Chapter 55
The man was very tall and also quite skilled.
All this information was vague, only that look was very direct.
Back in the car, Rina glanced at Kurosawa Shiran and found that he didn't seem to be acting strangely.
Standing behind Rokuzo, he certainly couldn't see what that person was looking at.
However, she remembered that there was an abandoned car parked across the street, its windows covered in dust, but she could still make out some things about it.
Kurosawa Shiran: "Sister, why don't you keep asking?"
Rina pressed her palm down, picked up her thermos, and took a sip of rose tea. "I believe what I see more than other lies."
They spent nearly four hours waiting for Rokuzang to appear; how could they possibly let him go so easily?
A look of confusion flashed across Kurosawa Shiran's eyes, but he quickly figured it out.
Liuzang furtively lowered his hat, walked onto a main road, and hailed a taxi.
Kurosawa Shiran started the car and followed.
About half an hour later, the taxi stopped at a tavern. After getting out of the car, Rokuzo looked around at the crowd warily, then walked into the tavern with his head down.
Rina glanced at Kurosawa Shiran, and the two got out of the car in perfect unison, keeping their distance from Rokuzo, and entered the tavern.
He was a drug addict, sneaky and furtive, so naturally he didn't come to a good place.
To avoid causing unnecessary trouble, Rina took Kurozawa Shiran's arm, pretending to be a couple deeply in love.
Well, it's not exactly pretending; they were a couple, though it might not look like they were in the throes of passionate love.
The lights were dimmed, and the bar was pitch black, making it seem like it wasn't open for business yet. However, it still caught the attention of the waiter. Kurosawa Shiran saw him turn around, pick up the walkie-talkie, and say something.
They walked towards them to negotiate.
Kurosawa Shiran greeted the waiter politely, "Is this bar not open yet?"
The waiter blocked Rina's view and said in a friendly manner, "Yes, sir, the bar is still under renovation. Please come back another time with your girlfriend. As an apology, we can give you a coupon that will give you a 50% discount."
Rina tiptoed and climbed onto Kurosawa Shiran's shoulder, raising her gaze to instantly catch the transaction between Rokuzo and the bartender, as well as the bartender's face.
Rina had met that person before. Five years ago, he joined a murder company and was skilled at cross-dressing to carry out assassinations and other activities.
His most distinctive feature is that he likes to keep his hair long and wears seven earrings in his left ear.
The waiter in front of me was also an assassin; he had calluses on the lower part of his palms and the base of his thumbs, clearly caused by long-term gun handling.
"My girlfriend had a little to drink." Kurosawa Shiran suddenly felt an intense, bone-deep itch ravaging his reason.
He took the coupon, then naturally put his arm around Rina's waist and left.
The two returned to the car, and Rina breathed a sigh of relief.
What started as a simple tracking operation turned into a sting operation that led them into a den of assassins.
Kurosawa Shiran looked intently at Rina, "Sister, has our lead gone cold?"
“After Dante died, the police increased the number of armed men in this area. A mob without a leader is just a disorganized mess. Recently, quite a few Mafia members have been arrested, and these people are now having difficulty making a living,” Lina said, looking at the bar across the street with mixed feelings. “For someone who can’t even afford lunch to come here to trade nearly twenty grams of drugs, it at least shows that he did receive a bribe.”
Kurosawa Shiran said in a low voice, "They come from an assassin organization called Black Spider. There are rumors that this organization has been taken over by some politicians."
Rina raised an eyebrow. "Politician?"
“I’ve only heard rumors, and I don’t know the specifics,” Kurosawa Shiran paused for a moment, “but this organization usually operates abroad, so their sudden appearance in Japan must mean something has happened.”
After saying that, he looked at her with a pleading expression, blinking his eyes like a large dog waiting for praise, his tail wagging back and forth.
"......"
Rina lifted his chin and kissed his forehead.
Kurosawa Shiran's lips curled up into a smile. "There's a mayoral election coming up soon."
-
Sagara retrieved the video footage from that restaurant.
The footage shows that Munakata and Tokiko did indeed have an argument. Tokiko left with her bag, while Munakata returned, ate his meal, paid the bill, and left. He did not communicate with anyone or make or receive any phone calls during this time.
Sagara drove around the area, while Sato walked about two kilometers west along the main road to a bar.
After questioning the bar owner, he also retrieved the surveillance footage, which was exactly what he had expected.
Zongfang did indeed come here to drink.
During the conversation, besides chatting with the bartender for a while, three women came up to strike up a conversation with me.
Sato obtained the personal information of these four people and quickly began questioning them.
