Tokyo Mystery Writers

Chapter 56: A Foreshadowing of a raging storm

Although Jiang Liumei believes that "Conclusion" may be an unfinished manuscript by Maishiro Kyosuke.

But the large clock in the room, the raised chair, and the death of the Little Needle Cult Leader—these intriguing mysteries still captivated Jiang Liumei.

Since I had nothing better to do and didn't want to disturb Maijo Kyosuke's sweet dreams, I turned to the last chapter of "Convergence"...

The assassination of the leader of the Little Needle Cult has caused great sorrow among his followers.

Everyone wore somber faces as they offered their final prayers for the Little Needle Cult Leader.

McCarteau lost interest in the investigation. As long as he could get through the night, he wouldn't have anything to do with the police coming to the island tomorrow, so he went back to his room early.

Midai was feeling incredibly bored on her own. After coming to the island with McCartney and encountering such a terrible situation, she decided to go and chat with McCartney.

Because Meidai didn't believe that the nanny Aoyama was the murderer, since the nanny Aoyama only wanted to retrieve the "Book of Blessings" and had no reason to kill the Little Needle Cult Leader.

With a sense of doubt, Mibuki opened McCarteau's door.

Inside the room, Mercator was sitting in a chair, holding a wine glass in one hand, listening to piano music playing on the radio, looking very relaxed.

"Is she a criminal?"

Mei Dai asked McCarteau a question.

Although McCarteau did not answer Mei Bag's question.

However, based on her experience of spending every day with McCart, Mibuki knew clearly that the nanny, Aoyama, was definitely not the murderer, so the murderer must be someone else!

"Mail, although the truth will be revealed tomorrow, as a detective, don't you really intend to catch the murderer?"

Mei Dai questioned McCarteau again.

McCarteau remained calm, but his tone was somewhat impatient.

"Things are starting to come to an end!"

"The client has changed from Xiaozhen to Baishan. I have communicated with Baishan, and he will give me money, including the 'Katrina Sutra,' so Xiaozhen's death has nothing to do with me."

Mei Dai disapproved of McCarteau's appalling behavior and reprimanded him:

"You're such a wicked guy, but what if the case gets worse, and the killer escapes with the Katrina Bible you've been eyeing?"

When McCartney heard what the beautiful bag said, he shrugged and grinned mischievously.

"Don't worry, the Katrina Sutra won't be stolen, and the prisoners won't escape."

Seeing McCarteau's certainty, Mei Dai felt something was amiss, as the entire case was shrouded in mystery, and she hadn't seen a single clue:

"Meyer, judging from your tone, you should know who the murderer is, right?"

"Otherwise, how would you know the murderer wouldn't steal the Katrina Sutra, nor would they run away?"

Mercato took a sip of wine and began to reason about the case.

"At first, when I saw the large bell in the sanctuary deliberately placed on the ground, I didn't understand the murderer's intentions, as did the reference book that had been placed on the chair."

"Why would the killer put reference books on the chair? If not to look at the top of the bookshelf, what was the point?"

"However, when I saw Little Needle's body today, everything became connected."

"If the killer planned to stage the victim's death as a suicide by gunshot, then the victim would have been sitting in a chair facing a table, and the gun would have hit him squarely in the temple."

"If the bullet goes through the head and hits the wall on the left, that would be good, but what if there's a big bell there? It would make a loud noise that other believers would hear."

"If we followed the victim and lowered the bell together, it would naturally arouse the victim's suspicion. Therefore, we had to lower the bell in advance and then bring the victim into the sanctuary."

McCarteau rambled on and on, but Mei Dai couldn't understand a thing.

They also asked about the gunpowder residue on the hands of the deceased after the suicide.

McCarteau's solution was very simple: just place the gun in the victim's hand, fire a shot into the sea, and collect the spent cartridge to create a fake gunpowder reaction.

Mei Dai was confused by McCato's words and didn't understand what he was talking about. She just kept asking why the murderer had moved the Little Needle Cult Leader's body.

Yaozi's claim that the murderer couldn't find the key is clearly unfounded.

