The unscrupulous detective in Conan

Chapter 1313 The Premature Collapse of a Match-Fixing Expert
So you're going to send both of them in, right?
You kid...

For a moment, Miwako Sato didn't know what to say. She felt that the kidnapping was originally intended to defraud inheritance tax, but she was making a big deal out of it and directly treating it as a real kidnapping and sending them all to work as sewing machines, which was a bit too extreme.

But if you think about it carefully, this is exactly what the procedure is all about.

The main problem is that these two sisters are being a bit reckless.

You could have just staged the kidnapping yourselves, why did you have to kidnap the young lady of the Suzuki family as well?

Actually, she is the second young lady.

Whether it's the eldest or the second, once someone's young lady is kidnapped, do you think the Suzuki family will let it go?

Regardless of whether it was a staged act to defraud inheritance tax or something else, they were all kidnapped without the Suzuki family's child's knowledge.

To put it mildly, it's a waste of police resources, a false police report, and an attempt to defraud inheritance tax. To put it more seriously, if the Suzuki family pursues this matter, it would be considered kidnapping, or at the very least, a restriction of personal freedom.

It was originally a difficult situation.

Now it's a double bind.

Fujino suddenly remembered something, turned his head, and gave instructions to the two people sitting in the passenger seat and the back seat, especially Ran, who was naturally a little dazed: "Ran, don't make a sound for a while, so that no one will notice anything unusual."

"Oh……"

Xiaolan nodded, not quite understanding what Fujino meant.

However, since her senior had already spoken, she should just obediently listen to him.

Fujino nodded upon hearing this.

He trusted Sato and Ayako, and it was certain they wouldn't speak carelessly.

After all, one is an elite civil servant who has developed good speaking habits, and the other is a true eldest daughter from a prestigious family.

Especially Miss Ayako, in terms of the art of speaking, her skill in deceiving honest people and fooling scholars is undoubtedly masterful.

…………

“I received the call from the kidnapper at the crematorium. The sound was blurred and I couldn’t hear it clearly. He said my sister was in his hands. Ms. Sonoko also disappeared at this time, so I thought Ms. Sonoko had also been kidnapped.”

"We also found Ms. Yuri's car near the temple. If she was kidnapped, she should have been kidnapped at the temple."

"We still can't get through to Sonoko on the phone. If she hadn't been kidnapped, she would definitely have contacted us by now. So it's highly likely that Sonoko has been kidnapped too!"

After arriving at the company where Fujino had just left, Megure, Takagi, and Noguchi Miki began to explain the kidnapping case to Fujino. In their view, Fujino had only just arrived and did not know the situation.

Upon hearing this, Fujino paused for a moment, then pretended to think, and said, "And then, the thugs just sent word about a billion yen worth of diamonds?"

"It seems this thug knows a lot about the Noguchi family, otherwise he wouldn't know about the ten billion diamonds..."

At this moment, Takagi interrupted, "That's not how it is. Almost everyone knows about the Noguchi family's 1 billion yen diamond, since it's already been in the news."

At this moment, Inspector Megure guessed: "Someone must have their eyes on this diamond, which is why they kidnapped Ms. Noguchi Yuri. But Sonoko saw them during the kidnapping, so they kidnapped her as well. That's roughly what happened."

Fujino nodded upon hearing this, which meant that Inspector Megure had once again ruled out the correct answer.

"The diamonds are here."

The elderly butler with white hair carried a black leather suitcase out of the office.

When you place it on the table and open it, a large number of crystal-clear, sparkling white diamonds are revealed inside.

Sato Miwako paused for a moment, then said with a touch of wistfulness, "So many diamonds, no wonder it's worth a billion yen..."

Miki Noguchi's eyes lit up as she looked at the diamond, and Ran also wanted to express her admiration.

But recalling Fujino's words of advice, she held back.

He clasped his hands together in front of him and craned his neck to look around with a curious expression.

Honest and simple.JPG
Ayako Suzuki, on the other hand, was calmer.

It's fair to say she wasn't interested in this thing; her family had plenty of things much more valuable than it.

The Suzuki Museum and the Suzuki Treasure Trove are no joke!

The family's heirlooms and symbolic treasures were all large black pearls.

Fujino was the same; he wasn't interested in diamonds, simply because he viewed them from a rational perspective.

