Chapter 136
Inspector Megure quickly snapped back to his senses and coughed: "What are you all standing around for? Send someone to dredge it up!"
The patrol officer was stunned: "Really going to dredge?"
Although it sounded reasonable, this was still just that person's speculation, right? Shouldn't they wait for others to arrive and hold a meeting before deciding?
After all, the unspoken workplace rule in Japan was that you could avoid standing out, but try not to take responsibility.
Supervisors as decisive as Inspector Megure were truly rare—even if nothing was dredged up, the person who made the suggestion would need to apologize, but Inspector Megure, who decided to trust and authorize action, would also face gossip!
Inspector Megure said decisively: "Dredge!"
Others aside, how could he not know? Samukawa Shinryu's judgments had never been wrong so far—everyone who questioned Samukawa Shinryu ended up keeping quiet.
Reputation was built through such victories one by one. If he continued questioning and asking this and that... sigh, he didn't want his subordinates looking at him like he was an idiot...
Seeing Inspector Megure so resolute, no one else said anything.
When there were clear orders, efficiency was quite high—immediately someone went to borrow a boat, while others called to arrange for dredging equipment delivery.
Fortunately, to prevent drowning incidents, rescue equipment here was relatively complete and could be borrowed nearby, which was quite convenient.
The manager here worriedly cautioned: "Be careful with protection! Last month we discovered a parasite called amoeba that can eat people's brains, so you see, there's a sign here—swimming is prohibited now..."
How frightening.
Everyone checked their protective suits even more carefully.
When other Criminal Investigation Division One members arrived, they saw a group of people standing by the lake, staring at the water surface.
"???"
Everyone was confused: "Didn't Inspector Megure's group arrive first? Where are they?"
The patrol officers guarding the lakeside obediently answered: "Inspector Megure and his team went to investigate the surrounding situation, and the Mobile Investigation Unit people are also conducting interviews..."
These detectives looked at them: "Then what are you doing here?"
"Uh, an officer said the body was dumped here, and there might be other bodies in the lake, so Inspector Megure had people dredge it up. We're here just in case."
Immediately a detective complained: "How is that possible! Having reached the lakeside, wouldn't it be better to just throw it directly into the lake? Placing it like this should be that kind of exhibitionist murderer..."
The patrol officer continued: "He said there were accomplices—one responsible for disemboweling, one responsible for dumping bodies in the lake. The one doing the dumping had an incident and didn't come, so the body was discovered."
The detective was even more speechless: "This casually? Did Inspector Megure really believe it?"
He wanted to say more but was suddenly pulled by his partner.
He looked at his partner in confusion, seeing his partner's cautious expression: "Which officer made these deductions?"
Patrol officer: "Inspector Megure called him Samukawa-kun."
The detectives who had been whispering immediately fell silent.
Ah, this.
So it was Samukawa Shinryu's deduction...
The detectives' eyes darted around, and the one who had just questioned looked both pale and flushed, yet refused to speak again.
As mentioned before, everyone in Criminal Investigation Division One had more or less interacted with Samukawa Shinryu, or at least knew about his achievements.
As they say, reputation precedes the person—no matter how outrageous the deduction, once attached to Samukawa Shinryu's name, it suddenly became credible.
Someone asked a few more questions, and the patrol officer told them everything he knew, including that explanation.
Many things became clear once explained—without someone pointing it out, you couldn't figure it out. Hearing someone else's deduction directly inevitably gave a feeling of "this simple? Couldn't the perpetrator think of this? Too presumptuous."
If they dredged for days and found nothing, that would be laughable...
Someone had just formed this thought when they suddenly saw a person surface from the lake water, gesturing to those on the boat. One person immediately stayed to watch the boat while the rest all jumped in.
"..."
No no no, it couldn't be this fast—they had just arrived! Even if Inspector Megure's group had arrived nearly half an hour earlier, in such a short time, it couldn't be—
Soon, the several people who had just gone down dragged up something wrapped in blue film, roughly adult-sized.
The boat brought that thing to shore. Thoughtful people had already gone early to call the coroner, while a few others stood dumbfounded.
...Samukawa Shinryu had actually guessed correctly!
Although they knew that guy was impressive, this verification came too quickly, and it completely changed the nature of the case!
Just like that, shortly after the Criminal Investigation Division One members arrived on scene, the case transformed from ordinary murder and body dumping to a serial murder case.
The Metropolitan Police urgently formed a task force with the local police station.
Kitami Hitoshi was among them.
When he received the news, he was completely stunned.
