Chapter 37 Section 37

Kusanagi was sitting in the self-service coffee shop at the north exit of Ekoda Station.The coffee shop is not big, and only three people can sit on the counter seats facing the aisle.Kusanagi sat on the middle seat, drinking water and killing time.His coffee cup had been empty ten minutes earlier. Seeing that the hands of the watch pointed to seven o'clock, Kusanagi got up, packed the cups and trays, and left the coffee shop.Like the shop, the road outside the door is also very narrow and twisted.Needless to say, such a road is naturally a one-way street.On the side of the road, there are several small shops with signs of ramen restaurants, izakayas and snack bars.

Kusanagi walked to a road that felt a little wider, but this road also didn't even have a center line drawn.The speed limit on the entire road is 20 kilometers. Crossing the shopping street, there is an area full of apartment buildings in front of you.Two hours ago, when Kusanagi passed by here, he had been careful not to make a wrong turn at the intersection.When he came here just now, because he turned in the wrong direction at one of the intersections, he finally arrived at the place he was going after detouring for a long time. Relying on the signposts along the road, Kusanagi walked forward.As soon as we entered the residential area, the road became more complicated.There are basically no square areas, and the roads in it are complicated and curved.Kusanagi couldn't help but feel sympathy for the people in the Nerima Department.

Kusanagi finally felt relieved when he saw the house covered with white tiles, bathed in the light of street lamps.This is Osamu Kajimoto's home. Pressing the button on the doorbell intercom, Kusanagi said his name when he heard Kajimoto's wife's voice.In the evening, when he came here for the first time, he had already told the other party that he would come back later.At that time, Kusanagi knew that Kajimoto was not there, but he came here on purpose.The purpose of doing this is to make the other party realize the importance of the matter. The entrance door opened, and a man wearing a short-sleeved polo shirt appeared behind the door.Although the face is long, the man has a pair of round eyes.This appearance always reminds people of Malay.

"Mr. Kajimoto, right? I'm sorry to bother you after you get off work." Kusanagi bowed his head politely. "It's nothing." Saying that, Kajimoto let Kusanagi into the room.Kusanagi guessed that at this moment the other party must be wondering why the criminal police came to the house. Kajimoto took Kusanagi into a living room with a width of twenty.The coffee table is full of all kinds of sundries, and even the floor is piled up with a lot of things.Eight years ago, when we first moved here, the Kajimoto family must have wished for a more tidy house.As time passed, the family's love and tension for this new home gradually relaxed.Even so, Kusanagi still complimented the other party.

"Uh, the house is dirty and messy. I'm still wondering if it's about time to clean it up." Kajimoto said insincerely. "I heard people say that before you moved here, your family lived in the prince's company residence?" Kusanagi immediately cut to the chase. "Yes. I lived there for a long time, eighteen... no, nineteen years. I got married early." It is said that Kajimoto got married when he was twenty-four years old.After that, he moved into the company residence. "At that time, Mr. Kajimoto, your family lived in room 206, right? Do you still remember the Kawabata family who lived in room 305 at that time?"

"The Kawahata family?" Kajimoto opened his mouth halfway, and nodded slowly, "Their family did live there at the time—do you remember?" The second half of his sentence was aimed at sitting on the dining chair What the wife said. "Our family has lived there for a long time, but their family has also lived there for a long time." "Well - when we moved there, Kawabata's family had lived there for four or five years. Moreover, Mr. Kawahata's situation is the opposite of mine. He got married very late. So, when we first moved in, I still I was taken aback, I didn't expect such a senior like him to live here. Because those who get married later rarely live in company residences."

"According to our investigation, Mr. Kajimoto, your family and the Kawahata family lived together there for more than ten years. At that time, was there any contact between your two families?" Ok.Kajimoto folded his arms. "It's cleaning, watching the night, and sometimes our two families will meet because of some chores in the company's house, and naturally we will have some contacts. However, the relationship between our two families is not very close. After all, there is a big age difference. "Speaking, Kajimoto cast a prying look at Kusanagi, "Well, it has been so many years, why do you still ask these things about the Kawahata family? Could it be that something happened to Mr. Kawabata?"

Kusanagi had expected in his heart that the other party would raise such a question sooner or later.He smiled faintly. "I can't tell you much about the details, but now we need to investigate the situation of people who moved from Oji Honcho to other prefectures during a certain period of time. When Mr. Kawabata's family moved out of the company residence, it happened to be in that period." "Hmm. According to this, Mr. Kawahata's family is not the only one you are investigating?" "Yes. Before, I was the only one who investigated it..." Kusanagi counted with his fingers, "There are probably twenty people."

