Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 411 Shiraishi's Home Ground

"Brother Mori, and you guys... are you sensing something?" Inspector Megure looked helplessly at the Mori family of three.

Shiraishi is a police officer, and the chief of the neighboring town at that, so it's understandable that he would encounter cases...

How come you guys always seem to "coincidentally" encounter cases?
"Perhaps the case is calling me, the great detective," Mori said, putting on airs.

Xiaolan immediately exposed the truth: "Actually, it's because we got some discount flyers at the shopping street yesterday..."

Shiraishi then interjected, "Was Mr. Imai killed?"

"That's right, Brother Shiraishi, do you know the owner of this shop?" Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure quickly asked.

Although this isn't Beika Town, Megure didn't want to trouble Shiraishi, but...

If the victim is someone Shiraishi knows, then of course he wouldn't waste it!

"I guess so. When I was in school, I used to come here often for curry rice, but I haven't come here much since I became a police officer," Shiraishi nodded.

Shiraishi then remarked with emotion, "Back then, if it was closing time, Mr. Imai would still give me the leftover curry and rice... sigh."

"Please accept my condolences... Since you, Brother Shiraishi, also know the victim, would you like to come in and take a look?" When Megure saw that Shiraishi had brought this up, he knew that he wanted to see the victim, but since this was not Beika Town, he couldn't say it outright.

"Okay, I hope I can help." Shiraishi nodded.

"Let me take a look too! I'll definitely find the murderer for Boss Imai!" Mori volunteered.

Although Inspector Megure was speechless for a moment, he still nodded – after all, this wasn't the first time he had asked Mori for help, and now Inspector Megure believed that Mori had suddenly become a "famous detective".

"Sorry, I have to go for a bit, you guys..." Shiraishi said apologetically to Ayako and Satsuki.

We were only halfway through our conversation when Ayako immediately said, "Go ahead and get busy! I'll take Satsuki to another shop nearby. Ran and Conan, would you like to come along?"

Normally, Ayako would have said she would wait for Shiraishi outside or go buy some food nearby, but now that Satsuki was there, Ayako decided to take the initiative—since Shiraishi had something to do and couldn't make it, she would ask Satsuki to come instead… The host-guest relationship was clear!

Satsuki wanted to speak too, but she was too slow, so she could only nod and say, "Then Ayako and I will eat while we wait for you."

Seeing that the two were getting along well, Shiraishi nodded, then turned to say, "Also..."

Shiraishi looked toward the street corner, and following his gaze, Megure, Mori, and the others also saw a bearded man who didn't look like a good person peeking around the corner. However, after noticing Shiraishi looking over, he immediately left!

"Hey... wait! Sir!" Takagi wasn't a new detective, and upon seeing this, he immediately gave chase.

Bai Shi didn't seem inclined to give chase at this moment, but instead looked at another young man who was leading the blockade.

The other person seemed surprised to see the police cordon and asked nervously, "Officer Shiraishi, may I ask... what happened at the store?"

"Hmm? Who are you?" Inspector Megure looked at the young man with a probing gaze.

"Ah... I'm Kyoya Kishikawa, and I work at this shop." Kishikawa seemed a bit introverted. He then looked at Shiraishi and Ayako and said, "Officer Shiraishi, Ms. Ayako, it's been a long time."

Conan then glanced at Kishikawa's shoes...

Megure then noticed that Kishikawa greeted Shiraishi with great respect, unlike how he would treat ordinary regular customers.

“Yes, Shiraishi and I haven’t been here for a long time either. I didn’t expect this…” Ayako said regretfully.

Satsuki, standing to the side, asked in confusion, "Hmm? I remember this shop, wasn't it just owner Imai and his son? Did they hire other people afterwards?"

"Imai's son?" Ayako's tone was also puzzled.

Shiraishi then explained, "That was seven years ago... Imai left the shop, and Imai hired Kishikawa after that."

Shiraishi was well aware of this "personnel change," after all, he had been to this store before and after, and even... he knew Kishikawa from the beginning!

"Boss, is something wrong?" Kishikawa noticed something was amiss at that moment.

Seeing this, Inspector Megure said in a deep voice, "I regret to inform you that Mr. Imai has been murdered."

