Zero’s Truth: Forensic Medical Examiner Matsumoto Maou
(Matsumoto Mao) Why did my mother die?
(Kosugi Sadao) When people die, they regain something.
They're freed from the constraint of life.
What were you doing 8 years ago, Dr. Indene?
You're Indene?
Pleased to meet you -(Kosugi) Why did you lie to Mao 8 years ago?
(Kosugi) You are the person who perverted that kid?
(Indene) You killed three men for Matsumoto Mao?
My question came first.
What are you doing!
You saw Kosugi at Tokyo Detention Center.
What do you want?
And so you jump in front of my car?
Don't play dumb. -I'm not.
What are you so upset about?
Cause you're playing dumb.
Kosugi Sadao, in December 1991 killed a person…
Another in April 2000…
Another in August 2006 a total of three.
He did it all for you.
You didn't know?
Did Kosugi-san tell you that?
"That was all on account of Matsumoto Mao".
In his words.
Any other question?
I'll go then.
(Hiroshi Hosaka) This way please.
(Indene) We're done. (Kodama Yoshihito) Alright.
(Kodama) Thank you.
Good evening. -Good evening.
(Nakayama Mitsunori) Good evening. (Kodama) Good evening.
I'm still at it, and they go?!
Seems so.
What can we do, they're a different type of people.
(Hosaka) It's all ready, doctors.
(Iwamatsu) Let's go for the last one.
Sorry to keep you waiting.
(Iwamatsu) Unknown cause of death?
(Nakayama) I don't see anything conspicuous at the surface of the body.
(Iwamatsu) Let's do this quickly.
(Iwamatsu) First there's a trauma to the head without noticeable…
(Izumisawa Ikuo) How come that autopsy takes so long?
Dr. Kodama. -Yes.
That stressful character is not here today…
You can go home earlier.
Myself I won't stay.
I have a meeting at the elementary school at 6.
I see.
In that case, I'll go. -Good evening then.
Good evening. -Good evening.
I have this meeting in Nishi-Azabu could you drive me there.
Okay. -Alright!
Please wait, I have to finish an autopsy report.
Yes, yes.
Miss Akiyama, you are not needed.
I'll go then. -Good evening.
(Iwamatsu) No hypertrophy to the heart… no arteriosclerosis…
There could be a congestive edema in the lungs.
(Nakayama) I Remove the stomach. -Alright.
(Nakayama) Hosaka-san, I'm taking the content.
Doctor Iwamatsu, please.
Alright.
Alright…
What's this?
What a good smell.
Sweet and sour…
What did he eat?
Like, flowers.
(Iwamatsu) Ugh…!
The meeting will end at about 9.
Would you be available in Nishi-Azabu after that?
A casual…
Chief…
Hosaka-san? You hear me?
Stay away. -Possibly an hydrocyanic acid poisoning.
Huh?
Please call an ambulance.
Doctor Iwamatsu, Mr. Hosaka's, doctor Nakayama you hear me?
(Emergency personnel) 3 persons collapsed, from the Medical Examiner's Office.
Suspicion of cyanide poisoning. Level of consciousness: 100.
(Paramedics) Turn left. this way.
Three persons at once inhaled hydrogen cyanide gas!
They smelled the content of a stomach.
They have zero capacity for Crisis management.
We haven't had cyanide poisoning recently, it was unpredictable.
All the same. -(Yashiki Ichiro) They'll be fine, that's what matters.
Don't be so casual.
There was a suicide note, we could have expected something.
You have no notion of the dangers we're exposed to, here.
I'd say the police are also exposed to much danger.
You stand by his side?
I'm not taking sides…
(Indene laughs).
Enough chitchat, what are you doing here?
Don't forget, 5 grants tomorrow. -Alright.
$5,000?! -See ya tomorrow.
Ichiro, dear. -What?
Not mine… but thanks!
Alright chief, it's late but we can make it.
Don't bother. -We're not going?
(Mobile phone)
Hello? -"Matsumoto speaking".
All three will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow.
"Hello?" -Yes.
So it wasn't a big deal after all.
With prussic acid poisoning the pH of the blood drops.
This was corrected with oxygen inhalation.
(Doctor) You're out of trouble now.
Take care.
(Iwamatsu, Hosaka, Nakayama) Thank you very much!
(Nakayama) A great Doctor.
We should bow as we thank him.
Our bodies are grateful to the doctor.
(Nakayama) A body doesn't talk.
