Chapter 14 Section 14

Steam spewed out of the spout, and Yu Chuan picked up the kettle without saying a word, and poured hot water into the sink.Then he opened the lid of the pot again, took off his glasses and looked into the pot.If you wear glasses, the steam will stain the lenses. "How?" Kaoru asked. Tang Chuan put the kettle on the stove, shook his head slowly and said, "It still doesn't work, it's the same as before." "Sure enough, gelatin is still..." "Well, there will still be residue." Tang Chuan pulled the steel pipe chair beside him and sat down, crossed his hands behind his head, and looked up at the ceiling.He didn't wear a white coat, but only a black short-sleeved shirt. Although he was tall and thin, his upper arms were quite muscular.

Xun heard that he was going to verify the murder method of poisoning the kettle that he guessed two days ago, so he hurried to Yu Chuan's laboratory. The results do not appear to be satisfactory.If this method of murder is to be established, the gelatin must not be completely dissolved after the kettle is used twice, so as to prevent the toxic substances wrapped inside it from mixing into the water.That is to say, the gelatin layer needs to have a considerable thickness, and if the gelatin is applied too thickly, this layer of gelatin cannot be completely dissolved and will remain in the kettle.Needless to say, the report sent by the forensics department showed that there were no similar substances left in the kettle.

"Using gelatin really won't work." Tang Chuan scratched his head with both hands. "Our forensics department also holds the same opinion." Kaoru said, "They think that even if the gelatin is completely dissolved, there will still be some residue left on the inside of the kettle. Also, as I said just now, it is said that the gelatin used No gelatin was found in coffee powder, because the idea you proposed is quite interesting, so the forensic department is also very motivated, and it is said that many other materials have been tried.” "Rumi Paper should have already been tried, right?"

"Yes. I heard that if you use glutinous rice paper, the starch will remain on the coffee powder." "It seems that this guess is wrong." Tang Chuan patted his knees, stood up and said, "Unfortunately, it seems that it is better to give up this idea." "At that time, I also thought that your idea was quite good." "The result only surprised Detective Kusanagi a little bit." Tang Chuan said as he put on the white coat on the back of the chair, "What is he busy with now?" "He seems to be investigating Mr. Mashiba's past relationships with women."

"I see. He is sticking to his beliefs in his own way. Now that it has been proven that poisoning the pot is not feasible, it seems that we might as well try other ideas." "You mean, maybe the ex-girlfriend killed Mr. Mashiba?" "I don't know if it's his ex-girlfriend or not. I just know that after Hiromi Wakayama left on Sunday morning, the murderer somehow sneaked into Mashiba's house and poisoned the kettle-this idea sounds the most reasonable." "Are you planning to give up?" "This can't be called giving up, it's just following the method of elimination. Although I heard that Kusanagi has special feelings for Mrs. Mashiba, his focus is definitely not out of line. I think his search operation is actually quite safe. " Tang Chuan sat on the chair again, crossed his legs, "The poisonous substance is arsenic, isn't it? Can't we find the murderer from other sources?"

"It's hard, and although arsenic-based pesticides stopped being manufactured and sold about fifty years ago, they're still being used in some unexpected places." "for example?" Kaoru Utsumi opened the handbook and said: "Wood preservatives, insect repellents, dental treatment drugs, semiconductor materials...for example, these places." "There are so many uses, I didn't expect dentists to use it too." "I heard that it is used to kill the nerves of the teeth, but this medicine is in the form of a paste, not only difficult to dissolve in water, but also the key arsenic content is only 40%, it is estimated that the possibility of being used in this case is very low. "

"What about the more toxic one?" "It's still the insect repellant industry. I heard that it is mainly used to repel termites. Because the name and address need to be registered when purchasing, we are checking the records. However, because the purchase records are only kept for five years, so if it was five years ago If you buy it, there is no way. If you buy it from an informal channel, we will have no way to track it down." "It is estimated that the murderer in this case will not show his flaws in this kind of place." Tang Chuan shook his head and said, "From the perspective of the police, perhaps the results of the Kusanagi detective are more worth looking forward to."