First, he asked the bartender. He serves many customers every day, so he hardly remembers some of them. But because Zongfang's eyes were very red, as if he had just been crying, he paid special attention to him.
"Ah, that man ordered a Long Island Iced Tea and sat down in a corner to drink alone. I chatted with him for a bit, but he didn't say anything."
Sagara asked, "Is there anything unusual about him?"
The bartender shook his head. "Young people, it's normal for them to experience heartbreak and job loss, but he seems like a very sensitive person."
Sato sent the photos of the three women back to the police station. About ten minutes later, they called and gave him a detailed account of the three women.
The first woman who approached him was Chiyo Momoyama, 27 years old, unemployed, and unmarried. The other woman was a regular at bars and nightclubs, and had been arrested and detained for a period of time last year for [illegal activities]. She had complicated social relationships.
The second one is a high school student named Sakurai Kanna. She is eighteen years old, from out of town, has very poor grades, often skips classes, and is a repeat student.
The third is a university professor, Hanazawa Yu, 29 years old, a law student, an elite.
Unlike the previous two, who, judging from the footage, both initiated conversations with Munakata by sitting down next to him, Momoyama Chiyo chatted for about ten minutes with ambiguous behavior, but Munakata maintained his distance. Momoyama Chiyo eventually slipped his contact information into the pocket of his suit jacket and left. The second woman, Sakurai Kanna, had an even shorter conversation; she probably wanted his contact information, but Munakata refused, and they parted after a few brief words. As for Hanazawa Yu, she initiated the conversation after Munakata accidentally spilled his drink on her when he got up.
These three people all seemed to be meeting Zong Fang for the first time, and they didn't notice anything amiss.
Sagara copied down a video and said, "When Munakata left the bar, he wasn't with anyone, but judging from his gait, he was unsteady on his feet, so he was definitely drunk."
The bar owner looked over curiously and couldn't help but ask, "Officer, what's going on here?"
Sato did not answer: "If anyone has seen this man in the photo, go to the police station immediately."
The shopkeeper nodded politely. "I heard there was an incident in the North District yesterday. The police dug up several bodies from the reeds?"
Sato glanced at him, not intending to say anything, but then a waiter ran over from the doorway with a newspaper in his hand.
"Boss, today's newspapers are selling like hotcakes!"
Sato suddenly had a bad feeling. He took the newspaper first, unfolded it, and sure enough, the news of the nine male corpses pulled out of Lover's Lake was reported.
Nine male corpses are buried deep beneath Lover's Lake; a heartless man suffers retribution?
Sagara adjusted his glasses and said truthfully, "This title seems to be a possible approach to the investigation."
"Nine times nine, nine bodies?!" The bar owner's eyes widened like saucers. "Are you kidding me? Men! Jack the Ripper's serial killers also murdered women!"
This case has inevitably caused great social panic, which Sato had anticipated, but he did not expect it to happen so quickly.
Sagara followed Sato back to the car and reported the information they had just gathered. "I asked people near the bar, but no one seemed to recognize the person in the photo. I also checked the security cameras on this street, but only two places had cameras installed, and one of them was broken. I only copied one of them."
As soon as he finished speaking, Sato's phone rang. Needless to say, he knew that the director must have seen the newspaper and was putting pressure on him.
After the call was connected, the bureau chief gave him a firm order: he must solve the case.
In fact, even if he didn't say it, Sato was under considerable pressure, after all, this was the most heinous case in the country in the last twenty years.
The atmosphere inside the car fell into a deathly silence.
Sagara carefully took out his notebook and reorganized the clues. "The DNA test results will be available tomorrow, Senpai. Are we going to find those three people?"
"What else?" Sato said, and then pulled the car over to the side of the road.
Sagara glanced at the road sign and realized that he had arrived at the neighborhood where Momoyama Chiyo lived.
After getting off the bus, Sato reached into his pants pocket, put a piece of candy in his mouth, and chewed it.
The environment in this neighborhood is dirty and messy. The trash cans at the entrance have probably not been emptied for a long time, and the garbage has piled up into small mountains around them.
The guardhouse was also sealed off.
Sato arrived at the third floor of the second row of apartment buildings according to the address provided by the bar owner. Just as he was about to ring the doorbell, he found that the thing was broken and covered in dust.
If it weren't for the pile of takeout boxes at the door, Sagara would have suspected that no one lived in the house.
When Momoyama Chiyo heard the knock on the door, she casually put on a hoodie and strolled leisurely to the entrance.
Looking through the peephole, she saw two completely unfamiliar men on the other side. Without a second thought, Momoyama Chiyo turned around, climbed back into bed, and continued sleeping.
