Chapter 49: The Suspected Third Party
Kishida Masayoshi, upon discovering the body, didn't rush to examine it. Instead, he meticulously searched the entire residence, ensuring no one else was hiding within its walls. Only then did he return to the body sprawled on the living room floor.
After notifying his colleagues on duty that night, he began his preliminary on-site investigation.
"The body lies prone on the living room sofa, oriented west to east. The head has been severed and removed from the scene. There are no signs of struggle, nor any obvious indications the body was moved."
"The deceased wears a hooded sweatshirt and jeans adorned with metal rings. Black socks cover his feet. A silver skull ring encircles the middle finger of his right hand."
"The sofa’s left side is heavily saturated with blood, forming a dark, pooling stain. There’s no evidence of spatter, similar to room 216 at the inn—decapitation postmortem."
"The dismemberment tool, a common kitchen knife, rests on the coffee table. Likely from Kagehara’s own kitchen, the perpetrator saw no need to take it after use."
"Besides the knife, the table is littered with instant food wrappers and empty ramen cups. Judging by the sheer number of ramen bowls, the consumption suggests at least two days’ worth of meals for a grown man."
Having completed his initial assessment, Kishida fell into deep contemplation. In other cases, identifying the victim would be the priority, followed by determining the cause and time of death.
But this time, he felt less concerned with those details.
"The skin on the hands suggests the deceased is a middle-aged man. This immediately clashes with Kagehara Tetsuya’s profile. Moreover, the victim’s style of dress is starkly different from Kagehara’s."
Having investigated Kagehara, Kishida was confident he understood that boy’s sartorial habits. Kagehara’s casual wear tended towards darker tones, neither excessively loose nor overly fitted. Patterns and embellishments were virtually nonexistent.
"Judging by the food, the deceased had been hiding in Kagehara’s home for several days. This strongly suggests his identity."
"Only Hasebe Koichi would have reason to hide here for so long. His age and style of dress also align much better with the victim."
With this in mind, Kishida pulled at the collar of the sweatshirt. As expected, a mist tengu tattoo was visible on the corpse's right shoulder.
This same mark had allowed him and the forensic examiner at the hot spring inn to confirm the body there was not Hasebe's.
Now, that detail had become relevant once more.
Hasebe Koichi was dead.
And he had died in Kagehara Tetsuya's home.
Kishida was shocked, but more than anything, he was perplexed.
"Decapitated postmortem, just like ĹŚshima Masaki. Is this mere coincidence? Or have we been on the wrong track from the start? Was Hasebe never the perpetrator at all?"
"Both heads were severed and taken. Why? Why this fixation on decapitation?"
Dismemberment usually serves the purpose of body disposal. Handling an intact corpse is considerably difficult. But that was clearly not the motive in these cases.
Leaving the bodies at the scene while taking only the heads… was this a macabre trophy taken by a twisted mind, or was there some other, compelling reason?
Unable to find an answer, Kishida temporarily shelved the question.
"Could Kagehara Tetsuya have killed Hasebe?"
After a moment’s thought, Kishida shook his head.
Though he lacked concrete proof, his intuition told him Kagehara was likely not responsible.
Kagehara himself had sent the message that brought him here. If Kagehara were the killer, why would he do that? Wouldn’t delaying the discovery of the body make the investigation more difficult?
But if it wasn't Kagehara, it meant a third suspect existed. The strikingly similar deaths of Hasebe and ĹŚshima strongly suggested a serial killer.
What had this third person done when ĹŚshima Masaki was killed? Why had they left no trace?
Furthermore, had Kagehara’s initial intention been to lead him to Hasebe’s body, or had he meant to meet him, only for something to intervene, forcing him to leave?
Kishida was overwhelmed by unanswered questions.
“Kishida!”
A voice called from outside, and several of his colleagues entered the residence.
“You’re here,” Kishida greeted them, summarizing his analysis.
“What? The deceased might be Hasebe Koichi? You’re not joking, are you?”
The forensic examiner was astonished. After confirming the disappearances of Hasebe and Kagehara, most at headquarters believed they were the true culprits in the inn case, focusing all their efforts on apprehending them.
Now, Hasebe was dead.
“Why would I joke about something like this? I’ve confirmed the tattoo,” Kishida replied, exasperated.
Still in disbelief, the examiner went to examine the right shoulder. After several moments of stunned silence, he finally spoke. “This is… this might really be Hasebe. By the way, Kishida, how did you find the body?”
“It was Kagehara,” Kishida admitted after a moment’s hesitation. “He sent me a text message asking me to come here. I thought he wanted to meet or perhaps confess, but I found the body as soon as I entered.”
“Kagehara?”
“What?”
“No way…”
Not just the examiner, but the other officers were stunned.
What was happening? Two prime suspects in the inn case—one dead, the other missing but actively contacting the police? It was all too bizarre.
“Could this be something Kagehara orchestrated? He kills Hasebe, then sends you a message to lessen suspicion on himself.”
Before Kishida could respond, another detective spoke up. “That doesn’t make sense. If Kagehara was concerned about suspicion, why did he disappear on the night of June 9th? If he’d stayed at the inn, we might not have suspected him at all.”
“Then who killed Hasebe? The killer had to know Hasebe was hiding here. Who else but Kagehara would know that?”
The officers began debating amongst themselves. The forensic examiner, meanwhile, had begun his work on the body and announced the estimated time of death. “Preliminary assessment places it between eleven and twelve last night. The cause of death isn’t immediately clear, but I can confirm the victim was subdued before being killed and then decapitated.”
“Could the cause of death be potassium chloride injection?” Kishida asked.
“It’s possible. But that would match the method used by the killer in room 216,” the examiner replied.
A matching method suggested a single perpetrator.
Hearing this, Kishida frowned and suddenly said, “Have those ramen cups and food wrappers examined. See if you can find Kagehara’s DNA, especially on the ramen bowls.”
He needed to know if Hasebe had been hiding there alone, or if Kagehara had been with him.
Comments (1)
Please login or sign up to post a comment.