The stillness of the night penetrated the soul. As if that stillness had been gathered within the Inugami villa, Kindaichi, Chief Tachibana, and Furudate the lawyer sat in the drawing room, each lost in silence before the English-style fireplace. For a long time they had sat like that, without saying a word, staring at the blazing fireplace, from which they occasionally heard the thud of a piece of coal falling.
