Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 239 Department Store Incident
Department store exports.

Gao Mo squatted down and watched the customers line up. At the Millennium Sale, many people used their invoices to receive gifts.

Rings, necklaces, and bracelets.

The same as the three victims in the photo—all three of them had been to the department store.

"So you're helping with the investigation," Conan said, hands in his pockets, looking up at Gao Mo with curiosity. "Is it the attack that's been making headlines lately?"

He felt that Gao Mo had changed a lot recently.

I can’t tell…

It seems he received a significant boost somewhere he wasn't aware of?

"Several victims had come here, received gifts, and were attacked around the same time."

Gao Mo observed the flow of people at the scene.

"The perpetrators are very likely employees here, but there are many young girls dressed in the same style. Why were those three specifically chosen as targets?"

"How should I know?" Conan asked, his eyelids drooping.

He didn't even know who the victim was.

"The perpetrator could also be a customer who came to shop, and perhaps had a conflict with the victim?"

"If a conflict had occurred, it's impossible for the employees here to be completely unaware of it."

Gao Mo gently shook his head.

"Furthermore, according to information gathered by the police, all three victims left the department store when it closed that day... The reason they were the only ones attacked is because the perpetrator needed to work at other times and couldn't leave, so he started stalking them when they left..."

A series of clues converged in Gao Mo's mind.

“It’s that underground parking lot.” Gao Mo thought of where he parked when he came to the department store.

The victim drove away, so the perpetrator naturally followed in his car.

The perpetrator didn't choose his targets in the mall, but in the parking lot.

"Brother Kido!" Inspector Megure, dressed in plain clothes, had a more serious face than usual. "How's the investigation going? We spoke with the three victims again, and they all said they hadn't had any conflicts with anyone or seen any suspicious people."

Gao Mo checked the time and realized that Xiao Lan and Yuan Zi hadn't finished shopping yet.

It was the right decision not to accompany these girls shopping in the past; Hattori learned this the hard way when he was in Osaka.

"Inspector Megure, have someone investigate the underground parking lot first, focusing on the employees."

"You suspect the culprit is a department store employee?" Inspector Megure was taken aback for a moment, then quickly turned around and arranged for Takagi to investigate.

“Officer,” Sato, who had been waiting for an opportunity, hurriedly said, “it’s best not to alert them. Now that we’ve found a lead, I think I should give it a try, driving in the same disguise…”

"Absolutely not! Didn't I tell you?!" Inspector Megure roared, clutching his hat. "Don't even mention using someone as bait to lure out the criminal again!"

"But officer..."

"Takagi, go check the parking lot first, but be careful not to arouse suspicion."

"Yes!"

Ignoring Sato, Inspector Megure gave orders directly to Takagi.

"What's going on?" Sonoko and Ran walked out of the department store and immediately saw Megure with a gloomy face.

“It’s alright,” Gao Mo said thoughtfully. “From now on, you two shouldn’t wander off. Stay by my side.”

He seemed to know the inside story.

Megure had previously suffered a head injury, which is why he always wore a hat.

The cause of her injury was a series of attacks on high school girls—similar to this case, where the perpetrator repeatedly attacked delinquent high school girls with his car. Megure's current wife was dissatisfied with the police's progress and volunteered to act as bait, pretending to be a delinquent, but was almost killed in the crash.

"Woo!"

Sonoko's mind went blank, as if a steam train was chugging and emitting heat.

Is this considered a confession of love to her?
Oh my god, Kido is starting to protect her!
"Sonoko?" Ran gently tugged at the dazed Sonoko. "What are you spacing out for? Kido-nii wants us to come with us."

……

Underground Parking Lot.

Unlike the bustling shopping mall, it was deserted and slightly eerie.

A young couple was putting their bags in their car when they suddenly felt someone peeping at them. They turned around and saw a hot girl leaning against the wall across from them, her head tilted and motionless, her unfocused eyes staring straight ahead.

Under the car's headlights, it was clear that the hot girl's head was bleeding profusely.

It looked like a black fish that had died from dehydration.

"ah--!"

"Officer Megure!"

Takagi rushed into the department store, panting, not even bothering to conceal his identity, shouting that he had found Megure. "Something's happened! The fourth victim is dead in the parking lot!"

When Gao Mo led Xiao Lan and the others into the parking lot, a large crowd had already gathered.

