Содзи Симада - Murder in the Crooked House

“No, it wasn’t!”

“Then he must have been an incredibly tall man. We’re pretty high up.”

There was a rapping noise. Michio Kanai was there, knocking on the already open door.

“What’s happening?”

“This young lady seems to have suffered a nightmare.”

“It wasn’t a nightmare! Mr Kanai, did you hear a man yell?”

“Yes, I believe I did hear something.”

“Actually, so did I. I thought it was just a dream,” said Kozaburo. “That’s why I got up in the first place.”

The next day was bright and sunny, but winter mornings in the far north of Hokkaido are always cold, even with the heating on. The guests were grateful for the crackling fire in the living room. It didn’t matter how many kinds of home heating systems that human beings came up with, nothing could beat a simple fire with an open flame. Right now, as if in proof of this fact, each guest as he or she came down was drawn instinctively towards the fire, and soon everyone had gathered around the curved brick fireplace.

To Kumi’s disbelief there were many guests who knew absolutely nothing of the mysterious bearded stranger, nor the blood-curdling roar, or even her own screams. Eiko wasn’t down yet, so Kumi decided to treat everyone to a passionate retelling of last night’s events. Her audience consisted of Mr and Mrs Kanai, Sasaki, and Yoshihiko Hamamoto, but they all seemed a little dubious about her story. Kumi felt frustrated that she didn’t seem to be able to communicate her terror sufficiently.

On the other hand, she reflected, it wasn’t all that surprising. Even Kumi herself was finding it difficult to reimagine last night’s events in the cheerful morning light. The terror she had experienced now felt as if it had been a dream after all. The Kanais were outright smirking.

“So you think the roaring man and the one with the strange face at your window were one and the same?” Yoshihiko asked.

“Yes… Well, probably.”

To be honest, this was the first time Kumi had really made the connection.

“But there are no footprints in the snow.”

Sasaki’s voice came from a little way off. Everyone turned to look. He’d opened the window and was leaning out observing the back garden.

“That area over there would be right under your bedroom window, but there’s not a single footprint. The snow is pristine.”

Hearing this, Kumi felt as if she were in another dream right now. She went silent. What could that have been last night? That horrifying face that wasn’t quite human?

Togai, who had spent the rest of the previous evening by himself, drawing a diagram of the flower bed, was the next to appear in the salon, followed closely by Kozaburo Hamamoto.

“Hey! Weather’s really cleared up, hasn’t it?”

Kikuoka was preceded by his usual bellow. Everyone was now awake and gathered in the salon.

The morning sun was indeed radiant. Now that it had risen sufficiently in the sky, the ground had turned into a giant reflecting plate and was almost painfully dazzling to look at.

Kikuoka, too, was ignorant of all the uproar involving Kumi the previous night. He explained that he’d taken a sleeping pill. Knowing well already what his reaction would be, Kumi didn’t mention it to him.

The familiar shrill tones of the mistress of the mansion suddenly filled the room.

“Hello, everyone! It’s about time for breakfast. Shall we move to the table?”

The topic of conversation at the breakfast table was still Kumi’s adventure. After a while, Kikuoka noticed that his chauffeur was missing.

“Looks like young Ueda’s not up yet. Typical! He’s always waltzing in late like he thinks he’s the boss.”

Eiko realized that Kikuoka was right. But she couldn’t decide whether to go and call him or not.

“I’ll go and get him,” Sasaki offered. He opened the French windows, and stepping easily out into the snow, set off in the direction of Room 10, where Ueda was staying.

“Please, let’s not wait for them, or the food’ll be cold,” Eiko urged the guests, and everyone began to eat.

Sasaki took rather longer than expected, but eventually he returned.

“Is he up?” Eiko asked.

“Well…” Sasaki hesitated. “It’s a bit weird.”

Everyone stopped eating to stare at him.

“There’s no answer.”

“Maybe he’s just gone out somewhere?”

“No, I don’t think so. The door’s locked from the inside.”

Eiko’s chair made a loud scraping noise as she got swiftly to her feet. Togai got up too. Kikuoka and Kanai exchanged looks, and then the whole company got to their feet and followed Eiko out into the snow. They couldn’t help noticing that there were only two sets of footprints in the soft snow—Sasaki’s—going out and coming back.

“It was strange that he didn’t reply but there’s one more thing…”

Sasaki pointed towards the west corner of the main building where Room 10 was situated. There was a dark figure lying in the snow. The whole party recoiled in shock. If that body had been lying in the snow for a while, then it must surely be dead. A corpse. Was that Kazuya Ueda?

Their second reaction was to turn and stare at Sasaki. How had he not mentioned this already? And why was he so composed right now?

Sasaki saw the way everyone was looking at him, but he apparently had nothing to say.

Still confused by Sasaki’s demeanour, the guests began to make their way towards the corpse. The closer they got, the stranger the sight. Strewn around the figure in the snow was a whole array of objects, almost as if his possessions had been thrown there with him. But on closer examination they were not exactly his possessions.

Some members of the party, including the butler, Kohei Hayakawa, and Kumi Aikura were seized with a bad premonition and found their feet barely able to move any farther.

When they finally reached the scene, everyone, without exception, was utterly dumbfounded. But at least they finally understood Sasaki’s strange nonchalance.

Kozaburo Hamamoto let out a great shout and fell to his knees, reaching out to touch the figure, half buried by the snow. It was one of his antiques, a life-sized puppet-like doll. Everyone was amazed of course that this doll, which should have been up in Room 3, the antiques and curios storeroom, was lying out here in the snow, but what was more shocking was the way its limbs had been pulled apart. There was only one leg left attached to the body; both arms and the other leg were scattered around in the snow. Why?

For Sasaki and Togai, Kikuoka and Kanai, and all of the house staff, this wasn’t the first time they’d seen this doll. Even without looking too closely they knew at once what it was. It was an antique that Kozaburo had bought in the former Czechoslovakia, back when he’d lived in Europe. He had nicknamed it “Golem”.

Right now it had been pulled apart at the arms and one leg joint, and the various wooden pieces lay partially buried in the snow. Kozaburo immediately began to gather them up, carefully brushing the snow off each piece.

Sasaki wanted to tell him to leave it alone, not to touch anything, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to say it. Did something like this qualify as a crime scene?

“I can’t find his head!”

Kozaburo sounded desperate. Everyone else immediately began to search for the doll’s head, but it soon became clear that it wasn’t anywhere around.

The imprints left after removing Golem’s arms, legs and torso from the snow were rather deep, and so it could be assumed they had been scattered there while it was still snowing.

Kozaburo announced he was going to take Golem back to the salon and set off in that direction. To him, the doll was a precious collector’s piece.