Lets Solve: The Decagon House Murders

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TalkLittle: Jun 23, 2004

Thanks Mr. Steak!

IIRC where we left off it still feels very much open ended, not enough clues to make any real guesses. I hope they start eliminating possibilities next chapter.

# ? Sep 23, 2019 02:34

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 17:19

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

9

As sunset approached, those ever-present clouds hung thick and gray in the sky, though there was no indication of a second rain shower. The wind that had been rustling the trees was now silent, and the sound of the waves had somehow softened to a melancholic murmur as well.

Poe's corpse was carried into his room by the two remaining men.

On the floor of his room remained the jigsaw puzzle from before, unchanged from when Van had seen it the other day. The cute faces of those little fox kits seemed to peer up at them sorrowfully.

Taking care to avoid stepping on the unfinished puzzle, they set Poe's large body onto his bed. Van covered him with a blanket as Ellery drew his eyes closed with two fingers. From those lips warped in anguish, drifted the smell of almonds.

After honoring a moment of silence, the two of them exited wordlessly into the hall.

"He definitely used a time delay. The bastard." Ellery spoke up angrily, trampling Poe's ashy cigarette underfoot. "It's obvious that a cyanide cigarette was mixed into Poe's stock. I bet he snuck into his room and injected it with a syringe."

"You mean Nakamura Seiji?"

"Of course."

"So either of us could have died too...?" Van slumped into a chair exhausted. Ellery stepped up to the table and lit the lamp. The white decagonal room began to waver ominously in the dim light.

"Nakamura Seiji..." Ellery murmured, staring into the flame. "Now that I think about it Van, Seiji was the original owner of Decagon House. Not only would he be well accustomed to the island's geography and layout of this building, but in all likelihood he has spare keys for all the rooms too."

"Spare keys?"

"Or maybe a master key. He must have taken them after he burned down Blue Mansion, before going into hiding. If that's true, then he should've been able to freely enter and exit anybody's room. Poisoning Agatha's lipstick and killing Orczy would have been a cinch. Poe's cigarette too, of course. He has been moving all about this building like a shadow, taking advantage of our blind spots. We were the unfortunate pray who fell into his decagonal trap."

"I think I remember reading he used to work as an architect."

"Apparently he did. And he probably designed Decagon House himself too. Built to his exact specifications.... No, wait. Wait one second. Could it be...?" Ellery looked around the hall with a severe gaze.

"What's wrong, Ellery?"

"I just thought of something. The cup that was used to poison Carr."

"Oh, the eleven-sided one?"

"Exactly. In the end, it wasn't actually used as a distinguishing mark, but... do you remember, Van? What you said about it before? You asked why only this one cup would be different."

"Yeah, now that you mention it."

"At the time, I thought it was Seiji's idea of a joke. But what if there was a much more meaningful hint in the design there? In a building riddled with decagons in every corner, a single eleven-sided object. ----What do you think? Anything come to mind?"

"An eleven-sided shape inside a decagon, huh? If we think of that as some kind of clue, then..." Amid his mumblings, Van's eyebrows suddenly shot up. "Could it possibly be hinting at... the existence of an eleventh room?"

"Yes," Ellery confirmed with a serious expression. "I think so too. Other than the central hall, this building contains twelve identical rooms shaped like isosceles trapezoids. Treating the washroom, bathroom, and showers as one room, then there's the kitchen, the entrance hall, and the seven guest rooms. ---- What if there's a hidden extra room somewhere besides those ten?"

"You're saying that instead of looking through the kitchen window, he was able to watch our every move from inside that secret room?

"Precisely."

"But where is there space for a hidden room?"

"Considering the structure of the building, it could only be a basement. And here's what I think..." Ellery's lips curled into a thin smile. "That very same eleven-sided cup is the key to opening the secret room."

＊

quote:

They found it in a storage space underneath the kitchen floor.

The space itself was as nondescript as they come. In one section of the floor, there was a large, eighty square-centimeter trapdoor that lifted easily when they tugged the handle.

The hole was approximately fifty centimeters deep. The bottom as well as all four sides were made of white-painted wood, and nothing was inside.

"There you have it, Van," Ellery said, pointing. "If it existed, I figured it'd be in the same place we found the cup, that being the kitchen. And lo and behold."

The beam of the flashlight illuminated the wooden boards at the bottom. There, at the very center, so small that you'd have to be looking for it to see it, was a shallow indentation with notches around its circumference.

"Van, give me the cup."

"What about the coffee we left in there?"

"At this point, just dump it."

Once Ellery had taken the cup, he got down on his stomach. Reaching into the storage space with his right hand, he inserted the cup into the slot.

"Awesome. It fits perfectly."

The eleven-sided keyhole had met its key.

"I'm gonna try turning it." He gently put force into the cup. As he had anticipated, the indentation started to rotate gradually, following the notches. Eventually, it produced a distinctive click sound.

"Alright. Time to open it." Ellery carefully lifted the cup out of the slot. As soon as he had done so, the white floorboards began to incline downwards in unison, without a sound.

"Impressive," Ellery said. "It must be a system of gears or something, that makes it so the floorboards don't make any noise while falling."

Before long, a stairway leading to a hidden basement appeared before their eyes.

"Let's go down, Van."

"I think we should stop," Van said, about to run away. "What if we get ambushed down there?"

"Don't worry about that. The sun only just set a little while ago. Seiji won't be here yet. And even if he is, it's two against one. He wouldn't stand a chance."

"But..."

"If you're scared, you can wait here. I'll go in alone."

"Ah, hey, wait up, Ellery!"

＊

quote:

Dank and sour-smelling.

Relying solely on the flashlight in Ellery's hands, the two young men stepped into the total darkness.

For one so old, the staircase was surprisingly sturdy. As they descended in silence, the boards did not betray a single creak.

So as not to make the same mistake as the day prior, Ellery took each step with extreme caution.

After descending just under ten steps, as they had expected, a spacious room opened up before them. So spacious in fact, that it encompassed not only the space underneath the kitchen, but encroached into the central hall as well.

