Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

It was changed in Chapter 515.
After leaving Chief Inspector Hakuba's office, Shiraishi was heading back to the police station when he happened to run into Deputy Chief Inspector Moroboshi walking alongside another man in a suit—presumably Chief Inspector Fujiwara.

Upon seeing Shiraishi, the two men's expressions immediately darkened. Shiraishi, however, pretended not to see them—"My line of sight is at 2.3 meters, so it's not normal that I can't see two 1.7-meter-tall dwarfs."
Bai Shi swaggered over in the middle of the corridor, and they were about to bump into each other.

Moroboshi and Fujiwara's faces darkened, and they were still hesitating whether to dodge...

Without the phone ringing, Shiraishi answered and said, "Hello? What? Wrongful arrest? How could this happen... They definitely won't let this go. We need to find out whether the eyewitness made a mistake or fabricated evidence!"

In the end, Shiraishi, in a nonchalant manner, pretended not to see them and walked between the two.

Unwilling to offer any advice, the two could only step aside, and at the same time, they understood what Shiraishi had said.

Kuroki has not yet been released.

After all, the inspector had already applied for an arrest warrant, and the main evidence had not been overturned.

There's no reason to release someone so hastily just because there's some contradictory evidence.

Even if there were wrongful arrests, they occurred within the police force. However... judging from Shiraishi's words, it seems he doesn't want a peaceful resolution and intends to pursue the matter further!
"Mistaken arrest? Tch... With evidence of bullet wounds, I'll make this an ironclad case!" Fujiwara turned to look at Shiraishi's back and said resentfully.

Moroboshi glanced at him and said, "It's not that simple. That man is the type who would hand over the evidence to his lawyer even in court. If it's related to the Beika Police Station, the prosecution won't rush into charges without sufficient evidence."

"Tch... It's because of troublemakers like these that the police force's prestige is declining!" Fujiwara said with dissatisfaction, then whispered, "A detective shooting a fugitive shouldn't be treated as a criminal offense, otherwise we could handle it internally..."

Internally, the most they could do was persuade Kuroki to leave.

It seems like a low-key approach, but it also means more "freedom." Since it's not treated as a case, there's no need to consider the courts or prosecutors' offices.

"It's too late. The case has already been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department and is being treated as a shooting case." Moroboshi glared at him—wasn't that what Hakuba meant when he handed over the investigation to the Criminal Investigation Department after learning that the evidence was contradictory?
In this way, the role of the inspectors is diminished.

While inspectors are indeed "police officers among police officers" and "specially responsible for investigating police officers," there is a fundamental difference between "a criminal being a police officer" and "committing crimes by virtue of being a police officer."

The inspector is only responsible for the latter...

Treating this as a regular shooting case is essentially sidelining the inspector.

Fortunately, at the previous meeting, thanks to Moroboshi's strong arguments, although the case fell to the First Investigation Division, it also fell to Ninomiya. Otherwise, given the relationship between Matsumoto and Shiraishi, Moroboshi felt things would have gone wrong...

Actually, Moroboshi doesn't really want to get involved in this matter anymore.

After all, the matter has escalated, and it's impossible to "win in one fell swoop" and force the detectives of the Mihana Police Station to admit their mistake.

As a result, other detectives, especially those from local police stations, will only think that the people at headquarters are heartless and that they don't treat the local police stations as their own when they see this.

After all, Kuroki was taken away by the inspector while he was injured...

Moroboshi doesn't want to bear this kind of reputation!
Seeing that Fujiwara was still arguing, Moroboshi remained silent.

……

When Shiraishi returned to the police station, he learned that Ninomiya had already arrived at the Beika Police Station and was in the police affairs section, looking through the Beika Police Station's gun control records.

After Matsumoto took over, Ninomiya's position as "Director" was already on the verge of collapse—after all, the "Director" was the assistant to the section chief, and Ninomiya had previously been Matsumoto's rival...

However, it wouldn't look good to immediately promote him to a management position, so they're giving him some time. Once he gets a new position, he'll be transferred.

Previously, due to the case of the "inspector's suicide," Ninomiya's transfer became "unpopular," which delayed him for several months, and he just happened to be in time for this incident.

"Huh? Why are these signatures blank?"

"Was this date added later?"

