Hoshizono questions the others. Everyone gives their alibis. Of course, the culprit is the only one to lie. Afterwards, Kazuo is asked to do something unpleasant.
Hoshizono questions the others.
Everyone gives their alibis.
Of course, the culprit is the only one to lie.
Afterwards, Kazuo is asked to do something unpleasant.
For the time being, they decided not to return to the administration building just yet, but check the footprints in front of the other lodges just in case. If the culprit did leave their lodge after everyone split up last night, there would be more footprints than just the one round trip – at least, that was Kazuo's theory.
However, their investigation was in vain. Just like Asako's footprints they'd seen when they first discovered the body, in front of each lodge was a jumble of footprints from last night and that morning, rendering it difficult to tell which was from when.
“It looks like the culprit won't be that nice here, either.”
Hoshizono gave a bitter smile. Kazuo couldn't hide his disappointment.
When they gave up and went back to the administration building, he took a moment at the back door to look back at the snowy field. Beyond the trampled snow, they could see Iwagishi's lodge. To its left was the circular mark left in the snow. It did look like a crop circle.
“Sir, what do you make of that crop circle?”
“I still don't know. Why was it made?”
Hoshizono raised a sculpted eyebrow.
“But at least we can say it was probably the culprit's doing.”
“Most likely. Unless Mr. Iwagishi was in the habit of drawing circles in the snow, they'd be the only one who could.”
“Does it have some meaning?”
“I don't know. Maybe we should ask Mr. Sagashima. He seems to be the expert.”
Hoshizono shrugged. He looked annoyed at the prospect.
In the dining room. Sagashima and the others were sitting around the stove, and looked like they had been for a while. At a glance, it resembled an idyllic scene, something they could have put in the advertising pamphlet. “Get away from the city and relax your mind in the refreshing countryside.” However, every single one of them looked deeply depressed. Hoshizono and Kazuo, having returned from the freezing outside world, immediately joined them. They felt the warm sensation of their stiff bodies slowly loosening.
“Mr. Hoshizono, where have you been?” Yumi asked in that sweet voice.
“Yes, well, that is...” Hoshizono stammered.
Akane exhaled a plume of smoke.
“Don't hold out on us now. You went back to the crime scene, didn't you? I'd wager you found something new.”
“No, unfortunately... It appears the culprit didn't leave a single clue.”
At Hoshizono's answer, Zaino gave an annoyed breath.
Kazuo didn't see Asako, so he peeked into the kitchen and saw her petite figure looking into a large pot.
“What are you doing?”
When she heard him, Asako looked back through the steam with a smile.
“Ah, Mr. Sugishita. I'm preparing lunch.”
Come to think of it, he hadn't been paying attention to the time, what with all the commotion, but it was already past noon. This arrangement didn't seem all that safe. It was a common murder scene. There was a certain novel from the social school – Grinning right at him, Asako threw a large bowl of noodles into the pot.
After everyone ate a simple lunch, while they were all waiting for Asako to serve the coffee, Hoshizono spoke up.
“Actually, I have a suggestion, if you all would listen?”
“What is it?”
Zaino didn't actually sound like he cared.
“It's likely our rescuers won't arrive until this evening, and the police won't be here until even later, probably after dark. So, before they arrive, we, the people involved, should sort things out for ourselves. If the police investigation grows complicated, we'll be the ones whose returns home are delayed.”
“The people involved... We're involved.”
Mikiko sounded surprised. Sagashima's response was unusually personable.
“Well, we can hardly say we're uninvolved under the circumstances.”
Akane lazily scratched the back of her neck.
“Hoshizono might be right. It'd be less trouble if we sort this out quickly instead of having to explain it later.”
“Do we really have to be questioned by the police?”
Even after all this time, Mikiko was still saying such entitled things.
“Don't be like that, Miki, we're caught up in a murder case.”
As she spoke, Yumi stole a glance at Zaino. She must have still been thinking about what Akane had said about him being the most likely culprit.
“No way, I've got nothing to do with it!” Mikiko shouted disapprovingly.
Yumi responded “If you say that, then neither do I,” and once again side-eyed Zaino.
The man sat in silence with absolutely no expression. His cold profile held no clues to his thoughts.
“Well, you two, we're going to discuss whether or not you have anything to do with it or not, so I'd like to ask for your cooperation in sorting everything out.”
