Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 546 Arranging tasks
"So next... let's divide the tasks."

After learning about the case, Shiraishi casually took charge and tacitly assumed that he was the "leader".

Although Mitsurugi had never been commanded by police officers before and seemed quite uncomfortable, he didn't say anything to refuse—after all… Shiraishi and Yokomizo were there to help, and he, as the "overdue responsible party," had the least say.

"First, we identified three most worthwhile directions for investigation... First, we investigated the surrounding area of ​​the 'suspected crime scene,' such as whether anyone drove away that night or left with a large moving box; second, we investigated the suspect, 'Hasunuma Kanichi,' and tried to determine his whereabouts that night; third, we investigated the 'victim,' and investigated what the 'emotional instability' mentioned in the record was about and what the reason was."

Shiraishi determined the direction of the investigation on his own, and then even made arrangements: "Inspector Yokomizo, you will be in charge of the interviews. After all, it's too difficult to interview the public without a detective identity... My physique is not very suitable for communication, and this guy is not the type to be very good at communication either."

Shiraishi assigned the task of "conducting interviews near the suspected crime scene" to Yokomizo, and also made a sarcastic remark about Mitsurugi.

Of course, Yokomizo only agreed to Shiraishi's request and did not respond to his complaints about Mitsurugi.

Yujian wanted to object, but ultimately remained silent—otherwise, what if Shiraishi really sent him to make the visit?
Surrounded by ordinary residents, he was indeed not very good at dealing with ordinary people.

Shiraishi then said, "As for Inspector Mitsurugi... you'll be in charge of investigating the 'victims' before their deaths'! The Namiki family already knows you. As for the school, you can ask Natsumi to accompany you to see the teachers."

"Huh?" Yu Jian was taken aback upon hearing this.

Of the remaining two options, Mitsurugi had assumed that he would be in charge of the other one—that is, to investigate the suspect, Hasunuma Kanichi!
Who knew that Shiraishi would actually send him to visit the victim's social connections?

Yujian looked at Baishi with a puzzled expression, wondering if he had misspoke.

Shiraishi then said matter-of-factly, "Of course, if the investigation in this area leads to the conclusion that the victim did indeed run away from home or even had suicidal tendencies, the suspect's suspicion will actually decrease."

Yu Jian continued to stare at him—So you knew too?
This is precisely why Yujian felt he wasn't suited for this job. After all, he was a prosecutor, and his job was to prove the suspect guilty, not to prove anyone's innocence!

not to mention……

"It's clearly no longer a missing person case, so why are you still..." Yu Jian said impatiently.

"Huh? Is it still 'don't investigate things that are not conducive to prosecution'?" Upon hearing this, Shiraishi looked at Mitsurugi with feigned surprise, as if to say, "Why haven't you learned your lesson yet?"

Sword Control: ...

Because of the previous lesson, Yu Jian fell silent for a moment.

Shiraishi continued, "The disappearance happened precisely when she was 'emotionally unstable,' shouldn't we investigate?"

“But this isn’t a missing person case, it’s a murder case!” Yu Jian interrupted.

"Are you sure that the disappearance didn't happen first, and then the murder happened? If you're 100% sure it was Hasunuma Kanichi who did it, why don't you prosecute him?" Shiraishi asked matter-of-factly.

Sword Control: ...

Yu Jian was suddenly asked a question that hit a nerve, and he was completely unable to answer.

"If you understand, go and make the visits! Remember to bring Xia Mei along when you visit the school teachers," Shiraishi said, waving his hand at him.

Without a word, Yu Jian got up and left.

Yokomizo, looking embarrassed, also said, "Well... I'll go visit them first."

"Yes, please." Shiraishi was naturally very polite to Inspector Yokomizo.

After all, they were asking Inspector Yokomizo for help...

After Yokomizo left, he was both impressed by Inspector Shiraishi's good relationship with the prosecutors in Tokyo and suspicious...

Am I being too polite to the prosecutors in Shizuoka?

If we were to be more assertive, would they be more likely to understand us?

……

Next…

Shiraishi went alone to the Kikuno waste treatment plant—the place where Hasunuma had worked three years ago.

Since we came by car, getting around was quite convenient...

After startling the three staff members, everyone finally realized that the person who got off QX56 was not a "mutant mutated by garbage contamination", but just a tall police officer from Dongdu.

