No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

Shiratori was startled, wondering if Kitahara Masaki was doubting Kobayashi-sensei?

"Inspector Kitahara, I believe Ms. Kobayashi's testimony is absolutely true!"

“I didn’t say it was fake. But—she was just saying what she thought was the truth.”

"What does this mean?"

"First, there's the voice identification. Her feedback was that none of the three voices matched the one she heard from the perpetrator. Don't you find that strange? She clearly didn't see the perpetrator, so how did she know those threatening words were spoken by the perpetrator? Yes, her preconceived notions made her think that the person who said those words must be the murderer, but the voice she heard could very well be the victim's voice, after all, the victim was also a woman. Second, there's the body outline. A woman's bust could be a disguise for the perpetrator, and a ponytail goes without saying; it's not unusual for a man to wear a ponytail. Shiratori, this time when you listened to the eyewitness testimony, you mixed in personal feelings, which is why you chose to accept Ms. Kobayashi's words completely, leading to the current result. Finally, there's the truck with '09' printed on it. It's not just a number; it could also be an OS (system/operation code). Have someone investigate that."

Ms. Kobayashi is an ordinary person. Asking her to give an accurate and unambiguous testimony is simply asking the impossible. Restoring the truth is the job of the police. It would be much better if there were eyewitnesses who could come forward.

"Inspector Kitahara, thank you for your guidance!"

"No need, it would be even better if you could treat me to a meal later. By the way, try to talk to those kids more, especially Ai, she should be able to give you a lot of advice."

After seeing Shiratori off, Koshimizu also became very interested in the case. After all, the eyewitness looked a lot like Officer Sato and was the woman Shiratori was pursuing. This was the hottest gossip in the Metropolitan Police Department recently.

There are three suspects: Ms. Kengoku, whose driver's license was revoked for speeding and who speaks rudely; Ms. Takimoto, who currently has a cold; and Mr. Yanagi, who injured his shoulder. None of the three have an alibi for the time of the incident, and all three have a significant grudge against the victim.

"Inspector Kitahara, who do you think the murderer is?"

"Well, according to the usual pattern, the culprit should be the only male. We can't figure anything out with just this information. The best way in this situation is to have Officer Sato pretend to be an eyewitness to lure out the real culprit. However, this would mean that Shiratori wouldn't have a chance to appear."

The rest was much simpler. After finding the truck with the OS printed on it, they obtained testimony from the driver. Meanwhile, the murderer planned to go to Teitan Elementary School to intimidate Ms. Kobayashi. Of course, Officer Shiratori acted as her protector. With the reasoning advice of Kitahara Masaki and the emotional advice of Haibara, he and Ms. Kobayashi finally got together.

Ms. Kobayashi finally remembered that Officer Shiratori was the little boy from back then, and naturally fell for him after his confession. After the case was closed, Shiratori ate Ms. Kobayashi's lovingly prepared bento box for lunch every day, causing a group of single male police officers who secretly admired Officer Sato to shout that he was a traitor.

Meanwhile, Kitahara Masaki, who was watching these middle-aged men fooling around, sighed:

The Metropolitan Police Department is doomed.

Chapter 309 The Murderer Who Impersonated the Dead

"The Lolita clothes here in Harajuku are all very beautiful, and this one suits Ai perfectly."

"Sister Evelyn, don't just look at my children's clothes, take a look at some that suit you too."

"Hmm—the Lolita style doesn't really suit me. I'm actually more interested in the Japanese white kimono."

"Ahem, white wedding dresses are only worn at weddings."

Kitahara Masaki followed behind the two women, now acting like a heartless bag-carrying machine. Harajuku's clothing was fashionable and inexpensive, attracting many young people. From the very beginning, three shop assistants mistook them for a family of three. When Kitahara Masaki tried to explain, the two women simply watched without offering any help, leaving him incredibly embarrassed and feeling like a heartless man.

Just as they were happily buying clothes, several police cars sped past, and soon Inspector Megure called.

