The unscrupulous detective in Conan

Chapter 1323 Who on camera is actually handling a case?

Conan's mind was racing with all sorts of thoughts.

Listening to the children's voices, Inspector Megure, like Watson, noticed a blind spot and began to get curious:
"What do you mean by saying something wrong? What do you mean by saying it's the same? What do you mean by saying the case was solved a long time ago?"

"Brother Fujino, what did you find?"

Faced with Inspector Megure's question, Fujino didn't keep him in suspense and explained directly:

"Didn't those kids just find a cat's paw under the sofa?"

"That's right, it looks like the cat's left paw?"

Megure immediately remembered, and Fujino wasn't surprised. After all, besides being a murderer detector, Megure was also the Yu Qian of the detective world—the queen of comedic duos in the mystery world, right?

Turning to Murai Chika, he continued, "Do you remember whether the lucky cat you were using had its right or left hand raised?"

"I don't remember..."

"It doesn't matter."

Fujino was not surprised by this. Given Murai Chika's flustered state of mind at the time, how could she possibly remember such details?

But if she doesn't even know this, how could she possibly use the lucky cat falling down to get away with it?

It's highly unlikely.

Fujino turned around, took out his phone from his pocket, typed a text message, and sent it.

Afterwards, he slowly walked towards the crime scene and came to the pile of lucky cat fragments that had not yet been cleaned up.

After a quick search, he pondered and said, "There is a right hand among the fragments of this lucky cat. Although the whole lucky cat was smashed to pieces, a small part like the paw is unlikely to break. After all, ceramics are more likely to break when they are large because of their structure, while smaller things are more stable."

"Look, aren't there differences between these two raised cat paws?"

Fujino found the cat's paw, then took the evidence bag from Megure's hand and compared it with the evidence.

Megure immediately spotted the blind spot: "This isn't a lucky cat..."

Fujino picked up where his brother Megure left off, nodding in agreement: "It's definitely not a lucky cat. There was at least one lucky cat here that got smashed."

“That’s true.” Megure continued to play the straight man: “If it’s not the same lucky cat, then the hand of this lucky cat could not have flown in. There’s no need to consider the left and right hands at all.”

"Where did this lucky cat come from?"

“I guess someone else took it.” Fujino looked at the cat paw. “Finding that person is actually quite simple; all we need to do is use a certain habit.”

"What habit?"

"Brother Megure, when you're choosing a lucky cat, do you ever move its paws?"

"Oh, I've never bought a lucky cat before..."

"Whether you've bought one or not is irrelevant. Just tell me, if you wanted to buy a lucky cat figurine, would you subconsciously wiggle its paws to make sure they're alive?"

"Ah, this..." Megure was completely dumbfounded: "It seems that it really does."

Fujino nodded upon hearing this: "That's right. There will definitely be fingerprints on this hand, showing the person subconsciously moving the lucky cat's hand. By comparing the fingerprints, we can find the culprit."

“This is indeed a good breakthrough point…” Inspector Megure nodded, then suddenly remembered something: “But what does this mean? Another lucky cat, I don’t quite understand?”

"To put it simply, it was Ms. Murai Chika's lucky cat figurine, not the murder weapon that directly killed the victim. After all, Ms. Murai came to return the money, and her attack on Mr. Kanemaru was just a normal stress response because his behavior threatened her."

As for whether it's a stress response, that might seem absurd in reality, but it makes perfect sense in Mikasa—based on the thought processes of Mikasa people.

As he spoke, Fujino picked up the evidence bag containing a cat's paw: "This lucky cat, or more accurately, the smashed lucky cat with its left paw raised, is the real murder weapon."

"Good guy."

Megure's response was simply, "Good heavens!"

At this point, logically speaking, it should be the stage where the murderer refutes the claims.

However, this time the murderer did not speak.

The little ones were just Fujino's loyal friends, so naturally they couldn't speak up.

Seeing this, Ai Haibara spoke up, "Is it possible that it fell there before?"

Fujino silently gave Ai Haibara a thumbs-up for being such a thoughtful little sister.

As expected of our Ai-chan.

She's just so clever, cute, and sensible...

