Chapter 11 Section 6

The next day, I took Xiaolu to Mizushima Mansion.Like last time, the butler stood in front of the entrance and waited.Maybe it's my delusion, the way he looked at us this time seems to have some kindness. "Welcome." The housekeeper greeted him as if he was scripted, and said, "I have heard from the mayor that everyone is waiting in the living room." "Sorry to bother you." "I said..." the butler covered his mouth with his hand and whispered in my ear, "Is what the mayor said true? Didn't the master commit suicide?" Seeing the look of anticipation on the butler's face, I thought to myself, he doesn't quite agree with the idea of ​​suicide either.

"I'll talk about it in a moment." I won't give away in advance.As a detective, I don't want to lose the opportunity to appear. However, the butler still whispered: "Since the master passed away, Master Chunshu and the others have been discussing the issue of inheritance. They seem to only care about the inheritance, and even entrusted the funeral to the company personnel. The master in heaven will definitely be sad to see it." What's more, there are people who took the master's life... Please be sure to bring the murderer to justice." "I'm only responsible for solving the case, and I'll leave it to the judge to bring the murderer to justice."

We walked into the spacious hall through the entrance.However, instead of going straight to the restaurant, I brought the butler and Midori to Yuichiro's room. Nothing has changed in the room, just like yesterday when I spoke with the Okawara Police Department.The bookshelf that blocked our access to the house before the body was found was also intact.I approached the bookshelf. I opened the door of the restaurant, the previous noise stopped abruptly, and all eyes were on me.The four children of the Mizushima family and the police headed by the Ogawara police department are all here. "Hey, are you alone?" Haruki looked behind me and asked, "Where's Hei Ben?"

"I asked the housekeeper and assistant Xiaolu to help me make some preparations." "What preparation?" "This...stay tuned." "Prepare whatever you like." Dong Yan, who was sitting in the innermost place, put his feet on the table and said arrogantly, "It is the mayor who asked us to gather here and wait for you. What on earth are you trying to do? I don't have time to listen to your nonsense. " "Yeah, we've got a lot to do. Anyway, it's the day after Father died..." "A lot of the so-called things are actually the distribution of inheritance."

Xia Zi glared at me, and the expressions of the other three people suddenly became terrified. "Hey, hello." The Daheyuan Police Department stepped forward helplessly, "What's the matter with you, speaking so rudely? Did you come here on purpose to make everyone angry? For the mayor's introduction, I will turn a blind eye and close my eyes, but you have to be clear, you are not welcome by everyone." "I apologize if what I said offended everyone. But I heard all of you here yesterday discussing how to distribute your inheritance." Probably recalling their negotiation yesterday, the four of them glanced at each other, looking embarrassed.

"I think, I'm going to start." I scanned everyone present. For a moment, I felt like I had experienced this scene before. State my reasoning in front of a group - I've done this many times.This is the biggest stage in my life.I'm back where I should be. I took a breath and opened my mouth and said, "Everyone." Everyone held their breath, waiting for my next sentence.The tense atmosphere made me very comfortable. "The death of Yuichiro Mizushima..." I paused and glanced at everyone.After confirming that everyone was looking at me, I continued, "It was not suicide, but homicide, that is, being killed by others."

I heard a groan of surprise.Then, as it should be, the brothers and sisters of the Mizushima family began to curse. "Nonsense!" "He actually said that." "Neuropathy!" "Go to the doctor." "Ah, be quiet, everyone please be quiet." Surprisingly, the Ogawara Police Department began to maintain order in the room, "Let's listen first, and finish listening first." Thanks to him, the room was quiet again.Only Fuyuhiko finally muttered: "We don't have time to listen to madmen." "It's no wonder everyone was surprised. Indeed, judging from the scene, it is impossible for the murderer to escape from the room. But in fact it is not impossible. Just set up a mechanism to make the impossible possible."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Haruki said, "Aren't you with us at the time? There is no mechanism in the room." "However, the layout of the room is incomprehensible, with furniture all pushed against the wall." The police department said: "It is indeed incomprehensible, but so what? We looked behind every piece of furniture and there was no escape." "How could there be?" Qiuxiong said, "Even if there was, how did the murderer block the furniture at the entrance of the cave after he escaped?" "You're right." I looked at his thin shoulders like a boy, and nodded, "Whether it's a hole or a door, at first glance, it's impossible for the murderer to block the furniture there after he goes out. no doubt."