In his view, this thing is just a slightly harder and more transparent diamond. Apart from a small number of scientific and industrial uses, it can be said to be the least valuable thing among a lot of luxury goods. If it weren't for a certain scoundrel company restricting the mining of this thing and linking it with things like love, this thing would probably just be a slightly more expensive stone and would not have reached its current status as a luxury item.

However, there is a group of people who are extremely interested in this thing.

It's kind of ridiculous.

If this thing truly matches its intrinsic value, then why does the US collect gold instead of diamonds?
The housekeeper also thoughtfully prepared a small red velvet bag.

Then, Miki Noguchi started filling the bag with diamonds.

Fujino watched Noguchi Miki silently packing the bags and teased, "I heard before that you and your sister don't get along well, and that you had a very unpleasant argument over some inheritance."

As he spoke, he glanced at the sparkling diamonds: "But this time, seeing that you're actually willing to take out these diamonds worth a billion yen to save my sister, it seems those rumors were all false, right?"

"My relationship with her is indeed not good. After all, she is supposedly my biological daughter, and I am just an illegitimate child..."

While carrying out her work, Miki Noguchi sighed helplessly, "But no matter what, she's my sister in name only. I have to give her this money. If I don't, people will say I'm ungrateful and that I'm disregarding my blood relatives for money, which would be troublesome."

Fujino chuckled upon hearing this: "That's true."

Miki Noguchi's answer was flawless; it was probably something she had planned in advance.

After saying that, she called out to the old butler beside her, "Kamoshida, bring me my briefcase."

Upon hearing this, the butler named Kamoshida lowered his head slightly, then turned and left the office.

Just then, her phone rang.

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure waved his hand: "Chiba, prepare to follow them."

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, Chiba immediately walked to the laptop on the coffee table next to him and started typing away on the keyboard.

Fujino stared at the notebook for a moment, surprised that the Metropolitan Police Department had such a thing now.

Even phone tracking is now available...

Times are changing so fast!
The phone call with Miki Noguchi started, but there wasn't much to see; it was just a performance by the two sisters themselves.

The gist of it is: to have Miki Noguchi hang these diamonds on the banner balloon on the rooftop, which is used to promote the company.

This time, the two women controlled the duration of their call very well, preventing Chiba, who was conducting reverse tracking, from ultimately finding the location of the base station where the call was made.

He couldn't help but sigh, "Failed again. I was so close to pinpointing it..."

"Looks like the criminals are quite professional..." Inspector Megure stroked his chin. "Every time they call, they just talk to themselves and don't even give us time to track their location."

As he spoke, he guessed, his tone very firm: "This must be a professional kidnapping and robbery gang, otherwise they would never dare to pull off such a big heist!" To this, Fujino sighed inwardly, thinking that his brother Megure had once again ruled out the correct answer.

"But how will the criminals get to the balloons on the rooftop to retrieve them?" Takagi wondered. "Are they going to come by helicopter and loot all those diamonds?"

Upon hearing this, Miwako Sato couldn't help but retort, "You're overthinking it. Putting aside whether a helicopter can even fly it, the turbulence from a helicopter would blow the balloon off course. How could that be possible?"

Takagi thought about it and realized that it was indeed the case, then murmured, "Then how do we retrieve it?"

Fujino knew this was definitely the sisters' scheme, but he couldn't say anything yet.

So he pretended to ponder for a moment and said, "Could it be that he's like that old bastard Kidd, coming in a hang glider to take all the diamonds?"

"Huh?" Takagi was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then immediately said, "That's actually quite possible!"

"what?"

Everyone looked at Takagi with confusion, unsure of what he was trying to say.

"Think about it, isn't the kidnapper after diamonds this time?" Takagi speculated seriously. "Maybe it really is the work of Phantom Thief Kid!"

Ayako Suzuki was taken aback upon hearing this: "Was it Kidd who did it?"

Then how come she just heard Fujino-kun say that this kidnapping was staged by himself...?

In response, Takagi pondered, "Then we'll have to go talk to Inspector Nakamori about this..."

'Touko's been unfairly blamed again...' Fujino sighed silently, wondering why he always seemed to get blamed for everything.

Then, he said casually, "This time it's unlikely to be that Kidd guy."

Everyone turned their attention to Fujino, who explained, "Generally speaking, Kid's operations require prior notice, and thefts are usually scheduled for a specific time. As for kidnapping... we won't do that for now."