The deceased, like the previous three victims, had a trendy chocolate skin tone.

Influenced by female celebrities in the entertainment industry, more and more women are wearing this kind of makeup recently, but Gao Mo just encountered no less than 10 of them.

"We haven't released any details about the victims, and given that this is a parking lot, it's highly likely that it was done by the same person."

"I see," Muguru said in a deep voice.

"It has finally come to this."

"Officer," Takagi said, leading a young man into the scene, "we already know the victim's identity. The deceased's name is Aizawa Tae, she's 20 years old. She had arranged to meet her boyfriend at the department store today, saying he was going to introduce her to his father..."

"Tae-hye!" the young man cried out as the police officers tried to stop him. "What are you useless bastards doing? It's all because you failed to catch the criminal that Tae-hye died! My Tae-hye..."

“He was the deceased’s boyfriend, Noriyuki Shirakawa,” Takagi said softly. “His father owns this department store. The original plan was to dine at the French restaurant where he works as a chef… It seems the deceased got out of the car and was on her way to the restaurant when she was attacked.”

Megure pressed his hat tightly: "Could the killer's motive be this department store?"

“It’s hard to say,” Takagi continued. “I asked Shirakawa’s colleagues, and I heard that Mr. Shirakawa’s father seemed to be very opposed to his relationship with the deceased, because a year ago the deceased accidentally hit and killed a little boy in this parking lot.”

Although the main cause was not the deceased, but the little boy who suddenly chased the soccer ball and ran in front of the car, the department store owner still disliked that his future daughter-in-law had a stain on her record.

At the time of the incident, the deceased was a saleswoman in the dress shop of this department store. She resigned after the accident and had been unemployed ever since.

"So, this Shirakawa boss is highly suspicious?" Inspector Megure frowned. "Were the previous attacks just a cover-up?"

"It is possible."

Takagi nodded and looked at the bearded middle-aged man walking in from outside with his hands behind his back.

He wore glasses, had thinning hair, and was overweight.

"He's the boss, and he's about 150cm tall."

"Where is that woman?" Megure noticed the woman comforting Shirakawa Noriyuki.

"She is the restaurant colleague I questioned, Mr. Shirakawa's college classmate, Konno Yuri, who is 144 cm tall."

Takagi said, holding up the police handbook.

“I also checked the parking lot. There is only one security guard, but he is 167 cm tall. The only person whose height matches the criminal is Mr. Shirakawa. Of course, Ms. Konno may have been made taller, but I don’t think she is the murderer because she didn’t have the opportunity to commit the crime.”

Mr. Shirakawa himself could not possibly be like that; his height is 173 cm.

Gao Mo squatted down next to the corpse and heard Gao Mu's explanation.

As expected of a detective in the First Investigation Division, although he is only a patrol officer, he is still very good at investigations.

It would be even better if we didn't add subjective judgments, as this could easily lead to preconceived notions.

The worst thing to do when handling a case is to say "it's impossible".

Having been exposed to so many cases, although he relied on his abilities to take many shortcuts, he also accumulated a wealth of experience.

The first thing to do in a case is to break the notion of "impossible" and rely on reasoning. No matter how incredible it may seem, the truth is there.

"Uncle Takagi," Conan asked curiously, "is the culprit really 150cm tall?"

Gao Mo was quite impressed with his ability to locate the department store and its underground parking lot in advance, and through Gao Mo's reasoning, he believed that the culprit was a department store employee.

But he didn't think the department store owner was a criminal.

If the reason was to prevent his son from marrying the victim, there were other ways to do so; there was no reason to kill someone in his own parking lot.

Takagi affirmed, "We've checked it again, there shouldn't be any mistake..."

"Don't jump to conclusions, Officer Takagi."

Gao Mo stood up from beside the corpse.

Unlike previous photo analysis, much more information can be collected on-site.

He has confirmed that the murderer is the 167cm tall security guard.

Even without looking at the security guard's projected text, height alone is enough to identify the security guard.

"Could we find another suitable place?" Gao Mo glanced at the growing crowd of onlookers, guessing that reporters would soon be drawn by the commotion.

He had no interest in putting on a detective show in front of a large audience.

"Huh?" Takagi turned around in surprise.

It was as if I saw Kogoro Mouri, but the feeling was completely different.

He had been wondering why it was Mr. Kido himself who came to assist with the investigation.

(End of this chapter)