"So the deceased was stung by hornets?" Inspector Megure rubbed his chin. "Are there a lot of hornets around here?"
Mayor Hachimaki nodded. "Quite a few. The ecology here is very good, so little creatures like that come out often too."
As he spoke, he suddenly thought of something and looked towards the villa manager and the female secretary. "I remember your president seemed to be very afraid of bees and wasps, right? The first time I brought out that kind of liquor, she was so scared she nearly knocked over the bottle."
The female secretary said, "Yes. I heard her say that when she was in sixth grade, she was chased and stung by a large group of wasps and nearly died. Later, Mr. Aihara happened to find her in the forest and got her to the clinic in time."
She looked towards the villa manager beside her. "That was how President Yamazaki and Mr. Aihara met, which was why the president asked Mr. Aihara to come help manage the villa."
When the manager mentioned this matter, his expression turned a little ugly. "I was clearly very careful about pest control. These past few days, almost no hornets or wasps or anything like that got in. So why today...?"
Mayor Hachimaki sighed. "The number of people stung by wasps this year has indeed been much higher than before. The techniques at our clinic for treating bee and wasp stings are almost comparable to those big hospitals in the city now."
Inspector Megure suddenly realized. "In that case, this is simple—the fireplace in this room connects to the chimney on the roof. The hornets must have invaded this study through the chimney.
"President Yamazaki came to the study to answer the phone and was startled by the hornets suddenly flying