(Iwamatsu) But what happened in that autopsy lab?
Potassium cyanide suicide?
That's why my throat still hurts.
He had drunk a cyanide compound in a capsule.
He had 30 minutes before the capsule dissolved…
That's why nothing was detected externally.
Neither at the surface of the body.
Why would have led to an unknown cause of death.
Don't you ever talk about anything else?
If you'll excuse me… take care.
(Opening and closing door).
(Iwamatsu) She said take care.
(Hosaka) She's a phenomenon. only interested in corpses, Dr. Matsumoto.
The phenomenon is that ambulance that saved us.
Neither the chief nor Dr. Indene rode with us.
(Hosaka) Dr. Indene and the chief were busy with an autopsy
(Iwamatsu) You're a good man Hosaka-san.
True dat.
(Susana) Hiroshi!
(Hosaka) Oh Susana.
(Susana) I'm so glad you're alive.
I hate that you work at that place! Enough now!
It's a rare accident, keep it down.
Without Hiroshi I can't live in Japan.
I Love You!
(Hosaka) Susana… Susana… hey.
(Hosaka) Let me introduce you to Dr. Nakayama and Iwamatsu.
Greet them. Susana is my wife.
(Chime).
Momoko?
I'm entering.
Ohh!
[Kume Midori].
Mr. Tsukuda, my sleeve please.
(Tsukuda Kentaro) Yes.
The other way please. -Yes.
Can't you see your head is in the way?!
You can't press properly?
I'm a lab technician, I'm not used to dead people.
I just volunteered because you're shorthanded…
Being yelled at doesn't encourage me! -Tsukuda-kun.
(Green) I will help. -So kind Kume-chan.
You treated me at the bar last time.
(Akiyama) Next body arrived, shall we bring him in?
Can't you see we're all tied up. -Bring him in.
(Akiyama) I'll do it.
Thank You…
So you missed that meeting.
For a while. so you went.
Sorry.
You had fun? -Not the least.
Did I hear you call "Ichiro dear" that Yashiki from the Police Department?
His name is Ichiro Yashiki. -You're that close.
Fine with me. -What's that?
It's a different era.
Even when we dated you'd call me just Izumisawa-kun.
Izumisawa Ikuo.
However close we were, I never received any "dear" from you…
Now it's like, "Chief".
What? -Chief.
It occurred to me, you haven't changed a bit.
Haha…
You're still the same beauty.
Thanks.
Dr. Indene I'm out for a post-mortem examination.
Medical Examiner's Office.
(Tomita Hajime) Hello there. this way please.
(Tomita) Terakawa Tatsunori, 45, Company employee.
she's Ishida Momoko, 37, company employee.
Her colleague came for a visit this morning.
And found them both dead.
There was little bottle of medicine on the floor…
The test revealed it was a cyanide compound.
Two hydrocyanic acid poisoning incidents in a row!?
Let's start.
No trauma to the head. -Alright.
(Indene) Erosion of skin on mucous membranes.
Petechiae in the eyelids bulbar conjunctiva. -Alright.
(Inspector) Lt. Yashiki, a suicide note.
(Tomita) "I killed, Ishida Momoko".
"I'll kill myself Terakawa Tatsunori".
A murder-suicide case.
(Indene) The man drank a cyanide compound…
It is present in the oral mucosa.
But the woman has no trace whatsoever.
No strangulation marks? -None.
(Tomita) Did he hit her? -No.
According to the note, he killed her, then killed himself.
No trace of murder is found on the woman.
That's interesting. -Is it?
He says here that he killed her.
That woman has been killed.
(Inspector) The prosecutor just called to require a legal autopsy.
Let's transport the bodies. -Alright.
Hello. -We live here, can we?
Please.
Hey. (Indene) Hosaka-san…
Sorry about yesterday. -(Indene) I'm so glad you look fine.
(Hosaka) This is where we live.
Something happened to Mr. Ishida?
(Susana) Who are they?
(Hosaka) They're medical examiners, Dr. Indene and Matsumoto.
And Lt. Yashiki with the police.
He's the police? (Hosaka) He's a great detective.
This is my wife, Susana.
Sorry, we're going through.
(Hosaka) Mr. and Mrs. Ishida died?
Oh no!
Could be a murder-suicide. (Susana) A murder-suicide?
Only the autopsy will tell.
(Hosaka) They were such a perfect couple.
They had ups and downs.
As I left for the hospital this morning they were fighting.
What?
(Voice of Susana) I heard them fighting.