Why wasn't the body disposed of? What was that person doing? How could they let the body just sit on the shore! If they weren't coming, they should have said something!
Because the default second Sunday of each month was murder performance day, after multiple occurrences, Kitami Hitoshi and the person responsible for body dumping had developed an understanding—basically no contact, just this day, this location, show up on time, and there had never been problems. Even when they changed locations, cooperation was pleasant. Why did it suddenly happen now...
Kitami Hitoshi was somewhat anxious, but thinking about his methods, he felt he probably didn't need to worry too much.
After all, he knew all too well what the Japanese police's working capabilities were like.
He could even find ways to infiltrate the task force, observe case progress at any time, and secretly sabotage things.
So now Kitami Hitoshi was relatively relaxed and had leisure to observe others in the conference room.
Hmm, those from the local police station—each with limited abilities, you could tell from their expressions they had no clues and were still confused. No need to worry.
The Mobile Investigation Unit was even less concerning—if they really had ability, who would stay in the Mobile Investigation Unit?
However, he wasn't familiar with the people sent from the Metropolitan Police. They were all elites, so he needed to be careful.
Just as he was thinking this, the absent Metropolitan Police members returned.
As soon as one person walked into the conference room, Kitami Hitoshi felt the temperature seemed to drop several degrees.
He stared blankly at that person.
Although his father held a high position, he was currently just an intern, so he sat relatively far back and couldn't see the front clearly.
Even though he couldn't see the other's appearance clearly and could only roughly make out their bearing and demeanor, he was certain in that instant that this person was the same type as him... no, he wasn't qualified to be mentioned in the same breath as the other. That person must have more exciting, more "advanced" enjoyments than his "games."
Kitami Hitoshi had been pondering with his friends how to seek thrills and entertainment for a long time. He was the best at playing among them and always looked down on others, but today, he felt he might have met a mentor.
Surrounded by police, brazenly displaying his danger, completely unafraid of evidence being grasped, his very existence seeming to mock police incompetence...
What a thrilling feeling—Kitami Hitoshi couldn't even imagine it!
The local police station immediately burst into subtle whispers, seemingly with people who knew him explaining to others who he was.
Kitami Hitoshi also listened for a while.
"That's Samukawa Shinryu. I heard he was transferred to the Metropolitan Police..."
"You know him?"
"When he was still at Police Academy, he helped catch a bomber, but the criminal complained about him, saying he forced him to hold a bomb and made him defuse it..."
"...What kind of perverted hobby!"
"A colleague of mine at another police station also encountered him. Said he likes psychologically torturing criminals and even fired a gun at a criminal. I've been a police officer for so many years and never even drawn my gun..."
Kitami Hitoshi listened with rapt attention from the side.
My god, what an excellent person! So brazenly unrestrained under the police's noses, yet the police could do nothing about him... So thrilling!
How could this person think of such fun "games"!
Division Chief Odagiri from Criminal Investigation Division One also sat down. The room immediately became solemn—no one dared speak quietly anymore, all waiting for their superior to speak. This made Kitami Hitoshi, who hadn't heard enough gossip, quite regretful.
The local police station chief was responsible for briefing everyone on current progress, the identities of the two people, and autopsy reports of the two bodies.
"...Currently, the abdominal wounds have been explained—to prevent the bodies from floating—but the purpose of other wounds besides fatal injuries, why the perpetrator tortured the deceased this way, still has no leads. After consulting people around, no one saw when the bodies were transported here..."
Kitami Hitoshi laughed inwardly.
After all, Japan had few surveillance cameras installed. He had specifically confirmed whether video evidence would be left along this route before selecting the body dumping location.
Aside from two bodies, there were no clues. Just guessing what social connections these two people had, why they were targeted by the same perpetrator, would take a long time with no guaranteed results.
His website investigated people who registered to observe, using blackmail to threaten them to attend, then selecting one person to kill. Because they held onto hope that they wouldn't necessarily be the one to die, yet wanted to observe murder up close, people always came—never lacking participants.
This model was approaching the effect of random murder, with hellish difficulty, likely to become a cold case.
Forget investigating him—they probably couldn't even find his website.
Kitami Hitoshi was smug.
Just then, Inspector Megure suddenly stood up to speak: "Actually, we've made a huge discovery here—these two bodies should be victims of a murder performance website!"
Kitami Hitoshi: "...???"
No way, are you cheating? You found out this quickly?! Is there someone among you who was already an audience member of my website?!
Which idiot recommended the website to the police?!