The Decagon House Murders (3 page)

almost twenty metres high, continued towards the southern coast of the island. On the east side of the island, where the currents were very

strong, the cliff wall even reached fifty metres in height. Directly in front of them was a steep incline, almost another cliff wall, with narrow stone steps crawling up it in a zigzag pattern. Dark green shrubs clung to the face here and there. (See Figure 1.)

The boat slowly entered the narrow inlet.

The waves inside were not as fierce as out at sea. The colour of the water was also different: an intense, dark green.

To their left inside the inlet there was a wooden pier; further back, a decrepit, shabby boathouse came into view.

‘So I really don’t have to check up on ya even once?’ the fisherman asked the six as they set foot on the dangerously creaking pier. ‘Don’ think phones work here.’

‘It’s alright, pops,’ Ellery answered. ‘We even have a doctor-in-training here,’ he added, placing his hand on the shoulder of Poe, who was smoking a cigarette while seated on a big knapsack.

The bearded Poe was a fourth year student in the medical faculty.

‘Yes, Ellery’s right,’ Agatha pitched in. ‘It’s not often we have a chance to visit an uninhabited island, and it would ruin the mood if someone kept coming to check up on us.’

‘You have a brave lil’ miss there too, I see.’

The fisherman exposed his strong white teeth as he laughed and undid the rope that was tied to a post of the pier.

‘I’ll come pick ya up Tuesday next week at ten in the morning, then. Be careful.’

‘Thanks, we’ll be careful. Especially of ghosts.’

*

At the top of the steep stone steps, the view suddenly widened. An overgrown grass lawn appeared to be the front garden of a small building with white walls and a blue roof, which stood there as if it had been waiting for the students.

The blue double doors right in front of them were probably the front entrance. A few steps led up to the door.

‘So this is the Decagon House.’

Ellery was the first to speak, but, having climbed the long stone staircase, he was out of breath. He dropped his camel-beige travelling bag on the ground and stood gazing up at the sky.

    ‘Agatha, your thoughts?’

‘Surprisingly lovely place.’

Agatha put her handkerchief to her light-skinned forehead, which was gleaming with perspiration.

‘And I… I think…that.…’

Leroux was also out of breath. His arms were full of luggage, including Agatha’s.

‘I had expected… how to put it?… Something more sinister.’

‘Can’t always have what you want. Let’s go inside. Van should have arrived here before us, but I don’t see him.’

Just as Ellery had caught his breath, picked up his bag and uttered those words, the blue window shutters immediately to the left of the front entrance opened, and a man looked out.

‘Hey, everyone.’

And so Van Dine made his appearance, the seventh member of the group of students who were to sleep and eat on this island, and in this building, for one week. His name was, of course, taken from S.S. Van Dine, the literary father of the great detective Philo Vance.

‘Wait a sec, I’ll come out,’ Van said in his strange, husky voice, and closed the shutters. After a brief pause, he came scurrying out of the front entrance.

‘Sorry I didn’t come to meet to you down at the pier. Caught a cold yesterday. Also have a slight fever, so I was lying down for a while. I was listening for your boat coming, though.’

Van had arrived earlier on the island to prepare everything.

‘A cold? Nothing serious, I hope,’ Leroux asked with a worried look, pushing up his glasses which had slipped down his nose due to  perspiration. 

‘It’s nothing serious… At least I hope not.’

A shudder went through Van’s slim body, as he laughed uneasily.

*

Led by Van, the group entered the Decagon House.

Going through the blue double doors, they entered a large entrance hall—which, they soon realised, only appeared to be large because of an optical illusion. In fact, it was not really that spacious. But because the room’s shape was not rectangular, it appeared larger than it actually was.

On the wall facing them was another set of double doors leading further into the building. Looking closely, they realised the wall was shorter than the one behind them, which meant the entrance hall was shaped like a trapezoid, becoming smaller as they went forward.

Everyone except Van was puzzled by the strange layout of the room, which played with their sense of perspective, but once they had passed through the second set of doors and arrived in the main hall of the building, comprehension dawned. They were standing in a decagonal room, surrounded by ten walls, all of the same width.

To grasp the structure of the so-called Decagon House, it is probably best to imagine a simple floor plan. (See Figure 2.)

The distinctive feature of the Decagon House is, as the name implies, that the outer walls form a decagon—an equilateral decagon. Inside this outer decagon, ten separate blocks are set next to each other, surrounding the inner decagon that makes up the main hall. In other words, an equilateral inner decagon (the main hall) is surrounded by ten equal-sized trapezoidal rooms. The entrance hall they had just passed through was one such room.