"The murderer is not in the room, there is no doubt about it." Haruki said loudly, "You should be able to testify." He pointed at me. "Well, it's actually a little subtle..." "Subtle..." The police department suddenly asked loudly, "What do you mean?" "The murderer is neither indoors nor outdoors." "What did you say?" "Nonsense!" Xia Zi said viciously, "The murderer is neither indoors nor outdoors. Doesn't that mean there is no murderer at all?" "That's not what it means." I took out my pocket watch and looked at it. I should be almost ready, so I raised my head and faced the crowd, "It's time to solve the puzzle for everyone, please follow me."

I walked out of the restaurant and up the stairs. At this time, the murderer I identified showed a disturbed expression.But I pretended not to know, and came to the door of Yuichiro's room. "The door is locked. There is no doubt about it. The murderer can lock the door from the inside. The problem is on the other side of the door." I pushed the door open. Everyone let out a cry of surprise.Directly opposite the door, as at that time, there was a bookshelf standing there. "Police department, please help." I said to Ogawara police department, "Please push down this bookshelf."

"Is it the same setting as back then?" The police department took off their shirts and rolled up their shirt sleeves. We shouted "push" in unison, and then pushed hard, and the bookshelf was easily tilted.Because of Little Green they reduced the number of books. Soon, the bookshelf fell to the ground.We saw what was going on inside the house.There were no dead bodies, just the butler standing in the middle of the room, watching us. "Heimoto, why are you standing there?" Haruki asked. "It's Mr. Tianxiayi's instruction." "What instruction?" "This...Mr. Tianxiayi will explain it." The housekeeper glanced at me, but didn't answer directly.It seems that he is not loyal to the children of this family. "What's going on, Lord of the World?" Daheyuan Police Department asked, "It is true that there is a bookshelf opposite the door, which is the same as when the body was found, but now there is a living person in the room, which is completely different." "Police, please don't worry, come to the house first." "What, what's going on?" The Daheyuan Police Department stepped over the bookshelf and walked into the house, "What is it?" "Did you find anything?" The police department glanced around and said, "There is nothing unusual." "Really? If Mr. Kuromoto, the butler, is the murderer, hiding in a corner of the room, can he escape under the eyes of the Ogawara Police Department?" "What?" The police department looked at Heiben, then at the house, and finally looked at me and shook his head, "Impossible! No matter where he hides, I can see it." "Right." I turned around and asked the four siblings, "What do you think?" "What exactly do you want to say?" Dong Yan's voice was full of anxiety, "If you want to say something, stop putting on airs and say it quickly." "Then I'll solve the mystery." I turned my head to look at the Daheyuan police department, "When the body was found, the murderer was beside us, and then he slipped away from under our noses." "How did he do it?" the police department pouted and asked. "That's it." I put my thumb and forefinger in my mouth and whistled. Click!A sound came from beneath our feet, a bookshelf falling to the ground.The bottom of the bookshelf facing the room was open.The bottom plate was removed from the inside, and Xiaolu crawled out from the gap. "Ah!" The policemen exclaimed in surprise. Xiaolu, who climbed out of the bookshelf, restored the bottom of the bookshelf, stood up, and performed the standard movements of gymnasts when they landed in front of the Daheyuan Police Department—puffing out their chests and stretching their hands upwards. "Ah!" The police came over in surprise, "What did you do? Where did you come from? Where are you hiding?" "Here." I poked the bottom of the bookshelf with the cane in my left hand, and the board slid down inside with a clatter. "Ah!" The chief of police opened his mouth wide, "This place..." "It's a perfect trick. The bookshelf is placed opposite the door. If you want to enter the room, you have to push the bookshelf down. Seeing Yuichiro lying in the middle of the room, no matter who it is, it will step over the bookshelf to check. But this is it. In an instant, it provided the murderer with an excellent opportunity. The people in the room could not see the murderer crawling out of the bookshelf." "Wait a minute! When did the murderer hide in the bookshelf?" asked the police department. "It's easy. Just hide when you hear someone knocking on the door." "However, when we put the books back on the shelf later, there was almost no space left on the shelf. There was no place for the murderer." "It's also a ruse, and that's what got me thinking about the possibility." "what happened?" "Please think back to the scene when the bookshelf was pushed down, or look at the photos of the scene. There were several encyclopedia dictionaries lying next to the bookshelf." "I remember this. Is there anything unusual? The bookshelf fell to the ground, and the books inside fell out. It's nothing." "It is not surprising if the books are on the upper shelf, but the encyclopedic dictionaries are placed on the bottom shelf. Moreover, the dictionaries are usually arranged very closely with almost no gaps. In