The walls and floor were bare concrete. There were no furnishings whatsoever. The ceiling was slightly taller than Ellery, and was speckled with minuscule holes, from which numerous thin beams of light shot in faintly.

"That's light from the lamp," Ellery whispered. "We're underneath the main hall. He must have overheard everything we were talking about from down here."

"Are you sure Seiji was creeping around down here?"

"Yes. There's no doubt he heard everything we were doing. And from that, we can assume he most likely constructed a passageway to the outside from here as well."

Ellery slowly drew his flashlight bream across the walls. Dirty concrete, covered in ugly black stains. Fine cracks running in every direction, with signs of attempted repair....

"There," Ellery said, focusing the beam on a single spot. In the far right corner away from the stairs, there stood a time-worn wooden door.

The two of them stepped up to the door.

Ellery grabbed the rusty knob.

In a stifled voice, Van asked, "Where does it lead?"

"Let's find out."

Ellery turned the knob. With a resounding creaking noise, the door moved. Holding his breath, he pulled the knob. The door opened. ----And suddenly...

Urrgh, they both moaned, and held their noses.

"The heck is that?"

"What a horrible stench..."

A tremendously foul odor filled the darkness. The contents of their stomachs almost regurgitated themselves, the stink was so horrendous.

As for the odor's source, the two of them could immediately guess it. A thing that caused only visceral repulsion and made their skin break out in goosebumps.

The smell of rotting flesh.

The smell of a once-living thing decaying. And in addition...

Readjusting his grip on the flashlight with uncontrollably shaking hands, Ellery cast the beam into the darkness beyond the door.

A thick darkness. Just as predicted, this appeared to be a passage to the outside.

The circle of light was gradually lowered. Then it crept along the concrete floor back towards the two young men. Eventually, the light struck upon a....

"Wah!"

"Uwaa!"

Ellery and Van simultaneously let out a scream.

The source of the stench was laying right there.

Covered in a sickly hue, a lump of meat already far removed from its original form. Exposed pale yellow bones. Grotesquely sunken eye sockets, pits of black....

It was unmistakably a half-decomposed human corpse.

quote:

10

Just past midnight----

Not a person was to be seen in the decagonal hall. The lamp's fire extinguished, leaving only the darkness to hang thickly across the walls.

Far, far away, as if it were music from a distant world, the roar of the sea. Above that darkness a decagonal window gave view of scattered stars.

....Suddenly.

A violent sound resounded throughout the building.

And following that, the starkly different sound of something breathing. The breath became a moan. The moan became a low growl. As the flow of time drifts ever unceasingly ahead, it becomes more and more impossible to deny the destination one unavoidably reaches.

Shortly thereafter, Decagon House went up in flames.

The white building was swept up in that transparent red. Dense smoke rising. A violent roar that shook the night. As if to even scorch the passing clouds above, the blaze billowed ferociously.

This strange spectacle of lights was enough to reach S Town across the sea.

End chapter 9.

Full disclosure, the following sentence highly confused me and I took several liberties in translating it. Of course it's supposed to be vague, but that makes my job a lot harder!!
As the flow of time drifts ever unceasingly ahead, it becomes more and more impossible to deny the destination one unavoidably reaches.

TalkLittle posted:

Thanks Mr. Steak!

IIRC where we left off it still feels very much open ended, not enough clues to make any real guesses. I hope they start eliminating possibilities next chapter.

Yeeahh, not really haha. The end of *this* chapter definitely feels like a "now you have all the clues" moment though. Except for the fact that I still have no idea what's going on, so there's that. Heh.

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Sep 23, 2019

# ? Sep 23, 2019 05:46

TV Zombie: Sep 6, 2011; Burying all the trauma from past nights
Burying my anger in the past

How long does it take for a body to decompose to be in the position that it was in the basement?

Given how crazy everything has been, the corpse could be the gardener, Seiji...or one of the classmates with SEIJI NAKAMURA taking the place of one of the classmates!

Ellery's obsession with Seiji is paying off. I can't believe that. I feel like the obsession has progressed to the point where he's created a Seiji persona where he would kill with the motives that the original Seiji would have. Like seriously though, who would have thought to use the cup to open a keyhole underneath the kitchen floor? Or even thought that there was a basement to the house when it hasn't been mentioned or thought of.That's madness.

# ? Sep 23, 2019 07:02

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

TV Zombie posted:

Given how crazy everything has been, the corpse could be the gardener, Seiji...or one of the classmates with SEIJI NAKAMURA taking the place of one of the classmates!

I was thinking it's got to be the gardener or Seiji, since that'd invalidate all of the theorizing about Seiji being alive and if the Seiji possibility is 100% off the table then I have a hard time deciding the culprit.

I've been big on Ellery the whole time, but at this point it feels too obvious. Like you said, who the hell would even think to use the cup as a key for a secret basement? Idk if killer-Ellery would expose himself so blatantly to suspicion by conveniently knowing all that poo poo. I honestly don't think it can be as simple as "Ellery is solving the stuff because he did it," but I don't know if we can chalk it up to plot convenience either.

Speaking of the cup, that throwaway line about the coffee still being in the cup... does that mean the stairs weren't used since before Carr's death? Or maybe it's possible to use the cup-key while there's liquid in there. Something about how the exact location of that cup has been explicitly told to us (on the kitchen counter) ever since Carr died, makes me think that's relevant.

Also, from chapter 1:

quote:

"Wouldn't it be interesting if that wife's hand showed up?" Ellery answered with an extremely serious look on his face. "Or if we went under the floorboards of Decagon House, and found the gardener's bleached-white corpse."

HMMMM no its gotta be a red herring

# ? Sep 23, 2019 07:55

Kitala: Sep 2, 2012; Not Some Opera Floozy

I think the coffee is to indicate that they didn�t touch the cups after the poisoning so it still had the leftover drink inside. But I don�t remember exactly what state it was in, so it could be a clue.

