Chapter 169: Don't Lie to Me Again (Free Chapter)

The story still takes place in the presidential suite of that hotel.

Faced with Asano Aiko's questioning of whether she believed he was the murderer, Sugo Nobuyuki immediately retorted.

"Lawyer Asano, the murderer must know that my affair with Mikiko cannot withstand police investigation, so he wants the police to think that I killed Mikiko because of a romantic dispute!"

"So, this is a trap, a trap to frame me!"

Sugo Nobuyuki spoke loudly while continuously slapping the table, his emotions very agitated.

"My wife and daughter have already left me, but the murderer is still at large!"

Asano Aiko did not soothe him, but waited until he had calmed down before speaking: "Mr. Sugo, I can understand you. But from the perspective of the Metropolitan Police Department, you are the murderer."

She paused, then asked: "So, I hope you can tell me more details to judge the murderer."

Sugo Nobuyuki frowned, "Finding the murderer is not my responsibility; that should be the job of those idiots at the Metropolitan Police Department! Lawyer Asano, I only hope you help me clear the suspicion!"

Asano Aiko shook her head, "Right now, all evidence points to you. Let's make an assumption: if we swapped identities and I told you I was being framed, would you believe me?"

Sugo Nobuyuki replied: "Damn it, I hired you to get me acquitted, not for some messy details!"

"Mr. Sugo!" Asano Aiko's expression became even more serious; she stood up and looked down at Sugo Nobuyuki.

"In my years of practice, I have faced some special clients. These clients always only want me to help them solve problems, but they themselves refuse to put in any effort."

Asano Aiko leaned over and looked straight at Sugo Nobuyuki.

"I want to give you a piece of advice: to solve your problem now, we must reach a cooperation between the two of us; otherwise, you are very likely to lose the case! Or even go to prison!"

After finishing this sentence, Asano Aiko turned around, took a newspaper titled "Akita Morning News" from the bag she was carrying, and spread it out on the table.

On the front page of the newspaper, a large headline was written—"A Young Man Missing in Akita Prefecture, Police Search for Three Days Without Result."

Asano Aiko pushed the newspaper in front of Sugo Nobuyuki and said bluntly: "Perhaps the eyewitness found by the prosecution knows the inside story of this matter."

Seeing the headline on the newspaper, Sugo Nobuyuki couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.

This news was a secret he had always hidden, and he hadn't expected it to be exposed at this moment.

Only then did he realize that it was definitely impossible for him to continue muddling through.

Asano Aiko walked two steps closer and said in Sugo Nobuyuki's ear: "Mr. Sugo, we have already wasted more than 10 minutes; I hope you can cherish the time!"

She straightened up and continued to look down at him, "Do you know who was in the hotel room at the time? If you don't know, from now on, do not lie to me again!"

Hearing these words, Sugo Nobuyuki swallowed hard; he lowered his head and saw the timer on the table constantly making a "ticking" sound, and his heart began to waver.

He really didn't want to go to prison! And he didn't want to give up his family even more!

Watching time continue to slip away, Sugo Nobuyuki was silent for a moment, then began to tell a truth he had been hiding.

In his description, a long-buried incident slowly unfolded.

……

Three months ago, Sugo Nobuyuki and his wife said they were going to New York to discuss business.

But in fact, he did not go to New York immediately; instead, he first drove away from Tokyo with his mistress, Morita Makiko, to go on vacation.

In Sugo Nobuyuki's original plan, he would first spend a day with his mistress at a hotel, and then go to Chubu Airport to catch a flight and leave.

But because they had been intimate in bed, the two did not wake up until very late and missed their originally scheduled departure time.

In order to catch the flight, Sugo Nobuyuki drove his luxury sedan in a hurry.

While driving, Morita Makiko, who was a photography enthusiast, sat in the passenger seat and took pictures non-stop along the way.

At a fork in the road, in order to be faster, Sugo Nobuyuki ignored the map and chose to turn left directly.

While driving, Sugo Nobuyuki proposed a breakup to Morita Makiko; he believed that continuing on would undoubtedly be a betrayal and hurt to both of their respective families.

Just then, a stray dog suddenly rushed out, and a sedan had just driven over from the opposite side.

To avoid the stray dog, Sugo Nobuyuki immediately turned the steering wheel to the right, while the sedan opposite also turned left at the same time.

After a moment of panic, both sedans stopped, and the stray dog was scared away.

