The Case of the Midsummer Beach Hut Drowning Pt. 2

**The Case of the Midsummer Beach Hut Drowning Pt. 2** is the 29th chapter of the *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga.

## Summary

The murder scene is blocked off, and Toto introduces himself to the local police. He also gives them the briefing: The victim is Taku Manba, a 25-year-old office worker who had been at the beach since yesterday with his two surfing friends. Toto also introduces Mofu, who conducted the autopsy. She says the cause of death was drowning, with the estimated time of death to be between 2-3am. There are no visible wounds, but his hands are now purplish read. She also notes a slight odor of alcohol on the victim. Toto backs up that findings, saying that the friends told them Manba has drunk quite a lot the night before. Manba then left around 10pm to complain to the beach hut owner, but he never came back.

The local police officer notes that the beach hut owner will be questioned, but given the absence of external wounds and what the surfer was wearing, he is ready to conclude that the man tried to go surfing while drunk and drowned. Ron, already laying beside the victim, says he is wrong, because of what he is wearing. The victim is wearing a dry suit, something that divers and boaters wear, rather than what a surfer would wear in the summer. Also the suit is baggy on him. The friends back this up: Manba does not own a dry suit like he was wearing, and he left wearing his own clothes. Ron unzips the dry suit, and asks if those are the clothes they mean, and the friends confirm that is the flower pattern T-shirt he wore.

When Ron asks for anything else they noticed, one of the friends says that when they got back to the inn, they lined up their surfboards outside. But the boards were in different places that morning. Manba's board was on the rack too, so they thought he had come back some time during the night.

The local policeman asks who Ron is, and Ron gasps. They had forgotten, and Ron is investigating unconsciously. Mofu covers for him, saying he is her assistant, that he loves mysteries so much that he wanted to try doing some detective work, and will have him stop. The policeman laughs uneasily, saying Ron was quite convincing, he was hanging on every word, but asks that they leave it to the professionals.

Toto says Ron scared him back there, and Ron says maybe he was still feeling some leftover excitement from the last case and dove in without thinking. When Toto asks why Mofu covered for him, he explains that sh already knows about his situation, and his arrangement with Toto. Mofu also assures Toto about her strict confidentiality policy as a doctor. Toto is relieved that someone else knows besides Spitz and Kawasemi about Ron's secret. Mofu adds that she thinks that what they are doing is wonderful, and they have her support.

The three move on to question the beach hut owner. When he learns that someone died, all he says is no wonder there was a ruckus, that he was too busy to care. Also it is bad for business and create bad press. Mofu angrily asks how he can be so insensitive. While Toto calms her down, Ron continues, mentioning that the surfer wore a dry suit and it seemed like an accident. The beach hut owner nonchalantly says surfers are nothing but trouble, and that such incidents are common in summer. Ron points out that the dry suit was too baggy on the victim. The owner says people who go boating leave the suits in the boathouses, so the victim probably took one. He says that it gets cold at night, so he bets he wore it to go swimming.

Ron catches the slip: swimming? The victim was a surfer, but he was not surfing? But Ron deflects with a laugh, saying it was a joke, even surfers swim too. Then, he immediately asks the owner: how did you kill him? Ron laughs again as Toto and Mofu gasp, that was another joke. The owner angrily asks if Ron has a grudge because he sold out of shaved ice. Ron says obviously, but also Toto adds that it is not it. Toto says they were told the man who died left to speak with the owner around 10pm, and thus asks what the owner was doing yesterday.

The owners says why did he say that sooner. He then relates that he had finished cleaning up the shop and was heading home. Then he was up all night drinking with friends from back home. He has eight witness, according to him. Thus Toto muses the owner has an alibi from the time of death of 2-3am. When Toto asks about anything unusual, the owner says he saw a drunk guy in floral T-shirt heading towards the ocean around high tide. Ron asks how the owner knew the victim was wearing a floral shirt. The owner accuses that Ron is trying to trap him. He never said anything about the man being the victim. Ron chuckles again, as the owner says that he has a perfect alibi, there is no way in hell he could have killed the victim. Ron just says it is intriguing. The owner says that if he gets it, then scram, then he leaves laughing heartily.

Toto muses about the last words, but Ron wonders. The owner does not know the victim's time of death, so the must be psychic to assert a alibi in the first place. Toto and Mofu gasp, with Toto saying the owner is too shady.

Meanwhile one of the beach hut employees asks what they should do about the expired eggs. The owner says who cares, use them anyway. Ron with a grin notes that the owner does not know how to plan, and that he feels bad for his huge fridge and freezer. When asked how he got there, Ron says he is hungry, and came to buy some food, and could he prepare some fresh eggs.

Regrouping at the beach chairs, Mofu is frustrated that they could not arrest the beach hut owner, even though he is suspicious. Toto adds that they have no proof and he has an alibi for the time of death. Toto considers that if the victim passed out in front of the beach hut owner, could not he have just left him within reach of the waves? That way the owner could go out drinking and the victim would drown when the tide came in. But Ron had thought the same, however the inside of the victim's mouth was clean. Mofu agrees. They will need to examine the victim closely in a forensics lab, but if the victim drowned in the shallows, there should have been large deposits of sand in his mouth. Toto concedes, but how then did the victim drown in such a far-off place? Toto guesses the victim's hands probably turned purplish red from the cold of the deeper water. While Mofu admits it is possible that the body temperature dropped rapidly, it looked more like chilblains.

Meanwhile Toto complains about the food, saying it is burnt. Mofu angrily says the owner is too cruel and will get the food replaced. But on her way to do just that, a bird flies overhead and captures the food, away from her, and Mofu falls onto the sand. Ron and Toto run to help her, as Mofu notes that the sand is so salty. Toto figures it is just because they are at the beach. Ron takes a taste of the sand, and also complains. He looks at the beach area and the beach hut.

Ron says it looks like Mofu's clumsiness has saved the day again. Toto asks if he has finally figured out the mystery behind the alibi. Pushing his hair away, he says not to look down on salt.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Totomaru Isshiki
* Mofu Usaki
* Ron Kamonohashi
* Two unnamed surfers
* Beach hut owner