Kajimoto opened his eyes wide and leaned back: "It's really hard work." "I can only go around all day. So, what's the situation? What kind of impression did Mr. Kawahata leave on you? Has he ever encountered any troubles, or had any disputes with other people? " this.Kajimoto had a thoughtful expression on his face. "I remember that he doesn't seem to be a troublemaker." Hearing Kajimoto's words, Kajimoto's wife frowned and looked at her husband. "I said, I remember that before their family moved out, wasn't he almost never at home?"

"Huh? Really?" "Yes. I remember that Mr. Kawabata seemed to have gone to another place to take up his post by himself." Kajimoto opened his mouth wide and nodded slightly. "That's right, that's right. Mr. Kawabata went to the post alone. I remember that he went to Nagoya." "Before he retired, he seemed to be working at the Nagoya branch." "Sure enough. I said, Mr. Criminal Police, since you know, why didn't you say it earlier? If you said it earlier, I can remember it." "Sorry, blame me for being negligent." Kusanagi couldn't make it clear, and told the other party that he was just here to say something, "So, at that time, only Mrs. Kawabata and their daughter lived in the company's residence, and Mr. Kawabata Only go back on Saturday, is that right?"

"Probably." Kajimoto replied casually. "No. You're mistaken. It's not true," Kajimoto's wife interjected. "What's wrong?" Kusanagi asked.It seems that Kajimoto's wife's memory is more reliable and certain. "Not only Mr. Kawabata, but also Mrs. Kawabata and their daughter are not in the company residence. In the one or two years before they moved out, there were very few people in their house." At around eight o'clock in the evening, Kusanagi left Kajimoto's house.He was thinking while walking on the winding path leading to Jianggutian Station.Just now, although he asked the Kajimoto couple a lot of questions, the biggest gain was what Kajimoto's wife said.In addition to Kawabata himself, Kawahata's wife and children are often absent from the company residence. "It's not that I'm not there every time. I can still see Mrs. Kawabata occasionally. I guess she is also going to ventilate the house, or get some luggage or something. I also took the opportunity to ask her, and she said that she has A friend's family is abroad because of work, and I hope she can help take care of the house. Kawahata's family has a daughter, and the private middle school her daughter goes to is closer to there, so I simply stayed at a friend's house— —Maybe the original words at that time were not exactly what I said, but the meaning is probably similar.” Kusanagi asked how the Kawahata family was related to their friend, and where the friend lived, but Kajimoto's wife said that she couldn't remember.But Kajimoto's wife still remembers the junior high school that Kajimoto's daughter went to.That school was a well-known girls' middle school, and Kusanagi had heard of it before. Kusanagi decided to go to that middle school early tomorrow morning to check the list of graduates of their school.According to Yu Chuan, the name of the daughter of Chuan Hata's family seems to be Cheng Shi.Afterwards, I will ask those classmates of Kawabata Narumi back then, and it is estimated that I can find out where their family lived at that time. Although he was walking while thinking about something, Kusanagi went straight to Ekoda Station.Kaoru Utsumi hasn't called yet.Kusanagi intends to find out where she is before deciding on the next move.As soon as he took out his cell phone, the phone rang.Looking at the caller ID, it wasn't Kaoru Utsumi who called.Kusanagi hurriedly pressed the call button and put the phone to his ear. "Hi, I'm Kusanagi." Kusanagi's voice sounded a little nervous. "I'm Tatara. Is it convenient for you to talk now?" The deep voice echoed in Kusanagi's ears. "Convenience. What's the matter?" "I went to meet a friend just now. I think you should also know where Mr. Tsukahara worked last time." "Ah, yes." "The county sheriff's investigators went after my friend today. I think you can guess what they're doing." "Is it to inquire about Mr. Tsukahara's situation? For example, ask him if he will have a holiday with someone during his lifetime." "Also, did he mention the place name of Glass Pond to anyone before his death. The county police wanted to follow the clues and find those who were related to the victim before his death to see if there were any clues." "Is there anything wrong with them doing this?" "There is no problem. However, there is one thing that is very strange. They never asked anyone about Xianbo's handsomeness. Did the county police think that Xianbo's case was not important? Did you tell me before? Tell them what happened?" Kusanagi didn't know how to answer.He didn't expect Duo Liang to start blaming himself so quickly.He wanted to explain, but he couldn't think of a suitable reason. "What's the matter? Didn't you tell them?" Paper can't contain fire.Kusanagi took a deep breath and spoke the truth. "Yes, I haven't told them yet." "why?" "I have my own ideas." "Your own thoughts?" "yes." Kusanagi couldn't help but clenched the phone tightly, mentally prepared to be scolded.He spread his feet, feeling like he was ready to be beaten. However, Tatara just sighed heavily. "Is your idea based on the intelligence obtained locally?" Duo Liang's intuition is really sharp.The "local" in his sentence should refer to Tang Chuan. "Yes." Kusanagi replied, "There is another deep meaning in this information." "How