Chapter 67

That day I woke up quite late in the morning. Because the mystery that had surfaced in my exchange with Detective Akaba the day before still lacked an answer, I groaned and agonized over it and couldn't sleep until late.

It was a little past ten in the morning. A single ringtone woke me, but I didn't reach it in time. When I checked who it was from, I found dozens of missed calls. Figuring it was probably some prank by an acquaintance, I looked at the sender's name and froze.

"Akaba Akari." It's Detective Akaba's name. If she'd learned some new fact about the case, an e-mail would have sufficed.

Why would she do something like this? I tried to contact her at once.

"Detective Akaba...... what happened?"

"...... Hasegawa Emi. That last name rings a bell, right?"

"Eh?"

My voice was answered by hers, drained of strength and saturated with sorrow.

"Early this morning she was discovered murdered in the shrubbery of the park near the department store."

"Hah!?"

I wanted to ask if it was a joke. But I knew she wasn't the sort of person who'd enjoy a sick joke like that.

So, even if I didn't want to believe it, I had no choice but to understand.

Without hanging up, I changed clothes, left the house without eating anything, ran—ran all the way to near that department store and then rushed toward the park.

It was neither dream nor hallucination of Detective Akaba nor lie.

Police had gathered, and onlookers stood behind tape. Detective Akaba spotted me nearby and called "over here, over here," so I sprinted toward her at full speed.

She confirmed with me, "Would you look at a photo of the body?" and the instant I nodded she thrust it before my eyes.

She works fast.

"Detective Hyoga, what do you think when you look at this photo?"

On top of the shrubbery. Deep rope marks on the neck. Nearby lay a single rope, stretched taut. Ms. Hasegawa's smiling face was burned into my head and wouldn't leave. My attention wanted to drift toward her for that reason, yet I forced myself to focus on the rope as well.

Why had the rope that must have strangled Ms. Hasegawa's neck been pulled into a straight line like that? Normally you'd simply leave it around her neck after killing her atop the shrubbery. To strangle her once, kill Ms. Hasegawa, and then deliberately straighten the rope......

Questions remained about these unnecessary actions too.

Normally a culprit would take pains not to leave evidence. The more time spent on extraneous acts, the more evidence you leave and the more witnesses you create.

"I think we should examine this rope more closely...... but have you found anything else that might serve as a clue to the culprit?"

A single photo offered too little for certainty, so I tried asking a different question.

"Nnn...... if anyone's suspicious, I'd say it's the first discoverer."

"What about the first discoverer? Something obviously suspicious? Who is it?"

People often say suspect the first discoverer. It's bound to help the investigation. Yet she betrayed that expectation I'd held.

"No...... we haven't actually found them yet."

"Eh?"

The first discoverer is missing?

When I cried out in surprise, she explained in detail.

"The officer who took the call said it was a woman's voice...... but that's all. We have the info on the corpse, none at all on the caller. When the officer arrived, the body was simply lying atop the shrubbery. The call came from a public phone...... other than that it was a woman, we don't know anything."

"So that would mean the first discoverer couldn't be seen...... huh."

"Or else the murder was planned so that the police would find the body quickly."

"No, in that case the culprit would use a voice-changer. Because, you know, voiceprints can identify whose voice it is, right?"

"Yeah. So right now we're checking suspicious wanted suspects and people connected to the previous incident."

The first discoverer is a mystery. The murder weapon and cause of death are known. But with only that, the mystery can't be solved, so I stepped into the park as far as I was allowed.

Detective Akaba said, "Try not to stand out. I'm not the officer in charge here, so they might just throw me out."

Naturally, the moment I looked at the shrubbery the fox-eyed female detective roared, "Outsiders, get out!" At the same time Detective Akaba was ordered, "Put that restroom sign back where it was!"

"Eh...... that's......"

Huh...... isn't that evidence? I thought. Holding the "Cleaning in Progress" sign, Detective Akaba explained to me after we were chased out.

"The shrubbery at the scene is a little way from the public restroom."

"Then it has nothing to do with the scene at all."

"Right. They're treating it as a prank. And there's no grounds to object...... so, where should I return this......"

"Pretty sure that belongs to the department store...... what kind of prank is it......"

"We don't know. Yet I can't help thinking it might be connected to the case......"

For now, let's set aside the public restroom. After the police leave. After the detective who seized and expelled me minutes ago is gone.

Until then, I'll think about motive alone for a moment.

From among the onlookers I watch the park, then close my eyes. The police will probably conclude that while the woman was on her way home she was attacked by a random assailant.

They're right.

Aside from the previous case, I can't think of any motive anyone would have to kill her. She was one of the victims who couldn't stop Mr. Uchima's suicide. No one stands to gain from killing her......?

No, there might be one.

The murderer who killed Mr. Uchima.

Suppose Ms. Hasegawa happened to find evidence concerning Mr. Uchima's death. If the culprit then killed her to silence her, the motive would make sense.

Exactly. After Mr. Uchima collapsed from the poison, Ms. Hasegawa, who had rushed to the table at once, might have noticed something.

If she could notice something...... then the culprit is.......

One woman had been brought into the park—Haruki, the waitress from the café.

"Hey, what the hell!"

To the woman snapping at the police, the stern fox-eyed woman said,

"You're the suspicious one. The voiceprint analysis is back."

"J-just a voiceprint......"

"Voiceprints don't lie. And if you wanna argue, let me give you more. Around midnight tonight a drunk leaving the nearby izakaya saw you. Saw you coming out of the park and running off at full speed."

......I wanted to agree more than half with what the fox-eyed detective said. But I had something I needed to say, so, not caring if I got yelled at, I resolved to plunge into the park.

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