The scream was heard thoroughly the place. The sight of a bad omen, evidently. All in the dining room dash hastily to the source of the sound. And what we found is utterly unspeakable.
The lifeless body of Atsushi Nakajima was discovered slashed throat on the sofa. On the other side of the room, the body of the president was as well found in that room collapsed dead on the desk. More jobs for me, it would seem.
"Poor Atsushi, life is too short. How shall I inform Chuya-Kun now?" poshly sobbed, Ms Inafune
"Umm..."
"My dear kitty friend, please...... tell Izanagi I said 'Hi'"
"Rampo!! That's rude. I'm here the entire time."
"Oh, that's too bad..."
"What does that mean? You want me to die?!? 馬鹿! 馬鹿! 馬鹿!"
"Punch me all you want. Like you could hurt anybody with that." giggled, Rampo "Besides, Chuya-Chan, of course."
Hell of friends they are. Anyway, let's analyse the bodies.
The first victim is Atsushi Nakajima.
"Hey, I could hear that!!!"
"My apology!"
Rodion Levyanov, the Russian version of the Japanese writer 'Atsushi Nakajima', age 38, race: Jötunn, Nationality: still Russian.
The body temperature has slightly decreased. Wouldn't have died for long. I suppose the time of death would be around 12AM.- 3 PM.
The cause of death is probably unnatural. Homicide, obviously. His throat was aslant slashed. Losing gallon of blood. No sight of self-defence or struggling. Possibly drugged. On to the other one.
Akira Momiji, the president of the national association of literature. Age: 69, race: Ame, nationality: Japanese.
The temperature...... it's surprisingly warm. Could he be alive?
"Boss, call an ambulance. This one's alive."
"Of course!"
"How unfortunate" sighed, Ms Iwamoto
"Kashi!" exclaimed, Ms Inafune
"Hey, is he gonna be alright?" queried, Ms Momoko Momiji
"I can't tell. It's beyond my proficiency."
While waiting for the cop and ambulance, Everybody here, including Mr Momiji who has been moved by me and Mr Nakajima, has assembled at the dining room as I suggest. I could, therefore, easily enquire their alibis
"So our alibis, huh? What's that?" questioned, Ms Iwamoto
You really don't know?
"My! What a laughable question." chortled, Ms Inafune
"Shut it, Tazawa!"
"先生, would you mind clarifying?"
"Certainly not, Ms Inafune. Alibis is the claim of your where being during the incident takes place."
"Okay, that's understandable. So shall we start?"
"Alright, let me turn on the record mode then we could commence. 3 2......"
"Hold on, shouldn't we wait for..."
"My boss? Not necessarily, he's probably investigating the scene right now."
"Ok, and what about Rampo? Shouldn't he be here too?"
"What? He isn't here? Seriously? Have any..."
*buzzing phone*
"Oh, that's mine." I've checked my message."Oh, Boss said we can start without him. Rampo's with him."
The camera is on and everyone has stated their testimonies since the doppelganger was knocked out.
Here's what I had gathered.
After the knockout: 11.40
-Ms Inafune went to a meeting room with Ms Iwamoto and the Momiji siblings then later returned to the library.
-Ms Iwamoto after parted with Ms Iwamoto. She left to a tea room with Ms Inafune's phone.
-Nobuko had joined Ms Shiroaki in a kitchen after taking care of me.
-Mrs Tome Momiji got back to her study room.
-Ms Momoko Momiji and her brother had hung around the meeting room.
-Mr Nakajima was with me. Nobuko has confirmed his account.
-Mr Kurohana was doing laundry in the back garden. Alibied by Ms Shiroaki.
-Kokoro Momiji hung out with the boss in a music room.
-Rampo might have been with me. According to Mr Nakajima and Nobuko.
Subsequent occurrences and pertinent information.
11.53:
-Nobuko realised that the soy sauce was run out. She, therefore, ran off to the grocer.
-She swore that there was an abundant soy sauce left this morning.
-Ms Shiroaki had additionally mentioned that she never needs soy sauce in her cooking.
11.55
-Kokoro Momiji told Ruby to leave the music room due to his musical practice which will occur occasionally depends on the kid's mood.
11.5X
-Momoko Momiji went to her bedroom in anger.
-Ms Iwamoto saw Ruby passing by so she asked him to join her.
12.XX
-Ms Shiroaki put a kettle on. (Earl Grey)
12.25
-Ms Shiroaki spotted the kid coming to the kitchen.
-He took lemon juice, a bowl of fresh strawberries and a jar of salt with him.
