Chapter 17: 17

Chapter 17: The old case

Taira: “There is a room nearby the entrance with a white sofa on the opposite side of the kitchen. That sofa has been there since years ago. Sudo Toru committed a double suicide there.”

“Double suicide?” Tanimoto felt weird when he learnt a person who had committed double suicide was still wandering around the place. He wondered what had happened to the other victim.

Taira was a local resident in this area and seemed to know the story well. He said, “The other victim was a woman named Sudo Matsuko, a member of Sudo family. She was a pretty woman but always had a melancholic face. I heard she suffered from a mental illness. Sudo Toru, a married man, and Matsuko were found dead on that sofa side by side. Both had consumed the same poison.

It could be a double suicide, or maybe one of them killed the other and then committed suicide. Or maybe someone else had killed both of them. But it was hard to think that Toru’s wife – Hisami, or his rumored mistress – Chizuru would kill the victims and then put them side by side.

As for the poison, it was found that Matsuko had used her beauty to trick her physician into giving her the drugs. So, people believed that it was Matsuko’s idea to commit double suicide.

But you see, Toru was married to Hisami, then was rumored with Chizuru, and ended up dying with Matsuko. It seemed he was a capricious man. Some people said it was a murder-suicide by Matsuko. In the end, the case remained unsolved.”

Tanimoto: “Uhm- About Ayano-san… Could it be she is Toru-san’s…?”

Taira: “Oh, right. There was a rumor that said she is Toru’s daughter. But I think she is most likely Sokichi’s illegitimate daughter. Sokichi was always concerned about her. But Chizuru was a fickle woman, so no one knows the truth. There was a rumor that said the reason Chizuru came to this Rainy Mansion was because of her lover.”

Tanimoto felt he had started to grasp the interpersonal relationship among the residents here. But there was still one thing that he was curious of, so he decided to ask directly. “About Toru-san’s case, isn’t his spirit still here? Why can’t we just ask him about what happened back then?”

Just like when he was still alive, Toru spent his day gambling around and didn’t seem distraught by his situation. Tanimoto felt Toru should be able to give them a straight answer if they asked him.

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Taira looked at him sullenly. “The thing is, Toru himself didn’t know what had happened. The police were unable to ask him right after his death because of his condition at that time. I heard when Shimizu-san first came to this mansion, Toru’s ghost was writhing in pain – just like when he was dying. He didn’t even realize that he was already dead.

After a while, Toru gradually calmed down. He began to realize that he had died and the police were here to investigate his case. However, maybe because he didn’t want to remember the moment when he suffered and died, he couldn’t recall what happened right before and after the incident.

Not long afterwards, he started wandering around with horse racing newspaper under his arm, repeating his habits when he was still alive. I heard he stopped talking about his incident since then. Of course, I’m not saying he is to blame but the truth remains in the dark even now. Nothing was ever solved.”

Tanimoto: “I see…”

Taira gave a dry laugh. “Even in this Rainy Mansion, not all dead people would turn into ghost in the first place. It’s impossible to rely on ghost to solve a case. Like this time, we still haven’t heard anything about Yamamura’s spirit.”

Suddenly, a voice came from behind them. “You’re right. It seems Uncle Yamamura is not here now.”

The men inside the room were startled by the voice. When they turned around, they saw Hayase Ayano stood in the hallway with her poker face as usual.

Ayano: “I used to think that the spirit of a dead person would stay in their house or with their family. But later I found out that sometimes they appeared at a completely unexpected location like their workplace or school that they used to go to. When I was in the elementary school, I saw a ghost of an office worker sitting in the classroom like he was enjoying the breeze. Maybe Uncle Yamamura is at that kind of place now.”

Taira: “Uhm… If the ghost was sitting on a student’s chair, then what about the student?”

Ayano: “Well, it’s not like the student can see the ghost. There was no problem.”

Tanimoto looked at Ayano and wondered whether she dropped by to give them a lesson on spirit’s ecology. He felt although she always looked unemotional, she seemed kind-hearted.

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