Chapter 27 fourth quarter

The next morning, Keiko Sugihara boarded the express train "Ping An No. 1" departing from Hakata, Kyushu at 7:40 by herself.After getting in the car, she found a seat by the window and sat down. This is an express train bound for Nagasaki and Sasebo. Of course, there should be a lot of passengers.Sure enough, when the departure time approached, there were still people getting on and off, and the entire carriage was almost full of people. This year's Meiyu period is a typical "masculine type". It was still foggy and rainy yesterday, but this morning it has changed. There is no cloud in the sky. It seems that today will be scorched by the sun.

Shortly after leaving Fukuoka, the train entered the barn region of Saga Prefecture.The farmland that has just been trimmed looks green from a distance, reflecting a pleasing color under the sun.I am used to seeing high-rise buildings in the city, and suddenly the suburbs seem very deserted. At the Hizen Pass, the railway line began to diverge, with one branch extending towards Sasebo, while the Sanin Main Line towards Nagasaki went south towards the famous kelp planting area - the coast of the Ariake Sea. The train arrived in Nagasaki at 10:48.As soon as you get out of the air-conditioned car, you feel as uncomfortable as getting into a steamer.Nagasaki is a city with basin terrain, so the summer here is extremely hot and unbearable.

Keiko Sugihara stopped a taxi in front of the station and told him to go to the "Inasa Police Station". After the car passed the Urakami River, it went up the halfway up Mount Inasa.The shade of the trees on both sides of the road is scattered on the undulating asphalt road.You can occasionally see ancient brick and tile houses on both sides of the road.Compared with Fukuoka, Kyushu, which lacks local characteristics, the Nagasaki area makes people feel as if they have entered a city with a unique atmosphere. The police station is a three-story concrete building.Sugihara Keiko handed over his business card in the reception room and asked to meet with the crime prevention department.

A young uniformed officer took the card and headed toward an office inside.Not long after, the police officer came out again and walked in with Sugihara Keiko. A man in his forties with a slender face immediately stood up from the table, walked to a row of sofas, and sat down Sugihara Keiko.After Xizi finished exchanging greetings, he told her that he was the Chief of the Crime Prevention Section of Hasegawa Police Department. "Then please take care of me." Sugihara Keiko was polite again. "You have worked so hard to come so far!..." Hasegawa Police Department said with a smile of consolation.Although his face made people feel gloomy and irrelevant, but when he smiled, a gentle smile appeared in the corner of his eyes.

So, Hasegawa Police Department took out a document from the folder on the desk and asked her, "Is there any news about his family?" "Yes, we learned that on the evening of June 26, someone saw him enter the International Cemetery." "Ah, we already know about this matter." Police Department Hasegawa raised his eyes from the folder. "Actually, after receiving Minister Takimoto's request, for the sake of caution, we sent people around the International Cemetery to conduct some investigations. As a result, we found another witness." "Is...so sure?" Keiko Sugihara asked nervously.

"Well, because this witness didn't observe Mr. Asen on purpose, so I can't be sure, but the possibility is still very high." Hasegawa Police Department sighed and said, "Also, the person from Nagasaki Educational TV Station The witness saw Mr. Asen enter the cemetery, and this witness saw him come out of the cemetery." According to the Hasegawa Police Department, the witness was an old lady who sold goldfish on the roadside at the exit of the International Cemetery every evening. At around seven o'clock in the evening on June 26, when she was about to close the store and go home, she saw a man walking down the stone steps in the cemetery.It was already dark at that time, and as soon as the man walked out of the International Cemetery, he walked quickly in the opposite direction to the old lady.Therefore, the old lady did not see clearly the man's face.However, she saw the man clearly, wearing light brown suit pants, a white half-sleeved shirt, and holding a suit jacket in his hand.Moreover, he was a tall, somewhat thin man, but his age could not be determined.

