The Decagon House Murders (13 page)

‘I’ve no idea.’

Morisu reached out for the cigarettes on the table.

‘So that’s why we went by Mr. Kōjirō’s house on the way back.’

‘Yes. I wanted to see what I could get out of Kō.’

‘Mr. Shimada,’ interrupted Morisu, who couldn’t stand much more of it. ‘I think you had better reconsider that.’

‘Oh, why all of a sudden?’ Shimada was taken aback.

‘It might be none of my business, but even if you and Mr. Kōjirō are good friends, I don’t think that much good can come of you prying into rather private affairs.’

Morisu looked silently at Shimada.

‘There’s nothing wrong with us talking about the case here. But I don’t think it’s right to act purely on guesswork and invade other people’s privacy, especially when it involves a secret as delicate as that.’

‘But Morisu, it was you who suggested we visit Yoshikawa’s wife,’ retorted Kawaminami. Morisu sighed gently.

‘All day today I’ve been regretting saying something as careless as that. But even I make mistakes when my curiosity clashes with my conscience. And last night, I was caught up in the moment. But I shouldn’t have said that, simply because I thought the case was interesting. I felt even worse thinking about it while facing the stone Buddhas.’

He looked at the easel near the wall. Thick colour had been applied to the picture on the canvas with a palette knife.

‘It might be selfish of me, Mr. Shimada, but I’m getting out of the game at this point. I’ve explained my deductions and I’m now resigning as “armchair detective,”’ said Morisu.

Shimada didn’t seem to be offended at all. ‘So your final conclusion is that Seiji is still alive?’

‘Conclusion is too strong a word. I merely pointed out a possibility which may not have been given enough attention before. If you ask me whether I really think Seiji is still alive, then I’ll have to answer with a no.’

‘And the letter? What do you make of that?’

‘Probably just a joke by one of those who’ve gone to the island—would you like some more tea?’

‘No, thanks.’

Morisu poured himself a fourth cup.

‘Suppose Seiji were really still amongst the living, would he be making accusations about the death of Chiori, a daughter he didn’t love, and possibly even hated?’

‘Hmm.’

‘And I also think that keeping an extreme feeling—like the urge to murder someone—burning for a long time is much more difficult than you make it out to be.

‘If Seiji had been responsible for the incident six months ago and he wanted to kill not only Kazue, but also the persons responsible for Chiori’s death, as well as his brother Kōjirō, wouldn’t he have gone after Kōjirō and the others right after killing Kazue? I don’t think that someone’s intent to kill can be all that strong if he goes into hiding for six months first, and then starts his revenge by sending a bunch of threatening letters.’

‘….’

‘Do you have some more hot water for me?’ asked Kawaminami, trying to help Shimada, who seemed at a loss for words.

‘There’s no more left. I’ll boil some.’

‘No, that’s okay. I’ve had enough anyway.’

Kawaminami lay down with his face up and crossed his arms.

‘Mr. Shimada and I have too much free time, so while you might have your policy about this, I think we’ll continue digging a bit more.’

‘Look, I’m not telling you to stop.’

Morisu’s face softened.

‘But I do think you should avoid trampling over the secrets people have been trying to keep hidden, without any regard for their feelings.’

‘All right.’

Kawaminami yawned and muttered.

‘I wonder how the guys on Tsunojima are doing.’

*

They of course had no idea.

No idea that, on the little island not far across the sea from the mainland, the parade of death was about to begin.

CHAPTER FIVE: THE THIRD DAY ON THE ISLAND

1

It was almost noon when Agatha woke up. She had overslept because she had stayed awake almost the whole night.

She took one look at the clock and sat bolt upright. But, after listening carefully, she realised the others hadn’t got up either.

She covered herself with the blanket again and lay restlessly on her stomach.

She had gone to bed at three in the morning. Except for Van and Carr, who had gone to bed early, she guessed the others had turned in at around the same time.

At first Agatha felt ashamed of getting up so late, even if she was on holiday, but when she realised she wasn’t the only one, she reached out for the cigarettes on her night stand.

She had low blood pressure. It would take a good hour before she could get up and get ready for the daily routine.

That’s odd, thought Agatha….

Is Orczy still in bed?

Even if they had gone to bed so late last night, it was unlike Orczy to lie in so late. Maybe she had already got up, but had returned to her room when the others didn’t appear. Or.…

With vacant eyes she followed the drifting cigarette smoke. She enjoyed smoking, but refrained from it in the company of others.

After starting on her second cigarette, she slowly pulled her weary body out of bed.

She put on a beige jumper over a black blouse and stood in front of the mirror. Making sure her clothes were in tip-top order, she collected her toilet bag and make-up pouch and exited the room.

