Ring (02): Spiral by Suzuki Koji

Author:Suzuki, Koji [Suzuki, Koji]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Japan, Novel, Translated
Publisher: Vertical
Published: 2004-02-03T02:00:00+00:00

2

After lunch, Ando went back to his office and put in a call to the Forensic Medicine Department of Joji University Hospital, in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture. A little research had turned up the information that Asakawa's wife's parents lived in Ashikaga, Tochigi. Any unexplained deaths in that region would fall under the jurisdiction of the doctors at Joji.

An assistant professor came to the phone, and Ando asked him if there had been any patients who'd died late last month from heart attacks caused by blockage of the coronary artery. The man responded with a curt question of his own. "Sorry, but what are you getting at?" Ando explained to him that they had seen seven deaths from the same cause in the greater Tokyo area, and there were indications that there could be many more victims. He avoided any mention of paranormal phenomena.

This didn't seem to have assuaged the man's doubts. "So you're contacting medical schools across the region?"

"No, not exactly."

"So why are you calling us?"

"Because your area is at risk."

"Are you saying we're going to find bodies in Utsunomiya?"

"No, in Ashikaga."

"Ashikaga?" The mention of the name startled the man. He fell silent, and Ando could almost sense his grip on the receiver tightening.

"This is a shock. I can't imagine how you know about it. As a matter of fact, on October 28th, the bodies of an elderly couple were discovered there. We did autopsies on them the next day."

"Can you tell me their names?"

"Their last name was Oda, I think, and the wife's name was Setsuko. I forget the husband's name."

Ando had already checked on Shizu Asakawa's parents' names: Toru and Setsuko Oda. It had to be them. Now they had proof. On the morning of October 21st, Asakawa had loaded a VCR into his rented car and driven to his in-laws' house in Ashikaga, where he'd had two copies made of the tape and shown to the old couple. No doubt he'd assured them that if they made more copies and showed them to other people within a week, their lives wouldn't be in any danger. They probably hadn't needed much convincing, regardless of whether or not they fully believed in their son-in-law's outlandish story. If there was any chance that their daughter and granddaughter's lives were on the line, they must have been more than willing to acquiesce. And so Asakawa had had copies made, believing that by doing so he'd saved his wife and child. But on the way home he lost them both at once, and then a week later, the old couple died, too.

"I'll bet you were pretty surprised by what you found in the autopsy." Ando could well imagine the staff's shock at finding the same symptoms in both bodies.

"You can say that again. I mean, given the simultaneous time of death, plus the fact that they left a note, we naturally assumed it was a double suicide. But then we cut them open, and found, instead of poison, strange tumors in their coronary arteries.

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