Sato knocked on the door a few more times and said, "Police!"
This time, Momoyama Chiyo opened the door and said lazily, "What is it?"
Sato flashed his police badge: "Where were you last night?"
Chiyo Momoyama replied dismissively, "Let's talk about love."
Sagara pressed further, "You spent the whole night in love?"
Chiyo Momoyama gave him a mocking look. "What else? When you and your girlfriend are going through a rough patch, are you going to suddenly pull your things out and say you need to go out for a bit?"
Sagara's face flushed, and he opened his mouth but didn't know what to say.
Sato said coldly, "Your boyfriend's name and phone number."
“I also want to know. He kept saying he liked me when we were in bed, but then he disappeared first thing this morning,” Momoyama Chiyo smiled. “Could you help me look into it, officer? I really like that man.”
Sato: "Please cooperate with the investigation."
Chiyo Momoyama countered, "Wasn't I detailed enough? Do I need to elaborate? What method, where?"
Sato: "Where?"
Chiyo Momoyama sensed a different kind of seriousness in his words, but she remained composed and said, "The first time in the entryway, from the front—"
She was very wary of the police and also loathed them.
Sato interrupted her: "Which hotel?"
Momoyama Chiyo looked him up and down and said, "Divine Picture."
Sato took a photo out of his pocket: "Have you seen this man before?"
Chiyo Momoyama narrowed her eyes slightly. "I've met you. I even left my contact information at the bar's front desk."
Sato felt a headache coming on and asked a series of questions, but Momoyama Chiyo was extremely uncooperative and kept spouting useless nonsense.
After leaving the residential area, I could only make another call to the police department and ask them to send someone to investigate the Shentu Hotel.
Sato drove along National Route 3, heading towards the police station.
Just now, Sagara, sitting in the passenger seat, called Sakurai Kanna's homeroom teacher, who said that Sakurai Kanna had sneaked out of the dormitory that night and hadn't returned to class today.
When Hanazawa Yu called, the other party said that he was on a business trip out of town and would not be back until tomorrow at the earliest.
That night, Sato's two-month-long attempt to quit smoking failed, and he had to call Yukiho back to tell her that he had to work overtime and couldn't celebrate their wedding anniversary.
Time ticked by, and Sagara repeatedly watched the footage of Munakata leaving the bar, and then watched the footage of the West Street area.
He said, "He must have gone east." But the surveillance cameras on the east side happened to be broken.
A hint of doubt arose in Sato's heart. He rewound the video a few seconds, pausing it at the moment Munakata stepped out of the bar, glancing at the street to the west.
With limited surveillance coverage, they couldn't confirm what Zongfang was looking at. Just then, a heart-wrenching wail came from the police station entrance.
Zongfang's parents came to the police station.
As Shizi helped the elderly man in his sixties up, the sorrow in her heart was something that others could not understand.
The old woman leaned against the cold wall of the morgue, trembling and weeping uncontrollably.
"Officer, my son is a kind and gentle man who has never made enemies in his life. How could something like this happen to him?"
"How could anyone be so heartless as to kill someone?"
"What did he do wrong? What did he do wrong?"
The man looked at the approaching police officer, remained silent for a long time, and then asked, "Can you find the murderer?"
Sato had experienced this scene many times before, recalling a former colleague's words: "We will do our best."
Munakata's father, his face expressionless, shifted his gaze to Sagara's face. "Can you find the murderer?"
Sagara met his gaze, his voice tense but firm, "He must go to the execution ground."
Zongfang's father bent down and helped his wife to her feet. The two elderly people supported each other as they left the police station.
Sato glanced at Sagara, lit a cigarette, and exhaled, his entire face engulfed in smoke.
Sagara silently returned to his office, sat down at his desk, and stared at the whiteboard.
Miyako came out of the forensic room, carrying a bucket of instant noodles, and sat down.
The two remained silent for some time before Sagara asked, "Senior, do you believe in psychological profiling?"
Miyako nodded: "I've heard of it. It involves combining the victim's characteristics to infer the suspect's personality, lifestyle, and motives."
“Poisoning, wrapping the body in plastic sheeting and dumping it—the killer handled this murder very calmly.” Sagara took a deep breath and continued, “The killer we’re looking for isn’t a criminal gang.”
Miyako: "I roughly estimated the age of the deceased to be between twenty and thirty-five years old. His clothes had been altered, leaving no trace. The only discovery so far is a red synthetic hair in Munakata's mouth."
Sagara thought for a moment: "A wig?"
Miyako hummed in agreement.
The next morning, for the first time ever, all the officers were at their posts in the office more than an hour early.
