Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 460: Both witnesses and physical evidence are available?

“At this hour, you can’t take them back for interrogation, and… are you sure you want to detain a minor overnight? Don’t you need to ask Section Chief Matsumoto?” Shiraishi calmly retorted.

"This one……"

Although the "death information" at the scene pointed to Maya Aya, whether it was true or not, it was definitely related to the case, and it would never hurt to take her back and ask her. However, after hearing what Shiraishi said, Itokozuke hesitated.

“How about this, I’ll do you a favor… let her stay with me, it’ll be my way of fulfilling the promise I made to Attorney Ayasato,” Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

"Alright, then I'll trouble you..." Itokko had to thank Shiraishi at this point.

But just then, a detective from the Eighth Division rushed over.

"Chief! We've found the person who reported the incident... uh... Superintendent Shiraishi."

When the person who was speaking saw that Shiraishi was blocking everyone's way, he first bowed and greeted Shiraishi, and then whispered to Inspector Itokori to report.

"Chief, we've found the person who reported the crime. It's Ms. Matsutake Umeyo, who lives in room 703 of the Beika Hotel across the street. We just questioned her and learned that... she witnessed the moment of the crime! The murderer is... a young girl dressed strangely." The detective said, glancing naturally at Ayasato Mayoi.

"What? You saw the moment of the crime?" Itokuro exclaimed in surprise.

Although I don't want to see murder cases, having clear witnesses is better than having to investigate slowly!

"Ahem, Superintendent Shiraishi, because we just had a new development in the case, Miss Ayasato still needs to..." Itokuro decided to take Ayasato Mayoi back to the Metropolitan Police Department and detain her for the night.

Although they are minors, but...

Some people claim to have witnessed her committing the crime!
Such clear witness testimony, even if the person is a minor...

"A witness? It seems the killer has already come forward." Shiraishi said calmly.

"Huh?" Itokozuke was taken aback when he heard this—your ears are too sharp!
But now is not the time to marvel at Chief Shiraishi's hearing; let's hear what Chief Shiraishi means...

“You mean… no, no, no, even though you have a preconceived notion, you can’t doubt the witness right away, can you?” Itokogiri quickly said.

It's not that witnesses would never lie, but whether it's about searching for evidence or examining the logic, there's no reason to rank a witness more suspicious than the accused witness.

Especially now that the witnesses have "death information" as corroborating evidence, it can be said that "both witnesses and physical evidence are available."

"The perpetrator was in the office? Is it alright for me to go up and check it out?" Shiraishi asked directly.

This case is supposedly unrelated to the Beika Police Station, and Shiraishi has no search authority, but...

"Of course... I'll go with you. Afterwards, we'll be taking Miss Ayari with us..."

Shiraishi, the dignified "Superintendent General" and the famous "Chief of the Beika Police Station," said he wanted to see the scene, and Itoko, of course, did not refuse.

"We'll talk about what happens next later," Shiraishi interrupted matter-of-factly as he walked toward the elevator.

"Uh..." Itokozuke looked embarrassed, but still followed.

At this moment, Itokuro noticed that Ayazato Mayoi, a suspect, was standing still...

“Attorney Naruhodo, please take Miss Ayasato to my car to rest... My sister and girlfriend are in the car too.” Shiraishi said to Naruhodo.

Mayoi Aya is currently emotionally unstable. As a "spirit medium," she is even unable to cope with communicating with spirits... It is clear that she needs to rest.

"Ah? Okay!" Phoenix Wright quickly agreed.

Shiraishi, along with Itomori and the others, returned to the crime scene...

The scene was in the office where Shiraishi had previously met Ayasato Chihiro. Compared to when Shiraishi had come here before, the office was now in disarray, with obvious signs of a struggle. Clearly, the murderer and the victim had chased each other in the office, and it wasn't an instant kill.

On the desk facing away from the window and towards the door, a human figure was marked out with positioning tape, and bloodstains were still visible around it. Judging from the location of the splattered blood, it was likely caused by a blunt force trauma to the head...

Although the body has been removed, but...

"Attorney Ayasato, have you... remembered something?" Shiraishi asked Ayasato, who was standing beside him.

