Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 434 Intervention
Bai Shi looked at the documents in his hand and patted his left hand, which had just received them: "You really know how to make trouble for yourself!" At this moment, Bai Shi's left hand was no longer wrapped in bandages.

Now that Shiraishi no longer needs to worry about the "Chief of the First Investigation Division," however...

I feel like I have even more things to worry about now!

Shiraishi glanced at the case file briefly, focusing more on the "starting point" than on the "points of doubt".

What questions remain about the case is secondary at this point.

If Shiraishi wants to get involved, he needs some leverage, since in terms of authority and responsibility, this case has nothing to do with the Beika Police Department!

Upon closer inspection, Shiraishi did indeed discover some clues.

First of all, Minato himself is from Beika Town!

Although there's no reason to apply the "territorial principle" to this kind of thing, and it's not that "all cases involving people from Beika are the responsibility of the Beika Police Department," at least we've made contact with the Beika Police Department. If we need to investigate the interpersonal relationships of people in Minato, we can do it within Beika Town, and no one can interfere.

The second deceased was Rika Nakamura, who was from the neighboring Kamurocho.

It's said to be a "love suicide pact," so naturally there were two people who died!
Whether Rika Nakamura committed suicide, was forced to commit suicide by Tetsuro Minato, or was involved in something and silenced... she is another key figure in the case.

Simply saying that "living in Kamurocho" is not necessarily beneficial to Shiraishi's investigation, since Shiraishi has many connections in Kamurocho, but he also has Zeden as an adversary!
However, Rika Nakamura's identity is slightly advantageous to Shiraishi.

Nakamura seemed to be short of money. She worked as a company employee during the day and... worked part-time as a hostess at night. She met Minato Tetsuro during her nighttime job.

The current social situation in the eastern island nation is not something Shiraishi can worry about; in the post-bubble economy era, Nakamura Rika's part-time job is not an isolated case...

Her part-time job was relatively easier for Shiraishi to investigate!
After all, such workplaces are more or less related to yakuza organizations, and there aren't many organizations in Kamurocho that don't give Shiraishi face—if you happen to run into one, that's even better, Shiraishi can communicate in a way they understand better.

After confirming these two points, Shiraishi first called Ayako.

The reason was simple: Shiraishi wanted to know if the Suzuki family had any influence at the Beika Hotel...

If there are shares, that would be even better; if not, Shiraishi hopes Ayako can introduce him to the person in charge of Beika Hotel.

Going directly to Beika Town to investigate would certainly not be welcomed by the Beika Police Station, but...

If Beika Hotel is willing to cooperate, then even if the Beika Administration wanted to stop it, there would be a barrier – what right do you have to control who a hotel welcomes?
"Beihu Hotel? Is that... the case of the inspector's suicide pact?" Ayako asked directly, her tone tinged with worry.

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi immediately realized that the case had a greater impact than he had imagined—he simply hadn't noticed because he was busy stamping documents when the news was broadcast.

"Yeah, I'm a little concerned about it," Shiraishi said directly.

There's no point in lying at this point...

However, Shiraishi didn't mention Ninomiya's situation, otherwise there would be no way to explain it... Clearly, he doesn't want to come out of the closet!
Ayako sighed helplessly upon hearing this—why force yourself to get involved in something like this?
"As for Beika Hotel, the Beika Bureau actually has plenty of manpower available." Ayako replied to Shiraishi, though she was somewhat helpless.

"Hmm? Could it be..." Shiraishi was taken aback at first, then realized what was going on. There seemed to be only two things that could make Ayako say that...

“That’s right, the Kobe family… I’m talking about Miwako Kobe’s Kobe family, one of the major shareholders of Beika Hotel.” Ayako was very familiar with the business landscape of Tokyo.

【Kobe Industries】Although its headquarters are in Osaka, it also has some small businesses in Tokyo, such as some high-end hotels and office buildings.

"I see, okay... I understand." Shiraishi nodded upon hearing this, having already made up his mind.

Ayako didn't offer much advice, only a few words of concern—after all, if Shiraishi would listen to advice in this matter, he wouldn't be the "Kuro" Ayako knew.

After hanging up with Ayako, Shiraishi immediately dialed the internal line of the Criminal Investigation Department office.

Soon, Munakata, Haiya, and Kobe arrived at Shiraishi's office.

Shiraishi did not bypass Munakata and directly summoned Haiya and Kobe.

On the one hand, they were afraid that Zong Fang might misunderstand, and on the other hand, this matter was related to "inspectors," and Zong Fang was a veteran inspector, so he should know a lot about this!
After the three entered, Shiraishi didn't waste any time and asked directly, "Have you seen the news about the Metropolitan Police Department inspector's suicide?"

"Hmm, it's really... outrageous." Zongfang shook his head vigorously at this moment.

After all, judging from the news, this is a choice between "suicide pact" and "forced suicide pact," and in Zongfang's view, either situation is outrageous—as a senior inspector, Zongfang is qualified to say so.

"I'll be frank... I suspect that Inspector Tetsuro Minato did not die by suicide, and his cause of death was not related to emotional factors," Shiraishi said directly.

"Huh? Director, why do you say that?" Zong Fang was taken aback at first, then his expression turned serious.

“Don’t underestimate my intelligence network… Of course I have my ways of finding out.” Shiraishi didn’t say the reason directly.

Although Zongfang did not receive an answer, he understood that Shiraishi believed this information, so he said solemnly, "If that's the case, things are not so simple... And now, the main store is probably already eager to close the case as a 'double suicide,' right?"

Although Minato is only a police inspector, he is an "inspector"... Now that the "inspector's cause of death is a mystery," if he was indeed silenced, the impact on the police force behind this would probably be no less significant than that of "the Aomori Prefecture Chief dying at the hands of the Criminal Investigation Department Chief"...

This is why Shiraishi wasn't interested in the case at all until Ninomiya proved it couldn't have been a "forced suicide pact."

Although calling "forced suicide" "suicide" is a mistake in principle, Bai Shi didn't go so far as to embarrass himself for the sake of embarrassment—since the person was already dead, and the higher-ups wanted to save face for him, why should Bai Shi expose them?

The reason why Shiraishi took it to heart was certainly not because of Ninomiya's face, which was a negative factor for Shiraishi, but because of the possibility that "Minato Tetsuro was silenced"!
"Chief, did the case happen at the Beika Hotel? Beika Hotel... that sounds familiar." Kobe tried hard to recall something.

“It’s your hotel, so regarding this case, well… since Inspector Minato is also from Beika, I think it’s necessary to investigate!”

Shiraishi's words cannot be called sophistry; they are simply completely irrelevant...

(End of this chapter)