‘And? Bizarre, right?’

Van, who had been leading the way, turned to the others.

‘Those double doors over there opposite the entrance lead to the kitchen. To the left of that are the toilet and bathroom. The remaining seven rooms are the guest rooms.’

‘A decagonal building and a decagonal hall.’

As he looked around the interior, Ellery walked towards a big table in the centre of the room. He tapped on it with his fingers.

‘This is decagonal too. What a surprise. Could the murdered Nakamura Seiji have been suffering from monomania?’

‘Perhaps,’ Leroux replied. ‘They say that in the burnt-down main mansion—it was called the Blue Mansion—everything was painted blue, from floor to ceiling, to every single piece of furniture.’

The name of the individual who had moved to the island and built the Blue Mansion about twenty years ago was Nakamura Seiji. And the Decagon House, which is the annex of the main building was, of course, also built by Nakamura Seiji.

‘All the same,’ said Agatha to no one in particular, ‘I wonder whether I’ll be able to tell all these rooms apart.’

The doors of the entrance and the kitchen opposite were both double doors, and both were decorated with figured glass set in a frame of plain wood. When the doors were closed there was no way to tell them apart. The four walls to each side of the double doors had doors leading to the guest rooms. These plain wooden doors were also difficult to tell apart. There were no furnishings in the main hall that could serve as a guide, so Agatha’s worries were quite natural. ‘You’re right there. I myself got confused about the rooms several times this morning, as well.’ Van cast a wry smile. It could have been the fever that made his eyelids look swollen.

‘How about making some nameplates and hanging them on the doors? Orczy, did you bring your sketchbook?’

Orczy looked up anxiously as her name was called.

She was a small woman. Mindful of her rather plump figure, she was always wearing dark clothes, but that only made her look out of fashion. She was the complete opposite of the brilliant Agatha and was always looking away with timid eyes. But she was very skilful at her hobby: Japanese-style paintings.

‘Yes. I have it with me. Shall I take it out now?’

‘No, later is okay. Take a look at your rooms for now. They’re all the same, so you don’t have to fight over them. I’m already using this room though.’ Van pointed at one of the doors.

‘They gave me the keys, so I’ve left them in the keyholes.’

‘Okay, gotcha,’ Ellery answered energetically.

‘Let’s rest a bit, then go and explore the island.’

3

The rooms were quickly divided.

Counting from the front entrance, Van, Orczy and Poe occupied the left and Ellery, Agatha, Carr and Leroux the right.

After the six had disappeared into their rooms with their luggage, Van leant back against the door of his own room, took out a Seven Stars cigarette from his ivory down vest and put it in his mouth. Having done his work, he stared keenly into the dimly-lit decagonal hall.

The walls were made of white plaster. The floor was covered with blue oversized tiles and, unlike most Japanese homes, you could walk inside with your shoes on. The ceiling rose diagonally upwards from the ten walls and in the centre was a decagonal skylight, from which light kissed the exposed rafters before falling on the white decagonal table. Ten chairs with blue cloths covering their whitewood framework surrounded the table. Those were the only decorations in the room, save for the round lamp hanging from the rafters like a pendulum.

There was no electricity. Natural light from the skylight was the only source of illumination, which is why, even during the day, a mysterious atmosphere permeated the hall.

After a while Poe, dressed in discoloured jeans and a light blue shirt, stepped languidly out of his room.

‘Oh, you’re fast. Wait, I’ll make some coffee now.’

Holding his half-smoked cigarette between his fingers, Van walked to the kitchen. He was currently a third year student in the science faculty, which meant he was one year younger than Poe, who was a fourth year student in the medical faculty.

‘Thanks. Must have been a hassle bringing the big stuff like the blankets.’

‘Not at all. I had some people help me.’

Agatha also appeared from her door, busy wrapping her long hair with a scarf.

‘These are pretty good rooms, Van. I’d expected something much worse—Coffee? I’ll make it.’

Cheerfully Agatha walked into the kitchen, where she saw a glass bottle with a black label on the counter.

‘Instant coffee?’

She picked the bottle up with a look of displeasure and shook it.

‘Don’t be picky,’ replied Van. ‘You’re not at a resort hotel, you’re on an uninhabited island.’

Agatha pouted her rose-coloured lips.

‘And the food supplies?’

