Chapter 24 first quarter

"Alibi confirmed!" At noon on the 4th, the telegram taken by the criminal policeman Guan who was on a business trip was sent to the Metropolitan Police Department.The telegram was sent from the telegraph office in Kashiwazaki, so the criminal police should have boarded the "Nihonkai" train in Naoetsu, confirmed the alibi of Koinokuwa and others with the train captain, and got off at Kashiwazaki, the next stop of the train. , and immediately typed this telegram. There were originally three suspect clues, but one was broken yesterday at Wakao Hospital, and the second one was broken today in Kashiwazaki, and now only Chita Banping is left, so the police once again tried their best to track down his whereabouts.

Plymouth, where Chita drove away from the headquarters, was found abandoned on the other side of Liuxiang Bridge early this morning.Kanagawa County is after Liuxiang, so the police in Kanagawa County were also asked to assist in the hunt, but there was still no trace of him. Just after six o'clock, a call came in.After the section chief put down the receiver, he looked around the room and waved to Sudou who happened to be in the office. "Sudou, can I trouble you to visit Yurakucho?" "Is there a problem?" "Someone called just now and said that they want to provide us with information. It sounds like it is an important matter."

"The content is...?" "The other party said he was busy and couldn't talk on the phone. But it's his rest time at 6:30, so I hope we can send someone there." Sudou couldn't figure out what was going on now, and he had no idea what information the other party wanted to provide. "Where is that person in Yurakucho?" "Nippon Radio, he is a voice actor, but unfortunately he is not an actress." The section chief said half-jokingly. "His name is Toshio Murase." "Oh, it's him." The chief detective also remembered the name Murase.Murase is one of his favorite voice actors. The voice actor is not worthy of literature-the kind of serious tone.Although the time Sudou can listen to the radio is limited, as long as there is his performance in the radio drama, Sudou will always be amused.

Nippon Radio is a first-class company among private radio stations. It has an eight-story building in Yurakucho. They rent the space on the first and second floors to the Tokyo branch of private radio stations in other prefectures, and reserve the space above the third floor for Use yourself.After Sudou took the elevator to the seventh floor, he walked to the counter directly in front of him and reported Murase's name to a girl who was not very friendly. Maybe he had informed Sudou of his visit in advance, and another girl came to guide Sudou. After passing through the hall, Sudou saw the nine bends and eighteen turns of the corridor, and realized that he would never be able to reach his destination if no one was leading the way, and he went up and down the stairs twice on the way.The further we walked, the more confused Sudou became.And not only the direction, but he couldn't even figure out which floor it was, because there were no windows here.

The place the two arrived at seemed to be a broadcasting room for live broadcasts, a large hall composed of a stage and auditorium.The prop staff moved the musical instruments they had just used to the backstage continuously, and on the ground of the auditorium, confetti and lunch boxes were scattered everywhere. "He's there." The girl pointed to a corner of the hall, leaving Sudou alone. Sudou looked to where she pointed.A screen surrounded a corner of the auditorium, and seven or eight men and women were holding printed scripts in each hand, and they were speaking to each other there.

"The rogue's tone is a little more ruthless." The person who made the request to the voice actor held a stopwatch in one hand, and seemed to be the producer of the radio station.Sudou sat in the auditorium far away and waited for their rehearsal to end.But which one will Toshio Murase be?He searched for similar ones among the male voice actors. "Can this place be a little stunned?" The beautiful female voice actress pointed to a place in the script and said to the producer.As expected of a voice actress, her voice is also beautiful. "Okay, leave it to me. And Mr. Murase."

The producer called the voice actor's name.When Sudou heard this, he stretched his neck and looked at the person he called. "Can you put some sad emotions into this line? Although the audience will laugh when they hear it, the person speaking doesn't think it's funny at all. I hope you use emotions that are so sad that you want to cry." "OK." The low, nasal voice he'd heard on the radio answered. More than half of Murase's body was covered by the screen, but his protruding forehead and abdomen could be seen slightly.It's completely unimaginable when you hear his voice, the voice actor himself is actually very fat.

The producer's instructions can be said to be extremely detailed.In order to let the dubbing actors understand what he wants to express, he uses his mouth, hands, and body to explain kindly and enthusiastically. The plot seems to be a gangster story, and Murase plays his best drunk man in it, a character who brings jokes and sorrow to this thrilling and treacherous crime radio drama, so that the audience can take a little breather.The air-conditioning had already taken effect, but Murase kept wiping his bald forehead with a handkerchief, showing that he was very enthusiastic about the play.

The producer continued to give instructions for more than five minutes before finally letting everyone rest.The dubbing actors were scattered in the auditorium, each reading the script in their hands.Even the lovers who were deeply in love just now immediately returned to their original unrelated appearance, sitting on chairs far away from each other. "Sorry to keep you waiting, we were rehearsing just now..." Murase approached Sudou, a fat man with a personality that seemed to be as cheerful as his character in the radio drama.He looks like a person who is afraid of the heat. He has taken off his white shirt and only wears a short-sleeved shirt. This kind of attire does not give the impression of a voice actor at all, but more like a pawnshop shopkeeper.The difference from the pawnshop shopkeeper is that he wears a beret on his head.