"Where are the fingerprints? Why aren't there any fingerprints when we handed over the guns?"

After Shiraishi arrived, you could tell from the expressions of the police officers in the police department that Ninomiya had been quite disliked before.

To say that the Blackwood incident was due to problems with gun control is absolutely baseless.

However, to say that the gun control process is absolutely flawless is not necessarily true...

“Inspector Ninomiya, as the director of the First Investigation Division, you're not here to conduct audits, are you? What's the point of investigating these things now? Detective Kuroki clearly didn't fire a shot; the problem lies with the case itself,” Shiraishi reminded him as he entered.

“Inspector Shiraishi, I advise you not to be too subjective, and... I have my own investigative approach,” Ninomiya said, sticking out his neck.

Shiraishi curled his lip—this guy is still so annoying!
"By the way, are you going to be transferred to be an inspector after this?" Shiraishi asked matter-of-factly.

"Huh? Who told you that?" Ninomiya was taken aback—I didn't hear anything about it, how did you know?
"I'm just guessing, but I feel your temperament is very suitable," Baishi said candidly.

They're all so annoying!
Ninomiya: ...

“The gas masks worn by the Beika Police Station officers at the time were not police equipment, but personal props, so there was no gunpowder reaction on them. It’s possible that they were replaced with other masks, right?” Ninomiya said confidently.

That's right, the gas mask we wore at the time was sponsored by Kobe, not a police mask, but to say it was switched...

“That’s impossible. Even disregarding the fingerprints on the outside, this indirect evidence is evidenced by the saliva and sebum extracted from inside the gas mask. More importantly… at the point where he was shot, because the bullet grazed him, his blood was also left there, which is enough to prove that this is the gas mask that Kuroki was wearing when he was shot.”

Bai Shi said with absolute certainty.

Ninomiya nodded upon hearing this, then asked, "Is it possible that he covered the air vent when he fired the gun to fabricate evidence for himself?"

"That's impossible. It's already strange enough that there's no gunpowder reaction on the surface of the gas mask. It's just more certain that there's no reaction on the filter. If you cover the vent, there should be gunpowder reaction all around except for a palm-sized area," Bai Shi said, shaking his head.

The gunpowder reaction is actually a test to detect residual gunpowder.

When a gun is fired, gunpowder will inevitably splatter around the weapon, but...

If the distance from where you were shot is far, there won't be any gunpowder!
After all, it's the projectile that flies out and injures the enemy; the gunpowder part doesn't go out with it.

However, there are still quite a few ways to avoid the reaction of gunpowder smoke...

“That means covering the air vent first, and then wiping the surface after firing!” Ninomiya immediately said.

Bai Shi shook his head again and said, "It's even more impossible. In that situation, if the firing point was really nearby, as long as the air vent was opened, gunpowder would definitely drift in."

“There might be some kind of gadget to block the ventilation vents…” Ninomiya continued to speculate. However, Shiraishi interrupted him directly: “The gas masks were provided from outside; Kuroki didn’t know he would get them beforehand.”

Ninomiya: ...

Shiraishi also knew that Ninomiya's constant arguing was actually an attempt to help the Beika Department correct its mistakes.

Although Ninomiya didn't show any gratitude in his haughty manner, he hadn't actually forgotten the help Shiraishi had given him before.

"Ah! Right, the filter doesn't really prove anything, does it? What if he changed the filter halfway through?" Ninomiya thought of another breakthrough and continued to argue.

Shiraishi:……

“I already said that’s not police equipment. Kuroki was getting it for the first time, so how could he possibly have a spare filter?” Shiraishi rolled his eyes.

“That means… someone else has been replaced! Where is his partner? I’ll talk to him!” Ninomiya said excitedly.

Shiraishi was initially speechless, but...

"Huh? Wait...you mean...the inside has been changed?" Shiraishi's expression suddenly changed.

“That’s right, that’s right, but we can’t say it’s impossible, can we?” Ninomiya said, sticking out his neck.

“Indeed… if it was changed inside…” Shiraishi’s eyes lit up.

Previously, Shiraishi had also wondered why the rifling test results were consistent with Kuroki's pistol—if the pistol had been switched, the fingerprints and other traces on the outside would be different, and Kuroki himself had confirmed that it was his pistol.

