Exit the Kintetsu Fushi Station and go straight west along the railway path.It was already October and the weather was still oppressively hot and the ground was dry.Every time a truck speeds past, the dust kicked up is likely to make people frown and rub their eyes. Sasagaki Junzo's footsteps were not brisk.He didn't have to show up today.I haven't had a vacation for a long time, so I thought I could take a leisurely read today.For today, he specially kept Matsumoto Kiyosho's new book from reading. The park appears on the right, large enough to accommodate two games of third base baseball, with jungle games, swings, slides and the usual rides.This park is the largest one nearby, called Masumi Park.

A seven-story building under construction at the back of the park may appear unremarkable at first glance, but Sasagaki knew it was mostly empty.Before he was transferred to the Osaka Police Headquarters, he stayed at the Nishibush branch which governed the area. The spectators moved quickly and had already gathered in front of the building. Several police cars parked there were almost surrounded by spectators. Sasagaki didn't go straight to the building, but turned right in front of the park.The fifth store around the corner has a signboard of "Grilled Squid Cake", and the storefront is only the size of a stack.The squid cake counter faced the road, and sitting behind it was a fat woman in her fifties, reading a newspaper.The store seemed to sell snacks, but there were no children in sight.

"Miss Boss, bake me a slice." Sasagaki greeted. The middle-aged woman hastily closed the newspaper. "Okay, here we come." The woman got up and put the newspaper on the chair.Sasagaki took a Heping cigarette in his mouth, lit a match, and glanced at the newspaper. He saw the headline "Ministry of Health, Welfare and Welfare Announces Inspection Results of Mercury Content in Seafood in the Market", and next to it was written in small characters, "Eating a lot of fish will not reach the level." content". In March, the court handed down a verdict on Kumamoto Minamata Disease, which together with Niigata Minamata Disease, Yokkaichi Asthma, and Itai-Itai Disease were collectively referred to as the Four Great Public Hazards.As a result, every lawsuit was won by the plaintiff, which made the public fearful of public nuisance.In particular, concerns about mercury or PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) contamination of fish that are eaten daily have not dissipated, causing panic among the public.

No problem with squid, right?Sasagaki looked at the newspaper and thought. The two iron plates for grilling squid cakes are connected by hinges, and the squid coated with flour and egg juice is sandwiched, and then heated by the iron plates.The smell of grilled squid whets the appetite. After fully heating, the proprietress opened the iron plate, and the round and flat shortbread stuck to one of the iron plates.She spread a thin layer of sauce, folded it in half, then wrapped it in brown paper, said "OK", and handed the cake to Sasagaki. Sasagaki looked at the sign that said "Grilled Squid Cake 40 Yuan" and paid.The proprietress said kindly: "Thank you." Then she picked up the newspaper and sat back in her chair.

Sasagaki was about to leave when a middle-aged woman stopped at the door of the store to greet the proprietress.With a shopping basket in her hand, she looked like a housewife nearby. "It seems very lively over there, is something wrong?" She pointed to the building and asked. "It seems so, a lot of police cars came just now, maybe the child was injured." The proprietress said. "Children?" Sasagaki turned around and asked, "Why are there children in the building?" "That building has become a playground for children. I was worried that sooner or later someone would get hurt, and something happened, didn't it?"

"Oh, what can we do in a building like that?" "Who knows their tricks! I have long felt that we should rectify there, it is too dangerous." Sasagaki finished his grilled squid cakes and walked towards the building.In the eyes of the proprietress behind him, she must think that he is a middle-aged man who is idle and loves to watch. Uniformed police cordoned off the building to keep onlookers out.Sasagaki slipped through the cordon, and a policeman looked at him threateningly, and he pointed to his chest, indicating that the police badge was here.The policeman understood his gesture and saluted him.

There is a place similar to an entrance in the building. The original design may have been to install a glass door, but currently it is only blocked with melamine board and angle materials.The melamine board was partly lifted to allow access. After greeting the guarding policeman, Sasagaki entered the building.As expected, it was very dark inside, and there was a musty and dusty smell in the air.He stood still until his eyes adjusted to the darkness.There was a voice of conversation coming from nowhere. After a while, Sasagaki could gradually recognize the surrounding scene, and then realized that he was standing in the hallway where he was supposed to wait for the elevator, because there were two elevators side by side on the right, and building materials and electrical parts were piled up in front of the door.

The front is a wall, but a square hole is opened, and the other side of the hole is dark, which may be the parking lot in the original architectural plan. To the left is a room with a rough plywood door that feels like a makeshift, with "NO ENTRY" scrawled in chalk, presumably by construction workers. The door opened, and two men walked out, they were criminal policemen from the same group.They stopped when they saw Sasagaki. "Oh, it's hard work. It's a rare vacation, you are so unlucky." One of them said to Sasagaki, who was two years older than Sasagaki.Another young criminal policeman was transferred to the No. 1 Investigation Section less than a year ago.