At Hoshizono's words, Yumi and Mikiko finally shut up.
“First of all, as you all saw, Mr. Iwagishi was most likely knocked unconscious by a blow from the ice axe, then strangled to death with the rope.”
“Eh, an ice axe? Like what you use for climbing a mountain?”
Yumi immediately derailed the conversation.
“If that's the case, I have one in my lodge, too, hanging on the wall.”
“Ah, I have one, too,” said Mikiko. Then she continued:
“Then, the rope would be, like, THAT rope? The one hanging with the ice axe and that thing that looked like an old lamp?”
“Yeah, that's what they used.”
Akane cut in from the side.
“There was a set displayed in my place, too, and Iwagishi probably had it the same way. It looks like the culprit used what was available to them.”
Then they checked with everyone and confirmed that every lodge was decorated the same way, as Kazuo had suspected.
“The criminal must have used that in their crime last night.”
Hoshizono started to explain.
“The problem is the time. As you all saw, there were footprints at the scene. I strongly suspect they belong to the culprit. Did any of you go to his lodge?”
“You mean our alibis?”
Akane skipped ahead to the end.
“If we check everyone's alibis, we might be able to find out who the culprit is, is that it?”
“Yes, well, I suppose so...”
Hoshizono's answer was a bit unclear.
“Personally, I don't want to go doubting people and investigating their alibis. So, if by any chance, one of you did kill Iwagishi, I'd like to ask you to admit it now. I'm not a policeman or a prosecutor, and I have no intention of condemning the culprit. If at all possible, I'd like you to give an honest confession, and if you had a good reason, I'd be happy to defend you. I'll object to the police's invasive interrogations, and if there are any extenuating circumstances, I'll take the stand myself. How about it? It's not too late to turn yourself in.”
No one said anything. Yumi stole another glance at Zaino.
Hoshizono looked a bit downcast.
“I see... So they won't confess.”
“I guess they aren't that much of a sweetheart.”
Akane gave an embittered smile. It was a cold smile that looked like it wasn't directed at Hoshizono, but at the person who wouldn't name themself.
“Guess it can't be helped. Hoshizono, let's go over them. Let's give all the information we have to the police in a clear, orderly outline, including our alibis.”
“I see... it can't be helped.”
Hoshizono didn't seem enthused.
“First, let's discuss Mr. Iwagishi's actions – I believe he finished dinner around nine o'clock.”
“It was a bit after nine,” said Asako.
“I see, after nine... Did anyone see Mr. Iwagishi after that? Did he go directly back to his lodge? What do you think, Mr. Zaino?”
When Hoshizono addressed him, Zaino slowly looked up.
“Yes, I believe he did go directly back to his lodge.”
He spoke in an unenthusiastic tone. Kazuo felt that he'd been acting rather careless for a while now. Even though they might be about to expose the culprit, he showed no enthusiasm for participating. Thinking on it, he'd even left preparing the ramen to Asako. But then again, his boss was the victim. Even if he wasn't shocked or saddened, he must have been at a loss, thinking about how he'd have to deal with the aftermath. Especially since Zaino appeared to be very close to the president, he might wind up having to take care of everything that happened by himself. If he was preoccupied with that, his attitude was understandable. Of course, that was assuming he wasn't the culprit and just afraid he'd be found out soon.
“What about the rest of you? Did anyone see Mr. Iwagishi after dinner?”
Hoshizono looked around at everyone.
“I didn't.”
Yumi said so, and Sagashima and Akane both shook their heads.
“Then Mr. Iwagishi went to his lodge after nine. We can assume that the crime took place between then and sunrise this morning. The culprit couldn't have killed Mr. Iwagishi after sunrise – there was too much risk they'd be seen. I believe it's safe to assume he was murdered before around 6:00 A.M. That period, approximately 9:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M., was when the murder took place. Does anyone disagree with that?”
“No.”
Akane answered for the group.
“Next, I'd like to ask where you were and what you were doing during that time. In other words, your alibis. I'd like each of you to declare your alibis one by one. The police will want to hear them, too, so let's get them all together now.”
