Conan: I'm really not the mastermind behind the scenes

"he is……"

Conan Edogawa didn't know how to answer, so he said dryly, "Actually, I don't know him."

"Don't you recognize me?"

Matsuda Jinpei stared intently at his expression: "That time you were standing at his feet talking to him, you seemed to know him very well, and he didn't chase you away even though you asked a bunch of questions. And you actually said you didn't know him?"

"I really don't know him."

To be honest, Conan Edogawa didn't even know the other person's name.

"I had only seen him before, and he helped me up after I was bumped into at the event. I wanted to thank him, so I went over to him..."

"Where did you meet him?" Matsuda Jinpei pressed.

It was rare for Conan Edogawa to be questioned so probingly, and he was unusually sweating profusely. He was about to speak when he suddenly realized something.

He first truly met the other person three years ago at Shinji Hojo's funeral. At that time, the man stood at the door, and Rei Furuya, the Public Security Officer disguised as a home economics teacher, immediately followed him out.

At the last game launch event, an explosion had just occurred on site, and instead of staying to maintain order, Rei Furuya immediately went out to find people after hearing his description.

Because Rei Furuya knew the other person, Conan Edogawa always assumed that the man was also a public security officer.

But now, Officer Matsuda's attitude...

He went to the game launch event with Inspector Furuya, so they're obviously friends. If he's curious about that man, he could simply ask Inspector Furuya.

Although his identity as a police officer must be kept secret, Officer Matsuda is very reliable and has even had direct contact with the person. It wouldn't be difficult for him to hint that this person is a colleague.

But Rei Furuya didn't do that. Not only that, Officer Matsuda, who had been saved by the other party once, became even more wary.

Could it be that……

Matsuda Jinpei looked at the boy's increasingly pale face, and in surprise, raised his hand and touched his head.

"Hey kid, what's on your mind?"

Conan Edogawa shuddered, looked up abruptly, and met Jinpei Matsuda's gaze, which held a mixture of inquiry and suspicion.

“I… met him in the port area.” His mind raced. “There was a car accident at the intersection that night, and many people stopped to watch, but he kept walking without turning his head, so I remembered him.”

He wasn't lying. That day, Yukiko Kudo disguised herself as Fumiyo Edogawa to deceive him. He was the one who caused the car accident. He took advantage of the chaos to escape from the car and met the man on the roadside.

"..."

Matsuda Jinpei stared at him steadily.

As a seasoned detective, he immediately noticed that Conan Edogawa was hiding something. The kid may be smart, but his acting skills are really lacking.

"Which day exactly?" he followed up with more questions.

"The day of the Shi Kao Bing case." Conan Edogawa answered smoothly this time, "I had something I wanted to talk to Mr. Aoyagi about, so I went to the port area myself and met him near the agreed-upon location."

Matsuda Jinpei said, "Oh, this case must have caused quite a stir. Instead of resting properly after you got back, you were running around everywhere? The FBI didn't even come to pick you up; they made you go there on your own?"

Conan Edogawa chuckled awkwardly, "I'm a kid, so I have a lot of energy. Besides, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision; I only thought of contacting Mr. Aoyagi halfway through."

Matsuda Jinpei nodded and stood up again.

Actually, he didn't believe Conan Edogawa's words. He just knew from the child's attitude that he wouldn't get any more information out of him now, and the murder case in front of him had to be dealt with.

At that moment, Takagi Wataru walked over. He stood there for a while before approaching them, only after they finished their conversation.

"Matsuda, the on-site investigation is almost complete. We're going to start questioning people now. Are you going over there?"

"I'll go right now." Matsuda Jinpei took the scene record from him, then turned to Edogawa Conan. "Could you please keep an eye on this kid and make sure he doesn't touch anything at the scene?" "Huh? Okay."

Takagi Wataru was taken aback for a moment, then immediately replied.

Matsuda Jinpei walked away without looking back, and Edogawa Conan watched his retreating figure, feeling as if a stone was pressing on his heart.

“Conan-kun.” Takagi Wataru lowered his head. Although Matsuda Jinpei’s tone when giving instructions was not very polite, he would not speak to a child in the same tone. “I’ll take you downstairs. Mr. Mori and the others should be waiting for you.”

"Wait, Officer Takagi."

Conan Edogawa quickly grabbed the honest policeman, whose temper was ten times better and easier to fool than Jinpei Matsuda's: "You haven't replied to my emails all afternoon. Is it because of another case that Inspector Megure is investigating?"

Takagi Wataru nodded good-naturedly: "Yes, shortly after you sent the email, the Metropolitan Police Department received a tip-off that they knew who stole the Japanese gunpowder depot. We spent an afternoon catching the person and bringing them back. Inspector Megure and the others are interrogating them."

Conan Edogawa was puzzled: "The gunpowder depot theft is a major case, why wasn't there any news about it after the culprit was caught?"

"This one……"

Takagi Wataru looked around and lowered his voice, saying, "Because the whistleblower said that the perpetrator planned to plant bombs on the railway tracks, and in order to avoid causing public panic, he hoped that we would investigate thoroughly before making the announcement."

No wonder he didn't see any related news when he was browsing the news on his phone in the afternoon.

However, this is a good thing. The criminal was caught before he actually caused the explosion, which minimized the loss of life and property. It's just unknown who the whistleblower was.

As Conan Edogawa thought about this, he suddenly grasped a key point.

"Officer Takagi, I remember Officer Matsuda used to be in the explosives disposal unit. Wouldn't it be better if he handled cases involving gunpowder? Why is he the one handling this murder case?"

Takagi Wataru answered every question without the slightest impatience.

“Because of that prank bomb photo you posted.” He sighed. “I heard from Matsuda that it looks exactly like a bomb design from three years ago, and he’s particularly concerned about it.”

……

Meanwhile, downstairs.

Matsuda Jinpei had come over to ask for more details about the prank bomb, but when he entered the room that had been requisitioned as a temporary interrogation room, he found that someone was missing.

He took the information recorded by the other officers and asked as he read it, "Where is the head of the household?"

“Um… I left my heart medication in the car, and my husband said he’s going to get it,” Mrs. Guoyou said cautiously, raising her hand.

Matsuda Jinpei had seen many suspects like this who liked to wander around the scene. He looked at the nervous woman in front of him, then turned to his colleague next to him.

The young officer, feeling the pressure of his gaze, tensed up: "The couple and the driver have clear alibis, and the other suspects are all here, so..."

"So it won't be a problem if he leaves for a little while, right?" Matsuda Jinhei replied expressionlessly. "He went alone?"

"Yes, we didn't have enough manpower this time, so we didn't send anyone with us."

"..." Matsuda Jinpei took a deep breath silently. "Where is the garage? I'll go take a look."

A few minutes later.

Matsuda Jinpei stood at the garage entrance, before him lay Kunitomo Junta, staring wide-eyed on the ground.

Just a few steps away from them was an open medicine bottle and a piece of powder that had clearly been trampled and crushed.

"..."

Matsuda Jinpei watched this scene in silence. Suddenly, he caught something out of the corner of his eye and abruptly turned in a certain direction.

A surveillance camera stood silently pointed at him, its lens gleaming in the light of a nearby streetlamp. (End of Chapter)