Chapter 159
After meeting with his Middle Eastern contacts, soaking in hot springs with undercover agents, and incidentally disbanding a cult, Usuha Izuki had a very fulfilling New Year holiday.
Unfortunately, although he'd taken annual leave to extend it, once the holiday ended, he still had to return to work at the Metropolitan Police.
Fortunately, Usuha Izuki was in a good mood, and having woken up early, he rarely arrived ahead of time.
When Sato Miwako entered and saw him, she froze completely, then murmured "Am I asleep?" and backed out.
Usuha Izuki: "...You're not dreaming."
Sato Miwako awkwardly came back in: "Ahem, good morning, Samukawa-kun. It's rare to see you here so early."
Being from the same class, Sato Miwako had a decent relationship with Samukawa Shinryu.
She'd entered the Metropolitan Police just two months after Usuha Izuki—theoretically, after the three-month probation period, she should have studied for another two months, then done four months of field training before being officially assigned to a department. But Samukawa Shinryu was so capable that Criminal Investigation Division One didn't want to waste those months letting him create achievements in other departments, so Section Chief Odagiri directly made the decision to let him enter Criminal Investigation Division One early.
Sato Miwako came to Criminal Investigation Division One during her field training period. This was partly due to her detective father's legacy and partly because her own grades were truly excellent. Due to outstanding performance during field training, she successfully stayed.
Sometimes she, like Hagiwara Kenji, helped people who didn't dare speak to Samukawa Shinryu relay messages, making both Hagiwara Kenji and Sato Miwako very popular in Criminal Investigation Division One.
As for Samukawa Shinryu, after two years he still seemed lonely, with only a few people he was close to.
But if you asked people in Criminal Investigation Division One, they all felt it was Samukawa Shinryu who didn't want to deal with them—they were just being considerate and trying not to bother him. They weren't isolating Samukawa Shinryu, so people from other departments shouldn't say such frightening and ignorant things...
Usuha Izuki looked over at Sato Miwako and noticed she seemed tired, obviously having a case on her hands, so unable to relax.
Unlike him, who had even taken annual leave to extend his holiday, Sato Miwako had returned to work early, so having a case wasn't strange.
Usuha Izuki asked: "What case did you encounter?"
Sato Miwako wasn't surprised that Usuha Izuki could tell at a glance she had a case, and directly answered: "How should I put it? Yesterday afternoon there was a strange murder case that seemed to imitate an urban legend?"
"Which urban legend?"
"Someone came home at night and heard their roommate's groaning in the darkness, thinking their roommate was with their boyfriend... anyway, they didn't turn on the lights and went straight to their own room. The next day when they woke up, they found their roommate was already dead, and written on the wall in blood were the words [Good thing you didn't turn on the lights, or you'd be dead]."
Usuha Izuki became interested: "How so?"
This case was reported by a delivery person.
Yesterday afternoon, a package for the victim arrived. The delivery person rang the doorbell but got no response, and seeing the door wasn't closed, pushed it open to see if anyone was home. As soon as he entered, he found a person on the tatami who had bled all over the floor, so he immediately called police.
When police and the coroner arrived at the scene, they determined the victim's time of death was between 11 PM the previous night and 1 AM, and before that, the victim had hosted a party with friends.
When they questioned the relevant people, they said the party had continued until after 10 PM when everyone started arguing, then left the victim's house around 11 PM.
Sato Miwako said: "Then, one person forgot their phone and returned to get it. The room was completely dark, and afraid of waking the victim, she didn't turn on the lights, felt around for her phone and left. According to her, the door wasn't closed at that time..."
"This kind of situation where someone kills and leaves arrogant messages at the scene—I don't really see this in Japan. It feels more common in Europe and America. That message might have been left for some other purpose, not for showing off and intimidation."
A voice suddenly joined their conversation. Usuha Izuki, who had already seen the person, naturally had no reaction, but Sato Miwako was startled.
"Eh? Ku-Kudo-san! Why are you here?"
The person who had interrupted was none other than the Metropolitan Police's regular external consultant, world-famous mystery novelist Kudo Yusaku.
Kudo Yusaku smiled: "I came to see Inspector Megure. Seeing you two, I wanted to say hello, but this case is very interesting—I couldn't help getting absorbed in listening. Sorry for interrupting without permission."
"It's nothing. Though we generally can't reveal ongoing cases to outsiders, there's no problem if it's Kudo-san." Sato Miwako responded.
These kinds of regulations were sometimes quite flexible. For someone like Kudo Yusaku who was practically on the Metropolitan Police payroll, there was no need to be too secretive about cases without any dark secrets. Consulting might even help solve them faster.
Kudo Yusaku also naturally asked: "The people who partied together are very suspicious, right? What about their alibis?"
"Let's call the person who returned for her phone A-ko. When she got her phone, it was around 11:30. She left with her friend B-ko, and after reaching the station, she realized she didn't have her phone, so in a hurry, she borrowed B-ko's bike stored at the station and returned—less than 10 minutes round trip, faster than walking. Her friend waited for her at the station cafe. On the way to the station they had mutual alibis, and afterward B-ko had the clerk as witness."
Sato Miwako frowned: "Since the culprit knew A-ko didn't turn on the lights, they should have been at the scene then. B-ko couldn't appear simultaneously at the victim's house and the cafe, so we can temporarily rule out B-ko's suspicion. After they met up, they ordered at the cafe and complained about the others, leaving around 12:25, separating at the station around half past."