"I've had a premonition for a long time, and I don't think it's good. Why is this sixth sense so accurate?" After finishing speaking, Sasagaki lowered his voice, "How is Boss feeling?" The other party frowned and shook his hand.The young detective smiled wryly. "No wonder, he just said he wanted to relax, and this happened. What are you doing in there now?" "Professor Matsuno has just arrived." "Oh." "Then let's go outside for a walk." "Okay, thank you for your hard work." It seems that they were ordered to go out for questioning.Sasagaki watched them leave, then slowly opened the door.There are about fifteen stacks of rooms.The sun shines in through the glass windows, and the room is not as dark as the hall.

Investigators clustered around the wall opposite the window.There are a few unfamiliar faces, most of them are people from the Nishibush Sub-bureau in the district, and the others are old acquaintances who are tired of seeing them. Among them, the one who has the deepest friendship with Sasagaki looks this way first.He is team leader Nakazuka, with a crop-shaved head and gold-rimmed glasses with a lavender upper part.The wrinkles between the brows don't disappear even when you smile. Nakazuka didn't say "thank you" or "why it's so late", but moved his chin slightly, signaling him to go over.Sasagaki walked over.

There is no decent furniture in the room, and there is a black artificial leather bench against the wall, which can seat three adults if squeezed. There was a body lying on it, a man. Professor Hidetomi Matsuno of Kinki Medical University, who has worked as a medical examiner in Osaka Prefecture for more than two decades, examines the body. Sasagaki craned his neck and looked at the corpse. The deceased was about forty-five to early fifties, and his height was less than 170 centimeters.In terms of height, he is a bit fat. He wears a brown top without a tie, and the clothes seem to be high-end.There was a crimson bloodstain with a diameter of ten centimeters on the chest.There were also a few bruises, but no serious bleeding. As far as Sasagaki saw, there was no sign of a fight.The deceased was neatly dressed, with no parting lines, and the hair combed back was almost undisturbed and deformed. The short Professor Matsuno stood up and faced the investigators. "It was a homicide. It's unmistakable." The professor said with certainty, "There were five stab wounds. Two in the chest and three in the shoulder. The fatal wound should be the stab wound below the left chest, a few centimeters to the left of the sternum. The murder weapon It should go through the gap between the ribs and go straight to the heart." "Dead on the spot?" Nakazuka asked. "He died in about a minute. I think the coronary artery bleeds and presses the heart, causing pericardial tamponade." "Is the murderer spattered with blood?" "No, I don't think there are many." "Where's the murder weapon?" The professor raised his lower lip and spoke after a little thought: "It's a thin and sharp blade, maybe a little narrower than a fruit knife. Anyway, it's not a kitchen knife or a machete." "What about the estimated time of death?" This question was raised by Sasagaki. "After death, stiffness has spread all over the body, and the plaque no longer moves, and the cornea is quite cloudy. It may have been seventeen hours to almost a whole day, depending on how accurate the anatomy can be." Sasagaki looked at his watch, it was now 2:40 pm, reversing the time, the deceased should have been killed between 3:00 pm and 10:00 pm yesterday. "Then send it for an autopsy immediately." Professor Matsuno agreed with Nakazuka's suggestion, "This is better." At this moment, young detective Koga enters. "The wife of the deceased has arrived." "It's finally here. Then let her recognize someone first and bring her in." Hearing Nakazuka's instructions, Koga nodded and left the room. Sasagaki asked the young detective beside him in a low voice: "Already know the identity of the deceased?" The other party nodded slightly. "The deceased had a driver's license and business card on him, and was the owner of a pawnshop nearby." "Pawn shop? What was taken away?" "I don't know, but the wallet was not found." A voice sounded, Koga came in again, and said "this way please" to the back.The detectives took two or three steps away from the corpse. A woman appeared behind Koga.The first thing that caught Sasagaki's eyes was bright orange. It turned out that the woman was wearing an orange and black plaid dress and a pair of high heels nearly ten centimeters high.In addition, the long hair is perfectly styled, as if it just came out of a beauty salon.The big eyes deliberately emphasized with heavy makeup looked at the bench by the wall.She raised her hands to her mouth, made a hoarse sound, and her body movement was still for a few seconds.The criminal police knew very well that it would be useless to talk too much in this situation, so they all silently watched the scene. Finally, she began to approach the corpse slowly, stopped in front of the bench, and looked down at the man above.Even Sasagaki could see her jaw trembling slightly. "Is that your husband?" Nakazuka asked. She didn't answer, she covered her cheeks with her hands, moved slowly to cover her face, bent her knees as if she couldn't support it, and squatted on the ground.It's like acting, Sasagaki thought. A weeping sound came from behind her hand.