Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 399 Breakthrough in the Case
"Chief, that Okabe is indeed a key figure in the corruption, just like Teshima!" Kuroki reported to Shiraishi in the chief's office.

Although Shiraishi could be said to be "directing the search" at the hotel, in order not to alert the suspects, he did not stay at the hotel to work, but went to the police station instead.

"Hmm, not bad. You played a big role in Doi's case before. As expected, he listened when you tried to persuade him." Shiraishi nodded approvingly.

Kuroki was slightly embarrassed, but of course he wouldn't bring up the matter of the Arakawa Group's help in the open—if Doi's mouth didn't open up soon, his "mouth" below might, and he wouldn't be able to explain himself so easily.

"But does this Okabe have an alibi?" Shiraishi added—he had heard Kuroki mention this person before.

“That’s right. Putting aside the other two cases, his alibi is also problematic in Teshima’s case!” Kuroki said, somewhat agitated.

This provided a breakthrough in the case.

"Oh?" Shiraishi took it to heart upon hearing this.

Kuroki also explained, "His alibi was based on a phone call from his ex-girlfriend to his home, which he did answer. Considering the distance between the crime scene and his home, his alibi was valid. Moreover, there was a third person present at the time..."

"During our investigation, we found that his ex-girlfriend, Honda Chizuru, did not have any motive to give false testimony. However, the problem now is this third party!"

"Inoue Hiroyo was a mutual friend of Honda and Tejima. It was Inoue who encouraged Honda Chizuru to call Okabe after drinking that day."

"However, we learned from Doiguchi that the restaurant run by Inoue Hiroyo had assisted the Civil Engineering Development Bureau in money laundering, so Inoue himself may very well be one of the participants in the case."

"Moreover, Honda Chizuru was drunk when she made the call. If Inoue could simply change the phone's address book, she would think she had called Okabe's house, when in fact it was his phone!"

"Although Okabe's refusal to reconcile angered Honda, causing her to throw her phone into the fish tank and break it, since it can be proven that Inoue is a person involved in the case, Section Chief Munakata has applied for a search warrant. After it is approved, we will go to the telecommunications company to retrieve the witness's call records from that day. I think that should be able to disprove the case."

After listening to Kuroki's words, Shiraishi nodded and said, "Well, in that case... you should also prepare yourself and go to the main store to cooperate with the search later."

"The...the main store?" Kuroki paused upon hearing this.

“That’s right. But while it’s called cooperating with the search, your main task is actually our own case. We’re just asking questions in their interrogation room,” Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

"This..." Kuroki's face stiffened, and he stammered, "Chief... um... Inspector Takei's side..."

"What does this have to do with Takei? I'm telling you to go to the Second Investigation Division and find Section Chief Chaki!" Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

Upon hearing this, Kuroki finally realized what was happening and breathed a sigh of relief—when he heard that they were going to the main store to assist in the search, he thought they would have to find a "team" or cooperate with Inspector Takei again...

The "Organized Crime Countermeasures Department" is Chief Shiraishi's "home base," so it's no problem for detectives from the Beika Police Station to go there, but...

The problem is that Kuroki had suspected Takei before because of Doi's case, and even arrested him!
For this reason, he was always hesitant to deal with Takei...

However, Shiraishi wasn't looking for a "team" this time at all, but rather the "Second Investigation Division"—corruption and bribery, which are official crimes, fall under the category of "intelligent crimes," which is within the jurisdiction of the "Second Investigation Division"!

Neither Okabe nor Inoue has been confirmed to be involved in the murder case yet, so the Beika Police Station's application for an arrest warrant will definitely not have any effect.

But with Doi's testimony, at least the Second Investigation Division was able to arrest them!

"Okay, go ahead. Remember to inform Okamoto-chan beforehand so he can cooperate with our work later," Shiraishi specifically instructed.

In fact, as long as the "Second Investigation Section" gets involved, Chief Okamoto doesn't need to cooperate at all—after all, the "Second Investigation Section" is responsible for this!

After Doi's arrest, the cover-up at the Civil Engineering Development Bureau was already on the verge of falling apart...

The main reason for informing Okamoto was to repay a favor, but it was important to be careful not to reveal too much, since Shiraishi wasn't just covering him up, but giving him time to make a decision.