"This time there was no warning, and they even kidnapped someone; it definitely wasn't him."

Megure Juzo was a little embarrassed by his subordinate's embarrassment, so he could only glance at him sideways and cough lightly, saying, "Takagi, don't think about those things, focus on the case!"

"Yes!"

Turning his gaze away, Inspector Megure suggested, "The hostages are still in the hands of the criminals. Let's do as they say and ensure their safety first."

"Chiba, you stay here and wait."

"clear."

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded and then quickly ran out of the office one by one.

Megure took the lead, his chubby body bursting with astonishing speed, followed closely by Takagi. Sato Miwako thought for a moment that Fujino had his own plans, so she followed as usual.

Miki Noguchi was caught in the middle.

As for the last ones, there's Fujino, Ayako, Ran, and the butler named Kamoshida.

When Xiaolan saw that Fujino was walking slowly, she also slowed down.

Needless to say, Ayako really can't run very fast.

As for Kamoshida, I don't know. I guess it's because he's too old to run.

As she emerged from the office, Miki Noguchi, who was running in the middle, glanced back at Fujino and the others behind her.

Kamoshida was positioned slightly ahead of Fujino and the others.

He suddenly turned around, slowed his pace, and said to Fujino, "Speaking of which, you must be the famous detective Fujino, right?"

Fujino noticed this, narrowed his eyes, and slowed his pace: "Hmm, it's just an empty reputation."

"This time, I'm troubling you with the young lady's matter!"

"No need to be polite. After all, my friend has also been kidnapped. It's just what I should do."

Fujino chuckled as Kamoshida spoke sincerely, but his eyes scrutinized the butler.

He suspected that the butler was up to something...

Deciding to see what the butler was up to, he slowed down and struck up a conversation with Ayako Suzuki, who was standing nearby: "By the way, Miss Ayako, where are Aunt and Uncle? Why didn't they come this time?"

“…?” Ayako Suzuki was puzzled for a moment, but she immediately realized Fujino’s intention and slowed down to reply, “My parents are away on a business trip.”

She sighed, her expression gradually turning sad and guilty: "Originally, I should have come to this funeral, but I have a banquet to attend, so I can only ask Sonoko to come instead."

"If Sonoko hadn't come, this probably wouldn't have happened."

"How am I supposed to explain this to them...?"

Fujino's eyebrow twitched slightly: As expected of the eldest son of the Suzuki family, his acting skills far surpass those of Sonoko...

He sighed inwardly, then took out a handkerchief and gently patted her shoulder: "This is something you couldn't have predicted."

Kamoshida, who was in front, chimed in, "Yes, no one would have imagined that someone would be so audacious as to kidnap our young lady at the master's funeral..."

Just as the group was talking, Miki Noguchi took a step forward, then turned a corner and, amidst a series of chaotic metallic clanging sounds, let out a shout of "Ah!"

The three people behind her followed after hearing this and saw her fall to the ground, her high heels falling off and revealing her fair and tender soles.

The three of them were a little puzzled by her sudden fall.

Sato turned back to Sato and asked, "What happened?"

"It's nothing, I just tripped and fell." Miki Noguchi slowly stood up from the ground, picked up the black high heels next to her, and stepped on them.

"Miss, please be careful..."

As he spoke, Butler Kamoshida picked up the box that had fallen to the side.

Fujino looked at the scene before him, narrowed his eyes slightly, and sensed that something was wrong.

She was just confirming our location, and now she's tripped and fell flat on her face...

So the match-fixing scandal has brought them down prematurely?
A dive?

What is the purpose of faking a fall?

Fujino glanced at the surroundings. This was the middle of a double corner in the company's corridor, with a fire hydrant box next to it. This section of the corridor had a Z-shaped structure, so neither the person running in front nor the person running behind could see the middle.

Therefore, this is the most suitable place for making plays...

As he looked around, he suddenly noticed something, his gaze fixed on the fire hydrant box: "So that's how it is..."

Ayako, standing beside him, tilted her head in confusion, her crescent-shaped eyes widening slightly as she whispered to Fujino, "Fujino-kun, what did you see?"

"Yeah, almost."

Fujino thought for a moment, then walked over to Noguchi Miki, reached out and pushed the side door of the fire hydrant box, and a box exactly the same as the one in Kamoshida's hand fell out.

(End of this chapter)