‘In the refrigerator. But it isn’t working, as the electricity and phone lines all went down in the fire. Hope that’s okay.’

‘Oh well, they’ll probably keep. There’s water, I hope?’

‘Yes, I’ve already connected the water line. I also hooked up the propane gas tank I brought, so you can also use the gas heater and the boiler. I don’t recommend it, but you could even use the bath.’

‘Good job. Hmm, there are still some pans and tableware left, I see. Or did you bring them with you too?’

‘No, they were here already. Three kitchen knives too. There’s a lot of mould on this cutting board, though.’

Timidly, Orczy joined them.

‘Orczy, you come and help too. Luckily there’s a lot left here, but we’ll need to clean everything first.’

Agatha shrugged and took off her black leather jacket. She turned to Van and Poe, who stood behind Orczy and was peeking into the kitchen.

‘If you aren’t going to help us, then please leave. Go and explore the island or something. You won’t get any coffee before we’re finished.’

Putting her hands to her hips, she glared at the two of them. Van cast a wry smile and retreated, together with Poe. The two turned to face the hall, and Agatha said coolly to their backs:

‘And don’t forget the nameplates. I won’t have you coming into our rooms when we’re undressing!’

By now, Ellery and Leroux had also arrived in the main hall.

‘Thrown out by the Queen, I see.’

Ellery laughed as he put a finger to his chin.

‘So, following Her Majesty’s orders, let’s take a look at the island.’

‘That’s probably the best—where’s Carr? Still in his room?’

‘He’s gone out. On his own,’ said Leroux and he glanced towards the entrance.

‘Already?’

‘He likes to play hard to get,’ Ellery said ironically and smiled.

*

A row of high pine trees grew to the north of the Decagon House. There was a break in the line and the branches of the black pines on either side had connected to form an arch which the four passed through to reach the remains of the Blue Mansion.

All that remained on the site was the foundation of the building, together with a few dirty stone bricks. The desolate front garden had been covered by a thick layer of black ash, and the sight of the surrounding trees, scorched in the fire and standing decayed, was striking.

‘Completely burnt down. Must have been a tremendous fire.’

Looking over the dismal scene, Ellery let out a sigh.

‘There’s really nothing left.’

‘So, Van, is this your first visit also?’

Van nodded.

‘My uncle told me a lot about the island, but today is the first time I’ve been here. I had to carry all the luggage this morning and then there’s my fever, so I didn’t think it’d be wise to explore the island on my own.’

‘That was wise. But there’s really nothing but ashes and bricks here.’

‘I guess a corpse would have made you happy, Ellery?’ Leroux grinned.

‘Lay off. That’s something more up your street, isn’t it?’

A little path opened into a pine grove to the west. It led straight to the cliffs. On the other side of the wide azure sea, they could just make out the black shadow that was J—Cape.

‘Great weather today. Almost tranquil.’

Ellery faced the sea and stretched. Wrapping his hands in the hem of his yellow sweatshirt, Leroux also turned his small body towards the sea.

‘You’re right, Ellery. It’s almost unbelievable that only six months ago, at this very place, such a horrific incident occurred.…’

‘Horrific…that’s the word. A mysterious quadruple murder, right here in Nakamura Seiji’s home, commonly known as the Blue Mansion.’

‘I’m quite used to quintuple, even decuple murders in books, but this one was real and happened relatively close by, too. I was really shocked when I saw it on the news.’

‘I seem to recall it happened in the early morning of the twentieth of September? A fire broke out and the building burnt down completely. Four bodies were discovered in the remains: that of Nakamura Seiji, his wife Kazue and the bodies of the servant couple who lived there.’

Ellery spoke in a detached manner.

‘A significant amount of sleeping medicine was found in all four bodies, but the police also discovered that they had not all died of the same cause. The two servants had been tied up in their own rooms with rope and their heads had been smashed in with an axe. The head of the household, Seiji, had been doused with kerosene and obviously burnt to death. His wife Kazue, who was found in the same room, was found to have been strangled to death with a rope-like object. What’s more, her left hand had been cut off at the wrist using a sharp instrument. The hand was not recovered from the ruins of the fire. I think those were the main points of the case, Leroux?’

‘I think there was also a gardener who disappeared.’

‘Ah, you’re right. The police couldn’t find the gardener, who was supposed to have arrived on the island some days earlier to work there. He appeared to have disappeared completely.’

‘Yes.’