"Hey, Inspector Megure, it's my day off today."

"Ahem, I know, but I remember you were in Harajuku today too, and this case just so happens to have taken place there. And one of the key locations is a coffee shop, so perhaps..."

"Well, it's just what we need to do, we need to take a break."

Kitahara Masaki led the two to the coffee shop Inspector Megure had mentioned, where Inspector Shiratori was already waiting. Seeing Kitahara Masaki carrying large bags, Shiratori quickly came to help him, even ordering drinks in advance – Shiratori certainly has high emotional intelligence.

As Kitahara Masaki finally sat on the sofa drinking iced coffee, Officer Shiratori told him about the case that had happened that day.

"A woman was found strangled in a stall in a public restroom about half an hour's drive from this coffee shop. She was wearing very conspicuous Lolita clothing. Her identity was confirmed by her driver's license."

After Shiratori saw Ai, the voices behind him became noticeably quieter. However, Ai clearly didn't care about such things. After all, Haibara had dissected countless mice and seen countless corpses, so she was completely indifferent to this kind of thing.

"Mr. Mori's daughter and the Suzuki Group's daughter were the first to discover the body, and according to them, they had seen the victim and the victim's friends in the store shortly before the body was discovered."

The sequence of events is as follows:

The Mori family and Sonoko were resting in the café. The victim, Ms. Kuse, came in briefly around 3 PM, but quickly went outside to wait for someone. Ten minutes later, Ms. Shodo, dressed in office attire, sat in the same spot and accidentally broke a water glass while looking at the menu. When the Mori family left, the girl in Lolita fashion still hadn't returned, while Ms. Shodo remained seated.

After resting, Mori and his group went to a clothing store in Harajuku. When Ran and Sonoko went to the public restroom, they found the body of the woman they had just seen wearing Lolita fashion in one of the stalls.

"This is really..."

It seems to be a proof problem. The murderer should be the woman in the office lady outfit. However, Kitahara Masaki doesn't know the details of the scene or their actions, so Conan is needed to convey the information.

Conan quickly returned to the coffee shop. Seeing Kitahara Masaki there, he immediately sat down next to him, and Kitahara Masaki promptly said to him:

"Today is my day off, let's solve the case together quickly. Tell me your guesses."

After saying that, Kitahara Masaki first questioned Ms. Shodo, who had come with Inspector Megure. According to Inspector Shiratori, Ms. Shodo was a friend of the deceased, and according to the testimony, the two arrived at the coffee shop one after the other. However, Kitahara Masaki asked her:

"Miss Shodo, your figure should be similar to Miss Kuse's, right?"

"Officer, I don't understand what you mean. So what if my body shape is similar to Hisase's?"

"Ahem, don't rush. I'm just suggesting a possibility: is it possible that the Lolita who came in at the beginning and you who took off your makeup later are the same person?"

This was the hypothesis Conan mentioned to Kitahara Masaki as soon as he entered, since they needed to solve the case quickly in order to see the beautiful woman change into new clothes. Moreover, Conan's suggestion was certainly valid; after putting on heavy makeup, how could an ordinary passerby possibly tell what someone's natural face looked like?

"I was out of town on a business trip yesterday, and that Lolita dress sold out on the day it was released!"

"So what? Aren't you and Ms. Kuse friends? She just bought two items, that's enough, isn't it?"

"Oh, right! When I arrived at the coffee shop, I broke the glass that Kuse had used. If there are Kuse's fingerprints on it, that would prove that I arrived at the coffee shop ten minutes after she left!"

"But the fingerprints on the glass don't prove anything. You could have just switched the glass the first time you came. You could have stolen the glass from when you came to this shop before, and then had your friend leave a fingerprint on it. That should be easy. Then, when you came to this coffee shop without makeup, you should have broken the glass immediately. That would have prevented the staff from washing off the fingerprints after taking the glass away, since it would have been thrown in the trash as soon as it was broken."