The empty decagonal hall was as gloomy as ever despite the noon hour. The table in the centre was like a white spot floating in the darkness. The decagon-shaped sky which was visible through the skylight was as grey as yesterday.

Agatha walked straight to the bathroom, washed her face quickly and applied her make-up. Returning to the hall, she started cleaning the cups, glasses and ashtrays full of stubs which had been left lying on the table last night.

And then she caught flashes of red out of the corner of her eye….

What’s that?

She turned her head and immediately remembered where she had seen that red before. She could feel herself turn as white as a sheet. The thing she had remembered was hanging on one of the plain wooden doors.

The First Victim

At first there was only a faint sound, but in the next moment Agatha was screaming at the top of her lungs.

A door behind her swung open and Carr became the first to jump out into the hall. He was already up and dressed.

He caught sight of the petrified Agatha and then saw the object that had grabbed her attention.

‘Whose room is that?’ he shouted.

Agatha was unable to speak. The plate with the red letters was covering the nameplate on the door.

Door after door opened and the others came out.

‘Whose room is it, Agatha?’ repeated Carr.

‘O—Orczy’s.’

‘What?’

It was Poe who darted to the door. Still dressed in his pyjamas and with his hair shaggy from a disturbed sleep, he grabbed the doorknob furiously.

The door wasn’t locked.

It was almost anti-climactic how easily the door opened.

A dark room. A beam of light coming in through the gap between the shutters, cutting through the darkness like a sharp-edged sword.

‘Orczy.’

Poe called out to her in a trembling voice.

‘Orczy.’

The bed against the wall was grey in the darkness. She was lying there peacefully, her blanket covering her neatly up to her chest. Her own dark blue cardigan had been pulled over her head....

‘Orczy!’

Poe let out a roar and rushed into the room. The body lying on the bed, however, did not move at all.

‘What happened? Orczy.…’

Lifting the cardigan that covered Orczy’s face with his powerful, trembling hands, Poe felt his whole body shiver. The other five who had followed him and were now standing in the entrance tried to push inside.

‘Don’t come in,’ implored Poe, his arms raised to discourage them. ‘I beg you. She wouldn’t want you to see her like this.…’

Reacting to these words, the five stood where they were.

Poe took a deep breath, raising his shoulders. He carefully lifted the cardigan again and started to examine the body of poor Orczy, who would never move nor feel embarrassed again.

After he was done, Poe replaced the cardigan. He got up sluggishly, stared up at the ceiling and let out a long, groaning sigh.

‘Let’s get out.’ He turned to the others.

‘This is a crime scene. We’d better lock it. Where’s the key?’

‘It’s here.’

Before anyone could react, Ellery stepped into the room and picked up the key from the desk by the wall.

‘The window’s unlatched. What about that?’

‘Better lock it too. Let’s get out, Ellery.’

‘But what happened to Orczy?’ Van asked. Poe grasped the key Ellery had given him and said in a suppressed voice:

‘She’s dead—strangled.’

‘No!’ screamed Agatha.

‘I’m sorry, Agatha.’

‘No… Poe, I want to see Orczy.’

‘I can’t let you.’

Poe closed his eyes and shook his head sadly.

‘Orczy was strangled to death, Agatha. Please, don’t look at her. Even if she’s dead now, she’s still a young woman.’

Agatha instantly understood what Poe meant. He was talking about the horrible sight of a strangled body. She nodded and was led away from the room.

And just when Poe was reaching for the doorknob to close the door, someone came in sideways like a crab between the door and Poe to block the way.

‘Aren’t you trying a bit too hard to get us away from the room?’

It was Carr. He looked up at Poe and, with a grim smile on his face, said: ‘You could say we’re all experts on murder here. And we all want to find the person who did this to Orczy. So give us a chance to investigate the crime scene and the body.’

‘Damn you!’

Poe’s face turned pale, and his whole body trembled as he yelled.

‘Are you going to use the death of a friend as a mere pastime? This is work for the police.’

‘What are you blathering about? When will the police come? How are we going to let them know? Remember what the plastic plates said. By the time the police arrive, we might all be dead except for “The Murderer” and “The Detective.”’

Poe pushed harder in an attempt to close the door. Carr, in turn, used his bony, yellow hands to push Poe’s away.

‘Think about it more carefully and don’t be so stupid, Poe. The next to be murdered might be none other than yourself, you know.’

‘Move away, Carr.’

‘Or is there something else? Why are you so confident that you alone won’t be killed? The only person who can be sure of that is the murderer himself.’

‘What?’

‘Oh, now I’ve got it!’

‘You bastard!’

‘Stop it, you two.’

Poe was ready to jump at Carr. The look on Carr’s face showed he was ready to take Poe on, too. But Van grasped Carr’s arm and pulled him away from the door.

