Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 92 Reasoning Level 4
"found it!"

Hattori Heiji returned to the study with a roll of fishing line, his expression as if he saw through everything.

"Officer, I know what method the criminal used to create the locked room! Can I conduct a live experiment?"

"Fishing line? What does that have to do with fishing line?"

"Of course it does..."

Gao Mo turned around and looked at Hattori Heiji who was practicing the secret room technique.

Inspector Megure, playing the victim, sat down at his desk and pretended to doze off, "Why me?"

"Because the police officer and the victim are the only ones with similar body shapes."

Hattori Heiji retreated outside the door to arrange the fishing line.

"The murderer inserted the end of the needle into the victim's pocket and pulled out the fishing line... Then he helped the victim to sit on the chair and put him in the position we found him in, with his hands supporting his head..."

"If you reel the fishing line through the crack in the door, the key will pass through the crack, climb onto the desk, and run into your pocket... Finally, pull hard, and the fishing line will be pulled out of the tape, becoming what we see..."

wrong.

Gao Mo seemed to have returned to the time when he was communicating with Kudo Yusaku.

The detective must gather as many clues as possible, no matter how insignificant or seemingly useless they may be.

Useless clues, conflicting clues, key clues… and misleading clues.

The truth lies at the root where these clues are intertwined.

Even if it is a misleading clue, it can point to the truth from a different perspective - it can even become an important basis for identifying the murderer.

The most frightening thing is to form a closed loop with part of the clues, and then self-righteously regard them as the truth.

What seems like a perfect reasoning may just be a trap set by the murderer.

For example, Hattori Heiji now.

He had just searched the trash cans in other rooms and found fishing line in almost every room.

With so much fishing line, if an investigation were to begin, Ikemura Kimie would be suspected by the police even if he had an alibi.

After all, cases like Nakamichi and Zhi's are rare.

Kimie Ikemura is just an ordinary person and cannot withstand investigation at all.

A trick is just a trick after all...

But the detective Hattori Heiji took the initiative to help Ikemura Kimie clear his suspicion.

But before that, he wasn't much better.

Knowing the murderer first and then collecting evidence to work backwards is too tricky and is actually a very bad habit for a famous detective.

When the murderer is unknown and Eagle Vision cannot find the key clues, he may end up like Hattori Heiji...

"Wow!"

Gao Mo's thoughts suddenly went a step further. The books in the Kudo family's collection that he had read during this period, as well as Kudo Yusaku's guidance, all reappeared in his mind like an explosion.

[Reasoning lv3-Reasoning lv4].

The reasoning level has also caught up.

Kudo Yusaku is right, actual cases are the best teachers.

"Success!"

At this time, Hattori Heiji finally verified the secret room technique in the study, and successfully transferred the key from outside the door to Megure's trouser pocket through a fishing line.

"The victim died between 3:30 and 4:00, and the murderer must have spent a considerable amount of time setting up the scene... Mrs. Ikemura, who returned at 4:00, is clearly not a suspect. The housekeeper and the other two who had just returned also stand no chance...

"The murderer can only be one person, and that's Mr. Ikemura, who was watching TV next door at the time! The evidence is this fishing line hidden in the living room trash can..."

Old man Chicun stood silently by, as if he had something to say, but in the end he just put his hands behind his back and kept his head down without saying a word.

His son killed Ikemura Kimie's ex-husband decades ago... He knew everything about it.

I've always regretted not stopping it.

This guilt tormented him for 20 years.

"That's right," the old man lowered his head, "I killed Ah Xun. I couldn't stand the evil he committed."

What is this old man doing?
"what?"

Gao Mo received an anonymous call from Xiao Ai and was about to use the excuse of Kindaichi's remote call to intervene in the case when he suddenly discovered that Ikemura Gongjiang had gone to the living room on the first floor. ...

living room.

A trace of sadness appeared on Kimie Ikemura's calm face. He looked at the photo of his younger self with nostalgia and pain, closed his eyes and threw it into the trash can next to him, then drank the cup of tea on the table in one gulp.

"Mrs. Chicun." Gao Mo followed back to the living room.

"Have you figured it out?" Ikemura Kimie's face hardened again. "How did he come to suspect me? That high school detective's reasoning must be perfect."

"Only that photo was deliberately put down," Gao Mo looked at the trash can, "you must have done it casually after returning to the scene... You didn't expect that Katsuragi Sachiko would come to Chicun's house today."

Ikemura Koie sneered in response: "What can a photo tell you?"

"Mrs. Ikemura, you don't want others to know about your relationship with Katsuragi Sachiko, right?"

Gao Mo sat down opposite the woman.

"No matter how strong the alibi is, if there's a motive for murder, the police will still investigate... Something must have happened in the past that made you a suspect, right?
"If we ignore the high school detective's testimony, you'll be the first suspect, and then we'll find that there's no need for a locked room, and..."

Gao Mo paused.

"Those fishing lines, and the traces at the study scene...the arrangements you made will become strong evidence that you are the murderer."

"Just because of a photo?"

Ikemura Kimie laughed to himself, his fingers trembling as he tried to light a cigarette. He took out a lighter from his bag, but failed.

"You're not like what you say, just a washed-up idol... huhu..."

"I just relayed what happened here to Detective Kindaichi."

Gao Mo looked at the panting Chicun Gongjiang in confusion.

At this time, the woman no longer maintained her cold and harsh image. Her face softened, showing relief, reluctance, and nostalgia... but at the same time, her forehead was covered with cold sweat and she looked anxious.

"Mrs. Ikemura?"

Gao noticed the empty teacup on the table and remembered Katsuragi Sachiko's strange reaction before.

Having trouble with tea?
In the cases currently affected by him, there always seems to be a strange phenomenon, that is, "the murderer kills the murderer."

That cup of tea...

Gao Mo's eyes narrowed suddenly.

Is this what you mean by [I don’t want to see Mrs. Ikemura again]?

Katsuragi Sachiko actually wanted to kill Ikemura Kimie.

If they were really mother and daughter...

Gao Mo stood up and stared at the weak and collapsed Chicun Gongjiang. He went forward to check and found that his pulse was beating faster and his condition was getting worse.

It doesn't look like symptoms of poisoning.

Hypoglycemia?
"Officer Megure!"

Gao Mo's eyes fluctuated, he sighed softly, and decided to save people.

The mission is [I don't want to see Mrs. Ikemura again] written by Sachiko Katsuragi.

But this time he seemed unable to complete it.

Katsuragi Sachiko's wish cannot be fulfilled.

"Kirouto?"

Megure was about to take the "murderer" Mr. Ikemura away when he looked out in confusion after hearing the shout.

"what happened?"

"It's Madam!" the housekeeper exclaimed in surprise, "Madam has been suffering from hypoglycemia. Quick, help!"

"Call a doctor!"

"syrup!"

Suddenly, there was a loud shouting in the Ikemura residence, and even Hattori Heiji, who had just finished reasoning, joined in the rescue work.

Improperly treated hypoglycemia can also be fatal.

"What on earth happened?" Hattori Heiji was sweating. After Mrs. Ikemura was sent away, he turned around and looked at Gao Mo in confusion, "That's not just simple hypoglycemia... She seems to have taken blood sugar-lowering medicine."

(End of this chapter)