Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

Although he knew that arguing now would be useless, Akio couldn't help but let out a burst of anger.On the one hand, his wife’s words reminded him of the difficult process of disposing of the corpse. On the other hand, he also understood that even though he knew at the time that all the grass should be disposed of, he could not bear the painful torture and wanted to escape as soon as possible. It must be relatively sloppy, and the words just now also have the meaning of covering up the matter. Yaeko rested her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hand. "What can we do to..."

"As I said, there is no way out. The only way out is for Naomi to surrender himself. We will also become his accomplices, but it's okay, we deserve it." "Are you satisfied with this?" "Of course I'm not satisfied, but I can't help it." "Don't always be helpless, helpless, and give up when you encounter problems." Yaeko raised her face and stared at her husband, "Do you understand? This is a major event that affects Naomi's life. This is not theft or injury. People or something, it's murder...and the other party is such a small child, his life must be over. Then you still say that there is no way? I don't think so, I will fight until the last moment. "

"Then what are you going to do? Do you have any means? How do we answer when they ask about the lawn?" "In short... just insist that we don't know." Akio sighed. "Do you think the police will believe it?" "However, even if it is proved that the grass belongs to our family, there is no evidence that Naomi killed the person. It is also possible that the girl entered our yard without our knowledge." "The police have already asked me about the time when there was no one at home. They would ask why the child broke in and we didn't find out."

"It's possible that we didn't notice it. We haven't been staring at the movement in the yard all day long." "Would this kind of sophistry be useful to the police?" "How do you know if you have tried it?" Yaeko's voice rang. "I mean, you're a pointless struggle." "That's okay, as long as Naomi is not handed over to the police, I can do anything. But what about you? You look like you don't care, and you don't want to think of a way." "After thinking about it for a long time, I realized that there is really no chance."

"No, you're not thinking about it at all. You're only thinking about how to escape the pain now. You think it's easy to let Naomi surrender himself, and you don't care about the future at all." "not like this." "Then why do you always play against me? You have the ability to play against me, why don't you provide a better solution? Or you just shut up, I don't need you to say that I know the police are hard to deal with, but I'm still doing my best Do what you can." Akio retreated under Yaeko's attack. Just at this moment, a strange singing sound came from their ears.It was Masae's voice, and this voice stimulated Yaeko's nerves even more.She grabbed the toothpick jar beside her and threw it out, and the tiny toothpicks were scattered all over the floor.

Akio spoke. "Compared to making up those absurd lies and then being arrested, it is better for him to return to society as soon as possible. He is a minor, and his name will not be released. As long as we move far away, the past It's not going to be known, that's what I mean." "What return to society?" Yaeko said disdainfully, "Why are you still saying such beautiful words? Even if the name is not made public, there will be no rumors? It's useless to move. The notoriety of killing children will always haunt him for the rest of his life. Who would be willing to accept a person like him? What would happen if it was you? Can you treat such people equally? I don't have that ability, and it's normal. If Naomi is arrested this time, his life will be over , our whole life will be over together. You don't even understand this? Is there something wrong with your brain?"

This time Akio was really speechless. He also understood that what Yaeko said was more realistic, until yesterday he felt that there was no need for juvenile law.He has always believed that no matter whether it is an adult or a child, a crime should be punished accordingly. If it is a felony such as homicide, it should be punished by death.Akio does not believe that it is possible for a murderer to be a human being again, and the current law that allows such people to return to the outside world after serving their sentence makes him feel aggrieved.As Yaeko said, he didn't have the heart to accept a murderer without distinction, even if that person's crime was committed in his youth.And Akio has always felt at ease with his own mentality in the past.

"Why don't you say anything? Say something." Yaeko's voice was full of tears. Zhenghui's singing is still going on, it sounds like chanting scriptures. "It's okay to be vague." "What vagueness?" "It's useless for me to lie vaguely. If you want to lie, you have to lie thoroughly. If the police are eyeing our house because of the lawn, they will definitely suspect Naomi. Do you think that if the kid is questioned persistently by the police Go on, can you still insist on lying?" "Then what can you do?" Akio closed his eyes, feeling so uncomfortable that he even wanted to vomit.

After learning what had happened and deciding to dispose of the body, Akio had an idea about how to get Naomi off the hook.It's just that until now, he's been consciously trying to get that thought out of his head.One of the reasons is that he thinks this is an absolutely inhuman act, and at the same time, he also understands that once this measure is taken, there is really no way out. "You said it." Yaeko urged. "If the police come again..." Akio continued, "And, if lies don't work..." He licked his lips. "what to do?" "Only...surrender."