"Ah! I remember now, you must be Director Mikasa? I heard there's a Director Mikasa in Tokyo, someone your height!" a staff member suddenly said.

"Ahem, I am indeed the director of the East Capital Rice Flower Bureau," Shiraishi said after a couple of coughs.

The three staff members on duty were all middle-aged men. They were not wary of Bai Shi's visit and did not even ask him to show his police ID.

"You're here to investigate that guy Hasunuma, right? I heard he got into trouble again in Dongdu?"

"You can't say that..." Shiraishi shook his head and said—they weren't prosecuted.

"It's not just another crime... it's that the eldest daughter of the Namiki family was found dead in Tokyo, and it seems he was the one who did it!"

"Huh? Is that so... It would have been better if we had caught him sooner... Ah, I don't mean to complain about you, it's just that the Shizuoka Prefecture police are so useless!"

"By the way, I heard he's back again. Maybe he's got his eye on someone again."

"If you ask me, we shouldn't have hired him in the first place!"

"Hey, aren't you a rehabilitated employee too?"

"Yeah, I have a criminal record, I've been to jail! How can someone who hasn't been to jail or shown any remorse be compared to me?"

……

The three of them talked amongst themselves, and although their conversation was rather disorganized, it did indeed teach Shiraishi a lot of things.

Kikuno Waste Treatment Plant is also a partner organization of the Ministry of Justice.

After all, not many people are willing to do this job...

Therefore, the recruitment of employees focused on ex-convicts who had been released from prison and reformed their ways.

Therefore, the proportion of repeat offenders here is very high, as for Hasunuma Kanichi...

This guy is one of the few people without a criminal record. However, he was a prime suspect in a girl's disappearance case in Shizuoka eighteen years ago. He was even prosecuted in court, but the prosecution lost the case. So, in Shizuoka Prefecture, he is someone that "no one wants to recruit"!
"Hmm? He's been working here for so long?" Shiraishi asked, confirming the question.

"No, not long. I was fired again three years ago. So I haven't been here for more than three years in total..."

“I heard it was a case from about eighteen years ago. He was detained for a long time, then received a large sum of money in compensation, which he squandered for a long time. After he had squandered it all, he went to appeal to the police officers and prosecutors, and then the rehabilitation department introduced him to work here.”

"Work? After he got here, he just lazed around and skipped work all the time. Nobody could do anything about it. Then... the Namiki family incident happened. Sigh, why did God take him away!"

Shiraishi also learned about the situation back then from the three of them.

Indeed, Shiraishi already knew that Hasunuma Kanichi had previously received ten million yen in compensation, and then apparently received some more money.

That's probably what kept him going for a while without a proper job. Later, when he ran out of money, he started causing trouble for the police and prosecutors, so they found him a job here—since they also accept ex-convicts here.

However, he didn't work there for long. Not only was he irresponsible, but he also soon became involved in the disappearance of Namiki Saori.

Although it was just a "disappearance case" back then, he was taken in for questioning by the police. Coupled with a lot of rumors, the waste treatment plant also said - we can't handle this waste!
So they used this opportunity to fire him...

As these three uncles said, although they also have criminal records, they have been to prison and have turned over a new leaf. How can they be the same as those who insist on denying their crimes and show no remorse?
"When we kicked him out three years ago, didn't he act like a scoundrel?" Shiraishi noticed this.

"Never heard of it..."

"It must have been him! That's why he's acting so guilty!"

"Could it be that the county police gave him another sum of money?"

Judging from what they said, three years ago, Hasunuma didn't "struggle" much.

This did indeed catch some of Shiraishi's attention...

Judging from what they said before, Hasunuma's livelihood at the time should have come from his salary here. How could he give it up so easily? Accepting the dismissal obediently doesn't seem like the personality he had shown before.

As for the county police paying compensation...

“Paying compensation is out of the question; the Shizuoka Prefectural Police released him after 48 hours,” Shiraishi said, shaking his head. He then asked, “To your knowledge, does he have any other source of income?”

The Shizuoka Prefectural Police were also afraid of this guy, because there was no evidence in the disappearance case, so they didn't dare to keep him around any longer!
"Other sources of income? I don't think so..."

“He doesn’t usually seem like he saves money… By the way, Masumura is on good terms with him, so he might know something.”

"That Masumura guy is really something... Why does he get so close to someone like that?"