"What?" Kishikawa asked, feigning surprise.

"Ahem, let's go inside." Inspector Megure then noticed that some bystanders had gathered around, so he invited everyone to go inside first.

Upon hearing the head of the First Investigation Division say this, the patrol officers present had no objections and quickly pressed down the cordon tape.

The body was no longer there, but in the open kitchen, a circle of tape drawn in the shape of a human could be seen. Kishikawa looked at it immediately and a look of sadness appeared on his face...

“Mr. Imai… how could this be…” Kishikawa said sadly.

Shiraishi glanced at the body a few more times, noticing where it had fallen, and then asked Megure, "Was it killed by a severe blow to the head?"

“That’s right, it should be something like a stick… By the way, Mr. Imai, do you usually use a cane?” Megure said, his sharp eyes fixed on Kishikawa.

“Hmm, the boss doesn’t usually put down his cane… Huh? Didn’t you notice?” Kishikawa asked in surprise after noticing there was no cane around.

"No canes or anything like that were found."

Before this, Megure had learned from the first person to discover the problem, the vegetable vendor, that Mr. Imai usually had difficulty walking and would use a cane, but he didn't see it now.

Considering his fatal injury, Megure speculated that the murderer had stolen Imai's cane during the fight and then used it to beat Imai to death!

Of course, since no murder weapon or cane was found at the scene, it can only be "speculation".

"By the way, Mr. Kishikawa, could you take a look at the surveillance footage? Do you recognize any of these people, or do they look familiar?" Inspector Megure asked.

He showed him the surveillance footage, but it was all screenshots. It was clear that during the initial investigation, Souyi had already reviewed the footage and circled the suspects.

The screenshot appears to be from two surveillance cameras, one of which Shiraishi recognized as a camera he had seen on his way there.

"Is this surveillance footage from outside?" Shiraishi asked upon seeing this.

"Well, luckily the shop is in a residential building, and there are security cameras on the two main roads in the surrounding alleys..." Inspector Megure said with a sigh.

The surveillance cameras haven't been used in a long time!

Of course, this is only of some reference value, since neither of the two surveillance cameras is at the store entrance or next to it. Fortunately, the store's location is not very good, so these two cameras can confirm the entry and exit of a surrounding area.

"Hmm? This lady has been here twice before, and she should have an appointment today as well." Kishikawa recognized one of the photos at this moment.

"A reservation? Is it someone from this list?" Inspector Megure looked at the reservation list on the wall, where one of the names was Shiraishi. Hmm, why was it that his female companion made the reservation, but Shiraishi's name was listed?
Inspector Megure felt there was no need to delve into this matter.
“It should be this Ms. Matsubara,” Kishikawa said, pointing to a name above.

"11:30..." Inspector Megure glanced at her appointment time—although it was early, she entered the surveillance even earlier, at 10:00, which was within the possible time frame for the incident!

At the same time, Shiraishi looked at the screenshots and then pointed to one of the young men with a bandage wrapped around his head, saying, "This person... is Mr. Imai, right?"

Mr. Imai, of course, is the shop owner's son!

Seven years ago, something happened between the father and son. Imai left the store. Imai, the store owner, already had difficulty walking and couldn't finish all the work in the store, so he hired a helper, Kishikawa.

"Huh? Hmm...maybe so. I haven't seen him many times." Kishikawa paused before speaking.

"By the way... Mr. Kishikawa, do you usually come to work at this time as well?" Inspector Megure asked suspiciously.

It's already noon. Although the shop only starts serving lunch, it has been open for quite some time now if it were operating normally!

"Um... I accidentally overslept today." Kishikawa's reason seemed very simple.

At that moment, Conan tugged at Kishikawa's trouser leg and asked, "Kishikawa-nii, didn't the security cameras capture you?"

“Indeed…” Megure then looked at Kishikawa.

“I live in a rented room nearby,” Kishikawa explained.

The two surveillance cameras narrowed down the area to this location, but since Kishikawa never entered or left this area, he was not captured on camera.

Just then, Takagi walked in with a sheepish look on his face and reported, "Inspector Megure, I just saw a somewhat suspicious person, but I couldn't catch him."