Ai Haibara sighed, feeling rather helpless about the situation.

Our cats are really tired too...

Not only does she have to work as a detective's assistant, but she also has to work as a code-breaking detective and a little cook.

Now I also have to be the little kitten who warms up the crowd.

Sigh, what a pity.

Fujino then picked up the conversation, saying, "That's unlikely."

“There are traces of carpet fibers being sucked up on the carpet here, and the vacuum cleaner bag is missing. Given Mr. Kanemaru’s situation, it’s unlikely that he would personally go and throw away the vacuum cleaner bag.”

"Here's your question: who lost it?"

"I think the murderer must have thrown it away."

Why did the murderer disappear?

"It probably sucked up the fragments of that lucky cat."

"Therefore, the crime scene where he died must have been inside the office, not in the outside reception room."

"If it were in the reception room, Ms. Murai would definitely have noticed something amiss when she arrived."

"She can't just kill a dead person and then take the blame for someone else, can she?"

"Furthermore, judging from the location where Mr. Kanemaru's head was hit, the place where he was hit must have been a cerebral artery. Being hit like that, he would definitely bleed profusely."

"Even with cleaning, it's impossible to get it completely clean. In some nooks and crannies, the luminol reagent might still leave trace amounts of blood in this office."

"Oh, I see!" Fujino was saying when Ai Haibara suddenly spoke up: "I was wondering why the number nine on the clock has a reddish thing on it!"

"Could that be Mr. Kanemaru's blood?"

"what?!"

Upon hearing Ai Haibara's words, Inspector Megure immediately went to check, then said with a serious expression, "So that's how it is. It seems that Mr. Kanemaru really was hit on the head and bled here..."

"To be precise, he was killed after she hit him once," Fujino reminded him at this moment. "After all, his position has changed. Judging from the bloodstains and wounds, it can be basically confirmed that Mr. Kanemaru did not die on the spot after she hit him, but died after he moved."

"If she had smashed Kanemaru's head and hit his cerebral artery, he probably would have gushed out a lot of blood from his cerebral artery on the spot, splattering onto the wall and the lucky cat statue next to him." "I understand."

Of course, Inspector Megure was well aware of the difference between the two.

In criminal law, the sentence for intentionally causing injury to another person is one year, and for serious injury it is three years or more, which is equivalent to minor injury and serious injury. Even if it is three years or more, it is generally not too high if you find a good lawyer.

For example, in this case, if the lawyer did not defend Murai, and it was found that Murai's reaction was due to being threatened by the other party, and that she did not have the subjective intention to hurt anyone, but was merely acting objectively, then it might only be a case of manslaughter, or even less serious. If it were investigated more thoroughly, and it was found that the blow she threw did not cause any harm, then at most it would be a case of manslaughter causing minor injury, or even just the least serious crime of assault, with a maximum sentence of two years.

This is why lawyers are so important; having a good lawyer can be incredibly helpful in crucial moments.

Otherwise, why would wealthy people in developed countries hire a team of lawyers?

This only applies to assault. If it's murder, the minimum sentence is five years, with no upper limit. If it doesn't involve three consecutive killings or particularly cruel methods, the maximum option is life imprisonment, which is about twenty years.

Therefore, the key question now is: who killed him?

The logic flashed through his mind, and Inspector Megure couldn't help but sigh, "As expected of Brother Fujino, his move is truly remarkable."

"It's a clear case of murder, but they've directly argued that it's assault."

"I think we don't need to find a lawyer. We can just find Brother Fujino at the crime scene. He's even more professional than a professional lawyer, and the price is cheaper."

After a moment of reflection, Inspector Megure got to the point: "So, Fujino-kun, who was the killer?"

"I do have some ideas about this, but I still need to confirm them."

"what idea?"

"Cat paw prints."

As Fujino spoke, he slowly walked towards the office window, put his hands in his pockets, and said casually, "There's a kitten's bloody paw print on the windowsill of this window."

"Huh? Is there anything important about this?" Megure was a little confused. "Could it be that some little cat just wandered over?"

Fujino: "..."

Brother Megure, I've given you such an obvious hint, are you still pretending to be stupid...?

