Chapter 163
When Usuha Izuki and Hagiwara Kenji returned to the Metropolitan Police, they happened to see Sato Miwako also driving back.
However, her expression didn't look like someone whose problems had been resolved—instead, she looked rather troubled.
System: [Could it be that you and Kudo Yusaku both made incorrect deductions?]
Usuha Izuki: [Impossible! Let me go ask.]
So Usuha Izuki greeted Sato Miwako.
Sato Miwako forced a smile. Now Hagiwara Kenji, who wasn't quite clear about what she and Usuha Izuki had discussed this morning, couldn't help asking:
"Did something happen?"
"...Sigh." Sato Miwako let out a breath. "Yesterday's case..."
Hagiwara Kenji immediately understood: "That urban legend? Do you need help?"
"Samukawa-kun and Kudo-san already helped—the culprit has confessed." Sato Miwako's mouth twitched. "But do you remember that doctor in this case who gave the victim the prohibited drugs to sell?"
"Hm?" Hagiwara Kenji had a bad feeling. "What happened to this doctor?"
Sato Miwako said expressionlessly: "Dead, just now."
Hagiwara Kenji: "..."
Usuha Izuki: "...This person's luck is really terrible."
"It was a shooting, so we actually suspect he wasn't just involved in prohibited drugs, but might have been connected to some other issues..."
Sato Miwako pressed her temples with a headache: "But this matter was taken over by Public Security, so it feels like there's no ending. It's rather uncomfortable."
Hagiwara Kenji consoled: "You have to get used to this kind of thing. Public Security never follows reason."
Usuha Izuki: "..."
He kind of wanted to laugh, even wanted to record this.
As they chatted and walked into the Metropolitan Police building, they saw Kudo Yusaku also coming out with a worried expression.
When they inquired about the situation:
"Sigh... I have a friend who writes detective dramas as a screenwriter. I was thinking of getting together with him after returning to the country this time, but I just learned he was killed last night."
Everyone: "..........."
Why does it feel like everyone's not having a very smooth day today...
Hagiwara Kenji looked at Usuha Izuki suspiciously.
Usuha Izuki was very perceptive: "Why are you looking at me?"
"Our case was resolved too easily. Won't there be some strange trouble coming up later?" Hagiwara Kenji said rather bluntly. "It went too smoothly—I'm a bit uneasy."
Usuha Izuki: "...Then you can actively add some difficulty for yourself next time."
While the group was chatting in the hallway, Inspector Megure also came out frowning.
Even Kudo Yusaku was surprised—he'd just left Inspector Megure's office not long ago, and Inspector Megure's mood had been fine then!
Inspector Megure looked up and saw the group of them, then couldn't help sighing.
Hagiwara Kenji felt his hair standing on end: "Inspector? What happened? Did your case also have problems?"
Inspector Megure asked back strangely: "What do you mean 'also'? It's Shiratori-kun's case that had some problems... He hopes Samukawa-kun can go help out."
Usuha Izuki: "..........."
Hagiwara Kenji: "...Is today a day where everyone except me and Shinryu encountered very troublesome cases?"
Inspector Megure shook his head: "No, strictly speaking, this isn't really Shiratori-kun's case either... Didn't he take leave yesterday? Actually, it was because his university classmate was getting married today. Yesterday he attended the groom's bachelor party, but this morning they found the groom dead... This case was actually assigned to someone else, but Shiratori-kun feels it's not very reliable, so that's why..."
He wanted Samukawa Shinryu to go check the situation.
But the person responsible for this case wasn't Inspector Megure's subordinate. If he sent people over, it would be like disrupting their work. But Shiratori Ninzaburo's meaning seemed to be that if they let this case be closed as is, there would be a wrongful conviction, and the embarrassment would be even worse later.
Inspector Megure sighed deeply: "Anyway, that's the situation. Shiratori-kun... might also be too grief-stricken, so his judgment might not be accurate. You might just be making a wasted trip..."
Hagiwara Kenji was still very enthusiastic: "It's fine, driving over is just over half an hour... What do you think, Shinryu?"
Usuha Izuki didn't mind. It sounded like there would be quite a few people at the wedding and such—maybe he could farm some more suspicion value, which seemed pretty good.
Just like that, Hagiwara Kenji and Usuha Izuki, who had just returned to the Metropolitan Police, set off again.
Shiratori Ninzaburo called Usuha Izuki so they could save time by hearing about the case situation in the car.
"Yesterday several of us classmates drank together until about 10 PM. Ebina... that's my classmate who was supposed to be the groom today, said he needed to prepare for the next day's wedding and couldn't continue drinking, so he left early."
Shiratori Ninzaburo's voice came through the receiver.
"Then today when several of us went to his house to find him, no one answered when we knocked or rang the doorbell. We broke in and found he'd already been stabbed to death. The scene looked like a home invasion robbery. The alarm clock was also broken, with the time stopped at 10:43. Before his death, he was still sending emails to his fiancée—the content was 'Sorry, let's talk about that matter another day,' sent at 10:42."
Usuha Izuki sat in the passenger seat and asked leisurely: "So what's the problem?"
