Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 513 Evidence to Break the Stalemate!
After hanging up Kenmochi's call, Shiraishi went over the whole incident in his mind again...

While chasing the suspect, Kuroki was killed by an assassin. However, the subsequent bullet hole analysis proved that the bullet came from Kuroki's gun.

In this way, Kuroki's "being shot in the gas mask" became a self-inflicted injury.

Furthermore, due to Kuroki's identity, no gunpowder smoke test was conducted at the time, so there is no physical evidence to support Kuroki's claim that he "never fired a shot".

……

After thinking it over, Shiraishi first called Inugari-senpai—the "Appraisal Master" who had retired but had been invited back as an advisor.

"Senior Inugari, this is Shiraishi... It's been a while since I've greeted you. Are you in the main hall this afternoon?"

"No, no, no, of course I won't let you break the rules, it's not about the bullet hole analysis."

"But if possible, could you please help me appraise something? It's currently being kept in the forensics department..."

"That's right, it would be even better if a report could be generated immediately after the analysis!"

"As expected of the appraisal immortal... No, no, no, how can this be called using connections..."

……

Shiraishi smiled apologetically for a while, then asked Inugari-senpai to help him examine an important piece of evidence. If Shiraishi's speculation was correct and Kuroki really hadn't fired the gun, this should be the key to turning the tide.

Then Shiraishi went to the Criminal Investigation Division office...

The atmosphere in the office was also heavy. Kanzaki and the others petitioned to investigate the matter, but Munakata stopped them.

"Nonsense! Have you all forgotten the principle of recusal? The inspector has already taken over the case. If you go and investigate now, you'll only make things worse!" Zong Fang scolded.

As a veteran inspector, Munakata understood very well that if "Kuroki's colleagues" intervened in the case investigation at this time, it would only make things more uncontrollable, and the inspectors would only think that the entire Beika Police Station was the problem.

It was precisely for this reason that Munakata, knowing that Mado had reported to the director, did not even go to the director's office himself—he could understand and even supported the director's decision to let things cool down first and see how things went.

After all, with evidence of rifling, this matter is no longer a question of whether or not someone can stand up for you; rashly stepping forward could be suspected of having a "protective umbrella."

Similarly, Munakata forbade them from going to Chief Shiraishi's office...

However, Shiraishi then took the initiative to come to the criminal investigation office.

"Chief." The detectives quickly surrounded him when they saw him arrive.

"What are you all doing? Have you finished all the cases you have on hand?" Shiraishi snapped at him.

Upon hearing this, the detectives seemed to have been doused with cold water and became dejected, but they could understand the chief's good intentions.

Immediately, Shiraishi looked at Munakata and said, "Section Chief Munakata, what happened with Kuroki? You need to write a self-criticism for me right now... Hmm, if there's anything you don't understand, form a small group and make sure you reflect on it carefully!"

"Huh? Chief..." Kanzaki was taken aback for a moment, then immediately said, "Section Chief, I want to join the team! I... know a lot of dirt on Kuroki, I'm here to expose him!"

Everyone could tell that Shiraishi said he wanted Munakata to make a self-criticism, but in reality he wanted him to "clarify the facts." Considering that Shiraishi did not believe that "Kuroki shot and killed the fugitive," it was tantamount to encouraging them to "resist the head office's investigation."

"Director, this matter..." Zong Fang hesitated upon hearing this, fearing that Director Shiraishi's overreaction would make the situation even more uncontrollable.

Although Shiraishi gave the excuse of "self-reflection," the others weren't stupid; how could they not know what Shiraishi was up to?
"Don't worry, you can call the generals first. We'll have a debriefing meeting in an hour... Hmm, I'll go listen to it myself." Shiraishi shook his head and said.

Just then, Shiraishi's phone rang. Shiraishi glanced at it and saw that it was Director Shiraba—at this hour… he probably called his office first, but Shiraishi wasn't there.

After saying that, Shiraishi answered the phone and went outside: "This is Shiraishi..."

"Superintendent Shiraishi, you've heard about Detective Kuroki, haven't you?" Hakuba asked knowingly as soon as he arrived.

The fact that they're only calling now gives Shiraishi time to prepare.

“Hmm, I think…” Shiraishi was about to voice his doubts.

However, Bai Ma interrupted, "Is it because you're usually too strict? As a result, your subordinates are afraid to report the incident properly after accidentally shooting and wounding a fugitive?"

