3

"The forensic report puts the time of death at 2:00 AM. Were you asleep?"

"Yes."

"There are no surveillance cameras in the living room of this house, and likely none in the guest room either—we’ll need to confirm, but since it’s a highly private space, we need explicit consent first."

"In your memory, did Tsukiji Takahashi have any conflicts with others, or was he having an affair?"

"No affairs. As for conflicts, they were all minor issues, nothing that lasted more than a week." Hearing this, YORU INOUE pieced together two points.

"The forensic report says he was first knocked unconscious with a blunt object. If you were asleep at the time, he was probably outdoors—if he’d been inside, the sound of the blow and him collapsing would’ve woken you." Before the old woman could speak, Yoru Inoue went on.

"Did you sleep together?"

"Yes. I lock the door around 10:30 PM every night. He didn’t know where the spare key was—he hated going downstairs at night, so I always handled locking up, and he never cared where the key was kept."

"Did anyone else know about that key?"

"Only my son. But he’s not in Hokkaido, he’s in Kanagawa. The key’s hiding spot was changed two months ago, and I never told him."

More information emerged. "Did you clean the living room when you came down this morning?" The old woman shook her head, her voice trembling—perhaps reliving the distressing memory was too much.

Then came the second question.

1. If he was indoors, unwilling to go downstairs, and didn’t know where the key was, how did he get outside? Forced entry? That’s highly unusual."When you fell asleep, was he beside you? When was the last time you two were apart?""Since we got back from grocery shopping around 6:30 PM."
2. If they hadn’t separated, he never left the house. He was alive at 6:30 PM—how did the killer knock him out and hang his body outside?
3. I need to inspect the whole house before drawing conclusions, but we can start now."Ma’am, may we take a look around the entire house?""Of course." Her voice was still shaky.But after Yoru Inoue and two officers finished searching, there were no signs of struggle anywhere. It was practically a semi-locked room."Ma’am, you said he had good social relationships. The forensics report says he was struck multiple times with a blunt object, not just once. Minor daily frictions wouldn’t escalate to murder—the injuries are too severe. What kind of conflict could possibly lead to this?" That was point four.The old woman thought for a long time but couldn’t come up with anything. Yoru Inoue asked again, "Who was he on the worst terms with?" She hesitated. "Will this… get innocent people involved?" Seeing this, Yoru Inoue shook his head. "No. We’ll just say we found the lead during routine checks. You can speak freely." After a pause, she said haltingly, "Probably the Matsudaira family next door. They keep a dog and a cat, and those animals are always wandering into our yard. I’m terrified of them. The cat often sneaks upstairs and lies on the piano or violin, and worst of all, it uses our bathroom—we put up with it, but lately the cat’s also been eating random things.""Does the dog do that too?""Yes. It even learned to open the fridge and steal food. Recently, though, the dog suddenly became paralyzed, and the cat’s been looking weak too…" She trailed off, but Yoru Inoue guessed they suspected her of poisoning the pets. "How many people live in their house?""Just a couple, like us." Yoru Inoue nodded and left.The biting cold made him shiver. Officers from the Nayoro Police Station handed over the victim’s file: No murder weapon was found within the house or within a 1-kilometer radius."Got it."The deceased was Tsukiji Takahashi, a former high school music teacher in Hiroshima who returned to his hometown of Nakagawa-cho, Hokkaido after retirement. The old woman was Masami Kitajo, who took her husband’s surname after marriage. Yoru Inoue exhaled. "This weather is brutal."The house to the right had been demolished, so the only neighbor left was the one to the left.Knock knock knockKnock knock knockIt took ten minutes for someone to answer. Yoru Inoue showed his police ID. "Hello, I’m Inspector Yoru Inoue, assigned here from Asahikawa. May I come in?" The man who opened the door was bald, wearing a long-sleeved shirt. "I’m sorry, Mr. Inoue’s pets are injured." Yoru Inoue exchanged a few polite words and left. It was already 12:18 PM. This was an economically depressed, remote area—there wasn’t even a restaurant in sight.Footsteps sounded behind him: it was Kazuno WATANABE.He and Yoru Inoue were close friends, both inspectors. But Yoru was confused—wasn’t he handling this case alone? Why assign a partner in less than a day? Kazuno saw through his confusion. "The higher-ups assigned me as your assistant." Yoru nodded. "Do you know where the nearest restaurant is?""It’s not far from here." On the way, Yoru filled him in on all the case details.