Hearing Hoshizono ask, Kazuo smiled internally. He was impressed. He'd overheard the argument at Iwagishi's lodge around 11:00 P.M. Normally, around that time would be the period an alibi would be most useful for, but he'd purposefully asked for a broad range without limiting the times. It was a trick. Since the culprit almost certainly didn't know that Kazuo had eavesdropped., it would be easier to expose them if they kept it a secret for now. Hoshizono must have figured that far. Beneath that handsome mask, he was surprisingly shrewd.
“I'll start, since mine's easy enough to explain.”
Akane started them off.
“It was after 9:00 when we finished dinner, was it? Then I went back to my lodge and went straight to work, finished up I think around 5:00, then went straight to bed... It sounds like an elementary schooler's 'what I did on summer vacation' report, but that's all there is.”
“Simple enough. So you went straight back to your lodge after dinner and never left.”
“Yes. You don't have to believe me, but I'd like to be removed from the suspect list if possible.”
“Ah, no, I'm not trying to identify suspects, I'm... Well, whatever. So, did you notice anything in particular?”
“I was in a hurry because I have a deadline coming up, so I didn't pay much attention to what was going on outside.”
“Alright then. What about you, Mr. Zaino?”
Zaino's expression didn't change in the slightest.
“After dinner, I went to the kitchen and prepared this morning's breakfast. I bathed around 10:00 P.M., then went to my room – the staff room – and read a book. I went to bed after 12:00.”
“And you never saw Mr. Iwagishi?”
“That's correct.”
“I see. Did you notice anything?”
“I didn't notice anything in particular... It was cold that night, and I woke up once to the sound of the wind, but I don't know what time that was.”
Sagashima went next.
“My case is pretty simple, too.”
He sounded dull as ever.
“I went straight to my lodge after dinner and read this.”
He pointed to the foreign book on the table.
“I went to bed around 1:00 A.M., I think. I didn't bathe because I had a bit of a cold. That's all.”
“Sagashima, you were right next to Iwagishi's lodge, weren't you?” asked Akane. “Did you notice anything? Noises, screams, anything at all?”
“No, I didn't. I'm a deep sleeper.”
Sagashima looked up at them.
“I'll go next. All I have to do is say what I did last night, right?”
Mikiko seemed to have finally grasped what was going on, and began to explain herself.
“After dinner, Mr. Hoshizono, Yumi, and I went upstairs and talked. He told us interesting stories until... how long were we up there?”
“Until about 11:00, I think,” said Yumi.
“Right, around ten minutes to,” Hoshizono elaborated.
“We stayed upstairs until about 10 minutes before 11:00, then I went straight back to my lodge and went to bed. That's all.”
Mikiko's tone was surprisingly matter-of-fact. Yumi went next.
“I did the same thing. I went straight to my lodge and fell asleep.”
“You didn't bathe?”
At Hoshizono's question, Yumi frowned.
“It's 'cause the bathroom looked kinda dirty and smelly.”
Akane laughed at her straightforwardness, then asked something.
“So you two went straight to your separate lodges then went to sleep?”
“Yeah. Is there something wrong with that?”
“Nothing, really, I was just curious.”
Akane gestured with her cigarette. Kazuo was a bit surprised, too. He had the impression those girls were the types to chatter away until late into the night as though they were on a school trip. Thinking on it, maybe they weren't as good friends as they looked.
“May I go next?” Asako asked modestly.
“After dinner, I brought Ms. Akane's bags to her room. Then I came back here and stayed on the second floor from about 9:30 to 10:30. I was with Mr. Sugishita, not Mr. Hoshizono and the others.”
Hoshizono raised an eyebrow and gave him a teasing look that seemed to say “Good job”. Kazuo glared back at him. Now wasn't the time for that...
“Afterwards, I went back to Ms. Akane's lodge. I think it was a bit before 11:00, but I don't recall the exact time. Do you, ma'am?”
“I was too focused on my word processor.”
“I left her a pot of coffee and asked if she wanted anything else, then went straight to my lodge. I don't know what happened afterwards; I went straight to bed. I didn't notice anything unusual.”
Asako's words were clear and unforced. Kazuo watched her demeanor carefully, but he didn't think she was lying.
“Then next is my turn.”
Hoshizono pretentiously raised a finger.
“I was upstairs with Yumi and Mikiko until about about ten minutes before 11:00, as they said. Then I went to my lodge and wrote for a bit as I waited for Kazuo. You arrived not long after 11:00, didn't you?”
