In this case, the boy noticed two suspicious points.
The first was the cemetery where the first crime was committed. This was also the place where he first noticed the abnormality. However, the sudden appearance of Kokarasuma made him stop thinking about it, and he never thought about it in detail after that.
Next is the parents of the deceased, Mr. and Mrs. Muraki. The boy always believed that Mr. Muraki’s extremely nervous reaction after seeing him for the second time was something wrong. The unknown pungent smell on his body also made the boy very concerned.
At that time, when they visited the Muraki family, what on earth was Mr. Muraki doing in the room upstairs?
Although he really wanted to investigate, it was getting late now, so the boy decided to take a look at the cemetery first. As for the Muraki family, they should wait until tomorrow morning...
The cemetery at night does tend to give people a windy feeling, but the boy didn't feel any fear in his heart.
After all, although he is not a real policeman yet, he has been doing police work and has captured countless vicious criminals.
No matter which legend you follow, a "righteous" person like him is the one that ghosts least want to get close to.
Therefore, even if there are really so-called ghosts here, it should be that they are afraid of him, not that he is afraid of them.
Using a flashlight, the boy walked to the spot in the cemetery where Kyoko's classmate was tied up that morning.
After being identified by the Murakis, Kyoko's body was temporarily taken back to the morgue of the Metropolitan Police Department by the police. The dark red bloodstains on the ground around were also cleaned up, except for some residual blood in some corners. A little outside, it is no longer as thrilling and curious as it was in the morning.
The boy stood where Kyoko's classmate's body was tied and kneeling, and used his flashlight to illuminate the tombstone in front of him.
【Mayuko Hanada】
Yes, the owner of this tombstone is Mr. Hanada, the student who committed suicide by jumping off the building a few months ago because he couldn't bear the bullying from Kyoko's classmate.
When the body of classmate Kyoko was discovered by the tombkeeper this morning, she was tied and kneeling in front of this tombstone.
Indeed, on the surface this case seems simple.
Hanada's classmate finally chose to commit suicide by jumping off the building because of being bullied by Kyoko's classmate. However, Mr. Hanada's request for an explanation failed and the police were perfunctory. Finally, one night a few months later, he happened to be found under the stimulation of alcohol. He picked up Kyoko, a classmate who happened to be out of town, and after killing her, tied her body to his daughter’s tombstone to comfort Hanada’s soul in heaven...
But the boy didn't think this was the truth. It was only when he saw the tombstone again that he finally recalled the abnormality he noticed in the morning.
The body was in the wrong position.
The body of Kyoko’s classmate was tied up with multiple strings in a very technical manner, making it look like a “Mother praying” position.
Sit on your knees with your legs together, hands clasped in front of your chest...looking very pious.
But according to what the boy had learned from Mr. Hanada’s neighbors, Mr. Hanada himself did not have any beliefs and was an atheist.
Moreover, in Huatian's house, the boy had not found anything related to religious beliefs before.
If the reason why Kyoko's body is tied here is really because Mr. Hanada wanted to comfort his daughter who died tragically, according to Japanese custom, he should have tied the body in a "kneeling down and kowtow" posture instead of "Mother's Prayer".
Even if Mr. Hanada suddenly thought of the "Mother's Prayer" gesture on a whim under the influence of alcohol, that would not be right.
Because there’s another strange thing about Kyoko’s classmate’s body.
Recalling the scene in his memory in the morning, the boy half-crouched in front of the tombstone, and then slowly raised his head.
His eyes therefore looked towards the dark hills behind the cemetery.
Yes, the boy had noticed from the beginning that the head of Kyoko’s classmate’s body was raised high.
And this was obviously not an accident, because there was a black string pulling back around the corpse's neck. It was this string that forced the corpse's head upwards.
Obviously, this was what the murderer did deliberately.
The boy did not understand the rules of these religions very well, but according to his superficial knowledge in this regard, believers generally have to lower their heads when doing these prayer postures and cannot look directly at the gods.
But the murderer did the opposite. The head of Kyoko's body was deliberately raised. It was neither a standard prayer nor an apology...it was very strange.
This was the strange thing the boy noticed this morning, and it was also one of the major doubts that made him suspect that the murderer might not be Mr. Hanada.
[But, what is the reason for placing the corpse in a praying posture but deliberately raising its head? 】
Thinking about this, the boy's eyes fell on the dark hill behind the cemetery.
[Is it related to this mountain? 】
"Who is there?!"
At this moment, a loud shout suddenly sounded from behind the boy, and then a beam of flashlight light came over.
The boy withdrew his gaze, stood up and looked back.
"Huh? Oh! Is it Officer Shirakawa?!"
The person walking towards him was the gravekeeper whom the boy and I had met this morning. This person was also the first person to discover the body of Kyoko’s classmate and report it to the police.
After seeing the boy's face clearly, the tombkeeper immediately put down his flashlight and ran over quickly.
"It's so late. Is Officer Baihe here to investigate the scene?"
"Yeah." The boy nodded slightly and glanced subconsciously at the middle-aged man in front of him.
This was an ordinary-looking man, and his clothes were the same as when he saw him in the morning.
But perhaps because of their status as police officers and ordinary citizens, the gravekeeper seemed a little cautious and did not get too close to the boy.
"Sorry, Officer Baihe, after the police took the body away, I asked someone to clean up all the blood stains here, so..."
"It's okay." Walking towards the cemetery with him, the boy asked casually: "Were you on patrol just now?"
"Ah, yes, after this inspection is completed, we will do two more inspections tonight, and that will be enough..." the tombkeeper replied with a smile.
"What's on the mountain behind here?" the boy asked again.
"This...I'm not very sure. Although my job is to inspect the cemeteries nearby, I have never been up the mountain behind, and no one seems to have lived on the mountain. It is probably just a bare mountain. There’s nothing there…”
"Really?" The boy nodded slightly, but said no further.
"Officer Baihe, could it be that... the police have found the murderer?"
At this time, the tombkeeper asked curiously.
In the darkness, the boy heard the words and glanced at him.
"Not yet, I just found some clues..."
Looking away, the boy frowned slightly. He was thinking carefully, as if he suddenly thought of something, and his eyebrows suddenly relaxed, but the tone in his mouth did not change at all.
"As for who the murderer is, the investigation needs to continue..."
At this point, the boy's hand suddenly loosened, and the flashlight in his hand fell to the ground.
With a "click" sound, the cylindrical flashlight rolled forward along the steps. The light beam of the flashlight also swept through the night sky, illuminating the tombstones around the two people in an instant.
"Ah! Officer Shirakawa! Your flashlight!"
Beside him, before the boy could speak, the gravekeeper hurriedly stepped forward to help the boy pick up the flashlight rolling on the ground.
Seeing this, the boy didn't hesitate. He stepped forward just as quickly, with almost no sound in his footsteps. When the tombkeeper grabbed the flashlight on the ground, he also reached out and grabbed it.
Due to this same movement, the distance between the two people that they had deliberately maintained before was quickly shortened, and it could even be said that they were touching each other shoulder to shoulder.
It was also at this distance that the boy smelled the same unknown pungent smell on the tombkeeper's body as on Mr. Muraki's body before.
【Is it true...】
(˙ー˙)
(End of chapter)
