Ke Xue: The thief Cao is actually myself

Chapter 646 Whoever talks back is the suspect! (Please give me a monthly ticket!)

"Don't spout blood!"

Hearing everyone's doubts, Takasugi Toshihiko's face instantly changed like a chameleon, turning pale and blue, and beads of sweat on his forehead kept rolling down like beads that had broken off a string. He tried his best to remain calm, but his voice couldn't help but tremble slightly, and he said with a hint of panic that he couldn't hide: "How could I be the murderer? I was just discussing the matter. When I saw the evidence pointing to Miss Sonoko, I naturally suspected her."

Bai Ye raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and sneered. There was a bit of disdain in that smile, as if he was mocking Takasugi Toshihiko's dying struggle, and said: "In this case, let's take a closer look at the case. Forensic personnel clearly pointed out that sodium hydroxide was put into lemon tea in capsules. The purpose of this is obviously to confuse the time of poisoning. If Sonoko is the murderer, why did she use such a complicated and cumbersome method? Wouldn't it be simpler and more convenient to poison directly? Besides, how could she be so stupid as to leave her fingerprints on the jar, but deliberately avoid the scene of herself touching lemon tea in the video? Isn't this contradictory?"

Matsumoto Kiyonaga nodded in agreement, his eyes shot towards Takasugi Toshihiko as sharp as a hawk, and he said in a deep voice: "What Detective Bai Ye said is absolutely right. There are many doubts. We can't hastily conclude that Miss Sonoko is the murderer based on just one fingerprint. Such a simplistic and crude judgment will only let the real murderer go unpunished."

Takasugi Toshihiko's forehead was already covered with fine beads of sweat. He clenched his teeth, a trace of determination flashed in his eyes, and tried to refute again: "Maybe Miss Sonoko did it on purpose, she just wanted to confuse the public? You can't just rule her out as a suspect so easily!"

Bai Ye raised his eyebrows slightly, his expression calm, his eyes seemed to be able to see through every struggle and calculation in Takasugi Toshihiko's heart, and responded: "Mr. Takasugi, this is just groundless speculation, without any logic or factual basis. If Sonoko really wanted to confuse people, with her wisdom, she should have done it more covertly and cleverly, and would not leave such obvious and contradictory clues, which would be like deliberately exposing herself. Moreover, from the perspective of criminal psychology, the real murderer will usually be careful to avoid becoming the focus as much as possible. But looking at your performance just now, you seem to be eager to draw everyone's attention to Sonoko, as if you can't wait to convict her. Don't you think this is very strange? How do I see it, your reaction is more like a guilty conscience, trying to divert attention."

Conan also pushed his glasses aside, and a cold light flashed through the lenses. His sharp eyes seemed to be able to penetrate Takasugi Toshihiko's disguise, and he said, "Yes, compared to Sister Sonoko, Uncle Takasugi, you seem to be more suspicious. You know, it can be clearly seen from the video that your behavior was extremely unnatural before and after Teacher Matsumoto was poisoned. First, you paid too much attention to Teacher Matsumoto's behavior of drinking lemon tea, and your eyes revealed a strange tension; then when she was poisoned, your reaction seemed too excited, and it didn't seem like you were simply worried about the safety of your fiancée. In my opinion, compared to Sister Sonoko, you seem to be a more serious suspect!"

Takasugi Toshihiko's face turned pale as paper in an instant, as if all the blood had been drained out of it. His body trembled slightly uncontrollably, but he still insisted, "It's just because I care too much about Sayuri that I keep a close eye on her every move. You can't just assume there's something wrong with me based on these unfounded speculations!"

Bai Ye stared at Takasugi Toshihiko, his eyes like a sharp hawk, pressing on step by step: "Oh? Really? But why have all the suspicious signs pointed to you without exception since the case happened? If you say that all this is just because you care too much about Miss Matsumoto's performance, I'm afraid it doesn't make sense anyway, right?"

Conan nodded heavily. "Yes, these coincidences together, aren't they enough to arouse our suspicion?"

Hearing this, everyone once again cast their suspicious eyes towards Takasugi Toshihiko.