Ellery knowing the cup was a key is definitely suspicious.

# ? Sep 23, 2019 13:00

TV Zombie: Sep 6, 2011; Burying all the trauma from past nights
Burying my anger in the past

Ellery's deductions in the last chapter just seem too perfect from finding the basement then the other door leading outside of the basement where they found the corpse. Either his obsession has made him into the greatest detective or he has had some plan with the murders.

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth" -Arthur Conan Doyle.

So..then what seems to be the impossible scenarios given what we know?

# ? Sep 23, 2019 16:04

Fritzler: Sep 5, 2007

TV Zombie posted:

Ellery's obsession with Seiji is paying off. I can't believe that. I feel like the obsession has progressed to the point where he's created a Seiji persona where he would kill with the motives that the original Seiji would have. Like seriously though, who would have thought to use the cup to open a keyhole underneath the kitchen floor? Or even thought that there was a basement to the house when it hasn't been mentioned or thought of.That's madness.

I wonder if maybe Ellery and Chiori were closer than we were led to believe? Maybe even dating? Could go a long way towards explaining his obsession with Seiji, and maybe Chiori would know about this basement and tell him?

Would make somewhat sense if he originally thought one of the group was the killer, so he wanted to hide any advantage he had, but now realizes it was Seiji the whole time.

edit: Yeah I feel like we have so much information but I'm still at a complete loss.

# ? Sep 23, 2019 18:11

TalkLittle: Jun 23, 2004

It does seem like Ellery has been sitting on a bunch of information. Why reveal the trap door now and not sooner, I wonder? I don't want to believe it was a random eureka moment, simply because that would be bad storytelling.

# ? Sep 23, 2019 23:06

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

Chapter Ten
Eighth Day

quote:

1

Startled awake by the sound of the phone ringing.

Barely able to pull his heavy eyelids open, he glanced at the clock on the nightstand. ----Eight in the morning.

Morisu Kyouichi sluggishly sat up in bed, then picked up the receiver.

"Yes, this is Morisu. Excuse me? What do you mean? Wait, say that agai... yes. That building on Horned Island, Decagon house, burned down? Are you for real?"

He pushed his blanket aside. Clutching the receiver in a death grip, he snapped "And?" into the phone. "What happened to everyone? ----Yes." Calming slightly, Morisu proceeded to respond affirmatively to several more things.

"----I see. So then what should I... Oh. Okay. I understand. I'll leave now. Bye..."

As soon as he'd hung up the phone, he reached for a cigarette. His drowsiness was completely dispelled. He lit the cigarette, took a deep puff of smoke, then concentrated hard on calming himself down.

After smoking the cigarette to the butt, he immediately grabbed a second one, holding it in his mouth as he reached for the phone again.

"Kawaminami? It's me, Morisu."

"Oh hey, how's it been? Why are you calling so early?" Kawaminami Takaaki's voice was a bit slurred through the receiver.

"I have bad news," Morisu declared. "Decagon House burned down."

"Wh, what?"

"Everyone died, apparently."

"What the gently caress? Are you serious? Don't joke around with me. April Fool's Day isn't until tomorrow, you know."

"I'm not joking. I just got the news by telephone."

"No way..."

"I'm about to head to S Town. You're coming too, right? I wonder if we can get in touch with Shimada too."

"----Sure."

"Okay, I'll see you there. A number of people concerned with this case are meeting up in a conference room near the harbor, normally used by the fishermen's union."

"I understand. I'll let Shimada know right away. We'll go together."

"Sounds good. Alright, I'm heading out."

＊

quote:

Monday, March thirty-first. Eleven thirty in the morning on Horned Island----

A large number of people were running every which way.

The ruins of Decagon House, which was still spewing a light smoke from various places, looked strikingly similar to a massive, strange creature's burnt corpse.

The sky was clear. The sea around the island shone dazzlingly with the colors of spring. Such a dazzling display, contrasted with the blackness of the cruel scene on the island, gave all who saw it a profound sense of helplessness.

"Inspector. Friends and family of the deceased have nearly all gathered in S Town," a young officer carrying a transceiver shouted out.

The man he had called "inspector", a stout man in his forties, responded in a thundering voice, while still covering his mouth with a handkerchief. "Acknowledged! Bring them here. Once they've arrived, I will tell them the news. And don't you dare let them set foot on the island unsupervised."

Then, he turned his attention to the blackened corpse beside him, and to the man in charge of the autopsy. "Well?" he asked. A foul odor and uncomfortable heat hung across the entire area.

"It's a male," the man answered through a large mask. "Of relatively small build. There is a severe laceration on the back of his head. I would guess he was struck with a blunt object."

"Hmm." The inspector nodded with disappointment on his face, then looked away from the body. "Yoo! What about you?" he shouted towards some rubble a short ways away, among which the man in charge of investigating the bodies was working.

"I believe this one is probably male as well. It seems the fire started somewhere around here.

"Hrrm."

"We are considering the possibility that kerosene was spread and ignited, yes? Well this individual appears to have doused themselves entirely with oil."

"Aha. Then it was suicide?"

"Well, there are other explanations that would fit the scene too, but that's a likely possibility."

The inspector frowned and left at a brisk pace, as if fleeing. A police officer chased after him to ask, "Shall we remove the bodies?"

"Wait until the group of bereaved gets here," the inspector responded immediately. "We don't want to carelessly move them around and lose all context of where they were. We'd be unable to tell them apart." Then, he took off upwind at a trot.

"After this, I won't be able to swallow my lunch," he mumbled to himself, then removed the handkerchief from his mouth and took a full, deep breath of the ocean breeze.

＊

quote:

Through the dull gray blinds, they could see the shining sea. A large, barren room with no decoration.

The fishermen union's conference hall, in S Town----

A number of chairs were lined up haphazardly around a folding table. Figures were scattered about in huddles with an uneasy air. Soft voices whispering to each other....

Morisu sat on the window pane alone, ashing his umpteenth cigarette in the cheap ashtray.

