Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

"No abnormal reaction..."

Lin Xiuyi repeated the sentence in a low voice, his gaze turning to the table in front of the deceased.

Two coffee cups sat there quietly, one empty, with dark brown coffee stains remaining at the bottom.

The other cup was half full, with a thin layer of milk foam on the surface and a faint ring of coffee stains around the edge, a sign that it had been sitting for too long.

"Has the coffee inside been checked?" he asked.

"We've already checked, and it doesn't contain any sleeping pills."

A deep, steady male voice came from behind.

Lin Xiu turned around and saw Kujo Yoshiyuki walking slowly towards him.
“I just reminded Inspector Megure to check the teacup first. In the case of a non-resistance killing, the most common method is to make the victim lose consciousness or the ability to resist. Sleeping pills are the most direct approach.”

“But after inspection,” Inspector Megure continued, “the residue in the teacup was just ordinary coffee. No sleeping pills or other suspicious drug residues were detected. Both cups were the same.”

Lin Xiuyi frowned even more deeply.

There were no sleeping pills, no struggles, and no screams.

The deceased sat quietly in the coffee shop, in the midst of a bustling afternoon, when someone stabbed him from behind with a deadly weapon, and then died peacefully in the same position.

This is illogical.

He crouched down again to examine the deceased's posture more closely.

He leaned slightly to the back of the sofa, curled his legs up on the seat, and let his hands hang naturally at his sides.

This posture is very relaxed, not at all like the reaction of someone who has been attacked.

If the deceased was attacked from behind while conscious, his instinctive reaction would be to turn his head, lean forward, or raise his hand to block.

But he did nothing.

unless……

Lin Xiuyi's gaze fell on the back of the deceased's neck.

The wound was located with extreme precision, right between the second and third cervical vertebrae, which is the area with the highest concentration of nerve centers.

If the angle of the stab is accurate enough and the force is fast enough, it can indeed cause an instantaneous nerve block, causing the deceased to lose control of their body and even be unable to make a sound.

Even so, the body should have an instinctive conditioned reflex: muscles will contract, limbs will twitch, and fingers will clench.

The deceased's hands were placed at his sides, fingers loose, showing no signs of struggle.

"Have you figured out the identity of the deceased, and who was drinking coffee with him?" Lin Xiuyi turned his gaze to Inspector Megure.

Inspector Megure looked down at the notebook in his hand, flipped through a few pages, and found the record.

"The deceased was named Kosuke Iguchi, 36 years old, and was the general manager of a large company."

Inspector Megure looked up, his voice carrying a professional objectivity.

"Have you heard of Iguchi Commodities? They mainly do import and export trade and are quite well-known in the industry. The fact that he was able to become the general manager at such a young age shows that he is indeed capable, but it may also have made him many enemies."

He paused, then continued.

“I asked the waiter, and the person who was having coffee with the deceased was a young woman in her twenties. She was dressed very fashionably and was wearing sunglasses, so the waiter couldn’t see what she looked like.”

"His identity hasn't been confirmed yet, but I've already sent officers to investigate the deceased's relationships—colleagues, friends, clients, and his recent social activities—hoping to find clues." He added at the end, unable to contain his frustration.
"Does Lin Jun perhaps think that the girl who had coffee with the deceased might be the murderer?"

This is a natural question, and it's the first reaction anyone would have upon hearing this information.

After all, the person the deceased last came into contact with is always the most suspicious.

However, Inspector Megure himself seems to have reservations about this speculation.

"However, the waitress at the coffee shop said that Kosuke Iguchi did not show any abnormality when the young girl left."

"The girl never came to the coffee shop again after that. The waiter saw her walk out of the shop and head towards the shopping street."

Lin Xiuyi didn't immediately respond, but instead asked a detailed question: "Does the waiter remember so clearly? About Iguchi Kosuke's condition when the girl left?"

“The reason she remembers it so clearly,” Inspector Megure explained, “is because Kosuke Iguchi got another cup of coffee after the girl left. There weren’t many customers in the shop at that time of day, so she remembered it.”

He pointed towards the bar: "That waitress is named Tanaka Mayumi. She's a part-time college student and has been working here for almost a year."

"She said that Kosuke Iguchi is a regular customer of the store, coming two or three times almost every week, and he always sits in this booth."

"He sat and chatted with that girl today for about half an hour before she left first."

"After that, Kosuke Iguchi ordered another coffee and sat alone until we found out that something had happened to him."

"I see." Lin Xiu nodded, her gaze returning to the two coffee cups.

The fact that Kosuke Iguchi was given a refill of coffee indicates that he was still alive and able to communicate normally with the staff after the girl left.

If the girl was the murderer, she must have secretly returned after leaving and attacked Kosuke Iguchi when he was off guard.

But this is almost impossible in a busy coffee shop.

Moreover, if she were the murderer, why would she risk going back?

Why not act from the beginning?

"At present, the most likely suspects are the customers in the store," a calm male voice interjected.

He is Hayashi Hideichi's uncle, Kujo Yoshiyuki.

He walked over, his pace neither hurried nor slow, with the composure characteristic of a prosecutor.

Standing next to Lin Xiuyi, Kujo Yoshiyuki's gaze swept over the three figures being questioned by the police not far away.

“Our family of three arrived here twenty minutes ago. At that time, Kosuke Iguchi had already been found dead, and the coffee shop was in chaos. So we can be ruled out as suspects.”

His words to prove his innocence were clearly superfluous to both Hayashi Hideichi and Inspector Megure.

The relationship between Hayashi Hideichi and the Kujo family, and Inspector Megure's trust in Prosecutor Kujo, all make this statement seem unnecessary.

But for Yoshiyuki Kujo, who was a prosecutor, this was a necessary procedure.

In any case, everyone present must be considered a suspect, including himself.

This is not being harsh on relatives and friends, but rather showing respect for legal procedures.

Yoshiyuki Kujo spent his entire life dealing with the law, and he knew better than anyone that only the most rigorous procedures could guarantee the fairest outcome.

"The remaining three," Kujo Yoshiyuki pointed to the three guests—two men and one woman—still being questioned by police officers not far away, "according to the police's initial inquiries, they are all related to the deceased." (End of Chapter)