Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 398 I have acquaintances inside!
After listening to Kuroki's report, Shiraishi asked directly, "That's all?"

"Uh...yes, I'm sorry..." Kuroki said guiltily.

If any other chief had said this, the detectives under him might have been unhappy that they were talking without understanding the situation. However, Kuroki didn't have such thoughts. After all, Chief Shiraishi's frontline abilities were evident to all, and in this case, Chief Shiraishi had already fulfilled his duties as chief.

They can even question the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, what more do they want?
If anyone else had something to say about this, other police stations... even detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department would have to criticize him for not knowing how lucky he is!

only……

Kuroki indeed couldn't find out more, firstly because of time constraints, and secondly because although Vice Minister Okamoto allowed him to come in and investigate and question some employees out of respect for Shiraishi, he wasn't fully cooperating. Even if he could tell that some people were holding back, he couldn't do anything to them.

At this moment, Kuroki did not emphasize the objective reasons to Shiraishi, but Shiraishi reminded him meaningfully: "Detective Kuroki, think about it carefully again. Where exactly is the root of this case? And... why did I ask you to go to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to investigate?"

"Eh? Yes..." Kuroki didn't understand for a moment, but still responded.

Because he at least understood that the reason why Director Shiraishi spoke in such a cryptic manner was to "hint" at him. Since he chose to hint, there must be a reason why he couldn't say it too explicitly!
After hanging up the phone, Kuroki also began to think about what the chief had said...

"The root of the case..." Kuroki muttered to himself.

Kanzaki, who was driving, then reminded him, "The root of the problem that the chief mentioned should be referring to the Doi case, right?"

Indeed, if Teshima died because of a bribery case, then the source of this bribery was actually Doi. It was this director who became corrupt first, which led to a large-scale bribery case in the Civil Engineering Development Bureau, and Teshima became the scapegoat!

It's not surprising that Shiraishi would mention the Doi case, since it was ultimately solved by the Beika Police Station. Chief Shiraishi was even injured in an explosion while protecting Doi's family and the two detectives from the First Investigative Division who were present, and he had to take a break for almost half a week...

"The Doi case...so the root of the problem lies with Doi! Chief Okamoto also said before that it was mainly because Doi was not cooperating..." Kuroki was now going through this clue.

Generally speaking, that's about it.

Kanzaki pondered for a moment and said, "By the way, were Doi's wife and secretary involved in the case? Could they know something?"

Kuroki rolled his eyes and said, "My foolish brother... Doi actually tried to blow up his own wife and secretary to silence them and lessen his own suspicion. How could someone like that possibly let his wife and secretary know anything?"

"Then...should we go to the prison to interrogate him? If we ask the warden to put in a good word, Beika Prison definitely won't stop us." Kanzaki thought of this at that moment.

“Even Chief Okamoto and the guys from the Second Investigation Division of the main store couldn’t get anything out of him, so what good would it do us to ask him? Besides, if the clues were here, the chief would have already contacted the prison… Wait! The prison?” Kuroki’s expression shifted at this moment, as if he had thought of something.

"What's wrong?" Kanzaki asked quickly upon seeing this.

“We’re not going to prison, we’re going to… Kamurocho!” Kuroki said firmly.

"Huh? You're going to see those guys again?" Kanzaki frowned upon hearing this—in his opinion, there were no good people in violent organizations, and the Arakawa Group guys were no exception!
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Kuroki said dismissively.

Seeing his attitude, Kanzaki became even more suspicious: "What are you going to do? Wait... prison... you wouldn't be thinking of... no, no, no... Section Chief Kunikida... even if Section Chief Kunikida is gone, you can't do this!"

Kanzaki then realized what was happening...

Originally, they were going to the prison to ask Doi, but suddenly Kuroki, acting like a genius, decided to go to the Arakawa Group.

What else could be the reason?
Of course, we should ask the "brothers" of the Arakawa Group in prison to treat Doi well and loosen his tongue first!
Although Doi has been inside for half a year and certainly doesn't know what's going on outside, getting him to name the people in the Civil Engineering Development Bureau involved and the severity of their cases will immediately clarify the nature of the investigation...

……

That evening, before Yamagishi got off work, he saw Katagiri walking towards him.

Seeing this, Teng immediately stared at her nervously, but this time...

