Satoru Hosonaga's business card was evidence in the trial of Ryunosuke Naruhodo for the murder of John Wilson.
Special orders[]
- Main article: The Adventure of the Great Departure
Though Hosonaga was the head waiter of La Carneval, he was actually a chief inspector of Japan's Imperial Police Bureau, working undercover to investigate a series of thefts there. On November 22, Hosonaga heard a gunshot and rushed to the dining area to find Wilson dead and a man and a woman nearby. The man, Ryunosuke Naruhodo, was holding a gun, so Hosonaga apprehended him and locked him in a small pantry near the kitchen. He then sealed off the restaurant and reported the incident to the police bureau. He received orders from the bureau to escort the woman, a female British exchange student named Jezaille Brett, out of the premises, and erase all evidence of her being there at the time of the crime. To this end, he drew a sketch of the restaurant, marking Wilson's seat with an X and making it look as if he had dined alone.
During Naruhodo's trial, Hosonaga was called to the stand as the prosecution's first witness. Naruhodo pushed the issue of a woman also being at the scene, so Hosonaga brought out the sketch on his business card. Immediately, he realised his mistake, as Judge Seishiro Jigoku requested that the sketch be submitted to the court officer as evidence. This gave Naruhodo the opportunity to look at the front of the business card, exposing Hosonaga's true identity and forcing him to admit to having received orders to remove all traces of Brett being at Wilson's table.