"What information do you want to provide?" "The information I want to provide is that I saw the murdered Nishi-no-hata on the first night of the murder." After Shimbashi separated from the driver, where did Kosuke Nishinohata go and what did he do before Ryodaishihashi was killed?His actions at the time have long remained a mystery.And the voice actor's words may help fill part of this gap.Sudou leaned forward, waiting to hear what he had to say next. "I thought that the search headquarters should have known about it long ago, so I kept silent. But after reading the evening paper, I saw that you didn't seem to know, so I hurriedly called you."

"So, what did you say you saw Nishi-no-ban?" "Before that, I want to ask you a question: When was that person killed?" Sudou looked at Murase and thought: This person has a serious face, why did he ask a weird question. "Eleven forty on the 1st is eleven forty in the evening." "It's really clear." "Actually, there is still a slight error between this, and it is about one or two minutes different from the actual time. But it will definitely not be after 11:40." "I understand. Let's talk about the conclusion first. The time I saw Nishi Banner that night was 11:40." Sudou couldn't immediately understand what the other person said, and could only stare blankly at the voice actor's face.It took him a while to realize that it was impossible for the people who were killed at 11:40 to appear in other places at the same time. "...Did you see the wrong person?" "It's common for two unrelated people to look alike, but his gray beard was so majestic that I couldn't have mistaken it. When the man left, I turned to my friend at the table and said, 'that Isn’t he the president of Nishi-no-hata?” He was the target of every major weekly magazine at the time.” "I see. Where did you see it?" Sudou asked helplessly.Although the voice actor insisted that he was not mistaken, he must have seen a different person.He visited the inside of the radio station that he usually can't see, and met the dubbing actor he knew through the speakers in the past, so this trip was by no means a waste of time, but even so, he was specially called to Yurakucho to listen to it. It is really not worthwhile for others to read the wrong person's story. "The east exit of Ikebukuro Station. The recording ended early that day, and my friends and I drank one after another. Later, when I was hungry, I went to a Chinese restaurant called 'Lan Lan' for dinner, and then Nishi no Ban. Come into the store." "Have you ever met Nishinohata before this?" "No, like I said just now, I've only seen his photos in newspapers and Zhou Han magazines. But his beard is so distinctive, it's impossible for me to see it wrong." Murase seemed to think that that person was Kosuke Nishinohata from the bottom of his heart, and he became impatient with Sudou's questioning. "I sat facing the entrance, so I found out quickly. Nishinohata ordered the eight-treasure noodles, devoured them and walked out. It only took about ten or fifteen minutes." Murase explained in detail-the man who seemed to be in a hurry at the time asked the clerk which dish was the fastest, and instructed the clerk: "I'll order eight treasure noodles." When he heard the Eight Treasures Noodles, the Minister of Interpol was taken aback.Because according to the autopsy report, the deceased Kosuke Nishinohata ate eight treasure noodles before his death. "Has he any companions?" "Only Nishi-no-hata." "Where are the clothes?" The voice actor looked away slightly, staring straight at the soundproof wall, with an expression as if he was recalling a forgotten line. "Looks like a gray suit, but I don't know the material. Also, he was wearing a black felt hat." The color of the clothes and the color of the hat also match.Could it be that the person who appeared in that place was really Kosuke Nishinomata? "Are you sure you saw him at eleven forty?" "Yeah. The reason why I remember it so clearly is because I remembered that on the late night broadcast at twelve o'clock, there would be a Chopin sung by a Polish bass named Dotta Konrad. At that time, I thought I thought: It should be time to drive back at this time. That vinyl record is not sold in Japan, and it is also out of print in foreign countries, and there are not many opportunities to hear that record.” Sudou had no interest in music at all, so he couldn't understand more than half of what the voice actor said, but at least he understood why the other party remembered the time of 11:40. "That person who looks like Kosuke Nishinomata, did he enter the store at 11:40, or did he leave at 40?" "That was the time he left. I think he came to the store around twenty-five minutes?" "Where do you tell the time? From your watch? The clock in the store?" "My watch." "Is your watch broken?" Sudou asked.Even if it will offend the other party, you have to ask about it. "It's impossible, my watch has never broken..." The voice actor shook his head, resolutely denying the other party's statement.It seems that his watch should be a high-end product. "Thank you, your intelligence has helped us a lot." After thanking him as usual, the Minister of Criminal Police came to the corridor.The information is actually of no reference value at all.Either he got the wrong person, or the time on the watch was going too fast.Although few people grow beards recently, there should be dozens and hundreds of people in Tokyo who are proud of their mustaches.Judging that that person is Kosuke Nishi-no-hata just by looking at those two beards is no different from mistaking Dry Miscanthus for a ghost.Even if that person is really President Nishi-no-hata, it must be that the time on the voice actor's watch is running too fast. While thinking, Sudou walked down the carpeted corridor.But what he didn't expect was that after a few days, his two conjectures would be completely overturned.