Chapter 14 Greetings from Mitarai: Digital Lock Chapter 1

【Greetings from Mitarai: Digital Lock】 Whenever I think of my long friendship with Mitarai, his eccentric personality always comes to mind. Whenever he comes into contact with unsolvable cases and things, his mind will show incredible analytical ability and meticulous and comprehensive inductive ability, which is undoubtedly worthy of respect.However, as far as these abilities are concerned, besides him, there are also many highly capable characters.The reason why I can endure his rude behavior many times and continue to communicate patiently is because his strange character attracts my curiosity for some reason.

I think that my readers are like me—my friend is somewhat of a rare case, and your interest is therefore aroused—and for this reason, I continue to relate his memories here at this moment. That was at the end of 1979, shortly after the "Astrology Killing Case" was resolved.Entering December, approaching Christmas, the streets gradually have the atmosphere of the end of the year. At that time, we had just decided to publish my first book "The Astrological Murder Case", the first edition royalties had just been paid, and we were preparing to move from Tsunashima to Yokohama Bashamichi, so we, like the world, were always restless.At that time, the previous police officer Fumihiko Takekoshi came to visit unexpectedly.

Thinking about it now, that incident, like others, fully demonstrated Mitarai's analytical ability, which made me, the person who acted together, deeply admire it.It was not a particularly striking example, compared with the many unsolvable mysteries I have hitherto known, but it was the one incident which stuck with me more than any other.It was beyond my expectation that Mitarai, the man whose eccentric and challenging personality would be presented in that way.Then if he confesses honestly, even I will be deeply moved. Recently, I have received many letters from readers who have never met, and they all want to hear about Mitarai Kei, and they want me to tell more about his story-this is really unexpected-this has so many shortcomings in my opinion It's unimaginable that a man like this is so welcomed by the world.

I'm so sorry that I've been neglecting the "introduce my friends" thing because I've been busy with other things.Here, as the first time that "introduce friends" has not appeared for a long time, I selected the event of "digital lock" from my memory.If readers, like me, are also attracted by Mitarai's character and are also interested in doing reasoning, this case should be the most suitable one. Officer Takegoshi hadn't been to Mitarai's astrology class for a long time.He bowed his head respectfully with an expression of being extremely sorry for his rudeness, and sat down on the rough guest sofa in the classroom.He seemed to be overwhelmed with fear, looking at the messy pile of things ready to be moved in the room, he was speechless for a long time.

"I'm about to move." Mitarai interrupted half-finished work, closed the drawer, and said while walking around to the chair in front of Officer Takegoshi. "Oh, where are you going to move?" asked the officer. "The carriageway in Yokohama. It's a rare good opportunity. We quickly packed up our things and prepared to move. It's a mess. I'm sorry." Mitarai sat down, "What can I do for you?" "Actually, there is a difficult case..." Police Officer Takegoshi paused for a while and continued, "We shouldn't ask for help like this. But...that happened this spring, right? Thanks to the teacher's help for that matter , We have also greatly seen your ability, teacher. Right now, we have to discuss something with you..."

After the police officer finished speaking, he glanced at Mitarai's face - he also referred to Mitarai as "teacher".My friend put on a cold face and touched his chin with his hand, as if hesitating whether to continue listening.Then he said: "You say 'there is a case'—is it a difficult case?" Having said that, Police Officer Takeyue became even more panicked: "Ah... well, it can't be considered simple, I'm really sorry that you are so busy to bother me, but please..." "That's good!" Mitarai's expression brightened, "Then I'll just listen. Ishioka-kun, I want coffee."

"Ah..." the police officer only said.I had to stand up. However, the officer waited patiently while Mitaraishi asked me to make coffee, and did not begin to tell the case.When I put the coffee cup in front of the police officer, he couldn't wait to say: "It's really a very difficult case. But it's not like the previous case. Everyone in the department was helpless and at a loss." Having said that, Mitarai is obviously a little discouraged.Then please hurry up and be helpless! ——This sentence almost came out of the throat of this self-aware guy. "Actually, we already have clues about the culprit, but we haven't been able to identify a specific person. But the first thing here is that there are physically unrealizable difficulties in committing criminal acts."

