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Could it be those two detectives again?
Thinking of this, he went forward and opened the door.
"Didn't I tell you? I want to... um?"
However, after opening the door, the people standing outside were not Shirakawa Kiyoshi and Mary as he expected.
"Is that you? What's the matter?" Looking at the man, Clyde asked impatiently.
The person outside the door did not answer him, but rushed into the room suddenly when Clyde was not prepared, then took out a bundle of fishing line and strangled him tightly around his neck.
"Asshole! What do you want to do... Damn it! Someone, come quickly..."
"Mr. Yiyan, are you there?"
In the annex, in front of Kitakami Kazuhiko's room, Mary raised her hand and knocked on the door as usual.
After the words fell, there was no response in the room.
"Mr. Kazuhiko?"
Mary asked again, but there was still no response.
Isn't anyone here?
It's the same situation as Kevin before...
After exchanging a glance with Bai Heqing beside her, Mary pushed open the door and walked in.
Both of them, who had flexible moral bottom lines, felt no guilt at all for entering someone else's room without permission.
Similar to Clyde's room just now, Kitakami Kazuhiko's room is also very neat and tidy. Apart from the original furniture, there is basically no extra decoration.
"Mary, can you fish?" Bai Heqing suddenly asked.
"No, why are you asking this?" Mary looked back at him, only to find that Shirakawa Kiyoshi was looking at a corner of the room.
She followed his gaze and saw a fishing rod standing there.
"It seems that Mr. Yiyan's character is really extraordinary. Others come to this island for the inheritance, but he comes here leisurely with a fishing rod." Mary said with a smile.
"I remember that during the day, he seemed to have said more than once that he had no interest in Tone Eijiro's inheritance..."
"Who knows?"
Retracting his gaze, Bai Heqing quickly glanced at the situation in the room.
Whether as a detective or a policeman, his years of experience in solving cases have prevented him from judging a person's nature based on simple words.
People in the world are fickle, and this is especially true during critical and dire moments. There are very few people who can remain consistent in all circumstances.
In Kitakami Kazuhiko's room, Shirakawa Kiyoshi and Mary did not find anything valuable, and Kitakami Kazuhiko himself was not there, so the two of them left directly.
"It's really unfortunate that two of the three key people are no longer here." Bai Heqing said as he walked in the corridor outside.
"I don't know if it's a coincidence or if everyone is doing something with ulterior motives... There are really undercurrents in this villa." Mary laughed.
"We've obtained a lot of information today. Let's go back and rest first, and continue the investigation tomorrow." Bai Heqing said.
"it is good."
Mary nodded. At this moment, the two of them were walking through the hallway on the second floor. Mary inadvertently glanced at the time on the clock against the wall.
"Hmm? Is this clock broken?" she asked subconsciously.
"What?" Bai Heqing followed her gaze and found that the hour hand on the clock stopped at a certain time and did not move at all.
"It seems so. Let's talk to Butler Kurahashi tomorrow morning..."
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Kurahashi Motoaki walking towards him from the opposite corridor.
Seeing Shirakawa Kiyoshi and Mary, Kurahashi Motoaki was only slightly surprised, then hurried over.
"You two are standing here. What happened?"
"Nothing special." Looking at him, Bai Heqing said calmly, "It's just that we suddenly found that the clock next to us seems to be broken."
"Ah, so that's it..."
Upon hearing this, Kurahashi Benming smiled and walked to the clock to introduce it to the two of them:
"You two have misunderstood. This clock is not broken. It's just that its time has stopped here."
“Stopped here?”
"Yes." Nodding, Kurahashi Benming explained, "This clock was brought over from Singapore by Mr. Eijiro. Fifteen years ago, in order to commemorate the successful completion of the renovation of this annex, Mr. Eijiro deliberately stopped the time on this clock at the moment when the construction was completed. Therefore, the time on this clock has not changed in the past fifteen years...
Ah, of course, you two don't have to worry. This is the only clock in the museum that is used as a memorial. I check the clocks in other rooms on time every day, and their time is correct.
Speaking of which, Mr. Eijiro had always had a hobby of collecting watches made in other countries. At the beginning, it was really a headache for me to adjust these watches with different internal structures every day..."
"You are such a conscientious butler." Bai Heqing said this with a smile, and suddenly asked in a casual tone:
"By the way, Butler Kurahashi, do you know where Mr. Kevin and Mr. Kazuhiko went? We didn't meet them in their rooms before."
"These two? I'm not sure..." Kurahashi Motoaki shook his head after hearing this. "After dinner, I didn't run into them in the museum. But this annex is so big, and there are many entertainment facilities. Maybe they are in one of the other rooms now?"
"That's it, I understand..."
"You're welcome, Detective Shirakawa. If you don't have anything else to ask, I'll go back and rest." said Kurahashi Motoaki.
"Ah."
