Case File N°2: The Ghost In The Window - Start of the investigation.

"So, you're saying that because of the storm, the electricity kept turning on and off, until the lights didn't turn on at all?" Hiraoka Misato asked me.

"It had happened several times during the day, and within a few minutes the problem was solved," I explained. "But this time it was more serious."

The detective listened attentively, sometimes making me repeat certain information that the bursts of telephone network obscured behind a brief silence or a beep. It was so mundane; I almost felt like I was having an everyday conversation with her; as if we were sitting in the middle of her office again, in front of her always-off TV screen.

Except that we were not in the same room, let alone the same prefecture.

In fact, we were hundreds of kilometers away from each other, calling each other at a rather late hour of the night.

"It seems that the building is equipped with an electrical panel with a circuit breaker, but most of the old wiring has not been renewed," I said to the young woman. " Thus, the fuses can burn out with the storm, and must then be replaced".

"There was a need to change the fuses?" the detective asked.

"Yes, and Yazawa-san had some in advance, so it didn't really create any particular problems."

The owner had then boasted about his forward-thinking nature and the fact that he always had extra equipment ready for rough weather conditions. This attitude explained, among other things, the presence of multiple flashlights and even walkie-talkies stored with the maintenance equipment.

"However, the electrical panels are usually located on the first floor," the detective pointed out. "So how did he end up isolated upstairs, and in his own room?"

I hadn't told her everything yet, and yet she was already finding things suspicious before I even revealed them to her.

"According to the boarding house's website - a bit antiquated, if you ask me - all the rooms are located on the upper floors," the detective thought aloud. "And if I trust the building's structure, the electrical panel should be located either near the entrance on the first floor, or in a small closet under the stairs. Whether it's one or the other, it's strange that he strayed so far from his destination..."

"Yazawa-san did indeed go to the electrical panel first to check which fuses needed replacement," I said in turn thoughtfully. "But I think I remember that he then contacted Iwakiri-san on his walkie-talkie to inform her that there were no lead fuses left in the hall closet..."

"Even though he's usually thorough?" Miss Hiraoka pointed out.

I was willing to bet that she raised one of her eyebrows in disbelief, at the same time as she squinted her eyes.

What surprised me afterwards was that I felt a little disappointed that I couldn't see that expression directly, and could only imagine a virtual version of it in my mind.

"So what happened next?" Impatiently asked the detective, very real on the other end of the phone.

Yes. What happened next, indeed?

Going back into my memories, I recalled the scene.

Sitting on one of the sofas of the big living room, I was watching Miss Iwakiri as she finished washing the dishes, helped by Mr. Nakatsuki who was wiping each plate and piece of cutlery with a disconcerting efficiency.

The lights having flickered several times during the last half hour, I suspected that my supervisor had stayed in the room not to be helpful, but to avoid being alone in the dark.

It was obvious to me that he was afraid of the dark as well as of his own shadow, and that he preferred to relegate his pride to the back burner rather than face what terrified him alone.

Noel, on the other hand, had been sticking around to read her book, still very quietly - probably because her room was still cluttered with filing equipment.

A number of people from the film crew were also sitting around the dining table, busy showing each other their phones, or talking about the latest programs the TV station was going to produce. Sometimes, the discussion would take a quick detour to the program currently in production and Mr. Sakai's unbearable character, before going in a completely opposite direction, to focus on the charms of Mr. Ishibashi, whom the two women of the group greatly appreciated. The image of this swarm of gossip overlapped with that of my colleagues at Tokuma, gathered around the coffee machine at all hours of the day, which tended to confirm that talking about others was the favorite - if not the predominant - activity of sociable people.

Sometimes, when lightning struck a little too close with a huge crash that shook your guts out, I could hear a few gasps and muffled cries of surprise from some people. I didn't pay much attention to who was frightened, but I was convinced that Mr. Nakatsuki was part of this group of great cowards.

It wasn't until a big flash of light outside, followed immediately by a thunderous clap, that the light suddenly went out, and my colleague let out a scream mixed with the sound of dishes being smashed on the floor.

Miss Iwakiri hastened to turn on two extra lamps, and discovered the devastation that Mr. Nakatsuki had created: in his startle, he had dropped two plates that he was holding in his hand, the white ceramic breaking into a multitude of pieces and splinters on the dark floor of the room.

"Are you okay, Nakatsuki-san?" She inquired.

He had barely had time to answer her with a trembling voice, when the walkie-talkie stored in the pocket of the young woman's apron had started to crackle.

"Iwakiri-san? The fuses have blown, and I can't find the box I put away in the hallway..." I heard through the device.

" The last time I checked, they were there though... " Miss Iwakiri replied curtly. " Wouldn't you have used them without putting them in their place, Yazawa-san?"

The young woman didn't mince her words, but that didn't surprise anyone in the room. We had all more or less witnessed her sharp and raw character during the day.

"I see... I think I know where I might have left them..." Said Mr. Yazawa simply, without further elaboration.

