Chapter 26 Section 26

The Inokai Office is located a five-minute walk from Ebisu Station. It occupies the entire fourth floor of the six-story building. A woman in her early twenties is sitting at the front desk, wearing a gray suit. Although an appointment had been made in advance, Kusanagi was brought to the reception room to wait.It is said to be a reception room, but it is actually just a small room with a small table and a few steel pipe chairs.There were several other rooms like this, and from this point of view it seemed that there was more than one lawyer here.Kusanagi finally understood the reason why Inokai was able to take part in the management of Mashiba Yoshitaka's company.

Fifteen minutes later, Inokai appeared in front of Kusanagi.Even so, he didn't say a word of apology, just nodded and said "Hello".Maybe he was blaming Kusanagi for not disturbing his work. "Is there any new progress in the case? I didn't hear anything from Mrs. Ayane." Inokai sat down on the chair and said. "I don't know if it counts as progress, but we did find out - some new situations. Unfortunately, I can't tell you the details yet." Zhu Kai smiled wryly and said: "It's okay. I don't dare to inquire about any information, and I don't have the time to spare. Besides, Zhenchai's company has finally returned to normal from the temporary chaos. I just hope that the case can be resolved smoothly. Alright, you What is the purpose of coming to see me today? Through previous contacts, I think you should also understand that I don’t know much about Mashiba’s private life.” He looked at his watch and said, meaning that Kusanagi had something to say quickly Bar.

"Today I'm here to ask you something that you know very well, no, maybe it's more appropriate to say that only you know." Zhu Kai asked with a look of surprise: "Only I know? Is there such a thing?" "It's about the encounter between Mr. Mashiba Yoshitaka and Mrs. Ayane. You should have been there at the time. When I asked you last time, I heard you say so." "It's this again?" Zhu Zi showed an unexpected look. "Can I ask you about the specific words and deeds of the two of them at that party? First of all, how did they know each other at that time?"

Hearing this question, Zhu Kai frowned in surprise: "Is there any connection between this and the case?" Kusanagi didn't answer, but smiled wryly. Seeing him like this, Zhu Kai sighed: "Is it a secret search? But it's quite confusing. It's been a long time since that happened, and I don't think it has anything to do with the case." "We don't know whether this matter is related to the case. You can treat our behavior as a blindfold." "Looking at you, it doesn't look like you're being blind. Well, well, how should I explain it?"

"I heard from you last time that it seemed to be a so-called blind date party, right? I heard that on that occasion, there will be a lot of programs for men and women who have never met before to talk to each other. I wonder if this is true? For example, let Participants will introduce themselves one by one..." Zhu Kai repeatedly waved his hands and said, "That's not the case, it's just an ordinary buffet party. If there are any strange programs arranged, I won't accompany him to attend." Kusanagi nodded, feeling that what he said made sense. "So, Mrs. Ayane also attended that party, right? Did she bring any friends with her?"

"No, she seems to be here alone, and she doesn't talk to anyone. She sits at the bar alone drinking cocktails." "So who was the first to talk to them?" "It's real firewood." Zhu Kai replied immediately. "Mr. Zhenchai?" "We were also sitting at the bar drinking, only two seats away from her. Zhenchai suddenly praised her mobile phone bag." Kusanagi stopped the pen in his hand. "Phone bag...is it?" "She put her mobile phone on the bar at that time, the mobile phone bag was made of patchwork, and a small window was opened in the LCD screen for viewing. At that time, Zhen Chai said it was beautiful or rare, I forgot, in short, it was him He spoke first. After hearing what he said, Ayane also smiled and told him that he did it by herself, and then the two of them began to talk more and more speculatively."

"Is this the first time the two of them met?" "Yes, I didn't expect at the time that the two of them would get married later." Kusanagi leaned forward a little. "That kind of party, did you only attend that one time with Mr. Mashiba?" "Of course, just that one time." "What about Mr. Zhenchai himself? Does he often take the initiative to strike up a conversation with strange women?" Zhu Jin frowned and thought about it: "How should I put it—although he was never stage-frightened when talking to strange women, but when he was in school, he wasn't the type who knew how to pick up girls all day long. He used to It is often said that the important thing about a woman is not the appearance but the connotation. I don’t think this is his posturing, it is probably his true inner thoughts.”

"That is to say, it is a special case for Mr. Mashiba that he took the initiative to strike up a conversation with Mrs. Ayane at the party?" "Yes. Even I was a little surprised at the time. But maybe this is the 'incoming call' as the saying goes. My explanation is that they probably have feelings in each other's hearts, so the two of them combined in the end." "Then was there anything wrong with the two of them at that time? It doesn't matter how trivial things are." After showing a pensive expression, Zhu Kai shook his head slightly. "I don't remember too well. The two of them had a good conversation at the time, and I was like being isolated outside the mosquito net. Anyway, Mr. Kusanagi, what is the meaning of this question? Can you give me a little hint? ?”

Kusanagi smiled slightly, and put the handbook back into his underwear pocket. "I'll tell you when I can. I'm so sorry to interrupt you during my busy schedule." He stood up as he spoke.But when he was walking towards the door, he turned his head and said, "Please keep what happened today a secret, and don't tell Mrs. Ayane." Zhu Kai's gaze became serious: "Are the police suspicious of her?" "No, we have absolutely no intention of that. Anyway, please." In order to avoid being stopped by him again, Kusanagi hurriedly left the room.

Walking out of the building and onto the sidewalk, Kusanagi couldn't help but sigh heavily. From what Inokai said just now, it wasn't Mashiba Yoshitaka who Ayane approached at that time.It felt like it was pure chance that the two of them met at that party. But, is this the truth? When Kusanagi asked Ayane if she knew Junko Tsukui, she replied that she did not.This made him extremely concerned, because it was absolutely impossible for her not to know her. The tapestry drawn in Tsukui Junko's picture book called "The Snowman Has Fallen" is exactly the same as the one made by Ayane.The original author of the tapestry design is Ayane, she did not refer to other works, and the patchwork artist Ayane Mita never only made original works.In other words, Tsukui Junko should have seen Ayane's works somewhere.

However, as far as Kusanagi knew, the tapestry was not included in Ayane's collection of works. If she had seen it, it could only have been at the venue of the solo exhibition.But that kind of exhibition is not allowed to take pictures.If there is no photo, it is hard to imagine that the painting can be as accurate as the one in the picture book. From this, it can be inferred that Junko Tsukui had seen that tapestry in private.Of course, there should be more than just a one-sided relationship between her and Ayane.Why did Ayane lie?Why did she answer that she didn't know Junko Tsukui?Was she doing it simply to hide the fact that her late husband was her friend's ex-boyfriend? Kusanagi looked at his watch, it was already past four o'clock in the afternoon, he thought to himself, it was about time for him to leave.He and Tang Chuan made an appointment to go to his place at 4:30, but at the moment he felt a little heavy.If possible, he didn't want to see Tang Chuan, because Tang Chuan was bound to draw the conclusion he least wanted to hear this time.However, as the criminal policeman in charge of the case, he had to go and listen to what Yu Chuan had to say.In addition, deep down, he also hopes to make a break with his vacillating mood at the moment.