The Decagon House Murders (12 page)

He knew he was quick to get fired up, and quick to lose interest. In a way, he was still just a child. Like a child who always wanted new toys, he too was always on the search for some new stimulus. And when the initial excitement wore off, he would get bored and give up.

They finally arrived at Kōjirō’s home in Kannawa.

It was a quiet night. The sky was filled with thin clouds. The moon shone as pale as bone in the darkness.

Shimada rang the bell. They could faintly hear it ringing inside, but even after a long wait, there was no reply.

‘That’s strange. The lights are still on.’

Shimada coughed and rang the bell again a couple of times and also knocked on the door once or twice.

‘Maybe he’s already gone to bed?’

Shimada started to go round to the back entrance, but, seeing Kawaminami leaning with his back to the gate post and his head hanging down, he changed his mind.

‘Oh, forget it. We’ll come back another day. Sorry, Conan, for bringing you all this way for nothing. You look very tired. Come on, let’s go.’
 

*

They got back on the National Route heading for O—City.

Shimada opened the window a little. The evening wind blew into the car, carrying with it the smell of the sea.

‘Cold, Conan?’

‘Not, not really.’

He was still feeling dispirited and upset with himself.

‘Sorry I’ve had you going up and down since this morning.’

‘No, I’m the one who’s sorry…Slumped like this.’

‘That’s okay. You’re just tired.’

Shimada indeed didn’t seem to mind him at all. He took his left hand off the steering wheel and massaged his temple.

‘I think that, on the one hand, it didn’t turn out quite as we’d hoped, but on the other, we did manage to get hold of some significant information.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Of course we’d hoped to learn more about the whereabouts of Yoshikawa Sei’ichi. If he was still alive somehow, it would be natural to assume he’d been in contact with his wife. But that didn’t seem to be the case.’

‘But Mr. Shimada, don’t you think that there’s something strange about the fact they already held a funeral ceremony, even though only six months have passed?’

‘Maybe, but I don’t think that Masako is the type who would lie. She appeared to be a nice, honest woman.’

‘Oh.’

Shimada grinned.

‘I’ve a good eye for people, you know. Call it a priest’s instinct. Anyway, that didn’t turn out as we wanted, but—Conan, could you pass me a cigarette?’

‘A cigarette?’ Kawaminami reacted in surprise. He hadn’t seen Shimada smoke even once until now.

‘I’ve got Seven Stars,’ he said and passed Shimada the pack. Keeping his eyes on the road ahead, Shimada skilfully retrieved a cigarette out of the case using just one hand.

‘I was a heavy smoker up until a few years back. But my lungs got bad and I practically stopped smoking then. One a day. I may lead a loose and lazy life, but that’s the one rule I try to protect.’

He lit the cigarette and blew some smoke into the air contentedly.

‘As for the fruits of our labour: first of all, the fact that not much of Seiji’s fortune was left. If that’s true, then yes, the “Yoshikawa equals Murderer” theory is seriously weakened.’

‘And what about him being in love with Mrs. Kazue?’

‘I didn’t believe in that theory from the start. It felt forced. I once talked with Kō and he said that Kazue wasn’t the kind of woman who would go around seducing gardeners. He was also of the same opinion as Masako, that the gardener was an honest man who would never even think of falling in love with a married woman.’

‘So you don’t think that Yoshikawa is the murderer.’

‘I don’t think it’s very likely.’

With some regret, Shimada crushed the cigarette he had turned into ash in no time into the ashtray.

‘And from what we heard today, I have the feeling that the reason the two brothers didn’t get along was Kazue.’

‘Mrs. Kazue?’

‘If Kazue was having an affair, maybe she wasn’t having one with the gardener, but with Kō.’

‘Mr. Kōjirō and Mrs. Kazue?’

‘Yes. I remember now: last year, after the incident happened, Kō stayed cooped up in his house for one or two weeks and was a total wreck. I suspect now that it wasn’t because of the death of Seiji, but because of the death of Kazue.’

‘But Mr. Shimada, that would mean that the murderer is—.’

‘I have a little idea. I’ll tell you later, but first you’ll have to report today’s progress to Morisu, right?’

‘Now you mention it, yes.’

Kawaminami took a look at the dashboard clock. 10:40 p.m.

The number of cars on the seaside National Route in the direction of O—City had diminished. Among the scattered red tail lights was the black body of a truck. And on the railway running parallel to the road was the extended illumination of a train.…

‘He told us to call, but since we’re driving anyway, let’s just go round there.’

Shimada’s suggestions had perked Kawaminami up a little. As if sensing that, Shimada smiled.

‘Morisu. Yes, he has a wonderful name too.’

4

‘Knowing you, I expected you’d have enough of playing detective after one day,’ said Morisu mockingly, as he poured hot water from the pot into cups with teabags. ‘But you don’t appear to have, to my surprise. Maybe it’s because you were accompanied by Mr. Shimada?’

‘How did you guess?’ Kawaminami laughed in embarrassment.

‘So, please give me the report on your investigations, Mr. Detective.’

Kawaminami briefed Morisu on the facts they had discovered that day.

‘So that’s what you’ve been up to.’

Morisu poured himself a second cup of tea and, without adding sugar, drank it in a single gulp.

‘And? What are your plans for tomorrow, Watson?’

‘I wonder.’

Kawaminami stretched out on the floor and sat up wearily with his head resting on his knees.

‘To be honest, I am feeling a bit down right now. Spring holiday is long, you know. And I’ve been spending every night playing
mahjong
. And then that letter from the dead came. I just couldn’t ignore it. And, as always, I got all fired up, but now....’

‘Spare us your boring self-analysis. Mr. Shimada is feeling shut out.’

But Shimada was just smiling as he stroked his pointed chin.

