Chapter 7 6. Mr. S's body

"How nice that the windows on the second floor were open and undetected!" Mei Xiang's tone was obviously worried about me, but she deliberately pretended to be nonchalant. "Well. Now that mom is back, let's leave it on like this." "Teacher, if they come, how can we let them go upstairs?" "I'd better wait downstairs if I want them to come to our room as soon as they enter the hall. But I don't know when they'll come—let's stay here." However, it seems that there is no need to wait.In less than ten minutes, the doorbell rang from the entrance.Then, Iwamura-sensei's voice, mother's voice, and a strange man's voice floated into my ears.It seemed that Mom didn't say much, and soon those people came upstairs.

Someone knocked on the door, and through the crack of the door, Iwamura-sensei could be seen. "Dolf, excuse me." Iwamura-sensei's expression is different from what I imagined.Of course I think Iwamura-sensei should have a heavy and sad expression.But what I saw at that moment was an expression that was close to confusion and anger—anyway, it was an expression that was difficult to describe and elusive. "Mr. Police, come in too." Iwamura-sensei glanced back.The two men in suits and leather shoes who seemed to be hiding behind the teacher's huge body also walked into my room.One of them seemed to be about my father's age, thin, hunched, looking up at me with eyes rolled up, a tanned forehead streaked with streaks.The other looked like a college student, or younger.But looking closer, this person seems to have more wrinkles on his face. It is estimated that the two should be about the same age.

Three people sat cross-legged on the blanket, facing me.Iwamura-sensei was sitting in front of me, and the two police officers sat a little behind the teacher. "—Is it all right if I'm here?" Meixiang said to me softly.The voice was slightly tense.I don't know if it's appropriate, but I nodded, "It may end soon." Iwamura-sensei looked at the two of us with embarrassment. The policeman began to introduce himself.The one who doesn't look too young is called Tanio, and the one who looks younger seems to be called Takeli.Like his age, the name was ambiguous.

"What should I do? How about I come first—" Mr. Iwamura turned around and questioned the two policemen.Sergeant Tani-o nodded slightly, and replied, "Yeah, yeah, that's more appropriate. We'll do it after the two of us—right?" "Okay, let's ask Iwamura-sensei to give an explanation first." They exchanged glances, and Iwamura-sensei turned to me and said, "I'm a husband—" Iwamura-sensei approached me while stroking his beard. "First of all, I have to ask you a question. It's about S. You were at S's house, um, that— saw S hanged, didn't you?"

I nodded.Teacher Iwamura asked again. "On the inside of the corridor, S is hanging there with a rope around his neck, isn't he?" "Yes. The rope hanging from the lattice window is wrapped around Mr. S's neck. Behind him, there is a reclining chair upside down..." These things have all been taught in school.Maybe it's because of the police, so let me say it again. "I'll go straight to the point. - Straight to the point, you know what that means?" Mr. Iwamura didn't get into the topic for a long time, coughing a few times, fidgeting and shaking his thighs, as if he didn't want to continue the topic just now and deliberately delayed the time.Finally, Mr. Iwamura spoke—but he said something that I didn't understand at all.

"There is nothing." I tilted my head and looked at Iwamura-sensei in bewilderment. "No……" "Yes. The teacher and the policeman rushed to S's house together—but there was no S's body there at all, nowhere." The two policemen behind Mr. Iwamura seemed to want to confirm my reaction, and they stretched their necks in unison. "There is no... Mr. S's body..." "It's not just a corpse. There are no ropes, no upside-down chairs. The teacher didn't see anything hanging from the lattice window. And the chairs are also well placed in the kitchen. The one in the Japanese room—"

Teacher Iwamura paused for a moment, then turned to the two policemen.Officer Tanio said "excrement" and turned to me. "I found excrement. To be precise, there are traces of wiping. It's right under the lattice window, between the tatami mat and the threshold." "Where's the big wardrobe? Half the door is open, and the whole big wardrobe has been moved forward, because Mr. S's weight—" Officer Tanio shook his head. "We also checked it ourselves. There is nothing unusual about the big wardrobe." The phone downstairs rang.The sound of footsteps going up the stairs approached, and I heard my mother say: "Mr. Police, your phone number." Officer Guwei winked, and Officer Zhuli immediately walked out of the room. "Anyway, one thing I want to confirm is—" Mr. Iwamura said again, "Did you really see S hanged?"