Even if her attitude could be frowned upon by the customers of the establishment, the owner did not hold it against her.

After that, fifteen minutes passed without any news from the owner, during which we remained in a worrying semi-darkness.

Broken plates were cleaned up and put in the trash, phones took precedence over paper media that had become unreadable with the darkness, and sleep began to take hold of some people - myself included.

I was contemplating the idea of going to bed already, even if it meant lighting my way up with the screen of my smartphone, when Mr. Yazawa's voice echoed again in the room.

"Iwakiri-san, I found the fuses. They were in my room, I probably forgot to put them back downstairs..." He said with a sorry tone.

"I told you so," retorted the young employee, while shrugging her shoulders. "You keep moving everything around without putting it back in its place..."

The criticism was direct and uncompromising, and Mr. Nakatsuki decided that it was time to move away from the young woman to join me near the sofa.

Her outspoken attitude must have been a little too much for him to handle, as he was naturally pleasant and cautious towards others.

"Um, I see, so it was primarily his oversight?" The detective cut me off.

I nodded, before remembering that she couldn't see me with a normal call.

"Probably," I said in a detached voice.

"And he and the boarding house employee were communicating via walkie-talkies? Hence the fact that you all witnessed the murder as it took place?" She insisted.

"Yes. We heard him talking, as if he had seen something in front of him." I replied.

"Don't tell me any unnecessary details," she cut me off before I could add anything.

I wasn't very talkative either, so even without her intervention, I probably wouldn't have said much more. However, I didn't understand what she might consider unnecessary in this.

"I don't understand what you mean by that..." I say with confusion.

"Focus on what you know for sure, not what you think you've seen or heard." She ordered me.

So she wanted me to tell her exactly what I knew for sure, discarding all conjecture and uncertain elements? Did this imply that Mr. Yazawa's words fell into this category? Did she think that he might not have seen anything, or that he was hallucinating? Or did she think that ghosts were not related to this case?

"Keep telling me what happened," she said on the other end of the phone.

I heard the sound of dishes again, like a cup being put on its saucer, or two plates being stacked on top of each other. It gave me the impression that this kind of discussion was rather usual and mundane for her, since she was talking about it while doing something else at the same time.

I also wondered if she was doing this with all her cases; dealing with them as if they were as ordinary as shopping or taking the bus. Yet here we were dealing with the death of one person, and the assault of another. Serious matters, which anyone would have found shocking and disturbing.

However, the current phone conversation was between me - someone who felt little to none emotion - and Miss Hiraoka - who didn't seem to care that someone had died.

Perhaps was she so indifferent because she herself was already dead?

"Nijima-kun?" She said on the other end of the phone.

Understanding that she was probably getting impatient, I resumed my story of that night, explaining to her what had happened next: that we had rushed upstairs, and found Mr. Yazawa lying on the floor. Then, the assault of Mr. Harada and the discovery of the camera hidden by Kitta Kitta.

"Wait a second, this kid was continuously filming what was happening in the large living room?" Marvelled the detective.

"Until I turned off his camera myself, yes." I confirmed.

"So he has evidence that confirms that the people in the living room could not have committed the murder..." She thought aloud. "That leaves all the people who were upstairs as potential suspects. Did you ever see anything?"

I thought for a moment, recalling all the exchanges I'd seen, and the arguments between the producer, Mr. Nakai, the singer, Mr. Ishibashi, and the late owner, Mr. Yazawa, came directly to mind.

"Those three were arguing?" She said with a voice that was either puzzled or surprised.

I was once again having trouble grasping her emotions by not being able to see her face, so I had to focus more on her voice to try to pinpoint the intent she was putting behind each word.

"They were pretty tense, yes." I confirmed to her. "There was also someone that no one was able to see yet."

"Someone no one has been able to see?" She repeated with some curiosity.

" It seems that a guest occupies one of the rooms on the same floor as the crime scene, but no one knows who it is or what this person looks like... " I revealed to her.

"Do you think this person could be suspicious?" She said without much conviction. "Simply because they didn't show up?"

I heard her take a sip of drink, and gulp down the liquid.

"If no one could see this customer, I'm not sure he or she has a motive to kill the owner," she declared.

"I disagree," I immediately contradicted her. "Just because I haven't seen this person, doesn't mean he or she isn't a suspect. On the contrary."

There was a moment of silence, during which I heard the phone's communication signal crackle, as if the phone network was subject to interference or stability problems; and I wondered if the phone antenna in the area was having issues again.

I almost thought that the call had been interrupted, when Miss Hiraoka's voice was heard again.

"I see..."

What? What was she seeing?

I frowned because I was totally lost in front of this more than brief answer, not being able to understand if it was a good or a bad thing in her eyes.

However, I had no problem imagining the detective smiling smugly as she said the following words:

"I think we need to go question those two guys first. Want to be my eyes, ears and mouth, Nijima-kun?"