‘I think that staving off boredom is a good thing. It’s much more healthy than allowing your imagination to wither because of a much too hectic life. I’m like Conan. If I hadn’t had loads of time, a man of my age would never have become involved in something like this. But then again, I’m an inquisitive man at heart. By the way, Morisu—.’

‘Yes?’

‘I should like to know what our “armchair detective” is thinking.’

‘I thought you’d never ask.’

Morisu wet his dry lips with his tongue and smiled.

‘Actually, I’ve had a little idea ever since you told me everything last night. But this isn’t a deduction, just an unfounded guess, so don’t take it too seriously.’

‘As Conan said, you’re a careful man.’

‘For someone careful, this is a pretty impulsive idea, though. I even suspect that you, Mr. Shimada, might have been thinking the same.’

‘Possibly.’

‘Okay, this is it.’

Morisu looked from Shimada to Kawaminami.

‘I think it’s quite surprising you yourselves didn’t think of it. Basically, isn’t the case on Tsunojima the same as what Francis Nevins Jr. calls the “Birlstone Gambit”
[ix]
?’

Kawaminami yelled out. ‘You mean that Seiji is still alive?’

‘I don’t claim it’s true. I only point out the possibility.’

Morisu continued his explanation slowly, while he poured his third cup of tea.

‘The heads of the Kitamura couple had been smashed in with an axe, but even after their remains had been burnt, I don’t think it very likely that someone could have pulled off the famous “headless corpse” trick. There was nothing peculiar about Kazue’s remains either, except for her missing left hand. The only thing we need to reconsider is the body thought to be that of Seiji.

‘Think about it. It was a corpse that had been covered with kerosene and gone up in flames. The face was, of course, unrecognizable, but old wounds or traces of surgery wouldn’t have been easy to find either. I don’t know how the police determined the body to be that of Seiji, but there’s a possibility it was the body of someone else. And then we have the disappearance of the gardener who’d been on the island at the time… Mr. Shimada?’

‘Yes, detective?’

‘Did you happen to check whether Seiji and Yoshikawa Sei’ichi were similar in age and build?’

‘Haha. You’re sharp.’ Shimada laughed cheerfully. ‘Yoshikawa was the same age as Seiji, 46 years old. Both were of medium height and build. And both had blood type A. The burnt body naturally also had blood type A.’

‘How did you find all of that out?’ Kawaminami asked in surprise, to which Shimada scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

‘Ah, didn’t I tell you? I know some people in the police. Morisu, supposing Nakamura Seiji and Yoshikawa Sei’ichi really switched places, how do you explain the events of the case?’

Morisu placed his hand on his forehead and stared into space.

‘Kazue was the first to be murdered. Her estimated time of death was between the 17th
and 18th. The gardener had arrived on the island and called his wife Masako in the afternoon of the 17th, so Kazue had probably already been killed by then. When the gardener thought it strange he hadn’t seen Kazue, Seiji told him his wife was sick and in bed. In truth, he’d already given her a sleeping draught and then strangled her.

‘So, fearing he might be found out, Seiji decided to murder the Kitamura couple and Yoshikawa too. He drugged all three of them with sleeping medicine and tied them up. He killed the couple with an axe on the 19th. He then moved Yoshikawa, who was still sleeping because of the drug, to the room where he had killed Kazue earlier. He untied Yoshikawa, dressed him in his own clothes and poured kerosene over him. And then he set fire to the mansion and fled the island.

‘And so the switch of the murderer Nakamura Seiji and the victim Yoshikawa Sei’ichi was complete. A textbook example of the “headless corpse” trick. But even with this theory, some questions remain unanswered. I can come up with four, just from the top of my head.’

‘Oh, and they would be…?’ Shimada urged him.

‘First of all, motive. What reason could Seiji have had to kill the woman who had been at his side for over twenty years? You could simply say he was mad, but even madmen have their own reasons.

‘Second—and I already mentioned this last night—is the missing left hand. Why would Seiji cut off the left hand of his wife? And where did he take it to?

‘Third is the time gap between the murders. He killed his wife first on the 17th and finally the gardener in the early morning of the 20th. What was Seiji doing during those three days?

‘And finally, how did Seiji flee from the island after committing these crimes? And where has he been hiding since then?’

‘I had been thinking along almost the exact same lines on our way over here,’ said Shimada.

‘And I think that, of the questions you just listed, I can at least provide an answer to the first.’

‘A motive for killing Kazue?’

‘Yes. Of course, as you said, this is nothing but a wild guess.’

‘Jealousy?’ tried Morisu carefully. Shimada pursed his lips and nodded.

‘Even normal emotions can turn into madness if they manage to dwell long enough in the heart of a genius like Seiji.’

Shimada turned to Conan.

‘What do you mean?’ asked the latter.

‘Do you remember what Yoshikawa Masako said about Nakamura Chiori?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘She said that Chiori seldom returned to the island. She also said that Kazue adored her daughter, but when we asked about Seiji—.’

‘She said something about Seiji not being fond of kids.’

‘Precisely. Seiji didn’t love his daughter very much.’

‘And I remember that, at Chiori’s funeral, he wasn’t the chief mourner.’

‘You understand what I’m trying to tell you, don’t you?’

Kawaminami looked alternately at Morisu and Shimada. The latter nodded gently. Morisu frowned and looked away.

‘You suspect that Chiori wasn’t Seiji’s daughter.’

‘That’s correct, Conan.’

‘But then whose daughter was she?’

‘Nakamura Kōjirō’s. According to Masako, Kō occasionally visited the island when she was working there and before she married Yoshikawa. That means there hadn’t always been bad blood between the brothers. And I think the period when Kō stopped going to the island dates from the time Chiori was born. What do you think, Morisu?’