Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 508 Source of Intelligence
"Have you found any clues about the robbers?" Shiraishi asked Gen, who was present.

"No, according to the surveillance footage from the next street, a white van drove up, and the license plate number was found to be stolen. It should be the people in that car."

"However, the robbers had a clear purpose and knocked on the door very quickly, so we couldn't find any eyewitnesses... The car has also been found and abandoned on the side of the road," Yuan said helplessly.

The bigger the commotion the robbers make, the easier they are to be spotted and tracked.

but……

This guy scammed the robbers. He just knocked on the door, went inside, didn't search them, grabbed a prepared backpack, and left. It only took a few minutes, and nobody saw him.

The victims would be tied up, and by the time they broke free or attracted someone's attention, it would be a long time later, making it difficult to find them!
"Was this the same situation all six times before?" Shiraishi asked the detective in the team.

"That's right, this is the seventh one already," the bald man said awkwardly.

"You haven't found a single clue even after seven attempts?" Bai Shi frowned and pressed for an answer.

"It's not that there aren't any... We've caught several 'middlemen' who, after robbing money, would put it somewhere and hand it over to unrelated people hired online, who would then pass it around multiple times."

“We’ve found these ‘middlemen,’ but they don’t know who hired them; they were all found online,” the bald man said helplessly.

"Can't we think of a way to lure them out?" Bai Shi asked. If they could predict the next target of the scam or robbery, they could put a locator in the device beforehand or track them down, which would greatly increase their chances of finding their hideout.

"This..." The bald man was even more embarrassed at this point.

Takei stated directly, "It's still impossible to determine how the fraudsters obtained the information, so naturally, it's impossible to predict the next victim."

Shiraishi nodded in agreement – ​​indeed, this wasn't a kidnapping case!
In kidnapping cases, the victim's family usually reports the crime to the police, and the police will then put a GPS tracker in the ransom...

The problem is that the victims of these scams only realize they've been cheated and report it to the police after their belongings have been stolen, so they don't have a chance to install a tracking device!

Predicting the next victim is even more difficult...

First, you need to know where these people get their information, then understand their screening methods, and then find the next potential target from the candidate information.

But now we're stuck on the very first step...

We don't even know how they obtained the information!
“These people generally acquire target information in two ways: one is to collect it themselves, and the other is to buy it from others,” Shiraishi said, looking at Shinichi.

As Shinichi looked on with amusement, Shiraishi suddenly asked, "Being popular with girls is something you should be able to find out from where you work, but... the prisoner also mentioned the 'Health Bureau.' You didn't mention your desire to get into the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and your 'connections' with the Health Bureau at Teitan High School, did you?"

"I didn't go to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare...and of course I never said that! Not just at Teitan High School..." Shinichi weakly defended himself.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's Health Bureau matter was not decided by Shinichi herself; it was just Shinichi's wishful thinking.

but……

It's better if it's just wishful thinking!
Upon hearing this, the police officers present were all intrigued and looked expectantly at the newly arrived elderly woman.

"Grandma Shinichi, who did you tell about Dr. Shinichi going to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's Health Bureau?" Shiraishi quickly asked her to confirm.

"Eh? This... let me think... the neighbors should know... and his cousin, uncle... oh right, actually I also talked to the principal of Teitan High School."

The old lady rattled off a long list of people, but considering her advanced age and poor memory, this was probably not all of them!

To summarize, it basically means...

I know almost everyone I know!

Shiraishi:……

Everyone's expectations gradually froze.

The new doctor looked at his grandmother with even more helplessness...

It seems unrealistic to try to narrow down the search with the old lady.

Aside from the newcomer himself, it seems that all his relatives, friends, and neighbors already know about this!

But Shiraishi hasn't given up yet...

"I see... Let me see the information on the first six cases." Shiraishi reached out his hand to ask for it.

Upon hearing this, Takei gave a wink, signaling someone to hand the documents to Shiraishi—after all, if he didn't give a signal sooner, his subordinates might not wait for it...

Shiraishi took it and quickly looked at it.

