Jiang Xia turned around following the sound and saw a middle-aged man with a high hairline.
The man had a short nose, a mustache under his lips, and was dressed in homely clothes. He looked like a neighbor who came from the same building to visit.
Hattori Jinghua looked at him secretly and nodded: "We are indeed here to see Mr. Shibata. Are you his neighbor?"
"Well." The middle-aged man also came to see Shibata for something. He walked past Jiang Xia and the others to the door of Shibata's house. While ringing the doorbell, he said unkindly, "We have agreed to go to my house to play mahjong in a while. Do you want to find me?"
As for him, move faster."
Jiang Xia also hoped that he would act quickly and quietly hinted: "Mr. Shibata seems not to be at home. We rang the doorbell just now, but no one opened the door."
Neighbor Yoshikawa Takezo shook his head: "I must have been asleep and didn't hear it. After all, last night we..." Halfway through his words, he suddenly remembered something, cleared his throat, and swallowed the rest of his words.
Amuro smelled something suspicious and looked at him carefully.
Jiang Xia is not very interested in Yoshikawa Takezo. After all, there is no ghost on this man's leg, and there is currently no murderous intention in his body - he knows that the reason why Yoshikawa Takezo is evasive when talking is because Shibata Shiro and several others often gamble at Yoshikawa's house.
.Yesterday, Shibata Shiro also played mahjong at his house all night, so Yoshikawa Takezo thought that Shibata might have fallen asleep because he was sleepy and did not hear the doorbell ring.
This group of friends were very familiar with each other. After ringing the doorbell, Yoshikawa Takezo found that no one answered, so he simply reached out and turned the doorknob.
The door was just closed, not locked.
Yoshikawa Takezo suddenly showed an expression of "Sure enough," he opened the door and entered the house, while looking at the three spectators next to him with a bit of ostentation: "Look, I just said he is at home."
Yoshikawa Takezo stepped into the entrance hall and walked in calling Shibata's name.
Jiang Xia followed him in naturally.
Touya Amuro often broke into private houses, and he entered the house naturally.
Hattori Shizuka just hesitated for a moment, but there was no one around him.
She looked at the open door and remembered that Shibata Shiro, who had made an appointment with her today to wait at home and give her the photos, but actually did not answer the phone or answer the doorbell, thought for a moment and cautiously followed into the house.
The atmosphere of life in the house was quite strong. When passing by the living room, Jiang Xia saw that the TV in the living room was on, a half-eaten meal was placed on the table, and there was also a copy of today's evening newspaper.
Jiang Xia withdrew his gaze and planned to look at the room in front again and collect clues to facilitate "reasoning" later.
At this moment, the door to the entrance was suddenly pushed open.
A sharp and trembling cry with a hint of fear came from the door: "What are you doing?! Why did you break into someone else's house without permission? I'm going to call the police!"
Amuro Toru was startled, turned around, and saw a short-haired woman holding a shopping bag standing at the door.
Judging from the woman's tone of voice and her age, she looked very much like Shibata Shiro's wife. She probably was frightened when she suddenly saw a few strangers when she returned home.
Toru Amuro was about to apologize for breaking into someone else's house. But when he spoke, he looked at Hattori Shizuka, who was wearing a kimono and elegantly dressed next to him, and then at Jiang Xia, who seemed to be apologizing for being caught breaking into someone else's house. Suddenly,
Something feels wrong.
...The time now is not early morning or late at night, and Mrs. Shibata does not live alone. In this case, after returning home and suddenly seeing a few well-dressed strangers in the house, wouldn't most people first guess that these are guests brought back by their husbands?
.
But why did Mrs. Shibata react so violently? Their family had been robbed before, leaving a psychological shadow.
He was just about to ask politely about the situation, but at this moment, another scream came from the corridor in the opposite direction.
——This time, the one who screamed was the middle-aged man who opened the door and led them in.
Yoshikawa Takezo's voice sounded very anxious: "Shibata?! What's wrong with you? Cheer up, Shibata!!"
It sounds like something happened to Shibata Shiro.
Toru Amuro and Shizuka Hattori turned to look at the source of the sound with vigilance and confusion when they suddenly saw a figure passing by - Jiang Xia reacted quickly and rushed over, as if he wanted to provide support there as soon as possible.
Hattori Shizuka then quickly walked towards the direction where the scream came from, and at the same time nodded secretly: This child is very enthusiastic.
…
Half a minute later, everyone came to the study, including Mrs. Shibata, who was carrying a pile of shopping bags and looking wary.
Peering in from the door, one could see Shibata Shiro lying on the ground, with the hair on his head stuck in clumps, as if soaked in blood.
Jiang Xia squatted on the ground, poked Shibata Shiro who was already stiff, and retracted his hand slightly: "It's difficult to save him."
This is a euphemism for someone who is completely dead.
Neighbor Yoshikawa Takezo looked at the body with a blank expression, while Mrs. Shibata covered her mouth and began to sob sadly.
Coupled with the solemn-looking Hattori Shizuka next to him, it was another standard choice of three.
…
The police arrived quickly, and when there were more people, the scene became chaotic.
Jiang Xia walked to the body and found Shibata Shiro's right hand slightly stretched forward, holding a rolled up photo in his hand.
——Just look at the photo again, and the hand of the corpse holding the photo, and the clues collected can almost start to fast forward.
As a detective who always cooperates happily with the police, Jiang Xia did not directly wrench the corpse's hand. Instead, he briefly lingered near the corpse, waiting for the clever police officer to notice it, and then came over to act as a hard-working wrench tool.
Not long after, the police did come, but it was a special policeman.
——Toru Amuro walked over when no one was paying attention. He took a few photos with a camera that someone didn't know who gave him, then squatted down, took out the photos in the corpse's hand, and opened them to take a look.
The photo shows a girl with a single ponytail, sad eyes, and tears stroking the medal.
Her face is somewhat familiar. Combined with the junior high school kendo club photo that Hattori Shizuka took out earlier, the identity of the person in the photo is already very clear - she is Hattori Shizuka and the deceased Shibata Shiro nearly thirty years ago.
classmates.
Toru Amuro took a deep look, then silently rolled up the photo as it was, and stuffed it back into the deceased's body.
Then he stood up and saw Jiang Xia next to him who seemed to be equally surprised. He whispered: "Don't let the suspect's identity affect your judgment."
Murder can happen to anyone at any time, anyone can be killed, and anyone can be the murderer, and the wife of a high-ranking official is no exception...
However, after recovering from the excitement of eating melon, Toru Amuro always felt that something was not right.
He was silent for a moment, and his eyes returned to the corpse's hand holding the photo.
