Detached villa

In the end, Mitarai didn't explain anything to me, and when we got home, we scattered the burnt remains collected at the scene.

I wondered at what point he was interested in this black pile of paper on the ground, which seemed to me to be nothing more than the product of burning.

Like the previous cases, we found the remains of candles and some corners of documents in the residue, but most of them have been burnt clean, and it is estimated that no one but the murderer has written the specific content. knew.

I thought I would get an answer that explained everything the next day, but it was the same as the previous few days. Mitarai went out early in the morning and didn't tell me what I was going to do or when I would be back.

Leave me alone without a trace.Although this is not the first time this kind of thing has happened, it is still very disappointing.

But unlike in the past, this time the disappointment was short-lived, followed by another event that made me extremely happy.

I went out to buy groceries in the afternoon, and when I came back Mitarai had collapsed in her room.When I was helping him clean up the leftovers in the living room (he spread out the incinerated things he brought from the scene yesterday, but he didn't clean up.), I suddenly saw something that I had seen more than once, but felt very strange s things.

It was an air ticket, and I felt as if someone had poured cold water on me for a moment, so I couldn't read the text on the ticket carefully, so I hurriedly asked Mitarai:

"Are you leaving again?"

"What's the problem? I'll leave sooner or later." Mitarai hid in the room and replied in a muffled voice, "Don't focus on such meaningless things, Ishioka. It's better to be real than to be depressed here Go learn your English."

"So you really want to leave?" I ignored Mitarai's grievances and chased after him.

"So what did you see?" Mitarai snorted coldly, "A plane ticket on the table?"

Hearing Mitarai's rhetorical question, I suddenly realized the abnormal state of agitation just now, and calmed down immediately, not daring to answer the conversation again.

"Look carefully, Ishioka, it's not for me, it's for you."

"For me?" I was surprised, and quickly raised the ticket to my eyes, "Ishiokakazumi", this is indeed my name.

"this is……"

"A ticket to Italy will take off the day after tomorrow."

"You bought it for me?"

"I'll go as well."

Mitarai was almost awkward, and answered my question in a different way.

But when I wanted to ask the specific reason, Mitarai refused to answer my question.

I thought what he said last night that the truth would come out today was just a joke, and now it will be invalidated. I didn't expect that when the evening approached, Ms. Masako Matsumoto came to the door again.Unlike the previous two times, this time the worry on Miss Masako's face disappeared, and she was more cheerful and happy.

As soon as she entered the door, she ran straight towards Mitarai, and for a moment I couldn't help suspecting that she wanted to jump into Mitarai's arms.

"Mr. Mitarai, how did you find out?"

Ms. Matsumoto was so excited that she even changed into an honorific name, but Mitarai still looked like she didn't want to see this visitor, and replied with the same perfunctory attitude as before:

"Coincidence, but since you're here, please stay. Zhuyue will also arrive later, which can explain the problem even more."

"Takegoshi?" I asked, "Is it Ms. Matsumoto's matter? What does it have to do with Takegoshi? And Mitarai, when did you help Ms. Matsumoto solve this problem?"

"This morning." Mitarai picked an answer from my series of questions, and then had no intention of answering again.

Now that there are guests present, and knowing that Takekoshi will be coming soon, I went to the kitchen and made a few cups of coffee for them in advance. When the coffee was finished, I found that Takegoshi was already sitting in the living room with his notebook. .

"Teacher, it's amazing! How did you think of this all of a sudden?"

I know that Takegoshi sometimes calls Mitaraishi his teacher, especially when he is excited.

"This matter is very simple. I just got enough information in advance, and then made a simple link, and the answer is ready to come."

Hearing what Mitarai said, I blushed a little. Even though I had the same information as him, I still didn't know anything.

"What do you mean?"

I still couldn't help asking.

"The person who started the fire in Xidi without any reason is the secretary of the Matsumoto family, Mr. Yoshimoto Kazuhiko."

I really can't figure out where this name, which I have never heard before, came from.

"Let's talk about that magical fire first," Mitarai said, rubbing his hands in a good mood, "There must be a reason behind all crimes, even if this conspiracy No matter how weird and unbelievable. This case was very simple from the beginning, and the only problem it had was why there was such a fire."