"Therefore, although it is not possible to conclude that this man is Mr. Asen based on these alone, there is still a possibility." Hasegawa Police Department nodded, "Because it was late at that time, and the place was sparsely populated, and the general There will be no second person. Because it used to be a cemetery where foreigners are buried, and they can come and go as they please. Therefore, some couples who like exotic customs often like to go there for a walk in the evening. Recently, the gate of the iron fence The lock is installed, and the key is placed in the Wuzhen Temple that manages the cemetery. Therefore, ordinary people are not allowed to enter the cemetery at will. Except for a small number of overseas Chinese who came to visit the tomb, almost no one has visited the other tombs, that is, it has been here for half a year. Within a year, it was repaired by a social charity, and that's it..."

"Ah!..." Sugihara Keko nodded blankly in agreement. "Occasionally there will be there during the day, and children will sneak in to play, but they will not come at night. Couples want to come, and they don't want to go in through the fence gate, but through the fence. It is more interesting to say. On both sides of this foreigner's cemetery, there are Japanese cemeteries. However, because it is a dense group of tombs built on a slope, people who take a walk never go there." Hasegawa The police department lowered its head and sighed, "Ah, besides, when that incident happened, it was already late, and it was no longer time for a walk."

"So it's like this!..." Keiko Sugihara nodded silently. "We also got a detailed understanding from the old lady who sold the goldfish. Although we are not sure yet, from the point of view of the characteristics, there is nothing particularly contradictory." Hasegawa Police Department said. "You said just now that you saw him after seven o'clock in the dark?" "Yes. The time is certain. Because it was a little later than usual, she looked at her watch when she closed the door." Mr. Komai of Nagasaki Educational TV Station said that he saw Asen walking up the stone steps at 6:20; while the old lady selling goldfish said that he saw the man coming down from the cemetery at 7:00 p.m. It's past one o'clock.If it is assumed that this person is Asen, then he must have done something with someone in this dim foreign cemetery for 40 minutes.

"Could it be meeting someone?" Sugihara Keiko pondered. "This..." No one could answer her doubts. "Is this the only entrance to the cemetery?" Keiko Sugihara raised his head and asked. "Yes. The stone steps mentioned just now run through the center of the entire cemetery, all the way to the top of the mountain, and connect with the road on the top of Mount Inasa." Hasegawa Police Department stood up and pointed to the large map hanging on the wall, and asked Sugihara Keko introduced, "Besides this, there is a narrow path that connects to Wuzhen Temple. Anyway, the area of ​​the cemetery is too large, so maybe there are other paths!..."