(Horned Island, Decagon House on fire)

His heart wouldn't stop reverberating with those words.

(Are they all dead...?)

Just as the clock was about to strike one, Kawaminami and Shimada finally showed up. They peered around the room, recognized Morisu, and quickly ran up to him.

"What's the situation like on the island?" Kawaminami asked, bracing himself for the worst.

Morisu shook his head lightly. "We don't have details yet. A little bit ago, all of their families left on a boat to identify the bodies."

"So they really are all dead?"

"Yeah. Decagon House burned down completely. And apparently, all of their bodies were discovered in the wreckage."

Kawaminami's shoulders dropped, and he stood silently for a time.

"Was it arson? Or some kind of accident?"

"We don't know any of that yet."

Shimada Kiyoshi was leaning against the window, peering out through the blinds. Kawaminami brought a chair next to Morisu and sat down. "Did you tell anyone about the letters?"

"No, not yet. I was planning on it though, so I brought it with me."

"I see."

The two shared an uncomfortable pause, and then...

"He did it," Shimada murmured, eyes glued to the window. When the other two turned to him in surprise, he continued in a grave tone, "This was no accident. It was murder. Revenge."

Several of those present in the conference room turned their gazes upon the three of them. Shimada hurriedly lowered his voice to a whisper. "We can't talk freely in here. Let's go outside, you two."

Morisu and Kawaminami nodded wordlessly, and quietly stood up from their seats.

After opening the heavy steel door and as they were heading into the hallway, they suddenly heard the voices of a nearby group of men behind them.

"...A bunch of the corpses looked like they'd been murdered."

Um.....

....

Who was Morisu talking to???

# ? Sep 24, 2019 07:09

TV Zombie: Sep 6, 2011; Burying all the trauma from past nights
Burying my anger in the past

Why would they mention the relatively small build of one of the corpses? It's not like their physical traits were mentioned before in the book...unless it has been? Such a curious detail for the author to mention that it makes me think that a body was switched out or something.

I imagine Morisu was talking to the fisherman who was supposed to pick everyone up or some official who saw the flames on decagon island.

What's the connection of the people outside of the island to the ones who visited the island?

# ? Sep 24, 2019 20:45

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Okay wow, sorry for the delay! Truth is I lost a lot of progress last month and haven't had the motivation to redo it. But anyway here I am now with a decent buffer on content! Take this as a promise that the project ain't dead. And here's the schedule for the rest of the updates:

~~11/11~~ actually tomorrow - Ch.10 part 2
11/15 - Rest of ch.10 + ch.11
11/22 - Ch.12
11/25- Epilogue

I also have no self-restraint so I already started my next mystery translation during the aforementioned period of de-motivation for Decagon, and I posted the intro yesterday. Check it out while u wait for this thrilling conclusion :P

Mr. Steak fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Nov 12, 2019

# ? Nov 11, 2019 20:35

Lord Zedd-Repulsa: Jul 21, 2007; Devour a good book.

I should go back and re-read everything so my memory is fresh when you start posting new content.

# ? Nov 11, 2019 23:59

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

quote:

2

The three of them went down to the beach.

They stepped off the breakwater and sat next to each other on one of the large tetrapods near the water's edge.

In stark contrast to their inner feelings, the ocean view dazzled with an irritating shimmer of the afternoon sun. Horned Island was perfectly in the shadow of J Cape, so it was not visible.

"So they're really all dead?" Kawaminami hugged his knees with trembling arms. "I'm an idiot."

"Kawaminami," Shimada said, turning to him.

Kawaminami shook his head slowly left and right repeatedly, and said "I spent all that time sniffing around random places, but I ended up being no use at all. We even came to this exact harbor three days ago... If only we'd been able to send a message to the island, to at least warn them..."

"You can't dwell on it now," Shimada said while rubbing his thin cheeks, as if he were saying it to himself as much as to Kawaminami. "In fact it's quite unusual that we even took those letters seriously and went running about investigating. Even if we'd gone to the police they'd instantly rule everything out as a prank."

"I suppose that's true..."

"The way I see it, telling someone with a straight face that Seiji is alive and the kids on the island are in danger, well, it would end with that. If we'd had definitive proof that the kids would surely be killed, that'd be a different story, but while it's just guesswork, crossing the sea just to check up on the island is outrageous notion."

"Shimada," Morisu cut in. "If everyone on the island really was killed, then that means Nakamura Seiji has to be alive, just like we thought."

"Well, that's neither here nor there," Shimada said, evading the subject.

"So then, who's the culprit?"

"Now let's see..."

"Hey Shimada, what do you think about those letters signed with Seiji's name? Think they're related to the island incident, or not?" Kawaminami asked, looking sourly at Shimada.

"At this point, I'm pretty sure they're related."

"And was it done by the came culprit?"

"I believe so."

"So then it was an advance notice of murder?"

"I'd say they were a bit different from an advance notice. If they were, then it'd be idiotic to send them to a place likely to miss the intended recipients entirely. No, I think there was a different motive there."

"Which means...?"

"Kawaminami, on the first day we met, you'd analyzed the letters and come up with three distinct conclusions. Remember?"

"Yeah. ---- Blame, threat, and an appeal to reexamine last year's Horned Island case."

"Exactly." Shimada languidly threw his gaze across the sea. "In accordance with those clues, we'd started reexamining last year's case in full, until eventually hitting on the solution. But I believe that result was entirely contrary to the culprit�s expectations. Surely the culprit didn�t anticipate that we�d stick our noses so deeply into it. The way I see it, the culprit�s true intention hidden in the letters might have only been to expose your sin, while alluding to the spectre of Nakamura Seiji.�

�Seiji�s spectre?�

�In other words, by signing their name as Nakamura Seiji, the sender wanted to arouse a suspicion in us that Seiji is actually still alive. Their plan was to set up Seiji as the perfect scapegoat.�

�So what you�re saying is, the person you doubt the most is...�

�Nakamura Koujirou?� Morisu asked quietly. �Now that we know Nakamura Chiori was Koujirou�s daughter, you�re saying the one with a proper motive to murder everyone wasn�t Seiji at all, buy Koujirou... right?�

no way though, because koujirou is like the only character claiming seiji is for real dead.