Although she was still wearing sunglasses, Katagiri's steps became noticeably lighter, and she didn't even use a cane. She didn't look like a blind person at all; it seemed like... she wasn't pretending anymore?

"Katagiri... Mrs.?" Yamagishi looked at the woman in front of him with a strange expression.

Katagiri then smiled and said, "Sorry, did I scare you earlier? And your colleague... probably already noticed that I'm not actually blind. Wearing gloves does look strange, but it's to cover up the burns..."

"Eh? What's this...?" Yamagishi was taken aback upon hearing this.

“Actually, my husband is coming to Tokyo tomorrow to see an old friend. My husband is actually blind, and he is even more perceptive than me in terms of ‘intuition.’ He is quite neurotic, but because of his pride, he won’t let me come along, so I’m really worried about him…” Katagiri then began to explain.

Upon hearing this, Yamagishi secretly breathed a sigh of relief and asked with a touch of emotion, "So, you've come to check on the hotel for the gentleman?"

“Yes, I’m sorry to have caused you trouble.” Katagiri nodded.

“I should be the one apologizing. Actually, I did have some doubts. Could it be that you were planning something bad… So, are you satisfied with our hotel?” Yamagishi asked, relaxing.

“Of course, you’ve granted all my capricious requests. My husband’s name is also Katagiri, so I’ll entrust him to your care.” Katagiri said, shaking Yamagishi’s hand.

Katagiri then turned around, looked at Fuji who was still somewhat wary, and smiled, saying, "And you... little girl, you don't need to make that scary face anymore. I won't hurt her."

"No, I was just reflecting on myself," Fujiya said with a sigh of relief.

As Katagiri left the hotel, Yamagishi looked at Fuji with a hint of pride, as if to say, "See? I told you there was no problem." Fuji simply rolled his eyes at him.

However, what the two didn't see was...

Just as Katagiri was leaving the hotel, the narcissistic man who had just (thought) to have been dumped by Anno suddenly jolted as if electrocuted, and immediately came over to help Katagiri with his luggage.

"Madam, let me help you..."

Others were already used to his narcissistic eccentricities—whether it was an old lady or a little girl, it wasn't the first time he'd fallen in love with someone!
……

April 10th, Monday, early morning.

The Mori family was also reluctantly checking out.

Mori was reluctant to leave, of course, because of the free lounge, while Conan was reluctant to leave because the Beika Police Station was still there—the culprit hadn't been caught yet!

Of course, Shiraishi suspected that it might be because no murders had occurred at his hotel, and he always felt something was missing. Just then, Ms. Takayama, who was about to hold her wedding at the hotel, also passed by the front desk. Yamagishi saw her and went up to greet her, saying, "Ms. Takayama, you have a gift to deposit."

"Hmm? Who sent the gift?" Gao Shan asked, somewhat surprised.

"The name left on the package is Takeru Satoh," Yamagishi said, taking out a wine gift box.

“Oh, it’s Jian… Thank you.” Gao Shan said, accepting the gift box.

But just then, Conan, who had caught a glimpse of this scene, suddenly changed his expression and quickly said, "Uncle, isn't that wrapping paper from the Azalea Department Store? It was the same kind of wrapping paper when you gave the auntie at the bar a gift last time!"

"Hmm? Giving a gift to the auntie at the tavern?" Xiaolan immediately looked over, noticing something.

"Uh...no! What nonsense are you talking about, kid?" Mori was both anxious and annoyed.

“I remember now… Last month, there was a client who didn’t settle the bill, right, Dad?” Ran’s gaze toward Mori grew increasingly hostile.

"Um...I...hehehe..." Mori was at a loss for words for a moment.

fortunately……

Mori's sacrifice was not in vain!

Conan's hint, which involved risking the future relationship between father-in-law and son-in-law, finally came in handy.

Upon hearing this, Fuji finally realized what was happening and stopped Takayama from taking the gift box: "Please wait a moment, Ms. Takayama, may we inspect this gift?"

"Huh?" Gaoshan was taken aback when she heard this—after all, she didn't know that Fuji was a police officer.

Even the mountain bank was looking at the vines with a puzzled expression.

