Chapter 40 Section 4

They came to the place Nobuhiko Awata claimed to have been there on the afternoon of July 22, that is, the area from Koma River to Tama River.There is a dam built by the river, and the car can drive to a place very close to the river.That's where Awata mentioned the resting place. "He was lazy during work hours, so he should have parked in an unobtrusive place, isn't this place too conspicuous?" Tang Chuan said standing by the empty river. "What Awata said may not be true." Kusanagi retorted. "But if he lied, he lied too well, because in fact such places do exist."

Maybe he passed by here many times that day, and when we asked him to prove whether he was at the crime scene, he blurted it out immediately. " "No wonder," Yu Chuan nodded, staring carefully at Kusanagi's face, "It makes sense, isn't your speech becoming more logical now?" "Don't always look down on me, this issue is common sense for us criminal police." "I'm sorry just now. But, what is that building?" Tang Chuan asked, pointing to a black building across the river. "That, um..." Kusanagi opened the map, "It's a factory of a food company."

"If you want to say that you can see there are cars here, the perspective of that factory is the best." "Yeah, oops..." Kusanagi looked at the map, as if he suddenly discovered something. "What's wrong?" "I'm looking for the apartment where Hiroshi Uemura lives, which seems to be across from this factory." "Opposite?" Yu Chuan looked up at the factory, "But, it's impossible to see here from the window of the apartment." "Anyway, let's go and have a look first!" Kusanagi said. As soon as he rang the doorbell, there was the sound of someone running in the room.Soon the door was opened, revealing a tanned man's face.

"Well, you were the one who called just now..." "I am Kusanagi." Kusanagi nodded. "Ah, hello! I'm Uemura, and I've been waiting for your arrival." The man smiled and said brightly.Kusanagi thought, since he became a policeman, this is the first time he has received such a warm welcome. "You came just in time. Fortunately, the electrical repairman repaired the air conditioner in my house this morning. Once it breaks down, I can't even work." "Please! Please!" Uemura led Kusanagi and Yukawa into the house.The kitchen table was clean, as if it had just been cleaned in an emergency.As soon as he asked the two of them to sit down, Uemura immediately took out barley tea from the refrigerator.

Kusanagi hurriedly said, "Don't be so polite." "A house without a woman is dirty. I'm sorry. And I've been rushed by work recently and I don't have time to clean it up." Uemura poured barley tea into the glass with a very strange gesture in front of the two of them. "Where's your wife?" "Leave early. She and I have been divorced for three years. Uemura replied without hesitation. Kusanagi looked around as if nothing had happened. There was nothing like an ornament, and even the bookshelf was just practical. The kitchen with steel cabinets feels more like an office. The cupboards are surprisingly light on utensils.

Uemura opened the partition of the next room and shouted, "Uncle Policeman is here, come out quickly!" There were some noises from inside, and then a boy in shorts walked out, very thin and not looking very good.When the boy saw Kusanagi and the others, he immediately said, "Hello, Uncle!" Uemura introduced that his son's name is Zhongguang. "Excuse me, can you show me the original drawing of that painting?" Kusanagi asked, "Ah, yes!" Uemura walked to another room.After a while, he came out with a sketchbook, and put it in front of Kusanagi and the others, "This is it."

"Sorry, let me take a look." Tang Chuan reached out and took it. Kusanagi was also looking at the painting beside him.As you can see in the photo, there is a red car parked on a slightly white road against a gray background. The car has a double fuel tank, a white roof, and small tires. It does look like a Mini. Cooper car. "The scenery in the painting doesn't look like it's near the embankment," Tang Chuan muttered, "it's just a red car." "It seems that he himself intended to paint that place." Uemura said a little displeased. "We need to ask ourselves." Yukawa said to Kusanagi.It was only then that Kusanagi remembered that Yu Chuan hated talking to the child the most.

Kusanagi began to ask the boy sitting in the corner with his head bowed: "Where did you draw?" The boy lowered his head and said something, the voice was too low to be heard at all. "Speak up and speak up!" Uemura scolded. "On the opposite side of the river." "Across the river? Are you mistaken?" Hearing Kusanagi's question, the boy nodded slightly. "So... from which direction in this room should we see it?" Kusanagi looked around. "It should be over there." After speaking, Tang Chuan pointed in the direction of the bedroom.

"Yes, come here and take a look!" Uemura stood up. Although it is a Japanese-style room, it is also very large.There is only a TV set and a set of modular furniture inside, and a set of bedding is spread beside the window. Uemura opened the window, and the food factory they saw just now appeared in front of them.Because of its obstruction, other scenery cannot be seen. "I think you may know that there is a river opposite the factory," Uemura said. "My son said that the scene he saw was across the river! Did you mention that there was a Mini Cooper parked there on the 22nd? I think it was there place."

