No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

Originally, this case was just a very ordinary traffic accident. The perpetrator surrendered and confessed to his crime. However, Eri Kisaki was puzzled by the fact that her rival, Prosecutor Kujo, had been detaining the perpetrator, Mr. Takeuchi. So she asked Uncle Mori to investigate the traffic accident.

However, the investigation had barely begun when Conan noticed something amiss with the vehicle involved in the accident. According to the traffic police, the impact speed was approximately 60 kilometers per hour, and the hood and windshield were severely damaged. But upon examining the driver's seat, he discovered that it was positioned very far forward, while the perpetrator was a man over 1.8 meters tall; clearly, someone of his size couldn't possibly sit comfortably in it.

They then found an eyewitness to the traffic accident. However, it was already late at night when the incident occurred. The eyewitness testified that he only saw the vehicle run a red light at the intersection and hit a pedestrian who was riding a bicycle across the zebra crossing. However, the eyewitness did not see the driver's face clearly, but only saw something flash by the driver's ear for a moment.

They then went to the Kisaki Law Firm to report their investigation results, and there they happened to run into the criminal's wife. The woman was tall enough to fit in the driver's seat, so Conan immediately suspected that the husband was taking the blame for his wife. Prosecutor Kujo probably saw through this and extended the criminal's detention time.

"Hehe, sorry, this kid just likes to play these detective games."

"It's alright, just treat it as a snack with your drinks. But taking the blame for your wife is a difficult task. If it's true, it will be hard to find evidence, since she didn't encounter any traffic surveillance along the way. Such a forced transfer is not a good thing for the prosecution."

"Hmph! With my investigation, Kogoro Mouri, the truth will surely come to light soon!"

Oh--

Kitahara Masaki nodded in agreement. Uncle Mori, as an occasional god, was reliable when he really wanted to work hard. However, this case was just a simple traffic accident, not a murder case for which direct evidence could be found.

Perhaps this is just one of many unfortunate cases in the Mikasa family. Slightly tipsy, Kitahara Masaki thought to himself, now that he had achieved his goal for the day, he naturally couldn't be bothered with any more traffic accidents.

However, a few days later, things really did turn into a murder case.

------------------

"What! Mr. Takeuchi is dead?"

"Yes! That person was the one Mori was investigating a few days ago, but he fell from the sixth floor today."

Normally, this kind of case could have been handled by Koshimizu, but in order to have more interaction with that prosecutor Kujo, Kitahara Masaki still made the trip himself.

"Ahem, Brother Kitahara, what brings you here? This case appears to be a suicide. We found a suicide note in the deceased's room, and we also have an eyewitness."

"Eyewitness?"

"Yes, it was Prosecutor Kujo. She saw Mr. Takeuchi jump down with her own eyes and she's still not over it."

Kitahara Masaki looked at the woman hailed as the "Madonna of the prosecutor's world." It seemed that even someone as resilient as her would be affected by what had happened before her.

However, this is a good opportunity for Kitahara Maki.

He asked Inspector Megure to take him to see the body. Because it was raining, the paramedics had already loaded the body into the ambulance to protect it.

The deceased's frontal body was basically mangled and bloody, but interestingly, there was a very obvious wound on the back of his head.

"His head looked like it had been hit by some kind of blunt object, but his body was lying face down when he fell. Isn't this clearly a murder case?"

He looked at the photos taken before the body was removed from the scene. The deceased was lying face down on the ground, but the back of his head had been hit by something. It couldn't have been that he fell face up and hit something, then spun 180 degrees in the air before falling to the ground.

After explaining it to Inspector Megure, he finally understood, but he was still somewhat skeptical, as he didn't believe Reiko Kujo would lie. However, Masaki Kitahara immediately offered an explanation:

"Of course, Ms. Kujo may have only witnessed the moment the victim fell, and she may not have been able to determine whether the victim was still alive at that time."

Kitahara Masaki, carrying an umbrella alone, walked up to Kujou Reiko and asked softly:

"Ms. Kujo, could you tell me about the details of the case?"

