“Yes, I suppose so… Which means…”
“Which means Mr and Mrs Kanai. And if we’re going to stretch the point, Kumi and Eiko too.”
“Eiko?”
“That’s the problem we’re faced with. We have to look at absolutely every possibility.”
“But how was Kikuoka killed? Even if we try to narrow down the list of suspects, have you got even a rough idea of how it was done?”
“I think I might have.”
“How?”
The two men turned to stare at Ushikoshi. Ozaki seemed eager to hear his boss’s theory, but Okuma looked extremely dubious.
“I think we have to agree that the door was completely impenetrable. I don’t believe that by using a piece of string, both of those bolts could be turned and the button in the doorknob pushed. I just don’t think all that is possible.”
“But you don’t think the victim opened the door himself?”
“No, I don’t. Which means that room—being in the basement and having no windows, and a door that doesn’t open—leaves us with the ventilation hole.”
“That twenty-centimetre-square hole?”
“The very same. I’m convinced that Kikuoka was stabbed through that hole.”
“But how?”
“The vent is right above the bed. The killer must have attached the knife to the end of a long stick or pole to make a kind of spear and stuck it through the vent.”
“Aha! But they would have needed something at least two metres long,” Ozaki pointed out. “And the problem with something that length is that would be too long to fit across the corridor space—it’d hit the opposite wall. And then it would be a real pain to carry around. If they kept it in their room it would definitely be noticed, but even before that, how could they get it into the house?”
“I’ve already thought of that. It must have been one of those collapsible fishing rods.”
“Aha! I see.”
“A fishing rod could be extended to just the right length to reach into the room,” explained Ushikoshi. He sounded rather proud of himself.
“Huh. But would a knife inserted that way really stay in the victim’s body? The knife would have to be securely tied to the rod, wouldn’t it?”
“It would. And that’s the significance of the piece of string that was attached to the knife. But I still haven’t quite figured out how it worked. It must have been a clever plan. That part I think we’ll have to hear from the killer themselves—after we’ve arrested them.”
“So you’re saying that Room 10’s murder was carried out the same way?”
“Ah, now that I’m not sure about.”
“There was nothing in that basement corridor that could have been used to stand on. I mean that’s why I brought a bedside table from the next room. But even when I stood on that I was still way too low to see into the room. A coffee table would be even lower. All the bedside tables in all the rooms in the house are the same height.”
“Yes. That is a problem… Perhaps you could put one of them on top of the other?”
“On that slanting floor? In any other house you might be able to manage it… And anyway, there’s only one table in each room. And then there’s the skill it would take to climb up on two tables on top of each other. It’d be unstable.”
“Maybe two people could manage together, one climbing on the other’s shoulders. There must be many ways it could be done. But that’s why I was asking Hayakawa just now about the key to the outdoor shed. I was thinking about that stepladder.”
“This house has only three ways in and out, and all of them are connected to the salon. If anyone went out to the shed they’d have been seen by everyone in the salon. To get outside, you could possibly climb out through the window on the landing of the staircase from Room 1, but then there’s nowhere to get back in. If you came back in through the same window, you’d have to go through the salon to get to Room 14 in the basement. So there’s no point in climbing out in the first place.”
“I’m beginning to believe that everyone in the salon was in on the plot.”
“What, Anan too? You think my police constable was mixed up in this?” chuckled Okuma. “But seriously, ask anyone who was there, and they’re going to say that they didn’t happen to notice anyone resembling a house painter casually passing through the salon with a stepladder tucked under his arm.”
Suddenly Ushikoshi had a thought.
Maybe there was one other way it could have been done. Only the occupants of the ground floor would be able to get in and out of their window. That meant either Sasaki or Togai. Those two had definitely been in the salon at the time of Kikuoka’s murder, but Eiko and Kumi weren’t. Either of those two could have climbed out of the window on the east staircase landing—
“How about a rifle or some other kind of modified gun?”
Ushikoshi’s thought process was rudely interrupted by Okuma’s own musings.
“Some kind of gun that could shoot the knife using a spring mechanism, or elastic. They’d have needed string for that kind of trick—”
“But we’re still stuck on the problem of the stepladder,” said Ozaki. “And how the sofa and coffee table in Room 14 got overturned. Plus, we can’t ignore the signs of a struggle. The killer was definitely inside Room 10.”
Ushikoshi glanced at his watch.
“Yes, we’ve been ignoring that aspect. I think we need to search everyone’s room again. Let’s focus on Mr and Mrs Kanai, Eiko and Kumi. Search for a fishing rod or some kind of pole longer than two metres, or some kind of modified gun or rifle. Also look out for something that could be used as a kind of collapsible stand or step stool. All of those kinds of things.
“Of course we don’t have a warrant, so we’ll need each person’s consent. I’m sure the young students will be happy to let us take a look. And I think with so many people, everyone will probably give in and consent in the end. We’ve still got officers here, haven’t we? Let’s split the task up between them and Anan, preferably all working simultaneously. Let’s not leave out the empty rooms either. And it’s possible that someone’s dumped it out of the window. I want the snow around the whole house thoroughly examined—a wide enough perimeter in case the killer threw it. Oh, and the fireplace too. It’s possible that the killer might have burnt the evidence in the hearth in the salon. Better check just in case.
“Right, let’s get down to the salon. We’ll announce the searches to everyone after lunch. We’ll be careful to ask as politely as possible. Don’t want to go offending the gentry.”
When lunch was over, Ushikoshi and Okuma made their way back to the library in silence, sat down in the exact same chairs as before and watched the sun gradually sink in the sky. They had the feeling that they might be forced to watch the sun again tomorrow, and the day after that too. Neither man felt much like talking.
It wasn’t that he didn’t hear the door open, but Chief Inspector Ushikoshi didn’t feel inclined to turn his head around until he heard his name spoken. His hopes were riding on this result. He could barely look Sergeant Ozaki in the eyes.
“What happened?”
“We searched every room in the house. And every person too. There were no women police officers available, so we’ll probably be fielding complaints from the female contingent.”
Ozaki’s speech was a little more sluggish than usual.
“I see. And?”
“We found absolutely nothing. Nobody was hiding a fishing rod; there isn’t one in the whole house. No long poles either. The billiard cues are about the longest thing here. And of course we didn’t come across any modified firearms.