Chapter 92 second quarter

Leaving Imae's office, Sasagaki went to the inn on the outskirts of Shinjuku, and it was exactly seven o'clock when he entered the gate. The overall feeling of this store is dark and deserted, without a decent lobby, and the so-called front desk is just a long horizontal table, and a middle-aged man who is not suitable for the service industry stands there with a straight face.However, if you want to live in Tokyo for a few days, you have to feel wronged in a hotel of this level.In fact, even living here in Sasagaki is not easy to afford.It's just that he can't live in the popular capsule hotel. He has lived in it twice, but his old bones can't bear it, and he can't relieve his fatigue at all.All he wanted was a single room where he could have a good rest, and it didn't matter if it was simple.

He completed the housing formalities as usual, and the cold man said, "Here is a message for Mr. Sasagaki", and handed him a white envelope together with the key. "message?" "Yes." After explaining this sentence, he started other tasks. Sasagaki opened the envelope to check, and there was a note on it that said "Please call Room 308 after entering the room". what is this?Sasagaki was puzzled.The front desk clerk not only had a bad attitude, but also was absent-minded, and Sasagaki couldn't help but wonder if he had left the message to the wrong person.

Sasagaki lived in room 321, on the same floor as the person who left the message.On the elevator, on the way to his room, he passed Room 308.He hesitated for a moment, then knocked on the door. There was the sound of sandaled footsteps inside, and the door opened.Seeing the face appearing behind the door, Sasagaki couldn't help being taken aback, what a surprise! "It's only now, it's really late." It was Hisashi Koga who spoke with a smile. "You...why are you here?" Sasagaki asked with a stutter. "Well, for many reasons. I'm waiting for father. Have you had your supper yet?"

"not yet." "Then let's go eat. Dad's luggage can be put here first." Koga put Sasagaki's luggage into the room, opened the closet, and took out the suit jacket and overcoat. Koga asked Sasagaki what he would like to eat, Sasagaki replied as long as it wasn't Western food, so Koga took him to a rather ordinary tavern.There are tatami seats in the store, and there are four small square dining tables, and they sit opposite each other at one of the tables.Koga said that he often visits this restaurant when he comes to Tokyo, and the sashimi and marinated vegetables are quite good.

"Have a drink first." Koga said, picked up the beer bottle and poured the wine, and Sasagaki took it with the cup.When he was about to pour wine for Kohe, Kohe thanked him and filled it up by himself. The two clinked glasses, and Sasagaki asked, "Why are you here?" "There is a meeting in the Police Department, which should have been attended by the Minister, but he said that he couldn't spare the time and asked me to attend on his behalf. There is no way." "This means that you are valued, you should be happy." Sasagaki stretched out his chopsticks to pick up the tuna belly, and it tasted really good.

Koga used to be Sasagaki's latecomer, but now he is the chief of the No. 1 Investigation Section of the Osaka Prefectural Police.Because he passed the promotion exams one after another, some people secretly called him an exam bug, and Sasagaki knew this too.But as far as Sasagaki saw, Koga had never been slack in practice.He is as proficient in practice as everyone else, and at the same time he works hard to pass the difficulties of the promotion test one by one, which makes it difficult for ordinary people to hold a candle to. "It's funny to think about it," Sasagaki said. "A busy senior police officer would go to such a place and stay in such a cheap hotel."

Koga smiled. "That's right, Dad, why don't you choose a decent hotel to live in." "Don't be silly, I'm not here to play." "That's the problem." Koga poured beer into Sasagaki's glass, "If you're here for fun, I won't say anything. Until this spring, you've been doing your best, now you can You absolutely have the right to visit the mountains and rivers. However, when I think of the purpose of my father's coming to Tokyo, I really have no right to stand aside, and my aunt is also very worried." "Hmph, it really was Kezi who asked you to come, and there's really nothing you can do about her. What does she think of the investigation chief in Osaka?"

"My aunt didn't ask me to come. I heard my aunt mentioned it, and I was very worried about my father, so I came here." "It's all the same! Didn't it all come from Kezi to complain to you, or did they tell Zhijiang?" "Well, in fact, everyone is worried." "Humph!" Koga is now considered a relative of Sasagaki because he is married to Orie, the niece of Sasagaki's wife Katsuko.They did not marry through a blind date, but through love.But Sasagaki didn't know how the two of them met, it was probably Katsuko's red line, but they kept him in the dark, so that now, nearly twenty years later, he still has a grudge.

