The female corpse wrapped in the closet

Chapter 16

"But……"

"She's been to those kinds of bad places, and being questioned by the police in front of her fiancé isn't good. — Let's come back tomorrow. Her attitude will definitely change."

Yuriko looked dejected. Whenever she thought about her father, she felt that she wanted to clear his name as soon as possible.

"What do you want to do now?" Guoyou asked.

"Going back to the Katase family home. I have to attend the funeral..."

"Before we go, shall we stop by somewhere along the way?"

Where to?

"Your father's company. I'd like to meet with Section Chief Uematsu."

"But... is it okay? Don't we need to tell the 'boss'?"

"It's alright, you'll just get a scolding at most and that'll be fine," Guoyou said with a smile. "When I see you looking so worried, I always feel that if I don't do something for you, you'll be too pitiful."

"Then I'll just keep looking all gloomy. Maybe that'll attract someone who wants to marry me." They both burst into laughter.

"Oh dear, did something like that really happen?" Nogami Sachiyo exclaimed, her eyes widening as she heard about the incident that occurred in the underground district yesterday. "What a disaster."

Yuriko and Kuniyoshi arrived at K Construction at noon, just in time to meet Sachiyo, who was returning from lunch.

"Let's go to the reception room and wait anyway." Sachiyo led the two into the reception room.

"May I?"

"Don't worry about me. No one who dares to get angry with me has been born yet." Yuriko thought: If I have to become an office worker someday, I'll come here.

"Could those homeless people have attacked you on the orders of Section Chief Uematsu?"

“That’s a possibility,” Guoyou nodded in agreement.

"But thinking about it carefully, it still seems a bit strange," Yuriko said thoughtfully. "Even if they stole the bag, Section Chief Uematsu would still have a lot of other receipts, right? Getting them wouldn't be difficult. Is it really necessary to rob someone for something like that?"

"Could it be that you were confused due to nervousness? Perhaps you thought that because you had experienced such a terrible thing, you would give up the investigation out of fear?"

“If that’s the case, then he’s made a mistake,” Sachiyo said. “Using that on a girl like Yuriko will only backfire.” Yuriko scratched her head a little embarrassedly. “Wait a moment, he might be back. I’ll go out and check.” Sachiyo left the reception room.

"He's a very nice person," Guoyou said.

"Yes, she's a really great person."

The two were silent for a moment. —Yuriko glanced at Kuniyoshi's profile, thinking: "Police officers are all pretty much the same, all short-tempered people." Judging from this impression, Kuniyoshi didn't seem like a policeman at all. It was hard to imagine him fighting with a vicious criminal, or rigorously interrogating a suspect. He seemed more like an ordinary office worker, going for a drive with his lover on the weekend, whispering romantic words at night…

"Mr. Kuniyoshi, do you have a girlfriend?"

When asked this question suddenly, Kuniyu's eyes widened in surprise. Before he could answer, Nogami Sachiyo burst in through the door.

"They ran away!" Kuniyu and Yuriko immediately stood up. Sachiyo said breathlessly, "It was all because of that stupid receptionist who talked nonsense. She told Uematsu, who had just returned from dinner, 'Mr. Sasamoto's daughter and a man are waiting for you.' As a result, Uematsu suddenly said he had something urgent to attend to and left early."

"Oh dear, it seems like leaving early is all the rage today," Guoyou said. "Where did he go?"

"He's probably home. He was adopted, and his wife is the president's daughter, so he basically doesn't carry any cash with him. It's said that his wife has to check all the bills he pays with his credit card."

"So, even if he ran away, he must have gone home? Well, where does he live?"

"Shall I lead the way for you?"

"Is everything alright?"

"No one who dares to lose their temper with me has ever been born yet." This was Sachiyo's smug catchphrase. "Wait a minute, I'll change my clothes right away!" Sachiyo said as she rushed out of the reception room.

On the way to the Uematsu house in a taxi, Yuriko said, "Section Chief Uematsu has such a powerful wife. If Junko Mizuguchi were pregnant as his lover, he might have murderous intentions because of it."

"That's very likely," Guoyou agreed.

"But how does this have to do with Dad's business trip?"

"I think the only way to answer that is to ask the person involved directly."

“Running away is like handing in a blank exam paper. — Ah, driver, turn that way.” Sachiyo directed the way. “We’ll be there soon. Just one more turn and we’ll be there.”

In the blink of an eye, the taxi stopped in front of a luxury mansion.

"What a big house!" Yuriko exclaimed to herself.

"It was a wedding gift from the company president to them. I heard it was worth 300 million yen."

“Three hundred million…” Guoyou gasped.

You can see that the buildings inside are quite a distance from the main gate. Speaking of Yuriko's house, it's just a standard size; it doesn't have that "walking straight ahead" feel. You'd probably bump into a wall if you went straight to the back.

“If we keep praising like this, we won’t be able to get in,” Guoyou said, snapping out of his reverie. “Well then, let’s go in. — But where do we go in?”

“There’s a walkie-talkie over there,” Sachiyo said, pointing.

"Walkie-talkies are only needed in very large places."