McCarteau pointed towards the direction of the butler Bai Shan's room and smiled:

"Mibukuro, the reason is simple! If a murder happens outside your window, and the body is right outside your window, even if you move the body away, it will still feel eerie. After all, nobody wants to see a murder scene."

"So, the reason the murderer dragged Xiaozhen's body onto the cobblestone path was to prevent Butler Baishan from looking at it again!"

"Because someone died outside the window, Baishan would draw the curtains to avoid seeing the murder scene and thus avoid being disturbed."

"That way, the murderer can take advantage of the darkness and lead the others to the sanctuary without being discovered by the butler, Hakusan!"

"Then... kill someone in the sanctuary and disguise the murder as suicide!"

Mei Dai's face showed a look of horror upon hearing McCarteau's words:

"Will there be another murder?"

Mercato calmly turned down the radio volume and continued answering:

"The murderer decided to kill two people from the beginning. If the person he wanted to kill was Xiaozhen, then he should have faked Xiaozhen's suicide. But Xiaozhen's cause of death was clearly murder."

"So the killer's real idea was to kill Xiaozhen first, and then kill the second victim, making it look like a suicide, so that everyone would believe that the victim killed Xiaozhen and then committed suicide out of guilt."

"The hair in Xiaozhen's mouth is evidence that the murderer framed the victim."

"In that case, even if the police come to the island tomorrow, it will be completely meaningless, because the 'murderer' has already committed suicide."

MeiDai wasn't in the mood to listen to McCarteau's nonsense, because so far, McCarteau hadn't been able to produce a single piece of evidence:

"So? Meyer! Who is the killer?"

Mercato sighed with some trouble:

"It's easier to guess the victim than the murderer."

"Remember that reference book we used to prop up the chair?"

"That was used by the murderer for simulation. After the murderer put down the clock, he needed to simulate the murder scene."

"That reference book can be used as a stepping stone, or you can sit on it."

"As for why the murderer did this? Because the reference book is five centimeters thick."

"By placing reference books on the ground, the killer could stand at eye level with the victim, ensuring that the gun could accurately strike the victim's temple."

"Therefore, we can conclude that the murderer's sitting height was five centimeters shorter than the victim's."

"Because believers are all similar in build, and a person's sitting height is about 50 percent of their body height, the victim's actual height should be about 10 centimeters taller than the perpetrator."

"If you think about it carefully, you'll find a problem: Hiroshi Sekiya is 185cm tall, Uchino is 175cm, Hakuyama is 170cm, Yoko is 165cm, Aoyama is also 165cm, Terao is 155cm, and finally, Naomi Maki is 150cm."

Mercato pointed to his right temple and continued his explanation:

"Since the killer was worried that the bullet would hit the large clock on the left, this proves that the killer intended to shoot the victim through the temple from the right side and make the victim appear to have committed suicide."

"The nanny, Aoyama, is left-handed. To fake a suicide, Aoyama must be ruled out first. If the person to be killed was Aoyama, it should be faked as if the shot was fired to the left, thus eliminating the need to lower the bell."

"The murderer dragged Xiaozhen's body onto the gravel road, clearly intending for Baishan to draw the curtains, so Baishan was not a victim either."

"The murderer deliberately stuffed brown hair into Xiaozhen's mouth to create the illusion that the victim committed suicide out of guilt. This means the victim had black hair, so Terao with brown hair was not the victim!"

"Based on the evidence that the victim and the perpetrator are 10 centimeters apart in height, no one is 10 centimeters shorter than Naomi Maki, so even the shortest Naomi Maki is not the victim."

"Then the only possible victims are Yoko (165cm), Uchino (175cm), and Hiroshi Sekiya (185cm)!"

Jiang Liu Meili was completely stunned by the overwhelming foreshadowing and plot developments brought to a close by Mai Cheng Jingjie!

At the same time, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. What was "Conclusion" if it was an unfinished manuscript?

This is clearly a work with a cleverly hidden foreshadowing, precise logical arrangement, and ingenious misleading design!

The design and ability to recover the hidden clues alone are almost unparalleled in the Japanese literary world!

The whole story is a huge riddle, and the answer lies in the last two pages in your hand!