Chapter 74
The suspect’s speaking time was over. It was the detective’s turn.
The detective was visibly in an excellent mood. His current appearance and his earlier demeanor perfectly illustrated how important a “title” was to a man. It was a qualitative difference.
“This case is actually very simple,” Furuya Rei said, clearing his throat. “First, we have to start with the haunting incidents at the hotel these past two days.”
“Ever since the crew checked into the hotel, there have been frequent hauntings at night. Strange sounds, eerie lights, bloody handprints on the walls, and so on, have caused a panic.”
“From your state on the set, it’s clear that everyone has been affected.” Most of the main actors looked haggard and in low spirits, as if their life force had been sucked out.
“Only An’an, because she was always wearing headphones and listening to sleep-aid audio, was not affected by the haunting,” Furuya added.
An’an: “You don’t need to point that out!”
Catching his girlfriend’s weakness and relentlessly attacking it would be met with righteous punishment.
The undercover Public Security officer’s face was calm, but under the table, he was kicked twice by the girl in protest.
Having rushed out in the middle of the night, most people had come to the lobby in their hotel slippers, which made it very convenient for An’an to kick people.
Furuya: “The main actors were all in a bad state, but Director Ochi was not dissatisfied. On the contrary, he was very satisfied.”
“Because the actors’ terrified and uneasy appearance was exactly what Director Ochi wanted.”
“He wasn’t satisfied with acted fear. He wanted to see real fear on camera. So, when booking the hotel, Director Ochi specially chose this hotel—which was once the filming location for a classic supernatural film and still retains the mechanisms designed by the original crew, which can create the illusion of a haunting.”
Furuya looked at the hotel manager. “That’s right, isn’t it?”
The manager, after some struggle, nodded. “Yes. Director Ochi specially booked the floor that was used as the filming location and asked us to lend him the mechanisms, and to keep it a secret from the other guests.”
The main actors immediately exploded, a heated discussion breaking out at the long table.
“That’s too much! Isn’t this just playing with people?”
“I’ve never been so wronged since I entered the industry!”
“The director is so cruel! Does he know what it’s like to keep watch with both eyes, waiting from dusk till dawn?”
“Teacher An’an, you also think Director Ochi is a terrible person, right?”
The male lead was filled with righteous indignation. But the question he asked was not answered. He turned his head to look at the dark-haired girl. “What’s wrong, Teacher An’an? Are you so angry you can’t speak?”
The girl’s face was a picture of forbearance.
“Yes,” she gritted her teeth. “I’m so angry I can’t speak.”
An’an had omitted the subject. The male lead thought she was also cursing the director and happily joined in.
In fact, that was not the case. An’an was cursing someone else.
Under the cover of the tablecloth, she was trying to pull her ankle out of the man’s palm, but was instead pulled even closer to him.
Furuya was not a person who would take a beating without fighting back.
He had let An’an kick him twice. When she attacked for the third time, the undercover Public Security officer playfully thought, “third time’s the charm,” and caught the girl red-handed.
His broad hand clamped down on her bare ankle, holding it firmly. An’an, across the table, froze, her reproachful gaze immediately fixed on Furuya.
The blond young man tilted his head innocently. While explaining the case to the others, who were listening with rapt attention, he maliciously kneaded the girl’s ankle, enjoying her changing expressions.
“The culprit of the haunting is undoubtedly Director Ochi. At the same time, this also became the motive for the culprit to attack him.”
The main actors could completely understand the culprit’s motive. They also really wanted to put Director Ochi in a sack and beat him up, a group beating, a brutal beating, and then pour cement on him and sink him into Tokyo Bay!
“Then the culprit can’t be Teacher An’an,” the female lead said with certainty. “She’s the only one among us who wasn’t scared by the haunting. As expected of someone with a Beika Town household registration.”
The grand stage of Beika Town at night. Even ghosts would cry.
“I’m also innocent,” the male lead cried out. “I had no idea the haunting was the director’s doing. If I had known earlier, I would have at least let him lie on the floor for a whole night. I wouldn’t have rushed to call for help.”
“That’s right,” Furuya nodded. “The necessary condition for being the culprit is that he knew about Director Ochi’s haunting plan.”
“No matter what Director Ochi wanted to do, there was only one person he couldn’t hide it from.”
That was his assistant.
Furuya’s gaze shifted to the assistant, whose face was pale. “You have obvious bloodshot eyes and heavy bags under your eyes. It’s the middle of the night, yet you’re still wearing makeup, probably to cover up your dull complexion and severe dark circles.”
He guessed, “Do you have a sleep disorder?”
“It should be related to work stress, and it’s quite serious, requiring medication to help you sleep,” the blond young man thought for a moment. “As for the evidence, let’s search your luggage or your carry-on bag. We should be able to find something like sleeping pills.”
He was already under a lot of work stress because of Director Ochi, to the point of needing medication for insomnia. And at night, the stupid director was carrying out his haunting plan, with wails and howls in his ears, making it impossible for him to rest. How could he not hate him?!
The assistant’s face turned black and white. He said unwillingly, “I do have a sleep disorder, but what kind of evidence are sleeping pills? Director Ochi wasn’t poisoned.”