deep? Can a suspect be found out of it?" "You can think so. However, things have developed to this point, but I still have a lot to do here." "You...that is to say, you don't want the county police to intervene with you?" "I think it's safer to do those things yourself." Tatara fell silent again.Sweat trickled down Kusanagi's armpits.He was a little nervous, guessing that this time he would inevitably be scolded by Duo Duoliang.When he was a searcher, Tatara had the nickname "Instant Teapot". "What is Kaoru Utsumi doing?" However, the administrator's question was still calm, "Is she with you?" "She's tracking Xian Bo's whereabouts now." "Have you found any clues?" "I found some sighting information." Kusanagi reported to Tatara that people from a volunteer group in Shinjuku knew Xianbo. "Okay. Since this matter has been handed over to you, I will respect your idea. However, you must promise me one thing. Once you collect materials that can identify the suspect, you must notify me. No delay. Understand?" "Yes, I understand." "Then you can continue to handle the case." After finishing speaking, Duo Duoliang hung up the phone. Kusanagi let out a long sigh of relief, and tapped his phone a few times covered in cold sweat. "Thank you. I was wondering if I should give you a call." Kaoru Utsumi's excited voice came from the phone.Kusanagi couldn't help but start to look forward to it: Could there be something to gain? "Where are you now? Still in Shinjuku?" "No, I'm in Tibet." "Kuramae? Why did you go there? Did you find out about the situation from the female volunteer in Shinjuku?" "I found out. The woman's name is Yamamoto. The volunteer group will cook and provide disaster relief in Shinjuku Central Park every Saturday. Before the end of last year, Xianbo appeared every week. Because he feels like an ordinary wanderer Han is different, so Yamamoto remembered him." "Before the end of last year? That means she hasn't seen Xianbo this year?" "It seems to be. Yamamoto said that he may have died." "Dead? Why?" "Yamamoto said that when she saw Xianbo for the last time, he was already skinny with a painful look on his face. At that time, Yamamoto told him that a doctor friend of hers was willing to treat homeless people for free and suggested that he go to Find that doctor..." "Did he not go?" "Later, Yamamoto went to the clinic to inquire about the situation, and the other party told her that there was no record of Xianbo's diagnosis and treatment. I think there is also the possibility that he used a pseudonym, so I plan to show the doctor tomorrow a photo of Xianbo to confirm." "I see. By the way, what are you doing before you go to Tibet?" "According to Yamamoto, there is another person who also knows Xianbo. Until last year, that person was still engaged in activities with Yamamoto and the others, but today, that person has transferred to another volunteer group and continued to do cooking and disaster relief. Then The office of a volunteer group is in Kuramae. It is said that the time and place where they cook for disaster relief is Ueno Park on Thursday." "In other words, the reason why Senba no longer appears in Shinjuku Central Park is because he moved to Ueno Park?" "I thought so too. So, I asked Yamamoto to call him. But unfortunately, he didn't seem to have seen Senba in Ueno Park." "Why, is that so? If that's the case, why are you going to Ueno?" "Well, although no one has seen Xianbo before, I have seen a person who is looking for Xianbo everywhere." "What did you say? When did it happen?" Kusanagi gripped the phone tightly. "It happened in March this year. It is said that someone held a photo of Xianbo and asked everyone if they had seen the person in the photo." Kusanagi took out a manual and a ballpoint pen from his inner pocket, and squatted down on the spot.He clamped the phone between his shoulders and opened the manual on his upturned knee. "Tell me the address of that firm, and I'll go there too." Kusanagi hung up the phone, walked to the side of the road and took a taxi.About thirty minutes later, Kusanagi arrived at Kuramae.From Edo Road towards the Sumida River, after walking into an alley, a small brown building appeared in front of my eyes, and the office was on the second floor of the small building. Kusanagi pressed the intercom doorbell, and immediately there was a sound in the room, and then the door opened.A short man about forty years old glanced at Kusanagi and asked, "People from the Metropolitan Police Department?" "Yeah." Kusanagi replied while looking into the room.Kaoru Utsumi was sitting in front of a desk where various business machines and documents were piled up in a mess.Seeing Kusanagi, Utsumi Kaoru nodded slightly at him. The man called himself Tanaka. "Come in, you're welcome." "Excuse me." Kusanagi stepped into the room, and saw that there were various cardboard boxes piled up on the floor. "Have you heard any news?" He asked Utsumi Kaoru. "I got some general information. I showed them Mr. Tsukahara's photo, and they confirmed that the person who was looking for Xianbo was actually Tsukahara." "Did Tsukahara-san say at the time what he was doing with Senba?" Kusanagi asked Tanaka. "I probably didn't say that. Because no matter where the man Xianbo went, there would be debt collectors staring at him behind him, so I thought that person was also looking for Xianbo to collect debts. Many of those homeless people were burdened with high levels of debt.” "According to Mr. Tanaka," Kaoru Utsumi said, "Mr. Tsukahara asked him about Senba