Sugo Nobuyuki parked the car on the side of the road, and he and Morita Makiko got out of the car. The two were surprised to find that the sedan opposite had crashed into the guide stone on the side of the road.

That sedan was emitting white smoke, and the glass was basically shattered. The young driver inside the sedan, because he was not wearing a seatbelt, was covered in blood and unconscious……

Morita Makiko immediately stepped forward to try to wake the other person, but no matter how she called, the young man had no reaction at all.

She also discovered that the mobile phone the young man had placed next to the driver's seat kept receiving email notifications.

Sugo Nobuyuki hesitated for a moment, intending to call the police immediately, but was stopped by Morita Makiko.

Looking at his face, Makiko said: "Once this matter blows up, both of our families will be finished."

"Then what should we do?" Sugo Nobuyuki responded in confusion.

Makiko gritted her teeth and added: "Sometimes one has to make sacrifices, doesn't one? Do you really want to lose everything you have now?"

Sugo Nobuyuki immediately understood her plan, which was to act as if all of this had never happened.

He hesitated for a while, then accepted the proposal.

After all, if the police intervened, his affair with Makiko would inevitably be known to their families.

Having made the decision, the two got into the car they had arrived in, intending to act as if nothing had happened and leave.

But to their surprise, the car wouldn't start no matter what.

Just then, a truck was driving toward them from far away.

What to do?! Sugo Nobuyuki immediately panicked.

"Listen to me." Makiko reacted immediately and arranged the subsequent actions.

She immediately got out of the car, quickly walked to the side of the accident car, and pulled the deceased into the back seat to avoid being discovered.

Then, she took the record book and stood next to the accident car; through this action, she could make many unsuspecting people think she was the owner of the car.

Soon, the truck drove over, and sitting in the truck was a truck driver wearing a hat.

The truck driver stopped, poked his head out of the window, and asked Makiko, who was standing next to the accident car: "Do you need help? What happened?"

Makiko replied, "Thank you, we had a small accident and are currently communicating and negotiating."

After saying this, she walked from the accident car to the other side of the road and stood beside Sugo Nobuyuki, pretending to be discussing a solution.

Looking at the two, the truck driver was still a bit suspicious and asked: "Are you sure?"

Just at this moment, the mobile phone in the accident car rang. Makiko put on an indifferent look and said to Sugo Nobuyuki: "It's very likely the insurance company calling; I'll go for a moment and come back."

After saying this, she turned back to the accident car, took the phone out from the window, and hung up.

The truck driver watched this scene; although he was a bit suspicious, he still put his head back into the window and, after saying "Goodbye," started the engine.

Seeing the other party finally leave, Sugo Nobuyuki finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If the other party had gotten out of the car at that time, they likely would have seen the corpse and blood inside the accident car, and in that case, the police would have inevitably intervened.

Morita Makiko walked over again.

"Nobuyuki, now we must dispose of the body. Otherwise, if another car comes, it will very likely be discovered. In that case, our efforts will be in vain."

Sugo Nobuyuki gritted his teeth and accepted his mistress's proposal.

Immediately after, the two began a series of actions: first, they worked together to lift the body from the back seat to the trunk, and then Sugo Nobuyuki drove the accident car, which could still be driven, away to dispose of the body and the sedan.

Meanwhile, Morita Makiko stayed in the luxury sedan they had arrived in, waiting for the car repair personnel to arrive.

……

After finishing this content, Sugo Nobuyuki covered his head with his right hand: "If we hadn't overslept, if I hadn't turned left at that time, my life wouldn't have been ruined."

Asano Aiko sat on the sofa opposite and continued to ask in a calm tone: "Where did you dump that car?"

"Lake Tazawa," Sugo Nobuyuki replied.

Hearing this answer, Asano Aiko was stunned for a moment.

On the other side, Sugo Nobuyuki continued his narration.

That day, he drove for a long time before reaching Lake Tazawa. On the road by the lake, he found a gap where he could just push the car into the lake.

At that time, his heart was filled with immense guilt.

But for the sake of his own life, he could only choose to continue his actions.

Seeing the entire car sink completely, he chose to leave.

Sugo Nobuyuki "sighed" and said: "We couldn't do anything for him; it was just an accident. He was already beyond saving, but we still had a chance. For the sake of my family, I had to do this."

Asano Aiko stood up and walked to the window.

She looked at the sky outside, which didn't have much light, and asked again: "And then?"

Sugo Nobuyuki was a bit thirsty at this time; he took a bottle of water from the refrigerator, took a sip, and then began to continue his description.

