Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 91 Hattori Heiji's Big Mistake

Ikemura residence.

living room.

When Gao Mo came down from the second floor, the Chicun family was sitting around the sofa, with different expressions on their faces.

Mrs. Ikemura, who always had a stern face, no longer scolded her stepson's girlfriend like she did before.

"Let's have something to drink first."

The housekeeper brought tea and handed one cup to Mrs. Ikemura specifically.

"lady."

"Ah."

Mrs. Ikemura picked up the teacup under the nervous gaze of her stepson's girlfriend, Katsuragi Sachiko, frowned, put it back on the table and closed her eyes to rest.

It's hard to tell whether she's sad about her husband's death or what.

While Gao Mo was thinking, he noticed that Katsuragi Sachiko looked unusual.

As their attention focused, projected text appeared on everyone's bodies one after another, leaving only an old man who was not seen just now.

Mrs. Ikemura's goal is to "let her daughter have a happy future and not repeat her mistakes."

The stepson with thick black eyebrows is [Marrying Sachiko].

Katsuragi Sachiko's was "I don't want to see Mrs. Ikemura again."

The housekeeper is [don’t lose your job].

Perhaps she noticed Gao Mo's gaze, and Katsuragi Sachiko lowered her head with an unnatural expression, and was held in her boyfriend's arms and comforted gently.

"Who are you?" Gao Mo took the initiative to approach the remaining old man.

The old man's beard trembled slightly, as if he had thought of something horrible.

"It's my grandpa," the stepson with thick black eyebrows answered for the old man. "Grandpa has been acting more and more strangely lately. If you have any questions, just ask me directly."

A faint light also appeared above the old man's head - [I should have thought of it earlier].

What kind of mission is this?
Gao Mo took a few steps to the side.

The task is based on text information, so we are afraid of encountering this kind of invalid information.

But the needs of others are not much better.

Each one of them was preoccupied with their own business and didn't care about the diplomat who died upstairs.

And Hattori Heiji——

[Defeat Kindaichi in a reasoning duel] and [Become famous in Tokyo].

This guy was really eager to win in the early days.

……

It happened not long ago.

Perhaps because it involved the murder of a diplomat, the police quickly rushed to Ikemura's house.

However, the only one leading the team was Inspector Megure, and Takagi, who was always running around, was not there.

"Oh? Kido-kun? Why are you here too?"

"I came here with this Osaka high school student detective," Gao Mo pushed Hattori, who had his hands in his pockets, forward, "I originally received a commission from Mr. Ikemura, but this happened."

"Osaka? A high school detective?"

Megure squinted his eyes, paused, and suddenly widened his eyes again.

"Are you the Hattori Heiji who called the section chief? The son of Hattori Heizo, the chief of the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters?!"

"Don't mention my dad."

Hattori Heiji followed the forensic personnel back to the second floor.

"I've investigated this case. There's no sign of anyone breaking in from outside. All the windows are locked from the inside, and the only entrance and exit door was also locked when I came in. It's likely someone used a spare key to break in and commit the crime..."

Gao Mo fell behind like a follower.

He had just looked through the study in an instant, but because it was inconvenient to search the scene, the police needed to further dig for clues.

"Wow!"

The words "Solved" also appeared projected above Megure's head.

Okay, let’s extract the tasks first.

The sound of flipping pages echoed in my ears, and in a moment, only a piece of text remained in my vision.

[I should have thought of it earlier] - Ikemura Toshimitsu.

It actually happened to the old man.

A useless task with no beginning or end.

Gao Mo chose to draw again.

The second mission is locked - [I don’t want to see Mrs. Ikemura again].

Katsuragi Sachiko's mission.

Gao Mo turned his gaze to Katsuragi Sachiko who was being questioned nearby.

I don't want to see Mrs. Ikemura, but I have to come to Ikemura's house...

It doesn't feel like a good task either.

Unfortunately, there is only one chance to redraw now.

"From 3:30 to 4:00, I was talking to the neighbors next door," the housekeeper explained to the police interrogation. "Then the young master came back, and I went into the house with them. A short while later, I saw the lady's car."

Mrs. Ikemura: "As soon as I came back, I took these two young men into the house, and then went to the study to call my husband... because I had something to entrust to them."

Old man: "I have been watching TV in the living room next to the study."

"So the old man is the only one without an alibi?"

Inspector Megure took notes while questioning.

"How many keys are there to the study?"

"There are only two," Mrs. Ikemura took out the study key with a keychain from her purse, "one is with me, and the other is with my husband... He usually keeps it in his trouser pocket."

"Snapped!"

A police officer stepped forward and felt around in the corpse's pants, and the keychain, which was neatly folded inside the interlayer, slipped off with a clang.