Then, Arsen must have met someone.The other party may have entered and exited the cemetery through other paths.Who could this "opponent" be...? "If you want to visit the cemetery, the department can take you there..." Police Hasegawa said with a smile. "If that's the case, thank you so much!..." Keiko Sugihara quickly saluted. So, the young police officer who brought Sugihara Keiko just now stood up in response.He is tall, with a pair of black-rimmed glasses on his inverted triangle face.Perhaps compared with the face, the proportion of the glasses is too large, which makes people feel somewhat funny.After he heard the arrangement of the Hasegawa Police Department, he told Xizi that his name was Shanuchi. When they walked out of the gate of the police station, the Yamauchi criminal policeman looked at Sugihara Keiko's feet intentionally or unintentionally, and said to her, "Because there are so many stone steps in the cemetery, such shoes don't matter, right?" Sugihara Keiko wore a pair of high heels today, but because she was used to walking, she told Yamauchi that it didn't matter.Yamauchi nodded reassuringly. "It's hot in Nagasaki, isn't it?" Yamauchi Detective said while walking with Sugihara Keiko on the road with strong sunlight reflection. Keiko Sugihara remembered that he had read in a book that the native Nagasaki people had good character and loved Nagasaki.In history, in the era of trade with the Netherlands, the whole town was like a collective trading group, working together to do business with foreign countries, and there has never been any "killing" of each other.In addition to turning over part of the income to the shogunate as tax, the rest is deposited in the town bank, also known as "zaoyin", which is a "bank" completely owned by the residents of the town and used by the residents of the town.Even in the era of Ansei's founding of the country, when Nagasaki was a trading port and the economy was extremely developed, there were no residents in the town, and the phenomenon of polarization between the rich and the poor did not appear.Perhaps, this is the influence of Nagasaki's simple and unsophisticated folk customs. Starting from the police station, it took less than five minutes to walk to Wuzhen Temple.It is a stylish building with white walls.Leading to the temple is a slender small dirt road.The trees in this area are very lush, and the cool breeze is blowing, which makes people refreshed. "Is this the International Cemetery?" Before the Yamauchi criminal police told Sugihara Keiko, she had already seen the direction opposite to the temple, which was a sloping hillside.Due to the walls of the temple, only the hillside close to the top of the mountain can be seen.However, when she heard that there were more than three hundred pieces of tombstones alone, she immediately imagined how big the place would be. They walked forward again and came to the wall of the cemetery.The cemetery is surrounded by high walls and glazed tiles, and the tops of the high walls are equipped with pointed iron fences. Compared with this strict protection, the interior of the International Cemetery is too desolate.From the long-term disrepair, the crosses that have been deformed by the wind and rain, and the tilted tombstones, it can be seen that very few people come here to pay their respects.Tombs of different shapes are scattered throughout the cemetery, among which there are towering trees everywhere, and the ground is also covered with weeds. The Yamauchi detective walked in front, but he looked back at Sugihara Keiko from time to time, and they walked along the high wall. After a while, the two came to the entrance with stone steps.This is a path of stone steps with a width of just over one meter. It divides the rectangular cemetery into two and runs through the center.Because it is somewhat curved, you can't see the top of the mountain from the entrance, but you can see a stone step leading to the top; on the top of it is the top of Mount Inasa. "A person like Asen walked down this stone step." The criminal policeman in the mountain stood still and pointed to this stone step. "The goldfish shop is at the corner over there..." Yamauchi detective pointed to the corner on the left and said to Sugihara Keiko. "According to what the old lady said, the man came down the stone steps and walked in that direction." This time, the Yamauchi detective pointed with his right hand again.On the outside of this cemetery, there is a Japanese cemetery area with small tombstones but densely packed. Below it, it looks like a residential street. Keiko Sugihara continued to follow the Yamauchi criminal police and walked up the stone steps.It is almost noon, and it seems that the temperature has risen a little.You can also hear the chirping of cicadas that you can't hear in the metropolis. There was no one in front of the stone steps, but some children's shouts could be heard from nowhere. The high walls on both sides were broken at the iron gate.Sure enough, there was a big rusty iron lock on the door. "The most of them are Chinese tombs." Shanuchi criminal police introduced. This foreigner's cemetery is divided into six parts according to the mountain situation. The Dutch and American cemeteries are on both sides of the entrance, and the four upward blocks are almost all ancient Chinese