If the handgun being tested wasn't switched, then the problem must lie with the testing personnel!

However, this problem is easy to verify—just re-examine the rifling marks, right?
However, after repeated examinations, the results of the rifling marks were always "consistent".

For a moment, Shiraishi even went astray, suspecting that Kuroki's pistol had been switched before the incident, and then returned after the incident but before the forensic examination...

This involved too many people, and Shiraishi couldn't figure it out for a while.

Upon hearing Ninomiya's argument, Shiraishi suddenly realized...

At this moment, Shiraishi patted him on the shoulder and said sincerely, "Inspector Ninomiya, you did a great job!"

Ninomiya: ? ? ?
“Indeed, it’s possible that something inside has been replaced!” Shiraishi nodded in agreement.

"You think so too?" Ninomiya asked in a strange tone.

“That’s right. After thinking it over, the only possibility is… that Kuroki’s pistol has been switched!” Shiraishi said confidently.

Ninomiya had been nodding in agreement, but then his expression suddenly froze: "A pistol?"

“Well, in the end… rifling inspection only detects the rifling itself, and the rifling is in the barrel. So to be precise, rifling inspection doesn’t target the pistol, but rather… the barrel, right?” Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

Ninomiya paused upon hearing this—indeed, that could be explained in that way!

"You mean... someone swapped the barrel of the evidence pistol with the barrel of the real murder weapon?" Ninomiya said, somewhat dazed.

“Although there is no evidence, after eliminating all the impossibilities, this is the only possibility! Moreover, this way, only one person needs to cooperate in the process, and it doesn’t require too many people to collude.” Shiraishi nodded and said.

“This…” Ninomiya hesitated.

Although it can be done by one person, but...

During this process, many people were involved, and they were all police officers!
“If that’s the case…” Shiraishi said, picking up the notebook that Ninomiya had just been looking at, pointing to the information on a gun in it, and said, “The rifled data of the gun that the escaped assassin used should be the same as the handgun recorded in our police station’s records!”

However, Ninomiya shook his head and said, "The search for that stolen car is making absolutely no progress. How could it be found so easily?"

The stolen car has been found, but there are no clues as to who was driving it before.

Just then, Shiraishi's phone rang.

“Wait a minute…” Shiraishi said, turning around to answer the phone outside: “Hello, this is Shiraishi… Inspector Megure, it’s been a while… What? You found it? Huh? It’s gone… How did you find it? Hmm… Hmm? Oh… Okay, I understand.”

Shiraishi's expression was strange after he answered the phone.

Seeing this, Ninomiya asked, "What's wrong?"

He heard it too; the caller must have been Inspector Megure from the Third Division!

Why did the head of the First Division, who was being investigated, discover any clues, and instead of being notified, call Shiraishi Kuro?
If Ninomiya hadn't known that he was about to be transferred, he would definitely have expressed his dissatisfaction later.

"Inspector Megure just caught an armed robber... There's good news and bad news," Shiraishi said with a strange expression.

Ninomiya frowned upon hearing this and said, "What are you keeping me in suspense for... wait, armed? Could it be that..."

"Well, the good news is that during the interrogation of the suspect, he confessed that he found the gun in a trash can along this road on Saturday night. It was made up of many handgun parts that had been thrown away separately... He had served in the Self-Defense Forces, so he pieced the gun together. Because of financial difficulties, he had a wicked idea."

Armed with sharp weapons, murderous intent arises!
Sometimes, a gun can turn a good person into a bad one.

Meanwhile, the road that Shiraishi pointed to on the phone map was indeed not far from where the stolen car had been found.

If someone really did swap the barrels of the two guns and then discard the remaining parts, this is indeed very likely the place!

However, the gunman himself probably never expected that he would run into a scavenger who was willing to fight for his life...

"Where are the rifling marks?" Ninomiya immediately pressed.

"The good news was just now. The bad news is... not only are there no rifling marks, but the gun itself is gone." Shiraishi said in a strange tone.

"What? I remember he was caught on the spot?" Ninomiya had heard about this before he came.

However, as soon as Inspector Megure learned the origin of the pistol, he immediately notified Shiraishi.

"They were caught on the spot. The suspect's handgun was knocked away by a passing detective and a primary school student, but... the handgun was not found at the scene afterwards."

(End of this chapter)