Subtitle: The Last Light(最後の灯り)
Sergeant Kaoru wakes up next to the road, badly bruised. He realizes that he's close to the sea, and after taking a few steps, he spots Inspector Ukyō sitting in the sands on the beach. Once they reunite, they try to retrace the steps which lead them there.
Two days ago, Miwako interviewed Director Eiji Nakaseko(仲瀬古 永次) about his latest work, "Child Hunter," a movie many people criticized for being too violent. She asked the director if he felt any responsibility for crimes committed by children imitating violent scenes from the movie. The director adamantly refused to take responsibility and instead placed blame on the children who committed those crimes and their parents.
In the middle of this heated interview, Masaru Ino(猪野 大), the electrician aka "Denshoku," walked in mumbling that he forgot something in the room. Reiko Suma(須磨 玲子) the scripter was about to serve coffee to Miwako and the director just then, but Masaru took the coffee from her and insisted that he serve the coffee instead. However, Masaru clumsily spilled some hot coffee onto the director and after hastily cleaning the mess, he left the room. Shortly afterwards, the room's lights went out, which prompted Reiko to look for and flip the switch to the circuit breaker . When the lights came back, the women were shocked to find the director unresponsive. They immediately contact the police. According to the coroner, the director suffocated to death during the few seconds the power went out.
The Sōichi originally suspected Reiko the scripter. She was in the room when the director died, and her child was injured when another child tried to imitate the events from "Child Hunter." However, when the Sōichi learned that Director Nakaseko wasn't poisoned, they decided that his death was a natural death.
Inspector Ukyō, however, recalled a similar case from Kyoto and had Superintendent Kakuta contact his elder brother who works in the Kyoto police department to ask him to send documents related to that case. From that autopsy report, the Tokumeigakari pair found out that the victim died from electric shock when a hair dryer fell into the bathtub. The victim's death was initially ruled death by asphyxiation.
Although the Sōichi closed the official investigation, the Tokumeigakari pair decided to investigate the possibility that the director died from electrical shock. Going back to the scene of the director's death and looking at the pictures taken right after his death, Inspector Ukyō noticed it odd that only the director's chair had carpet under it even though people entered that room with their shoes on. (In Japan, people usually remove their shoes when they enter a house.) That carpet was now gone from the room.
They found out that the carpet was actually an electric carpet that Reiko gave to the director as a gift. He placed it under his chair, a seat reserved for the director only. While tracking down the carpet, they saw Reiko storm out of a room in anger when she found out that Producer Shin Satake(佐竹 信) had thrown away the carpet.
The Tokumeigakari pair tried to track down what happened to the carpet. They first checked the movie studio's over-sized garbage collection area where Producer Satake had thrown it away. Not finding it there, they asked one of the cleaning crew at the studio 1) if it was possible for an outsider to come in and take something from the collection area (the answer was no) and 2) when the garbage was collected each week. After they found out that the garbage was collected that morning, they visited the garbage collection center hoping to find that carpet.
Looking around, they eventually found what appeared to be the director's carpet in one of the collection center's trucks. However, they are both knocked out by a stun-gun shortly afterwards. The Tokumeigakari pair must have spent the night near the beach unconscious after the culprit left them there.
After they finished retracing the steps that lead them there, they try to contact the police but find that their cellphones have been taken. Sergeant Kaoru starts to walk but Inspector Ukyō doesn't move - he's been injured and has a difficult time walking. Sergeant Kaoru then offers to carry Inspector Ukyō on his back. At first the inspector refuses, but eventually agrees to be carried.
Once they make their way back to their office, Inspector Ukyō asks CSI Yonezawa what modifications someone needs to make to that carpet to kill a person with it. Back at his apartment, Sergeant Kaoru then realizes that Miwako has another important piece of evidence - her recording of the interview with the director.
What happened to the carpet and who was responsible for the murder?
Other characters appearing/mentioned in the story
Eiji Nakaseko(仲瀬古 永次) - The director of the recently released controversial movie "Child Hunter." He may have been murdered.
Masaru Ino(猪野 大) - The electrician who worked on fifteen of the director's movies over thirty plus years, aka "Denshoku(電飾)."
Reiko Suma(須磨 玲子) - The scripter(someone who keeps track of recordings) for Director Eiji's movies.
Shin Satake(佐竹 信) - Producer of Director Eiji's movies.