Both bottles of beer were empty, Koga ordered sake, and Sasagaki placed chopsticks on the stewed vegetables.Although it is Kanto taste, it is still delicious.Koga poured sake into Sasagaki's cup, and said, "Are you still unable to let go of that case?" "That's an old wound of mine." "However, it's not just that one that was thrown into limbo, and I don't know if it's true or not. The murderer may be the one who died in a car accident. The task force should also be partial to this opinion." "Terasaki is not the murderer." Sasagaki drank the wine in his glass in one gulp.Nineteen years had passed since the murder, and the names of the people involved were still etched in his mind.The pawn shop murder case nineteen years ago!

"Terazaki couldn't find Kirihara's one million yuan no matter how hard he searched. Although some people thought he hid it, I didn't think so. At that time, Terasaki was overwhelmed by debts. If he had one million yuan, it should be He would use it to pay back the money, but he didn't. The only possible reason is that he didn't have the money at all, that is, he didn't kill Kirihara." "I basically agree with this opinion. I thought so at the time, so after Terasaki's death, I followed you around to investigate. But Dad, it's been almost twenty years."

"The statute of limitations has expired, I know that. If you know it, you know it, but this case is the only one. If I don't find out the truth, I will die with peace." Koga was about to pour wine into Sasagaki's empty wine glass, but Sasagaki grabbed the wine bottle, filled Koga's wine glass first, and then poured wine for himself. "Yeah, this case is not the only one that has been thrown into the cold palace. There are many other bigger and more cruel cases. In the end, even the murderer's side can't be touched. Every case is frustrating and embarrassing to us People. But there is a reason why I am particularly attached to this case. I feel that because the case is not solved, several innocent people have suffered misfortune." "How to say?" "There is a bud that should have been picked at that time, because the bud grew strong day by day without picking it, and it even bloomed when it grew up, the flower of evil." Sasagaki opened his mouth and let the wine flow into his throat. Koga undid his tie and the first button of his shirt. "You mean Tang Ze Xuesui?" Sasagaki reached into the inner pocket of his coat, pulled out a folded piece of paper, and placed it in front of Koga. "what is this?" "look." Koga opened the paper, his thick eyebrows furrowed tightly. "'R&Y' Osaka store opens...it's..." "Yuki Karasawa's store. It's amazing. It's finally going to Osaka, in Shinsaibashi. Look, it says it will open the day before Christmas this year." "Is this the flower of evil?" Koga folded the flyer neatly and placed it in front of Sasagaki. "It can be regarded as the fruit that has been borne." "Since when? When did Dad start to suspect Tang Zeyusui? No, he was still called Nishimoto Yusui at that time." "When she was Yukiho Nishimoto. The year after Yosuke Kirihara was killed, Bunyo Nishimoto also died. After that case, my opinion of that girl has changed." "That case seemed to be closed as an accident. However, Dad insisted in the end that it was not a simple accidental death." "Absolutely not. According to the report, the victim drank more alcohol than usual, and took five times the usual amount of cold medicine. How could such an accidental death happen? But unfortunately, it is not our group's responsibility, and we cannot casually Express your opinion." "Some people probably thought it was suicide, but later..." Koga folded his hands on his chest, with a reminiscing expression on his face. "It was Yusui who testified that her mother had a cold and would drink sake in a glass when she was chilled, so the possibility of suicide was ruled out." "Most people wouldn't think that their daughter would give false testimony." "However, except for Xuesui, no one said that Wen Dai had a cold, so he could lie." "Why lie? To her, it doesn't make any difference whether it's a suicide or an accident, right? If Wen Dai had taken out life insurance the year before, it might be because she wanted to pay compensation, but there was no such thing. Besides, at that time, Xuesui I'm still a primary school student, so I probably wouldn't have thought of it..." Gu He suddenly looked startled, "You don't mean to say that Wen Dai was killed by Yukiho?" Koga used a joking tone, but Sasagaki didn't laugh, and said, "I didn't say that, but she might have done something." "Hands and feet?" "For example, she may find that her mother has signs of suicide, but pretends not to notice it." "You mean, she wants Wen Dai to die?" "Shortly after Wendai's death, Xuesui was adopted by Reiko Karasawa. Maybe they mentioned it a long time ago. It is likely that Wendai disagreed, but Xuesui wanted to be an adopted daughter very much." "However, you won't refuse to save your biological mother just because of this?" "The girl doesn't take this kind of thing to heart. She has another reason to hide her mother's suicide. Maybe this is the most important thing to her, and that is the image. The mother's death in an accident will arouse sympathy from the world, but if If you commit suicide, you will be viewed with colored eyes by others, and you will suspect that there are some unsophisticated reasons behind it. For the sake of the future, it should be very clear which side to choose." "I understand what daddy means, but...it's still a little hard to accept." Gu He ordered two more bottles of sake. "It's the