After all, Okamoto is now the Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. If his subordinates are suddenly taken away by "Souji," he will not only lose face, but also be caught off guard.

……

After Kuroki left, Shiraishi also called Inspector Chaki.

"This is Chaki... Inspector Shiraishi, what brings you to call me today...? What? A credit? The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Civil Engineering Development Bureau...? Okay, I understand! Great... No problem... Have your people come after 2 PM..."

Section Chief Chaki of the Second Investigation Division already had a good relationship with the Suzuki family, especially with Ayako's uncle, Jirokichi, the advisor; both of them were graduates of Waseda University...

Shiraishi helped him find evidence of corruption in the Civil Engineering Development Bureau, and he took the opportunity to "inquire" about other cases. Chaki would definitely give him face.

Chaki didn't find the matter with the Civil Engineering Development Bureau difficult...

After all, Doi had already collapsed. Although some people wanted to protect him in the corruption case at the Civil Engineering Development Bureau, making the investigation difficult, it was something that the "Second Investigation Division" was happy to investigate and had indeed been investigating all along. They just hadn't been able to get Doi to talk before!

The fact that the Mikasa Police Station delivered the goods was a favor in itself, so Chaki naturally reciprocated by taking the risk of being "investigated separately"—he was arrested by the Second Investigation Division for bribery and embezzlement, but was later interrogated by the local police station about a murder case. This kind of "separate investigation" is actually not in accordance with regulations...

However, if it really needs to be done, there are ways.

After Chaki hung up the phone, he called over the police inspector and told him about the case. He also instructed him to "do the right thing" for the Beika Police Station. The officers from the Second Investigation Division would be present and would emphasize to the suspect that they were "just asking a few questions," and then symbolically interrupt the questioning a few times to show that they were not cooperating with a separate investigation.

There's no need for Chaki to say such things outright.

……

After that, Shiraishi was waiting for the analysis results of the red wine at the hotel—what exactly was injected into it would directly affect the nature of the incident!

Was it just ordinary stalking and harassment, or was there really an attempt to kill?
If it's a lethal poison, then it's certain that someone wants Ms. Takayama dead. Conversely, if it's just a laxative or something similar, it could be considered a malicious joke... Generally, the destructive power of a "stalker" is only this much.

However, it took a whole day to get the analysis results!

It's not because it's difficult, but because the toxin components cannot be analyzed, so it's impossible to determine what the other party injected into it—after all, the test can only compare with known substances. Currently, it can be proven that there are at least no common toxins such as cyanide, arsenic, or tetrodotoxin in it.

By the time Shiraishi finished get off work, the test results were still pending, but Kuroki had made a breakthrough! After being suspected, Inoue Hiroyo, who had given false testimony, confessed immediately—this is why most murderers, when trying to create a false impression, would rather show off their skills than ask a second person for help…

The crime of "murder" is too easily betrayed by the party with lesser guilt!
After Inoue confessed, Okabe also couldn't withstand the interrogation and admitted to murder.

In this way, the person was directly pulled to the "Search One" side.

Although it is said that "first come, first served", since there is a murder charge, especially one related to an ongoing "serial murder case", no matter how bureaucratic "Search 2" is, they have to let the person come over so that "Search 1" can investigate first.

……

Ninomiya was in a meeting at the "Investigation Headquarters" at that moment, scolding these good-for-nothing bastards—after all, it was Monday, and if he didn't reprimand his subordinates at the morning meeting, he would feel like he was a useless leader.

Just then, Inspector Megure knocked on the door and came in, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"Inspector Megure? Weren't you seconded to the Beika Police Station? What? Chief Shiraishi isn't going to tell me now that the investigation is going in the wrong direction, is he?" Ninomiya asked sarcastically.

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure said somewhat awkwardly, "No, actually... the Beika Police Department has already caught the culprit in the third murder case. He's already in the interrogation room of the First Investigation Division at the headquarters. Should we go and ask him about it?"

Ninomiya: ...

There's really nothing to ask!

Unlike the false alibi in the third murder case, Okabe's alibi was very clear in the first two murder cases, whether it was the housewife being murdered or the company employee being murdered. There was even one case where he was at a meeting at the Civil Engineering Development Bureau at night, leaving little room for forgery.

