Chapter 23 Section 4

The thunder stopped, but the wind got stronger, and the violent storm continued unabated, with no intention of stopping at all.Household generators generate electricity, so the requirements cannot be too high, and the house is dark. We went back to the living room.The men carried Kibe's body into his room.There are seven people gathered now, Mayor Hino, Dr. Tsukimura, Naomi Doi, Kazuhiko Kaneko, Miss Fumi, the doorman, and myself.Little Green is resting in the room.This was the third time she had seen a corpse, and it was only natural that she couldn't accept it for a while. There was a killing and we couldn't contact the police.The telephone line was broken. I don't know if it was struck by lightning just now or it was vandalized.We think the latter is more likely.It couldn't have happened by accident.

"I want to judge the method of killing first." I sat on Yuichiro Mizushima's chair with "WED" and "×" engraved on it.Look at everyone one by one. As soon as we returned to the living room, I checked Kibe's chair.As expected, "THU" is also marked with "×".Probably when I went to Kibe's room, the murderer took the opportunity to engrave it.It's a bit of an exaggeration to say "engraved", but in fact it's just drawn with a utensil with a sharp front end, and a few seconds are enough.Of course, I already knew what artifact it was.I glanced at the ice pick on the table, and there were some sawdust on it.

Xiaolu was sitting on Shunsuke Hida's chair just now, and "TUE" was also engraved with an "×". "It must have been poisoned. Didn't you say it just now?" Naomi Doi said with a blush on her round face. "Yes, but how did the murderer poison it?" I pointed to the large flat-bottomed glass in Kibe's hand. "It can't be in Scotch whiskey, I'm fine." Naomi Doi said, looking at the Scotch whiskey with water in front of her.Having said that, I found that after the incident, she never touched the cup again.The same goes for everyone else.I don't want to drink juice at all.

"It's impossible for the water and ice to be poisonous." Jin Jin said, "I add ice, and some people add water to the wine." "I drank the water directly." Dr. Tsukimura said, "Nothing happened." "Shouldn't the idea of ​​mixing poison in something be abandoned?" the mayor looked at me. "Whether it's wine, water or ice, if the murderer's target is Mr. Kibe, the hit rate is too low." "I agree. The murderer's methods may have been more subtle." "Is it possible to poison the food?" Jin Zi hurriedly vomited a smoke ring and asked.

"If it was in the meal, the one who fell would have been earlier." The mayor immediately retorted. "No, this should be able to be done, the time of drug onset can be adjusted. For example, using capsules." "Are there any capsules for dinner?" Naomi Doi sneered. "As long as it is something like a capsule. For example, inject the toxin into an unpeeled chicken gizzard. Because the chicken gizzard is too hard, you swallow it without chewing it. After being digested in the stomach, the poison slowly begins to work, which will Extension of time." "There's no such thing as chicken gizzards for dinner," said Dr. Tsukimura.

"I'm just giving you an example. Even I can think of such a method. Wouldn't it be possible for the murderer to delay the onset of the poison by moving his hands and feet a little bit? If he strikes while eating, the hit rate will be higher. For example, steak The degree of frying varies, and which plate will be placed in front of Mr. Kibe is generally known in advance.” "So, are you saying that I put the poison?" Miss Fumi, who had been listening silently, finally couldn't help it. Jin Jin panicked. "No, no, that's not what I meant." He smiled all over his face, "I just said that when eating, there are many people and hands, and the murderer may have found an opportunity at such a time."

Jin Jin hurriedly defended, but it was obvious that he meant it just now.Miss Fumi raised her brows upright, her anger never abating. "The possibility of poisoning the food is low," I said. "Oh, why?" the mayor asked with interest. "If the murderer uses some method to delay the poison effect, he will not leave a message in the quartz clock that tells the time. Because the degree of digestion varies from person to person, there is no guarantee that Mr. Kibe will die before the time is announced, isn't it? Of course, the clock tells the time first, and the poison If the effect relapses, Mr. Kibe dies, which is okay, but it does not meet the murderer's original intention. According to the literal meaning of the note, the murderer wrote it on the basis that he expected the victim to die before the time was reported. Therefore, the murderer There is no means of delaying the poisonous effect. Besides, even if Mr. Kibe collapsed while eating, isn’t it impossible for us to determine who the murderer is?”

"That makes sense." The mayor nodded, looking at Jin Zi, "Do you have any objections?" "I understand what you mean. But how did the murderer poison the watered whiskey? And, only Mr. Kibe's watered whiskey." "Although it is difficult, it is not impossible." I said, "The easiest way is to poison the glass when Mr. Kibe is holding the whiskey." "Simple, but impossible," said the mayor. "Mr. Kibe seems to be holding the glass plate in his hand all the time." "So, the murderer seized a fleeting opportunity."