“That's right.”
Kazuo nodded.
“I had a meeting with Kazuo, and he left around 11:30. Afterwards, I was the same as everyone else. I went to bed and noticed nothing unusual.”
“You also passed on the bath?” Akane asked.
“Yes. I thought it might be nice to take a bath in this atmosphere, but I just couldn't get comfortable bathing with strangers around,” Hoshizono replied with an amiable smile.
“I believe that will be all. You're the only one left, Kazuo.”
“Right.”
Kazuo opened his mouth.
“After dinner, I took a short rest in my room, then went upstairs, saw Ms. Hayasawa, and had a chat with her. That was from about 9:30 to 10:30, just as Ms. Hayasawa said. Afterwards, I took a bath – it must have been at a different time than Mr. Zaino, because we didn't see each other – and then I went to Mr. Hoshizono's lodge. I'm sure of the time. It was at exactly 11:30. After that, I came back here and went to bed. I didn't notice anything unusual.”
Nobody had any questions. Hoshizono took a deep breath.
“If you look at it this way, nobody has a perfect alibi. Some of you appear to be able to vouch for each other until about 11:00, but after that, everyone went their separate ways.”
“That's only natural, isn't it? It was in the middle of the night.”
Yumi said something totally unhelpful.
But Kazuo was sure someone was lying. The voice he'd overheard at 11:00 P.M... Based on what he'd heard, it probably belonged to someone here. Sagashima and Zaino had both claimed to have been alone the whole time after dinner, and Yumi and Mikiko had also gone their separate ways before 11:00. Asako claimed to have arrived at Akane's lodge a bit before 11:00, but there was no proof either of them hadn't come from Iwagishi's lodge immediately before. At that moment, everyone was alone. Kazuo didn't know who, but someone was giving false testimony – hiding that they'd gone to Iwagishi's lodge after he'd left. Kazuo subtly looked at everyone around the table, but of course, he couldn't identify the culprit just by looking.
“If we believe all your stories...”
Hoshizono breezily crossed his arms.
“That would mean none of you went to Mr. Iwagishi's lodge last night.”
“Oh, right, because everyone here is so trustworthy,” said Akane.
In case it wasn't clear, she was being sarcastic.
“But, Ms. Kusabuki...”
Hoshizono ran a hand through his soft hair.
“Perhaps the culprit really isn't one of us.”
“That's exactly what I was about to say.”
Sagashima suddenly interrupted them in a low, heavy voice.
“The culprit must have come from outside.”
“Where did they come from?”
Yumi's question made Sagashima's monkey face form a rictus grin.
“The sky, of course. Don't forget the crop circle. It's a UFO's landing site.”
“Are you saying... the culprit was an alien!?”
Akane was stunned. Sagashima either didn't notice, or didn't care.
“It could have been cattle mutilation.”
Mikiko looked at him in understandable confusion.
“What's cattle mutilation? You were talking about that earlier.”
Yes, he had said that before. Cattle mutilation or whatever... But how could this old man be talking about something like that at a time like this? Kazuo was stunned into silence. He wondered if this guy had worms in his brain... The others appeared to be thinking along the same lines, and were starring at the poor man as though he were the alien. Even Zaino looked dumbfounded.
“Cattle mutilation is a form of biological experimentation performed by aliens.”
Sagashima, looking completely serious, went on without care for the tense atmosphere in the room.
“Recently, there have been a series of strange incidents on U.S. farms in Ohio and Iowa. Cattle on the farms have been killed in the most unusual ways. For example, a cow was found with a circular hole in the side of its torso. The organs had all been extracted through the hole, which was so neat it looked like it had been cut with a scalpel. Moreover, there wasn't a drop of blood left in the carcass. It was a method of killing that human science can't conceive of.”
Naturally, nobody had any response to that. Sagashima, totally unconcerned with what his audience thought, leaned forward towards them all.
“Another cow had all its skin peeled off, another had its tongue removed, another had its ears and eyelids removed, another had all four legs broken as though it had been dropped from a great height. The one feature they all had in common was being drained of their blood.”
“Did the aliens do that?”
Mikiko sounded afraid. Whether of the story or the teller, Kazuo couldn't tell.