"Two people took transport together and were together until dawn, so they're each other's witnesses—temporarily under suspicion."
"Another person went home alone, but at 11:25 someone called him and talked for over 10 minutes. If he had been at the scene, A-ko should have heard his voice, so his suspicion is also temporarily ruled out."
"The last person had serious conflict with the victim, something about a love triangle... but if he was still at the victim's house at 11:30, calculating the distance between his house and the victim's house, he couldn't have made it home by just after 12 as his family testified. As for 11:30, he said he was at an internet cafe, but no one can verify it."
Sato Miwako sighed: "Most troublesome is that we discovered yesterday that the victim was secretly selling a type of stimulant that's legal in America but has addiction potential, so domestically it's considered a banned drug... If that's the case, it's possible someone was watching him, saw his door wasn't closed, and committed the crime directly. The weapon was an ice pick for mixing drinks. There were signs the victim struggled before death—very likely someone killed him after failing to get drugs... But then the range of suspects becomes too large."
Kudo Yusaku pondered and said: "Have you considered why the culprit wrote that message?"
"We discussed it. Though we feel there aren't many domestic criminals like this, considering the culprit might be an addict, doing such strange things seems quite normal... But I still feel it's among the people who attended the party—someone's alibi is fake. I feel like I have some leads but can't think it through..."
As they were talking, Sato Miwako suddenly noticed Kudo Yusaku had a confident smile, and immediately understood: "Could it be that Kudo-san already knows who the culprit is?"
Kudo Yusaku nodded with a smile, looking at Usuha Izuki: "Yes, but it's not just me—Samukawa-kun should also already know who the culprit is, right?"
Usuha Izuki: "Mm."
While they were discussing, other people had gradually arrived in the office, all listening to their conversation.
Previously they could pretend they were all quietly working, but now they finally couldn't control their intense emotions and couldn't help quietly complaining.
"What kind of armchair detective is this... didn't even go to the scene, just listened to the case situation for less than ten minutes..."
"Kudo-san is one thing, but Samukawa is one of us—should be called an armchair police officer!"
Though they hadn't yet said who the culprit was or even mentioned evidence and reasoning, everyone in the office had already assumed that what Samukawa Shinryu and Kudo Yusaku guessed was correct.
This was reputation.
"If Samukawa was really willing to be an armchair police officer and not wander around crime scenes, he'd actually get far fewer complaints... but he just loves going to scenes!"
"Sigh... I actually used to not believe armchair detectives really existed. I always felt that was just fictional in novels. Turns out it's just that my own level was too low to imagine the world of the strong..."
"Speaking of this, I have a friend who's a police officer in Osaka. Their boss's son apparently also encountered an armchair detective who's already helped solve two or three cases, but just makes phone calls—hasn't shown his face in years and isn't famous at all. Samukawa's the same, inexplicably low-key, even declined commendations. What are these geniuses thinking?"
"...I don't know about the Osaka one, but it's good that Samukawa keeps a low profile."
Because of Samukawa Shinryu's contributions to Criminal Investigation Division One, the higher-ups wanted to give him a commendation that might be televised, but Samukawa Shinryu declined.
Samukawa Shinryu had always been reported as a corrupt cop, and usually wasn't seen being particularly low-key, always wandering around crime scenes. This behavior of avoiding the spotlight was a bit strange.
It was possible he really was a corrupt cop—only people doing bad things would not want attention.
Section Chief Odagiri helped explain, but some higher-ups didn't believe it and insisted on coming to see for themselves. After the meeting, this high-ranking official known for eloquence couldn't say a word for a long time, finally only managing: "Samukawa-kun is very sensible."
—Never mind whether he was corrupt or not, at least he truly considered the police force's image. Otherwise, with that aura on television, accidents would be too likely!
So the commendation matter was dropped, and only Hagiwara Kenji and another police officer appeared on TV.
And indeed, Hagiwara Kenji's image was very suitable for police publicity...
While everyone was quietly discussing here, Sato Miwako was still puzzling over the case.
Though she could get the answer directly, she felt relying too much on others wasn't good, so she asked: "Could you not give the answer first, but give a hint?"
Being able to figure it out herself would help with future case-solving approaches. Sato Miwako was very competitive and always hoped to become better.
Usuha Izuki was willing to cooperate with such people, so he thought and hinted: "That message's purpose is to interfere with police judgment."
"Interfere with judgment..."
While Sato Miwako fell into thought, Kudo Yusaku and Usuha Izuki started chatting.
"...It feels like compared to psychopathic serial killers, Japan has more bombers." Kudo Yusaku sighed.
"There's a dark web for bomb enthusiasts. Kenji led efforts to take one down, but new ones appeared quickly."
Kudo Yusaku sighed: "Where there's demand, someone will risk it... Speaking of bombs, do you remember that bomber in Hawaii?"
Usuha Izuki certainly remembered—that guy had stolen his bomb blueprints!
Kudo Yusaku said: "Apparently he's been appealing, feeling that since the bomb didn't actually kill anyone, decades in prison is too heavy."
Usuha Izuki couldn't help complaining: "Japan's different. Even if you bombed Yasukuni Shrine, as long as no one died, you'd probably get at most four years."
Saying this, Usuha Izuki suddenly remembered something.
Oh right, wasn't that bomber who was originally supposed to kill Hagiwara Kenji about to be released from prison?