Chapter 7 Chapter two

The second meeting with Onitou Masumi and Shinoyama Kaoru was on Saturday, November 28, two months later. And that time was also the last time I saw the two of them alive. On that day, the security section of Ogikubo Bureau, which Eiji Kashiwagi belonged to, received a report that an empty house in Ogikubo was about to conduct an underground trade in smuggled cigarettes, so he decided to let him monitor the empty house.The manufacture, import and sale of cigarettes are only permitted by the Japan Monopoly Corporation under the Monopoly Act. And the trade going on here is the illegal smuggling of American cigarettes.

Coincidentally, the vacant house where the crime was committed happened to be next to Kaoru Shinoyama's house in the east.The two houses are separated by a brick wall, and except for the adjacent part, the other three sides face the road.In other words, the four sides of the rectangle formed by Sasayama's house and the vacant house face the road. The question is, where exactly to monitor?The quickest way is to arrange a police officer at the front door and the back door of the empty house, but in that case, the traffickers may be discovered immediately, and they will start to be vigilant and stop the transaction.

In addition, there is a wall between Xiaoshan's house and the vacant house, and it is very likely that the businessman entered and left Xiaoshan's house through the wall. Therefore, not only the entrance and exit of the empty house, but also the entrance and exit of the Xiaoshan house must be monitored. With a small number of police forces to meet the above surveillance conditions, four police officers are arranged to stand at the four corners of the rectangle formed by Xiaoshan's house and the empty house, and each searcher is responsible for surveillance on each side.The sides mentioned at this time are the four roads connected to the rectangle.

After all, the front door, back door, and fence of the two houses all face these four roads. As long as four investigators are sent to monitor the roads they are responsible for, it is impossible to miss the opportunity for the traffickers to enter and exit the house. Although four searchers including Kashiwagi are in charge of monitoring here, but the three other than Kashiwagi have not arrived at the scene because of some residual affairs, and Kashiwagi is in charge of monitoring for the time being. Kashiwagi came to the scene at one o'clock in the afternoon. After arriving, he began to monitor the eastern road at the southwest corner of the rectangle formed by Sasayama's house and the empty house.

Looking forward from the left hand side, there are the brick wall of Xiaoshan, the main entrance, the brick wall again, and then the brick wall of the empty house, the main entrance, and the brick wall of the empty house again. This road turns left until the opposite north-south straight road crosses, and continues on.From there leads to Ogikubo Station. Maybe, maybe I will see Kaoru Xiaoshan again.Kashiwagi recalled the girl's kind face. Probably because this is a high-end residential street, few pedestrians pass by on the road.No one was seen entering or leaving the empty house used for the crime.Time passed blindly like this.

The sky suddenly became cloudy, and it looked like it would rain at any moment.At two o'clock, a girl appeared at the left-hand corner at the end of the road. I probably walked here from Ogikubo Station.Wearing a sailor school uniform, carrying a schoolbag in his right hand.Today is Saturday, school classes end at noon, right?After school, she might have eaten a bento box at school, or she might have had lunch somewhere. The girl walked in from the front door of Sasayama's house. At half past two, the other three investigators also arrived.Three investigators stood at the northeast, northwest, and southeast corners of the rectangle, and began to monitor the road conditions by facing west, south, and north respectively.

After a while, a raindrop fell on Cypress's cheek, followed by a second and a third.Kashiwagi looked up at the leaden sky and frowned.Gradually, it began to rain.Kashiwagi opened the umbrella he brought and checked his watch.Ten past three. Three twenty.At the left corner at the end of the road, a boy's figure appeared.A coat was wrapped around the collar of the uniform, and he walked over with an umbrella. It should be to play with the girl, the boy walked in through the main entrance of Sasayama's house.Judging from his habitual movements, he should have been here several times.

After that, no one came to the Xiaoshan house, and no one left the Xiaoshan house. It was four o'clock when the rain stopped.Due to the rain, the surrounding roads are muddy.Kashiwagi endured the cold wind and continued to monitor.The more it is at this time, the more I want to curse the profession of criminal police. The siren sounded, which surprised Kashiwagi for a while.Judging from the direction of the sound, it was blown by the colleague in charge of monitoring in the northeast corner.The traffickers who smuggled cigarettes were found to have entered the vacant house. Look at your watch, it's exactly five o'clock.Kashiwagi ran over and rushed into the courtyard through the front door of the empty house.

I saw the man who looked like a dealer running from the back door of the house through the side slit of the house. Seeing the cypress trees blocking him, the businessman was taken aback. He turned his head and found that his colleagues were chasing him. He hurriedly climbed over the wall and fled to Xiaoshan's house in the west. Kashiwagi and his colleagues also climbed over the wall and entered Xiaoshan's house. There are not only pine trees in the courtyard, but also rockery.When the businessman was about to run to the front door through the gap in the house, probably because of panic, he slipped on the rain-soaked ground.

Kashiwagi jumped forward involuntarily, riding on the merchant's back, and handcuffed his wrists behind him. The fellow detectives also rushed over panting. "Tricked! Tricked!" the dealer yelled. "What's the matter with being cheated?" Kashiwagi asked immediately. The trafficker replied that the person offering the smuggled cigarettes did not show up.According to the prior agreement, the provider of smuggled cigarettes should have put three boxes of smuggled cigarettes in that empty room. However, there were no boxes there.The provider of the smuggled cigarettes had already received the money in advance, but did not hand over the smuggled cigarettes.

"It's really a bad person who betrayed his promise." The businessman said so with a righteous attitude, and Kashiwagi felt ridiculous. At that time, Kashiwagi suddenly felt a little unnatural.Always feel a little strange.How strange is it? I finally noticed it while thinking this way. It was so noisy, why didn't anyone from Xiaoshan's house come out?Generally speaking, someone will come out to see what happened.Judging from the lights at home, it is impossible to go out. Kashiwagi sent the businessman to his colleagues, walked into the entrance, and tried to ring the doorbell.no respond.I rang the doorbell for the second and third time, but still no response. Kashiwagi turned the handle of the door, but the door was unlocked.Kashiwagi opened the door and called loudly, "Xiaoshan, are you home?" But there was still no response. Hey, what's going on?asked the colleague next to him.After Kashiwagi told him his doubts, the faces of his colleagues also looked particularly disturbed. Let's go in and have a look, shall we?After Kashiwagi finished speaking, he took off his shoes and came to the corridor.His colleagues followed behind him. First, open the door on the right hand in front of you.At that moment, Kashiwagi knew that his ominous premonition had hit the bull's-eye. There appeared to be a reception room.There is a velvet carpet on the floor, surrounded by glass tables and sofas.On the other hand, Onitou Masumi and Shinoyama Kaoru collapsed on the blanket.Falling aside was the boy's jacket. The boy in the uniform with a stand-up collar hugged the girl in the sailor uniform. Both the boy's chest and the girl's chest were stained red and black, and there was a dagger stabbed on the boy's chest.