Содзи Симада - Murder in the Crooked House

Suddenly Ushikoshi had a thought.

Maybe there was one other way it could have been done. Only the occupants of the ground floor would be able to get in and out of their window. That meant either Sasaki or Togai. Those two had definitely been in the salon at the time of Kikuoka’s murder, but Eiko and Kumi weren’t. Either of those two could have climbed out of the window on the east staircase landing—

“How about a rifle or some other kind of modified gun?”

Ushikoshi’s thought process was rudely interrupted by Okuma’s own musings.

“Some kind of gun that could shoot the knife using a spring mechanism, or elastic. They’d have needed string for that kind of trick—”

“But we’re still stuck on the problem of the stepladder,” said Ozaki. “And how the sofa and coffee table in Room 14 got overturned. Plus, we can’t ignore the signs of a struggle. The killer was definitely inside Room 10.”

Ushikoshi glanced at his watch.

“Yes, we’ve been ignoring that aspect. I think we need to search everyone’s room again. Let’s focus on Mr and Mrs Kanai, Eiko and Kumi. Search for a fishing rod or some kind of pole longer than two metres, or some kind of modified gun or rifle. Also look out for something that could be used as a kind of collapsible stand or step stool. All of those kinds of things.

“Of course we don’t have a warrant, so we’ll need each person’s consent. I’m sure the young students will be happy to let us take a look. And I think with so many people, everyone will probably give in and consent in the end. We’ve still got officers here, haven’t we? Let’s split the task up between them and Anan, preferably all working simultaneously. Let’s not leave out the empty rooms either. And it’s possible that someone’s dumped it out of the window. I want the snow around the whole house thoroughly examined—a wide enough perimeter in case the killer threw it. Oh, and the fireplace too. It’s possible that the killer might have burnt the evidence in the hearth in the salon. Better check just in case.

“Right, let’s get down to the salon. We’ll announce the searches to everyone after lunch. We’ll be careful to ask as politely as possible. Don’t want to go offending the gentry.”

When lunch was over, Ushikoshi and Okuma made their way back to the library in silence, sat down in the exact same chairs as before and watched the sun gradually sink in the sky. They had the feeling that they might be forced to watch the sun again tomorrow, and the day after that too. Neither man felt much like talking.

It wasn’t that he didn’t hear the door open, but Chief Inspector Ushikoshi didn’t feel inclined to turn his head around until he heard his name spoken. His hopes were riding on this result. He could barely look Sergeant Ozaki in the eyes.

“What happened?”

“We searched every room in the house. And every person too. There were no women police officers available, so we’ll probably be fielding complaints from the female contingent.”

Ozaki’s speech was a little more sluggish than usual.

“I see. And?”

“We found absolutely nothing. Nobody was hiding a fishing rod; there isn’t one in the whole house. No long poles either. The billiard cues are about the longest thing here. And of course we didn’t come across any modified firearms.

“There was no evidence that anything had been burnt in the fireplace besides regular firewood. We combed the ground around the house to a distance farther than an Olympic javelin champion could have thrown, but found nothing.

“There are no stools or stepladders. Just like Room 14, in Kajiwara’s and the Hayakawas’ rooms there are desks—well, not as fancy as that one—but they were both so large and solid that it would have been extremely difficult to move them anywhere. And their height wasn’t that much more than the bedside tables—barely another twenty centimetres.

“Then I thought that perhaps the long object we were looking for might be a javelin, so we went to check the sports equipment in Room 10. But there was no javelin in there. There were pairs of skis and ski poles in there, and in the storage shed we found a long-handled shovel, a hoe, spade, broom—all those kinds of tools. But to bring those into the house would be just the same situation as with the stepladder. We give up.”

“I’m so sorry. But I guess I kind of expected it,” said Ushikoshi with a sigh. “Do you have any other ideas?”

“As a matter of fact,” said Ozaki, “I did come up with something.”

“All right, tell me more.”

“I wondered about a frozen rope. Whether it could be used like a long pole.”

“Clever! And what did you discover?”

“Nobody had any rope, but there was some in the storage shed.”

Ushikoshi began to think furiously.

“You know that could be an important point. Some kind of long pole… Something inside this house that is long. Maybe something that is always there right in front of our eyes. Something that takes just a little bit of fixing up and suddenly you’ve got a long pole—something like that. Is there anything in that display room next door?”

“We searched it thoroughly, but a stick or a pole—”

“There has to be something somewhere. If there isn’t, it means the suspect would have had to get in and out through the door, and then somehow lock it behind him… Something that you can disassemble and end up with a long pole… I don’t think the bannister on the staircase is removable… the firewood… Did they tie several pieces together with string to make it longer?… No, not possible. Damn it! Are you sure there’s nothing at all in the next room?”

“Nothing. But why don’t you take a look for yourself?”

“I’ll do that.”

“There is one thing—the doll, Golem; its hands are constructed in a curved shape as if it were gripping something. I thought the knife could have fitted into one of its hands. I gave it a try.”

“What? You’re quite the detective, aren’t you? Talk about an overdeveloped sense of curiosity! And, what did you find?”

“A perfect fit. Like putting a dummy into a baby’s hand.”

“Ha! Well, you certainly have an eye for the ghoulish. But no matter how you look at it, it has to be a coincidence, no?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“But so much in this case has gone wrong or drawn a blank, the lack of alibi for the Kanais in Room 9 seems to be the only thing left that we can be sure of. At least that is not going to turn out to be a let-down, is it?”

Ushikoshi sounded as if he were trying to console himself. The three detectives lapsed into silence.

“Sorry? Ozaki, do you want to say something?”

Ushikoshi had noticed the junior detective fidgeting.

“Well, sir, the thing is, I’ve kept quiet about it up till now…”

“What is it?”

“It’s a difficult thing to admit, but last night after I left the salon to go to bed, I just couldn’t get it out of my head that the only people who had already gone to bed besides Okuma and myself were Kikuoka and the Kanais, and I began to wonder if they might be up to something while everyone else was still in the salon. So I went to each of their rooms and just under the doorknob, I used some hair oil to stick a hair across the space between the door and the wall. If the door was opened, the hair would get pulled off. I’m sorry that it wasn’t a very mature thing to do. I’m a bit embarrassed—”

“What are you talking about? It was inspired! Did you do the same with any of the other rooms?”

“I didn’t do any of the rooms where there was no way to come out except through the salon. I limited it to the rooms where you could get out without being seen. As for the other people staying in the west wing—Sasaki, Togai and the house staff—I planned to do the same with their doors, but they stayed up so late that I’m afraid I fell asleep before I could do it.”