"Oh?" Mitarai leaned on the back of the chair in a very listless manner.Not only was the police not helpless, but they even had clues about the prisoner. Hearing this, he lost motivation. "Near Yotsuya Station, to be precise, there is a small shop called 'Suita Denshi' at Yotsuya 16×, Shinjuku-ku. It is a very small company with only six employees including the president. It was this president—Hisuro Suita, fifty-one—who was killed. "The incident happened five days ago, on December 12, between eight and nine in the morning. The murder weapon was a large mountaineering knife used to cut resin and vinyl chloride plastic in the company. This company specializes in making signboards ——It is the work of making and delivering signboards after receiving orders. Some signboards are made of metal materials such as tinplate, and many are made of materials such as resin and vinyl chloride plastic. Generally, electricity is used to cut such things saw, but knives are often used in details. There are several such knives in the workshop of the knife company—after investigation, there are eight in total. It was one of these eight knives that pierced President Suita's heart. He died on his back."

Detective Takekoshi opened a green paper-covered manual—not the black leather-covered manuals of ordinary police officers, and told us as he read it. "It was stabbed in the front? Is there no trace of a struggle?" "No—because it seems that President Suita is taking a nap on the sofa in the corner of the workshop, and the prisoner despicably attacked the victim while he was sleeping, stabbing the victim from the front." "I see." "Eight to nine o'clock is still very early. Rather than saying that the president went to work early, it is more credible to say that the victim worked all night-and then fell asleep at some point."

"Ok." "Originally, the company of Suita Denko was run by the ability of President Suita alone. President Suita's methods are extraordinary, and other young employees want to help the president. It seems that there is only one person who can draw signs instead of the president. The employee named Yukio Kitagawa——this is the situation in the company. "So when painting the signboard, only the president alone is enough. On the day when the case happened, he had just received an urgent job the day before, and he had to rush to work before the 12th. Therefore, from the night of the 11th to the 12th, President Suita I was painting signs all night by myself. If the employees of the company are required to work overtime, the labor cost is very high. Besides, most people can’t draw, so working overtime is useless. So it’s better to draw the signs by myself overnight, and send them to the staff when they go to work. —Anyway, young employees can do things like pick up and deliver kanban. However, the employees who went to work found the body of the president——Hisuro Suita, who was taking a rest on the sofa in the corner of the workshop after working all night, had already died."

"Who is the discoverer?" "It's the four employees who drive a truck to work. Except for the president and Yukio Kitagawa just mentioned, the four young employees of this company all live in Ogiki's single apartment, and they drive a truck to work together. The house of the president's house is just away from the company. A ten-minute walk away. Kitagawa Yukio also rented an apartment within a fifteen-minute walk from the company. Both of them have wives. The other four employees are young and single, so they can live in a single apartment Yes. President Suita Hisaro's brother and his wife have an apartment in Ogiki, and four of the rooms are used as the staff dormitory of the Suita company." "There is a large open space in front of this apartment, where the company's trucks are parked - of course my younger brother has to pay the parking fee for the older brother. On the other hand, the parking lot at the Yotsuya company is very tight and it is difficult to find a parking space. But the company Although I only rented the facade of a small commercial building, the entire first floor is owned by Suita Company. As long as there is not too much work, it is not a problem to find a corner to park a small truck. Therefore, President Suita asked the company The four employees of the company drove trucks to work every day. In this way, sometimes the truck was parked on the top of the workshop, and when it couldn’t fit, it was parked on the side of the road. The four people who drove the truck to work found the president’s body at 9:45 in the morning The forensic personnel rushed to the scene quickly, and the death incident can be determined in a relatively short time period between 8:00 and 9:00."