Chapter 165
Being able to make a suspect so restless with just a stare was something even veteran detectives might not be able to achieve.
But Samukawa Shinryu could easily reach this level, yet he felt completely unsurprised by it.
The detective responsible for this case thought to himself—never mind suspects, even innocent people like himself would be scared if Samukawa Shinryu stared at them like that...
The accomplices also felt apprehensive. Though they weren't facing the direct pressure of Samukawa Shinryu's gaze, just being caught in the periphery already made them very uneasy. Some were even starting to consider which lawyer to find in case Nobuchika couldn't withstand the pressure and ratted everyone out.
"Can we—can we collect the body now?"
Nobuchika stammered, trying to make his speech flow more smoothly and divert the topic: "We still need to hold a funeral!"
Usuha Izuki felt his phone vibrate and took it out to check his email, nodding casually: "Mm, we can indeed collect the body now."
Hagiwara Kenji immediately smiled: "Case already solved?"
"Yeah, actually Shiratori also saw it—he just didn't want to believe it." Usuha Izuki glanced at the others who were forcing themselves to stay calm, lamenting that these people's acting skills were even worse than his own!
They couldn't even manage a poker face!
System: [You can only manage a poker face yourself, yet you're so proud of it.]
[What do you know? Poker faces also require skill. It's not just about being expressionless—that's just the basics. Do you know there's an advanced version called 'smiling poker face'?]
The system scoffed dismissively: [You mean your state in the organization? Always grinning like a psychopath—that can be called acting?]
Usuha Izuki ignored the system and looked at Shiratori Ninzaburo: "You want to explain, or should I?"
After all, they were Shiratori Ninzaburo's friends—maybe he wanted to settle things himself.
Shiratori Ninzaburo looked at these former university friends with complex eyes, painfully turning his head away: "Samukawa-kun, you do it... I'll just listen."
"Alright." Usuha Izuki wasn't polite about it. "First, this isn't the murder scene—the body was moved here after death. That alarm clock time also can't be trusted. Judging from the purpose of misleading police about the time of death, the victim's actual death time should have been 10:42, before the email was sent."
Otherwise, if the person was still alive when the email was sent, it wouldn't have had such a big impact on the case. The whole charade was to create the illusion that the person was still alive when sending the email.
Someone immediately objected: "But we didn't leave the hotel until after 2 AM..."
Originally, if suspected of being the culprit, he should have acted angry about being wronged and misunderstood, but when he met those dark red eyes, his confidence instantly weakened. After saying those words, even he was surprised by how guilty his tone sounded.
"Right, you didn't leave the hotel until after 2 AM." Usuha Izuki went along with it, then continued: "But so did the victim. If my deduction is correct, the two who escorted the victim out, claiming to put him in a taxi, probably knocked him unconscious and hid him."
Shiratori Ninzaburo, who had just said he'd only listen, couldn't help but interject: "And around 10:30, when you figured Ebina should have arrived home, you found excuses to go out for smoke breaks and such, but actually went to the underground garage and killed the unconscious Ebina! I didn't suspect anything at all!"
Hagiwara Kenji quickly comforted him: "Normal people wouldn't think of that!"
With so many people conspiring to commit murder, the probability of things going wrong was too high. Generally, people would avoid it if possible. Who would think someone would perform such an act right in front of a police officer!
The responsible detective, being elite enough to work in the Metropolitan Police's Criminal Investigation Division One, could fill in the rest of the story with what had been said: "I see, these people used Shiratori-kun as a witness, then after he left, they brought the body back here and faked the scene to create their alibi..."
This group was also elite from a top university and knew that admitting guilt now would be truly foolish, so they refused to confess.
"These are all your speculations—you have no evidence. Don't slander people randomly!"
This was true—if they weren't careful, they might even get complaints filed against them, though they felt these killers probably didn't have the guts... But Samukawa Shinryu had spoken so confidently earlier, he should have evidence, right?
The responsible detective coughed: "Samukawa-kun..."
Your turn!
Usuha Izuki lived up to expectations: "Nobuchika, you forged that email, didn't you?"
Nobuchika despairingly confirmed that the poster had probably really exposed something, which was why the other party was so certain the email sender was him, but he still insisted: "...It wasn't me. Why would you think that?"
"Because the writing habits in the email differ from the victim's but match the poster you wrote."
"...How can you be sure I'm the only one with those habits?"
"It doesn't have to be you." Usuha Izuki put his hands in his coat pockets. Though roughly the same height as the other party, he somehow gave off a condescending feeling. "But I had someone check the location when that email was sent. At 10:42, the phone was still at your dinner location—if you say it wasn't you, then it was someone else. Either way, it's definitely one of you."