"Its magic was determined from the very beginning. A fire that was lit in an unoccupied corner seemed to have no impact on the surface, no property damage, no casualties, and even apart from the slight sensation caused at the beginning, No one even wanted to report the crime again. That’s right, it’s more like a bonfire for people to have fun than it’s called a fire, and a fire is lit every day to add to the fun.”

"The simplest and most common idea is of course to use flames to deal with things that cannot be dealt with normally, so Shioka-kun and I visited the scene last night and collected the ignited residue."

I saw Mitarai look up at me, then turned her head away.

"Teacher, did you see the murderer last night?"

"No, there is no change in the surroundings." Mitarai said, but revealed a happy tone, "The surrounding environment is the same as that of other houses, and the owner of the villa can be seen reading a book in the room."

"Teacher, it's not..." Zhu Yue was dumbfounded, "What do you mean?"

"Back to the question just now," said Mitarai, ignoring Fumihiko Takegoshi, "I checked the residues, and they included everything from entertainment magazines to newspapers, and they were not present when they were lit, so they can basically be discharged. Someone wanted to use it to burn something."

"What else does the flame have besides the ability to burn? The answer is obvious, that is, it is light."

"Light?"

"Yes, the answer is easy to see after the fire is extinguished. As I said just now, the light hidden behind the flame is easily exposed."

"Do you mean someone turned on the lights in the villa?" Takegoshi asked suspiciously, "Isn't it normal to turn on the lights?"

"What if there are no lights in that villa at all?" Mitarai asked, "If the owner of that villa is a blind man who is in his later years, or an old man who does not want to live with ordinary people out of self-esteem."

"Ah!" I exclaimed, I have gradually grasped the prototype, there are such coincidences in this world!

"Let's not talk about the indifference of this old man named Matsumoto Yuhito, and he doesn't know anything about the fact that he can't help but live in a separately purchased villa for two days every week. This is in the eyes of everyone. The old man who has achieved success in middle ages contracted an eye disease for unknown reasons in his later years, and gradually lost his sight completely. Although he couldn't completely hide this matter, he still went to a space that only belonged to him to calm his heart every week. Pain and pride."

Mitarai talked eloquently in front of everyone, ignoring the embarrassment of the audience as usual.

"Then one day, for some reason, all of which are possible, such as just wanting to think about work while alone, he took that extremely important document to the company to Xidi's villa. However, in An accident happened at this time, and Yuhito Matsumoto, who died suddenly, was never able to tell the news again."

"Of course, the old gentleman's secretary knew the news, but after he noticed the chaos within the company, he keenly discovered the good opportunity hidden behind this incident, no matter which company the hostile company sells this information Undoubtedly, they can make a lot of money. However, Gibbon also faced a problem. He knew that Mr. Matsumoto, who has passed away, put the materials in Xidi’s villa, but he didn’t know where he put them. After all, it belonged to the old man’s private property. The site, even the secretary has not entered it a few times."

"He originally planned to search during the day, but the busy days and being with Matsumoto's new successor all the time made him have no time to look for opportunities to search for information in Xidi during the day. It seems that there is only time left At night. But the search work at night is facing an unprecedented problem. There are no lights in the villa. It is undoubtedly a very eye-catching thing to light up in the villa area where there is no light at a glance. Especially since the owner of the villa is still blind.”

"Isn't the ignition more eye-catching?" I asked Mitarai.

"Don't you understand, Ishioka-kun." Mitarai replied impatiently, "For Yoshimoto, the more attention the better, as long as no one pays attention to the lights in the villa It'll be all right, especially if there's a couple who pass by there every night."

"Then why use firelight? Can't other lights work?"

"The fire is the most difficult to extinguish directly. Besides, there is still a period of time between the alarm and someone coming to put out the fire, not to mention the alarm reminder when the fire comes."

Mitarai replied.

"In fact, it's easy to think about it. Now that you know that the purpose of lighting the fire is to hide other lights, it's not hard to deduce that the glowing villa I saw was originally a place that absolutely can't shine, so it's impossible to guess that the owner of the villa is a blind person." It’s not difficult to get along with, and combined with the information Miss Matsumoto provided me a few days ago, it’s really easy to think of it together.”

I finally understood the word "coincidence" that Mitarai said at the beginning. Although it was not a difficult matter, it was solved so quickly because of this coincidence.

"Of course, the shelf life of the materials is only a few days. If your police keep on guard and keep putting out the fire, who knows if there will be an accident."