"Okay. Tonight, Mr. Takeuchi suddenly called and asked me to come to their house, saying he wanted to tell me the truth about the traffic accident. I met Mrs. Takeuchi, who was rushing back, at the elevator entrance of the apartment building. She said Mr. Takeuchi had just sent her a strange text message that said, 'I'm very grateful for your care over the years, please forget about me.' After we both entered the house, Mrs. Takeuchi, who had gone to the living room first, suddenly shouted loudly. I heard her and immediately went to the living room. Through the curtains, I could see Mr. Takeuchi standing on the balcony. I tried to open the balcony door to go in, but it was locked. I called several times, but Mr. Takeuchi didn't respond, and then he..."

Hearing this, Kitahara Masaki sighed. Kujo Reiko thought he was lamenting Takeuchi-san's death. This prosecutor, full of a sense of justice and a friend to Eri Kisaki even as an adversary, choked up as he said:

"If I had been more decisive and smashed the glass door, I might have been able to stop Mr. Takeuchi from committing suicide."

"Don't be silly, Miss Kujo. He was already dead before you even saw Mr. Takeuchi! Think about it again. Where was his wife when you were telling him not to do anything foolish? She clearly noticed her husband's abnormality from the beginning. Why didn't she use the key to the balcony door to open it, but instead called you over? Also, the wound on the deceased's head proves that he died from homicide, not suicide."

Reiko Kujo's brain, which had been somewhat dazed by the shock, finally began to function. She realized that what Masaki Kitahara had said wasn't anything hard to imagine, but she was stubbornly clinging to the idea that Mr. Takeuchi's death was her responsibility.

"Thank you, Officer Kitahara. Thanks to you, I realized that I had overlooked so many suspicious points."

"Hehe, no need to be so polite. The relationship between the police and prosecutors always needs to be friendly, doesn't it? Besides, this is a murder case. The only one who should be held responsible is the murderer. You were just used by the murderer. Let's go upstairs and see if there is any more evidence, and also ask this lady how she committed the murder."

Chapter 288 Fresh Evidence

Kitahara Masaki led Kujo Reiko, who had recovered, up to the sixth floor. At this point, only one police officer remained on duty.

After walking straight to the balcony, Kitahara Maki immediately noticed the two bricks placed under the air conditioner. When he touched them, he found that they were still covered with fresh soil, as if they had just been replaced.

Looking down from the balcony, the point of impact was indeed directly below, but the antenna on the balcony was different from the antennas in other rooms. While other rooms' antennas were pointing upwards, this room's antenna was pointing downwards.

The clothes hooks attached to the top of the balcony have obviously become longer, as if they have been pulled by something very heavy.

“Ms. Kujo, you only witnessed a crime. Although we haven’t found conclusive evidence yet, based on what you’ve said, Mr. Takeuchi was probably lifted up in some way and then pushed out.”

"Was it done with a rope? Did Mr. Takeuchi's wife do this in the next bedroom while I was focused on not being able to open the balcony door and frantically banging on it?"

"That's very likely, which is why she went to the living room early and attracted you by shouting so that she could get away in time, and then go to her room to operate the 'doll'."

"A doll? What does that mean?"

Kitahara Masaki took out a photo of Mr. Takeuchi after he fell down the building. However, he hadn't turned over yet, so the gruesome front view wasn't captured; only a pitiful back view was shown.

“Take a good look at his clothes. He’s wearing a suit jacket on top and jeans on the bottom. It’s really incongruous. But if you think about it carefully, you’ll understand why the deceased was dressed in a suit jacket. The murderer probably put a clothes rack behind the deceased like a clothes hanger. Now, tie one end of a rope to the hook of the clothes rack, and then pass the other end through the clothes hook on the balcony roof and pull it to the bedroom next to the balcony. As long as you hide in the room and pull that rope, you can lift the deceased’s body. In the dark outside and through the curtains, it looks like Mr. Takeuchi is standing up in your eyes.”

The clothes hanger was probably made of stainless steel, since plastic would likely break halfway through. The clothes hooks on the balcony ceiling were also fixed in place. Even so, it was still pulled down after bearing the weight of an adult male.

"I see. But this only allows the body to stand upright. How did the murderer make it fall down?"

After looking at the balcony, Reiko Kujo also agreed with Masaki Kitahara, but this only solved part of the problem; the most important issue remained unresolved.

“Take a closer look at the antenna in front of the balcony. All the apartments here have satellite dishes, but this one's antenna is facing completely differently from the others. So I think the killer used the antenna as a fulcrum, first looping the long rope around it, then tying it to the body's chest. After the fall, the suit jacket was probably torn to shreds, so the killer wasn't worried about anyone noticing the tampering marks. But—”

"She needs to deal with the evidence!"

