Chapter 12 Section 4

After saying goodbye to Yukawa, Kusanagi asked his colleague Ozuka to visit the home of the deceased Kakimoto Shinichi.Since his wife, Changdai, had to keep vigil all night, he had not had the opportunity to ask her about the case in detail until yesterday. Go up the slope from the road and walk in. The innermost house in that residential area is Kakimoto's home.There was a gate outside, leading up a short flight of stairs to the main entrance, and the shutters of the adjacent garage had been drawn down. Only the hostess was at home alone. Although she looked a little tired, her hair was combed beautifully and her makeup was put on, so she looked much younger than when she rushed to school last time.She was in mourning, and was dressed in a plain black shirt, but she had a pair of tiny pearl earrings in her ears, which must have been properly dressed.

She brought Kusanagi and Kozuka into the living room.The living room is as big as eight tatami mats, and there is a leather sofa inside, and several trophies are placed on the shelf by the wall.As can be seen from the decorations, the trophy appears to have been won at a Marv competition. It is said that Kakimoto Shinichi is a dentist who directly inherited the dental clinic founded by his father.There are many certificates of appreciation posted on the wall of the living room, which shows how painful his death was to some patients. Kusanagi first said some polite words about whether he had worked hard to keep the spirit, and after listening to Masato's answer with a dark face, he got to the point.

"Have you recalled anything new?" Hearing his question, Changdai cupped his cheek with his right hand and made a toothache-like expression. "Ever since I found my husband's body, I've tried my best to recall, but I really don't have any clues. Why did this happen all of a sudden..." "Is there any connection between your husband and Gourd Pond? Can you recall anything?" "No." She shook her head. Kusanagi closed the diary. "Oh, there's one more thing I want to double check with you. The last time you and your husband had contact was on the morning of Monday, August 18th, right?"

"Yes, yes." Changdai replied immediately.She didn't look at the calendar on the wall, perhaps because she had been asked many times. "That day, your husband had an appointment to play golf with someone else, and he drove out at 6 in the morning. The car he was driving was—" Kusanagi glanced at the work log again, "It was a black Audi. What do you know about these contents? Anything to add?" "No, as you said, that day happened to be the day when Hamada's family from the opposite door was going to Izu or something. I remember that his family started preparations very early, so the date of the 18th must be remembered correctly." Changdai replied very fluently.

"Then, um, because your husband didn't come back, you asked the police for help and asked for someone to find. This was during the daytime the next day, right?" "Yeah, at first I thought, he was drunk after playing golf, and he was spending the night there. It happened once before. But the next day, there was still no news from him, so I told him Peng Fa, who went to play golf together, called at home. He said that my husband did not go to play golf with him. Hearing what he said, I was really worried..." "And then reported it to the police?" Changdai nodded.

"Has your husband not contacted you since he left in the morning?" "No." "Then you didn't try to contact him? Your husband should have a mobile phone?" "I called his cell phone many times at night, but I couldn't get through." "What kind of situation is that? Is the ringing ringing all the time, but no one answers?" "No, the notification tone on the phone said that the other party is not in the service area or has turned off." "That's it." Kusanagi began to click the tip of the ballpoint pen with his thumb, and the tip of the pen protruded and retracted for a while.He does this whenever he is anxious.

In fact, just four days after Kakimoto disappeared, his black Audi was found along a highway in Saitama Prefecture.The police searched the neighborhood but found nothing that would point to Kakimoto's whereabouts.And in fact, the police did not launch any specific investigation on this.If not about two months later, two middle school students picked up the metal mask and thought of using it to make a plaster mask, and the music teacher happened to see this mask and associated it with the face of a friend's brother, maybe the case The investigation will be shelved for now. From the black Audi car, Kakimoto Shinichi's golf bag, sports backpack and golf shoe box were found.There were no signs of fighting or blood in the car, and, based on Changdai's testimony at the time, it appears that nothing was lost in the car.

The gourd pond is far away from the place where the Audi was found. Perhaps, the criminal moved the car to a distance to prevent the police from discovering the body quickly, deliberately confusing the police's search line of sight. "Is the car still in the garage?" Kusanagi asked.He thinks it is better to ask an expert to identify it again before rest assured. Changdai shook his head apologetically and said, "The car has already been disposed of." "what?" "I don't know who has been driven, so I feel very uncomfortable. Besides, I don't know how to drive." She also said "I'm sorry" in a low voice.

Kusanagi thinks this is also a reasonable thing. If you keep that car, it will be very uncomfortable to think of those sad things when you see it. "Ma'am, there is a question that may bother you, but I still have to ask, did your husband have any enemies during his lifetime? Or, if he dies, who will benefit; if he lives, who will Suffering losses? Any clues about this?" Kusanagi asked without expecting. Kakimoto Masao put his hands on his knees and sighed leisurely. "I have been asked many times, but there is no clue at all. Maybe it is not appropriate to say it from my mouth, but my husband is indeed a cowardly and kind-hearted person. No matter what you ask him, he will He will never refuse, even if others persuade him to buy a horse, he will not completely refuse."

Hearing this, Officer Kotsuka, who had been silent all this time, raised his head. "Horse? Is it a racehorse?" the young police officer asked very curiously.Kusanagi suddenly remembered that he was a horse racing fan. "Yes, although my husband doesn't particularly like horse racing, but my friend kept persuading him to buy it, so he and his friend bought it together." "Is it a big shot?" Kusanagi asked. "I don't know." Changdai tilted his head, and the pearl earrings also shook, "I haven't asked about this in detail, it's probably more than ten million, I think I heard him mention it on the phone."

"When did that happen? Did it start this year?" "Well, it probably happened this spring." Changdai put his hands on his eyelids. "Do you know the name of this friend? He is the one who bought horses with him." "I know his name is Shiwang. He should be my husband's patient. He is a bit strange. Although I don't like him, he and my husband get along very well." When she said this, she frowned slightly , maybe that person did something to leave a bad impression on her. "Can you give me his contact information?" "Well, just wait a moment." Changdai got up from his chair and left the room. "It's amazing, you even bought a horse." Officer Kozuka whispered, "The dentist is rich!" He touched the right side of his face, as if imagining how Dr. Kakimoto would treat someone's teeth. Kusanagi didn't answer, but just looked at the transcript again.He thought to himself, where is there a horse race?