The Moai Island Puzzle

by Alice Arisugawa

  ‘I’ll swim back, so the two of you can go back first,’ I proposed and the two discussed that.

  ‘But we’re almost at High Tide Cape now. Ah, that’s it! How about borrowing Mr. Hirakawa’s bicycle to go back? You must be tired from all that swimming as well.’

  ‘Oh, that’s a good idea.’

  I was indeed a bit tired, so I wanted to get on shore.

  ‘But if I do that, I’d need to go back again to return his bike.’

  ‘You can return it after lunch. Then I’ll go pick you up with the boat.’

  Ah, now I understood. If we followed this plan, nobody would need to swim. Suddenly, Egami burst into laughter.

  ‘What’s the matter, Egami?’ Maria was perplexed by him laughing out loud right next to her.

  He had trouble keeping his laughter under control as he said: ‘What kind of idea is that? Why would Alice need to go back and forth on a bike between Happy Fish Villa and Panorama Villa?’

  Oh. There was no reason for doing so.

  ‘If Alice is tired, he can go up High Tide Cape and rest a bit with Mr. Hirakawa. Maria and I will first go back to Low Tide Cape with the boat and one of us can just go pick him up again.’

  That’s it! It was that simple. I was so glad I didn’t have to go up to Mr. Hirakawa to explain everything and ask him if I could borrow his bicycle. That’s why I’m bad at puzzles.

  ‘Egami,’ Maria looked up at him, ‘do you think I’m stupid?’

  ‘Not at all. Ah, were your feelings hurt because I was laughing? You’re wrong.’ Egami flashed a smile again. ‘It wasn’t that. I wasn’t laughing at the silly talk you were having. I was listening to you when I suddenly had to laugh at myself for ever thinking you were smart.’

  ‘That’s not flattering either, you know.’ Maria clicked her tongue.

  It was less than a hundred metres to High Tide Cape. I was thirsty, and I looked up at Happy Fish Villa, pondering whether I should ask for a drink.

  ‘I wonder if he’d think it impolite if we go up to him dressed like this?’ Maria asked. ‘But we’ll be back to pick Alice up with the boat again, so we might as well go and ask if he needs anything. And I’m thirsty now.’

  ‘Sounds fine,’ I said. ‘You could also have him paint you in a swimsuit or nude.’

  ‘There you go again with the unfunny jokes. It’d just make his creative urge disappear.’

  Don’t be so sour. Also because I can’t tell the difference between her pretending to be sour, and her really being sour.

  For some reason we decided that Hirakawa probably wouldn’t mind if we visited him dressed in our swimwear, so all three of us came in to land at High Tide Cape. Egami took the oars, while I swam next to the boat.

  The pier of High Tide Cape was right next to the stone steps. Egami jumped off the boat and tied it to the post. I climbed on to the pier as well and together we went up the steps.

  We went round to the front and Maria knocked on the door, calling out to the artist. After three calls, there was still no answer, and Maria cocked her head.

  ‘Could he be out?’

  Mr. Hirakawa’s red bicycle was still standing by the side of the house. Maybe he had gone out to do some sketching close by.

  ‘But where could he have gone?’ muttered Maria to herself as she grabbed the door knob. Ever since the murders two nights ago, we had all started to lock our doors but, unlike us, the artist had not locked his. The knob made a click and the door opened.

  ‘Mr. Hirakawa, are you there?’ Maria asked as she stepped carefully inside. She had opened the door to the main and only room in the whole house, but she was still standing partly in the doorway as she called out.

  ‘Visitors. Mr. Hi—!’

  From the back of Maria’s throat came a stifled cry. Egami and I looked over her shoulder into the room and we, too, cried out.

  Hirakawa was seated in a chair in front of the glass-topped table, his forehead resting on the glass. From that unnatural position, I understood immediately that something was wrong. When I looked more closely I saw that, hidden by his head, a red spot had spread across his chest. The incident two nights ago was still fresh in my mind, so it didn’t take me even a second to recognise it as blood.

  ‘Mr. Egami….’

  Maria looked up at Egami next to her.

