Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

"Especially Ms. Matsuzaka, her fingerprints must be included."

Eri Kisaki's words were like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples.

The atmosphere in the coffee shop instantly became more subtle.

The already heavy atmosphere seemed to grow even heavier, and everyone's eyes were focused on the woman sitting near the door.

Yuuki Matsuzaka, the deceased's ex-girlfriend, was a woman who always appeared weak, helpless, and pitiful.

Kohei Sato raised his head, his gaze shifting back and forth between Yuki Matsuzaka and Eri Kisaki, a thoughtful expression on his face.

His brows furrowed slightly, as if he were trying to recall some details, or perhaps he was re-examining this woman he had never paid much attention to.

As Kosuke Iguchi's colleague, he had met Yuki Matsuzaka several times, but each time he thought she was just a pitiful woman who was abandoned and unwilling to accept it, and never thought that she might have anything to do with the murder case.

Naoto Miyazaki kept his head down, but his ears were clearly perked up, obviously listening carefully to the conversation.

As for Matsuzaka Yuki herself, her shoulders stiffened slightly for a moment, but the stiffness came and went quickly, so short as to be almost negligible.

But Lin Xiuyi, who had been secretly observing her, clearly noticed this detail.

Immediately afterwards, the woman quickly reverted to her weak and helpless appearance, her shoulders trembling slightly and her eyes reddening, like a frightened fawn.

"What...what do you mean by that?" Matsuzaka Yuuki bit her lip, her voice trembling.

She raised her head, looking at Eri with tear-filled eyes, her face full of resentment and indignation at being doubted.
"Are you saying I'm the murderer? How could I possibly kill someone! I may have hated him, but that's all in the past!"

"I didn't go near the wellhead before it collapsed! The staff can testify that I sat by the door the whole time and didn't move at all!"

Her voice grew louder and louder, eventually even carrying a hint of self-righteousness. Her expression and tone made her look exactly like an innocent person who had been wronged.

But Eri Kisaki gleaned a crucial detail from her words.

"Before he collapsed?"

The girl pushed up her glasses, the lenses reflecting a sharp glint.

"So, after Kosuke Iguchi collapsed, you went near him?"

Matsuzaka Yuuki's expression froze for a moment.

“I remember it very clearly.”

Sato Kohei suddenly spoke, looking at Inspector Megure and recalling with a serious expression.

"At that time, the waitress screamed in fright when she found the manhole cover lying in the seat, and then hurriedly ran to call the police."

"The rest of us were too scared to approach; after all, who has ever seen anything like this? We were all frozen in place. Only this Ms. Matsuzaka..."

He paused, his gaze falling on Matsuzaka Yuuki.
"Only she immediately stood up from her seat and quickly walked to the booth by the well opening. I remember how anxious she was, calling out 'Kousuke,' 'Kousuke,' while pressing on the well opening's chest... At the time, I thought she was trying to save him, and I thought she was quite sentimental, after all, they had broken up..."

He didn't finish speaking, but the meaning was already quite clear.

Matsuzaka Yuuki's expression changed.

She bit her lip, her voice filled with grievance and defense: "I did it to save people! I studied at nursing school for a while before, and although I didn't graduate, I still know basic first aid knowledge."

"Even though Iguchi and I have broken up, when I saw him fall, my first instinct was to save him... Isn't that normal?"

"Anyone who sees their ex-boyfriend collapse in front of them would want to save him, right?"

Her voice grew louder and louder, and by the end it even carried a hint of anger, as if she was angry that her good intentions were misunderstood and that her kindness was questioned.

But Eri Kisaki just stared at her coldly, a faint smile playing on her lips. That smile sent a chill down Matsuzaka Yuuki's spine for no apparent reason.

"I think the emergency rescue is fake."

Eri Kisaki spoke slowly and deliberately, her voice not loud, but each word pierced Yuuki Matsuzaka's heart like a nail.

"Your real purpose is to leave a wound on Kosuke Iguchi to mislead the police, isn't it?"

These words struck like a thunderclap in the coffee shop.

Everyone was stunned. Sato Kohei's eyes widened, Miyazaki Naoto suddenly looked up, Inspector Megure's mouth dropped open, and even the officer taking a statement stopped writing.

Lin Xiuyi's gaze sharpened slightly.

He looked at Eri Kisaki, then at Yuuki Matsuzaka, his mind racing as he began to re-examine all the clues.

"W-What are you saying!"

Matsuzaka Yuki's face turned pale instantly, a paleness that couldn't be faked, but rather a genuine expression of panic.

She instinctively took a step back, her body bumping into the chair behind her with a thud.

"I don't understand what you're saying!"

"At that time, Kosuke Iguchi had already died of cardiac arrest due to an overdose of digoxin."

Eri Kisaki's voice carried an undeniable certainty.
“You’re worried that when the police arrive, they won’t find any obvious injuries on him and will suspect that someone poisoned him. They’ll definitely notice the digoxin in the blood at the wellhead.”

"So, you deliberately left a wound on the neck of the waitress after she discovered the well had collapsed, taking advantage of the opportunity to 'rescue' her."

She paused, looked directly into Matsuzaka Yuuki's eyes, and said, word by word,

"In this way, the police will assume that the wound on the back of Iguchi's neck is the key to the death, and all the investigations will revolve around 'who stabbed Iguchi Kosuke with a sharp weapon'."

"No one would doubt that the digoxin he was taking for heart disease was the real cause of death."

The coffee shop was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

All eyes were on Matsuzaka Yuuki, waiting for her reaction.

"You're lying! I...I..."

Matsuzaka Yuuki tried hard to speak in rebuttal, but she was already speechless.

Her lips trembled, and her face went from pale to flushed, and then from flushed to deathly pale.

He looked like a small blade of grass battered by a storm, teetering on the verge of collapse.

"Still won't admit it... Then let me remind you one more time."

Eri Kisaki pressed her advantage and took something out of her pocket.

It was a receipt. It was crumpled and a little dirty, but the writing on it was still clearly visible.

Eri held the receipt high so that everyone could see it.

"We also found this receipt in the alley where we found the medicine bottle."

The girl's voice was clear and strong.
"Judging from the description above, this should be the receipt for the dress you bought, right? [Brand Name] Clothing Store, Yesterday, 11:23 AM, Item: Dress, Amount..." (End of Chapter)