‘What’re you doing, you piece of scum!?’

Carr’s face was crimson with fury as he screamed the words. Taking advantage of the moment, Poe closed the door quickly and locked it.

‘That was unseemly of you, Carr,’ said Ellery, who had just come back from the kitchen unobserved and was holding the remaining six plates in his hands.

‘Poe’s right. Unfortunately.’
 

2

‘It’s unbelievable. This has to be a bad prank by someone. This doesn’t happen in real life.’

‘Leroux.’

‘A murder is no joke! This has to be a nightmare. It just doesn’t make sense.’

‘Leroux, stop it.’

Agatha’s shrill voice made Leroux’s round shoulders shudder and he looked up.

‘Sorry,’ he muttered softly and stared down at the floor.

The six were all sitting around the table in the hall. Not one of them looked into the others’ faces. The empty seat which, until last night, had been occupied by the girl with the short hair and downcast eyes, stood out more than ever.

‘Who killed Orczy?’

The question from Agatha’s rose-pink lips sounded like a curse and hung trembling in the cold air.

‘Nobody’s going to just come out and say “it was me,”’ replied Ellery.

‘But the murderer has to be one of us. One of us six. Who killed Orczy? Why not stop pretending you don’t know anything about it, you murderer?’

‘Nobody’s going to kill someone and then confess to it just like that.’

‘But Ellery.…’

‘I know, Agatha. I know.’

Ellery banged his fist lightly on the table.

‘We need to find out who the murderer is. What about it, Poe? Won’t you tell us what you found out?’

After a moment’s hesitation, Poe pursed his lips and nodded solemnly.

‘I already told you just now, but she—Orczy was strangled to death. A nylon cord you can get anywhere was still wound around her neck and ligature marks were clearly visible beneath them. There’s no doubt this was murder.’

‘Signs of Orczy having fought back?’

‘No. She was probably attacked in her sleep, or when she was off-guard. I couldn’t find any signs of her being hit on the head, so she wasn’t knocked out before. But there was one thing I couldn’t make sense of.’

‘Which was?’

‘You all saw it too. I don’t know why, but the murderer arranged the body. Orczy was lying on her back with her pyjamas in order and her cardigan placed over her face. That might have been the murderer’s conscience at work, but the problem is.…’

Poe frowned deeply.

‘Orczy was missing her left hand.’

‘What?’

‘What do you mean, Poe?’

‘Her left hand had been cut off.’

Poe looked at everyone in the silent hall, placed both his arms on the table and turned them over, palms up. On his fingers were several dark red bloodstains.

‘A big, sharp instrument like a kitchen knife was used. The murderer must have found it difficult to do. The cut was horribly clumsy.’

‘It was cut off after the murder, of course,’ said Ellery.

‘I can’t say with certainty, but I think it’s correct to assume that. If it had been done while the heart was still active, there would have been a lot more blood than there actually was.’

‘And you didn’t see such an instrument in the room?’

‘No. I couldn’t find the cut off hand either.’

‘So the murderer took it with him,’ muttered Ellery to himself, as he clasped his thin fingers together.

‘Why would the murderer do that?’

‘The murderer must be insane,’ Agatha shrieked.

Ellery snorted lightly.

‘He must be, or he must love bad jokes. It’s an allusion. The murderer made an allusion to the incident which happened on this island last year.’

‘Ah.’

‘The quadruple murder in the Blue Mansion. One of the victims, Nakamura Kazue, was strangled, after which her left hand was cut off.’

‘But why, Ellery?’

‘You mean what was the intention behind the allusion? Who knows?’ Ellery shrugged. ‘Let’s go on—Poe, can you give an estimate of the time of death?’

‘There were some signs of
livor mortis
. I noticed that
rigor mortis
had just started when I checked for Orczy’s pulse. I could open the clenched fingers of her right hand relatively easily, so
rigor mortis
hadn’t reached her joints yet. Also, considering the coagulation of the blood…I’d say it was four or five hours after death. Orczy died between seven and eight this morning, or with a wider range, between six and nine. But I’m just an amateur, so don’t take it as read.’

‘I believe you.’

Carr laughed, his teeth sticking out of his mouth like a monkey.

‘For you’re an heir who’s going to inherit a big hospital, as well as a star of our beloved K—University’s medical faculty. Unless, of course, you yourself are the murderer.…’

Poe remained silent and didn’t even look at Carr.

‘Is there anyone who has an alibi between six and nine this morning?’ Ellery posed the question to all of them.

‘Anybody notice anything that could be relevant to the case?’

Nobody reacted.

‘Anyone with an idea about the motive, then?’

Leroux, Van and Agatha’s eyes all slowly turned to look at Carr.

‘I see.’ Ellery appeared on the point of giving up.