Moreover, the Miho Police Station had already obtained the results during the interrogation—the three cases were committed by different perpetrators!
They met on the dark web and didn't know each other's real-world identities. The only thing the four of them had in common was that they all had someone they wanted to kill...

As for the coordinates and coded messages, the four of them placed them at the agreed-upon locations before committing the crime, and then took each other's coded messages.

The fourth murderer used the same coded note left by the first murderer—once the fourth murder occurred, the four coordinates would cycle, and this "pseudo-serial murder case" would come to an end.

In order not to alert a fourth perpetrator, the publicly stated reason for the arrest remains "corruption."

Given that "they didn't know each other's identities," the fourth murderer probably wouldn't have realized that "a link in the chain had been broken"!
The reason for notifying the "Investigation Headquarters" was to allow them to change the direction of their investigation and begin investigating the other two murder cases as independent cases as well...

After Ninomiya hurriedly made a phone call to Department Head Odagiri, his face turned purple – he really hadn't made a mistake!

So, the "investigation headquarters" that I led had been investigating here for so long, but in the end, it was the Mika Police Station that caught the murderer first?

even……

The suspect was taken directly to headquarters!
In other words, from the perspective of the Criminal Investigation Department, it was Ninomiya who went out and took the lead in establishing the "Investigation Headquarters," investigated for a long time without any results, and finally all the suspects were arrested and taken to the Metropolitan Police Department. Ninomiya was the last to know about it.

However, since things had come to this point, Ninomiya had no choice but to bite the bullet and go back to interrogate the suspect...

Okabe, of course, insisted that he had only killed one person, and it certainly didn't seem like a lie. In fact, this also meant that the other two cases weren't without leads, especially the first one!
The first victim was a housewife. Police had uncovered evidence of her infidelity, and although her husband claimed ignorance, various circumstances indicated otherwise…

It's just like Okabe's situation before!
When the first murder occurred, the husband only had a vague alibi. If it weren't for the second and third murders that followed, the police would have focused most of their criminal investigation efforts on him, and the case would likely have been solved by now.

It was precisely because the husbands had very strong alibis in the latter two cases that the police's attention was drawn away.

Now that Okabe has been arrested and it has been confirmed that multiple perpetrators were behind the crime, suspicion against him has increased dramatically, and he was issued an arrest warrant that same day!
……

However, the Mihana Bureau encountered a small problem at this time.

The bottle of red wine still hadn't yielded a result by evening, so Shiraishi had no choice but to trouble Ai...

Ai should be very professional in this area.

"Testing for poison?" Ai frowned as she looked at the test tube of red wine sample that Shiraishi had handed her.

"That's right, the department's technical capabilities are limited. After all, this kind of testing can only be done by slowly verifying known components. What if it's a toxin that the department has no experience with... Hmm?"

Shiraishi was halfway through his story when he noticed that Ai had already taken out half of it, picked up a small white mouse with her bare hands, and fed it to him...

"So, we just need to determine whether it's fatal or not, right?" Ai said calmly.

Shiraishi:……

No wonder she's called the "bad woman of the Black Organization"—she's a professional at doing this kind of thing!

Ai seemed to sense Shiraishi's "malice" at this moment, turned to look at him and said, "Actually, you can do it yourself, right?"

Shiraishi:? ? ?
“Unless it’s some kind of deadly poison that will kill you instantly, most toxins shouldn’t kill you outright. And didn’t you say you could feel a slight side effect? ​​Why don’t you just try a drop first?” Ai said matter-of-factly.

"No, no, no, that's too unprofessional and unrigorous... Let's use lab mice instead..." Shiraishi grinned upon hearing this.

No matter how confident you are, you can't try this!

And what if even a single drop is a lethal dose?
"Don't worry, the drug that enhances the binding ability of nerve tissue to antitoxins is already under development..." Xiao Ai said, revealing her true intentions.

"Speaking of which... aren't you a little too interested in my body? Is your current research focus really still on APTX4869?" Shiraishi asked suspiciously.

To say that she was "protecting herself" could be an excuse; she could say that she just happened to obtain the data on the abnormal drug and developed it on the spur of the moment, so that if she died, she wouldn't be left without protection.

However, Ai's research focus seems to have become a bit off-track afterward!

Shiraishi's powerful physique gave Ai more possibilities; some medicines that couldn't be used on ordinary people could be tried on Shiraishi...

(End of this chapter)