  The club president carefully pushed her to the side, and walked over to Hirakawa. He picked up Hirakawa’s hanging left arm, checked for a pulse and turned back to us. By a shake of his head he told us it was too late for the artist. A little cry escaped from Maria’s lips. I was at a loss for words at this unexpected appearance of Death.

  ‘He’s bleeding from the chest. Appears to have been shot like Mr. Makihara and Sumako.’

  It was the work of the same person. I felt that instinctively. The thought that this had now become a serial murder case was terrifying, but it was probably still better than assuming two people had planned murders completely separately from each other on this small island.

  Yesterday the artist had shown us his painting of Sumako, with his back turned towards us. Was that the last time anyone had seen him alive? When was he shot? He’d died at the same spot where we’d said goodbye to him the day before, so there was no way of telling whether the crime had happened right after we’d left, or long after that. It’d be best if Doctor Sonobe could examine the body as quickly as possible.

  ‘I’ll go get the doc.’

  ‘Yes, do that, Alice,’ said Egami in a low voice, his eyes still fixed on the body. Then I remembered it wasn’t as easy as calling the doctor from the room next door.

  ‘Mr. Egami, are you going to stay here?’

  ‘Yes. You and Maria go back and tell the others. And then you come back in the boat with the doctor. And bring a change of clothes for me too.’

  ‘Okay,’ I replied. To Maria: ‘Let’s go.’

  ‘Mr. Egami….’

  Without moving from her spot, she pointed her trembling fingers to the floor near the table.

  ‘Wh—what’s that? Scattered all over the floor there.’

  I too looked at the floor to see what she was pointing at. There was nothing strange on the floor. In fact, it was only natural they were there. Pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. Lots of pieces.

  ‘Mr. Hirakawa was probably attacked while he was facing the table, playing with the puzzle. When he was shot, he fell forward over the table, and the puzzle pieces he hadn’t finished yet fell on the floor,’ I said.

  ‘No, the pieces are scattered too widely for that,’ replied Egami as he studied the table with a puzzled look. ‘I’m sure he’d finished about half of it, but even those pieces didn’t remain on the table.’

  What did that mean? Had both the finished and unfinished pieces fallen off the table and scattered on the floor when Hirakawa hit the table?

  ‘But don’t you think that’s odd too? Even if everything on the table had fallen off, would all the pieces really scatter around like this? It’s almost as if someone scattered them on purpose….’

  ‘Maria, now’s not the time for this. I agree it’s odd, but we can talk about it later.’

  I urged Maria to come with me. She nodded and we went outside.

  ‘I’ll hurry back with the doc.’

  Egami simply answered: ‘I’ll be waiting.’

  A single step away from the murder scene, and we were in a landscape brimming with life. How cruel, I thought. The sky was absurdly clear, and the sun was radiant.

  The artist had suddenly passed away. Someone had smashed his wonderful life to pieces….

  7

  I rowed as hard as I could and it took me about fifteen minutes to get us back to Low Tide Cape. By the time we’d hurried up the stone steps and gone through the back entrance, I was completely out of breath. I told Maria to get dressed first, and then rushed into the hall.

  ‘What’s the matter? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.’

  Toshiyuki, who had been watching television,
looked up at me. Junji, who was also there, gave me a puzzled look as well, as I was still dressed in my swimsuit. Sonobe was busy with his puzzle, but his reaction was quick and he stood up immediately.

  ‘Did somebody drown?’

  ‘No, not that. Nothing like that. Doctor, you need to come to Happy Fish Villa at once. Mr. Hirakawa is dead. Probably murder.’

  ‘What!?’

  The doctor was shocked by the news, but I insisted he needed to come immediately. He understood and nodded.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Junji glared at me ‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. I’ll go too, though.’

  ‘Me too.’ Toshiyuki stood up. ‘Oh, and the boat? Did you find the oar?’

  ‘Yes. I’ll take the doctor in the boat. So, Mr. Makihara, Mr. Inukai, I’m sorry, but could you go by bicycle?’

  ‘Okay, we’ll do that.’

  At that moment, Maria came downstairs. Satomi too. She had apparently been told about what had happened by Maria, because she looked pale. She asked her husband if he’d heard the news.