……

After disposing of the car and the body, Sugo Nobuyuki used his mobile phone to call Morita Makiko.

After informing her of the specific location, Makiko soon drove over to pick him up.

But Sugo Nobuyuki was surprised to find that Makiko had tears streaming down her face.

"It was too terrifying," Makiko said in a choked voice, and then described the series of events that had happened earlier.

After Sugo Nobuyuki left, the car repair personnel were slow to arrive, forcing her to stay in the car for half a day.

Just then, an old black sedan passed by this road.

Seeing Makiko parked on the side of the road, the black sedan stopped, and a middle-aged man wearing a scarf got out.

The middle-aged man walked to the luxury sedan and asked: "Are you okay? Do you need help?"

Morita Makiko was a bit surprised, but still told the truth: "This car has a small problem; the engine won't start now."

The middle-aged man responded enthusiastically: "I work at a car repair shop in Akita Prefecture, so if you need, I can help you repair this car."

He looked at the condition of the sedan and asked again: "Do you have a flashlight?"

Morita Makiko looked for one but couldn't find it; after all, this car wasn't hers, so she wasn't very clear about it, and she explained: "This is my sister's car, I'm not sure if there is one."

The middle-aged man did not suspect anything, so he turned back to his own car to get a flashlight and then began to inspect it.

"It looks like the problem is with the starter," the middle-aged man said after inspecting it. "If you agree, I can tow your car to my house for repairs; there are no repair tools here, after all."

Morita Makiko became instinctively wary, but she quickly realized that if the repair crew didn't arrive soon, she would have no way to pick up Sugou Nobuyuki in time.

She thought for a moment and asked, "About how long will it take?"

The middle-aged man thought about it and replied, "About two hours."

After weighing her options, Morita Makiko accepted the man's help and bowed to express her gratitude.

Immediately after, under the middle-aged man's operation, the black sedan used a tow rope to pull the luxury car toward the man's home.

On the road, the two began to chat.

Worried about the previous accident, Morita Makiko fabricated her identity, claiming she was from Yokohama and had an older sister who taught in Hokkaido.

Besides that, she said she worked in the bookstore industry.

The middle-aged man nodded and began to talk about his own affairs.

He had a wife and a son, and his wife was suffering from cancer. To allow his wife to spend the rest of her life in peace, he had moved to the countryside here in Akita.

During their idle chatter, the cars soon arrived in front of the middle-aged man's house.

The middle-aged man parked the car, walked into the garage to retrieve his tools, and began to repair the luxury car.

At the same time, the middle-aged man's wife also came out.

Upon seeing Morita Makiko, she politely introduced herself and hosted her.

From her, Morita Makiko learned that the middle-aged man was named Yamazaki Ryu and his wife was named Yamazaki Saeko.

"Your palm is bleeding, are you alright?!" By the light, Yamazaki Saeko noticed bloodstains on Morita Makiko's right fingers.

Morita Makiko reacted immediately; this was likely left over from when she moved the corpse.

She waved her hand immediately, "It must be the blood from the stray dog I hit. I'll just wash my hands."

After saying this, she smiled apologetically, asked for the location of the restroom, and walked over.

After washing the blood off her hands and carefully examining herself in the mirror, Morita Makiko finally walked out.

"Have a cup of hot tea." Yamazaki Saeko walked over carrying tea.

Morita Makiko smiled as she took the tea and, at Yamazaki Saeko's invitation, sat on a chair in the dining room.

At this moment, her mood relaxed slightly, and she began to chat with Yamazaki Saeko.

During the conversation, Yamazaki Saeko took the initiative to talk about her family and handed a group photo to Morita Makiko.

Morita Makiko set down her teacup and smiled as she took the photo.

But she was immediately shocked to discover that besides the couple, there was someone in the photo she was extremely familiar with.

The young driver who had died in the accident was their son!

……

The story came to an abrupt end at this part.

And Ooshiro Rika, holding the manuscript, had a look of confusion and surprise on her face.

What was confusing was that the style of this work did not quite fit the mainstream mystery works of the present.

Honkaku? Social? Suspense? What exactly was it?

She couldn't quite tell for a moment.

But what surprised her was that this work by Akiwara Yuto actually used a large amount of flashbacks and inquiries to describe the scenes.

This meant that everything said could be true, or it could be false.

For the reader, they would have to find the existing clues within these true and false statements to reconstruct the facts.

Interesting, too interesting!

Thinking of this, the corners of Ooshiro Rika's mouth curled up slightly……