this case, although the bookshelf is forward It was impossible for the books inside to fall out. What’s more, dictionaries were scattered beside the bookshelves at that time, which was even more impossible.” The Ogawara police department first let out an ah in surprise, and then hummed dully. "That's exactly what it sounds like." "The encyclopedia dictionary fell on the ground, what does this mean? It means that the murderer took out the book beforehand and hid himself at the bottom of the bookshelf—of course, he had tampered with the bottom of the bookshelf long ago, and only waited for someone outside to push it away." The door is open." "Oh." The police department asked thoughtfully, "Why didn't we discover this when we restored the bookshelves?" "If you know that someone has tampered with the bookshelf in this way, it's easy to find out. If you never thought about it, of course it's hard to find out." Considering the police's position and face, I said, "I think you know by now Why don’t you put other furniture against the wall. In order to distract attention, prevent everyone from paying attention to the bookshelf in front of the door.” "That's right." The police bit their lips and asked, "Who is the murderer?" "By the time this trick is exposed, the murderer has been basically determined. But before that, there is one more thing to be confirmed by Mr. Kuromoto." I looked at the butler and said, "About Mr. Yuichiro's living habits." "what?" "Yuichiro was wearing pajamas and robes when the body was found. The police believe that the time of death was between noon and one o'clock. So, at least at noon, Yuichiro was still wearing pajamas and robes. Does this seem natural to you?" "So..." The butler opened his mouth half-opened, thought for a while, and said, "It's true when you say that. The master usually changes his clothes around eleven o'clock." I nodded, looked at the police department, and asked, "Is the time of death really after noon? Is it possible in the morning?" "Ah, in fact, there is also a saying that it is an hour before noon. But Master Qiuxiong said that he met before noon..." The police department seemed to realize something suddenly, and looked at Qiuxiong seriously, "Ah, could it be..." I have long noticed that Qiuxiong stared at me with an unusually hateful look.But until now, I turned my head to look at him, but he turned his face away abruptly. "The time when the murderer killed Yuichiro should have been around eleven o'clock in the morning. After that, he had a very important thing to do—moving the furniture. Everyone already knows this. Because Yuichiro made an appointment with us at two o'clock in the afternoon. Therefore, the murderer had less than three hours. During this period, he moved all the furniture to the wall and moved the tampered bookshelf to the door. After successfully creating the illusion of murder in a secret room, he still had a little Worrying, that is, no one has seen Yuichiro during these three hours, and no one has seen himself. In order to cover up doubts, the murderer lied that he had seen Yuichiro in the morning." "It's not me. It's not me." Qiuxiong shook his head vigorously, "What about the evidence? Say I'm the murderer, please show the evidence. Indeed, your reasoning sounds quite right, but it doesn't mean that I'm the murderer. According to what you just said With that method, anyone can create a secret room." This time it was my turn to shake my head. "No, Master Qiuxiong, you are the murderer. You are the only possible person. Because..." I pointed to the bookshelf that fell on the ground, and said, "Only you can enter such a small space." Someone yelled, it wasn't Qiuxiong, but the Okawara Police Department, and the police department seemed to have confirmed that Qiuxiong was the murderer. Qiuxiong seemed to have lost the power to refute.He bit his lip and trembled all over, especially those two tightly clenched fists. "It's not me," he yelled, "I'm not the only murderer." "Qiuxiong!" Haruki began to speak, "What are you going to say!" "What's going on?" The Daheyuan Police Department took a step in the direction of Akio. "Indeed, I was the one who killed my father, but that's what we discussed." "discuss?" "Qiuxiong, don't talk nonsense!" Xia Zi trembled, as if crying. Qiuxiong looked at his sister and snorted. "It's over. At this time, I don't want to go to prison alone. There is no such law. Mr. Police Department, this matter is decided by the four of us-the person who kills his father can get half of the estate. Just because That's how I got my hands on it." Fuyuhiko suddenly laughed. "Brother, what are you talking about? Mr. Police Department, he is crazy. Please take him away quickly." "It's useless for you to pretend to be stupid. Do you think I will kill my father without making any preparations? I have already left the evidence we agreed on." "Stop talking nonsense!" Chun Shu said angrily. "It's a video tape." Qiuxiong said, "You didn't find out, did you? When we were discussing that whoever kills his father will share half of the inheritance, I recorded the whole process with a pinhole video recorder, so as to prevent you from reneging on the debt afterwards. Now you don't It's no use admitting it." He turned to the police station and said, "The tape is in my room behind a plaque on the wall." "Hurry up and confirm." The police department issued instructions to his subordinates. Regarding