"How could this happen?" Megure asked, turning his gaze to the equally surprised Hattori Heiji, "Can you tell me in detail what happened when you came here? Was the door really locked?" "There's no mistake, I saw it with my own eyes."

Hattori Heiji responded solemnly, and soon his eyes seemed to glow with an imposing aura.

"Interesting! This is a perfect crime with a neat trick—a locked-room murder!"

Gao Mo's eyes were also shining behind him, but it was a truly extraordinary light, faint but illuminating the entire study.

As information flooded into my mind, from Ikemura Gongjiang's commission to the study...

All the clues were arranged with the help of his photographic memory.

A locked door, locked windows, and only two keys...

The victim fell behind the desk, and the poison needle was on the carpet next to him.

There is a pile of books stacked on the right side of the desk.

There is a pile of classical music discs next to the bookshelf.

A disc player that plays opera.

There is a sudden gap on the bookshelf where books are neatly arranged.

And the keys that fell out of the trouser pocket...

"Mr. Ikemura was in this dozing position when I came in," Hattori Heiji reconstructed the scene, sitting on the desk chair and supporting his chin with his right hand. "Mrs. Ikemura didn't respond when I called out, and only when I went to check did I realize something was wrong."

"Officer!" the officer checking the keys suddenly exclaimed, "The victim's keychain is weird!"

"What?" Hattori Heiji stood up quickly.

The oval, gem-like keychain was split in two, with tape covering the middle section. There seemed to be a thin line running underneath the tape...

"I see, I understand everything now!"

As if he had figured something out, Hattori Heiji smiled confidently again. Ignoring the puzzled Megure, he quickly walked past Gao Mo and rushed into the living room next to the study.

"what's the situation?"

Megure looked at Gao Mo inquiringly.

"How did you get involved with this outsider?"

"He is...helping me now." Gao Mo walked to the disc player to check.

"Is this true?" Megure seemed to be getting to know Gao Mo all over again. "How could the only son of the Osaka Prefectural Police Chief work for you? Besides, he's still a high school student."

"So you're working for me, for free."

Gao Mo picked up a photo frame that had fallen off the bookshelf.

It is a photo of a young man and woman.

The woman looked very similar to Katsuragi Sachiko, except that her hair was black.

The man is similar to the stepson with thick black eyebrows, but is much fatter.

Gao Mo turned to the body being carried away from the scene.

"This is a photo of my husband and I when we were young," Mrs. Ikemura said, snatching the frame. "This shouldn't be relevant to the investigation, right? Could you please not touch it?"

"Feel sorry……"

Gao Mo looked at the photo that was snatched away by Chicun Gongjiang, and suddenly a light bulb went off in his head.

The young woman's face in the photo seems to be highlighted.

A key clue was captured.

The rest of the confusing clues then had a direction.

When Gao Mo looked at the scene again and saw Kimura Kimie, his impression was completely different from before.

Kimie Ikemura's wish to "give his daughter a happy future and prevent her from making the same mistakes as he did"...is not unrelated to the Ikemura family.

His daughter was there.

And it is most likely Katsuragi Sachiko - they look so similar, with almost no difference except for the hair color.

Having this kind of thought and making things difficult for my daughter... is just an appearance.

The reason is that I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes.

What mistakes are we repeating?
Gao Mo's thinking became clearer and clearer.

Speaking of which, who actually commissioned the detective to investigate this time was it the victim or Kimie Ikemura himself?
From the very beginning, Ikemura Kimie seemed anxious and chose his players very casually.

Would a normal client choose a high school detective without even asking any questions?

It was as if this woman had deliberately found an ordinary detective to follow her.

There is also a study with obvious signs of human arrangement.

A long opera disc.

The book obstructing the view from the table, the victim who hadn't responded...

In order to establish the "secret room" in this case, an eyewitness is needed - this is actually the purpose of Ikemura Kimie asking the detective to come to his house.

The person who seems to have the strongest alibi is actually the last person to come into contact with the deceased.

Hattori Heiji was influenced by his preconceived notions and seemed to subconsciously ignore the possibility that this woman had committed a crime.

The victim died within approximately 30 minutes, including death on the spot.

This is not a physical locked room, but a psychological locked room murder.

The reason for hiring a detective is because detectives are often impressed by locked room murders, which makes it easier to complete this psychological trick...

Hattori Heiji made a huge mistake.

Gao Mo's eyes lit up slightly.

This may be a good opportunity to complete the upgrade progress.

In the name of Kindaichi...

"Madam Chicun," Gao Mo sent a message to Xiao Ai at home, and then followed the woman out of the study. "What time did Madam go out?"

"It seems like it's not even 1 o'clock yet," Ikemura Kimie tightened his fingers, "Is there a problem?"

"You should know where Mr. Ikemura was at that time, right?"

"Why are you asking?"

(End of this chapter)