Chapter 9 Snow Sasa Kaori Chapter 3

In the drizzle, men and women in mourning clothes stood in four rows and walked slowly, with the slight sound of chanting sutras floating in the air.I followed the receptionist side by side at the end of the line, and the male editor next to me happened to be an acquaintance of mine, so I shared the umbrella with him. The temple is located in a tessellated residential area surrounded by narrow roads, and its place name is Kamishakami Well.Why Makoto Hodaka's farewell ceremony was held here, I don't know the reason.Living alone, he could not have a Bodhi Temple. After the cremation in Tokyo, the ashes are said to be sent to their hometown in Ibaraki, where a family-based funeral will also be held.It's a pity that some of the editors still have to attend.

Four days had passed since this case, the death of Makoto Hotaka.Today is Thursday, and the funeral was postponed due to the late retrieval of the body from the police. "After the shooting of the funeral is over, the live broadcast should come to an end, right?" The editor who shared the umbrella with me glanced behind me and said.A few people with cameras on their backs filmed us from a distance, and they were wearing transparent raincoats. It was really hard for them. "Who knows, there isn't a decent variety show right now, maybe the show will be extended." I said, "Anyway, this case contains three elements that housewives like. "

"Three major elements?" "Celebrity, murder, love and hate, these three elements." "So it turns out that the victim died in the church. This can definitely be made into a 2-hour TV series!" Speaking of which, he hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand, because he found himself talking too loudly, which made the audience behind us Also laughing non-stop. It was about to be my turn to burn incense, and I held the rosary again. Although the live broadcast did not mention the follow-up, it can be said that everyone lost interest in Hodaka Makoto's bizarre death case. It is only a matter of time, because in the three days until yesterday, 90% of the mystery has been solved.

First of all, the evening paper on Monday following the death of Makoto Hodaka had already published a report on Junko Namioka's death.At that time, it simply wrote "The body of a single woman was found in the apartment in Nerima Ward".However, a certain sports newspaper on Tuesday revealed the fact that she had been in a relationship with Hotaka Makoto.Of course, this is by no means a slip of the tongue by the police, it must be the information revealed by Naoyuki Suruga. From his standpoint, he definitely hopes that the sooner this case is resolved, the better. Immediately afterwards, yesterday's newspaper reported that Hodaka Makoto and Namioka Junko were poisoned to death by the same drug, and even the veterinarian who worked for Namioka Junko with the name of the drug was Stinning Nitrate. There is this medicine on the website, and it is clearly written in the report.

A woman betrayed by a popular author tries to die with her husband at his wedding - and naturally people make up stories like this.In fact, in order to try to confirm this hypothesis, the TV program even interviewed Junko Namioka's colleagues. It was almost my turn to burn incense, so I took a deep breath and walked forward. The posthumous portrait is the cover photo that Hodaka Makoto puts on every book. Although it was taken a long time ago, it has been used to this day. Perhaps he himself likes this one very much.Hotaka in the photo is sitting sideways. I was by his side when this photo was taken.At that time, our company was going to publish a book, and I wanted to take some recent photos of the author, so I went with the photographer to shoot.The shooting location was arranged next to the pool in Shakujii Park.

I spoke to Hotaka, and his expression when he answered was recorded on the photographer's film.In other words, it was my face that he was looking at in this portrait. Start burning incense, one bow, two bows. Hands together. The moment I closed my eyes, an impulse suddenly surged in my body. This impulse stimulated the lacrimal glands in the blink of an eye, and tears were about to flow out.I tried to hold back, because once a tear fell, it would be out of control.If something like this happens on this occasion, I can't imagine how people around me will look at me. I still clasped my hands together, desperately adjusted my breathing, and waited for my emotions to calm down.

Fortunately, the mood that was about to make waves immediately calmed down.I pretended nothing happened, and left the incense-burning sandalwood. Back at the tent at the sign-in office, I began to look at the gradually shortening incense-burning procession.I didn't know anyone there except those related to the publishing house. I tried to recollect the mood just now, why did I almost shed tears suddenly? I'm not mourning Hotaka's death, it's not worth mourning, this man deserved what he deserved. It was the portrait that shook my heart.The focus of Hodaka Makoto's eyes above is me, the naive and inexperienced me a few years ago.I don't know true love, I don't know how to be hurt, and I don't know how to hate.With me like that, I gave my heart to Hotaka.

