Ushikoshi heard the sound of the refrigerator door being opened. Kozaburo hadn’t quite shut the kitchen door behind him and Ushikoshi could see Kozaburo through the opening as he moved backwards and forwards in the kitchen.
“This a real blizzard!” said Kozaburo, raising his voice.
“Sure is!” called Ushikoshi in response. The piano music continued, but the blizzard outside was about the same volume. The door from the kitchen opened and Kozaburo reappeared with a full ice bucket. He sat on the bed and dropped some cubes into Ushikoshi’s glass.
“Thank you,” said Ushikoshi, studying Kozaburo’s face. “Is something the matter? You don’t seem very well.”
Kozaburo smiled a little.
“I’m not very good on stormy nights… Anyway, let’s keep drinking until we’ve used up all the ice. Are you up to keeping me company?”
As Kozaburo spoke, the antique wall clock struck eleven.
SCENE 6
The Salon
It was some while later that Kozaburo realized that he’d forgotten about the drawbridge. He and Ushikoshi hurried out into the snowstorm and pulled the chain that raised the bridge, becoming so chilled in the process that it took several more drinks to warm them up again. It was just after midnight by the time the two men got to sleep.
The next morning, in anticipation of the view from the tower, they woke up well before 8. The wind had completely dropped and the sky was no longer full of swirling snowflakes. However, there was no blue sky to be seen; the drift ice sat on a desolate sea under a gloomy sky. There was just one brighter, white cloud over to the east, concealing the morning sun.
But for those used to living in a northern climate, this view was as impressive as any other. It looked as if someone had taken a vast white sheet and placed it on top of the sea, hiding the water completely. How much labour would that have taken to achieve? To Mother Nature it was a breeze.
They lowered the drawbridge. As they were crossing, Ushikoshi noticed a vertical line of metal rungs embedded in the main building wall ahead of them. He guessed it was a kind of ladder for use by someone needing to climb up to the roof of the building.
They arrived in the salon just after 9.00 a.m. Perhaps because most people had stayed up so late the previous night, the only person already awake was Michio Kanai. He was sitting alone at the dining table. The three house-staff members seemed to be in the kitchen, but the rest of the guests must still have been asleep.
The three men greeted each other, and Kanai went back to the newspaper he’d been reading, while Kozaburo went over to the fireplace and took a seat in his favourite rocking chair. Ushikoshi also sat down in a nearby chair.
The firewood burned and the smoke was sucked up by the massive funnel of a chimney. The glass of the windows was all fogged up. It was a perfectly normal morning in the Ice Floe Mansion.
Nevertheless, Chief Inspector Ushikoshi had an uncomfortable feeling. And he soon realized why. Because Sergeant Ozaki and Inspector Okuma had not got up yet. He’d just begun to wonder about this when the salon door burst open and Ozaki and Okuma themselves hurried in.
“I’m sorry, I was a bit tired.” said Ozaki. “Is there anything to report?” he continued, pulling up a chair to the dining table. Ushikoshi got up from his chair by the fire and went over to the table.
“So far so good. But it’s still early yet. Nothing to report.”
“S’pose not.” Okuma sounded half asleep still.
“I’m sorry, sir, I couldn’t get to sleep with the noise of the wind,” said Ozaki.
“What happened to Anan?”
“He was playing all night, so I don’t expect he’ll be getting up any time soon,” said Okuma.
The next to come down was Hatsue Kanai, then Eiko, followed closely by Kumi Aikura. But more than an hour later the rest of the party still hadn’t shown up.
Everyone was drinking hot tea as they waited.
“What shall we do? Should I go and wake them?” Eiko asked Kozaburo.
“No, let them sleep.”
Just then there was the sound of a car coming up the hill, followed by a young man’s voice calling from the front entrance hall.
“Excuse me? Hello?”
“Just a minute!”
Eiko went out to see who was there. A moment later she let out a shriek that had the three police officers start after her, but she immediately reappeared with an enormous bunch of irises.
“Did you order these, Dad?”
“I did. Winter is so dreary without any flowers. I had them flown in.”
“Dad, you’re the best!”
Behind her was the sound of the car going back down the hill. Eiko laid the irises gently on the table.
“You and Chikako divide them up and put some in here and everyone’s rooms. There should be a vase in every room. If there isn’t, I know we’ve got a few extra around somewhere. I know we have enough.”
“Thank you, Daddy. Let’s do it right away. Auntie! Auntie!”
The guests volunteered to go and fetch the vases from each of their rooms. Right about the time the flowers had been divided up, Sasaki and Togai finally appeared, but went right back out again to fetch the vases from their rooms.
At that point it was almost 11.00 a.m. Eiko took some of the flowers and went to wake Yoshihiko. That was when Constable Anan finally turned up.
At 11.50 a.m. everyone was assembled in the salon except Eikichi Kikuoka. No one had considered disturbing a company president from his sleep. But now that they thought about it, it was strange that he wasn’t already up. He’d gone to bed early the night before. It had been around 9 o’clock when he’d left the salon. He’d stopped by the Kanais’ room after that, but he must have been back in his own room by 9.30. For him to still be asleep past 11 the next morning…
“Strange…” mumbled Kanai. “Perhaps he’s not feeling well?”
“Should we go and check on him?” said Kumi. “But then again he might be in a bad mood if we wake him up.”
“I hope he hasn’t been—” said Okuma, stopping himself. “I reckon it’s safer if we do wake him up.”
“All right, then, let’s take him some flowers,” said Kozaburo. “Eiko, pass me that vase.”
“But this one belongs in the salon.”
“It doesn’t matter. This room’ll be just fine without flowers… Thanks. Shall we all go and check on him?”
Everyone made their way down to Room 14 in the basement. Kozaburo knocked on the door.
“Mr Kikuoka? It’s Hamamoto.”
Chief Inspector Ushikoshi had an attack of déjà vu. Last night he had participated in the exact same scene, except that at that time Kozaburo had called his name with less urgency.
“He’s not waking up.” Kozaburo turned to Kumi. “You try, dear. He might respond better to a woman’s voice.”
But the result was the same. Everyone exchanged looks, but Ushikoshi’s face turned completely white.
“Mr Kikuoka! Mr Kikuoka!”
He began to bang violently on the door.
“What the hell? Come on!”
The detective’s panicked tone made everyone’s stomach drop.
“Can I break it down?”
“Yes, but…”
Kozaburo hesitated a moment. This was his beloved study after all.
“From up there, can’t you see inside a little bit?”
Sasaki was pointing to the ventilation hole high up in the wall. But there weren’t any tables or chairs or anything that could be used to stand on.
“Ozaki, wasn’t there something in your room?” said Ushikoshi, but Ozaki was ahead of him. He ran into Room 15 and came back with the bedside table, then placed it directly under the vent and clambered up.
“It’s no good. I’m too low to see anything.”