Ms. Shodo was so angry at Kitahara Masaki that she couldn't speak. First of all, she originally wanted to use the fact that it took half an hour to get from the coffee shop to the crime scene to clear herself of suspicion, but after Kitahara Masaki proposed that one person played two roles, this statement naturally had loopholes.

Then she tried to argue that she didn't actually own any Lolita clothing, but the sunglasses-wearing policeman wasn't buying it at all.

In the end, even the glass he had carefully prepared with the victim's fingerprints was seen through.

"Fine, I won't get anything out of you, Conan. Tell me, did you see anything suspicious in the restroom at the crime scene?"

"Oh, no problem. The victim's manicure appears to have been ripped off, and there are signs of cleaning in the cubicle next to where the victim was. I think the manicure was ripped off because the victim scratched the killer while struggling, so the real crime scene is the cubicle next to where the body was!"

Kitahara Masaki nodded. All they needed to do was have the forensic team examine it to find out the result.

And indeed, that was the case; blood was found in the cubicle next to the deceased's. A DNA comparison would then reveal whose blood it was.

In this case, Kitahara Masaki caught the culprit in less than half an hour. What made Conan even more amused was that he told Kitahara Masaki the vast majority of the deductions, making it seem as if he had drugged Kitahara Masaki and then started to deduce the truth himself.

Seeing Conan's smug look, Kitahara Masaki, with narrowed eyes, grabbed his wrist, pointed his genius tranquilizer watch at him, and shot Conan with a whoosh.

You should get some sleep.

Kitahara Maki didn't look back and continued to enjoy her vacation with Vermouth and the others.

Chapter 310 Old Silver Coins on the Jo Ambulance

"The time limit is about five minutes. Even without data transmission, just allowing you to browse that level of information is already the limit."

“No problem. Even if I can’t copy the data, I can still write down the information.”

"Oh—good luck then."

After saying that, Kitahara Masaki hung up the phone, leaned against his sports car, and looked out at the police station in the distance.

"Shinichi, are you really planning to use this method to lure out Rum?"

“Otherwise what? I couldn’t be 100% sure that Rum was the mastermind behind the previous cases, but this time the person who was sent was Curaçao, so Rum must be behind it. If anything happens to Curaçao, I believe he won’t just stand by and do nothing.”

This operation was Curaçao's mission; Kitahara Masaki and Vermouth only did preliminary preparations. These included finding out the personnel configuration and departmental structure within the police headquarters, preparing an identity and access card for entering the headquarters, and acquiring hacking tools capable of breaching databases.

All of this was prepared so that Curaçao could see the infiltrates of various intelligence organizations within the Black Organization. Kitahara Masaki and Vermouth had been preparing for months just so she could spy on the database for a few minutes. Although Kitahara Masaki's age was frozen in the Detective Conan world, the preparation time was indeed very long.

Curaçao was both skilled and daring. Using the identity prepared for her by Kitahara Masaki, she entered the police department directly. Her journey was indeed very smooth. Everyone she met along the way bowed and saluted her, after all, that identity belonged to a senior employee of the Public Security Intelligence Investigation Agency.

After arriving at the database, Curaçao immediately activated the hacking tools she was carrying, and soon—the names of the Black Organization's spies and moles appeared one after another.

She looked at the names of these people, and at the same time took out five transparent cards of different colors from her pocket, held them in front of her eyes, and began to take shorthand notes as if she had opened her eyes.

However, less than ten seconds after she looked at it, several police officers suddenly rushed into the database, took out pistols, and aimed them at Curaçao.

"That's enough! Hands up!"

Kazama Yuya stood at the door, thinking that the black-clad organization member had almost escaped. After all, Amuro Tooru had just received a call from Kitahara Maki, who said she had received a call from someone claiming to be a senior employee of the Public Security Intelligence Agency. The person gave her name and said she had been kidnapped and imprisoned.

