Chapter 8 Section 8

Mashiba Ayane's natal house is located in a very clean and beautifully planned residential area. The building is built in a square shape, and the entrance is above the stairs.The first floor is the parking lot, but the residents use it as the basement.That is to say, although it looks like a three-story building on the outside, it is written on the property certificate that it has two floors above ground and one basement. "There are many houses like this around here." Mita and Xuan cut pancakes and said, "In winter, the snow here is very thick, so we can't build the entrance close to the ground."

"I see." Kusanagi nodded, reached out to pick up the tea bowl, and the person who brought the tea was Ayane's mother, Tokiko, who was kneeling beside Kazunou, with the tea tray she brought on her lap. "Speaking of which, we were really shocked this time. I didn't expect that such a thing would happen to Zhenchai. I heard that it was neither an accident nor a sickness. I was puzzled. Sure enough, the police arrived at home after a while. Searched." He Xuan frowned his slightly gray eyebrows into a figure eight. "It is still impossible to conclude that it was homicide." Kusanagi told them.

He Xuan frowned, perhaps because of his thinness, the wrinkles appeared deeper. "It seems that he made too many enemies during his lifetime, and most of the smart and capable managers are not much different. However, it cannot be said that some guy somewhere did such an outrageous thing." I heard that until five years ago, Hexuan had been working in a local credit bank, and he probably met many operators. "Excuse me..." Tenkiko raised her head, "How is Ayane? On the phone, she said she was fine..." As a mother, she still cares about her daughter. "Your daughter is fine. Of course, the blow was not small, but she still assisted our search operation very well."

"Really? Then I'm relieved." Saying so, but the look of anxiety did not disappear from her face. "I heard that Mrs. Ayane came back on Saturday, saying that her father was unwell." Kusanagi looked at Hexuan's face and cut to the point.Although He Xuan was thin and had a bad complexion, he didn't look like he was suffering from illness all day long. "My pancreas is not very good. I suffered from pancreatitis three years ago. Since then, the situation has not been optimistic. Sometimes I have a fever, and sometimes my stomach hurts and my back hurts and I can't move. Now it's just a day-to-day."

"This time, it might not be necessary for Mrs. Ayane to come back to help, right?" "Well, it's nothing special---is it?" Kazunobu asked Tokiko for approval. "Friday evening, the child called suddenly, saying that he would come here tomorrow, and that he was very worried about her father's illness, and that he hadn't come back even once after getting married." "Besides this, have you heard any other reasons from her?" "No other reason was mentioned." "Did she say how long she intended to stay here?" "I didn't say it specifically... I asked her when she planned to return to Tokyo, and she just said that she hadn't decided yet."

Judging from what the two of them said, Ayane didn't seem to need to return home quickly, so why did she rush back to her mother's house? When a married woman takes this kind of action, the biggest possibility is that there is a conflict with her husband. "Uh, Mr. Criminal Police," He Xuan said hesitantly, "You seem to be quite concerned about Ayane's return home. Is there something wrong?" Although he has retired, after all, he has dealt with various people and negotiated contracts. Regarding the purpose of this criminal policeman who came from Tokyo, he undoubtedly had many imaginations in his mind.

"If this incident is indeed a homicide, the murderer probably targeted Mrs. Ayane when she returned to her natal home." Kusanagi said in a slow tone, "In this way, the question turns to how the murderer got it." I know Mrs. Ayane's whereabouts. So, next, I will ask you two for some details, please forgive me for being rude, this is also part of the search, please forgive me." "So that's the case, that's what happened." It's not clear if He Xuan really understood, but he still nodded. "How did Mrs. Ayane spend those few days here?" Kusanagi asked, looking at the faces of the old couple in turn.

"The day she came back, she stayed at home. The three of us went to a nearby sushi restaurant in the evening. The child used to like to go to that restaurant." Tokiko replied. "What's the name of the store, please?" When Kusanagi asked, Tokiko had a surprised expression on his face, and it was the same with Xuan. "Sorry, I don't know which clue will become important in the future, so I hope to confirm all the details, please rest assured, we will not always disturb like this." Although Tokiko had a look of unrelieved expression on her face, she still told the name of the sushi restaurant, saying that it was called "Fu Sushi".

"I heard that on Sunday, she went to the hot spring with her friends, right?" "That is a friend she has known since she was in middle school. Her name is 'Zuo Gui'. Her natal home is very close to here, and it takes five minutes to walk there. Now she is married and moved to the South District. On Saturday night, Ayane seems to have called her and made an appointment to go to Jozankei together." Kusanagi looked at the manual and nodded. Mamiya had already heard from Ayane that this friend was called Motoka Sakako.Kaoru Utsumi will visit this lady after going to Jozankei Onsen.

"Mrs. Ayane is said to be returning to her natal home for the first time after marriage. Has she ever talked to you two about Mr. Mashiba?" Deng Kiko recalled, tilting his head: "I said that he was still busy with work, but he went to play golf all day long." "That is to say, did she not mention what happened at home?" "I didn't mention it. Speaking of it, the child asked more about our situation, such as how is the father, how is the younger brother, etc., ah, she also has a younger brother, and now because of work, he is sent went to America."