cemeteries. graves of other people; some Russian and Portuguese tombstones are also mixed in.When they looked through the iron gate, the tombstones of the Westerners were of various shapes and shapes, while the tombstones of the Chinese were almost the same as those of the Japanese. The heads of the tombstones were semicircular, crowned, or parallelogram. Most of these cemeteries have not been visited for many years, but many of them were built in the 18th century.Coupled with the surrounding vegetation, it makes people feel desolate and lonely, as if they have entered another world. Detective Yamauchi and Sugihara Keiko silently climbed the stone steps.Going up again, you can see the Japanese cemetery on the left and right sides.Those cemeteries can be entered and exited freely, and there is also a very well-built tallow oil road, passing there, directly to the top of Mount Inasa. The Yamauchi detective walked into the Japanese cemetery on the left, found a low stone, and sat down.He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his brow. It seemed that his heart was also beating violently. Keiko Sugihara was standing not far from the criminal police in Yamauchi, where he could see the panoramic view of the International Cemetery.Because the slope there is quite large, each tomb has a different drop.Where there is no tomb seat, it is covered with wild grass. Here, you can also see the faintly visible Wuzhen Temple among the green trees, and a little further away is the sparkling sea. "Even if we're here, maybe we won't find any new clues..." Yamauchi detective poured cold water on Sugihara Keiko while looking around at the scenery he was already familiar with. "Hmm!..." Sugihara Keiko agreed casually.When it came, she realized that she couldn't hold out too much hope.The only impression she got was that the International Cemetery was very quiet.At noon, there was no one to be seen, so after sunset, it must be even more rare for people to come and go.Such a high glazed tile wall blocks all the way up the mountain, so of course this is a good place for a secret date. So, who did Asen meet in this cemetery?Is the other party someone related to Hamaguchi Mitsuhiko? ...So, where did Asen go after that?What reason made him disappear? At this time, the criminal police officer in Yamauchi seemed to echo Sugihara Keko's thoughts, and said in a low voice: "It is uncertain to find the missing person. Some people are safe and sound, but they are hiding in something. There are, of course, worse situations. In fact, on the evening of June 28, when you made your search request, a drowned body floated up at a cape called Kanzakina. We were very concerned at the time. Nervous, but later it turned out that it was someone else." "Ah!..." Sugihara Keiko suddenly felt palpitations, "Is that a man?" "Yes, in his forties, that's about the same. However, among the discoverers, there are also people from your TV station, so he recognized it and said it was not Mr. Asen." Sugihara Keiko thought for a while, secretly speculating: "Could it be Yosuke Tachibana and his party?" Because Xizi never heard of it again, Kyushu TV Station and other people came here on a business trip. On the afternoon of June 26, four days after returning from Cape Hado, Yosuke Tachibana went on a business trip to Nagasaki.Since then, Keiko Sugihara has never been able to have a conversation with him again.Maybe he called, if possible.However, in these few days, Sugihara Keiko didn't always stay in the office, so maybe Yosuke didn't know about Asen's disappearance... "So, have you figured out the identity of the deceased?" Sugihara Keiko asked hastily. "No, I haven't figured it out yet. Even his belongings can't prove his identity. No one in the county has reported that his family members are missing. Therefore, we are currently asking neighboring counties if there are any missing persons." "When is the time of death?" Sugihara Keiko asked seriously. "It was about three days before the discovery of the body, that is, on the evening of June 25. The cause of death is very clear, that is, drowning, and there was no trauma to the whole body. Therefore, we preliminarily determined that it was suicide." If it was June 25th, which was the day before A Sen disappeared, then the deceased had nothing to do with A Sen.Thinking of this, for some reason, Keiko Sugihara felt somewhat surprised. "Although the identity has not been ascertained, it cannot always be kept in the temple in hot weather, so it was cremated early this morning..." The Yamauchi detective said in a depressed mood while grabbing the weeds around him. Back at the Inasa Police Station, Keiko Sugihara made a request to the Section Chief of the Hasegawa Police Department to find someone, and left in a hurry.Even if you stay in the police station, there may not be any results for a while. It is scheduled to rush back to Fukuoka today, and the things to be done are basically completed.However, Keiko Sugihara wanted to use the remaining time to meet Yosuke Tachibana. After coming out of Fukuoka, Keiko Sugihara was in Nagasaki, so she wanted to contact Yosuke Tachibana and tell him about Asen's disappearance and Wendai.After hearing what the Yamauchi criminal police said about the fact that their group saw the corpse, she wanted to see him as soon as possible.Although I