What was the fightin 'bout? -"Tin Bout"? [Yashiki's Osaka dialect is hard to understand].
What's done is done but, let it not turn into a public relation disaster.
Any remembered remarks? (Iwamatsu, Nakayama) None.
We are late because of yesterday's event, please get to it.
(Iwamatsu Nakayama) Alright.
Your remarks are power harassment.
Is that so? (Iwamatsu) No, no…
Why such nonsense?!
You left early the day before yesterday.
Right?
I need to go to an examination.
(Iwamatsu Nakayama) Sorry about the fuss.
Right.
(Iwamatsu) Matsumoto-kun.
(Iwamatsu, Nakayama) Thanks for your help.
(Tomita) Sorry to interrupt. -Don't be so subdued.
(Hosaka) What?! (Iwamatsu) What got into you?
(Hosaka) Sorry.
My neighbors were not a legitimate couple?
He's Terakawa Tatsunori, 45, company employee.
She's Ishida Momoko, 37, company employee.
They were both found dead in their apartment.
A colleague found them.
Mr. Terakawa has a wife…
He'd been in cohabitation with Ishida Momoko for 2 years.
Terakawa's wife pressed him to mend their couple.
He broke up once with Ishida Momoko…
His will wasn't strong enough…
He was torn between his mistress and his wife…
This would explain why he killed Ishida Momoko.
With a cyanide compound and commit suicide…
The situation makes sense.
This hydrocyanic acid compounds is found in potassium cyanide.
People are so unexpected.
(Iwamatsu) Speaking of unexpected Mr. Hosaka's Susana surprised us.
(Nakayama) She looks so lively, she must keep you busy…
(Hosaka) Well, she needs me to tell her my love every day…
That's why this office is my peaceful haven.
(Nakayama) That's one positive aspect of Japanese working culture…
I'm starting.
Alright.
(Indene) With your help. (Nakayama) With your help.
(Iwamatsu) With your help. -With your help.
(Nakayama) Be careful Dr. Indene.
To avoid a public relation disaster.
(Indene) No one died recently of hydrocyanic acid poisoning.
That's why you were taken by surprise.
(Indene) But I'm fine.
I'm opening Mr. Terakawa's stomach.
(Indene) There is corrosion on the gastric mucosa and esophagus…
Almond odor typical of hydrocyanic acid.
No abnormalities in heart, lungs or brain.
Please weigh the liver. -Alright.
(Iwamatsu) The cause of death is an aortic dissection due to cardiac tamponade.
I check the stomach content. -What for?!
We know that the cause of death is the aortic dissection.
Look out!!… Careful!
Even if there's no trace that she drank cyanide…
It could be just like before yesterday…
She may have had one of those capsules.
I get it. -(Iwamatsu) Do not open the stomach!
(Iwamatsu) Watch out!
Look out… watch it!
Stop it!
Smell of miso.
Miso? -(Iwamatsu) Miso?
(Nakayama) Miso? -(Hosaka) Miso?
(Tomita) Miso?
Ishida Momoko drank miso soup just before her death.
The test reveals it is not a cyanide acid poisoning.
Ishida Momoko didn't drink cyanide acid?
That's right. The cause of her death…
Is aortic dissection by cardiac tamponade.
(Iwamatsu) Just as I said. -What does that mean?
(Indene) Terakawa Tatsunori died of hydrocyanic acid poisoning.
Ishida Momoko died of cardiac tamponade.
It doesn't make sense. -Right.
Ishida Momoko died a natural death.
So about that…? -Murder-suicide.
Murder-suicide does not stand.
That's right.
How about Terakawa's suicide note?
What if SHE killed him?
(Tomita) In that case…
(Terakawa Tomoko) My husband begged for forgiveness…
He'd break up with Ishida Momoko.
He wanted a fresh start.
Even before the couple therapist…
He promised he'd break up with Ishida Momoko…
(Tomoko) This is. (Tomita) I see…
(Tomoko) It was written with a lawyer…
Ishida Momoko was supposed to receive a copy of it.
My husband has no need to kill that woman!
She probably killed him!
(Nakayama) She would have said anything to make sense of the tragedy.
(Yashiki) Any man would tell her anything she wants to hear.
(Iwamatsu) I see what you mean.
The coroner on the scene measured…
his temperature at 34°C…
Ishida Momoko's at 34.5 degrees.
It's not the same, but very close.
Ishida Momoko is half a degree higher.
Meaning she died after Terakawa…
You understand? -Just let her talk.
