Murder At The Rainy Mansion ~The Never Ending 100 Tales~

Chapter 12: The residents of the Rainy Mansion

Huh? That’s weird. Where did that person go?

Tanimoto wandered around the wide entrance alone. He wanted to interview the person he saw just now before Shimizu got angry but he couldn’t find anyone.

Then, he saw someone in the narrow corridor behind the toilet. It was a beautiful woman with long wavy hair dressed in a pair of pants and shirt like a Hollywood actress in an adventure movie. Her arms were crossed as she stared fixedly through the toilet window like there was something interesting in there.

“Excuse me,” Tanimoto said as he walked closer.

The woman turned around and looked at him. “Yes?”

Tanimoto: “Sorry, can I ask you some questions?”

“Sure, but who are you?”

Tanimoto: “Oh, sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Detective Tanimoto from the Prefectural Police Department.”

“Oh, another detective. It must have been tough for you. None of the cases happened in this mansion was ever solved,” the woman said the same thing as Shimizu and smiled at Tanimoto.

The woman introduced her name as Sudo Reiko.

Tanimoto: “Can you tell where you were when the incident happened?”

Reiko: “I was in the courtyard. I didn’t see anything strange there at the time.”

Tanimoto: “I see.”

After asking about the relationships among the residents in the mansion, Tanimoto left Reiko and went back to the wide hallway again. Then, a well-built elderly man appeared. “Are you the detective? I’m Sudo Jiro. Kana-san told me that the detective wants to interview me,” the man asked in a deep voice.

Tanimoto: “Oh, sorry. Thank you for coming here.”

Earlier, he had asked Kana, the housekeeper, to inform the residents who hadn’t been interviewed to look for him. Tanimoto and Jiro went into the altar room which was right in front of them.

“I don’t really like this room,” Jiro said as he glanced at the altar repeatedly. “I was in my room when Tatsuo fell. I was waiting for a work related phone call in my room.”

Tanimoto wrote into his note while saying, “I see. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Right at that time, Shimizu walked into the room. Jiro looked at him in surprise. “You’re here too?”

Shimizu frowned and replied, “Yeah. I rather not come here though.”

Jiro: “Are you still working at Mihara Police Station?”

Shimizu: “No. I’m with the Prefectural Police Department now.”

Mihara Police Station was in charge of this area. It seemed something had happened at the Rainy Mansion when Shimizu was still working at Mihara Police Station before.

“Tough luck. Cases here are never solved,” Jiro said laughing.

“Not necessarily,” Shimizu refuted although he knew it was a lie. He sat next to Tanimoto and asked, “Have you interviewed everyone?”

Tanimoto: “Yes. Just now I saw a woman named Sudo Reiko and interviewed her.”

Jiro: “Huh? Reiko is back?”

Tanimoto: “What do you mean? She doesn’t live here?”

Jiro: “She does but she’s in Germany most of the time because of her work.”

Tanimoto: “I see. So, she doesn’t have much interaction with the residents here?”

“Well… I’m not sure about her interpersonal relationship. There are too many people in this house anyway. Even the people who live here don’t know much about each other. Ayano is the only one who is here all the time. Oh, there are also Nobuko-san and other housekeepers, but the housekeepers have nothing to do with the will.

Strictly speaking, Ayano is also not a member of Sudo family so she shouldn’t have the inheritance right, but…” Jiro grumbled. “Ayano is the only exception. It was written explicitly in the will. Well, there is a rumor that says she is Sokichi’s illegitimate child.”

Tanimoto: “Sokichi-san was the head of Sudo family that passed away recently?”

Jiro: “Yeah. Mostly it is Ayano who is taking care of Sokichi. He especially adored her. I wonder why he didn’t acknowledge her to the end. Well, if you’re interested in this matter, you should ask Sokichi directly.”

Tanimoto raised his head and had a puzzled look on his face. Shimizu perfunctorily replied, “Okay. I’ll ask about it later.”

Huh? Isn’t Sokichi-san dead already? Tanimoto looked at Shimizu and saw him didn’t look bothered at all. Then, Shimizu continued to ask Jiro about the asset value of the mansion since he looked like an expert in this topic.