"If you can see the dam from here, that's too..." "Of course, it's impossible to see it from here. My son saw it from a higher place." Uemura glanced at Zhongguang, "You can report the situation at that time to the police uncle." Hearing what his father said, Zhongguang started talking intermittently, to the effect that he had recently stayed at home due to a cold and hadn't gone out for a single step. On the morning of the 22nd.He's been sleeping... Finally he gets to the point.When he was sleeping, he suddenly felt that his body was floating upwards, very high, and he saw the scenery in the distance.

"What height did you float to?" Yu Chuan whispered in Kusanagi's ear.He meant for Kusanagi to ask this question. "How high are you floating? Is it as high as the roof?" "Hmm..." Zhong Guang hesitated for a while. "Speak clearly." Uemura urged from the side, "It's the truth, so just tell the truth. Did you fly out of the window?" "Ah? From the window?" Kusanagi looked at the boy in surprise, "Really?" "Well," Zhongguang said while scratching his stomach, "the body was so light that he floated out of the window, higher than this factory, and then he saw the other side of the river." "And then?" Kusanagi asked. "I thought to myself, this is too strange, so I started to descend, and then I went back to the room. When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying on the mattress. I knew I had a sketch book by my side, so I just put myself in it. I drew what I saw in the air." "That happened around two o'clock in the afternoon." Uemura interjected, "That's right, it just so happened that the neighbor Ms. Taketa came to my house at this time, and she also looked at this painting together. You can ask her to confirm." Cao Xie nodded, looked out of the window, thinking, his words are not convincing, but the picture drawn by the boy is true. "There is no need to go to that factory to check again!" Tang Chuan looked at the food factory and said, "Can you see the gate from the front? When moving large equipment, the gate should be open. We should investigate first, whether the gate was opened on July 22 .” "What if it is opened?" "Didn't we just survey the embankment? The factory is on the side facing the river, and there are also gates. If the gates on both sides are opened at the same time, the whole factory will become a large pipeline. From this side, you can see the other side. side." "Ah, that makes sense. Alright, I'll check right away." Kusanagi made a note in the work log. "Please wait a moment!" Uemura asked bluntly, "Did you misunderstand, thinking that my son's soul saw those scenes through the open gate of the factory?" "We think that's one of the possibilities as well." Regarding Yukawa's answer, Uemura shook his head vigorously. "Impossible! The Mini Cooper is parked under the factory. Even if the factory gate is open, what I can see from my window is only higher than the embankment. If you have any doubts, measure A little or something." "Yes, it should be measured simply." Tang Chuan said simply.No matter how emotional the other party is, he must not mess up his position. This is the personality of this man. Uemura went back to the kitchen and took the painting back. "Look at this picture again, how clearly the white roof is drawn! I think you can only draw such a picture if you look at it from above. Isn't it so?" Tang Chuan's eyes fell on the sketch album, but he remained silent.In order to reasonably explain this phenomenon, various hypotheses should be intertwined in his mind.Kusanagi was also praying the same way. At this moment, the phone rang from somewhere in the room.Uemura said "Sorry" and walked out of the bedroom. "How is it, Yukawa?" Kusanagi lowered his voice, "Can you find a way to explain clearly?" But Yu Chuan did not answer this, but asked Zhongguang who was huddled in a corner: "Has this happened before?" He especially hates children, so it's rare for him to be able to talk to children.Zhongguang shook his head lightly, and ran out after his father as if timidly. 'Well, there are people from the police station today, and it seems that they are also very interested... Well, of course, I can write as much as I want as long as there is space.I have organized it in diary form. Uemura's voice came out clearly, "The information we got from Sugii, our place...well, please!"Can you introduce me to someone who knows this well?An expert in the study of paranormal phenomena, a professional in this field or something... Ah, that would be great, then please... Okay... Okay, I understand. After answering the call, Uemura came back again, and Kusanagi noticed that he seemed to be still humming a ditty with his nose. "Which media reported this incident?" Kusanagi asked. "A magazine I know." Uemura said, "ah, yes, I showed him this painting before your police took action to investigate Suginami's case, and you can ask about that too." editor of a magazine, so you'll figure it out." "I said Mr. Uemura, can you wait to make this matter public?" "Oh? Why?" "because……" "Currently, didn't you police take what my son said as a reference for the search? Didn't the purpose of all of you here today just want to confirm whether Zhongguang had any illusions? So no matter where I wrote What, don't you have nothing to do with it? But then again, if you treat my son's statement as equal to other testimonies, then I can also think about not making it public." "I can't make the decision on this. I need to discuss it with my boss." "It's the same whether we discuss it or not. I already knew the result." Uemura closed the window with a bang, and looked at the faces of Kusanagi and Yukawa alternately, "Do you have any other questions?If it is based on trusting my son, no matter how many questions you ask, I will answer you, but if you want to accuse me of lying or something, please reply! "Although there is still a smile on his face, there is a provocative light in his eyes. "You