“Did you think I’d have screamed just because I heard a man’s voice?” asked Kumi.
“Is this for real? But, but, it can’t possibly…”
“Wasn’t it just a nightmare?”
The two detectives spoke at once.
“Everyone kept saying the same thing to me. But I am absolutely sure. Being here now feels more like a dream than what happened in the night.”
“Is there anyone living around here who looks like that? I mean with dark skin and burn scars on his cheeks?”
“And something of a sleepwalker to boot.”
It was Okuma who’d decided to throw this in.
“A monster who decides to go for a walk in the snow by the light of the moon,” he elaborated.
“There are definitely no such people around here!”
Eiko spoke as if it were her own honour that was being impugned.
“And of course, there’s nobody fitting that description within the mansion?”
Ushikoshi’s question managed to offend Eiko even more. She laughed scornfully.
“Obviously not!”
From then on, she sat there in annoyed silence.
“And the residents of this mansion are: Mr Kozaburo and Ms Eiko Hamamoto, Mr and Mrs Hayakawa and Haruo Kajiwara. There’s no one else?”
Kozaburo shook his head.
“Well, this is very depressing news. Ms Aikura, I believe you were sleeping on the top floor? Specifically… let’s see… Room 1. Now, there are no footholds beneath the window of Room 1, nor were there any footprints in the snow below. So this monster somehow came floating through the air and peered in through your window?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know how he did it. And I never said it was a monster!”
“Tell you what, it’d be a lot more bloody helpful if you could make up your mind whether you heard a scream or saw some creepy bloke.”
It was Okuma again, unable to resist commenting.
Kumi flashed him a look that said she wasn’t prepared to say any more if he insisted on making disparaging remarks.
“Right, then… Is there anyone else who would like to throw a spanner into our investigation?”
Everyone looked as if they were trying to think of something. At that moment, one of the uniformed police officers standing guard outside hurried into the salon and began to whisper something into the ear of Chief Inspector Ushikoshi. The lead detective got up and approached Kozaburo.
“Mr Hamamoto, it seems we’ve found what appears to be the missing head from your doll. It’s out in the snow, quite a distance from Room 10.”
Kozaburo jumped to his feet.
“Oh, that’s wonderful news!”
“Please go with this officer. For now we may be keeping it for forensics, but what will you do with it when you get it back?”
“Well, obviously I’m going to reattach it to its body, and return it to Room 3—my display room.”
“Understood. You’re free to go.”
Kozaburo and the police officer left the room.
“So, is there no one else who observed anything odd? Mr Togai, you were right below Mr Ueda’s room?”
“No, nothing. I went to bed around 10.30.”
“Nothing unusual happening outside your window?”
“My curtains were shut. And the window’s double glazed.”
“And yet, the killer took that massive doll from Room 3—for what purpose I have no idea—and carried it into the back garden. And after that, he carefully took it apart, tossing only the head farther away from the other parts. The head section that we found was buried in the snow, at such a distance from the rest of the body that it suggests someone flung it with all their might. It’s quite deep, and there are no footprints around it.
“The snow stopped falling around 11.30 last night. From the state of the doll’s body, we can guess that the killer arrived shortly before then. Right outside Mr Togai’s window. Are you sure you didn’t hear anything at all?”
“I’m sorry. I was already asleep soon after 10.30. I didn’t even hear Mr Ueda scream.”
“Everyone seems to have gone to bed surprisingly early.”
“Yes. We tend to get up early here.”
“Ah!”
Sasaki suddenly cried out.
“What is it?” asked Ushikoshi, who looked as if nothing could shock him any more.
“The stakes! The stakes sticking out of the snow. Two of them. It must have been a few hours before the murder!”
“What do you mean? Could you explain more clearly?”
Sasaki explained how, looking out of the salon window the evening before, he’d spotted two wooden stakes sticking out of the snow.
“And what time was that?”
“It was after we’d eaten, right after we finished drinking tea. So I reckon about 8 o’clock, or maybe half past.”
“Um, Mr Kajiwara, 8 o’clock-ish, would that be about the time people finished drinking their tea?”
“Yes, I think that would be about right.”
“Did anyone else besides Mr Sasaki notice these two stakes?”
Everyone shook their head. Sasaki remembered the moment he’d spotted them. He really should have called somebody else over to take a look.
“Was it snowing at the time?”
“Yes, it was.”
“And then in the morning, when you went out to wake Mr Ueda, how was it then?”
“You mean the stakes? Now that you mention it, this morning they were gone.”
“How about a trace or mark where they’d been?”
“Ah, I’m not sure. I wasn’t really paying attention, but I don’t think there was anything. One was near the area we found the doll’s parts, so I guess I was even standing around that spot this morning… Oh, do you think the killer put those stakes there?”
“No idea, but I have to say it’s yet another mysterious story. Mr Hayakawa, did you not notice these stakes?”
“We hardly went out into the garden yesterday. I’m afraid I didn’t notice anything.”
“These stakes, were they standing completely upright?”
“Yes.”
“So, perpendicular to the ground?”
“Yes, pretty much.”
“Do you think they were stuck all the way into the ground?”
“No, that would be impossible. There’s stone underneath the snow in both spots.”
“Meaning?”
“I mean that part of the back garden is covered with a kind of paving stone.”
“Hmm. Do you think you could show me whereabouts these stakes were?”
Ushikoshi handed Sasaki a pen and paper, and the younger man drew him a sketch of the back garden. As soon as he’d finished, Okuma came over to look. (See Fig. 5.)
“Aha! Now it’s getting interesting!”
“How far away from the building were the stakes?” asked Ushikoshi.
“About two metres, I think.”
“And the doll, was it about the same distance away?”
“Probably.”
“So a line drawn between the two stakes would be about two metres away from, and parallel with the wall of this building?”
“Yes, it would.”
“Hmm.”
“But say they were connected to the crime, what on earth would they be used for?” asked Sasaki.
“Never mind that for now. We’ll think about it later. It could very well be a completely unrelated matter. By the way, last night, who was the last person to go to bed?”
“That would be me,” said Kohei Hayakawa. “Every night I lock up before going to bed.”