Chapter 59 Section 1

The cars parked on the road made the already narrow road even more congested, but the truck passed the taxi as if nothing had happened, and the middle-aged woman with a lot of things in the bicycle basket wanted to squeeze in from the left side of the taxi. In the past, taxi drivers stomped on the gas pedal with aplomb. "The road is really narrow." Kato couldn't help blurting out. "That's it, it's normal." The driver said sullenly.Kato got on the car at Tennoji Station, and if he took the tram from there, it was only two stops away.I thought the driver was unhappy because the road was too short, but when I got off the bus, I realized that was not the case.

"Although I took a shortcut, it took a lot of time, I'm sorry." The driver said while looking for money. "It's nothing." Kato said and got out of the taxi, feeling really good.He glanced at the company name of the taxi that drove away, and smiled wryly.It is in these places that Osaka people know how to do business. Looking at the map and walking a few steps forward, I realized that I was looking for the second-floor apartment.The first floor is a convenience store.There is no parking lot, and the front of the store is full of bicycles, which are probably deposited by people who take the tram from Taogu Station.

Climb up to the second floor and ring the doorbell of Room 205.The paint on the door had peeled off in many places, and the exposed areas were rusty. The door plate said "Nagai". A woman's answer came from inside the room.The door opened, and a yellow-faced, forty-five-year-old woman looked up at Kato through the crack of the door.The lower door chain has not been undone. "I'm Kato who called you yesterday." He tried his best to force a smile, "Didn't you hear what your husband said?" "From Tokyo?" "I'm from the Metropolitan Police Department." Kato asked her to look at the ID.

"I heard, but our family and Xinhai's family are not close." "Your husband said the same thing yesterday, but he still wants to..." He continued to smile. "Oh, is that so..." The housewife of Nagai's house closed the door hesitantly, untied the door chain, and then opened the door.She didn't seem to intend to let Kato into the house, she stood at the entrance and looked down at him, "What's the matter?" After Kato entered, he closed the door behind him.He didn't want others to hear it, but mainly because of the cold.I heard that summer in Osaka is much hotter than Tokyo, and it seems that winter is also much colder.

"Have you lived in Asahi Apartment?" "You mean when you were in Nishinomiya? Yes." "The Xinhai couple live next to them?" "Yes, but I haven't talked much, at most I met and said hello." "What about before the earthquake? Did you talk to Mr. Shinkai...or Mrs. Shinkai?" "You mean before the earthquake happened..." Her face sank, maybe because she thought it was too troublesome to answer, but more importantly, it was her reaction to the word earthquake.The flats are all down, they're homeless, and they seem to be settling down here for now, but they must have suffered a lot.

"I'm sorry for reminding you of an unpleasant past." Kato apologized from the bottom of his heart. "I have forgotten a lot. Many people are much more miserable than us. Although the apartment collapsed, it is not our own house, and the loss is very small." The housewife's eyes were full of sympathy for others. "By the way, I heard that Xinhai and his wife both passed away." "yes." "It's really unfortunate... At that time, I didn't even care about burning incense for them, I just took refuge everywhere." "I guess so."

"Speaking of which, I remembered that I had a conversation with Mrs. Xinhai, although I can't remember if it was the day before the earthquake. When I heard the news of her death, I thought, that would be the last conversation." "What did you say?" "It's about her daughter. I remember she said that her daughter will come back that night, and she will live with her for a while in the future. Please take care of me and so on. I remember she also said that she will let her say hello to me the next day." "Come back that night? Did she say hello to you?"

"No, this..." The housewife seemed to be looking into the distance, and nodded vigorously after a while, "Yes, that's right, there was an earthquake the next day, and she couldn't see her daughter in the end." "Then you don't know whether her daughter has returned?" "No, I think it should be back. My husband said that we met in the shelter. I still remember the voices coming from their house from time to time the night before, and they seemed to be talking and laughing. Xinhai and his wife are usually very quiet. There has never been a voice in their house before."

A scene of a family of three talking and laughing happily appeared in Kato's mind. "I was so happy and happy, but there was an earthquake the next day, and I don't know where God and Bodhisattvas have gone." The housewife tilted her face, "Their daughter is also really miserable. She lost her life after spending only one night with her parents." parents." "Have you heard anything else about the daughter of the Shinkai family?" "Nothing else..." She seemed to remember something, "By the way, it seems that Mrs. Xinhai said that her daughter came back from abroad."

"Overseas? Where?" "I didn't ask so detailed, it seems that I have been traveling for a long time." "travel? "Hey, Mr. Police," the housewife shrunk her chin slightly and rolled her eyes, "What happened to Xinhai's house?" Her eyes were full of curiosity. "It's nothing serious. I'm investigating a case that is not directly related to Mr. Xinhai. I interrupted you during your busy schedule." Before the housewife could ask any more questions, Kato opened the door and thought, luckily I wasn't allowed in. Kato came out of the apartment and was about to get a cigarette from his coat when the cell phone in one of his pockets rang.He smacked his lips and took it out.As expected, it was Nishizaki calling.

"Hello." He answered the phone absently. "Where are you?" Nishizaki was obviously anxious. "You can go back first." "How can this be? You must say hello to the Osaka Prefecture Police Headquarters and the Sonezaki Bureau." "It doesn't matter if I'm not here." "If the superior finds out that you were not there afterwards, he will definitely be scolded. This time, he caused trouble for Osaka, and the superior was not happy at all." "What is the solution? Who let the criminal die in Osaka?" "Anyway, please come to Umeda first, do you know where we met?" "Know." "Please." Nishizaki dropped the words and hung up the phone.The young man has always been submissive to Kato.Kato thought, it would be bad if he got angry again. This time I came to Osaka on the occasion of work.A man who murdered and robbed in Edogawa froze to death on the road in Osaka. He was carrying stolen items, and his identity was quickly found out.The perpetrator came to Osaka, probably because the victim had a Shinkansen ticket to Osaka.This person should have no goals, just want to escape.It happened that the group that Kato belonged to was in charge of the matter, so he took the initiative to apply for a business trip to Osaka.Of course, he has another purpose. He came to Kansai twice last year, both on vacation time. First, he searched for the original occupants of the Asahi apartment where the Xinhai couple lived.After consulting a real estate agent, I learned that almost all of those people have moved to Osaka.People who rent houses move more easily than those who own houses. Instead of staying in Nishinomiya or Kobe, where there are no good jobs, it is better to move to Osaka, which is basically not affected by the earthquake. I asked a few people about the situation, and they all said that Xinhai and his wife are very honest and low-key people.Everyone said that when the couple met the residents in the building, they would definitely say hello politely, but they had never heard about their daughter. Kato has also been to the Osaka head office where Shinkai worked.Considering that people from the Metropolitan Police Department would visit suddenly, the other party would definitely be very vigilant, so Kato decided to put Soga Takatoko's disappearance case first. A person surnamed Kanzaki who worked in the same department as Zeng me received Kato. I heard that Kanzaki joined the company two years earlier than Sogo.Kanzaki knew about Soga's disappearance, but he couldn't provide any clues.Kato put on a disappointed expression.He had expected this to happen, and he didn't feel much in his heart. For the second vacation, Kato went to Kyoto to see where the Shinkai family lived.Kyoto has also changed a lot.He found out Xinhai's original address from the Nishinomiya City Government, but it took a lot of trouble to find that place, because Xinhai's family had left there more than ten years ago. Kato finds out a surprising fact in Kyoto.