Reiko Kujo realized that the clothes hanger and the rope were evidence, as was the brick that actually killed the victim.

"Don't worry, before I came up here, I told the other officers to start searching for suspicious items and to cordon off the neighborhood. I believe we'll find the evidence soon. This time, the murderer used you as a witness. Whether it was the chance encounter in front of the elevator or that strange text message, it was all setting the stage for what would happen later. She wanted to give you the impression that Mr. Takeuchi seemed to have suicidal tendencies, so that when you saw Mr. Takeuchi fall, you would think that he committed suicide."

Reiko Kujo was quite intelligent. After Masaki Kitahara laid out the details of the case, she immediately realized that she had been used. Realizing this, she bowed deeply to Masaki Kitahara and thanked him.

"Thanks to you this time, I was able to avoid falling into a state of self-doubt. Thank you, Officer Kitahara."

“Oh—don’t be so polite. Shouldn’t police officers and prosecutors help each other? Don’t you agree, Ms. Kujo?”

Reiko Kujo understood Kitahara Masaki's unspoken meaning, smiled, and tucked her disheveled hair behind her ear, indicating her agreement. This beauty, who looked just like the high school student council president, was quite sensible; after receiving her consent to cooperate, Kitahara Masaki smiled and shook her hand again.

Drop drop-

"Kitahara-senpai! We found a deformed stainless steel clothes hanger, two long black ropes, and a brick stained with blood in the flower bed!"

"Excellent! Send these items to the forensic department immediately, and keep a close eye on Mr. Takeuchi's wife. She is now the prime suspect in Mr. Takeuchi's murder!"

With the evidence chain so complete, the murderer naturally had no room for defense and confessed that she was also the one who committed the hit-and-run crime. Her husband was willing to take the blame for her not because of love, but because of money.

Mrs. Takeuchi's father recently passed away from a cerebral hemorrhage, and she received a large sum of money. She had originally agreed with her husband that if he would take the blame for her, he would give her 30 million yen in divorce settlement. However, after Mr. Takeuchi was released from prison, he changed his mind and asked for 100 million yen. This made Mrs. Takeuchi want to kill him, and in the end, she planned this crime.

So that's how it is. In the end, it all comes down to money. For something so trivial, our beautiful and righteous Prosecutor Kujo has suffered such a terrible punishment. Kitahara Masaki is so angry he can't shake off his grin. After all, it was this one incident that made Kujo Reiko and Kitahara Masaki acquainted, further improving their relationship, and also allowing him to obtain information from the Ministry of Justice.

Kitahara Masaki had previously considered whether to befriend Eri Kisaki, but deliberately currying favor would be too obvious. Then this case happened, giving him a perfect opportunity.

It's unclear what kind of series of missions were triggered, but after this not-so-difficult case was concluded, Superintendent General Hakuba approached Kitahara Masaki, saying that he had a mission to assign to him. Kitahara Masaki, of course, knew very well that when the highest-ranking officer tells you that he has a mission to assign to you, you have no room to refuse.

However, the task that Director Hakuba mentioned sounded extremely difficult—investigating the disappearance of police officers at the Kuromizu Police Station. Several officers have gone missing so far, which has led to a shortage of manpower at the police station there. However, Kuromizu is one of the most remote areas in Tokyo, and officers who have made mistakes are usually transferred there.

"Director Bai Ma, I wonder who exactly is involved in this case?"

"Oh, it's nothing, it's just that these few people have some connection with Superintendent Yoshimoto Masatoshi."

Kitahara Masaki looked speechlessly at the smiling Director Hakuba. "So you want me to help you eliminate your rivals, huh? You old fox."

Chapter 289 Another Corrupt Cop

Yoshimoto Masatoshi, a Superintendent of Police (rank 2 in the Metropolitan Police Department), publicly claims to be an upright officer with zero tolerance for crime. Kitahara Masaki had previously met him at a Tokyo Metropolitan Safety Council meeting. He's basically the type of middle-aged, overweight man desperately trying to hide his true character, and his speeches are quite inflammatory. He presents himself as a militant, promoting himself through his undefeated record in judo.

However, the case of the series of police disappearances related to Yoshimoto was personally handed over to Kitahara Masaki by Chief Inspector Hakuba, which suggests that there is an even deeper secret involved. Otherwise, Chief Inspector Hakuba would have already found out the truth long ago.