‘There are two views on that. One is that the gardener was the murderer and that’s why he disappeared. The other view is that someone else was the murderer. For example, the gardener might have been fleeing from the murderer and accidentally fallen off the cliffs and been swept away by the current.’

‘The police seemed to have gone with the “gardener equals murderer” theory. I don’t know what results further investigations uncovered, though. What do you think about the case, Ellery?’

‘Well.’ Ellery brushed away a lock of hair that had been displaced by the wind blowing from the sea. ‘Regrettably, we have too little data. All we know is the information we were given in the few days the news and newspapers were all over the case.’

‘You sound surprisingly unsure.’

‘Not particularly. It’s easy to come up with a fairly reasonable hypothesis. But there’s too little data to prove any one theory and declare Q.E.D. In this particular case, the police investigation was also rather poorly handled. But then again, this is all what was left of the crime scene. And there were no other survivors on the island. It’s quite natural that the police would consider the missing gardener the criminal.’

‘True.’

‘So the truth is hidden beneath these ashes.’

Ellery turned and walked back to the remaining stone bricks and picked up a piece of wood. Crouching, he looked at what lay beneath it.

‘What’s the matter?’

Leroux looked puzzled.

‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if I’d just found the wife’s hand here?’ Ellery said with a straight face.

‘Or maybe we’ll find the skeleton of the gardener beneath the floors of the Decagon House.’

‘You’re all crazy.’

Poe, who had been listening to the talk in silence, stroked his beard. He had a worried look on his face.

‘You have a rather peculiar sense of humour, don’t you, Ellery?’

‘I agree,’ chimed in Leroux. ‘It’s as you said on the boat: if something happened on this island tomorrow, it would be just like the “chalet in the snowstorm” Ellery loves so much. How happy he’d be if there were a series of murders as in
And Then There Were None
.’

‘And he’d be the first to get himself killed.’

Poe spoke very little, but occasionally gave vent to harsh words.

Leroux and Van looked at each other and laughed.

‘A series of murders on a remote island. Heh. Sounds good,’ Ellery said with good grace.

‘Precisely what I want. And then I’ll take on the role of the detective. So? Anybody want to challenge me, Ellery Queen?’

4

‘When it comes down to something like this, we women are always the worst off, aren’t we? They basically consider us to be their servants,’ Agatha grumbled as she quickly took care of the dishes. Orczy stood beside her, staring at the white, supple fingers swiftly doing their work, until she realised she wasn’t doing any work of her own.

‘Let’s have the boys do some work in the kitchen, too. They shouldn’t think they’re off the hook just because the two of us are here. Don’t you agree?’

‘Eh, y—yes.’

‘It’d be hilarious to see Ellery wearing an apron and holding a ladle with that nonchalant expression of his. He might actually look cute in it.’

Agatha laughed gaily. Orczy cast a glimpse at her shapely profile and sighed.

A bright face with a shapely nose. Eyes that had been accentuated by a light touch of violet eye shadow. Well-kept long, wavy hair.

Agatha was always cheerful and full of confidence. She had an almost masculine character, but she was very well aware that she was a female. She seemed to enjoy the looks she received from the men who flocked around her glamorous beauty.

Compared to her, I’m just….

A small, round nose. Childish red cheeks covered in freckles. She did have big, wide eyes, but they weren’t in balance with the rest of her face, which made it appear as if she were always looking around restlessly. Even if she could use make-up the way Agatha did, she knew it wouldn’t suit her. She hated her own timidity, her constant worrying and the fact that, despite all that, she was also very unaware of what was going on around her.

It had always been like this. Agatha and she, as the only females in the group, inevitably seemed to end up together. That weighed heavily on her.

I shouldn’t have come
. She had even begun to think that.

She had not wanted to come to this island in the first place. It felt… disrespectful. But she was also too timid to decline her friends’ invitation.

‘Orczy, what a wonderful ring,’ Agatha said looking at Orczy’s left middle finger. ‘Have you always had it?’

‘No.’

Orczy made a vague denial as she shook her head.

‘Was it a present from someone special?’

‘No, nothing like that.’

Orczy had considered carefully before making up her mind to come to the island. The trip wasn’t an intrusion: she was paying her respects.
I will go to the island to pay my respects to the dead
. And that’s why she had to come.

‘Orczy, you’re always like that, aren’t you?’

‘—What?’

‘Always keeping your thoughts to yourself. We’ve known each other for two years now, and I still feel as if I don’t know anything at all about you. Not that it’s not okay, but still, it’s so strange.’

‘Strange?’