles at the same time. It means that the victim had eaten a few hours ago." "Can you tell which restaurant you ate at?" "It's very difficult. Any restaurant sells this kind of food. If it's made with high-grade raw materials, it might be easier to investigate." "From the perspective of digestion, how long did it take?" "About five or six hours." "Five or six hours?" Takehachi Sochii thought to himself, Jiro Yamazaki came out of his home at 9:20 am on the 15th.The autopsy analysis concluded that the time of the murder was roughly between 6:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m. on the 15th (the box was brought into Tabata Station at 8:30 p.m.).Then curry rice is for lunch.And Yamazaki Jiro often eats in ordinary small restaurants. "We thought," continued Usuda, "that Yamazaki-san dined alone, unaccompanied. He went to a certain house afterwards." "How do you know?" "Think about it: the first is strangulation, and the corpses are put in boxes, so it can be inferred that the possibility of committing a crime indoors is greater than that outside." "Not bad. Makes sense." "Please tell me. Did you hear who Mr. Yamazaki is going to visit on the 15th?" Usuda asked. "I haven't heard of it. Because he likes to decide everything by himself and doesn't discuss it with his subordinates." "From our police point of view, Mr. Yamazaki came out of his home at 9:20 a.m. on the 15th, and he went to eat curry rice. What he did and where he went is the central task of our current investigation. If anyone with knowledge It would be great, but it has not been found yet. We sent two people to Tokyo for this purpose, but there is no reply yet.” "When did it become clear that the victim belonged to Yamazaki Haru?" "I've already said it. Because the box was sent from Tokyo, it is presumed that the murdered person lived in Tokyo long ago. We contacted the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and asked if there is any request for help in finding the missing person. Hurry up today." It was only after Xiangwu that we found out, so we got in touch with Mrs. Yamazaki immediately." Takehachi Sukui understood the general situation of the matter. "Can I have a look at the scene?" The Police Department immediately agreed.Because he was a related person of the victim who came from Tokyo on purpose.And provide a car for his use. It takes 40 minutes by car from Koriyama to the site.It is about 500 meters west of Wubaichuan Station, surrounded by the bushes seen in the photo.The path from the station leads past the edge of the forest to the village. The ropes used to protect the site still remain on the grass. Takehachi Sukui stood there thinking. The box containing the body of the deceased arrived at Koriyama Station at nine o'clock in the evening on the 16th.The nearby farmers found the box at eight o'clock the next morning.That is to say, from 9:30 on the 16th to 8:00 the next morning, during this time someone left the box here. It must be very dark in this area at night.Although there was an electric light in Gobaokawa Station 500 meters away, it couldn't reach here anyway.There were also flickering lights in the farmhouses in the distance, but it was definitely pitch black. Takehachi Suzui took out a notepad from his pocket, followed the situation introduced by the police station, and sorted out the development of the incident in order. △June 15th, at 20:30, the cargo department of Tabata Station received a duralumin box. △At 21:30 on the same day, a truck from Tabata Station took the boxes out. △At 19:05 on the 16th, the box was dumped onto another truck at Omiya Station, and when it arrived at Koriyama Station, the box was unloaded from the truck. △At blackjack on the same day, a consignee took the box with the bill of lading. △At 8 am on the 17th, an abandoned box was found at the scene. △The autopsy was completed at 20:00 on the same day. △18th.Three plainclothes policemen from Koriyama went to Tokyo. △19th.Identify.The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department contacted the newspaper office.Mrs. Yamazaki set off for Koriyama. This is a summary record while the memory is not yet fading.Can be used as a reference. It turns out that this summary played a big role afterwards. "Thank you so much!" Takehachi Sokui thanked the police officer who brought him to the scene.Returned to the Koriyama Police Station. "Have you seen it?" Usuda asked friendlyly, "It just so happens that the victim's wife is here, do you want to meet?" "Of course I want to see you!" "Then please go over there!" Takehachi Sukui was led to the reception room by a plainclothes policeman. It was the first time that Takehachi had seen Mrs. Yamazaki.She was a small, thin woman.It seems that I didn't get enough sleep last night, my eyes are red, and I am exhausted. "Are you Mrs. Yamazaki? My name is Sotsui, and I work under Mr. Yamazaki." He solemnly expressed his condolences. Madame is not good at talking, not to mention that in this special situation, her spirit was greatly stimulated.From her conversation, it was clear that she could not fathom why Yamazaki was killed. "Does the body want to be cremated here and return to Tokyo?" "Yes. It's meant to be done that way." The dissection has been completed and cremation can be done at any time.As a representative of the newspaper office, Bosei Wuba helped Mrs. Yamazaki handle all the procedures. However, during this period, Takehachi Sukui still had what Usuda said in his ears.That's about the appearance of the man who checked in the goods at Tabata Station.According to the person on duty there, he looks exactly like Yamazaki Jiro. The police dismissed the testimony as false and laughed it off.How can the dead consign themselves in boxes?It's nonsense. Although the police were laughing, Takehachi Sujii couldn't laugh.The image of a ghost of Yamazaki Jiro carrying the box containing his own body to Tabata Station to check it was deeply imprinted in his heart.