Shiraishi:……

Shiraishi knew that these words sounded like a accusation against him, but in reality, they were an attempt to exonerate him!
If it was indeed Kuroki who fired the shot, then there is a lot of room for conspiracy theories behind this incident.

But Director Hakuba's opening line was "I didn't dare to report properly after the accidental injury," as if Kuroki fired to stop the prisoner from escaping, accidentally killed him, and then refused to admit it...

This kind of statement was actually within Shiraishi's expectations!

After all, for a detective to do something like this is a huge stain on the Metropolitan Police Department and even the entire police force.

It doesn't make sense that when it's someone else's turn, the higher-ups want to cover them up, but when it's Shiraishi's men's turn, they all want to "die together"...

Of course, because Shiraishi had offended some people, there were indeed some higher-ups who wanted to take the opportunity to deal with Shiraishi regarding the Kuroki incident, but this was not the mainstream approach.

In general, the Metropolitan Police Department's higher-ups didn't want to deal with Kuroki's case in a high-profile manner at this point. They just wanted to cut the Gordian knot, give Kuroki a lighter sentence to shut him up, and incidentally teach Shiraishi a lesson so that he would be more obedient in the future.

after all……

We can't really investigate, can we?

What if they find out something?

“No, as far as I know, Detective Kuroki is a very mentally strong officer. There must be more to this than meets the eye.” Shiraishi did not accept the way out offered by Hakuba.

"Oh? Inspector Shiraishi, what do you think is the hidden story?" Hakuba's tone became serious.

Clearly, Hakuba will not let this matter continue unless Shiraishi gives an explanation.

"This one……"

Shiraishi indeed didn't know anything, but Hakuba had already said, "I do know some secrets, such as... Detective Kuroki is actually the son of Inspector Kanzaki, who retired back then, right?"

Shiraishi:……

That old fox really knew!
That's right, Shiraishi had considered the possibility that Kuroki might have been plotting something and had gone too far!
After all, their family already had a history of conflict with violent organizations!
Back then, Kuroki's biological father, Kanzaki Kenzo, chose to go on an external mission after his informant was killed by the police. He abandoned his wife and children and took the informant's son, who is now Kanzaki Ryuichi, to raise alone...

Kuroki has always been bothered by this matter, and Shiraishi had previously discovered that Kuroki was secretly investigating what happened back then—indeed, there were some illogical aspects to what happened back then!
Because of this relationship, it's not impossible that Kuroki might conceal something from Shiraishi during his investigation, or even have his own ulterior motives... Hakuba, who also knows about this blood relation and the events surrounding Kanzaki Kenzo, is clearly worried about this as well.

"If it was indeed Kuroki who fired the shot, I will not cover it up and am willing to take responsibility as the leader," Shiraishi said after a moment of silence.

"You don't believe in rifling identification technology?" White Horse frowned.

"No matter what technology it is, it is people who use it." Shiraishi did not answer directly, but the meaning was already very clear.

"You should understand that once this investigation begins, it's not something you can stop just because you want to, or even because I want to," Bai Ma reminded him.

"Don't worry, I understand... and I think there will be an important result today," Shiraishi said confidently.

“Well, even though you say that, it seems that this is what the detectives from the Beika Police Station are like. They used firearms illegally and even tried to cover up the truth… You need to reflect on this matter carefully, without being vague about a single detail!” Hakuba said with a stern face.

"Yes!" Shiraishi understood what Director Hakuba meant.

……

An hour later, Shiraishi visited Munakata's self-examination team to see the results of Munakata's self-examination.

after all……

Baishi might even copy his self-criticism!
To make Munakata's self-criticism more thorough and detailed, Kanzaki, Gen, Yamada, Narcissist, and Amagi also joined the self-criticism group to help him "review" the details.

"According to Detective Kuroki, he was chasing Hibiki Hibiki..." Kanzaki then began to recount the events of the case.

But before he could finish speaking, Shiraishi stopped him, saying, "Wait a minute." Seeing everyone looking over, Shiraishi asked, "Who is he chasing?"

“Hikari Hibiki, an executive of the Silver Dragon Society,” Kanzaki replied.

Shiraishi:……

Shiraishi rubbed his temples, then said, "Okay, continue."

glacier……

Previously, Shiraishi did not know the name of the person Kuroki was chasing!
The surname "Glacier" naturally evoked some associations in Baishi.

After all, the incident involving Kanzaki Kenzo was caused by the violent organization "Hikawa Kosan"!