�Looking at motive, Koujirou is definitely the most suspicious. But...� Kawaminami looked at Shimada�s face. �But he�s been in Beppu the entire time...�

�You do remember what that young man told us, Kawaminami?�

�Huh?�

�The son of that fisherman who brought the club members to the island.�

�Oh yeah, him.�

�He told us plain as day. If you�ve got a motorized boat, travel to the island and back isn�t difficult at all. Can you really assert that Kou never did that?�

�Ah...�

�Kou said that these last several days he�s been busy writing an academic paper, so he wasn�t taking calls or accepting visitors, and just stayed holed up in his house. But now, I wonder if that was really true.� While staring out at the sea, Shimada nodded to himself. �----Yes. It is deeply regrettable since he�s my friend, but I end up suspecting Kou the most. He had to suffer the death of his daughter. That one special link to his distant lover, stolen from him in an instant. And that was only the start ---- according to his story ---- as his very own brother proceeded to kill that lover. That�s more than enough to constitute a motive.

Kou was the owner of Decagon House for a while. It wouldn�t be surprising if he learned of the kids� island trip through some sort of connection. Then, not only implying Seiji�s existence to make us sniff in the wrong direction, but also as a way of expressing his pent-up anger, he sent those letters to you all. And at the same time, a letter addressed to himself. That was probably to make himself look like just another victim.�

this is all so drat wrong. i�ll eat my hat if Koujirou ends up being the culprit.

The three of them then continued to hang their heads and look at the sea.

�----I definitely,� Morisu eventually murmured. �Can�t think of any other motive someone could have had to kill everyone on that island. And the most suspicious there is Koujirou. But Shimada, that�s still only within the realm of guesswork.�

�Indeed, Morisu.� As he answered, Shimada twisted his lips in a self-deprecating gesture. �That�s merely my guess. There�s not a lick of proof. I also don�t feel like looking for proof either. And I also have no intention of seriously telling this to the investigators.�

At that time, two boats could be seen emerging from the shadow of J Cape. �Oh,� Shimada said, rising to his feet. �Isn�t that the police boat? They�re coming back. ----Let�s go.�

This update isn't very substantial to me, because honestly, I feel like "motive" isn't all that interesting of a way to solve a case. Of course that's all the characters have to work with, but I very much would rather get into the specifics of the murders and *how* they were done. And we're so drat close to the end that it better start doing that soon lol

# ? Nov 13, 2019 01:21

TV Zombie: Sep 6, 2011; Burying all the trauma from past nights
Burying my anger in the past

To have him be the murderer...would be disappointing...given how well the book has been written so far. I hope that that there is some explanation or details for his motive.

# ? Nov 15, 2019 03:56

Fritzler: Sep 5, 2007

Mr. Steak posted:

Okay wow, sorry for the delay! Truth is I lost a lot of progress last month and haven't had the motivation to redo it. But anyway here I am now with a decent buffer on content! Take this as a promise that the project ain't dead. And here's the schedule for the rest of the updates:

~~11/11~~ actually tomorrow - Ch.10 part 2
11/15 - Rest of ch.10 + ch.11
11/22 - Ch.12
11/25- Epilogue

Bump. Was just wondering if you were still planning on updating this?

# ? Jan 6, 2020 21:29

Mr. Steak: May 9, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Fritzler posted:

Bump. Was just wondering if you were still planning on updating this?

yes i still want to! it's not on my agenda right now because of a combination of other projects i'm committed to and being part of several highly involved forums games this month, but i feel really bad about falling off on this near the end.

to be honest, the lost motivation i mentioned in that post very much lingered even after i redid the update. more so than i expected. but now i believe i can be motivated enough to finish. i havent betrayed y'all by reading ahead, and i still dont know who the culprit is, but i still feel like a dick for leaving you in suspense. this thread is on my mind and i do intend to finish it.

im really grateful tbh to anyone who's beared with me and hasnt gone to the published version to finish the novel yourself.

# ? Jan 7, 2020 08:05

TV Zombie: Sep 6, 2011; Burying all the trauma from past nights
Burying my anger in the past

Mr. Steak posted:

yes i still want to! it's not on my agenda right now because of a combination of other projects i'm committed to and being part of several highly involved forums games this month, but i feel really bad about falling off on this near the end.

sigh. please..just finish someday..

# ? Jan 7, 2020 23:25

TalkLittle: Jun 23, 2004

Yes we like Steak's translation and I think the doctor, Poe was it?, must be the culprit. Unless he died already I forget.

I kind of don't understand this mystery though. What are the open questions? The villain and their motivation? I can't tell if the "how" is a mystery since that seems pretty unimportant with so many entrances, exits, and locations all over the island. And a simple boat would solve any of the questions surrounding outsiders having access to the island.

It feels like you could make up any random answer and fill in the blanks using the info we have, which is weird given how close we are to the end.

# ? Jan 8, 2020 07:16

TalkLittle: Jun 23, 2004

Okay it's clear what the real puzzle is. (Well, a theory.) The eleven-sided teacup is a huge hint. The guy constructed this decagon house making you think there are ten of everything, but there's eleven.

Mr. Steak posted:

Fig.1 "Floorplan of Decagon House"

We have a decagon house with ten rooms. Seven occupied by potential killers. Three other rooms not occupied which must represent other potential killers who are characters mentioned in the story.

The question becomes, who are the three additional "obvious" potential killers? And from there, who is the eleventh character and the real killer?

Remaining characters:

- The missing gardener
- Koujirou (the victim Chiori's uncle or maybe true biological father)
- Shimada (weird guy very interested in the murders)
- Kawaminami/Konan (ex-club member)
- Morisu aka "Doyle" (another ex-club member? and Kawaminami's friend)
- Higashi (another ex-club member? received an invitation to the island)

We can probably eliminate Koujirou, Shimada, Kawaminami since they were having that long conversation together. That leaves the Gardener, Morisu, and Higashi mostly unaccounted for for most of the story.

