Chapter 43 The only survivor
Chapter 43 The Sole Survivor
"The deceased, Hase Rong, was a 23-year-old male. There were no signs of external intrusion in the house."
Hase Ei was lying on the sofa with a deep stab wound on his neck and a piece of cloth on his stomach cut off.
Megure Juzo looked at the scene in front of him and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
A similar case had occurred ten years ago, but the places where the cloth was cut on their bodies all had scratches from a multi-purpose knife, but Hase Ei's did not.
So, is it that the murderer of the case ten years ago has reappeared, or is it that someone has imitated the crime?
"Have you found any suspicious persons coming in or out?"
"Not yet. Also, through questioning, we learned that a large-scale cleaning of the exterior walls was carried out yesterday, so it is speculated that the murderer may be a cleaning staff."
Megure Jusan nodded, "Then let's start the investigation from this aspect."
His intuition told him that the murderer of the multi-purpose knife serial murder case ten years ago had appeared again.
Twenty-two murders, the murderer has not yet been caught. This time, I won't let you escape again.
Inside the Japanese TV station——
"Based on the information we have received, the case that happened in the apartment this time is likely the murderer of the multi-purpose knife serial murder case ten years ago."
"But." In response to the director's words, the reporter raised a question: "Didn't the police find any signs of external intrusion? From this point of view, it should be a closed room murder case."
"I remember a program I did ten years ago, which had an example of a murder case in a closed room, and the murderer has not been caught yet."
After taking a breath, the reporter continued, "Moreover, there were no traces of knife wounds on Mr. Hase's body, but the previous bodies all had such wounds."
"So, could it be that the murderer of the locked room serial murder case imitated the murderer of the multi-purpose knife serial murder case and carried out the crime?"
It is not impossible.
The director nodded and said, "What you said makes sense. Then the direction of our program this time will start with the locked room serial murder case."
"Isn't there a profiler recently? Contact her and see if you can get her to accept our interview."
Kogoro Mori is certainly popular and can even bring in good ratings and traffic.
But also because of this, his appearance fee has skyrocketed.
Sometimes, because he is busy with cases, many programs line up to find him. After all, just the name "Sleeping Kogoro" can attract a large number of sponsors.
Relatively speaking, the profiler who is not very famous at present has a much cheaper appearance fee.
Some people are willing to give up compensation just to be on TV.
Faced with Nichiuri TV, which is responsible for most of the traffic, if the other party is smart enough, they may be willing to cooperate with them.
If the effect is good, we can carry out long-term cooperation in the future. If we become famous later, maybe we can play the emotional card or something.
I have to say that the director is really a shrewd and skilled person.
"Okay, wait a moment, I'll ask our director for his opinion."
The reporter covered the microphone, looked up at the director, and said, "Director, she agreed to be interviewed by us, but she has made some requirements. Her face cannot be shown, and the sound must be processed before it can be broadcast."
"Of course. Our radio station has always paid attention to other people's opinions. Try to find out where her bottom line is."
"As long as the request is not too high, we can still try our best to meet it and give the other party a good impression. After all, maybe there will be long-term cooperation in the future."
The reporter nodded and then said something into the phone.
His expression suddenly became a little surprised, even a little suspicious.
After confirming again and again, I realized that the other party was not joking, but had a very serious attitude and tone.
"she says."
The director couldn't help but feel nervous.
"Two boxes of natural soap."
The director was stunned for a moment, his expression changed from confusion to disbelief: Is it just like that?
This was not a valuable item, so the director naturally agreed without any hesitation.
"Don't even mention two boxes. To show our radio station's sincerity, let's just send five boxes! Or even a whole truckload will do. I guarantee she'll use them until her 70th birthday."
But in the end, they only brought two boxes.
Because Qinghai Chuantang said that if there were too many, her house would not be able to hold them all, after all, she was just using them to make soap chips for fun.
At 2 p.m., at the agreed time, the two met at the Polo Café.
Because he didn't show his face, he didn't bring any camera, just the reporter himself.
However, Qinghai Chuantang said that he might consider showing his face if the number of subscribers exceeds 100,000.
After taking the information handed over by the reporter and checking it, it is not difficult to find that the victims in the closed room serial murder case are all elderly people.
They also have one thing in common, that is, they all have knots tied on their hands, and the way they are tied is very unique: they are tied very firmly, but easy to untie.
Whether it is a multi-purpose knife serial murder case or a closed room serial murder case, they all have one common feature.
That is, the tools they used to commit the crime were all from the victims' homes.
Moreover, the traces were cleaned up very thoroughly and no fingerprints or DNA were found.
"He only targeted weak, easily restrained elderly people to commit crimes. Based on his crime pattern, it is speculated that the perpetrator is likely to be a small person with antisocial personality disorder."
After hearing this, the reporter quickly asked: "So the murderer killed them to swear his power as a man?"