Look at the cat holding a handkerchief in Ai's hands!

Our role as the straight man is just that—the straight man. If we were to play the straight man to the very end, it would be very difficult to evaluate us!

Fujino was speechless for a moment, but didn't say anything more.

Helplessly pointing to the cat in Ai Haibara's hand: "We found this cat in the park, and that's why we came here."

"So this is ah!"

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure suddenly realized something.

He wondered how Fujino could happen to be there again.

Oh, so that's what it is...

It's not surprising that Fujino's younger brother appeared at the crime scene.

The man inwardly scoffed, then asked curiously, "What does the cat have to do with this?"

"We discovered the cat after the time of the incident."

Fujino said in a deep voice, "I think the wounds on its claws were caused by the broken lucky cat. If we test the blood, it will be easy to confirm that the blood is from this cat."

As he spoke, Fujino turned around and looked at Ishigami behind him: "Mr. Ishigami, this cat named Chacha, is it your cat?"

Feeling a little flustered under everyone's gaze: "It is indeed my cat, but that doesn't mean it's the same Kinmaru I killed when I came in..."

"Have you forgotten what I said before?"

Fujino said in a deep voice, "There are fingerprints on the claws of the lucky cat."

“Even without fingerprints, you certainly wouldn’t throw those fragments too far.”

"Once we find you, we can confirm that you are the murderer."

"And your name should also be on his ledger."

As he spoke, Fujino pondered for a moment: "I don't think you were able to see Ms. Murai because you were attracted to her looks or figure, but rather because you happened to see her rushing out when you came over, right?"

"After all, normally, if people living in Mikasa see someone running out of their apartment across the hall in a panic, how could they not go and check?"

Inspector Megure nodded in agreement: "That's true."

Fujino continued, "And the only reason you wouldn't go see it is probably because you've already seen it and know what happened inside."

Upon hearing this, Ishigami's expression changed slightly, and he was about to say something.

Before he could even speak, Fujino sensed something, interrupting him as he was about to utter a word. He suddenly pulled out his phone and said, "I think what you're going to ask about next is some kind of evidence, right?"

As he spoke, he flipped through the footage on the screen: "I've found the surveillance footage from this morning. This network-connected camera shows that you passed by the area this morning, and this little cat happened to be right next to you. Then you came back carrying something, which happened some time before the incident."

"Judging from the location of the surveillance footage, the shop that sells lucky cats can be easily found. By comparing them with the same batch of lucky cats and confirming with the owner, it can be confirmed that this lucky cat is the one you own."

"monitor?"

Upon hearing this, Ishigami was completely dumbfounded, thinking to himself: Dude, what respectable person would use surveillance cameras to conduct a case?
Using surveillance footage to investigate cases? I've never even heard of that!
Completely unaware that surveillance has become increasingly widespread, Ishigami, who hasn't kept up with the times, is somewhat bewildered.

Inspector Megure, who had worked on many cases with Fujino, wasn't surprised at all.

I'm just a little envious of Fujino.

He thought to himself: If our Metropolitan Police Department had a hacker friend like that, wouldn't solving cases be as easy as drinking water?
Ideals are beautiful, but reality is cruel.

Japanese police are extremely hesitant and timid when it comes to accessing surveillance footage.

In addition, there are very few places where cameras are allowed to be installed, and the legal restrictions are strict, making it difficult to find them accurately. As a result, cameras are basically just for show.

After all, they don't even have facial recognition big data in this era, so what's the point of looking for trouble...?

He was actually considering making this hacker an advisor to the Metropolitan Police Department.

He's not qualified to be a consultant; he should at least be at the level of a criminal investigation officer or a superintendent of police.

The reason he promoted Fujino was, frankly speaking, because it was an order from above.

Otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to bring it up.

Moreover, the hacker himself was actually doing something illegal.

Hacking into police traffic cameras, crime prevention cameras, and even civilian cameras could easily lead to a ten- or eight-year prison sentence if strictly investigated.

Putting aside whether the person would dare to be recruited, the fact that they are an undiscovered criminal is already a serious concern.

So, I have high hopes, but there's nothing I can do about it.

(End of this chapter)