Chapter 24 Section 24

An announcement came over the radio that he was about to arrive in Hiroshima.Kaoru took off the earphones connected to the iPod from her ears, stuffed them into her bag, and stood up. Walking out of the platform, she confirmed the address written in the handbook.Junko Tsukui’s hometown is in Higashitakaya Town, Hiroshima City, and the nearest station is Nishitakaya Station.I have informed the other party that I will visit today.Perhaps it was because Kusanagi also asked about Junko's suicide before, Junko's mother, Yoko Tsukui, seemed a little confused when she received the call.She must have been surprised, and didn't understand why the police officers of the Metropolitan Police Department would care about this matter again.

After arriving at Hiroshima Station, she bought a bottle of mineral water at a small shop, and then changed to the Sanyo Main Line.There are still nine stops to Xitakaya, and it will take about forty minutes.Kaoru took out the iPod from her bag again, listened to Fukuyama Masaharu's song, and drank mineral water.It looks like a bottle of soft water from the label, but she has completely forgotten the theory that Yu Chuan told her about which dishes are suitable. Speaking of water— Yu Chuan seemed to be convinced that the water purifier was the arsenic.Even though he was convinced of this, he refused to explain the poisoning method to Kaoru and Kusanagi.According to Kusanagi, "Because it is impossible to prove that such a method was not used," Yukawa was afraid that his own reasoning would lead to wrongful convictions.

What kind of method did he envision?Kaoru recalled some of what Yukawa had said before. It is theoretically possible, but in practice it cannot be realized—this is his evaluation when he first thought of this method.Later, when Loh reported to him the results of an investigation conducted according to his instructions, he also said, "This is absolutely impossible." Literally, it seems that the method Tang Chuan conceived seems to be quite out of touch with reality, but at the same time, he believes that it is very likely that this method has indeed been implemented. Although Yu Chuan did not tell Kaoru the specific method, he gave her some instructions.He first asked her to check the water purifier thoroughly to see if there was anything suspicious in it. He also suggested that she should get the spring 8 to check whether it was poisonous, and finally investigate the serial number of the water purifier.

Although the results from Spring 8 haven't come out yet, she has already informed Tang Chuan of other situations.According to the analysis of the forensics department, there is no doubt about Zhenchai's water purifier.Although it has been about a year since the last replacement, the filter is roughly the same degree of dirt, and there is no trace of tampering, and the serial number is also legitimate. After hearing the report, Tang Chuan only replied "I see, thank you for your hard work".After finishing speaking, before Kaoru could react, he unilaterally hung up the phone.

Although she also hoped that he could at least give some hints, it would be futile to expect such a thing from the physicist. Kaoru actually cared more about what Yukawa said to Kusanagi earlier.It is said that Yu Chuan suggested that Kusanagi should not just focus on the time before and after the incident, but to go back to the past and investigate all the circumstances as much as possible.He showed great concern that Tsukui Junko also committed suicide by taking arsenic. What is he thinking?Didn't he also think Mashiba Ayane was the murderer?If Ayane is the murderer, then it should be enough to investigate the events before and after the incident.Even if there were indeed some disputes in the past, it stands to reason that Yu Chuan is not a person who would be interested in these.

Before I knew it, the Fukuyama Masaharu album on the ipod had run out, and other singers' songs started to play.While she was trying to remember the title of the song, the tram arrived at Nishi Takaya Station. Tsukui’s house is located about five minutes’ walk from the station. It is a two-story Western-style house built on a slope, backed by a lush forest.Kaoru thought, would such a mansion be too big for a woman living alone?She heard on the phone that Tsukui Junko's father had passed away, and the eldest son of the family moved to Hiroshima City after getting married. She pressed the doorbell pager, and the voice she heard on the phone answered the door.Perhaps it was because the visiting time was notified in advance, the other party did not show the slightest hesitation.

Yoko Tsukui is a thin woman in her mid-sixties.She saw Kaoru coming alone, with a relaxed expression on her face, maybe she thought that there would be a daunting male detective coming with her. Although the exterior of Tsukufu is Western-style, the interior is a standard Japanese-style room. The room that Kaoru followed the hostess to is also a room about twelve stacks in size. Next to the niche is an altar. "It's really hard for you to come from a long distance." Yoko said while pouring water into the tea bowl from the teapot. "No, I'm sorry for bothering you. It must be strange for you to ask you about Ms. Junzi in one way or another now, right?"