"Since Mrs. Ayane has never been back to her mother's house before, the two of you probably haven't seen Mr. Mashiba a few times, right?" "Yes, a while before the two of them got married, we went to Zhen Chai's house once, but we haven't had a chance to talk to him since then. Mr. Zhen Chai also said that we are welcome to come over at any time, but our family is in poor health. It was not good, and in the end, I never went there once.” "We probably only met him four times?" Hexuan recalled. "I heard that it seems to be a lightning marriage." "That's right, Ayane was already thirty at the time, and it was time to find someone. We were worrying about this, and she called back suddenly to say that she was going to get married." Deng Kiko said with a pouted . According to the old couple, Ayane left home for Tokyo eight years ago.But before that, she hadn't been in Ripporo all the time.After graduating from college, she also went to the UK to study abroad for a period of time.Quilting has been a hobby of hers since high school and has been highly rated in many competitions since then.The increase in popularity is said to be due to the fact that a book published after returning from studying in the UK has received very high praise among quilt fans. "At that time, she knew about work all day long, and when asked when she planned to get married, she would only say that she had no time to be someone else's wife, and she wanted to find a wife to help herself." "That's right." Kusanagi felt a little surprised when he heard Tokiko's words, "But I think she is quite good at housework." Hearing what he said, He Xuan pursed his lower lip and waved his hands: "She is good at handicrafts, but that doesn't mean she can do other housework. When she was still living here, she never helped the family with any housework. When she lived alone in Tokyo, I heard that she couldn't even cook a single dish well." "Huh? Really?" "That's it." Dengkiko said, "We have visited the place where the child lives a few times, and it doesn't look like cooking by herself at all. She seems to either go out to eat, or go to a convenience store to buy food. Bento, eat those things all day long." "But I heard from Mr. Mashiba's friends that they hold house parties frequently, and Mrs. Ayane cooks them all..." "We also heard about this from Ayane. Before she got married, she went to a culinary training class, and her skills seemed to have improved a lot. We also said at the time that in order to let the loved ones eat the dishes I cooked myself , that kid worked really hard." "But now that her precious husband-in-law has encountered such a thing, she must be in a low mood." He Xuan thought of his daughter's current state of mind again, and lowered his eyes with a heartache. "Excuse me, can we go see the child? We also want to help her and arrange the funeral." "Of course that's fine, but we can't tell the family exactly when the remains will be returned." "That's it." "Call Ayane later." Hexuan said to his wife. The goal has been largely achieved, Kusanagi decides to get up and leave.While putting on his shoes in the hallway, he noticed a coat made of patchwork hanging on the coat rack.The hem is so long that it can cover the knees of an ordinary adult wearing it. "The child made this dress a few years ago," said Tokiko. "It was said that her father would wear it when she went out to pick up newspapers and mail in winter." "I don't think she needs to be so fancy." Even though He Xuan said that, he still seemed quite happy. "When his mother slipped and fell when going out in winter, she broke her waist. Ayane seems to remember that incident, so she specially padded the waist of the clothes." Deng Kiko Turning the jacket inside out to show Kusanagi, he said. Kusanagi thought, this is very similar to her, with a meticulous mind. After leaving Sanda's house, he went to "Fu Sushi", and there was a "Preparation" sign at the door, and the chef was busy preparing the ingredients for cooking.The chef, who is about fifty years old and has a shaved body, still remembers Ayane's family. "I haven't seen Xiao Ling for a long time, so I also tried my best. They probably went back around ten o'clock that day. Why, is there any problem? Did something happen?" It was impossible for Kusanagi to tell others the details, so he left the shop after a few perfunctory sentences. He and Utsumi Kaoru made an appointment to meet in the lobby of a hotel next to Ripporo Station. When she arrived, she was writing something. "Is there any gain?" Kusanagi sat down on the seat opposite her and asked. "Mrs. Ayane did stay at the hotel in Jozankei for one night. I also asked the waitress about it. She had a good time with her friends." "That friend of hers, Takako Motooka..." "I've seen it." "Is there any discrepancy between what she said and Ayane's statement?" Kaoru Utsumi lowered his eyelids, shook his head and said, "No, it basically matches what Ayane said." "I think so. It's the same on my side. She didn't have time to go back and forth to Tokyo at all." "Ms. Motooka said that she has been with Mrs. Mashiba since Sunday morning, and it seems to be true that Mrs. Mashiba didn't find out about the missed call until late at night." "That would be perfect." Kusanagi leaned back in the chair, looked at the face of the junior female detective and said, "Mashiba Ayane is not the murderer. It can't be, you may still be very unconvinced in your heart, but you always have to look at it objectively." Facts." Utsumi Kaoru wanted to take a breath, so she looked away, then she looked at Kusanagi with her big eyes again and said, "There are a few points worth noting in Mrs. Motooka's words." "how?" "Mrs. Motooka seems to have not seen Mrs. Mashiba for a long time, at least since they got married." "Her parents said so." "It feels like she has changed. I heard that she was more lively before, but this time she feels a lot more mature and looks listless." "So what?" Kusanagi said, "I have realized that the possibility of her husband having an extramarital affair is indeed very high, and this return home may be a sad trip for her. But so what? Did you say that the purpose of our trip is to confirm that her alibi is true. And now that we have confirmed that there is no doubt about it, it is perfect, isn't that all right?" "One more thing." Kaoru Utsumi said without changing his expression, "It is said that Mrs. Ayane had turned on the phone many times at that time, and every time she turned it on, she would check whether there were text messages and missed calls. Turn off your phone." "It's to save electricity, it's not uncommon." "Is that true?" "What else is possible after that?" "Maybe she knew that someone would contact her. But she wanted to avoid answering the phone directly. First rely on the recording to get a good grasp of the situation, and then take the initiative to contact her. That's why she turned off the phone." Kusanagi shook his head, he felt that although the young detective in front of him had a bright mind, he seemed to be acting on his own will. He looked at his watch, stood up and said, "Let's go, or we won't be able to catch the plane."