“Of course. Human beings can't and don't need to kill like that. Besides, there were no human footprints, tire tracks, or any other traces left at the scenes. Moreover, there have been reports of UFOs seen in the skies over the areas where such incidents take place.”
Sagashima's voice was gradually filling with emotion.
“There are peaceful alien species who come to Earth to study our ecology and our civilization, but there are also unfriendly, ruthless species who don't hesitate to take human and alien life for their experiments – to them, Earthlings may be nothing more than laboratory animals, the same way we view rabbits and guinea pigs. They're completely different forms of life, so it's impossible to understand what they're thinking.
“So aliens kill people, too, and not just cows?” Mikiko couldn't restrain herself from asking any more.
“There was an incident in New Zealand in 1943: two farmers were burned to death by aliens in a corn field. They tried to take the farmers into their UFO, but when they resisted, the aliens suddenly burned them both to death with devices attached to their chests. The bodies were instantly charred through – probably by some sort of heat ray using high-purity diamonds or some other mineral – and a third farmer nearby saw the whole thing. In front of the astonished witness, they got back into their UFO and flew away.”
The man took on a more somber tone.
“There was another case similar to this in northern England in 1976 – 1976? I don't remember the exact year. A farmer and his wife were sleeping when there was a violent crash and a blinding light from their garden. The couple jumped out of bed and were astonished to find an alien in a silver protective suit and helmet in their room. It couldn't have been a human; it was three meters tall and had a deep purple face. Like in the case in New Zealand, the alien tried to take the husband, but the wife tried to resist and grabbed a hunting rifle, but every shot bounced off the alien's suit. The alien must have decided that taking them away with such fierce resistance was impossible, so it suddenly strangled the man to death. In less than five seconds, he was dead. Afterwards, the alien gave up on them and went outside. Then, the sound and light both disappeared into the sky. The wife, who survived the incident, told her story. Sir George Watts, a renowned British UFO researcher, wrote a detailed report on the incident. It's called the Jessica Reid incident, after the wife's name, and it's a famous case among those in the know. How about it? Doesn't it sound similar to this case?”
“Hey Mr. Hoshizono, do you think the culprit could have snuck in from outside?”
Yumi completely ignored his question. Sagashima, as the one being ignored, twisted his face into an expression of bone-deep resentment.
“If they aren't one of us, then I suppose that's the only conclusion.”
Hoshizono spoke as though he weren't discussing a real corpse two buildings away.
“You must be right. He must have snuck by in the middle of the night.”
Yumi said that, but Akane had an objection.
“They would have had to use a car to get here, since it was mentioned before that we aren't near any mountain climbing routes. If a car came in the middle of the night, I would have heard it even if I was sleeping.”
“I didn't hear anything like that,” Zaino added.
It seemed everyone had agreed to pretend Sagashima's rant hadn't happened. Hoshizono put a finger on his brow and said:
“What if they got out of the car halfway up the road and came the rest of the way on foot? That way nobody would have heard them.”
“Yeah! Yeah! That must be it!” Yumi cheered, raising both hands in the air. “If they came after dark, no one would have seen them, either.”
“But in that case, how did they know where Iwagishi would be?”
Akane was scratching her head.
“We decided who would stay in which lodge after dinner, didn't we? I don't think there's any way a culprit from the outside could know which lodge held their target.”
“Actually, ma'am...”
Asako sounded hesitant.
“Couldn't they have come while we were eating and hidden somewhere nearby? Then, that night, after secretly observing which lodge Mr. Iwagishi went into, they could sneak in while he was asleep.”
“Whoa, Ms. Hayasawa, you're pretty sharp.”
Mikiko was impressed. Hoshizono gave a nod.
“I see. I can't prove that didn't happen, but what if the people from the restaurant saw the car parked on their way out?”
“That's no good, Hoshizono, the road was narrow. It's only one lane wide. If they parked their car there, the people from the restaurant wouldn't have been able to go home.”
Akane countered, but Kazuo had something to say.
“Ms. Kusabuki, they didn't have to be in the middle of the road. If they parked off-road, they could have avoided blocking traffic. Even though they would have had to go a long way, it wasn't that windy last night, so there was nothing stopping them from going on foot. When the restaurant van drove by, they hid somewhere in the grass or something on the side of the road.”