At death the human body temperature drops gradually.
For to two the temperature was measured some time later…
The warmer body died later.
(Tomita) Terakawa died earlier, then she died…
So she made him drink the cyanide to kill him?
She killed him then died of natural death?
Doesn't make much sense. -Doesn't.
(Tomita) It makes sense if she had killed him then drank the cyanide…
Hydrocyanic acid poisoning is a dreadful death, she saw that.
From that shock she had a cardiac tamponade?
Dr. Indene, are you an inspector now!?
This isn't the place, who's influencing you?
Mr. Yashiki this is not your playground.
Don't use the medical examiners staff for your game.
What's with these accusations?
The medical examiner's job is to determine the cause of death.
Who died first is not our job but yours.
We're concerned with the cause of death!
To go to the root of the matter is neither your privilege nor ours.
We had that conversation before.
(Indene) Without the circumstances, we won't find the cause of death…
Dr. Indene you've changed.
You too guys!
The incident of the day before yesterday was unacceptable.
(Iwamatsu) I'm sorry. (Hosaka) I'm sorry.
I'm sending you back to the forensic classroom in college tomorrow!
I won't let this go!
Chief Izumisawa really got his panties in a twist, what's up?
Who cares how we find the truth. -Let's make a bet?
She killed him or he killed her? -Enough, please.
The man died before so…
She can't possibly have killed him.
We can't say yet.
I'm not betting. -Tomita.
(Kobayashi) Cyanide poisoning is always a woman's weapon! (Tomita) Right.
(Kobayashi)you're as helpless as a babe!
So, you guys have become Medical Examiner's Office staff?
This is the Metropolitan Police Department. Don't forget this!
The Chief got bitten by the same bug that bit Chief Izumisawa.
(Opening and closing door).
(Hosaka) These 2 are carried to the autopsy class in university…
Before that I still have business with them.
Still?
May I go to your home? -My home!?
So that's your usual drinking den?
Champagne? Or red wine? -Get me a beer.
Draft? Draft beer. -Sure.
Dr. Indene likes to drink in Street carts you drink standing, different tastes.
Dr. Indene likes the cart by the bridge. -That's where I meet her when I borrow money teacher It's going well stalls?
You borrow from her. -Sure.
What the…
-(Waiter) Excuse me.
A toast? -Whatever.
You wanted to see me? -Let's enjoy.
Tonight it's gonna be just you and me, all evening.
No one else is coming.
You're not going to that cart, you'll be with me all evening.
(Chime).
Welcome back Hiroshi! -Good evening, dear.
Sorry.
Dr. Matsumoto was raised in the United States she doesn't mind.
So she's a good friend of yours.
No, Dr. Matsumoto is a rising star in the Examiner's Office…
You like her?
What nonsense! I tell you every day you're the only one…
Mrs. Susana, what did you hear in front of Terakawa's door? -What?
You said you heard them fighting. -I did but I didn't get much
There must be something you remember.
You stay with me, we drink more.
I bet you $100 on the color of the next taxi.
What? Alright.. I say green.
It's black. You owe me a 100.
Alright, $200 on 2 green taxis next!
Wow! That's a hot deal! -Hot, yes!
You think Dr. Indene is hot, right? -What?
I'm not betting! -Don't be mean. -You're mean.
Hey it's green, you owe me 200.
Let's keep drinking, I forget about the 200.
Sure great… please drive this gentleman to Hongo.
More blue than green.
They said something about Nice. -Nice?
Nice in France?
"la rue Arson, c'est à Nice" -Is that French?
"la rue Arson, c'est à Nice"…
(Ishida Momoko)…… "c'est à Nice".
(Terakawa)… What? Momoko! Momoko!
"Momoko, trollop!", he said.
Momoko, trollop?
I get it.
Good evening. (Mobile phone).
Alright… hot!
Yes.
Mail me the first photo taken on the Terakawa scene…
My address…
To Mao Matsumoto, Hereby the first photo taken on the Terakawa scene.
"Temperature 34°C".
"Ambient temperature 23 degrees".
"Weight 60kg".
Considering clothing and air-conditioning…
Weight corrected to 50 kg ".
Applying these factors "…
They were discovered about 4h30 after death ".
Terakawa Tatsunori and Ishida Momoko were both discovered…
According to the suicide note, Terakawa killed her…
Then committed suicide by drinking the cyanide…
But the autopsy reveals that Momoko wasn't killed.
But she died of an aortic dissection.