On the surface, Kitahara Masaki, who was on patrol in the capital, took Vermouth to the small town of Kuromizu, intending to finish the case quickly and get it over with. After all, Kitahara Masaki only wanted to use the Metropolitan Police Department's resources to investigate some things and did not want to get involved in the mess between the police's high-ranking officers.

Kitahara Masaki hadn't expected to be able to solve this tricky series of disappearances in one day, so after putting his luggage in the hotel, he went to the Kuromizu-cho police station to ask the local chief about the situation.

"Chief Takeshita, I won't bother with formalities. I hope you can tell me something about Kuromizu Town. My main purpose in coming here is to inspect the crime situation in various towns of Tokyo."

"Ahem, Inspector Kitahara, if I may be so bold, aren't these matters the responsibility of the General Affairs Department's inspectors?"

"Actually, our Crime Investigation Division 1 is currently collaborating with the Cyber ​​Security Department to first compile crime statistics for each town, and then plan to create a crime map of Tokyo. All of this is for the safety of the citizens, so please cooperate."

Kitahara Masaki sighed inwardly. He didn't really want to use his position to bully others, but he had to sound out the director, since his four subordinates had been missing for several days and the director hadn't responded.

Just as Takeshita was arranging for someone to hand over the recent police data from Kuromizu Town to Kitahara Masaki, Kitahara Masaki continued:

"I'm quite familiar with the people in the General Affairs Department. They told me that four officers in Blackwater seem to have been absent from duty recently. I wonder what your opinion is on this matter, Chief?"

"What else can I say? Their absences are their business, it has nothing to do with me."

"Is that so? Then I estimate I'll stay in Kuromizu Town for a few more days to conduct on-site investigations. If anything comes up, I'll come to find you again."

After saying that, Kitahara Masaki, having obtained the information, left the Kuroshui Police Station directly, and Chief Takeshita didn't dare to say another word.

While waiting outside, Vermouth rested her chin on her hand and looked at an event in the park in the distance. Only after Kitahara Masaki walked up to her did she come to her senses and, as if she had discovered something, pointed in that direction.

“Masaki, the event over there is to welcome new townspeople, but those three are all young men in their twenties or thirties. Generally speaking, who would settle in such a rural place at such a young age? It's not their hometown. So I asked Ai to help me check, and it turns out that all three of them have criminal records. They came here not long after they finished serving their sentences.”

Oh wow—there's such a thing? Looks like I'll have to ask the mayor of Kuromizu Town what this welcoming ceremony is all about.

However, let's go check the homes of those missing police officers now. Perhaps there are some clues in their homes. After all, disappearances can be passive or active.

Kitahara Masaki quickly selected a target: among the four missing police officers, the highest-ranking was Inspector Hon, who was also the Chief of Police, Nishino, and Inspectors Kito and Komagata, all of whom had been absent for several days.

"Among the missing people is a police inspector. In Japan, isn't a police inspector already one step into the middle ranks of the police force?"

"Yes, so let's go to his house first."

Because Director Hakuba spoke to Kitahara Masaki about this matter privately, he didn't launch a large-scale investigation. Without any subordinates to direct, he had to personally go to the scene and investigate.

It was like going back to the days before he got promoted, but Kitahara Masaki was too lazy to complain. It wasn't surprising that his outstanding professional skills had caught the attention of the police leadership. However, Kitahara Masaki didn't want to be seen as belonging to any faction. For him, infiltrating the Metropolitan Police Department was simply about completing an organization's mission, not about playing any "you're nice to me, I'm nice to you, we're nice to each other" games.

While inwardly cursing the Japanese for their fussiness, the two arrived at the door of Officer Kitahara's residence. Kitahara Masaki, in order to conduct a secret search, did not notify the building manager and simply used his lock-picking skills to open the door.

"Vermouth, help me search what's in this room."

"Alright, do you need me to put on the policewoman uniform from the trunk?"

"How did you know... Never mind, let's look for clues during the day. Those clothes are for nighttime use."

As two well-known members of the Black Organization, they were carefully feeling their way along the wall for clues. However, Inspector Arimoto seemed to be overestimated. Kitahara Masaki found the 'clue' in a cookie box in the living room.

"Is this some kind of unique product? No wonder I've been smelling a strange odor ever since I entered this room."