“The last person to have contact with Director Ochi was the male lead! Who can prove that it wasn’t him who knocked on the director’s door as an acquaintance, attacked the victim, and then hypocritically called the police to deliberately frame me?!”
“Nonsense!” the male lead slammed the table and stood up. “I’ve said it a hundred times—the door was open! It was already open before I knocked!”
The assistant retorted, “Is what you say the truth? Who can prove it?”
The Male Lead: “The corridor surveillance… uh!”
The corridor surveillance was turned off. Damn it! Who turned it off?
“It was Director Ochi himself,” Miss An, who had been a suspect many times, said with great certainty. “He couldn’t let the surveillance record the evidence of the haunting.”
The hotel manager, who had been listening for a long time, quickly said, “Could it be that the killer deliberately didn’t close the door after attacking Director Ochi and hurried away, so that the male lead would push the door open directly and come face to face with the victim on the floor?”
An’an: “But the probability of being seen is very high.”
“Although there’s no surveillance in the corridor, there are peepholes,” she said. “Especially in a haunted corridor. Most people’s mentality is to be both scared and curious. On one hand, they’re afraid to go out. On the other, they’re chanting ‘materialism’ and secretly observing through the peephole.”
There was more than one eye hidden behind the doors.
The female lead quietly raised her hand. “I confess. I was watching through the peephole the whole time.”
The Cameraman: “Alright, actually I was also watching. I was thinking that if I could capture a real ghost, I might have a chance at a Pulitzer Prize.”
The Hotel Manager: “In that case, did no one other than the male lead appear in the corridor?”
Several people nodded. The male lead’s expression turned gray.
“I shouldn’t have gone out in the middle of the night,” he said regretfully. “And I certainly shouldn’t have shouted and woken everyone up.”
Not a single testimony was on his side. And he had somehow deeply offended Mr. Amuro and Teacher An’an. It was over.
“The next time something like this happens, I’ll call the police first,” the male lead swore a solemn oath.
However, it made no difference. The result of calling the police and shouting was the same: the active-duty police officer Furuya would arrive at the scene at the speed of light.
“Sleeping pills can’t be used as evidence. What about a connecting room?” Furuya said unhurriedly.
The assistant’s triumphant expression froze.
“A connecting room?” the main actors looked at each other. “Is there a connecting room on this floor?”
“There is,” the hotel manager replied. “Mr. Amuro and Teacher An’an are staying in a connecting room—ah! Was I not supposed to say that?”
It seems I’ve accidentally leaked a guest’s privacy. I’m going to get a complaint.
“I don’t mind,” the blond young man said good-naturedly. “What about Teacher An’an?”
The girl, whose foot was being held in his palm, fiercely ground it against Furuya’s thigh. She said grumpily, “Of course you don’t mind. You’re just short of announcing it in the papers.”
“Oh well, it’s not something that can’t be seen by people,” as long as a person has enough of a past record, they are not afraid of scandals. An’an waved her hand.
“Speaking of which, it was Mr. Assistant who took the liberty of booking this room for us.”
Furuya continued, “Director Ochi probably didn’t know. He didn’t even know that his room was connected to the one next door.”
“But I didn’t see a door on the wall of the director’s room,” the male lead asked, puzzled.
The manager was also puzzled. “Mr. Amuro, in the hotel’s system, these two rooms are not marked as connecting rooms.”
“I see,” the dark-haired girl suddenly clapped her hands, enlightened. “It’s that movie!”
The others: “A movie?”
An’an: “The classic supernatural film that was once filmed in this hotel. There’s a scene in it that was hailed as the most terrifying and thrilling of the year. The protagonist is asleep in bed, and a bloated human face gradually appears on the wall behind him…”
To achieve the effect in the film, the mechanism must have been hidden behind the wall. Therefore, the crew had knocked down the wall between the two rooms and then covered it with wallpaper, making outsiders think it was a single room.
The hotel’s system in the past was not perfect. The manager who had been in charge at that time had also left soon after. The secret that the two rooms were connecting rooms had been unknown all this time.
“I especially liked that scene. I’ve watched it over and over again,” the girl said cheerfully.
“I didn’t expect Mr. Assistant to have such good taste. When Director Ochi wakes up, I will definitely put in a good word for you.”
Suspect An was not at all unhappy about being wrongfully accused. She was filled with the joy of meeting a fellow enthusiast.
The assistant slid from his chair, exhausted. “How… how could it be…”
“How could a normal person watch that movie over and over again, to the point of figuring out the filming mechanism?” he said, his eyes lifeless, his voice a distorted cry.
“I only dared to watch that scene when I was suffering from extreme insomnia, trying to scare myself to sleep!”
The way the assistant looked at An’an and Furuya was no longer right.
The girl really liked it. She liked it so much that she would project the movie on her TV on her days off and repeatedly rewatch it by dragging the progress bar.
Furuya was a passive fan, because An’an was watching the movie while curled up in his arms.
“Isn’t it especially, especially beautiful?” the girl had asked, looking up, her eyes sparkling.
Furuya: “Mhm, beautiful.”
He had lowered his head and kissed her. No one was paying attention to the progress bar. It had played on its own to the end credits.
“Is it very scary?” Furuya couldn’t empathize with the assistant. “I think it’s quite sweet.”