"I always feel that it is impossible for the murderer to poison the kettle directly." "Why? Is it because the wife of the deceased cannot use this method? Although it is your personal freedom to doubt his wife, it is not reasonable for you to reason on this premise." "I didn't take this idea as a premise. I always felt that it was impossible for a third person to visit Mashiba's house that day. There is no trace to prove that this person has ever appeared. Assuming that it is indeed as Kusanagi-san imagined, Mr. Mashiba's ex-girlfriend came to his house, so Mr. Mashiba will at least bring a cup of coffee out to entertain guests, right?"

"There are also people who don't talk about etiquette like this. If the other party is still an uninvited guest, it is more likely." "Then how did such a person poison the kettle? That was under Mr. Mashiba's eyes." "Mr. Mashiba always needs to go to the toilet, right? It's not difficult to see the stitches." "If that's the case, then the murderer's plan contains very uncertain factors. What if Mr. Mashiba didn't get up to go to the toilet at that time?" "Perhaps there are other arrangements, or it is possible that there is no chance to strike and give up. Even if it is this ending, the murderer does not have to take risks."

"Teacher..." Kaoru shrank his chin, looked at the physicist in front of him and said, "Which side are you on?" "It's strange what you said. I don't stand on either side. I just analyze the information and occasionally do experiments, hoping to find the most reasonable answer. As far as the current situation is concerned, the situation on your side Not much better." Kaoru bit her lip and said, "Correct what I said just now. To be honest, I am indeed suspicious of Mashiba's wife. At least, I firmly believe that she has something to do with Mr. Mashiba's death, although others may think that I am stubborn enough."