Who's the eleventh?

e: I realized looking at the picture, the "washroom/shower/toilet" room is kinda fishy since it's actually 3 mini rooms put together. So maybe it actually represents the trio of Koujirou/Shimada/Kawaminami? In which case we have eleven already: the 7 club members + [the trio] + Gardener + Morisu + Higashi.

TalkLittle fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Apr 14, 2020

# ? Apr 14, 2020 02:55

TV Zombie: Sep 6, 2011; Burying all the trauma from past nights
Burying my anger in the past

Can you explain your reasoning as to why the remaining rooms must represent other potential killers? With things being so late in the game, would they really have one of the other relatively anonymous characters (Morisu, Higashi)be the killer...since I don't know what their motivation would be or how involved they are in the story up til now.

# ? Apr 14, 2020 06:22

TalkLittle: Jun 23, 2004

My reasoning comes from taking the stance of "here is the info we have: how can it be used to guide us through a puzzle?"

Taking the opposite viewpoint for a moment: So far, if we've been reading the story at face value as a series of events, we reach the conclusion that this mystery makes no sense. Everything feels like a red herring, anyone still alive could be the killer, the island provides too many hiding spots and entry/exit points. You could make up any ending and have it work.

But that's not a real mystery.

Giving the author some credit and being a bit charitable, we can assume that hints are constantly being given to us that narrow down the culprit, and that we won't have to wait until the very end to be able to start applying them. Having everyone in the story being part of a Mystery Book Club is priming the reader to think of it as a puzzle from the start, and now that we've gotten this far with no culprit, we have to go back and look at the hints we have.

So if we flip it around: we say nothing is a red herring, everything is part of a puzzle (or multiple interlocking puzzles). For example the names of the club members and their arrangement in the circle. The order of their deaths. Cigarette brands probably part of a separate puzzle that fits into the bigger puzzle.
We're not at the end and certainly we don't have all the pieces yet, but if we take the leap of faith and consider everything as relevant, we can start figuring out how to put things together without worrying it was the author messing with us.

# ? Apr 14, 2020 20:46

Maugrim: Feb 16, 2011; I eat your face

So I found this cool thread and just caught up with it and I need to mull it over/reread some stuff, make some notes. Given the apparent update schedule there's probably plenty of time for that! :v:

Right now I just want to point out that Higashi isn't a separate suspect, it was the real name of one of the guys who went to the island (and therefore never received the letter of accusation).

I'm still liking the theory someone came up with that Orczy is still alive, but that requires Poe to be an accomplice and I'm not sure how to make that work (especially since he dead now).

The identity of that decaying corpse found under Decagon House is really bugging me. Also who doused themselves in kerosene to burn the house down at the end?

E: looked up body decay rates and the decay described in the passage seems consistent with the body being dead for several months.

Maugrim fucked around with this message at 10:24 on Apr 19, 2020

# ? Apr 19, 2020 00:47

HerpicleOmnicron5: May 31, 2013; How did this smug dummkopf ever make general?

Just caught up to all this. Current thought is Poe and Orczy were co-conspirators. Orczy knew about Chiori 100%, and Poe hinted at the drinking towards Carr, plus was Orczy's childhood friend. Carr was never meant to die for much the same reason - Orczy had feelings for him, but rejected him due to this plan. Her feelings were why Poe was surprised - he uses a case, right? Towards the start of the novel, I think the brand he used was Seven Stars? But seeing as it was a case, there's no way for us to verify what brand he's smoking now. That means he can subtly mark the cigarettes that way, by brand, but also he controls the position of the cigarettes in his case. Anyhow, Poe's smokes - his brand, the Seven Stars - were poisoned by Orczy as revenge for Carr. Ellery was meant to be the Final Victim, while Carr was saved as Detective.

That also covers the issue of the left hand. The wife's left hand was given to her lover. Carr's was taken by Orczy.

# ? Apr 26, 2020 16:04

Idaholy Roller: May 19, 2009

Has this been abandoned?

# ? May 1, 2020 17:22

Maugrim: Feb 16, 2011; I eat your face

No the OP is just leaving plenty of time for people to read over the whole thing and get their theories in :v:

# ? May 1, 2020 17:35

HerpicleOmnicron5: May 31, 2013; How did this smug dummkopf ever make general?

I do think the OP is going to come back, if only to finish it for themselves. I'll probably buy the published version if there's no update before quarantine breaks though.

# ? May 1, 2020 18:22

Maugrim: Feb 16, 2011; I eat your face

HerpicleOmnicron5 did you ever buy that published version? If so, wanna post the ending here as I don't think OP is coming back at this point?

Otherwise I can do it, it's not a particularly expensive book.

# ? Oct 25, 2020 10:43

TV Zombie: Sep 6, 2011; Burying all the trauma from past nights
Burying my anger in the past

Someone please finish this

# ? Oct 25, 2020 15:41

HerpicleOmnicron5: May 31, 2013; How did this smug dummkopf ever make general?

Maugrim posted:

HerpicleOmnicron5 did you ever buy that published version? If so, wanna post the ending here as I don't think OP is coming back at this point?

Otherwise I can do it, it's not a particularly expensive book.

Nah, I haven't. Honestly forgot all about it.

# ? Oct 25, 2020 16:31

Maugrim: Feb 16, 2011; I eat your face

Alright, so the book doesn't actually come out here until 3rd December.

I'll preorder it on Kindle and post up when I have the copy.

# ? Oct 25, 2020 18:41

Fritzler: Sep 5, 2007

Maugrim posted:

Alright, so the book doesn't actually come out here until 3rd December.

I'll preorder it on Kindle and post up when I have the copy.

thank you!

# ? Oct 25, 2020 19:09

Maugrim: Feb 16, 2011; I eat your face

Good news: Kindle edition came out earlier than expected! I'm reading through it now. This is your chance to reread the thread if, like me, you want to remind yourself of the story so far.