12.30
-Mr Kurohana finished with the laundry. Afterwards, he went to his room resting for a while.
13.XX
-The kid returned things to the kitchen.
-Ms Shiroaki had a siesta by then. So, unfortunately, she can't be the kid's alibi.
-Ms Shiroaki added that she had never slept during the daylight before.
14.00
Mr Kurohana started cleaning the place.(periodically seen by everyone.)
14.XX
-Nobuko had come back from a shop. The receipt from the shop had precisely described the time she left. '13.48'
-The receipt also enumerated what had been bought:
A bottle of soy sauce, packs of toilet paper, bleacher, sleeping pills, raspberries and eggs.
-There was also a bag of Turkish delights she bought on the way back here.
-The sleeping pills was Tome Momichi's. Said, her pills went missing mysteriously.
14.18
-Ms Inafune's phone rang. Due to that Ms Iwamoto accompanied by Ruby returned the phone to Ms Inafune at the library and hung out there with her.
-Ms Inafune had gone away for some minute for a phone. Mr Tachihara, who was on the phone, could testify for that
14.3X
-Ms Tome Momiji phoned Ms Shiroaki to order dessert.
14.49
-Mr Nakajima and I woke up because of that buffoon 'Bandito'.
-14.53
-Ms Shiroaki served a dessert to Ms Tome Momiji.
And that would be all. This is truly not helping at all. There are too many gaps in everyone's timeline. I suppose I should wait for the authentic post mortem. It might narrow down the timeline.
"That doesn't seem useful." raised, Ms Iwamoto
"I'd concur. Everybody here had an alone moment."
"That being so, what shall we discuss next? Motives, perhaps?" questioned, Ms Inafune.
"Well, as the representative of this family. I will admit that everyone in this household has a motive to kill that Russian scoundrel. Except for Haruna, of course." announced, Ms Momoko Momiji
"I too, as the representative of the writers who are presented here today, shall not deny that we have issues against the man." announced, Ms Inafune
"Since when you've become our representatives, Tazawa?"
"If that's so, Then Ms Shiroaki do you have any to add?" I queried
"Meh! I don't even know who he is. There's no reason for me to kill that guy." nodded, Ms Shiroaki
"I see. Everybody's motive is Mr Nakajima, I presume."
"No, it's not about him. It's......another...."
The room has turned voiceless for a while.
"Aoi Sansho, My daughter in law. She......suicided two years ago."
"Okay, so how was that relevant?"
"She was a lovely kid. Always thoughtful and selfless. Maybe a bit too much so alas she'd met an honourable death. All thanks to that man."
"Ledyanov, you meant?"
"By all mean, yes! The bastard who drove my daughter to hara-kiri. How could I forget! He slashed her ankle during the competition in Russia. She was a figure skater. If you need more information, Nobuko could provide that for you. She was presented at the scene."
"Okay, I'll get to that later. Now, Ms Inafune please elaborate more about your motive."
"Shall do, First of all, you might already know about the copywriter. That's the motive four of us have in common. For additional motive. I have none neither do Rampo. For Kashi, she is rather overprotective of her students and Atsushi-Kun happens to be her favourite. For Atsushi-Kun, well, probably innumerable. Those catastrophes the man caused are utterly unforgivable."
Well, this isn't what I've had in mind. But alright, I'll put her in a prime suspect list. She talked too much.
Now, Do I require the incident's information? I mean their beloved in-law had harakiried due to the injury done by the doppelganger. So why bother?......
"Yahoo, Everyone! We're back." Announced, Rampo.
"Hi, Bel. Got everyone's statement yet?"
"Ah, YES! Certainly!"
We have stepped outside to discuss the case for a while leaving the rest in the room.
The boss found faintly red flowers and some kind of red liquid on their petals in the garden, some scratches and sprinkles of wood dust in a sofa area either on the wall and floor where the body lied and a drop of analogous liquid was also found in the hallway.
What could we tell from those pieces of evidence? I'll say skate shoes are a weapon. Who gonna just chop the floor for no bloody reason. Besides, Ms Sansho is an ice skater. So, the shoes is probably findable in this manor. If one wears shoes on the wooden floor, it will probably leave scratches. Also, perhaps, the red liquid in the hallway. Is it possible that it is the blood of the perpetrator? One might've bled oneself with the shoes. or otherwise?
"Wait a second! Where is it located exactly?"
"Yes, Bel? What's a matter?"
"The blood in the hallway! where is it exactly!?"
"It's near the kitchen. Why? Something comes to mind?"
"Indeed! But still..."
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