Shiraishi couldn't discern anything special about the first five people, since he didn't recognize them!
I only briefly summarized the patterns.

Firstly, the victims are usually elders in the family who are scammed, with the excuse that something has happened to their children or grandchildren and they need to pay a deposit or settlement fee.

However, it's not exactly a distinctive commonality, since it's a very old formula!

The reason they were able to succeed so many times was because these criminals had a very accurate grasp of the victims' family information, which made it easy for them to gain people's trust.

The second commonality is...

These people's children all seem to be very outstanding?

However, Baishi didn't take this second commonality to heart at the time.

After all, when selecting targets, one must choose those from well-off families, otherwise they won't be able to afford much money, and the victims must also have high expectations for their descendants...

Otherwise, if he were a gambler and womanizer, they probably wouldn't want to take the money.

The third commonality is that the children of these victims are all unmarried!
This is understandable, since it would be easier to verify information if the person had a wife, children, or husband.

Even if they specifically target the children of these individuals, in situations where the elderly cannot answer the phone, they will definitely ask their spouses or children to verify.

It wasn't until he saw the sixth testimony that Shiraishi realized something was wrong.

It's understandable that Baishi doesn't recognize the first five.

The sixth doctor, Shiraishi, is someone I know!
When he used to work as Daimon's assistant, he would be "bullied" by Daimon. Shiraishi couldn't quite figure out what was going on, since Daimon bullied everyone...

However, later in the case of the neurosurgeon murder, the original person was the first to discover the crime and acted very cowardly. Moreover, Shiraishi also saw it and his colleagues joked about it.

Although he is not young, already in his thirties, he is still a very weak-willed person overall, and he is not considered important in the hospital.

but……

In Hara's mother's testimony, the person who called her posing as a lawyer said that Hara had gotten into a fight and injured someone. To increase the sense of urgency, the person also said that they were "a lawyer hired by the hospital director," that "Director Hiruma also thinks highly of Dr. Hara and doesn't want anything to happen to him," and that "the nurses are also very worried about Dr. Hara, who is very popular."

Shiraishi:……

After reading them, Shiraishi went back and reviewed the first five testimonies.

If this is the standard practice, Shiraishi thinks that the other five children are probably not as outstanding as the conman claims!

Seeing that Shiraishi seemed to have discovered something, Takei frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"

He hadn't discovered anything before, which sparked a competitive spirit in Takei. "It's necessary to verify the information with the children of the five victims' families... the people the conman mentioned. Hmm... we can try approaching them directly to see if we can find out the same information as their testimonies," Shiraishi confirmed.

Shiraishi had clearly made some targeted guesses about the source of the fraudster's information!
Although Takei felt that Shiraishi was being deliberately mysterious, he still nodded in agreement, probably... he was already used to it.

As for the sixth one...

Shiraishi is preparing to personally visit Dongdi Hospital again.

……

When Shiraishi arrived at Dongdi Hospital, outside the oncology surgery department, he saw that the doctors at the front desk had already changed into their regular uniforms and were about to leave—it was exactly six o'clock, and the doctors at the front desk, who were not performing surgeries, were about to close.

"Hmm? Is there something important you need to say now?" Daimon saw Shiraishi and hesitated about whether he should work overtime.

Her principle is: no surgery, no overtime!

However, Shiraishi is one of her major clients...

Money was secondary; the main thing was that Shiraishi's body was too captivating.

"No, I wanted to ask about Dr. Hara," Shiraishi explained—it wasn't that there was something wrong with his health that required an appointment with Dr. Daimon.

"Oh?" Upon hearing this, the gatekeeper stayed without hesitation.

Can gossiping be considered overtime?

"Chief Shiraishi! Is there any progress on the culprit? Is there any chance of getting my mother's money back?" Yuan asked hurriedly upon hearing this.

“I have some leads… I’m here to confirm some things.” Shiraishi looked at him earnestly.

“Please speak,” Yuan said immediately.

"At Dongdi Hospital... who would answer that 'Dr. Yuan is highly regarded by the director'?" Shiraishi asked directly.