"That is to say, it is impossible to succeed if you don't sit next to Mr. Kibe." After hearing what Kaneko said, Naomi Doi raised one eyebrow and said angrily, "Oh, so it's me? I'm sitting next to him." "I'm just expressing my conjecture according to what Tianxia Yi said." Jin Zi glanced at me and said. "Just saying there is such a possibility." I explained to Naomi Doi. "So, what about other possibilities?" "Poison the watered-down material." "No, that's impossible," said the Mayor. "Whether it's Scotch or water and ice, the others have had it too."

"Indeed. But there is one thing that cannot be shared with others - ice. Poisoning Scotch whiskey or water, there is a risk of multiple people drinking it, and no one can be named. But if you poison only one cube of ice , there can only be one victim." I said, shaking the glass in front of me.It contained a nearly melted ice cube and diluted juice. "However, it is impossible for the murderer to know which ice cube Mr. Kibe will take." Dr. Tsukimura's question was within my expectation. "You're right. So the murderer has to do something in advance and let Mr. Kibe take the ice."

Jin Zi leaned back in surprise. "It's not easy to do." "But it's not impossible. For example, when Mr. Kibe wants to add ice, put the poisoned ice cubes in the most accessible position of the ice pan, and the success rate will be close to 100%." "Mr. Kibe seems to be the first to add ice." The mayor seemed to be recalling the scene at that time. "That is to say, the poisoned ice is placed on top," Kaneko said, "but who would have expected that Mr. Kibe would definitely take the top ice?" "What was it like in the past? I heard that Mr. Kibe loves Scotch whiskey. As long as the wine is ready, he can't wait to add ice. Is that true?" I asked. "That's true, but it doesn't always take the top ice. He added ice today, but sometimes he doesn't add anything, right?" Doi Naomi said."Yes" at the end of the sentence is asking for the consent of others.Both Dr. Tsukimura and the mayor nodded at her. "It seems that the statement about ice cubes is not very accurate." Jin Zi pouted.Perhaps it was a sarcastic smile. "Anyway," Dr. Tsukimura crossed his arms and looked around everyone slowly, "The murderer is among us, right?" Everyone knew it, but no one made it clear, and Dr. Tsukimura said it.The audience suddenly fell silent.No objection was raised.Jin Jin reached for the glass of bourbon, but seemed to recall something, and withdrew his hand. "If possible..." the mayor broke the silence first, "I hope that person can turn himself in. The scope is so small, we will eventually find out who the murderer is." "The person who said that may be the most suspicious." Dr. Tsukimura said, looking down at the table. The mayor gently spread his hands and said, "I have no motive." "me too." "me too." Kaneko and Doi Naomi also said in unison.Dr. Tsukimura looked at me and said, "I want to hear Mr. Detective's opinion." "I'm still thinking," I replied. "With just a few suspects, is it still impossible to determine who the murderer is?" "That's the problem. I don't understand why the murderer killed people under such circumstances. It is true that the communication is cut off and the weather is bad, so the police cannot be notified, but the police will always come to investigate. Find out the truth before the police Before, we were all trapped here and couldn't leave at will. This is definitely not a good thing for the murderer, but the murderer did this, why?" "Is there any compelling reason?" asked the mayor. "No. The murderer left a message after committing the crime. Judging from this, he has a plan." "It's true..." the mayor said, biting his lip. Everyone had their own ideas and fell into deep thought for a while.However, at least one of them thinks completely differently from the others. In fact, I was reminded of the reason why the murderer acted in this situation.But that would be too inauspicious and panic-inducing, so I hold off. "By the way." I said to everyone, "Do you have any clues about the bookmark in Mr. Kibe's book? It seems to be written like this: He was bewitched by a curse and became a prisoner of the forbidden book." The mayor shook his head first. "I don't know. The Book of Taboo...what does it refer to?" "Where is Teacher Yuecun?" I asked the female archaeologist. "As far as I know, there is no book called a taboo book, maybe it is a book about religion or sex." "Where are you two?" I asked Kaneko and Naomi Doi again. The two looked at each other, shook their heads almost at the same time, and replied: "have no idea." "I do not know either." "Oh..." I nodded, crossed my fingers, put them on the table, and my brain quickly sorted out the content of my speech, "The Book of Taboo is probably a stolen item." All eyes are on me.No one spoke. "Before Mr. Mizushima was killed, he wrote in his diary: 'I haven't been getting enough sleep recently. It's all because of that thing, I can't sleep every day. I will definitely have insomnia tonight. To be honest, I didn't expect to be so troubled, It’s so painful.’ The thing Mizushima said is probably the book of taboos. In other words, Mr. Mizushima also suffered from insomnia because he read that book and became its prisoner.” "What do you mean by being its prisoner?" asked the mayor. "Literally speaking, bewitched by it. In other words, the Book of Taboo has a very powerful attraction." "It's amazing. What kind of book is that?" the mayor asked again. I looked at the people looking at me one by one, and spoke again. "I think it's very likely..." I paused, and after successfully making everyone feel anxious, I continued, "It's something called a mystery novel." In an instant, the lights went out again.