"You..." Yaeko's eyes became fierce, "I told you—" "Listen to me," Akio took a deep breath, "I didn't mean that." After pressing the intercom electric bell under the nameplate printed with "Yamada", a man replied: "Who is there?" Matsunomiya introduced himself into the microphone. "We are the police. Is it convenient for you now? I have some questions and I want to ask you for advice." "Oh, good..." The tone of the other party sounded a little puzzled. Soon the entrance door opened, and a bald man poked his head out with a disturbed expression.He walked down the short steps to the gate where Matsumiya and the others were.

"I'm really sorry for this morning." Kaga who was standing beside Matsumiya said. "I heard that your family has a lawn, right?" Song Gong asked. "Ok." "We want to take a little sample." "Ah? You mean to want my family's grass?" "I think you've heard about the discovery of the girl's body in Ginkgo Park. This is also to solve the case. We need the help of all nearby residents." "But why survey the lawn?" "We're going to do some checks." "Check?" The man's face became gloomy. "It's not that there's anything wrong with your yard," Kaga interjected. "We need to know what kind of lawns are planted in the entire neighborhood, so I'm asking you guys. If you don't want to, we won't force you." .” "No, it's not that I don't want to... What I want to ask is that you are not suspicious of my family, are you?" "Of course," Kaga smiled, "I'm sorry to bother you on your day off. Could you let us start? It will be done soon. We will carry out the whole process, as long as a small amount is fine, so as not to damage your lawn." "In that case, please go ahead, the yard is here." The owner seemed to have finally agreed to the police's request and let Songgong and the others enter the gate. Together, Matsunomiya and Kaga went door-to-door to visit homes with lawns, and collected grass and soil in the courtyard.Naturally, every household will not give them any good looks, and many people will ask sharply whether their family has been suspected. "It doesn't feel efficient." After leaving Yamada's house, Matsumiya said. "It's really troublesome to explain every time we go to a house. If the people at the headquarters call to explain the situation first, wouldn't it be much easier for us?" "Oh, you want two groups of people to explain and collect separately?" "Brother Gong, don't you think so?" "I don't think so." "why?" "Because it makes it less efficient." "how so?" "Case investigation is not like ordinary work, and explaining to the other party cannot be done mechanically. Because the person you are facing may be a criminal himself, and you may find some clues through close observation while talking with each other. But on the phone Here, it can’t be so detailed.” "Really? Can't some content be reflected through the change of voice?" "Then, let's assume you're right and your proposal is accepted. When the detective who called the other party to explain feels something strange on the phone, he has to relay his thoughts to the detective who is in charge of collecting grass. Agent, don’t you think this is inefficient? Moreover, intuition is difficult to explain to others. If you don’t explain it clearly, the agent who actually contacts the other party will be in danger of making a big mistake. In addition, in advance Calling to explain the situation also gives the offender time to do some preparation. I understand that you get tired of this boring job, but any job has its purpose." "I'm not tired of it." Although Matsumiya defended himself, he couldn't find any words that could be used to counter Kaga. Matsumiya and Kaga visited all lawn-planting households in the area assigned to them in order. They put the grass they collected into plastic bags and marked the name of the family. This is indeed a boring job.Naturally, they did not neglect the issue of the cardboard boxes instructed by Kobayashi, but so far, no suspicious cardboard boxes have been found, and Matsumiya still thinks that this is a waste of effort. Kaga stopped in front of a house.His eyes were fixed on the entrance of that house, and the surname on the nameplate was "Maeda".This is also one of the objects to collect grass samples, but Kaga's gaze has an extra layer of unusual sensitivity for some reason, which caught Matsumiya's attention. "Any questions?" he asked. "No, nothing." Kaga shook his head. This is an old two-story house with a large door. After entering, the front is the porch.On the right side of a short path in the door is the courtyard, which has a piece of lawn that doesn't look like it has been taken care of. Apart from green grass, there was also white clover on Kasugai Yuuna's clothes.An agent who knows a little about lawns said that if it is a family that regularly takes care of the lawn, it should be able to clean up this kind of weeds. Matsumiya pressed the call button on the walkie-talkie, and a female answer came from the receiver. He introduced himself in a business-like manner, and the other party still gave the same brief response as before. Before the door of the entrance was opened, Matsunomiya confirmed the composition of the Maeda family on the file, which was copied from the documents of the Nerima Office.The head of the household is Akio Maehara, now 47 years old. There are also his 42-year-old wife