“Yes, that is quite the theory, isn't it?”
Akane looked at Kazuo with a sensual gaze.
“But in that case, your theory contradicts the girl's. Iwagishi went to his lodge a bit after 9:00, but the people from the restaurant left a bit before that – how could the murderer, who was still coming up the road at the time, have seen Iwagishi enter his lodge?”
“I can explain that, too, ma'am.”
Asako wasn't done.
“They didn't have to walk here at night; they could have easily arrived while it was still light out. The murderer was here long before any of us, lurking somewhere, waiting to identify Mr. Iwagishi's lodge.”
“Good answer. I was thinking the same thing.”
Akane gave a radiant smile. It seemed she knew everything from the beginning and was just testing the others with her rebuttals. Like Hoshizono, she was amazingly smart.
“Instead of thinking so hard about all that...”
Yumi tilted her head as she asked.
“Couldn't the people from the restaurant have been the culprits, and they just left their car and walked back after leaving?”
“Ohoho, now that's a possibility I hadn't thought of.”
Akane sounded genuinely surprised.
“I didn't think of something so simple, but it is possible one of them stayed behind.”
“Indeed, it makes sense,” Hoshizono said with a nod.
Asako was still a bit hesitant.
“There is one flaw with this theory, though. The culprit would have had to wait outside in the snow until the time of the crime.”
“That shouldn't be that much of a problem,” said Akane.
“Mountain climbers have used bivouac shelters to survive even at the eighth station of Everest. If you know what you're doing, you can survive in the cold.”
“Yes, I'm sure that's it,” said Yumi.
“Is he still here, out in the snow somewhere?”
Mikiko looked worried. Hoshizono waved a finger side to side.
“No, I don't think so. They've already achieved their goal, so I'm sure they'd already fled down the mountain by sunrise.”
Akane broadly folded her arms like an old man.
“It's not impossible... The killer, who had something against Iwagishi, knew he was coming here and chased him – or came ahead of him – and waited until he was alone at night to kill him. A lodge would be easy to break into, and there would be fewer potential witnesses around than in Tokyo. What do you think, Mr. Zaino? Did someone have it out for Iwagishi? Anyone with a grudge?”
“Even if you ask me that...”
“You've been distracted for a while now. Is that what you were thinking of? You must know, the president of your company didn't exactly have a reputation for running an ethical business. He was a land shark who stole people's land and drove families to suicide.”
“I don't care what you say, this murder wasn't an act of God or karma.”
Zaino gave a weak laugh, but Akane didn't let up.
“Or were you thinking of something else? Something like 'how can I escape from here'?”
“Surely you can't be serious.”
Zaino stared at Akane in shock.
“You've gone too far, ma'am. I could never kill anyone, even if-”
“Even if... what?”
Akane teased him, and Zaino looked down at the table with a tense expression.
“No, it's nothing. If you all doubt me, then you are wrong. I am not the culprit. I did not do this.”
“Sorry if it sounded like that. I promise I didn't mean it.”
Akane sounded calm as could be. She wasn't a woman Kazuo wanted to make an enemy of. Yumi and Mikiko shared a look, then turned to Zaino with suspicion.
Hoshizono put on a cheerful voice in an attempted to clear the air.
“As I said earlier, we're just compiling testimonies now. It's a waste of time trying to identify the culprit without any evidence. At any rate, it appears we'll have to search the area. If the culprit did come from the outside, they must have left traces.”
“That would be for the better for all of us, wouldn't it?”
Akane's voice dripped with venom. Yumi looked concerned.
“But who's going to go outside and look? It's so cold outside.”
“Well, it's dangerous with all that wind, so I think it would be better to send a man, especially a young one,” Hoshizono said nonchalantly.
Everyone in the room (except Sagashima) turned to look at Kazuo.
“...Huh?”
Hoshizono nodded at him.
“You're the best person for the job. Mr. Sagashima is still suffering from his burns, and Mr. Zaino appears tired as well.”
“Um, sir, you-”
“I don't like the cold.”
Hoshizono smiled. If there had been a TV camera present, housewives across the country would have sighed in unison.
You can't be serious, sir, are you really sending me out there alone? Kazuo would have looked up at the sky if the ceiling weren't in the way. He guessed being a detective's assistant wasn't easy...
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