at the end of March, and then he met Mr. Tsukahara two or three times. At that time, Mr. Tsukahara always stood aside. , staring blankly at those people waiting in line to cook for disaster relief. But after entering May, I haven’t seen him again—is that so?” Kaoru Utsumi confirmed to Tanaka. "Yes." Tanaka nodded, "At that time, everyone thought he looked quite creepy. After he disappeared, everyone felt relieved... Well, what is going on here? What are you two doing? What kind of search are you doing?" Kusanagi waved a hand with a wry smile. "It's not an important matter. You don't have to think too much." Kusanagi glanced at Kaoru Utsumi who stood up, and then said, "Maybe we will come to you later to ask you about the relevant situation, and then please Thank you so much for today, so let’s take our leave.” After speaking, Kusanagi also stood up and walked towards the door. After walking out of the small building and walking along Edo Road for a while, a self-service coffee shop appeared in front of us.It is the same chain store as Ekoda Station.Seeing that there was no other place to sit and chat around, the two had no choice but to walk into that store. Kusanagi and Utsumi Kaoru exchanged information with each other.Kusanagi also told her about Tatara's call. "Didn't you mention to him what Mr. Tang Chuan said before? Didn't Mr. Tang Chuan say that as long as there is a little mistake in this case, a person's life will be completely distorted?" "I didn't say anything. The only people who can understand the meaning of his words are you and me. But then again, even if we don't say anything, the administrator will understand. Now that Yu Chuan has come forward, Then give him a little more freedom. I won’t talk about this for now, what should I do next? I plan to go to the place where Narumi Kawabata and his family lived..." Kusanagi took a sip coffee. "After listening to Tanaka's story, I remembered one thing." "Oh? What's the matter?" "Considering the situation, Mr. Tsukahara was indeed looking for Xianbo at that time. Although the time and place were different, both Yamamoto and Tanaka saw Mr. Tsukahara when they were cooking for disaster relief. Mr. Tsukahara was a famous The criminal policeman must have checked many more places than us.” Kaoru Utsumi glanced at Kusanagi from the corner of his slender eyes, “Perhaps, Mr. Tsukahara had already found Senba at that time. According to Tanaka, since May, He never saw Tsukahara-san again. Could it be because he found Xianba?" Kusanagi put down the coffee cup in his hand, and looked back at the junior female detective. "So what? Is there anything you can do?" "As I mentioned just now, Yamamoto said that when he saw Xianbo in Shinjuku Central Park, Xianbo was already very haggard and weak. At first glance, it felt like he had some kind of disease. Assuming that Mr. Tsukahara died in April I found Xianbo at that time, so Xianbo should have been seriously ill at that time." "Either his condition deteriorated very badly, or he died..." "Last night, I checked the relevant data on the unidentified corpses that appeared in Tokyo from this year. It seems that there is no Xianba in it. But I will check again. The problem is that if he is not dead, then things will be more troublesome Homeless and seriously ill—what would Mr. Tsukahara do if Senba was found in such a state when he was found?" Kusanagi leaned back on the chair, stared diagonally upwards, and imagined how he would deal with this situation. "I guess we should send the other party to the hospital first, ask the doctor for diagnosis and treatment, and if necessary, let the other party be hospitalized. This approach should be safer. Didn't I say before that some hospitals are also willing to treat homeless people? Is it?" "Is it the hospitals that have adopted a free and low-cost diagnosis and treatment system?" "Yes. I heard that there are at least forty such hospitals in the whole of Tokyo." "I also know. It's just that even if you go to this kind of hospital, it's still a question of whether Xianbo's condition at that time meets the free and low-cost medical treatment system. This system requires patients to provide their residence cards, and since they were released from prison, Xianbo has been living without a fixed address. I have confirmed the attachment of the household registration book. It is estimated that Mr. Tsukahara helped him pay for the medical expenses at that time." "Maybe. But even if you go to the hospital once or twice, Xianbo's illness may not be cured, right? According to Yamamoto's description, Xianbo's illness seemed to be quite serious at that time." "I feel the same way. Xianbo's illness probably requires hospitalization." "It's troublesome when a homeless man needs to be hospitalized." "Usually, to hospitalize such a patient, the hospital will generally allow the patient to receive subsistence allowance assistance. At this time, the patient needs to provide the actual place of residence. From Xianbo's personal situation, he must go to It is enough to get a resident certificate with the address of the hospital. However, judging from the attachment of the household registration book, it seems that Xianbo has not gone through such procedures.” "So... what's going on?" "I think Mr. Tsukahara may have found some reason to take Xianbo to a hospital that can accept patients without subsistence allowance assistance, and can accommodate a little in this regard." Kaoru Utsumi's expression hardly changed, But her tone of voice felt full of confidence.