Seeing this, Takasugi Toshihiko's face turned even paler, and his hands began to tremble unconsciously. However, he still tried to remain calm, but his voice was already a little broken: "You...you are just making groundless guesses, there is no solid evidence at all! You can't convict me based on these groundless rumors!"

"Sayuri and I are getting married soon, why would I hurt her?"

As he spoke, Takasugi Toshihiko seemed to have regained some confidence from this argument. He not only gradually regained his composure, but also looked righteous. "Besides, you just said that there are only Miss Sonoko's fingerprints on this jar. No, there are also Sayuri's fingerprints. There are only two fingerprints in total. What makes you think that it was me who poisoned it when I clearly didn't leave any fingerprints on it? Why couldn't it be Miss Sonoko who poisoned it, or Sayuri herself? You suspect me of being the murderer without any solid evidence. Believe it or not, I'll sue you for defamation!"

Bai Ye smiled slightly, with a kind of all-seeing confidence in his smile, "Since I dare to assert this, I have evidence."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was stunned, and their eyes were instantly focused on Bai Ye. The air in the room seemed to freeze at this moment, and everyone held their breath, waiting for Bai Ye to reveal the key evidence.

Bai Ye pointed at the sealed bag of capsules beside him and said calmly, "I think everyone thinks that the suspect put the poisonous capsules into the lemon tea fifteen minutes before Miss Matsumoto fainted, right?"

Officer Megure touched his chin and continued, "Yes, because according to common sense, it takes fifteen or sixteen minutes for the capsule to melt and release the toxin. This is the conclusion reached by the forensic personnel after scientific analysis, and we have been using this as the basis for inferring the case."

Bai Ye nodded, affirming what Officer Megure said: "Of course, there is nothing wrong with this inference! Under normal circumstances, such reasoning is reasonable."

When he said this, he paused and deliberately kept everyone in suspense, whetting everyone's appetite. "But the premise of all this is that there is really poison in the capsule."

Everyone was stunned, with confusion on their faces.

Seeing this, Bai Ye continued to explain: "Maybe everyone thinks that the poison is placed in the capsule, but what we know is that there is only a capsule floating in the poisonous lemon tea. There is an essential difference between the two."

Officer Megure was shocked. Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, and a bold speculation came to his mind, "So, could the criminal be..."

Bai Ye looked at Takasugi Toshihiko firmly and said firmly, "That's right. He put the poison and the dissolved capsule separately. The poison and the capsule were put in separately. The real murderer did this on purpose to make us misjudge the time of the poisoning and make the police think that the person who touched the drink can 15 minutes before Miss Matsumoto fell down was the murderer. So what Mr. Umemiya just said about being cleared of suspicion with the groom is completely untrue. This is just a trap carefully laid by the real murderer to mislead the direction of our investigation."

Officer Megure cast a suspicious look at Umemiya and others standing aside, and said seriously: "If that is true, then you guys may also be suspects!"

Umemiya panicked and said hurriedly, "Wait a minute, what he said is just another speculation. The poison may still be in the capsule, right? You can't doubt us based on his one-sided statement!"

Bai Ye's expression remained unchanged, and he responded calmly: "It doesn't matter, I have evidence."

Everyone asked in unison: "Evidence?"

Bai Ye said calmly: "It's in the videotape shot by Xiaolan."

As he spoke, he skillfully took the remote control and froze the screen on one frame. "Pay attention to this scene. Just after Mr. Umemiya put the flower ribbon on the straw, Ms. Matsumoto put the lemon tea on the table. Then Sonoko said that the VCR was out of battery. Then she pointed the VCR at the table and ran out to buy batteries." "But when Sonoko ran out, she didn't take her bottle of lemon tea with her, because her lemon tea was also put on the table."

"Please look carefully at the lemon tea can in the video. Is the orientation of the label different?"

Bai Ye put down the play button steadily, and everyone couldn't help but exclaim. In the picture, Sayuri Matsumoto was picking up a bottle of lemon tea, and behind this bottle of lemon tea, there was another bottle of lemon tea. The directions of the labels of the two bottles of lemon tea were obviously different.