"This packaging is from the department store, but the address on the shipping label isn't from the department store... Generally, it should be shipped directly from the department store. This one was taken home by someone first and then sent out. For your safety, it's best to confirm the gift with that friend first," Teng reasoned.

"Hmm... okay." Gao Shan's expression also turned serious at this moment.

Yamagishi had previously told Fuji that Takayama seemed to be troubled by this kind of thing, and now that Fuji had reminded him, he probably had a bad feeling about it too.

……

A moment later, Gao Shan was invited to the hotel's conference room, where she met...

"Chief Mika?" Although Gaoshan wasn't from Mika, he immediately recognized the little giant sitting in the chair.

At this time, on both sides of the white stone were hotel staff, including front desk receptionists, bag carriers, doormen, cleaners, security guards, and some "idle people".

Gao Shan even recognized one of the "idle people" as "Xiao Hei" who had been frequently seen in the hotel lobby recently—because Tian Shuyou was rather dark-skinned, Gao Shan had some recollection of him.

"Hello, Ms. Takayama, right? I just checked your and your husband's police reports and found that you reported a 'stalker' incident to the Ikebukuro Police Station a week ago, right?" Shiraishi asked directly.

“That’s right, but the people in Ikebukuro said they didn’t find anything…” Takayama said timidly.

"It seems that someone definitely wants to harm you... The specific composition of the red wine is still being analyzed, but it's already confirmed that there were needle holes on the cork, meaning someone injected something with an injectable substance," Shiraishi said confidently.

Gao Shan quickly added, "That's right! I also checked with my friend, and he didn't send a gift..."

"Yes, the shipping address is also fictitious. It seems that someone wants to harm you." Shiraishi nodded at this point.

Upon hearing this, Gao Shan tensed up and immediately asked, "Um... Director Mika, I'd like to ask, what's going on here...?"

The more familiar way people address Shiraishi is as "Chief Mika," which is like a nickname.

"To be honest, everyone here is actually an elite member of our department. For some reason, our department learned that a criminal is about to commit a crime at the Suzuki Hotel, so we've been keeping watch here... Miss Takayama is getting married tomorrow, right?" Shiraishi confirmed directly.

“That’s right…” Gao Shan looked very worried.

"As for the perpetrator... if he really exists and he was targeting you, Ms. Takayama, what impression do you have of his identity?" Shiraishi asked proactively.

Upon hearing this, Gao Shan shook his head in distress and said, "Maybe... it's a stalker?"

Indeed, Gao Shan is quite good-looking, so it's not surprising that she might have "stalkers".

"In that case... to be honest, if the murderer is really targeting Ms. Takayama, I personally suggest that we don't cancel the wedding yet. Our officers will also be mixed in with the wedding staff to provide protection."

“Otherwise, if the murderer gives up on committing the crime here, it will be even more difficult for us to predict his next move. Of course, if possible, we would still like to arrest him before the wedding,” Shiraishi suggested.

This is not for "merit," but precisely to protect the target!

Directly suggesting that the other party cancel the wedding is equivalent to "don't die at my doorstep"—although it is not yet certain why the murderer left clues pointing to the Suzuki Hotel, it is likely that the murderer is not as obsessive-compulsive as Kid. If he finds that there is no opportunity, he will most likely just change the place and time to kill.

Unless the killer's target is not a specific person, but simply to cause trouble at a certain time and place, Shiraishi would advise the other party to cancel the event. Otherwise, it is much easier to catch the thief in preparation than to "guard against thieves for a thousand days".

"Hmm! I also... don't want to cancel the wedding, and... is the culprit you mentioned really the person who was following me?" Gao Shan still had some doubts about this.

"Regarding this, the results of the wine analysis may serve as a reference." Shiraishi did not make a definitive statement.

……

At the hotel, the Mikasa Police Department's secret search mission was mostly focused on arrangements to "protect the wedding."

Meanwhile, outside the hotel, Kuroki's investigation has also yielded results!
As expected, after the brothers in prison gave Doi a little "care," his conscience cleared up considerably. When Kuroki questioned him, Doi easily revealed his accomplices—the dead Teshima was indeed not clean, but Okabe Tetsuharu, whom they had previously suspected, was indeed an accomplice. More importantly, Kuroki also learned a third name from Doi, which greatly advanced the case...

(End of this chapter)