Megure didn't blame anyone, since they weren't close at the time and he and Takagi barely saw each other's faces. The other person ran away immediately, so it was normal that Takagi couldn't catch up.

"Check the surveillance footage later; we should be able to find him." Inspector Megure wasn't in a hurry.

Shiraishi then interjected, "Go directly to the office at 15 4-chome and tell them to bring back the person from earlier."

"Eh? You know Shiraishi-kun?" Megure asked in a surprised tone, as if to say, "You know him too?"

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi humbly replied, "After all, this is Kamurocho... Although I don't know them personally, I have some impression of them. They should be from their group."

Megure, Takagi: ...

Group……

Alright, Takagi immediately realized that this "office" was the office of a violent organization!

Generally speaking, when these guys are involved in a case, they are the most fearless and will often respond passively to the police. After all, these violent organizations are usually knowledgeable about the law and sometimes they will even deliberately force the police to take the first step.

However, given Shiraishi's prestige in Kamurocho, if he simply told them that he had seen "that guy's" face, the other party would probably come back on his own.

"Inspector Megure, then I..." Takagi looked embarrassed, but after Megure gave him a wink, he had no choice but to obediently go to the address Shiraishi had given him.

He didn't even know which firm the address belonged to, so he could only bite the bullet and trust Shiraishi's reputation.

Just then, a crisp cracking sound came from a pot, followed by...

Duang ~
"Conan!" Ran immediately grabbed Conan and brought him over.

Just now, Conan climbed onto the stove to check the pot that seemed to be stewing meat, and almost accidentally knocked it over.

As a result, he got punched on the head by Mori and scolded by Ran...

"Hey kid, what are you doing messing around with again? Is the crime scene a place for you to play?" Mori scolded.

Conan had no choice but to say, "Well... it's because I'm hungry..."

Xiaolan: ? ? ?
hungry?

So, he was "hunting" for food at the murder scene?
Ran then suspected that perhaps she had taken Conan to too many murder scenes, causing the boy's values ​​to become distorted.

"It's alright... we've already taken samples of the curry they cooked there." Inspector Megure awkwardly reassured him, "He's still just a child."

Shiraishi's attention was now focused on the kitchen. In fact, Shiraishi had just noticed that something was amiss here—for one thing, the vegetable juice on the cutting board was glistening, which was obviously some kind of key clue!
Conan then asked Kishikawa, "Kishikawa-nii! What's the vegetable juice here for? I don't see it on the menu!"

Kishikawa:……

"Well... I don't know either," Kishikawa said somewhat awkwardly.

"Kid, if you want a drink, go buy it yourself!" Uncle Mori simply yelled "Go!" and threw Conan out the door.

Shiraishi then stepped forward to look at the simmering curry, his nostrils twitching slightly...

I have a feeling there's something wrong with this curry!
It's not that it's poisonous or anything, but rather...

The proportions are completely different from before!
As a niche family restaurant, Imai's biggest specialty is curry stewed beef, which is cooked fresh every day, hence the restaurant opens before lunch.

Shiraishi recalled that he had also heard Imai's son complain a lot before he left—basically saying that running the shop was too hard, and that it took a very long time just to stew meat, and he was always scolded by the strict owner Imai.

Given Mr. Imai's personality, he should be extremely attentive and serious about his signature curry; the possibility of him making a mistake is almost zero...

Shiraishi then turned his attention to Kishikawa. Although Shiraishi was subjectively reluctant to suspect Kishikawa, this subjective feeling didn't matter much, and besides... he was indeed very suspicious!

……

On the other hand, although he was driven out of the crime scene, Conan was not in a hurry.

He just discovered that the man named Kishikawa is very suspicious!

Not only his attitude, but his shoes were also covered in mud...

If he really overslept and just arrived, he shouldn't have gotten so much mud on his way to work, unless...

Conan looked at the map and found that the Sai River in Kamurocho was not far from here and would not leave the area circled by the surveillance cameras, and there was definitely silt on the riverbank!
So Conan and Ran lied and went to the restroom, but actually headed towards Sai River...

In the end, we actually made a profit!

On the overgrown embankment, Conan discovered a walking stick, hidden among the weeds. The stick looked quite new, not like it had been abandoned...

(End of this chapter)