Twenty years ago, Arakawa Masumi, the current boss of the Arakawa Group, was just a small-time leader at Hikawa Industries. Due to certain events, Arakawa and another member of the group, Ihara, ganged up on Hikawa Industries and wiped them out, killing countless people from the chairman to the underlings...

This Ihara was Kanzaki Kenzo's informant back then!

But having killed so many people, being an "informant" offered no absolution whatsoever...

At this time, Ihara brought his son and arranged to meet Kanzaki. Kanzaki also brought his son with him—who is now Kenji Kuroki.

Kanzaki urged Ihara to turn himself in, but Ihara knew it was too late. In the ensuing chaos, the police officers lying in ambush nearby shot and killed Ihara!

Afterwards, Kanzaki adopted Ihara's orphan and voluntarily applied for a transfer to Nagano Prefecture, and later retired early.

The son adopted by Kanzaki is now Ryuichi Kanzaki.

However, Ryuichi Kanzaki was too young at the time and did not remember these things. He only knew that he was Kenzo Kanzaki's biological son.

It was precisely because after Ihara's death that the police simply pinned all the major cases of "Hikawa Industrial" on him that Arakawa began to treat Kuroki differently.

Otherwise, even if the police are unwilling to handle murders within violent organizations, so many people have died, and there must be an explanation!

Meanwhile, Kuroki always felt that there was more to the story than met the eye, and he was secretly investigating. Shiraishi also discovered this, but Kuroki had promised Shiraishi that he wouldn't do anything reckless.

But now I hear the deceased's surname was Bingchuan...

Shiraishi doesn't think this is a coincidence!
At the same time, Kanzaki also recounted Kuroki's previous testimony...

"Regarding the car that Kuroki mentioned, which stopped at the other end of the alley, it can also be seen on the surveillance footage. It's this car. Although we can't see inside the alley, the car did stop there for a moment." Kanzaki has already found the surveillance footage on the street.

Indeed, the surveillance footage matches Kuroki's description, but...

The surveillance footage is so blurry that it's impossible to tell whether someone fired a gun inside the car!
No one had suspected that Kuroki would lie, so they naturally assumed that there was an assassin in the car. Moreover, the license plate number confirmed that it was indeed a stolen car.

But the problem is...

When the rifling test results came out, the mere fact that a stolen car had stopped briefly at the alley entrance was not enough to clear Heimu of suspicion!

After all, the rifling analysis results are very convincing evidence...

"Judging from the situation at the scene, the bullets that hit the deceased and Kuroki did indeed come from this side of the alley. Moreover, everyone arrived at the scene very quickly after the shooting, and Detective Kuroki was still bleeding from his head at that time."

Kanzaki is clearly saying that these "evidence from the scene" are actually in Kuroki's favor!
Otherwise, how did Kuroki fire the gun?

Should we run ahead of the prisoner first, then turn around and shoot him?
Moreover, the bullet that hit Kuroki's gas mask almost grazed his temple... If it was a self-inflicted injury, it was too dangerous, wasn't it?
However, Munakata interrupted at this moment, saying, "Detective Kanzaki, that's enough."

Zong Fang clearly did not believe that this level of "favorable evidence" could shake the results of the rifling identification.

"What do you all think?" Zongfang asked, looking at everyone.

There was a moment of silence among the crowd, but Tian Shu stood up first and said, "The chief has found out that the reason why Detective Kuroki was arrested was because of the results of the rifling analysis... It seems that the results are accurate. If we accept the results, then the sequence of events should be that Detective Kuroki ran in front of the suspect, then turned around to block his way, and then fired!"
“I don’t think it would have been possible to achieve this result by simply chasing him. It’s more likely that Detective Kuroki recognized the other person and stopped him on his own.”

Kanzaki seemed to want to refute something, but he didn't say anything.

Rationally, he knew that Amagi was assuming the evidence was plausible...

"So the life story of this Ice-Echoing God is key... I'll take the call." Shiraishi said, glancing at his phone, his expression slightly tense.

"Inugari-senpai... um... okay, I understand... um, securing the evidence... I'll leave that to you..." After answering the phone, Shiraishi's tense expression disappeared, replaced by a smirk.

"I have some good news for everyone." Shiraishi had previously mentioned some "bad news," namely the rifling identification report, and now he was saying he had "good news," which immediately drew everyone's attention.

“I had someone check the filter of the gas mask… there was no gunpowder reaction,” Shiraishi said with a slight smile.

(End of this chapter)