Chapter 6.1 Write-up
Nobuko has been called to see our detectives. At first, she confesses to killing Ekisuke. But even though it would be easier for everyone to acknowledge she is the culprit, Norimizu doesn’t really believe so; he thinks one of the Furiyagi did it. Hatarō maybe… Nobuko says that so far, the dead Santetsu has been implicated several times in the case. Norimizu likens him to the king of spade; but Nobuko immediately answers that he is, rather, the king of heart. As for what happened in the carillon room… she tells about a black bat living there, feeding on white butterfly; a metaphor for Olga Krivoff forcing her to do things she doesn’t want to.
It was Olga Krivoff who made her play the carillon three times, when it usually falls to Ottokar Revezs. However, as Nobuko became exhausted, she went into a kind of trance from the music. Then, she was hit, by something, and someone, which caused her to fall unconscious. Still, she’s too afraid to tell who that person was; even though that person probably also tried to kill Olga Krivoff earlier. As for Olga, Nobuko says no one would mourn her if she were to die.
Norimizu seems to have understood some fundamental truth about the case. Nobuko isn’t guilty, and she, and Olga Krivoff as well, were saved from death by…. a rainbow. Hasekura and Kumaguro despair, once more, of ever understanding what he means. At that point, Shizuko arrives. She seems adamant that Tsutako has nothing to do with the case, in spite of what the others have to say. Tsutako’s hsuband has spent all his money on his hospital, and his wife Tsutako has to go back to being and actress to earn money for him. Shizuko hints that all the cases have to do with some form of reincarnation. Norimizu suggests it’s Digsby, or maybe Santetsu, the king of spade. Shizuko rejects the idea of Disgby, and refers, too, to Santetsu as the king of heart.
Norimizu seizes on this expression : Why have the two women called Santetsu the king of heart ? Does it have anything to do with his death ? It turns out…. Santetsu had a rare condition, with his heart not in the left, but in the right part of his chest. Therefore, the blow he suffered didn’t kill him. Moreover, he was pathologically afraid of being buried alive, and had a device made in his tomb, so he could call for help if such a thing arrived. When he “died”, Shizuko spent the time listening for the chiming of the bell that would signal that he was alive. She didn’t hear anything, and in the morning, visited the tomb … the device had been sabotaged ! Santetsu didn’t kill himself, that, too, was murder ! Only Shizuko and Tsutako knew about Santetsu’s condition.
Norimizu decides to investigate Santetsu’s tomb. But there is still the matter of the rainbow. That rainbow…. was created with the water-suprise, and Ottokar Revezs strange “dance” was necessary to create a mist large enough to create the rainbow. But why create it ? Norimizu theorizes that … Revezs, through the window, saw Nobuko in the sitting room. And send her the rainbow… as a love letter ! However, whoever saw the rainbow mistook the red for Olga Krivoff’s hair, causing the culprit to aim wrong, and miss her. As for who could make such a mistake ?… it seems only Tsutako, who’s missing an eye, could have been fooled !
黒死館殺人事件 