"You change your face when you change your face? It's not like you at all." Tang Chuan shrugged inexplicably, "I remember the reason you suspected his wife was those champagne glasses, right? You think she didn't There's something wrong with putting those glasses back in the cupboard." "In addition to this, there are other doubts. Mrs. Mashiba learned that the incident happened that night. She said that it was because she received a recorded call from the police. I went to the police officer who called at the time to confirm the call. The general content of the recording. The content of the recording left by the police officer at that time was that our police had an emergency notice, which was related to your husband. I hope you will contact the police as soon as possible. So, at around midnight, his wife called, and he He told her the general situation of the matter. Of course, at that time he did not tell her that there was a possibility of homicide." "Well, what then?" "On the second day after the incident, her wife rushed back to Tokyo on the first flight in the morning. Mr. Kusanagi and I went to pick her up. She called Hiromi Wakayama in the car and said I said 'Thanks for your hard work, Hiromi'. The scene at that time kept appearing in my mind, and the moment I heard this sentence, I felt something was wrong." "She said 'Thank you for your hard work'?" Tang Chuan tapped his knee frequently with his fingertips. "Judging from this sentence, his wife probably didn't talk to Wakayama Hiromi from the time the police informed him of the incident until the next morning." "You are really amazing. That's what I want to say." After confirming that Tang Chuan also had the same question in his heart, Kaoru couldn't help laughing, "Mrs. Mashiba gave the house key to Wakayama Hiromi for safekeeping. Before that, she had already noticed the relationship between Hiromi Wakayama and Mr. Mashiba. Under normal circumstances, once she found out that her husband had died strangely, she should have called Hiromi Wakayama immediately. Not only that, but Mr. Mashiba and his wife had another The good friends are a couple of pig breeders, and she didn't contact them at that time. This is really puzzling." "Inner Sea Criminal Police, what is your personal reasoning for this?" "I think the reason why his wife didn't call neither Hiromi Wakayama nor the Inokai couple was because she didn't think it was necessary. If she already knew the truth about her husband's bizarre death, she wouldn't need to ask anyone for details. .” Tang Chuan smiled, rubbed his fingers under his nose and said, "Have you ever told anyone about your reasoning?" "I once told Chief Mamiya." "In other words, you haven't mentioned it to Kusanagi yet." "Because even if I told him, he would just scoff and say that I was suspicious." Tang Chuan frowned and stood up, walked to the pool, and said, "It's meaningless for you to hold such a prejudice. Although it feels a bit strange to me, to be honest, he is a very good student." Interpol. Even if he has some special feelings for the suspect, he will not lose his mind because of it. Indeed, even if he heard what you said just now, he probably will not change his mind immediately, but will go ahead Refutation. However, he is not a person who never listens to other people's opinions. He must have his own views and methods on this issue. Even if the final conclusion is not the result he hoped to see, he will not will escape." "You still trust him." "Otherwise, I wouldn't have assisted him so many times." Tang Chuan showed his white teeth and began to load the coffee machine with powder. "Then what do you think, teacher? Do you also think my idea is unreasonable?" "No, I think the logic is very strong. Hearing that the husband died suddenly, he would usually do everything possible to collect information, but his wife did not contact anyone. This behavior is really unusual." "That's good." "But after all, I am engaged in scientific research. If you ask me whether I believe in the theory of psychological unnaturalness or the theory of physical impossibility, I will have to choose the former, although I am somewhat reluctant to poison the kettle. The timing device is something I have never imagined. That’s another matter.” Tang Chuan said and poured tap water into the coffee machine, “I heard that the victim only used mineral water when making coffee. I don’t know how the taste can be. What a difference." "The key to the problem is not the taste. I heard that he is thinking about his health. It is said that even his wife will use tap water to make coffee for him when Mr. Mashiba is not paying attention. Maybe I have told you before, Hiromi Wakayama The confession stated that tap water was also used to make coffee on Sunday morning." "In other words, the victim is the only one who actually uses mineral water to make coffee?" "That's why the idea of ​​poisoning bottled water is so persuasive." "Isn't even Kesouyan not detecting toxic substances now? This kind of argument can only be given up." "But you can't say that the possibility of poisoning in bottled water is equal to zero just because it hasn't been detected. There are also people in this world who will wash the inside of plastic bottles before throwing them away. Kesouyan believes that this situation is also true. It might not be detectable." "It's usually the bottles of oolong tea or fruit juice that need to be washed? Will anyone wash the bottles of water?" "Human habits are strange." "That's what I said. If this is the case, the murderer is quite lucky. Who would have thought that because of a habit of the victim, the way of poison mixing would be blocked?" "The premise is that I presume that the wife of the deceased is the murderer." After speaking, Kaoru looked at Yu Chuan's expression, "Don't you like my way of reasoning?" Tang Chuan smiled wryly and said, "It doesn't matter. We also often need to assume, but almost all of them are completely overthrown immediately. What's the benefit of assuming his wife is the murderer?" "Speaking of which, the first person who pointed out that Mashiba Mitsuo only used bottled water to make coffee was his wife. Although Mr. Kusanagi said that if she poisoned the water, she probably wouldn't take the initiative to tell us this. But I think it's the opposite. I think she thinks that sooner or later the police will detect toxic substances from plastic bottles, so she might as well just inform the police first, in order to reduce the suspicion even a little bit, but in fact it doesn't. No toxicity was detected. To be honest, I am at a loss. If she is the murderer, if she poisoned the kettle in some way, then there is no reason for her to deliberately kill Mr. Mashiba You can’t tell the police about drinking bottled water. So I think maybe the fact that the police failed to detect the toxicity from the plastic bottle was unexpected for her.” Listening to Kaoru's narration, Yu Chuan's expression became more and more serious.Staring at the steam coming from the coffee maker, he said, "You mean, his wife didn't expect Mr. Mashiba to wash the plastic bottle?" "If I were his wife, I wouldn't have thought of it. Instead, I thought the police would find the poisonous plastic bottle at the scene immediately. However, Mr. Mashiba used up the poisonous water while making coffee, and then put the plastic bottle away while waiting for the water to boil. It was washed. It was because his wife didn't expect this, so in order to seize the opportunity, he deliberately told the police that the murderer might have poisoned the bottled water. With this association, everything became reasonable gone." Tang Chuan nodded, pressed the horizontal frame of the glasses with his fingertips and helped them up, and said: "Theoretically, this hypothesis can be established." "Although I know that there are many unreasonable places, there is still this possibility." "Indeed, but do you have a way to prove your hypothesis?" "Unfortunately, I didn't." Yu Chuan took down the coffee pot from the coffee machine, poured the coffee inside into two cups, and handed one to Kaoru. Kaoru thanked him and took the cup. "You are not partnering to lure me into the bait, are you?" Tang Chuan said. "what?" "Let me ask you, you didn't collude with Kusanagi and planned to take the bait because of me, did you?" "Teacher, you took the bait? Why?" "Because you have cleverly aroused my thirst for knowledge, who was determined not to assist the police anymore, and you even sprinkled the dangerous fragrance of Kusanagi falling in love on the bait." Tang Chuan raised one corner of his mouth Smiling, he took a sip of his coffee with enjoyment.