Jiang Xia did not let anyone go farther in. He stopped at the doorway and asked the three clients, "Have any of you been here before?"
The woman in the skirt suit shook her head. "No. This building looks like it's about to collapse. Why would I come here?"
The man in the suit shook his head as well.
The fishing shop owner quickly added, "Neither have I."
All three denied ever having been there.
Jiang Xia nodded without pressing the matter. He turned to look beyond the railing. "Look. From this rooftop, you can see the balcony where the victim met his end—it happens to be on the top floor."
"That's true." Inspector Megure walked over and looked in that direction too. Drawing on his past investigative experience, he guessed, "Could the body have been transported from here to that balcony?"
"No, the body remained on his own balcony the entire time." Jiang Xia pointed at the ground beneath his feet. "The murder weapon set off from this building, crossed that distance, and struck the victim in the back of the head."
"You mean someone threw the murder weapon from here?!" Inspector Megure was stunned. "But... but a flowerpot is so heavy. Could anyone really throw it that far and accurately hit the victim on the head?"
"In this case, the murder weapon wasn't a flowerpot, and the killer wasn't simply throwing something." Jiang Xia looked at the policeman, whose imagination was not quite broad enough. "Inspector, have you heard of casting a Fishing Rod?"
Inspector Megure hesitantly made a gesture. "You mean the kind of cast used for fishing?"
Jiang Xia nodded. "Anglers need to master many techniques, including casting bait to a specific spot. With the right technique, they don't need much brute force to send a