mean, there's another lady who saw the painting with you, right?" Tang Chuan said, "That's the one named Zhutian, can you tell us her contact information?" "Of course I can tell you, she is nearby, you'd better go there now. You can investigate casually." After finishing speaking, Uemura took out a note paper and a ballpoint pen from the next shelf, and began to draw a map that looked very complicated. . "I'm convinced, I was completely dizzy by him." After coming out of Uemura's room, Kusanagi said with a painful face. "Don't take it too seriously. That man already knew that the police would never take him seriously. He still wanted to write to you, just to get the attention of the police. In addition, the report of his out-of-body experience was just It's sensationalism." Tang Chuan said in a cold tone. "Does that mean we are being used?" "Exactly, it is." After listening to Yukawa's words, Kusanagi bowed his head in thought while walking. "Hey, is there really such a thing as a soul coming out of its shell?" "I don't know. I don't think such a conclusion can be drawn based on the information collected so far." "The information we have collected is that the Mini Cooper cannot be seen from the room of the Uemura father and son, and Tadhiro Uemura has not left the house recently." "Whether this information is true or not needs to be verified," Tang Chuan stopped and pointed to the side. He pointed in the direction of the food processing factory.There is a fence surrounding the processing plant, and a tractor is coming out of what looks like a common gate. "Didn't you say that the embankment couldn't be seen from the apartment room even with the gates open?" Kusanagi said. Tang Chuan sighed slightly: "Then there is no need to sort out these news?" "I see, it's better to investigate." Kusanagi walked towards the common door. In a place that seemed to be a guard room, after they revealed their identities, they said they wanted to meet the person in charge of the factory.It can be regarded as the old man's guard, who called somewhere in a panic, and then asked, "What's the matter with you?" "Investigate the case." Kusanagi added, "The murder case." The word "murder" really worked, and the doorman straightened his hunchback. They waited in the guard room for a while, and a fat man in his fifties came. He introduced himself as the director of the factory, named Zhong Shang.He seemed tense, sweat dripping from the brim of his beige hat. Kusanagi asked, "Did all the gates of the factory open on July 22?" Hearing this question, Nakagami frowned and asked, "Why do you ask this question? Does it have anything to do with the murder case?" "This is the secret of our investigation. Is it open or not?" Nakagami didn't answer right away, his expression seemed to be guessing the police's true intentions.Then, he replied: "No, we didn't open it." "Really?" "Yes, our outer gates are basically open, but the inner gates are only opened when moving production machines." He said calmly. "Is that so, sorry to disturb you in your busy schedule." Kusanagi and Yukawa said goodbye. Suddenly, Yukawa disappeared. Kusanagi walked along the fence and found that the physicist was looking for treasures in the trash can.To be precise, it is not a garbage bin, but a place where food factory waste is piled up. "What are you doing?" Kusanagi asked. "I found something interesting." Yukawa showed something to Kusanagi. It was a sneaker, which seemed to have been cut off, and the back half of the shoe was missing. "Is this interesting? Could it be that being cut off is interesting?" Kusanagi asked. "Take a good look. It's not cut off, and it doesn't seem to be torn off. This cross section is very interesting." Tang Chuan picked up a plastic bag from the ground and put the broken shoe in it. "You still need to pick up trash for your research?" Kusanagi said as he walked forward. The next person they were going to meet was Yukie Takeda. Yukie Taketa opened a bakery in his home.Although the facade is small, people will be attracted by the smell of freshly baked bread when they walk nearby.Yukie Taketa and her younger sister, who is two years younger than her, jointly undertake the production and sales of the store.Her husband had died five years earlier in an accident. "I clearly remember what happened that day, but when I saw the painting, I didn't think there was anything to make a fuss about. Mr. Uemura himself seemed very excited. He might think that his child really has special abilities. I I don’t think that child’s drawing is very good.” However, Takeda Yukie went on to say that a week later, a criminal policeman came to her store to investigate and asked some very strange questions-asked her if she saw a red car parked near the embankment on the 22nd, Say what Mini Cooper car, the roof is still white.Taketa Yukie replied that he didn't know.But at the same time, she remembered another thing, which was Zhongguang's painting.Isn't that a red car in the painting!She told Uemura Hiroshi about it. Kusanagi thought to himself that the ins and outs of the matter were already very clear. Uemura, who was planning to publicize his son's soul out of his shell, thought this was a great opportunity, so he thought of writing a letter to the police. "Mr. Police, is it true that the soul can be separated from the body?" Yukie Takeguchi asked when the conversation was about to end. "Well, I'm afraid..." It was difficult to answer for a while, Kusanagi looked at Yuchuan as if asking for help, but Yuchuan didn't seem to listen to them at all, just staring at the bread placed in the shop. "I don't know if that kind of thing is true, but I really can't agree with Mr. Uemura's troubles. He wants to be famous for this kind of thing, although I know it's understandable..." Kusanagi thought, maybe she is interested in Uemura, and they are about the same age. At this time, Tang Chuan said next to him: "Excuse me, I'll buy a curry bun."