"The confusion of memories before death needs time to subside; it's not something you can recall just by seeing the scene..." Aya said, sounding somewhat uncomfortable.

"Is this where the murder weapon is located?" Shiraishi noticed a piece of floor with obvious bloodstains, and there was a number "1" on it.

The bloodstains here are clearly from something sticking to them, not from splattering. There are also signs of impact on the floor, and a "1" is placed there...

Therefore, Bai Shi speculated that it was the murder weapon!
However, it was taken away as evidence during the first round of on-site investigation.

“Hmm, a desktop clock shaped like the ‘Thinker’… Speaking of which, this was the murder weapon from a previous case. Since the case has been solved, and Attorney Ayasato specifically applied for its return, the court approved its return. Itokko shook his head helplessly as he spoke.

Shiraishi:……

Goodness, it's a clock with two rings.

"Show me photos of the body and evidence," Shiraishi commanded naturally.

It was only natural for Itoko to hand Shiraishi the photos...

Shiraishi looks at the photos, looks at the scene...

Instantly, Shiraishi "imagined" the scene back to its original state in his mind.

Then, Shiraishi walked around the broken glass and shards of the floor lamp that were scattered all over the floor, and came to the back of the office, to the window, and looked out the window. Just now, Shiraishi heard from the visiting detective that the person who reported the case was a female guest who lived in room 703 of the Beika Hotel across the street, and that she claimed to have seen Aya Mayoi commit the crime.
Shiraishi then looked at each of the rooms on the seventh floor across the street...

Suddenly, I realized that there was a room with the curtains drawn and the lights off, and someone was secretly watching me from behind the curtains!
Bai Shi had practiced.

After the other person's gaze triggered Shiraishi's intuition, Shiraishi immediately looked over carefully. Even though they were across the street, the room opposite was not lit, and the person was hiding behind the curtains with only their head slightly peeking out... Shiraishi still saw someone!
However, Shiraishi did not make a fuss at this time...

Because of Chihiro Ayari's words, Shiraishi never doubted Mayoi Ayari from the beginning. Under these circumstances, someone confidently claimed to have witnessed Mayoi Ayari committing murder…

For Shiraishi, the other party had already "revealed their true colors," so discovering anything more strange at this point wouldn't be of much use—after all, even if Shiraishi could prove that the other party was "spying," it wouldn't prove anything.

"Do you know that woman?" Shiraishi specifically asked Ayasato Chihiro.

"I...can't see that far, and without someone possessing me, I can't go that far either," Chihiro Ayasato said awkwardly.

[Short hair dyed burgundy, wearing a business suit, but a somewhat sexy one, with a large bust.] Shiraishi gave a brief description—no way around it, with the curtains drawn, Shiraishi could only see the other person's eyes; he could only judge the business suit and bust by the shadow!
Ayari: ...

I feel like the only difference between us is the hairstyle.

Seeing that she had no clue, Shiraishi didn't press her further.

Bai Shi judged that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the murderer was likely part of a group.

After all, the person who gave the testimony was staying at the Beika Hotel across the street. If the other party came to kill him first and then went back to report the crime, the possibility of being seen going back and forth would be greatly increased!
and……

Judging from the scene, Aya and the murderer had a dispute and some fighting, but... the close combat skills of a spirit medium are negligible, no different from those of an ordinary person of the same size.

In the room of the Beika Hotel across the street, the person Shiraishi saw was even smaller than Ayari. It was highly unlikely that he would use the "murder weapon" he found in her office to smash her head and kill her instantly.

"However, there is one thing that I have to worry about... The murder weapon was that... The Thinker's alarm clock?" Aya said in a serious tone.

"What's wrong? Is there anything special?" Shiraishi asked in return.

[That clock is actually the reason I called Mayoi here today... I've already dismantled its internal structure, and inside are the confidential documents I want to give to Mayoi!] Ayari's memories are only confused about the period before her death; she remembers the events before that very clearly.

"Confidential information?" Shiraishi pressed.

Ayari paused for a moment before saying, "Actually, I've been investigating this person, Konaka Dai... you know that?"

[I remember you, the president of the Kochukuo Cultural Company, right? Of course, he has nothing to do with culture, but he's famous for... having connections in both the legitimate and underworld circles.] Although Shiraishi had never directly dealt with him, he certainly had heard of this kind of person.