Shiratori Ninzaburo said seriously: "The person currently handling the case plans to close it as a home invasion murder, thinking he was ambushed because he was focused on sending emails... But I feel there's something wrong. That email—I suspect Ebina didn't send it."
After all, he was also an elite detective. Despite his grief, Shiratori Ninzaburo had noticed some details.
"The typing habits are different from Ebina's usual ones. He always habitually typed 'ェ' for the katakana 'e,' but this email was different. But when I told the responsible officer, he said people aren't machines and would occasionally make typos—maybe it was just a slip... He also said I was too emotionally involved and suggested I not participate in this case, so he doesn't plan to adopt any of my opinions."
You could hear that Shiratori Ninzaburo was trying hard to stay calm, but his angry emotions were still very obvious.
Hagiwara Kenji, who was driving, had high emotional intelligence and wouldn't say things like "there really is a possibility of slipping" at a time like this. Instead, he asked: "What about other things? Are there other places that feel wrong?"
Shiratori Ninzaburo was silent on the other end of the phone for a moment, then slowly said: "I'm not very sure about other places, but I hope Samukawa-kun can come over. Maybe he'll know just by looking once. Everyone happens to be here now."
The way he said this made even Usuha Izuki curious.
Hagiwara Kenji was a bit worried about Shiratori Ninzaburo's emotional state, so he demonstrated his driving skills and rushed to the scene at top speed while still following traffic rules.
The victim's house was now full of people—the victim's fiancée and even his ex-girlfriend were there. When they arrived, they happened to see the victim's ex-girlfriend slap the victim's fiancée.
Hagiwara Kenji was startled and instinctively stopped the woman who was about to leave: "Excuse me, could you tell us what happened? Why did you hit someone?"
The victim's ex-girlfriend sneered: "Are you police? You should ask the person who got hit why she's feeling guilty! I advise you to arrest her quickly! She's definitely the murderer! Now move aside! I don't want to stay in the same room as her!"
Usuha Izuki also came over at this time and casually asked: "What's going on?"
The victim's ex-girlfriend's movement to push past Hagiwara Kenji suddenly froze. She became much more restrained, looking at Usuha Izuki with somewhat suspicious eyes, then at the police officers outside, as if her brain was having a brainstorm trying to understand why this person could appear here...
And indeed, once Usuha Izuki came over, the originally noisy and chaotic atmosphere in the room suddenly became solemn and quiet, finally more fitting for the atmosphere of preparing for a funeral.
Usuha Izuki's gaze swept around the room. Even the police officer responsible for this case became intimidated and directly used honorific language: "Samukawa-san, why are you here?"
Everyone's eyes looked at this nearly forty-year-old middle-aged man, then at the forbidding Samukawa Shinryu...
So this person was also police? If you didn't say so, we would have thought he was yakuza... And at his age, why was he still using honorifics to such a young person? Could it be that the other person's position was already higher than this veteran police officer's?
Was it really necessary to make such a big deal over just one death, bringing in even high-ranking officials?
Usuha Izuki wasn't very familiar with this police officer handling the case, but he was never polite: "Passing by. Saw the police line and came to check the situation."
Hagiwara Kenji smiled and said: "If you need any help, please don't hesitate."
The responsible officer said awkwardly: "This case doesn't have much difficulty—it's just that during a home invasion robbery, they killed the homeowner... The main trouble is finding the criminal."
It was still okay to ask Samukawa Shinryu for help at the Metropolitan Police, but now with so many outsiders watching, having to act subservient to someone so much younger than himself... He also had his pride.
It wasn't like he couldn't handle cases without Samukawa Shinryu!
Usuha Izuki dropped an ambiguous "Is that so" and turned to walk inside. Shiratori Ninzaburo helped guide the way—they seemed to be heading to the crime scene.
The responsible officer hesitated for a few seconds but didn't speak up to stop them. He felt his judgment was correct and had some desire to show off his abilities in front of those who secretly envied him. For this reason, he even jogged a few steps to lead the way.
"This is the place." The responsible officer brought them to the crime scene. "Look, the floor-to-ceiling window was damaged, valuable things were all stolen, the alarm clock is here and broken too—this should be when the incident occurred..."
He wanted to draw Samukawa Shinryu into his rhythm, but unfortunately, before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted.
"This isn't the crime scene."
The responsible officer was stunned and somewhat annoyed: "What?"
"This alarm clock is too deliberate, as if emphasizing the time this scene occurred. My house also has this brand of alarm clock. If it just fell normally, it would be hard to break like this. It would have to be thrown down very forcefully to possibly reach this extent."
The responsible officer was getting a bit upset: "But if the falling angle was wrong and it just happened to break, isn't that also possible? Don't you... Do you have no other reasons?"
Samukawa Shinryu stood up from beside the corpse and lightly brushed the dust off his body.
"As for reasons... actually, I discovered as soon as I entered—this should be a group murder. None of the testimonies from all of them at last night's gathering can be trusted."
The responsible officer: "...??? How did you see it was a group murder?!"
Have you even been here for a minute?! This efficiency is a bit ridiculous! Even more bizarre than armchair detectives!!!
And aren't you forgetting that you just said you were passing by... What's with this attitude of understanding the case better than me? Won't you even pretend?