Chapter 52 Section VIII

When I woke up, I saw the soft sunlight shining in through the gaps in the curtains.The alarm clock next to the pillow was pointing to eight o'clock, and Yabe was lying on the bed smoking a cigarette. From the next room came the conversation of his wife Fumiko and his daughter Yukari, and learned that today is an outdoor class and they are going to a nearby botanical garden. Yugali's voice was a bit awkward, but when he listened carefully, he heard Yugalli complaining that the lunch bag was too big. Yabe remembered that the bag was given to him by his cousin, and the style was a little old. Until last year, when Yugali went hiking, he always carried that bag. However, when she entered the third grade this year, she began to think that the bag was too old. Old, and the colors are not bright and beautiful.

"Be patient again today." Wenzi said. "The big bag can not only hold bento, but also can hold a lot of snacks, isn't it great? You said before that both big and small..." After hearing this, Yabe thought to himself: Does a child who is only in the third grade of elementary school really understand the old proverb that greatness can also be small? Soon, I heard Yugali say: "I'm leaving." It seems that his wife persuaded Yugari to carry the old-fashioned bag, and Yabe admired his wife's handling skills.If it were him, he would definitely go to the street to buy a new bag for his daughter immediately.

(However, it is a very learned saying to be both capable and small!) Yabe couldn't help laughing, because he thought of the landscape painting Iseki Kazuhiko brought back to Sendai from "big". Fuutarou Egami said that the painting was Tajima Kohei's failure, and he was deeply puzzled by Iseki's reason for choosing that painting. Even Yabe, who was a layman to the painting, thought that the painting was just big and nothing else. Merit. Why did Kazuhiko Iseki choose that painting?Iseki said that it was going to be hung on the hotel wall, so a large painting was needed, and in fact, Yabe also saw that painting being hung on the hotel wall.

Iseki didn't lie, but Yabe didn't think the painting was suitable for hanging in the "Kanrizhuang" hotel. If it is a Western-style hotel, it is okay to hang large paintings, but Japanese-style hotels will make people feel uncomfortable if the paintings are too large. Well, Iseki, who is a hotel manager and has learned to paint, should be able to see it, but why did he choose that landscape painting? He must have a reason for choosing that painting, right?It's not because he thinks that he can be both powerful and small, right?Because paintings cannot be packed in bento boxes or snack bags.

(No, wait.) Yabe threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray and got up from the bed. Isn't the painting a substitute for a travel bag?Yabe remembered that a painting was lost in that incident. It was the "Portrait of Muzi" mentioned in Mariko Tajima's diary. Yabe thinks that Tajima Kohei burned the painting before he died, but is this idea really correct? Since all finished paintings are framed, when one hears about a finished painting, one has a preconceived notion that the painting is also framed. Therefore, when searching, unframed canvases are ignored.In fact, once the frame is removed from the large-scale works of No. 80, it is nothing more than a painted canvas.

Kazuhiko Iseki must have had some reason not to want others to see the "Portrait of the Mule". Therefore, after killing the Tajima couple, he tried to hide the painting. The first way he thought of was to throw it into the stove and burn it . However, the stove in Tajima's house is the latest oil stove, so it is not easy to burn things. Besides, if it burns, it will definitely leave a smell of burning paint, which will surprise the police who arrive fifteen minutes later. Yabe thought it was impossible to do anything in fifteen minutes, because the time was too short to dig a hole in the courtyard to bury the painting. Even if he did dig a hole to bury it in time, the police would suspect him and hid it under the blanket. There is a danger of being discovered.

So, could Iseki have hidden that painting in another painting?Since "Portrait of a Mule" is a large-scale work of No. 80, it must be a large-scale work that can hide this painting, so he chose the landscape painting of No. 100, right?I hide the portrait under the landscape painting. If I don’t take it apart, I can’t tell that there are two paintings just by looking at the outside. Not sure, but Yabe didn't check carefully at that time, because he was sure it was not a homicide at that time. There is another reason for Iseki to hide the "Portrait of the Muse" under the landscape painting, and that is the method of taking the "Portrait of the Muse" out of Tajima's house.He must have expected that the police would release him by forcing him to die for love. After he was released, if the family members of the deceased were asked to send him the landscape painting as a souvenir, it would not be difficult to bring the "Portrait of the Mule" with them. Out of Tajima's house.

Iseki probably expected that the family members of the deceased would not refuse his request. In fact, the family members of the deceased distributed the bequests of the deceased to those who attended the funeral, which made it easier for Iseki to take the portrait out. For Iseki Kazuhiko, the landscape painting depicting Hakone is not a painting, but another painting brought out of Tajima's travel bag. When Yabe thought of this, he felt that there was another thick wall in front of him. If it was true as he had speculated, why did Iseki have to take the "Portrait of the Mistress" out of Tajima's house?Why not want people to see that portrait?Yabu didn't know that if the "portrait of a mule" whose face was painted with red paint was discovered, it would increase the possibility of being forced to die for love, which should be very beneficial to Iseki, but why did he hide that portrait in the landscape? What about the Tajima family under the painting?

After Yabe muttered to himself, he got out of bed and wanted to wash his face. At that moment, he suddenly had an idea. (The reason why he took the portrait out of Tajima's house was because it would be bad for him if it was discovered. If the portrait with red paint on the face was found, it should be very good for him, and the so-called bad...) Hadn't the "Portrait of the Mule" been smudged with red paint?