E: lol I just noticed this:

Mr. Steak posted:

Okay wow, sorry for the delay! Truth is I lost a lot of progress last month and haven't had the motivation to redo it. But anyway here I am now with a decent buffer on content! Take this as a promise that the project ain't dead. And here's the schedule for the rest of the updates:

~~11/11~~ actually tomorrow - Ch.10 part 2
11/15 - Rest of ch.10 + ch.11
11/22 - Ch.12
11/25- Epilogue

Seems fitting to post the next instalment on Sunday, exactly a year after Mr. Steak promised to do so.

EE: I've now caught up with the book and started transcribing. Rather than post the rest of chapter 10 and all of chapter 11 on Sunday, I'm going to post the remainder of chapter 10 now, as it contains a really interesting revelation that people may want to chew over.

Chapter 11 will follow on Sunday as planned.

Maugrim fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Nov 13, 2020

# ? Nov 13, 2020 10:00

Maugrim: Feb 16, 2011; I eat your face

Chapter 10, part 3 posted:

"Who are those three?" the inspector asked a nearby police officer. He had just returned from inspecting the crime scene over on Horned Island.

He had been told by a local estate agent, Tatsumi Masa'aki, the person currently in charge of the building on the island, that students from K University had been staying in the burnt-down Decagon House. They were friends of his nephew and he had given them permission to stay there a week, starting last Wednesday.

Tatsumi had a list of names of the club members who had gone to the island and the police used that list to make enquiries at the university and to contact family. Some of the students had been living away from their parents' homes, in boarding houses, so not all the families had been tracked down. Still, they had managed to identify bodies to the point that they now had a good idea of which corpse belonged to which victim. The inspector had also started to question the families of the deceased, but had obtained little useful information from any of them.

"Eh? Which three?" the officer replied, and the portly inspector pointed towards the window.

"Those three over there."

"Oh, they're friends of the deceased from the same university club. They've been waiting all afternoon to ask about the case."

"I see."

The inspector cocked his large head. The two younger men were leaning against the window and talking. Next to them stood a lanky man in his thirties looking out of the window, his back to the police.

The inspector pulled his hands from his coat pockets and walked over to the three men.

"Excuse me. You're members of the same club as the deceased students?"

The two younger men looked up quickly.

"I'm from the police. I'm--"

"Ah, hard at work, I see." The lanky man, who had been looking outside, turned around. The inspector clicked his tongue.

"I had a feeling your back looked awfully familiar."

"What a coincidence. I was hoping it would be you, though."

"Mr Shimada, do you know this man?" one of the young men asked in surprise.

"I told you I knew people in the police, right, Konan? Let me introduce Police Inspector Shimada Osamu of the First Investigation Division of the Prefectural Police."

"Shimada? Ah, so you're?--"

"As you have correctly guessed, this man here is the second son of our temple family."

"Aha."

Inspector Shimada coughed loudly once and glared at the nonchalant face of his younger brother, whose physique was the complete opposite of his own.

"And what are you doing here?"

"I've been with these two here all this last week, for a certain reason. It's a long story, so I'll just keep it to myself."

Shimada Kiyoshi then turned to the two younger men.

"This is Morisu, a member of the K University Mystery Club, and this is Kawaminami, an ex-member."

"Hm."

Inspector Shimada turned to the two with a perplexed expression.

"I'm Inspector Shimada. These are really very tragic circumstances to meet under," said the policeman formally as he dropped into a chair nearby. "Mystery... So detective fiction, I assume? A club for that, eh? Hm. I used to read mystery fiction a lot when I was young, too. What do you usually do at your club?"

"We have a reading circle for mostly mystery novels and some of us write," said Morisu, as a plain-clothes policeman arrived and gave the inspector a report several pages long. He flipped through it and nodded.

"It's the report from the medical examiner," he said to the two young men. "Just a preliminary one though. A thorough examination will be held later."

"If it's not against regulations, could you perhaps tell us more?" Kawaminami asked. "I want to know everything, no matter how insignificant it might seem."

The inspector glanced at his brother and pursed his lips.

"This guy will just come and pester me later anyway, so I suppose I might as well tell you myself."

"Thanks."

"Based on the bodies - all of them in bad shape - it appears that all of the deceased, except for one, were already dead before the fire. Very likely homicide. The remaining person actually died in the fire, burnt to death, but that one appears to be suicide. He had doused himself in kerosene and the fire probably also started in his room. We can't say for sure, but this man might have killed everybody and then committed suicide. Please keep this information to yourself. His name was..." The inspector stared at the report in his hands. "Ah yes, Matsu'ura. Matsu'ura Junya. You know him, of course?"

Morisu and Kawaminami gasped and nodded.

"Was it really suicide?" Shimada Kiyoshi asked in a rather surprised tone of voice. The inspector wrinkled his nose and scowled at his brother.

"I just told you we can't say for certain at the moment. I'm still waiting for the reports with more details on the causes of death of the other victims."

He turned back to the two young men.

"What kind of person was this Matsu'ura Junya? I'd like to hear what you think of him."

"What kind of person?" It was Morisu who answered. "He would have been in his fourth year at the faculty of law this April. Excellent grades, intelligent and eloquent, but he could be a bit peculiar."

"Thanks. And another question, Morisu."

"Yes?"

"Was this visit to Horned Island some sort of Mystery Club trip?"

"I guess 'trip' might be the right word. But it wasn't an official activity of the Mystery Club."

"Then I assume they were a group of particularly close friends within your club?"

"Yes. Well, yeah. They got along quite well, I think."

The same officer returned and whispered something in Inspector Shimada's ear.

"OK. Got it."

The inspector stuck both hands in his coat pockets and slowly got up out of his chair.

"I have some other business to attend to now, but I think I might need to meet with the remaining members of your club in the near future. Kawaminami, if you could make it, I'd like you to come along, too, as an ex-member."

"I understand," replied Kawaminami obediently.