The forensic department delivered the DNA test reports of the deceased, which showed that six of them were on the missing persons list, while the identities of the remaining three were unknown.
Upon receiving the information, the police quickly conducted background checks on the identities of the six deceased and notified their families to identify the bodies.
After reviewing the information above, Sagara discovered that the social circles of the six people did not overlap at all.
Young salespeople, clerks, college students, third-rate actors, blue-collar workers, cartoonists... even their professions don't overlap.
“It looks like a random killing, but it doesn’t seem like it.” Miyako thought for a moment. “There’s another point: the killer’s timing of the crimes is completely irregular. July, May, April, the earliest one was three years ago.”
Sagara rubbed his fingers together, trying to write down the killer's psychological profile: "Female, between twenty-six and thirty-five years old, an elite, exceptionally capable, fit, cold-hearted, and possessing antisocial personality disorder."
Hearing him say that, a name suddenly popped into Sato's mind. He took a sip of coffee to calm himself down. "I thought there would be a misogyny aspect."
Sagara shook his head. "It wasn't hatred, it was more like punishment. The murderer didn't destroy their bodies when he disposed of them."
Another officer waited until everyone finished speaking and then reported the information he had obtained: "Last night, Sakurai Kanna's parents called. The child has no alibi. She was out alone all night, saying she was going out to clear her head."
Sato said thoughtfully, "There's a high-end beauty salon diagonally across from the bar. In the direction Munakata was looking, there's probably a Porsche parked there."
Sagara said, "Ms. Hanazawa Yu will come to the police station at 10 a.m. to give a statement."
Based on the psychological profile, everyone unanimously pointed to Hanazawa Yu as the prime suspect.
However, Sato felt that the case was not so simple. He thought he should change his approach. But today was destined to be a busy day because he had to follow up on the case, take statements from the five family members of the deceased who visited today, and deal with the reporters blocking the police station entrance.
It seemed like he had no day to catch his breath, and he couldn't help but think of a free man.
She is undoubtedly the most professional one when it comes to finding evidence of the murderer's actions.
-
At seven o'clock in the morning, my phone on the bedside table suddenly rang.
Kurosawa Shiran shifted her gaze from Rina's face, picked up her phone, and looked at the caller, her smile noticeably deepening.
"Who is it?" The voice had a slightly hoarse quality.
Upon hearing this grating voice, Sato's face instantly cracked open, and he gritted his teeth, saying, "Who... is it?"
Why is it this kid answering the phone at this hour?!
In Sato's memory, he was basically the most untrustworthy person.
Sagara was organizing the documents in his hand when he looked up and saw the ferocious and twisted expression on Sato's face, making him want to swallow the phone whole.
He asked with concern, "Senior, what's wrong?"
Sato took a deep breath and gave him a sharp look. "Where's Rina?"
Of course, he was in her arms. As Kurosawa Shiran pulled her into a tight embrace, he kissed Rina's forehead and deliberately made a little noise, "Sister, someone is looking for you."
Rina's sleep quality has been steadily improving these past few days, and she can almost sleep until noon without taking any medication.
Kurosawa Shiran is much better than those sleeping pills.
She mumbled a soft "hmm" without even opening her eyes, reached for the phone, and as the blanket slipped down, the hickeys from her collarbone to her neck were clearly visible.
"What's up?"
Sato took a full minute to react, then his brain started racing, trying to figure out how to get back at the useless boy. But his mouth betrayed him, and he could only stammer, "You and that brat... are together?"
Rina pushed away the fluffy head on her body: "Get to the point."
"That damn brat almost forgot the important matter," Sato said seriously. "The police have recovered nine male corpses from a lake in the northern district."
Rina opened her eyes and woke up almost instantly.
Kurosawa Shiran heard it too, grabbed Rina's waist, and flipped her over, pinning her beneath him.
Sato: "We'll talk about the details later. Come to the police station, do you have time?"
His strong, naked body held her tightly, every inch of his skin brimming with explosive power. Rina quickly realized Kurosawa Shiran's intentions, grabbed his mischievous hand, and couldn't help but kiss his fingertips with a smile. "I'm on my honeymoon with my boyfriend."
The moment their eyes met, Kurosawa Shiran froze for a moment, staring intently at her face, his gaze moving inch by inch.
His gaze was extremely aggressive, making people instinctively feel dangerous.
Sato simply stopped arguing: "It's just a polite gesture, you have to come."
Rina chuckled and hung up the phone.
Kurosawa Shiran: "I'll go prepare breakfast for my sister."
He remembered the doctor's instructions, so he remained very restrained.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