  ‘Just now. We’re going there now on the bikes.’

  ‘We need to tell my uncle too,’ said Maria. ‘Where could he be? In his room in the back? And where are Reiko and Kazuto?’

  ‘Arima is out,’ replied Sonobe. ‘He said he’d been in the house all day yesterday, so he needed to get some exercise. As for Reiko and Kazuto….’

  While they were talking I went upstairs and got dressed. I was almost out of the room again when I turned back to get Egami his change of clothes. I went downstairs and saw that Reiko and Kazuto had also joined the crowd in the hall. Both of them had been called out of their rooms.

  ‘Okay, the doctor and Alice will go on ahead to Happy Fish Villa,’ said Toshiyuki when he saw me coming. ‘Mr. Makihara, Kazuto and I will follow by bicycle. Satomi, you stay here with Reiko and Maria and look for my brother. Perhaps he’s down at the rocky stretch in the back of the house where Kango and the doctor were fishing previously.’

  Everyone quickly started doing as Toshiyuki suggested. I was so anxious to leave I almost tore the doctor’s arm off, but he suddenly remembered he had to get his medicine bag and went upstairs, which only annoyed me more.

  All in all, leaving Egami at Happy Fish Villa, getting hold of the doctor and returning to the crime scene had taken me almost fifty minutes. It seemed as though Egami must have been looking at the sea all that time and, when we arrived at the pier, he was standing at the top of the stone steps.

  ‘I brought the doctor. And your change of clothes.’

  Egami gave me a nod of thanks as he took the clothes and led the doctor into the house.

  ‘This is horrible. It’s the same as Kango and Sumako.’

  The instant the doctor saw the body of the artist, he put his hand to his forehead and cried out. But then, as you’d expect from an experienced doctor, he immediately got hold of himself and raised the upper body of the artist, resting it against the back of the chair so he could start his examination. Just as before, he muttered out loud about everything he noticed as he went about his duties.

  ‘The gunshot in the chest is the only wound. Slightly right of the solar plexus. Just as last time, it was not a fatal shot. Don’t think the murderer is a good shot. Estimated time of death is in small hours of the night. Somewhere between midnight and two o’clock. No, better allow for an extra hour on both sides. Between eleven and three should cover it. He probably remained alive for a while after being shot, but sadly there was no way he could’ve got help in this lonely house. Anyway, it’s a wound very similar to what we saw two nights ago. I can’t say for sure until we get the bullet out and have it examined, but it’s very likely it’s the same weapon.’

  ‘From what distance was the shot fired?’ asked Egami, his change of clothes still in his hands. Sonobe answered that he could only be certain it was more than thirty centimetres. ‘My feeling is it was fired from more than a metre away.’

  ‘And there were no other wounds on the body besides the one made by the rifle? No signs of resistance?’

  ‘A rough examination shows nothing. He was sitting at this table when he was shot from the other side. The bullet hit him diagonally, from high to low, so the murderer was standing.’

  ‘Shot from across the table…so he was shot right here?’

  ‘There’s no doubt about that. After he was shot, he wouldn’t have been able to get up.’

  ‘Anything else you noticed, Doctor?’

  ‘Nothing. This is about all I managed to find.’

  ‘I see.’

  While Egami was getting dressed, Sonobe and I sat down and remained silent for a while. The atmosphere was oppressive.

  ‘So there were no signs of a fight?’ I asked, and the doctor simply repeated: ‘No.’

  ‘Doctor, do you see all the jigsaw puzzle pieces scattered over the floor? The puzzle had been on the table. When we saw it yesterday, it was half finished. So when I saw the pieces scattered like this, I thought that perhaps Mr. Hirakawa and the murderer had had a scuffle and turned the table over.’

  The doctor frowned as he looked at the puzzle pieces all over the floor.

  ‘There wasn’t a fight, you say?’

  ‘There was definitely no struggle. There are no scratches or bruises on either the victim’s face or wrists. And his clothes were all still neat as well. Just think, a simple town doctor having to do the job of a medical examiner….’