"Well then, goodbye."

The inspector gave his brother a glance and started to walk away, but then turned back to Morisu and Kawaminami as if he had suddenly remembered something.

"Suppose this Matsu'ura Junya is indeed responsible for all this, do you have any ideas about a motive?"

"Hmm," answered Morisu, cocking his head. "I just can't believe it. To think that Ellery would do that."

"Who?"

"Oh, I'm talking about Matsu'ura. Ellery was something like his nickname."

"Ellery... Anything to do with that writer, Ellery Queen?"

"Yes. It's a bit of a club tradition. Members go by the names of famous foreign mystery writers."

"Oh, all members?"

"No. Just a select group."

"All of those who went to Horned Island were members with nicknames like that," explained Kawaminami. An interested twinkle appeared in Inspector Shimada's eyes.

"Kawaminami, did you also have a strange name like that when you were in the club?"

"Well, yes."

"What was your nickname?"

"It is a bit embarrassing. I was Doyle. Konan Doyle."*

The inspector laughed.

"Haha, one of the masters. Then I guess that Morisu here is Maurice Leblanc?" the inspector asked, amused.

Morisu frowned slightly and muttered a "no".

A self-deprecating smile appeared on his lips for a brief moment; then, with downcast eyes, in a low voice, he answered:

"I'm Van Dine."

Wait, what?

*The ebook spells Konan as Conan throughout. I've retained Mr. Steak's names/spellings where there are discrepancies - e.g. the book actually calls Horned Island by its Japanese name, Tsunojima.

Maugrim fucked around with this message at 08:40 on Nov 14, 2020

# ? Nov 13, 2020 23:23

TalkLittle: Jun 23, 2004

Thank you for this!

This reveal went over my head. Why does Morisu's nickname matter?

# ? Nov 14, 2020 01:14

Maugrim: Feb 16, 2011; I eat your face

Because Van was one of the last two people alive on the island.

Maugrim fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Nov 14, 2020

# ? Nov 14, 2020 01:32

TalkLittle: Jun 23, 2004

Van can't be on the island and doing investigations with Shimada at the same time. The only way this makes sense is if Van/Morisu is a time traveler. :colbert:

Seriously timeline hijinks get me every time.

# ? Nov 14, 2020 02:24

Kitala: Sep 2, 2012; Not Some Opera Floozy

Thanks for finishing this up.

I guess I should have refreshed myself like you suggested. I forgot all their names too.

# ? Nov 14, 2020 02:28

TV Zombie: Sep 6, 2011; Burying all the trauma from past nights
Burying my anger in the past

Maugrim posted:

Because Van was one of the last two people alive on the island.

Oh man, I had forgotten all that. Is that mentioned early on in the thread/book?

# ? Nov 14, 2020 06:11

Maugrim: Feb 16, 2011; I eat your face

TV Zombie posted:

Oh man, I had forgotten all that. Is that mentioned early on in the thread/book?

Late, rather - if you reread just page 4 you'll see Poe's death, the subsequent Van / Ellery section and the denouement of the island chapters.

TalkLittle posted:

Van can't be on the island and doing investigations with Shimada at the same time. The only way this makes sense is if Van/Morisu is a time traveler.

Seriously timeline hijinks get me every time.

No timeline hijinks - the book is pretty clear that everything happening is in strict chronological order.

The remainder of the book is chapter 11 (a really short one that just hammers home something we can now infer), chapter 12 (the solution - long so will be posted in multiple parts), and a brief epilogue.

I'll probably spoiler chapter 12 when I post it, and I've gone back and spoilered the crucial info in case anyone jumps into the thread at the end. The solution is pretty cool and will have more impact if you've (re)read Mr. Steak's posts ITT. I know not everyone has that kind of time to commit though. It's a drat shame the thread died for so long.

Maugrim fucked around with this message at 08:47 on Nov 14, 2020

# ? Nov 14, 2020 08:23

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 17:19

Maugrim: Feb 16, 2011; I eat your face

Chapter 11. The Seventh Day

Tuesday, 1st April 1986. From the morning edition of the A newspaper.

quote:

ANOTHER MASSACRE AT THE DECAGON HOUSE ON HORNED ISLAND

In the early morning of 31st March, the bodies of six university students were discovered in the ruins of the burnt-down Decagon House on Horned Island, S Town, Oita Prefecture. The students were staying there.

All six deceased were students of K University: Yamasaki Yoshifumi (age 22, 4th-yr Medical), Suzuki Tetsurou (22, 3rd-yr Law), Matsu'ura Junya (21, 3rd-yr Law), Iwasaki Youko (21, 3rd-yr Pharmacy), Ouno Yumi (20, 2nd-yr Literature) and Higashi Hajime (20, 2nd-yr Literature). They had been scheduled to stay in Decagon House for one week from Wednesday, 26th March.

Investigations have revealed the possibility that five of the six deceased were murdered before the fire broke out. The massacre and subsequent fire are considered to surpass even the quadruple murder that occurred last September in the Blue Mansion on the same island and [...]

From the evening edition of the A newspaper (same day):

quote:

BODY DISCOVERED IN CELLAR OF DECAGON HOUSE

[...] Subsequent investigations have led to the discovery of a further body: that of a man who met with an unnatural death in a room beneath Decagon House.

The remains are partly skeletal, with time of death estimated at four to six months ago. Age at death is estimated at mid-forties. Wounds suggest the man was beaten on the head.

The existence of the underground room was discovered after the fire. It has been suggested that the body is that of the missing gardener, Yoshikawa Sei'ichi (46), who disappeared after the incident on the island in September of last year. Efforts to identify [...]

---------

A short update, as noted. Only one really important detail that I can tell - which I'll mention here for those who have forgotten: it says there were only six bodies found on the island, but seven students went there at the start of the book. There is no mention of anyone being missing.

Chapter 12 has seven parts. I'll aim to post one a day over the coming week, followed by the epilogue.

# ? Nov 15, 2020 16:16

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Lets Solve: The Decagon House Murders

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