What the hell is Iwamura-sensei talking about! "Right now, the police are searching S's house. There are traces of excrement on the floor, are there any traces on the lattice windows—in a word, they just want to see if S was really hanged there. However, if it is you If you get it wrong, then the police don’t need to do these searches.” I froze, staring at Iwamura-sensei's face without moving.Did he want to hear me say that I was wrong?But, how could it be wrong!I can still clearly remember the sound of the rope shaking.Mr. S's swaying body is also deeply imprinted in my mind.

"Mr. S is really hanged! The rope hangs from the lattice window and is put around his neck——I can also see the tick-tock dripping from Mr. S's body!" "That's right..." Iwamura-sensei tilted his mouth and scratched behind his ear with his index finger. Officer Takenashi came back, sat where he was just now, and whispered a few words to Officer Tanio behind Mr. Iwamura's back.Officer Tanio let out an "oh", looked up at the ceiling for a while, and then slowly turned his gaze to Mr. Iwamura. "Did you find something?" Facing Mr. Iwamura's question, Officer Tanio hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"I got in touch with Mr. S's mother who works in the flower market. She seems to have returned home." "Only this?" "Yeah. Well, and..." Officer Tanio was silent for a while, and said vaguely: "It seems that there is something. On the lattice window, there seems to be traces of something as thick as a rope being pulled down. In addition, there are some traces on the tatami in front of the wardrobe. Traces, as if the wardrobe had been moved forward." After hearing this, Mr. Iwamura had a surprised expression on his face.This pissed me off. Then Officer Zhuli spoke.

"The specific laboratory analysis has not yet started for the traces of the excrement, but it can be determined that there are some watermelon seeds mixed in there." "Watermelon seeds..." Mr. Iwamura repeated to himself.Officer Guwei immediately gave a further explanation. "I have confirmed with Mr. S's mother that Mr. S did eat a piece of watermelon last night." Iwamura-sensei let out a sound of "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" who was sitting cross-legged, staring straight at the floor as if trying to stand up.And I can't take it anymore.Of course there would be traces of the rope on the lattice!The excrement on the floor is of course Mr. S's!Didn't I already say that from the beginning? "—Brother never lies." Mei Xiang said softly.I nodded exaggeratedly on purpose. "Of course! My good friends are all hanged... How can I tell such a lie!" Iwamura-sensei raised his face hastily, stretched out his hands towards me, and shook his head tightly. "No, Doufu, that's not what I mean. It's not that I suspect you—it's just that...it's so sudden, so it's a bit confusing—or I don't want to believe..." Mr. Iwamura said vaguely, and then sat down again go down. Next, Officer Tanio asked me some more questions.When I went to Mr. S's house, what did I see, and so on.I answered them all.From the moment Mr. Tomizawa told me that the police might come to my house, I began to anticipate what questions I would be asked, and it was exactly as I expected.There are only two of these issues that I didn't anticipate.One is whether Mr. S I saw is really dead.The other is whether there were other people in and around Mr. S's home at that time. "I think Mr. S is dead. It looks like the whole body is limp, and the neck is stretched out so long..." After hearing my answer, Officer Yano pursed his lips, Officer Takenashi shrugged, and Sensei Iwamura sighed. "I don't know if anyone else was there. But I didn't see it." "Then you didn't hear anything?" "I didn't hear it. Because the cicadas were too loud at the time, I can't be sure." Officer Tanwei repeated the phrase "sound of cicadas" and scratched his nose. "—I'll stop here." Police officer Zhuli, who had been taking notes with a ballpoint pen before, flipped through his notebook back and forth, confirming and saying.Officer Guwei raised his eyebrows and nodded.After the two got up, Iwamura-sensei also stood up slowly. "Thank you for providing us with many useful clues." Officer Tanio's crow's feet appeared to have deepened. "If you think of anything in the future, if you notice something, please feel free to contact us." As he spoke, he took out a business card from the inside pocket of his suit and handed it to me.Next to the name on the business card was printed "First Investigation Division, Criminal Division."I put the business card in my wallet. "Teacher, what are you going to do next—" Police Officer Yanwei turned to Mr. Iwamura. "I have to go back to school to discuss countermeasures or something." "Then let's go for a walk together. Let's go back to the scene of the crime. We need to gather people to search the surrounding area as soon as possible. It is estimated that some police have already started searching. It seems that the driveway from this area has also started to search .” "Interrogation? Ah, yes, S's..." Mr. Iwamura glanced at me, and swallowed the words again.