Her body temperature was slightly higher…
Momoko killed Terakawa with cyanide…
And think had a cardiac incident.
I found why the two versions of the story differ.
Momoko died first, for sure.
(Indene) Why?
This is the first photo of the scene.
Momoko was wrapped in a cover…
Which means. -(Yashiki) …That her temperature drop more slowly.
That's right. Although she died first, she was in the warm cover.
But Terakawa was outside and his temperature dropped faster…
The cover!
Taking the various environmental factors into consideration…
The nomogram yields a time-line…
Revealing the accurate time of death.
Momoko, due to an aortic dissection had chest pain.
She knew she was gonna die…
As he was going out she told him she had drank cyanide…
She had drank cyanide.
This is what Hosaka's wife heard outside the door.
(Momoko)…"I drank cyanide "…
(Terakawa)… What? Momoko! Momoko!
(Terakawa)…Momoko, throw up!
Not "la rue Arson, c'est à Nice" but "I drank potassium cyanide".
And not " Momoko, trollop" but "Momoko throw up".
(Momoko) I'm begging you don't leave me yet. -Momoko!
I have no choice.
I drank potassium cyanide.
Momoko.
Momoko! Momoko, throw up!
Throw up!
When she saw that he was determined to return to his wife.
She tries one last thing to keep him.
"I drank cyanide!".
I don't understand anything.
Not everyone understands women, "chief".
Why would you understand them?
(Akiyama) To me it makes sense.
When she's about to be dumped, she says she drank it, but she didn't…
No one asked for your opinion.
It means they both had a plan to commit a cyanide suicide. -Absolutely.
He too knew where the poison was.
Yet he decided to give it all up and dump her…
(Indene) She got upset and told him she had drunk the poison.
That's right.
Terakawa didn't know Momoko had died naturally.
He thought she'd died of cyanide poisoning…
He tucked her to bed…
Then wrote the murder-suicide note…
Where he accused himself.
So it wasn't necessary to autopsy these 2 bodies…
Matsumoto, write the certificate.
You should work as an inspector.
We're returning the bodies to the families now -Alright.
Wait a minute.
They've all become police inspectors…
You're stimulating my stress ulcer.
It can't be the alcohol you drank yesterday?
Mrs. Terakawa just called, she won't take the body.
(Akiyama) Apparently Ishida Momoko doesn't have relatives either.
So ironic.
They finished together anyway.
(Hosaka) The truth about their situation didn't move anyone.
However, I'll always pursue the truth.
(Kosugi Sadao) The medical examiner is the last to take care of a person.
The medical examiner…
Determines the correct cause of death to return dignity to the dead…
He connects that single death to the many lives he left behind.
(Bell).
Go, go, go…!
Hang on…!
Come on, go, go…!
Ah!
'Truth is, I'm hopeless…
Say. -Ah?
You remember the case of that university professor on death row?
Sure, Kosugi Sadao he's in Tokyo Detention Center.
(Indene) Was there any link between his 3 victims?
You're bringing this up out of the blue.
How is that condemned connected to Matsumoto Mao?
Uh? Number 2, 4 and 6. -Say, Ichiro, dear.
You always play dumb when I talk about her…
You know more than you let on.
Now you're an inspector… Chief Izumisawa was right.
Gotta go! -You're running away.
(Kosugi) Poison and misunderstanding, just like "Romeo and Juliet".
What is that, "Romeo and Juliet"?
Haha…
Your education is even worse than your mother's, she only focused on science.
But she knew about "Romeo and Juliet".
You're so much like your mom.
But her brain couldn't be compared to yours.
If I'm so bright, why did she abandon me?
This has nothing to do with being bright.
You can't say she abandoned you…
She gave her custody over to an institution. -Why?
She wasn't rich enough.
She couldn't make money with her brains?
Especially you were there.
I'm a humble university professor.
She conceived me with you?
Are you…
My father?
That would make it easier, right?
Unfortunately, I am not.
Who is my father?
You don't need to know.
Your mother had a great brain…
But she was a poor judge for men.
That oddity of hers, made her fascinating.
She was a handful.
My father was a wicked man?
No worries you're just like her.
Don't dodge the question!
You told Dr. Indene, right?
That you killed 3 men on account of me.
I didn't say such a thing.
Dr. Indene is a liar. Do not trust that woman.
["University Pr. on death row for killing 3 in 15 years"]
"Kosugi Sadao: no motive to kill".
Eric Paroissien subtitles