"You can make wireless calls inside. It's impossible to connect to every single room, right?"

Guoyou pressed the button on the walkie-talkie.

"May I ask who this is?" It was a woman's voice.

"Oh my, this is quite a rare sight. You must be Madam," Sachiyo said. "The police officer has something to discuss with your master of the house." She expected the other party to refuse, but to her surprise, the other party agreed.

"Please come in." The side gate on the main gate opened quietly.

"Now, all of you may leave," the lady instructed the servants as soon as the three entered the living room. Then, turning to the three, she asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Yuriko disliked this woman from the first glance. Her affected, upper-class demeanor was far too convincing. She was undeniably beautiful, but considering Uematsu's age, she should be at least in her early forties, yet she looked remarkably young. Her fair, stern face highlighted her arrogant and conceited personality.

“No, actually we have something we’d like to talk to your host,” Guoyou said.

“I am the master,” the lady said.

"Huh? But..."

"Ah, you mean my husband?" The lady smiled. "Since I'm the master of this house, I assumed he must want to see me about something."

“Ah…” Yuriko thought: This is truly an amazing woman.

"What do you need my husband for? He should be at the company."

"However, when we visited him at the company, we heard that he left early today, so we thought he probably went home."

"Leaving early?" The lady's expression turned stern. "How dare you make such a decision without my consent!" Yuriko thought: Even something as simple as leaving early requires the wife's approval. What a rare couple.

"I understand. Then, when he returns, I will inform him of your visit." The lady concluded her conversation and prepared to see the guests out.

"Please wait a moment," Guoyou said hurriedly. "Is he really not home?"

“I told you he wasn’t here,” the lady said bluntly.

“Ah…but in that case, let’s wait a little while—” Kuniyu said as the door opened.

"Oh, are there any guests? I had to go out suddenly—" Uematsu said as he walked in, and was taken aback when he saw Yuriko and the others, suddenly standing there frozen.

2005-3-14 15:31:00

"Oh, are there any guests? I had to go out suddenly—" Uematsu said as he walked in, and was surprised to see Yuriko and the others. He suddenly stood still.

"Oh dear, when did you get back?" the wife asked. She didn't seem to be acting at all; she genuinely hadn't noticed her husband's return.

"No, no, I just..."

"These people seem to have something to discuss with you."

"Um...I know, I know."

"You seem to have left the company early today."

"Ah, ah. -- It's because I suddenly went out."

"Going out and leaving early are pretty much the same, right? Let's leave it at that for now. I'll ask you more questions later."

"Okay, fine..."

Yuriko suddenly felt sorry for Uematsu. He had already timidly admitted defeat, staring at Yuriko and the others with pleading eyes.

Yuriko stood up and stepped forward, saying, "Then, Section Chief Uematsu, please lead the way for us as agreed."

“Lead the way…” Uematsu paused for a moment, but immediately understood. “Yes, that’s right. Well then, let’s head out quickly.” The situation was perfectly coordinated. Then he said to his wife, “I’m going out for a bit. I had an appointment with these people to show them the company’s equipment. I forgot just now, hahaha…”

If this scene were a rehearsal for a primary school arts performance, it might have greatly displeased the students, as if it were deliberately staged. The lady adopted a tolerant demeanor and said, "Well then, you can drive off. Excuse me." She then nodded slightly as if in greeting.

—As soon as Uematsu and his wife left, he wiped the sweat from his brow and said in a weak voice, “Oh, thank you. I’m so grateful.”

“Then we would also like to ask you to tell the truth,” Guoyou said.

Conversing inside a black Mercedes feels almost unbelievable, like being in a spacious and luxurious mobile family lounge. However—

“I’m sorry. If these words reach my wife’s ears, I will be kicked out of the house immediately,” Uematsu said. “That is to say, I will also be expelled from the company.”

"How pitiful," Nogami Sachiyo sighed. "Section Chief, please, be more decisive."

“Let’s talk about the more important things first,” Kuniyu said. “Weren’t you the one who forged Mr. Sasaki’s leave application?”

Uematsu nodded in agreement. Yuriko breathed a sigh of relief. The investigation into the incident had finally taken its first step forward!

"So, Mr. Sasamoto really is on a business trip?"

"I went out for personal reasons."

"What is it?"

Uematsu looked at Kunimitsu with a pitiful expression and said, "I hope this doesn't reach my wife's ears?"

"We promise you."

“I have a lover,” Uematsu said. “Anyway, life with a wife like that is hell on earth. The company president used the position of section chief as a condition to marry his daughter to me, but my wife is a woman who is arrogant and self-important. I am just treated like a servant by her.”

Yuriko could understand this. "Don't you have children?" Yuriko asked.

"That won't work at all."

"no?"

“My wife is a germaphobe, so she doesn’t even allow me to touch her with my fingers. The reason the president married her to me was because he knew this.”

"So... even though you're married... there's absolutely nothing wrong with that?" Sachiyo asked in surprise.

“Only once, I was drunk and barely… my wife hit me on the head with one of her own things—the bedside lamp. —Thanks to her, I needed five stitches in my head.”

"Ah, that's when...you mentioned the car accident, right?"