Qiuxiong's counterattack, the other three had nothing to do.Haruki stared at the ceiling with a straight face, Xia Zi tilted her heavily painted ugly lips and said nothing, and Fuyuhiko scratched his chin with disgust on his face. "It seems that it is necessary to listen to what you guys said." After finishing speaking, the Daheyuan Police Department instructed his subordinates: "Bring them all back to the bureau." The uniformed police department and criminal police took away three of the greedy brothers and sisters, but Akio stayed because he told the police "please wait a moment". "Do you have any complaints?" asked the police department. "No complaints, I just have something to say to Mr. Tianxiayi." "What?" I turned to look at him. Qiuxiong said, "Your reasoning is excellent." "thanks." "It's just..." He tilted his head and said, "It's not perfect. I have a few more things to add, which may surprise you." "I'd love to hear it." He nodded and said, "The one who came up with that design, oh, it seems to be a trick to borrow your words, not me." "Oh?" I looked at Qiuxiong's slender chin, "Really? Who is that?" "I don't know who it is, I learned it from my father." "From Mizushima-san?" "Yes. My father called me to his room the night before the incident. He told me some strange things, stories about a murder in a certain house or something. The body was lying in the middle of the house, the furniture stood against the wall, and the door was closed. Blocked by bookshelves. However, there is no murderer in the house. That's the story." "Isn't it exactly the same as this incident?" The Daheyuan Police Department's eyes widened. "My father asked me, do you know how the murderer did it? Of course I don't. So my father drew a picture to explain it to me, and then said to me: Don't you want to try it again?" "Try...what do you mean?" I asked. "Of course it means to really kill people, that is, to test whether this design is feasible. In order to process the bottom plate of the bookshelf, my father also specially prepared carpenter's tools." "My lord," said the butler meaningfully, "is like a child sometimes." "Surprise everyone—my father told me so. My father chose me, as you said, because I was small." "The next day, that is, the day the incident happened, did you really try it?" "Yes. My father's plan is this: we will move the furniture together, and then we will design the mechanism. When the housekeeper calls the door, my father will answer. Soon, someone from outside will definitely enter the door. At this time, I will hide in the bookshelf, and my father will pretend to be dead. When the discoverers ran to the middle of the room in surprise, my father suddenly sat up and asked them questions." "Who killed him, and how did the murderer escape from the room—is this the way to ask?" "Yes," Qiuxiong nodded repeatedly. "You did everything according to plan, except for one thing." "Yes, except for one point." A smile appeared on Qiuxiong's face, "Father didn't have any doubts about me, and he didn't take any precautions when I approached with a pistol. Maybe he didn't think that he would really be killed until the end Well. What a naive man." "Master loves you very much." Qiuxiong glared at the housekeeper. "That's naive, that person doesn't know what love is at all." Then he looked at me and said, "That's all. The next thing is the same as what you said. As I said just now, your reasoning is true. great." "Thank you for the compliment, I am very honored. But there is one thing I don't understand. How did your father know about this trick?" "I don't know. My father just told me that we couldn't figure out the answer to a puzzle like this without someone telling us. So my father must have learned it from someone else." "Oh." Where did Mizushima Yuichiro get such knowledge in this world where there are no real mystery novels?If it was taught by someone else, where did that person learn it from? "It's a pity that you saw through the trick. But, Mr. Tianxiayi." Qiuxiong said with some frustration, "I don't regret it at all. Through this incident, I understand the meaning of my existence." "how do I say this?" "You should know that the local residents don't know why they are here. But everyone wants to know. Me too. Why am I the second son of this family, why am I fighting for property with everyone, my Why is the physique so thin? I have always wanted to find the answers to these questions. Through this incident, I understood. I was born to carry out this incident. The role of the murderer in this incident is exactly the role given to me by God .In this sense," Qiuxiong smiled, and continued, "I am very satisfied now." His boyish high-pitched voice filled the hall.Judging from his expression, it doesn't look like a bluff. "Okay, let's go." He said to the criminal police next to him.The criminal police seemed to wake up from a dream.Take him away in a hurry. We watched him go away. "It's unbelievable." The Daheyuan Police Department suddenly said, "I seem to understand his mood." "yes?" "Well, I seem to understand why I am here as a police officer. It seems that it is not just to solve this case..." Seeing that we were all looking at him, an embarrassed smile appeared on his face, mixed with a trace of helplessness bitterness. "Maybe I was thinking too much. Ah, anyway, I really convinced you this time. So, goodbye." I watched the back of the police department go away.