Especially with such a terrible name!

"He usually acts as a political and business broker, even moving between government officials and violent organizations, and he knows a lot of secrets... For some reason, I've been investigating him, but... it seems he still found out." Ayari said helplessly.

"You suspect he was behind it?" Shiraishi's expression shifted, then he asked, "What have you found out?"

If there's any evidence of wrongdoing on a high-ranking person, Shiraishi wouldn't mind using it, especially if it involves a department head or someone like that...

"Unfortunately, there's nothing concrete, otherwise I would have already made it public... I only got his 'client list'," Ayari said helplessly.

[Just one list?] Shiraishi frowned—if that's all, why the rush, even to the point of killing?
Lists and stuff...

Without concrete evidence, isn't it just making things up? What good will it do to simply copy the list of parliamentary ministers?
"To be precise, I only saw the list... I got a hard drive, and to view the specific data, I not only needed a password, but also... it seemed to only be accessible on authenticated devices. I didn't know that, and after plugging it into the computer, the data inside was automatically deleted. That's probably when I was discovered," Aya explained.

[Automatic destruction?] Shiraishi's heart skipped a beat, and he had a vague sense of déjà vu.

"That's right, I looked up the information later, and the symptoms at the time were somewhat like the 'Dark Baron Virus'... Director Shiraishi, do you know about the 'Dark Baron Virus'?" Aya asked rhetorically.

"That's all too familiar..." Shiraishi said matter-of-factly, then, fearing Ayari might misunderstand, added: "I encountered a related case at the Princess Hotel in Izu. Although it was ultimately proven that it wasn't really the 'Duke of the Night Virus,' a group of thugs attacked the person involved. They were probably... from some mysterious organization."

Shiraishi didn't say much about the [Raven Legion]...

After all, what Ayari said wasn't entirely accurate!

Upon hearing Shiraishi's words, Ayari further revealed: "That's right, Osaka is very likely also connected to that organization... If I'm not mistaken, his codename within the organization is 'Sharamba.'"

"[Charambar...is it a type of Portuguese wine...?]" Upon hearing this, Shiraishi became even more certain that this small, medium, and large-sized entity was very likely related to the Dark Organization.

and……

"Xia Lanba" is not only a name for a type of liquor, but it also sounds like "small and big" in the Eastern Island language. This guy really doesn't hide anything!
The "Black Organization" already had connections with some government officials, and even key politicians. Even the police often encountered difficulties, and had to be extremely careful when investigating them, trying to keep their investigations separate from other departments as much as possible...

In light of this, it is entirely reasonable to have a formal member who "connects with the political world".

If it's those guys...

It's understandable that Ayari would immediately kill him after receiving only a little information.

However, this is not good news for the case itself!
After all, the Black Organization is a purely mysterious criminal organization; they won't come forward and claim responsibility for any particular incident. And to find the specific person responsible...

If it really was the "Black Organization" that did it, the one who directly killed them might be a special agent or assassin, not Xiao Zhongda himself!

That would be troublesome if we were to investigate...

Shiraishi then glanced at the other side again—but judging from this unprofessional surveillance and the hasty framing, it didn't seem like the "Black Organization" had officially made its move.

If it were the "Black Organization," they wouldn't risk framing someone. They would simply take the evidence, set it on fire, or be tricked into exploding all the evidence into the sky!
Such a direct framing could easily backfire and leave you vulnerable to a counterattack...

“Inspector Itokozaki, is this the internal structure of that clock? This thing is here, so… what’s inside the murder weapon now?” Shiraishi said, pointing to the clock structure on the table.

As Ayari just mentioned, she was the one who disassembled this thing. Before the murder, the desktop sculpture-sized "Thinker" contained an important hard drive and a list—although the data on the hard drive had been erased, Ayari clearly hadn't given up on recovering it.

"It's empty inside," Itokaki answered without hiding anything.

Shiraishi had been standing by the window in deep thought, which made the detectives of the Eighth Division feel the oppressive atmosphere.

Hearing Itoko say this, Shiraishi and Aya became even more certain that the murder case was definitely related to Oka and Oka!

(End of this chapter)