Many people's faces changed.
Elite or not, there were many things elites didn't necessarily know—like being able to trace email sending locations. None of them knew this, or they wouldn't have unanimously approved this murder plan!
Usuha Izuki even smiled happily, though this smile, seen through others' eyes, was definitely filtered through a sinister lens, like some sadistic pervert—
System: [You do enjoy tormenting people—don't blame it all on the "Black Screen Aura"!]
"—Your murder plan was indeed quite good."
Usuha Izuki continued ignoring the system, smiling as he said: "Aside from this loophole and the scene's sense of incongruity, it was almost flawless... So if you could just hand over one person who fits both Shiratori's memory of when you left his sight and the victim's time of death, then say everything was planned by this person and he sent the email, which is why the sending location was at the hotel... that would be completely reasonable."
Though these words sounded like well-meaning advice, all the criminals only felt increasingly desperate.
How could handing over one person who met the conditions allow the others to escape punishment!
He definitely wanted them to fight among themselves first, then they'd start exposing each other's secrets, putting on an ugly display. After choosing a scapegoat and thinking they were safe, he'd pretend to produce other evidence, telling them their efforts were all in vain! Making them fall from heaven to hell!
That's how it's done in novels! Villains who enjoy playing with people's hearts love watching scenes that expose humanity's dark side!
This guy called Samukawa could definitely do it!!!
Why could people like this become police officers?!
Hagiwara Kenji wanted to knock that guy who was once again toying with criminals in front of others, but seeing how shaken the criminals seemed and how effective the psychological warfare was, he reluctantly held back.
Among them, Nobuchika was the most shaken.
Since Usuha Izuki kept staring at him, he felt the most pressure, thinking this meant he wouldn't be let off. Saying they could find someone else to replace him wasn't believable!
He definitely already had other evidence and was just playing with him now—struggling was useless!
Shiratori Ninzaburo also took the opportunity to add pressure: "If you confess now, it can count as voluntary surrender."
So Nobuchika gritted his teeth and decided if they were all going down, they'd go down together. Why should only he pay the price for something they all did?
"...We did it. Except for you, we all participated in this."
"Nobuchika!!!"
Though the others had anticipated Nobuchika might not hold out, they still didn't want to see this scene, so someone couldn't help expressing dissatisfaction.
But it was already too late.
Nobuchika even looked resentfully at the person who called his name, shouting: "If you hadn't insisted this plan was perfect and dragged us all in, none of this would have happened!"
"What are you saying!" That person wasn't backing down either. "If Ebina didn't die, our fate wouldn't be much better than now!"
Shiratori Ninzaburo heard something was off and quickly interrupted: "So why exactly did you kill Ebina? Confess honestly—maybe you can get a lighter sentence."
Several people didn't want to talk.
Usuha Izuki spoke at the right moment: "Shiratori, don't try to persuade them. I still prefer it when criminals keep their mouths shut."
The effect was immediate—the next second, these people started competing to speak.
"I'll talk, I'll talk!"
"A few years ago, several of us went to training camp and got into an argument with an old man!"
"Right, then during the scuffle we accidentally... accidentally pushed him to death..."
"Then we threw the body in the river. The next day in the local newspaper, it said a body appeared downstream..."
"Ebina said he wanted to tell his fiancée about this before marriage, otherwise he couldn't marry with peace of mind. We tried to stop him, but he was determined... We had no choice..."
Shiratori Ninzaburo couldn't stand it: "What do you mean 'no choice'! You killed someone and you're still making excuses?"
Hagiwara Kenji couldn't help asking: "Shiratori-kun didn't go to that training camp?"
"No, I had my own arrangements..." Shiratori Ninzaburo held his forehead. "I never thought they would do it more than once... and still blame Ebina..."
If they couldn't blame Ebina the victim, they could only blame someone else.
So everyone started attacking the instigator.
"It's all your fault—what perfect crime plan book! You didn't even know phone sending signals could be traced to locations!"
"That guy clearly said it would be fine unless we met his nemesis... but who knew who his nemesis was!"
This person was also very indignant, but after saying this, his expression suddenly went blank, looking strangely at Usuha Izuki.
"Speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to be the Holmes he mentioned?"
Usuha Izuki: "........?"
What the hell? Many people had stuck various villain titles on him, but this was the first time someone thought he resembled Holmes.
Trying to make his failure seem less foolish, that person urgently asked: "Are you his nemesis?"
Hagiwara Kenji's mouth twitched: "I don't think anyone could qualify as his nemesis... Who exactly are you talking about?"
—What perfect crime plan book? That sounds somewhat familiar...