"If your speculation is true, then the victim this time might not be the murderer of the locked room murder case?"
Qinghai Chuantang nodded.
"That's right. Didn't we mention the 'Multi-purpose Knife Serial Murder Case' before? And some of the characteristics are more in line with his modus operandi, so it is more likely that the murderer is this person."
The day after the show was broadcast, Qinghai Chuantang received a call from the police, hoping that he could assist them in finding the real culprit in two cases that happened ten years ago.
The number "ten" seems very strange. Many unsolved cases happened ten years ago. It makes people wonder what happened ten years ago.
Qinghai Chuantang came to Hase Rong's house.
The on-site identification has been completed and no useful clues were found.
Moreover, the surveillance video was also realistic. No strange person entered Hase Rong's house at that time. It seemed as if they appeared out of thin air.
"Inspector Megure, can you show me the photos and information about the multi-purpose knife serial murders from ten years ago? Also, are there any eyewitnesses or survivors in these cases?"
After Megure Juzo nodded in agreement, Kawanishi Kiki handed her the information.
Without exception, the women in the twenty-two photos had a piece of fabric missing from their clothes, and the exposed parts were crisscrossed with several cuts made with a multi-purpose knife.
"Among the 22 cases that year, there was indeed one survivor, the only one."
"When she was found, she was hiding in a pile of debris. Perhaps it was because of this that she was able to escape by luck."
"But when we wanted to ask her if she had seen the murderer's face, she suddenly left the hospital and even moved out of the apartment immediately, as if someone was chasing her."
The girl's name was Tomoko Akimoto and her mother's name was Chizu Akimoto, who disappeared with the girl.
Akimoto Chizu divorced her husband several years ago, and they occasionally contacted each other using anonymous numbers, making it impossible to trace them.
But at least for now, Tomoko Akimoto is alive.
If we could get her help, as long as she was willing to come forward and identify the murderer, things would become much easier.
But since she suddenly escaped from the hospital, it was obvious that she had received some threat.
If you go to find her rashly, you may end up in danger of being killed.
It's lucky once, but luck doesn't necessarily last forever.
"Inspector Megure. This old man appears in five of these photos. Did you investigate his identity at the time?"
Most murderers have the habit of returning to the scene after committing a murder.
Relive every detail of the kill and relive that twisted sense of victory.
If they cannot continue killing for a long time, the aftertaste becomes their spiritual food.
Megure Jusan nodded.
"The old man's name is 'Terauchi Hitoshi' and he runs a shop called 'Nishiuchi Shoe Repair'. His wife's name is 'Terauchi Yoshiyo' and they adopted a child who has some intellectual impairment and named him 'Dazhu'."
"Both elderly people are over 50 years old, and Ms. Jia Shi also suffers from lung disease and has difficulty in moving. They are both in wheelchairs."
"So if any of them is suspected of being the murderer, it seems very unlikely."
From an ordinary person's perspective, this kind of combination does not seem likely to commit a crime.
Moreover, both elderly people are over 100 years old. In ten years, they will be even older. How could they have the strength to commit the crime?
Although this is true, his suspicion cannot be ruled out for the time being.
However, have you heard the name Xinei Shoe Repair House somewhere before?
Putting aside his doubts for the moment, Qinghai Chuantang began to read the case report carefully.
This is more detailed than what is known in the news, because some things will not be made public, so the public will only know a rough idea.
The murderer of the multi-purpose knife serial murder case is somewhat different from the serial murderers we usually encounter. It seems that he is just a guy who kills simply for the sake of killing.
No one is excluded, regardless of gender, age or status.
He cut all over with a multi-purpose knife and finally strangled himself to death.
After scrubbing the body with bleach, the men put the clothes back on and cut away the clothes covering the victim's hands.
"Despite this, we still investigated Mr. Renshi at the time because there was a surveillance camera that showed Ms. Tomoko had entered Nishiuchi's shoe repair shop before she was killed, so we wanted to investigate."
"As a result, Ms. Tomoko went to the shoe repair shop just to clean her shoes, and did not ask for any useful information."
The clue ends here.
If you want to find out the murderer, the best way at the moment is to find Tomoko Akimoto.
"Investigate the people around Ms. Chizu and ask them. Maybe you can find out something. Of course, this method will be very time-consuming and laborious."
But after finding them, it is best to protect them and try to meet them in secret, otherwise."
"It will bring about a fatal disaster." Megure Jusan's expression was serious, "Ms. Tang, I understand what you mean."
"I will contact you after I find her address. They may have some resistance to the police, otherwise they should have applied for personal safety protection at that time."
Qinghai Chuantang understood what he meant.
Megure Jusan said solemnly: "Ms. Tang, I'll leave it to you."
It’s not what happened ten years ago, it just happened to happen ten years ago…
(End of this chapter)