Looking at the portrait, I suddenly felt sad for my former self, so I almost shed tears. After the mourner finished greeting, the coffin was carried out, and several editors went to help. Kamibayashi Miwako went to the crematorium with her older brother Takahiro, and she seemed to be treated as a relative of the deceased for the time being.However, this should not be the case in the future. After I finished the work at the sign-in office, I was going to go back to my residence first, and I wanted to change clothes before going to work in the company. Unexpectedly, when I walked out of the monastery, someone behind me called me "Excuse me, please wait a moment!" When I looked back, it was a man I had never seen before.Tall, piercing-eyed, in a dark suit, but not mourning.

Is it Ms. Yukisa Kaori?the man asked.Yes, I answered. "I'm a policeman, can I spare you a little time? Just a short while." Unlike the criminal policemen he met before, his eyes lacked the element of evaluating people from the beginning to the end. "Ten minutes should be fine." Thanks, he bowed. We went into a very humble coffee shop nearby, which I would never have chosen had it not been for this situation.A paper with a menu is posted on the wall, and a cup of iced coffee costs 380 yuan.There are no other customers in the shop except us. The criminal policeman introduced himself as Kaga, and he was from the Nerima Police Station.

"Sure enough, the funerals of people of social status are different. Although I just watched from a distance, there are countless celebrities present." During the waiting time after ordering coffee, Kaga said. "Mr. Police, why did you come to the funeral today?" I asked him, implying that he would get to the point quickly. "I want to observe the expressions of those related to this case." After Kaga finished speaking, he looked at me and continued: "Including you." I turned my face to the side, feeling a little annoyed by what this pretentious man said, or did this detective really think so?In other words, for some reason, these policemen are still eyeing me?

