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So the hypothetical murder-for-hire family built more than one murder house. I’m guessing that there’s more than two and that the idea is that they do murders in one house while the next is being built, then move on when ready. There’s still so much book to go through and that means more blueprints to look at!
Poor Miyae. Her story makes me wonder about how these people get lured into the house without suspicion. Like, however much the house has windows and screams ‘no murder going on here!’ as the narrator talked about with Kurihara, I’d expect some invitee to inform somebody of where they’re going at some point. Miyae’s husband told her he was going to an acquaintance’s house without giving her any additional information, but was the ambiguous answer on purpose? Do the owners of the house(s) talk people into not giving away information somehow? I hope it’ll be touched on eventually because I’ve already got some ideas of how they’d do it
突飛な妄想
In the spirit of the book, here are some wild (baseless) speculative theories as to how people might be lured to the house without telling their spouse where they were going. I have not read past the current week, nor read online. These might well be wrong. Hopefully they are.
Theory 1:
The owners of the house are hosting a special (unauthorised) fugu meal. (Or some other delicacy that is highly regulated.
Though if it were fugu, I don’t know why they wouldn’t just use that to poison the guests. Or maybe they do…
Theory 2:
More unpleasant option. Maybe they are pimping their child (or offering to?) to people with a desire for such things. Not sure quite why they are killing them afterwards - except perhaps they film it and sell the snuff movie (child killing the abuser) for even more money…
There’s the possibility that this is all for the benefit of the kid. Like maybe the kid is a demon who needs to kill and eat left hands on a regular basis and the parents turned it into a business idea.
As for the question of how they get the victims to keep the location secret, all the theories already mentioned seem fine to me and I’ll be satisfied it the question gets adressed at some point rather than completely glossed over.
He writes 繫がる instead of 繋がる. It’s not really meaningful in any way but since we’re on a kanji learning website I thought I’d point it out, I like spotting these small idiosyncrasies.
I’m usually fine as long as I can make an educated guess what the reading might be. But it always leaves an unpleasant, unsatisfied feeling when I can’t make a guess at all.
I actually wondered about 帰宅後: is it きたくご or きたくあと? My dictionary only lists 帰宅. Intuitively ご sounds a bit better (like 放課後 for instance) but I’m really not sure…
Surely they have more than enough circumstantial evidence at this point to get the police involved? Shouldn’t be difficult to track the previous owners of both houses and figure out what’s going on.
And surely if they hacked bodies in the second house and hauled the chunks through multiple rooms and 抜け穴 there will be DNA to be found…
Really curious to figure out what this 左手首 thing is all about. My only guess is that they slice the wrist to bleed the victims in the bathtub but wouldn’t you just cut the jugular? And why hide this? There must be some other explanation.
Yeah, and the fact that the first house got burned down (presumably to destroy the evidence) might be a clue that reporting this to the police might be urgent, before someone tries to destroy the second house, too. But somehow the narrator doesn’t strike me as the type to take this to the police.
Sure but there’s enough suspicion to warrant a basic investigation I think. We’re talking about potential serial murderers. They just found a body in pieces in the woods. Cops wouldn’t have much trouble checking these allegations to see if they hold any water.
I don’t think there is anything which actually connects the body in the woods to the house.
I would doubt that the owners of the house (estate agents?) would allow some random strangers to start ripping up floor boards on the off-chance that there is a secret passage way.
Even if there is a secret passage way, that doesn’t prove that anyone was murdered there.
DNA evidence can be easily taken care of with a bottle of bleach (please don’t ask me how I know that).
If you went to the police and said “this house is a bit strange therefore the previous occupants must be serial killers”, I imagine they would tell you to get lost.
Yeah it’s definitely a reach but the layout of that house is so bizarre that I would argue that it warrants an investigation even if you don’t tie it directly to the murders. The prison-style, windowless 子供部屋 alone raises some questions…
I absolutely agree, but for dramatic purposes, it would certainly make more sense if 筆者 decided they need more evidence first and finally took a look at the bloody house themselves so that we can get a change of scenery from looking at blueprints (though, to be fair, I’ve wholeheartedly enjoyed looking at blueprints these first two chapters, so no complaints there).
Yeah, I think a closed room with a toilet and no window alone is enough to warrant police investigation for child abuse, or just 監禁 if really not used for children.
Other suspicious parts of the house might not be enough to make a house search warrant, but maybe it depends.
I would try get to the point that dictionary gives multiple readings (but then I would also check with JJ for reading preferences, which might not really reflect real life).
I guess it’s 帰宅後, but I can’t find grammar references or reasons.
