Jiang Xia picked up the greeting card and unfolded it. He found that it was identical to the "Death Notice" Officer Sato had shown them earlier. It should have been sent by the same person.
Last time, the cute holiday card had said that "Red-Bearded Santa Claus" would kill someone during this performance.
This time, however, the message on the card read:
[When the twelve o'clock chimes end, my shadow will appear in the well. —Red-Bearded Santa Claus]
"A well?"
Jiang Xia walked to the window and looked down. He saw a spacious Dry Well in the courtyard—it should have been the only well nearby, and the location indicated on the greeting card.
It was now past eleven fifty. Twelve o'clock, as mentioned on the card, would arrive very soon.
"Calling people outside in the middle of the night when it's this cold." Jiang Xia looked at the snow-covered courtyard, quite displeased.
But a Detective clearly should not fuss over such trivial matters. After thinking it over, he grabbed his coat and headed out.
When he reached the staircase, he happened to see that Officer Sato was also still awake in the middle of the night. She stood before two Vending Machines, deep in thought.
Jiang Xia greeted her. "What's wrong?"
"Hm?" Sato Miwako snapped back to her senses and pointed at the machine selling boxed lunches. "Set Meal A sold out way too fast. Before I went downstairs, I saw three or four portions left. I was planning to buy one when I came back to improve my meal a little, but now they're all gone—this restaurant provides meals, so who's been buying boxed lunches so diligently?"
Jiang Xia thought of the sneaky Temporary Worker Trio. "Maybe someone was worried the chef would poison the food."
Officer