Содзи Симада - Murder in the Crooked House

“Hmm. Then who was the man who looked into Ms Aikura’s bedroom—the one with the burn scars on his face?”

“There’s no one fitting that description here in the house or in the neighbourhood, right? Nobody in the village has seen anyone like that either. So obviously—”

“Ms Aikura must have been dreaming. But do you really think so? The scream, the lack of footprints… it’s not a straightforward case at all, is it? And you can’t find any motive at all?”

“That’s really the problem. Trying to narrow down the occupants of this mansion to one suspect, well, no matter how difficult it may be, we will get there eventually. But whoever we pick, it always comes back to motive. Not one of the people in this house had a motive for murder. This is the toughest part of the whole thing for us police. But we have Tokyo Headquarters on the job and I’m confident they’re eventually going to come up with something we couldn’t possibly have found by ourselves.”

“I hope so. If you don’t mind my asking, Mr Ushikoshi, if I may call you that, have you been a detective long?”

“About twenty years.”

“I’ve heard that veteran detectives like yourself tend to have very strong intuition when it comes to spotting a criminal. Is there somebody in this case who you’ve got a hunch about?”

“Unfortunately not. But I think it’s going to turn out to be someone quite unexpected… By the way, do you definitely want me to spend the night here?”

“If you could, that would be great.”

“In that case, I need to inform Ozaki. I’m sure he’ll have left the door to our room unlocked for me. I’d better go and check in with him.”

“No need. I’ll just call someone. If I press this button, a bell rings in the salon and the Hayakawas’ room. Chikako will come and we’ll ask her to let Sergeant Ozaki know. She’ll be here right away.”

Minutes later, Chikako Hayakawa appeared, brushing the snow from her head. Kozaburo asked her to let Sergeant Ozaki in Room 15 know that Ushikoshi would stay the night in the tower, and asked her who was still up. Chikako responded that everyone was still awake.

“Wait about thirty more minutes, then feel free to go to bed,” said Kozaburo.

Ushikoshi glanced at the wall clock and saw it was 10.44 p.m.

A couple of minutes after Chikako had left, Eiko appeared at the door.

“Oh, Eiko! What brings you up here?”

“I’m thinking of going to bed soon. I’m really tired.”

“Ah, I see.”

“I was hoping you’d put the bridge up if Chief Inspector Ushikoshi plans to sleep here. The people in the salon are getting cold.”

“Ah, yes, of course. Who’s still there now?”

“Sasaki and Togai. Yoshihiko’s playing billiards with the policeman. And then there’s the Hayakawas and Kajiwara.”

“Do any of them look ready to go to bed?”

“No, not yet. Sasaki and Togai are watching the billiard game.”

“Has Ms Aikura gone up to her room already, then?”

“Her? A long time ago.”

“Got it. Well, you’d better get some sleep.”

Kozaburo saw his daughter out, closed the door and returned to the sofa. He took a sip of his cognac.

“Ah, the ice has all gone.”

His voice was strangely subdued.

“It’s a brutal night, isn’t it? Let’s put on some music. I only have a cassette tape player up here though.”

On the bedside table there was a desktop-sized stereo.

“My daughter always says she hates this one.”

The piano piece that began to play was a tune that Ushikoshi recognized, but he couldn’t put a name to it. He knew that if it was something familiar even to him, then it must be famous, which of course made him hesitate to ask the title. He really didn’t want to show himself up too much. It wouldn’t be good for the future of the investigation.

“I enjoy operas and symphonies and other more grandiose stuff too, but piano compositions are my favourite type of classical music. How about you, Chief Inspector? Do you like to listen to music? What kind do you like?”

“Ah… I, er…”

Ushikoshi shook his head apologetically.

“I’m not musical at all. Can’t sing, I’m tone-deaf. All Beethoven sounds the same to me.”

“I see…”

Kozaburo sounded a little sad to find that this wasn’t a topic the two men could discuss.

“I’ll go and get some more ice.”

He picked up the ice bucket and went into the kitchen.

Ushikoshi heard the sound of the refrigerator door being opened. Kozaburo hadn’t quite shut the kitchen door behind him and Ushikoshi could see Kozaburo through the opening as he moved backwards and forwards in the kitchen.

“This a real blizzard!” said Kozaburo, raising his voice.

“Sure is!” called Ushikoshi in response. The piano music continued, but the blizzard outside was about the same volume. The door from the kitchen opened and Kozaburo reappeared with a full ice bucket. He sat on the bed and dropped some cubes into Ushikoshi’s glass.

“Thank you,” said Ushikoshi, studying Kozaburo’s face. “Is something the matter? You don’t seem very well.”

Kozaburo smiled a little.

“I’m not very good on stormy nights… Anyway, let’s keep drinking until we’ve used up all the ice. Are you up to keeping me company?”

As Kozaburo spoke, the antique wall clock struck eleven.

It was some while later that Kozaburo realized that he’d forgotten about the drawbridge. He and Ushikoshi hurried out into the snowstorm and pulled the chain that raised the bridge, becoming so chilled in the process that it took several more drinks to warm them up again. It was just after midnight by the time the two men got to sleep.

The next morning, in anticipation of the view from the tower, they woke up well before 8. The wind had completely dropped and the sky was no longer full of swirling snowflakes. However, there was no blue sky to be seen; the drift ice sat on a desolate sea under a gloomy sky. There was just one brighter, white cloud over to the east, concealing the morning sun.

But for those used to living in a northern climate, this view was as impressive as any other. It looked as if someone had taken a vast white sheet and placed it on top of the sea, hiding the water completely. How much labour would that have taken to achieve? To Mother Nature it was a breeze.

They lowered the drawbridge. As they were crossing, Ushikoshi noticed a vertical line of metal rungs embedded in the main building wall ahead of them. He guessed it was a kind of ladder for use by someone needing to climb up to the roof of the building.

They arrived in the salon just after 9.00 a.m. Perhaps because most people had stayed up so late the previous night, the only person already awake was Michio Kanai. He was sitting alone at the dining table. The three house-staff members seemed to be in the kitchen, but the rest of the guests must still have been asleep.

The three men greeted each other, and Kanai went back to the newspaper he’d been reading, while Kozaburo went over to the fireplace and took a seat in his favourite rocking chair. Ushikoshi also sat down in a nearby chair.

The firewood burned and the smoke was sucked up by the massive funnel of a chimney. The glass of the windows was all fogged up. It was a perfectly normal morning in the Ice Floe Mansion.

Nevertheless, Chief Inspector Ushikoshi had an uncomfortable feeling. And he soon realized why. Because Sergeant Ozaki and Inspector Okuma had not got up yet. He’d just begun to wonder about this when the salon door burst open and Ozaki and Okuma themselves hurried in.

“I’m sorry, I was a bit tired.” said Ozaki. “Is there anything to report?” he continued, pulling up a chair to the dining table. Ushikoshi got up from his chair by the fire and went over to the table.