Original:……

The gatekeeper confidently told Yuan, "This question... is a bit difficult. If you pay me 20,000 yuan, I can answer this question like this next time someone asks me."

"Demon... Dean was originally..." Yuan lacked confidence.

Kaji, standing nearby, chimed in, "Would the dean even know who you are?"

“Hey! Isn’t that going too far? How could Director Hiruma not know me? I…” Hara explained repeatedly.

Just then, the nurse from the main room went into the office to talk to the doctor.

Shiraishi then asked, "Nurse Oma, is Dr. Hara very popular among your nurses?"

“Huh? This…” Oma was taken aback by the question.

Upon seeing this, Yuan immediately revealed a pleading look in his eyes.

Oma had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Well... it's alright..."

"Let me rephrase the question: among the young nurses, how many of them could be considered to have feelings for the former doctor?" Shiraishi then asked.

"Huh?" Oma was even more stunned, but seeing Dr. Hara's expression, Oma could only say, "There should be... some, right?"

Shiraishi glanced at Hara, who was exerting moral pressure, and then asked again, "Let's put it this way... in the cafeteria, would you want to sit next to Dr. Hara?"

“No,” Oma said decisively.

Original:……

"I think I understand now." Shiraishi nodded—it was pretty much what he had imagined!

“Director Shiraishi, actually… we don’t necessarily have to get the money back…” Yuan Wuyu said.

“No, Dr. Yuan, we’re already very close to fraudsters and robbers! Now think about it, who would feed these scammers this kind of specific, yet somewhat unrealistic, information?” Shiraishi asked, offering a hint.

"Oh, you don't usually brag like this in nightclubs, do you?" Gadi speculated with a keen sense of reality.

“I’m not bragging! I… I rarely go to nightclubs!” Yuan retorted, unconvinced.

"Hmm, then who would think that?" Shiraishi asked further.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "If I had to say... it would be... my mother."

That's right, not all parents think their children are the best, but at least some parents do!

This has nothing to do with the actual situation...

"Who does your mother say this to?" Shiraishi immediately pressed.

"Well... it's just relatives, friends, or neighbors and acquaintances..." Yuan said apologetically.

Yuan was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Ah! Could it be... that there's a criminal among the neighbors?"

However, Shiraishi shook his head and said, "No, this is a case of multiple occurrences. Several similar cases have already happened throughout Dongdu, and they are not all in the same area."

Shiraishi was pondering this...

If you're just bragging to friends and family, or even to all your acquaintances, it's hard to find even one "acquaintance" who can cover all seven cases, right?

Even if it's not seven cases, just two or three cases where the victims share the same acquaintance should be enough to get the police on their radar!
Besides these "acquaintances," the people he boasted about...

While it's possible to boast when chatting with strangers, surely you wouldn't go to such lengths? At most, you'd say something like, "My son is an extremely skilled doctor at Dongdi Hospital..." or something like that?
"Oh...right, Dr. Hara, you're not married yet, are you? What does your mother think?" Shiraishi suddenly asked.

"Huh? Well... I'm not in a hurry, but my mother might be... more anxious? Ah!"

Yuan exclaimed in surprise, then said, "Oh right, I remember now, she also said something about arranging blind dates for me... but I clearly refused! Could it be..."

Yuan realized what was happening at that moment.

If there's any occasion where his mother would boast so specifically about something in front of people she wasn't very familiar with, or even strangers, then... "blind dates" definitely count!
Shiraishi had also thought of this.

The perpetrators' understanding of the victims' children was not only very positive, but also particularly focused on the two points of "promising future" and "very popular".

In addition, the children of these people are all unmarried...

Shiraishi guessed they must have participated in some kind of matchmaking event!
Referring to the situation on the newer side...

Bai Shi guessed that others were probably the same way—the children themselves were not interested in blind dates, so the victims would not bring up the blind date matter unless they suspected the blind date event.

In this way, the intersection of these seven families is beautifully hidden!
Upon realizing this, Yuan immediately called home to contact his mother.

At this point, Shiraishi immediately contacted his old subordinates and asked them to verify the matter...

(End of this chapter)