same with me. I didn't think of these things at the time. It was after years of tracking down Tang Ze Xuesui that I slowly sorted out these ideas. Hey, this is delicious! What was it fried with?" He picked up a small piece with chopsticks and looked at it carefully. "What do you think?" Gu He smiled triumphantly. "I'm asking you because I don't know, what is it? I haven't tasted this taste before." "It's natto." "Natto? The rotten beans?" "That's right." Gu He smiled and brought the wine glass to his mouth, "Even if Dad hates natto, if he does this, he should dare to eat it." "Oh, this is the sticky natto." Sasagaki sniffed it, and then put it in his mouth after examining it carefully again. His mouth was full of burnt aroma, "Mmm, it's delicious." "You can't have preconceived notions about anything." "Exactly." Sasagaki drank the wine, feeling quite warm in his chest, "That's right, it's a preconceived notion. Because of this, we made a big mistake. After I started to feel that Yukiho was not an ordinary child, I re-watched the pawnshop murder case." , found that we missed several important points." "What's the point?" Gu He looked seriously. Sasagaki met his gaze and said, "First of all, shoe prints." "Oh?" "Shoe prints at the morgue. There was a layer of dust on the floor, and there were many shoe prints. But we didn't pay attention at all. Do you remember why?" "Because none of the murderer's was found, right?". Sasagaki nodded. "The shoe prints left at the scene, except for the victim's leather shoes, were all children's sneakers. The place was used as a playground by children, and the person who found the body was a student of Oe Elementary School. It is only natural that there were children's shoe prints. However, The trap is here." "You mean the murderer was wearing kids' sneakers?" "Don't you think we're being too careless about not expecting this at all?" Sasagaki's words made the corners of Koga's lips rise.He filled himself with wine and drank it all in one gulp. "Children can't kill like that, can they?" "To put it another way, it was possible because it was a child. Because the victim was killed in a state of defenselessness." "But……" "We missed a little bit," Sasagaki put down his chopsticks and raised his index finger, "it's an alibi." "What's the loophole?" "We focused on Nishi Bunyo, confirmed her alibi, and first thought about whether there was a male accomplice, so we found Terasaki. But before that, we should pay more attention to another person." "I remember," Gu He rubbed his chin, looked up, "Yuesui went to the library then." Sasagaki looked at him: "You remember really clearly." Gu He smiled wryly: "Does Dad also think that I'm an exam bug who doesn't know practical things and only knows how to take exams?" "No, I didn't mean that. I just thought that none of us police knew about Xuesui's whereabouts that day. That's right, Xuesui went to the library. However, after careful investigation, the library was close to the murder scene building. It's close by. For Yukisui, that building is on the way home from the library." "I understand what daddy means, but no matter what, she is only Xiao Wu, and Xiao Wu is also..." "Eleven years old. People at that age already have considerable wisdom and insight." Sasagaki took out the seven stars, took one out of his mouth, and started looking for matches. Koga quickly stretched out his hand, holding a lighter in his hand. "Really?" he said, lighting the fire.The high-end lighter even makes the sound of ignition appear calm. Sasagaki thanked him first, then leaned closer to the flame to light it, exhaled white smoke, and stared at Koga's hand. "Dunhill?" "No, Cartier." Sasagaki hummed and pulled the ashtray over. "After Terasaki died in a car accident, a Dunhill lighter was found in his car. Do you remember?" "At that time, everyone suspected that it belonged to the murdered pawnshop owner, but they couldn't find out, so they let it go." "I think it's the victim's lighter, but Terasaki is not the murderer. According to my inference, the person who wanted Terasaki to take the blame either secretly put it in his place, or made some excuse for it, him." "Is this also Xuesui's trick?" "This inference is more reasonable, and it's better than Terasaki happened to have the same type of lighter as the victim." Gu He sighed, and then turned into pondering: "Father will doubt Xuesui, and I admire her for being so open-minded. Indeed, we didn't investigate her in detail at that time because she was young, so maybe we were too careless .But Dad, this is just a possibility, isn't it? Do you have any key evidence that Yusuke is the murderer?" "Key evidence..." Sasagaki took a deep breath of the cigarette and let it out slowly. For a moment, the smoke condensed on Koga's head, and then spread out. "No, I can only say no." "In this case, why don't you think about it from the beginning. Besides, father, unfortunately, the statute of limitations for that case has expired. Even if father really finds the real culprit, we can't do anything to him." "I know." "That……" "Listen to me," Sasagaki put out his cigarette in the ashtray, then looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping, "You misunderstood the most important thing, I'm not chasing down the pawnbroker Murder case. By the way, I’m not just chasing Tang Ze Xuesui.” "Are you investigating other cases?" Gu He's eyes shot a sharp light, and his face also showed the expression that the chief of the first search department should have. "What I'm looking for," Sasagaki said with a smug smile, "is the gun prawns and gobies."