  As the doctor had said, the hemp shirt of the victim wasn’t wrinkled in any way. And if there really had been a big struggle, during which the table had been flipped over, then it would be natural to assume that at least some of the pieces on the floor would have been stepped on during the fight. Yet I didn’t see a single piece which was dirty or damaged. I couldn’t help but be bothered by this mystery. Whenever I came across a riddle to which I couldn’t find the perfect answer, I’d keep thinking all about it until my hair hurt.

  ‘Oh!’ Something else came to mind. ‘Perhaps it was the murderer who broke the puzzle and scattered it into pieces? Doctor, you said Mr. Hirakawa had not been hit in a vital spot and so he didn’t die right away. So he could’ve had enough time to leave a dying message.’

  ‘A dying message? Oh, you mean he could’ve written the name of the murderer before he died? Well, it’s certainly possible. But what does that have to do with the puzzle?’

  ‘Mr. Hirakawa mustered his last remaining strength and wrote the name of the murderer on the puzzle with his own blood. There are no writing utensils on this table, so that was the only way he could’ve written down something.’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘He left a dying message on the puzzle indicating the murderer. But he wrote it down before the murderer had left the room, so unfortunately they noticed and threw the puzzle off the table to break it into pieces. Let’s reconstruct the puzzle. The murderer’s name might be written on it.’

  Sonobe thought about that for a moment. Then Egami, who was dressed by then, joined in the conversation.

  ‘Doesn’t sound really convincing. If the murderer had noticed Mr. Hirakawa’s dying message, would they really have felt it was enough just to break up the puzzle? If someone reconstructed it, the name would still be there, after all. If it were me, I’d cover those blood letters up with more blood, or take the puzzle with me to throw away into the sea.’

  ‘That sounds reasonable, but the murderer might have been too agitated and not been able to think clearly.’

  ‘I wonder. I think they would want to destroy the message no matter what, if it indicated their name. But, oh well, we might as well try picking up the pieces off the floor and checking them quickly. Pick up the pieces with blood on them and try putting them together. There’s no need to reconstruct the whole puzzle from scratch.’

  ‘Okay, let’s do that.’

  We crouched down and started to collect the pieces, when we heard bicycles stopping in the front of the house. Toshiyuki and the others
had arrived.

  They gasped when they entered the house and saw the body sitting in the chair, but they also looked in surprise at the sight of us crouching on the floor.

  Egami briefly explained the situation to the newly arrived Toshiyuki, Junji and Kazuto, and the three listened to him in astonishment.

  ‘So in the small hours of last night? I wonder if we could’ve heard the shot?’ Kazuto growled. But considering the distance between here and Panorama Villa, even if the noise had carried over there, it would have been very faint.

  ‘The rifle again? So it was the same person?’ Toshiyuki posed the question to nobody in particular. A worried frown appeared on his face and he shook his head.

  ‘But what are you doing crawling on the floor? Looking for evidence?’

  I was about to answer Junji’s question, when Sonobe cried out in surprise.

  ‘Young Alice, I’m afraid your theory won’t hold.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Look at this.’

  The doctor showed me one puzzle piece with blood on it.

  ‘These pieces have a vinyl coating. There’s blood on this piece, but see, the blood is repelled by the vinyl. You can’t write anything on these pieces unless you have a permanent marker.’

  ‘What about the back?’

  ‘The same as the front. So Mr. Hirakawa didn’t leave a dying message on the puzzle. He couldn’t have.’

  What were the implications of that for the case? I started to reflect again, but it was the doctor this time who proposed a theory.

  ‘Perhaps your theory was half correct. What if it happened like this: Mr. Hirakawa wanted to convey the name of the murderer to us in some way before he died, so he tried to write the name with his own blood on the finished part of the puzzle. He hadn’t noticed that he couldn’t write on it, because the pieces were coated in vinyl, but desperate to leave the murderer’s name, he smeared his finger in his own blood and tried to write the name down. But they hadn’t left the room yet. They noticed what Mr. Hirakawa was trying to do, took the puzzle away from him and threw it down on the floor, scattering the pieces all over the floor. How about that?’