Then the three mentioned another person—Zengcun.

"This Zengcun is..." Baishi quickly asked.

“Zengcun Rongzhi is also a rehabilitated person. He was sentenced to a long time for a serious injury. When he was released from prison, he had no relatives left, so he has been working here ever since.”

"Is he at work today?" Shiraishi followed up.

"No, he should be at home."

After obtaining the address of Masumura, Shiraishi went to Masumura's house.

who knows……

Just as Shiraishi parked the car outside Masumura's house, he saw Hasunuma Kanichi leave!

Upon seeing this, Shiraishi briefly stepped aside before getting out of the car and approaching...

Zengcun's house was actually just a small dormitory assigned by the garbage treatment plant, a metal building, and the area was very cramped.

Following the address provided by everyone, Shiraishi arrived at the entrance of Masumura and found that he was indeed at home, about to close the door—it seemed that Hasunuma Kanichi had not locked the door when he left.

Seeing four enormous fingers gripping the door and preventing it from closing, Masumura first peered through the crack in the door in confusion, then...

belch--

Masumura was already over sixty years old, but he was still a young man far from retirement age. However, when he saw Shiraishi, he almost saw him off...

Fortunately, his cardiovascular system held up in the end!

“Mr. Masumura! Don’t be afraid… I’m Shiraishi Kuro… I’m a police officer!” Shiraishi quickly explained.

……

After explaining, Masumura bravely caught his breath and invited Shiraishi into the house.

However, after entering the house, Shiraishi looked at Masumura with some concern—his hands were trembling.

Moreover, Shiraishi could tell that this wasn't nervousness or anything like that, but rather alcohol dependence...

Thankfully, he was really scared to death; otherwise, there would be plenty of trouble today!

“Mr. Masumura, what’s wrong…” Shiraishi asked with concern, looking at his hands.

“It’s an old problem, don’t worry about it,” Zengcun shook his head and said.

Despite his advanced age, Zengcun's rosacea and red, bulging eyes clearly indicated that he was indeed an alcoholic—a so-called alcoholic!
Fortunately, Shiraishi didn't smell any alcohol at this time, and he was still sober.

"The chief police officer from Dongdu, you've come here to ask me something..." Masumura looked at Shiraishi with feigned confusion.

Indeed, it was clear that Shiraishi was faking it, and it was also obvious that he was somewhat nervous.

However, Shiraishi smiled kindly and said, "It's nothing, I just wanted to ask you about Hasunuma Kanichi..."

Masumura probably understood that, judging from the time Shiraishi arrived, he had likely seen him, so he didn't deny it: "That's right... he's staying here with me now, but... have you found evidence of his crimes?"

Masumura's tone was somewhat stiff.

"No, he's not a criminal now. Of course, it's fine for you to take in a friend; we're just checking the situation out of the ordinary," Shiraishi reassured him.

Zengcun's room is very small, with only an inner room and an outer room separated by a sliding door, totaling about 20 or 30 square meters, and it's easy to see everything at a glance!
This isn't some luxurious area in Dongdu where land is incredibly valuable; it's just around a garbage disposal plant in a small city, so the living conditions here are considered quite poor.

Because the accommodation situation was clear at a glance, Shiraishi noticed as soon as he entered the house that there were signs that someone had lived in the closet inside the house in Masumura!

Looking through the open door, the room was empty, with mattresses on the floor and other people's coats nearby.

It seems that Hasunuma is staying at Masumura's place...

It's true that he and Hasunuma had a good relationship; even in this situation, they allowed him to stay at their place.

"Did Hasunuma say how long he'll be staying?" Shiraishi asked.

"He said he'd be moving out in a few days," Masumura replied verbatim, but...

Bai Shi was somewhat skeptical about the meaning of the vague phrase "a few days later" in the mouth of that scoundrel.

"You and Hasunuma are very close, aren't you? Do you know how he got through these past three years?" Shiraishi continued to ask.

“These past three years? He was in Shizuoka before, and he seemed to be doing quite well…” Masumura said, then added, “I don’t know the specifics!”

Shiraishi had wanted to ask how he'd been making a living lately, but Masumura clearly didn't know either...

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Dongdong: Today is September 25th, the 88th anniversary of the Pingxingguan Victory! Please vote for me! Please vote for me! Please vote for me!
(End of this chapter)