already knew that the drowned corpse had nothing to do with Asen, but the word "drowning to death" triggered a sense of terror in Sugihara Keko's heart. So Sugihara Keiko came to a telephone booth on the side of the road.In her notebook, she looked up the phone number of the hotel where Yosuke Tachibana and the others stayed. This was what Yosuke Tachibana told her before departure. The hotel was called "Holland House", and it seemed to be located in Teramachi. Keiko Sugihara was thinking "I wonder if Yosuke is here at the moment?" while dialing the dial of the phone.Immediately after the call was connected, a high-pitched woman came to answer the call. "I'm looking for Mr. Tachibana Yosuke from Kyushu TV Station." Sugihara Keiko said loudly. The other party asked her to wait a while.Tachibana Yosuke didn't know if he was there, Sugihara Keiko could only silently put the earphones to her ears, and at the same time she heard the violent beating sound of her heart that didn't seem to be her own. "Hello!... How are you!..." When Keiko Sugihara finally heard Yosuke Tachibana's unique voice, she felt a stone drop from her heart. "I'm Keiko Sugihara. I'm in Nagasaki right now!" "What, you're in Nagasaki?" Yosuke Tachibana suddenly raised his voice. "Yes!...Let me tell you, on June 26, four days ago, Section Chief Arsen disappeared..." "Bastard!..." Sure enough, Tachibana Yosuke heard it for the first time, and he was taken aback. Since the tracing is "non-public", although the drowned body was found, the police officers of the Inasa Police Department did not disclose Asen's affairs to them. Therefore, Sugihara Keiko told how Asen received a letter from a person named "Hamaguchi" from Nagasaki City at the Tokyo branch, and flew with Asen by plane on the afternoon of June 26. Going to Nagasaki, I told Tachibana Yosuke about going in and out of the International Cemetery in the evening of the same day. "I just came to the Inasa Police Station to inquire about news." Keiko Sugihara said in a low voice. "It's so twists and turns..." Yosuke Tachibana seemed to be stimulated suddenly, and couldn't say anything. Then, Sugihara Keiko told Tachibana Yosuke about her secret investigation of Asen's wife Fumyo in Fukuoka. Mori Bunyo had been working in Nagasaki three years ago before marrying Asen.On the night of May 30th when Zhenbi Xiumin and the woman in the long black coat secretly met at the "Choji" restaurant, Wen Dai had obtained permission from the hospital to stay outside for the night.But on June 4th, which is the time when Zhenbi Xiumin was killed, she had an "alibi" certificate... Tachibana Yosuke simply agreed, as if he was still in deep thought. Just when Keiko Sugihara was about to say something, a beep came from the receiver, and the call was automatically disconnected after three minutes. So Sugihara Keko dialed again. "... I heard from the police just now that a drowned body was found in Kanzakibi?" Sugihara Keiko asked. "Oh, we didn't discover it at first, it was a few students who looked like they discovered it first." Yosuke Tachibana replied. "Really..." Sugihara Keiko muttered. After saying a few more words, Sugihara Keiko stopped talking.She thinks: In the consciousness of Tachibana Yosuke, the disappearance of Asen may be considered together with the drowning death. "So...he must have been tricked here by the letter signed by 'Hangguchi'?" Yosuke Tachibana said after a while. The phrase "he got here" was a very important discovery for him. "If Asen meets with that person, the place will not be in the cemetery of Mt. Inasa." Yosuke Tachibana explained his judgment to Keiko Sugihara. "Yes. But someone saw a man like him, come out of there!" "Oh!..." Yosuke Tachibana exclaimed. "In other words, where did he go after that?" The incident of the drowning man cast a shadow in Sugihara Keko's heart.If so, would Asen have been killed by that "Hamaguchi"?Or is he hiding somewhere...? Keiko Sugihara's eyes widened, thinking desperately.In her mind, Chief Asen's gentle voice and smile appeared again. "Can I meet you today?" Keiko Sugihara couldn't help blurting out. "What about this?..." Yosuke Tachibana hesitated, "Today's shooting plan will last until dark. After coming here, the script of the storyboard needs to be corrected to some extent, so the plan has changed again. We just returned from China in Teramachi Temple, back from filming, haven’t had lunch yet.——Can you wait until evening?” "Well, but..." Sugihara Keiko was helpless. According to the original business trip plan, Lingtian was going back to Fukuoka, and, once it was agreed to go back, he would report to Director Takimoto immediately.At this moment he may be waiting. "I'd better go back today." "Then..." Keiko Sugihara felt his mouth dry. The two were silent for a while. "Then take care, I'm dead." After Tachibana Yosuke finished speaking, he hung up the phone.Keiko Sugihara walked out of the phone booth. At this time, a siren sounded from a distance.Sugihara Keko looked down at his watch: it's past two o'clock in the afternoon.I heard a siren just now, at noon in the cemetery, from the direction of the shipyard.How harmonious the soothing sound of the siren should be with the peaceful atmosphere here. "Where is Chief Asen here right now?" Keiko Sugihara wondered in her heart, a wave of melancholy surged in her chest.