Nanahara Takeshi nodded understandingly and followed her into the small villa. The staircase to the second floor of the villa had been cordoned off, while in the living room sat three grief-stricken women: an elderly lady, a middle-aged woman, and a young girl in a wheelchair.
Nakano Eri introduced him, "These are Sugita's widow, daughter, and housemaid. Including Sugita himself, only these four lived here."
Nanahara Takeshi glanced at them, nodded from a distance as a greeting, to which the three women noticed him and, except for the girl in the wheelchair, all stood up and bowed slightly in return.
"Let's take a look at the scene first!" Nakano Eri then led him and Kiyomi Liuli to the library on the second floor of the villa. Except for the removal of the deceased's body, which had been taken away, the room was largely left undisturbed, with only Okuno Yasuharu and Hidaka Tsukasa, two detectives, standing guard.
