Содзи Симада - Murder in the Crooked House

“But how to catch him red-handed? That was still a major problem. Hide in the library next door and wait for him? But what if Mr Hamamoto checked the library before going into Room 3?

“Anyway, as the house’s designer he would know all the places that I could possibly find to hide. I was bound to lose if I tried that kind of game with him. And if I were simply to go up there shortly after Mr Hamamoto and catch him with the masks in his hand, well, that wouldn’t have much impact. He could have just claimed he was unable to sleep, came to check out the room, and found that someone had broken in and destroyed his Tengu mask display. He would be intelligent enough to use the policemen who had come running with me; he’d have quickly regrouped and gone with that strategy.

“So I had to catch him in the process of removing the masks from the wall. And in addition, to avoid any kind of confusion afterwards, make it crystal clear to him that he had been seen. In order to do that I had to find the perfect place to conceal myself. And as you know, Mr Hamamoto, I found myself the best seat in the house.”

“Brilliant! A truly excellent plan.”

Kozaburo was full of genuine admiration.

“But how did you make that mask of Golem’s face? And in such a short time? How on earth did you manage that?”

“I did it when I took his head to the forensics lab. I got in touch with an artist friend of mine and had him make it.”

“Could I take a look?”

Kiyoshi handed Kozaburo the mask.

“Ah! Excellent workmanship. I’m surprised to hear of such a craftsman living in Hokkaido.”

“Actually, I don’t think there are any outside Kyoto. This was done by a mutual friend of mine and Kazumi’s. He’s quite a famous doll maker in Kyoto.”

“Oh!”

I was surprised to hear of my friend’s involvement.

“Did you go all the way to Kyoto in that short time?”

“I set out the evening of the 31st and called him from a phone in the village. He told me he could have it ready by the morning of the 3rd. That was why the conclusion of this case had to take place tonight, the night of the 3rd.”

“A full two days’ work…” said Kozaburo, deeply impressed. “You’ve got a great friend there.”

“Did you get one of the police officers to fetch it from Kyoto?” I asked.

“No. It’s not my place to get the police running errands for me.”

“But I never noticed you getting any delivery of a Golem mask.”

“Who cares how some mask was delivered?” said Okuma irritably. “I want to hear about the murder of Sasaki in Room 13!”

Personally, I had no objection to moving on.

“But, Mr Hamamoto, there’s still one thing I don’t understand,” said Kiyoshi. “It’s the motive. It’s the one thing I can’t work out. I can’t imagine someone of your standing killing someone just for fun. I can’t see any reason for you to kill Eikichi Kikuoka, who you don’t even really know that well. I’d like to hear it from your own mouth.”

“Hey, before that can we please hear about the other locked-room murder?” I begged. “There’s so much more that we still need an explanation for.”

“There’s no need for any explanation!” Kiyoshi rudely interrupted me.

“I’ll explain,” said Kozaburo in a much calmer voice.

“Then should I call the other person who deserves to hear this?” asked Kiyoshi.

“You mean Anan?” said Okuma. “Right, I’ll go get him.”

Okuma got up and started to head off to Room 14.

“Mr Okuma?” called Kiyoshi. “If you don’t mind, could you also, er…”

The Inspector stopped and turned around.

“Could you also fetch Mr Sasaki from Room 13?”

Gobsmacked would not be strong enough a word to describe the look on Okuma’s face at that moment. Even if a UFO had landed right in front of him and a two-headed alien had stepped out, he could not have been more stunned.

But nobody was laughing at him. Myself included, everyone at the dining table wore pretty much the identical expression.

When Sasaki arrived in the salon along with Constable Anan, everybody was so delighted by the one single piece of good news among all the depressing events of the past few days that a small cheer went up.

“Here’s Mr Sasaki returned from Heaven,” announced Kiyoshi.

“So he’s the one who went to Kyoto for you,” I cried. “And the Golem ghost that Mrs Kanai saw, and the person who set fire to Ms Hamamoto’s bed.”

“He’s also the one who ate the bread and ham,” said Kiyoshi with a grin. “He was the perfect person to play the role of a dying man. As he was a real medical student, we didn’t need to use ketchup for blood. And he knew the exact amount that would have resulted from the injury.”

“I’ve been pretty much fasting these past few days, hiding away in Room 10 or hanging around outside. For a while I was hiding in the large wardrobe in Room 1. I almost became a real corpse!”

Sasaki seemed rather cheerful about it. It was easy to imagine why Kiyoshi had picked him for this important role.

“I see now. The most inexplicable locked-room murder was inexplicable because it never happened,” I said.

“You have to trust logic,” said Kiyoshi.

“But I could have gone to Kyoto for you,” I said.

“That’s very true. But to be perfectly honest, you’re not a very good actor. You’d probably not convince anyone the knife was really in your heart. Someone would have told you to get up and stop pretending. It was important for Mr Hamamoto to feel the pressure of one of his guests being murdered.”

It seemed to me as if Kozaburo had felt greater pressure when he thought his daughter was in danger.

“Did you write that threatening letter too?” Ushikoshi asked. “It’s a good thing I didn’t decide to run an analysis of everyone’s handwriting.”

“This one is about to tell me he’d have liked to write that for me too,” said Kiyoshi, slapping me on the shoulder.

“You didn’t need to trick us too,” said Ozaki, clearly annoyed.

“Really? So if I’d confided my plan to you, you’d have agreed at once to go along with it?”

“It looks like you got the straight-laced lot back at my station to play along,” said Okuma, with a touch of admiration.

“Yes, I have to admit that was the most difficult part of this whole case.”

“Must’ve been.”

“But I got Superintendent Nakamura from Tokyo HQ to keep on at them until they gave in.”

“That Nakamura has a discerning eye all right,” murmured Ushikoshi, loud enough only for me to overhear.

“Right, I don’t think there’s any more to add about that. Now—”

He was cut off by Ushikoshi.

“I just realized! That’s why that night you insisted so strongly that Yoshihiko and Eiko stay all night at the billiard table. You wanted them to be with a police officer to give them the perfect alibi for Mr Kikuoka’s murder.”

Kozaburo nodded. A father’s love for his daughter—the fatal weakness that had caused him to fall into the trap set by my friend.

“Chief Inspector Ushikoshi, had you heard from this man any part of what he planned to do?” said Ozaki quietly.

“Yes. The name of the suspect and the general outline. I told him to do as he liked.”

“And you kept quiet about it?”

“Well, yes. But do you think that was the wrong decision? He’s got an extraordinary mind, that one.”

“Has he? I’m not so sure about that, personally. Seems all swagger to me.”

Ozaki was venting his frustration.

“He behaves differently depending who he’s with.”

“Oh… I just remembered—the hair I put on the door of Room 14. When you went with Mr Hamamoto, and rattled the doorknob, you must have knocked it off then.”