Yaeko, a 14-year-old son and his 72-year-old mother. "It looks like a very ordinary family." Songgong said to himself. "The old lady in this family has dementia." Kaga said, "There is no ordinary family in this world. Even if they look ordinary on the outside, every family has a difficult scripture." "I understand this kind of reasoning even if you don't say it. I mean, this one doesn't seem to have anything to do with this case." The entrance door opened, and a short, middle-aged man walked out from the door. He was wearing a sweatshirt over his shirt. This person should be Akio Maehara.He saw the two of Matsunomiya and came up to say hello. Kaga first apologized for disturbing each other repeatedly. When Song Gong said that he wanted to collect grass samples, Maehara's expression showed fear for a moment, and Song Gong didn't know what meaning this subtle change contained. "Oh... yes." Maehara replied straightforwardly. "Excuse me." Song Gong said and stepped into the yard, and began to collect grass samples step by step.The identification department told them to take as much soil as possible. "Excuse me..." Maehara said with a worried expression, "What can you learn from this?" "It is inconvenient to announce the details, but we are collecting lawn information from nearby residents to see what types they are." "Oh, that kind of information." Maehara must have wanted to know what the use of investigating these was, but he never asked. After putting the grass into a plastic bag, Song Gong stood up, ready to thank Qian Yuan. At this time, voices suddenly sounded in the room. "Please don't do this, Mom!" The speaker was a woman. Then there was the sound of something falling. Maehara apologized to Matsumiya and the others, then hurriedly opened the door and looked inside: "Hey, what are you doing." The women in the room were talking, but the content was inaudible. Later, Maehara finally closed the door, and turned to Matsumiya and the others with an embarrassed expression on his face. "Oh, I'm sorry, I made you two laugh." "Did something happen?" Matsumiya asked. "No, it's not a big deal, the old lady is just a little noisy." "Old lady? Oh..." Matsumiya remembered what Kaga said just now. "It's all right? Please let us know if you need our help." Kahe said, "Our police station also has a consultation window for the elderly with dementia." "No, please don't worry, we will figure out a solution ourselves, um." Maehara's smile was obvious. After the two walked out of the gate, Maehara also quickly disappeared into the house, and Matsumiya who witnessed all this sighed. "Working in the company must be very hard, but there are such difficult problems at home, it is really not easy for that person." "This is a typical modern Japanese family. The arrival of an aging society was estimated many years ago, but the government has been unable to make effective preparations. The debt owed by this negligence is being repaid by individuals. " "I feel dizzy just thinking about caring for the elderly with dementia at home. For me, this problem is not irrelevant. One day in the future, I will also take on the responsibility of taking care of my mother." "A lot of people in the world have this problem, because the government does nothing, they can only solve the problem by themselves." Matsumiya felt a sense of resistance to Kaga's words. "It's fine to be like Brother Gong," he said, "Leave uncle there alone, and he can live a carefree life without being bound by anything." After he finished speaking, he felt that this was a bit too much, thinking that Kaga might be angry. "Yeah, that's right," Kaga replied simply, "I'm alone in life or death, so I'm happy and relaxed." Matsumiya stopped in her tracks. "So you want uncle to die alone?" Kaga finally looked at Matsumiya with a slightly recovered expression, but he did not waver, but nodded slowly. "How a person dies depends entirely on how he lives. That person died like this because he came back to life like this. There is no other explanation." "that person……" "A person who has established a warm family will receive that kind of care when he dies. And a person who has not established a decent family needs family affection at the end of his life. Don't you think he is selfish?" "My... our warm family was built by my uncle. It was because of my uncle that our mother and son would not live in hardship because of being a single-parent family, so I don't want my uncle to spend his whole life alone. " Songgong looked into Kaga's cold eyes and replied, "If Brother Gong wants to leave uncle behind, that's okay. I'll take care of him, and I'll die for him." I thought Kaga would make a rebuttal, but he just nodded. "You can do whatever you want, and I won't interfere with your way of life." After speaking, he continued to walk, but soon stopped, his eyes fixed on the bicycle parked in front of Maehara's house. "What happened to the bicycle?" Song Gong asked. "It's nothing, let's go quickly, there are still several companies to run." Kaga quickly turned and left. Through the gap in the curtains, he watched the movement outside through the glass door, and saw two teenagers who looked like primary school students passing by the door of his house on bicycles. The two criminal policemen have been away for more than ten minutes, and it seems that they will not come back for a while.