A middle-aged woman brought us our coffee. She seems to be running the shop alone. "I heard that the case is basically settled," I said. "Is that so?" Kaga sipped his unsweetened coffee and tilted his head.Judging from the expression on his face, it seems that he is not questioning my words, but the smell of coffee. "How did you solve it?" "Isn't it that the person named Namioka Junko was so worried about being abandoned by Hotaka that he tried to die with Hotaka with the poison from the veterinary station? Isn't that what happened?" I added some milk to the coffee After drinking it, he felt the mood when he turned his head. This coffee has no flavor at all. "These contents are not officially published by the first search class, right?" "But if you look at the media reports, it's not hard to guess." "So that's the case," Kaga nodded, "But as far as we are concerned, nothing has been resolved. This is the current real situation, no matter what anyone says." I drank the bland coffee without saying a word, while pondering over the meaning of the detective's words.What he called the first search section before should be the first search section of the Metropolitan Police Department.Nerima's police station should not be directly involved in the investigation of Akasaka's case.It may be because Namioka Junko's body was found in Nerima's apartment, so they took the form of a cooperative investigation.But what exactly is Kaga going to investigate? "So, what are you going to ask me?" Kaga took out the police handbook and opened it. "Very simply, I would like to implore you to tell me in as much detail as possible what happened last Saturday, May 17th." "Last Saturday?" I frowned. "For what purpose?" "Of course as a reference for the search." "I don't understand why this content can be used as a reference for the search? My actions last Saturday should have nothing to do with the case?" "That's why," Kaga widened his eyes, and his eyes looked more menacing, "We just want to confirm whether there is any connection with the case before conducting this kind of investigation. You understand that we are still at the stage of using the exclusion method The stage is over." "I still don't quite get it, it sounds like a crime happened on Saturday from what you're saying, so come and ask for my alibi." Kaga looked at my face after hearing this, and smiled with half of his face, it was a condescending and calm smile. "As you said, it can be interpreted as asking for your alibi." "What's an alibi? An alibi for which case?" I couldn't help but increase my voice, and Kaga glanced around.I looked in that direction, and the female shopkeeper with the newspapers spread out on the counter quickly lowered her head. "I can only tell you that it is related to the death of Junko Namioka." "Didn't that person commit suicide? If that's the case, why are you investigating?" I asked in a low voice. Kaga drank the coffee in one gulp, looking at the cup with the bottom exposed, the words "coffee beans are too stale" popped out of his mouth.Then he asked me, "Can you tell me your whereabouts on Saturday, or is it not convenient to tell me?" "I can tell you my duty—" "Of course not." Kaga said, "But in this case, we can only assume that you have no alibi. Therefore, your name cannot be deleted from the list made by the police." "What kind of list is it?" "I have nothing to say about this." He sighed after finishing speaking, "Please remember that the police will not answer any questions, they only ask unilateral questions." "I'm well aware of that." I glared at him. "What time do you want to know the alibi on Saturday?" "Afternoon to evening." I took out my itinerary notebook. I actually remembered it without reading it, but at least I wanted to make him anxious. I first went to Hodaka's residence to discuss things with Kamibayashi Miwako, and when I mentioned this, the detective immediately raised questions. "It is said that Hotaka took rhinitis medicine at that time, do you remember?" "Well, I remember, he seemed to say that the medicine he just took had expired, so he took it out of the desk drawer and mixed it with a can of coffee and drank it down. I still thought it was quite fresh at the time." "Is it a bottle that Hotaka took out from the drawer, or is it some other container?" "It's a bottle." After I finished speaking, my hands shook, "Ah, no, to be precise, it should be a medicine box. inside." "What did he do with the box?" "It should be..." I recalled the scene at that time and replied, "I threw it in the trash can beside me, because the only thing left to Miwako for safekeeping was the bottle." I can't understand why he needs to confirm this matter several times, and what is the relationship with this case? "Where did you go after discussing the matter?" "We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner together." "Did anything unusual happen during the meal?" "What do you mean by unusual?" "Anything. Like meeting a stranger, or someone calling." "Telephone……" "Yeah," Kaga stared at my face with a smile on his face, which was quite attractive.But I felt that while he showed this expression, he must be planning something cunningly in his heart. The detective went to that restaurant, and asked me about Nao Suruga's departure in the middle of the meal.So it is very likely that he also knew about someone calling his cell phone. In this case, it would be a bad idea for me to play dumb here. It's nothing serious, I said first, and then told him that Suruga Naoyuki's cell phone rang and he left the restaurant first.Kaga recorded it as if he had never heard of it before. "If you leave the meal midway, it seems to be quite urgent." "I don't know that, isn't it so?" I said, trying not to say too much. "Where did you go after dinner?" Kaga's next question did not meet my expectations. I can't tell the truth, I secretly followed Hotaka and Suruga to Hotaka's residence, and sneaked into Namioka Junko's room and found her dead body. I was about to say that I had returned to the company, but I quickly swallowed it back.Although it is Saturday, there are not many employees who go to work on weekends. Just a little investigation can tell that I did not show up in the company that day. "I went home." I replied, "Because I was a little tired, so I have been at home since then." "Go straight home?" "I went to Ginza on the way, but in the end I went back without buying anything." "Is it you alone?" "Yes, I have been alone since I got home." I forced a smile, "So I still don't have an alibi." Kaga didn't speak immediately, maybe he wanted to see into my heart, he stared straight into my eyes. "Are you done asking?" "Well, let's stop here today." He said, picked up the payment slip on the table and stood up. I immediately stood up too, but he turned his head abruptly. "I have another question." "what is the problem?" "The rhinitis medicine Hotaka has been taking, there should be 12 capsules when I bought it. Junko Namioka bought a box of that medicine and made poisonous capsules. This is very likely." "Well, what's the problem..." "However, we found only six capsules in Namioka's room. What happened? Hotaka only took one, so where did the rest go?" "That might be...Miss Langoka ate it herself?" "why?" "Didn't she attempt suicide?" After hearing my words, Kaga shook his head again and again. "It's obvious that I took the poison at my own home. Is it necessary to make it into a capsule? And Langoka must have only eaten one or two capsules. The quantity can't be right." Ah, I almost yelled out, but the sound reached my throat and I held back it, and I controlled it so that my expression would not change. "This is... a bit strange." "Right? Ordinary suicides don't happen." As he said that, Kaga approached the counter. His broad back gave me an invisible pressure. Thank you for your hospitality, I said and walked out of this run-down coffee shop.