Bai Ye turned his head slightly, looked at Mao Lilan gently, and asked softly: "Xiao Lan, do you remember where the bottle of lemon tea that Yuanzi drank at that time was?"

Mao Lilan frowned slightly, her eyes revealing an expression of trying hard to recall. After a moment, she slowly said: "At that time, Sonoko did put the drink on the table. Could it be... could it be that the can belonged to Sonoko?"

Bai Ye nodded affirmatively and said in a firm tone, "That's right, we only saw one can because the two cans overlapped. In other words, Miss Matsumoto accidentally took the wrong lemon tea. The one she ended up holding was not her original bottle, but the lemon tea that Sonoko had drunk. The evidence is that on the can of lemon tea that Miss Matsumoto drank, there were fingerprints of Miss Ichimi, Superintendent Matsumoto, and Mr. Umemiya, while on the other bottle of poisoned lemon tea, there were no fingerprints of theirs, only Sonoko's fingerprints. This is the flaw that the real murderer deliberately left behind in an attempt to frame Sonoko."

The police officer from the Identification Department was shocked and said, "Detective Bai Ye, you are absolutely right. We only paid attention to the fingerprints on the poisonous jar, but ignored the details of the two bottles of lemon tea. Your observation is really sharp."

Officer Megure suddenly realized and said, "I see, that's why there are no fingerprints of Inspector Matsumoto and Umemiya on the poison jar!"

Hearing this, Takasugi Toshihiko's face immediately turned very ugly, sweat began to seep out of his forehead and back, and his white suit was soon wet.

Superintendent Matsumoto glanced coldly at Takasugi Toshihiko, whose face was ashen, and asked solemnly and angrily, "After my daughter took the wrong thing and fell down, someone put the poison and the dissolved capsule into the lemon tea jar separately, right?"

At this point, he has finally realized that there is indeed something wrong with his future son-in-law!

Moreover, the problem is not just serious!

In fact, it is very likely that he is the culprit who murdered his precious daughter.

At this moment, the anger in Inspector Matsumoto's heart was like surging magma, almost bursting out.

However, his years of experience and his calmness as a police inspector prevented him from acting rashly.

After all, although many clues point to Takasugi Toshihiko, all anger must be suppressed until conclusive evidence is obtained.

Because solving a case must be treated with a rigorous attitude, and the investigation of the case cannot be disrupted due to momentary impulse.

Bai Ye answered affirmatively, "That's right. The people around Miss Matsumoto at that time were Conan, Mr. Takasugi, me, Xiaolan, and Sonoko. If Conan is excluded, when Xiaolan and Sonoko came back from buying batteries, the can of drink was held by Mr. Takasugi, and then Miss Matsumoto took it away directly, so Xiaolan, Sonoko, and I could not have poisoned her."

Inspector Megure cast his gaze towards Takasugi Toshihiko, his eyes full of suspicion and scrutiny: "Then, it can only be him."

Hearing this, Bai Ye didn't say anything, but Conan on the side shook his head and said, "No, there is another person, that is Aunt Matsumoto herself."

Everyone was shocked and gasped, "Ah! Could this case be a suicide?"

"No, not suicide!"

Bai Ye shook his head solemnly and continued, "Because, if Miss Matsumoto poisoned herself to commit suicide, she should have put it before she fell. If so, there should be something indispensable."

Officer Megure thought for a moment and realized, "It means a sealed container and a desiccant, right? Sodium hydroxide is a very dangerous substance. After being exposed to the air for a few minutes, it will completely turn into a liquefied dangerous drug. Miss Matsumoto has been staying in this room. If she wants to keep it safe, then she needs a container with a desiccant."

Bai Ye nodded in agreement, "Yes, Officer Megure, your analysis is correct. But... the container was found in the trash can under the corridor..."

Everyone instantly understood what Bai Ye meant, and expressions of shock appeared on their faces.

Bai Ye stared at Takasugi Toshihiko with a sharp gaze and said loudly, "This means that someone other than Miss Matsumoto brought the poison into this room. In other words, the person who poisoned the lemon tea was you, Mr. Takasugi!"

"Except for you, no one else has the conditions and motive to commit such a crime!"

(End of this chapter)