"Yeah, I always thought it was over." Yoko said "Please use" and handed the tea bowl to Kaoru. "Judging from the records at the time, the cause of the suicide was not conclusive. Do you have any objections to this point?" Hearing Kaoru's question, Yoko had a faint smile on her face, tilted her head and said, "After all, there were no decent clues at the time, not even the people who had contacts with her. Looking back now, after all Maybe it's because I'm too lonely." "Too lonely?" "That kid was born fond of painting, and later he said he wanted to be a picture book writer before going to Tokyo. But the kid was originally an honest and dull person, living in a big city where he didn't know where he was born. It was not easy. She was already thirty-four at the time, and she probably started to worry about her future. If there was someone around her who could give her advice, she might not have fallen to that point."

It seems that Yoko didn't know that her daughter had been in love until today. "Ms. Junzi heard that she came back before she passed away?" Kaoru asked her to confirm the content of the report at that time. "Yes. At that time, I thought she was a little listless, but I didn't expect her to think of death..." Yoko blinked, probably trying to hold back her tears. "That is to say, didn't she say anything unusual to you at that time?" "Yes. I asked her if she was okay, and she answered me 'it's okay'." Yoko drooped her head deeply.

Kaoru's mother's face in his hometown appeared in Kaoru's mind.She thought to herself, if it were her, if she made up her mind to go home to see her mother for the last time after death, how would she face her mother?Maybe he will feel ashamed to face it, or maybe he will act like Junzi, acting the same as usual. "Excuse me..." Yoko raised her head and said, "Is there something wrong with Junko's suicide?" This should be what she is most concerned about, but at the moment, she cannot tell her the details of the search. "Because we found out during the investigation of other cases that it may be related to this matter, but we don't have any conclusive evidence, so I want to use what you said as a reference."

