Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 150, Nos. 5 & 6. Whole Nos. 914 & 915, November/December 2017
- Автор: Фузилли Джим, Харрис Шарлин
- Год: 2017
- Язык: английский
- Год: Dell Magazines
- ISBN: 0013-6328
- Жанр: Другие детективы
Электронная книга - «Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 150, Nos. 5 & 6. Whole Nos. 914 & 915, November/December 2017». Краткое содержание книги:
In any case, we’d had nothing to do with it. At least, that was the way I looked at it. If the man had been strangled, there was no way the murderer was one of us. Kubo had left the apartment alive. If he’d been strangled, then it must have happened outside, which meant someone outside our group must have done it.
But it was still a strange story. The elevator hadn’t been working at the time, so it was impossible for Kubo to have made it to the place where he died in time, even if he’d run as hard as he could. Where would he have found the time to get strangled as well?
“Well, anyway, it doesn’t seem as though I can just let you all go,” said the detective, getting to his feet.
“But you can’t do that!” Namura was the first to speak up. “I have to go to work early tomorrow.”
“I object as well! I have unfinished manuscripts piling up. I need to go home fast and start working on them,” protested Önuki.
I looked at Mitarai, who was standing close by. It didn’t appear he needed to be anywhere fast. He had his eyes closed and seemed about to doze off.
“Damn,” I whispered to Puff, who standing next to me.
“What’s the matter?” Puff looked angry as he asked me. He was still holding a grudge over Namura’s accusation.
“They’re showing a Chick Corea concert live today on NHK at six. At this rate, I’ll miss it.”
I looked around, but couldn’t find a TV in our birdcage. Hearing about the concert, Puff clicked his tongue.
“You. Are you sure about that?” We turned around to see who’d spoken. It was Mitarai. He was finally awake.
“Err, yes,” I answered.
“At six?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s the time now?”
“Four.”
The expression on Mitarai’s face suddenly turned grave, graver than when he’d been talking about the dead body.
“That means we only have two hours left. I guess I’ll have to do this, given that it’s an emergency.”
He called out to the detective, who was heading for the door.
“Excuse me! Mr. Detective! Errr, do you need to know who the murderer is?”
He stopped in his tracks and turned round. He looked surprised, as if he didn’t know how to react to such a question. He smiled wryly.
“Is this some sort ofjoke?” he asked.
“I have some business to attend to, so I’ll tell you who the murderer is. Do you have your handcuffs with you?”
The detective seemed to be quite willing to play along. Without saying a word, he pulled a metallic object out of his pocket and held it up high.
“As you can see, I carry these essentials of police work everywhere I go. Let’s hear what you have to say. Who am I supposed to arrest?”
At that moment, the doorbell rang. Mrs. Itoi started to get up, but there was no need for it. The door opened and another young detective wearing a coat entered. He looked at Kato and then took a vinyl bag with a brown envelope inside from his pocket.
“Mrs. Itoi, this is the stolen property we found on the victim. Your necklace. Could you please check?”
Mrs. Itoi got up quickly and took the envelope out of the bag. She held it upside down and caught the contents in her other hand.
“Oh!” she cried out.
The detectives looked at her in surprise.
“This isn’t the necklace!” she screamed.
“It isn’t?” Kato said.
“I mean, it’s my necklace, but it’s my jade necklace. It’s worth much more than the necklace which was stolen. It was in the chest of drawers in my bedroom, but that man stole it as well... I can’t believe it.”
“A jade necklace?” cried Namura in surprise.
“So you thought that he’d stolen a different necklace?” asked the detective.
“Yes, I thought he’d stolen my pearl necklace. Was there a pearl necklace in Mr. Kubo’s pocket?”
“No,” replied the detective.
Mitarai was trembling in his seat with glee. As Kato’s gaze fell on him, he stuck out his right hand and declared theatrically: “And there you have it.”
Challenge to the Reader:
For those of you familiar with my work, this case might be too easy.
But for those of you who are new readers, I issue the following challenge:
You now have all the information you need to solve the mystery of the Running Corpse. Good luck!