Amuro Tooru immediately recalled that the Black Organization had previously considered using a "switch operation," which involved killing the original intelligence agent and replacing them. However, upon making a phone call, he discovered that this senior employee had actually appeared at the police station. Sensing something was wrong, he immediately notified Kazama to intercept her, and Amuro Tooru himself rushed to the police station.

Curaçao, who was on a mission, was unaware that she had been betrayed by Kitahara Masaki. She simply thought that the Public Security Bureau had reacted too quickly, which led to her being cornered.

However, she wasn't afraid at all. The server room they were in stored crucial police data, and these officers certainly wouldn't dare fire. So, Curacao charged straight at the officers, using her superior joint locks to thoroughly beat them up, leaving them hesitant to fire.

Just as Kazama Yuya was about to move forward, he was bypassed by Curaçao with a Marseille turn. Her mission was to find out information about the undercover agents, not to get entangled with these public security officers.

After rushing out the door, she retraced her steps. Just as she was sprinting toward the exit, Amuro Tooru suddenly appeared and blocked her way. Amuro Tooru had no time to disguise himself and hurriedly came over wearing sunglasses and a mask.

The two knew from the moment they met that the other was definitely skilled. Curaçao's side kick was dodged by Amuro Tooru, but Amuro Tooru grabbed her jacket and wig with a grappling move. After Curaçao broke free, Amuro Tooru finally saw the woman's features. In addition to having heterochromatic eyes, she also had long silver-white hair.

Curaçao! Amuro Tooru immediately realized that this member of the Black Organization was Rum's confidante, Curaçao. The rumors of her heterochromia had long been circulating within the organization, so he was able to recognize her at first glance.

With a flurry of punches, Curaçao was forced to retreat, one of her contact lenses knocked out. Realizing that the hidden police officer in front of her was not someone to be trifled with, she immediately broke through the window and escaped, sliding down the flagpole to the ground before running towards her sports car.

Amuro Tooru, of course, wouldn't just stand by and watch. Who knew how much data that woman had stolen from their police department? He had to get that intelligence back.

Just as the two began their chase, Shuichi Akai, who had been waiting for a long time not far from the police station, started his car and followed.

The FBI was able to detect that someone was trying to steal information from the National Police Agency because when Shuichi Akai was following his sister, he suddenly discovered that she was investigating a kidnapping case. After comparing the kidnapped person with the FBI database, it turned out that the person was a high-ranking intelligence officer from the National Police Agency.

Shuichi Akai, who shared the same idea as Tooru Amuro, immediately rushed to the police station and saw the broken glass windows on the high-rise building. After seeing Tooru Amuro get into the car and chase after him, he naturally wouldn't miss the opportunity to capture a member of the Black Organization.

However, after the three of them began their chase, none of them noticed an ambulance two kilometers away.

Kitahara Masaki sat in the passenger seat, watching the footage from the drone. The drone in the sky didn't need to drive on the road; it only needed to turn its camera around in the air to keep up with the vehicles speeding along the highway.

"Great, Curaçao got into the sports car I prepared for her to escape in! She even brought that hacking gadget! I was originally thinking of blocking the signal if she said something she shouldn't have, but now it looks like Haibara can just hack into her phone."

"This is really crazy, Kitahara-kun. Are you using the other undercover agents as bargaining chips to lure Curaçao away?"

"You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub; that's the only way. And the plan is going very smoothly. Most importantly, Curaçao hasn't doubted the equipment we provided. Even if her phone is jammed, she'll only think it's the Japanese police behind her."

Well, the worst that could happen is that Bourbon and Gil's information is leaked, what's that? The Red Team members are all practically invincible, how could they be so overwhelmed by Kitahara Masaki's little scheme?

Drop drop-

"Curaçao dialed the number! The contact name on the phone was Gin!"

"Very good, continue listening and take control of her phone when the time is right."

Don't blame me, Curaçao, after all, my creed is to use everything that can be used.

Chapter 311 You'd better pray you lose your memory

"Hello! Is this Gin? I'm being chased by the police right now. When can you provide backup?"