"Ah, is that so?" Yoko had a look of unrelieved expression on his face. "It's about the poison, actually." Hearing Kaoru's words, Yoko's eyebrows twitched slightly. "The poison you are talking about is..." "We heard that Ms. Junzi committed suicide by taking poison. Do you remember what kind of poison she took at that time?" The question silenced Yoko, who looked confused.Kaoru interpreted it as she forgot, so she said "it's arsenic". "Two days ago when a person named Kusanagi from our side asked you about it, you told him that he committed suicide by taking sleeping pills, but it was written in the record that he died by taking arsenic. Don't you know about this?" "Ah... well..." For some reason, Yoko had a look of embarrassment on his face.After that, she stammered again, "This matter, may I ask... is there any problem? Uh, I made a random answer about sleeping pills before..." Kaoru felt strange. "You know your daughter didn't take sleeping pills, but you still answer like that?" Yoko's face twitched in pain, and then she whispered "I'm sorry." "I think it's all over, and it doesn't matter how she committed suicide, so I answered like this." "You didn't want it to be known that she was killed with arsenic, that's why you answered that?" Yoko fell silent again, and Kaoru noticed that there seemed to be some special reasons for it. "Ms. Tsukui." "I'm sorry." Yoko stepped back suddenly, put her hands on the tatami, lowered her head and said, "I'm really sorry, I couldn't say anything at that time..." Kaoru was overwhelmed by her sudden behavior: "Please raise your head quickly. What's going on? Do you know anything?" Yoko raised her head slowly, blinking her eyes constantly: "The arsenic originally belonged to my family." Kaoru couldn't help but "hey": "But didn't the report say 'unknown origin'?" "I really can't say it. Remember the arsenic... no, the arsenic, right? When the policeman asked me if I knew where the arsenic came from, I couldn't tell them that she actually got it from home." , So I just said that I don’t know. Since I didn’t ask any more, I just... I’m really sorry.” "Wait a minute, you just said that the arsenic originally belonged to your family, is that true?" "I don't think there's anything wrong with it. When my husband was still alive, he asked a friend to poison rats. It was kept in the utility room before." "Then are you sure that Ms. Junzi took the arsenic away?" Yoko nodded: "At that time, after hearing Mr. Criminal Police mention the arsenic, I checked the utility room and found that the bag that must have been in there before was missing. It was not until then that I realized that the child was trying to get that thing Just came home." Kaoru was so shocked that she forgot to take notes.She quickly picked up a pen and wrote down what she said just now in the handbook. "I really can't say it. It's rare for that child to come back. Instead of noticing her intention to commit suicide, she quietly took away the poison, so I lied... If you have caused trouble, I really don’t know how to apologize. I am willing to apologize publicly to you, and I can apologize anywhere.” Yoko kept nodding in apology. "Can I see the utility room?" Kaoru asked. "Do you want to see the utility room? Yes." Kaoru stood up and said, "Then I will thank you." The utility room is located in the corner of the backyard. Although it is a simple shed made of iron sheets, there are about two stacks of old furniture, old appliances, and cardboard boxes inside.As soon as you step into the house, you can smell a musty smell. "Where was the arsenic originally?" Kaoru asked. "I remember it was there." Yoko pointed to an empty jar on a dusty shelf. "I remember the plastic bag of arsenic was there." "How much did Miss Junko take?" "The whole bag is gone. I guess there are so many of them." Yoko gestured to the size of a handful with both hands. "The quantity is really enough." Kaoru said. "Yeah, I guess there must be at least a big bowl full." "It probably wouldn't take that much to commit suicide, right? And the records didn't say that so much arsenic was found at the scene." Yoko thought for a while, and said, "You're right, I've been wondering too... Could it be that Junko threw it away?" Kaoru thought it was unlikely, because people who are about to commit suicide don't think about how to deal with the remaining poison. "Do you usually come to the utility room?" "No, I barely use it these days, and haven't opened it in a long time." "Then do you usually lock this place up?" "Locked? Well, I'll probably lock it anyway." "Then please lock it up from today, we may come to investigate again in the future." Yoko opened her eyes wide: "Investigate this utility room?" "We'll try not to trouble you as much as possible, please." Kaoru kept talking, feeling an inexplicable excitement in her heart.The origin of the arsenic used to kill Mashiba Yoshitaka is still unknown, but if its ingredients are the same as what Junzi took from here, then the whole picture of the case will be completely changed. Having said that, there is no real object here, so she can only hope that there are arsenic particles left in the utility room. She wants to discuss it with Mamiya after she returns to Tokyo. "By the way, I heard that you also received a suicide note from Ms. Junzi, was it mailed?" "Ah... yes, I did receive it." "Can I have a look, please?" After showing a little consideration, Yoko nodded and said, "Okay." The two returned to the house again, and this time Yoko took Kaoru to the room where Junko was alive.This is a Western-style room with eight stacks in size, and Junzi's desk and bed are still placed in the room. "I've collected all the things my child used before and put them in this room, although one day I'll have to sort them out a little bit." Yoko opened the drawer, took out the top envelope and said, "This is the one. .” Kaoru said, "Please lend me a look," and took the envelope. The content of the suicide note was not much different from what Kusanagi had said before. There was not a single word in it about her motive for suicide, but between the lines revealed a kind of weariness and disappointment with the world. "I still feel that I should be able to do something for her at that time. If I pay more attention, I may be able to detect the troubles in the child's heart." Yoko's voice was trembling. Kaoru didn't know what to say to her, and was about to put the suicide note back in the drawer silently, only to find that there were several other letters inside. "these are?" "It's the letter from the kid. Since I don't know how to send emails, she will occasionally write back to let me know what's going on." "Can I see it?" "Well, let's see. I'll make you some tea." After that, Yoko walked out of the room. Kaoru pulled a chair beside her, sat down, and began to read the letter.The contents of the letter are almost all reports on what kind of picture books he is currently drawing, or what work he is doing at the moment. It can be said that there is no description of whether there is a boyfriend and her dealing with interpersonal relationships. Just when Kaoru thought that the letter could not provide a reference and was about to give up, her eyes stayed on a postcard.It has a red double-decker bus printed on it.After reading the passage written in blue pen on the back of the postcard, Kaoru couldn't help but gasp.The content of that passage is—— how are youI'm in London now.Met a Japanese girl here.She said that she is from Hokkaido and is studying in the UK now.Tomorrow she will take me to the street for a stroll.