Nodding, Shirakawa Kiyoshi and Mary made way down the corridor.
"It's getting late. Please go back and rest as soon as possible. We can continue the investigation tomorrow."
"Thank you for your concern."
()
Chapter 429 If you have time, you can come to my room
The next morning, everyone in the villa had a dinner together in the hall.
Listening to the sound of knives and forks colliding with plates, Bai Heqing quietly picked up the chopsticks, his eyes fixed only on the dishes in front of him.
Last night, the sudden appearance of Kurahashi Motoaki made him suspicious. For the sake of his own safety in the next few days, he would only eat meals prepared by Mary before leaving the island.
The old housekeeper Kurahashi Motoaki and the housekeeper Oiri Sumiko had no objection to Mary's initiative to help in the kitchen.
After all, among the people in this villa, in addition to Westerners like Clyde, there are also Orientals like Shirakawa Kiyoshi and Kitakami Kazuhiko.
Rare talents like Mary, who have mastered cooking skills from both ends of the earth, are exactly what the villa kitchen urgently needs at this moment.
"Ha~"
In the originally quiet hall, Mei Ling, a woman in purple cheongsam who was sitting diagonally opposite Bai Heqing, suddenly yawned.
"Lack of sleep is a taboo for beauty." Kevin, who was sitting opposite her, looked up and said with a smile while fiddling with the knife and fork in his hand.
"I can't help it..." Mei Ling held her chin with one hand and said in a lazy tone: "Didn't it rain heavily at dawn today? I couldn't fall asleep after being woken up..."
"I never realized you were such a weak-minded person." Kevin sneered and said, "As for me, I slept until dawn!"
"You are just plain slow-witted, aren't you?" Mei Ling laughed at him, then suddenly turned her gaze to Bai Heqing who was eating quietly, and asked with a smile, "What about you? Detective brother?"
Bai Heqing did not answer her immediately. He chewed and swallowed the food in his mouth before speaking: "Same, I woke up when it just started to rain."
As a highly-anticipated rising star in the Japanese police force, his frequent overtime work and day-night reversal did have some impact on his sleep, and he was easily awakened by external noises.
"Hey, did you hear that? I'm not the one who's abnormal."
After hearing Bai Heqing's answer, Mei Ling turned to look at Kevin again, her eyes full of provocation.
"Oh my, I'm being targeted..." Kevin shook his head and smiled bitterly, suddenly changing the subject, "But then again, that old man is the last one to get up, right?"
The old gentleman he was referring to was Clyde, the former British naval lieutenant commander.
At this time, everyone in the hall had arrived, and only Clyde's seat was empty.
"Maybe he hasn't woken up yet?" The second young master Tone Kosuke also spoke up, smiling, "After all, what happened yesterday, everyone should have gone to bed late at night. If the old man wants to sleep, let him sleep a little longer..."
"But, our current situation is still very dangerous, right?"
At this time, Kitakami Kazuhiko, who had been silent all this time, couldn't help but speak up and said worriedly, "After all, the murderer of Mr. Yang has not been found yet. Wouldn't it be better for us all to be together instead of leaving Mr. Clyde alone in the room?"
"I think this might be more dangerous." Kevin put down his knife and fork and said suddenly.
"Why do you say that?" Mei Ling supported her chin and looked at him curiously.
"Need I say that? The murderer must be among us. We don't know how many people he wants to kill. Maybe the murderer trapped us on this island just to kill us all one by one and take all the inheritance for himself...
At times like this, wouldn't it be safer to find a safe place to hide?"
"We absolutely cannot let this happen!" Kitakami Kazuhiko clenched his fists and shouted, "With Detective Shirakawa and Detective Mary here, we will definitely be able to catch the murderer soon!"
Not knowing how the topic suddenly came back to him, Bai Heqing was stunned for a moment, then smiled at everyone.
"We will try our best."
[To be honest, I now think that you two are more likely to be the murderer than anyone else...]
"You are so calm, little detective." Mei Ling looked at him and said with a smile, "You are so reliable that you don't even look like a detective..."
I don't know whether she said this intentionally or unintentionally.
"Thank you." Bai Heqing glanced at her, his expression normal.
Seeing his expression, Mei Ling's smile widened. "If you have time, you can come to my room. I can use the I Ching to tell your fortune. I guarantee you will gain something... Of course, it's free."
Huang Meiling is said to have come to this island with Yang Douxin as his personal fortune teller.
【Um? ! 】
Mary, who had been silent at the side, suddenly turned around and stared at her with wide eyes when she heard this.
"Yes, I'll consider it." Bai Heqing nodded.
"that……"
Just then, Kurahashi Motoaki hurried into the hall, interrupting the conversation among everyone.
"Everyone, I went to Mr. Clyde's room just now, and he didn't seem to be in the room..."
"Mr. Clyde is missing? What happened?" The eldest young master Takahiro Tone asked hurriedly upon hearing this.