Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Chapter 380, page 379: Where did this suspect come from?

"Hey, Sonoko-neechan, where did you get this ring from?"

At that moment, Conan suddenly stared intently at the ring on Sonoko Suzuki's hand and asked, "This ring looks exactly the same as the rings worn by the three victims in the photo."

"what?"

This discovery immediately caught the attention of Inspector Megure and his team, who turned around to take a closer look.

It really is so.

"Sonoko, where did you get this ring from?"

"Hey... this is the department store Xiaolan and I went to today. It was a free gift with a certain amount of spending during their promotion."

Sonoko Suzuki replied in this way.

"So, does this mean that the real commonality among these three victims is that they were all customers who made purchases at that department store and received free gifts?"

Sano also glanced at the photo.

...Tsk, I was so drawn to that superficial "dark skin" feature that I didn't even notice such a subtle detail.

Sano frowned, but quickly relaxed.

That's the point of Conan being a mere tool, isn't it?

Before the group could even begin to discuss their new discovery, Sonoko Suzuki received a call from Ran Mouri… The two best friends had originally gone shopping together at a department store.

Sonoko Suzuki returned first because Ran Mouri had gone to the restroom due to an upset stomach.

As a result, Ran Mouri got lost in the underground parking lot and couldn't find the exit, so she called Sonoko Suzuki... despite the scream that quickly came through the phone.

This marked the official start of the Sano Akira case.

Soon, Sano followed the group to the underground parking garage of the department store where Ran Mouri was located. Fortunately, it wasn't far away, in fact, it was quite close.

This saved Sano trouble and also saved Ran Mouri a little bit of face... Otherwise, Sonoko Suzuki, who abandoned her best friend to go to the bathroom and left first, might have felt embarrassed.

Back to the topic.

The fourth victim was, unsurprisingly, also a hot girl.

The only difference is that...

The victims this time were not just attacked, but killed.

The seriousness of the situation suddenly escalated, and Inspector Megure and others quickly launched an investigation, while Ran Mouri, who was the first to discover the body, was also involved.

Naturally, this became the top priority.

After some seemingly insignificant events, the situation gradually came to Sano's attention.

The victim, named Tae Ranzawa, is 20 years old. She was an employee of this department store a year ago, but was later laid off and has not yet found a job.

They are unemployed.

As for the suspects, there are four.

The first one was named Noriyuki Shirakawa, the victim's boyfriend. It is said that the two had arranged to meet at the department store today. In addition, he was also the son of the department store owner.

He's a rich kid, but not the kind who just sits around and squanders his fortune.

Noriyuki Shirakawa worked as a chef at this guy's department store restaurant, which is why the deceased was introduced to work there a year ago.

The second one is named Yuri Kanno, who is a waitress at the restaurant where Noriyuki Shirakawa works and was also his classmate in college. The two are good friends.

...Hmm, a sense of love, hate, and grudges is already emerging.

The third one is called Ding Jin Fangxiong, a parking lot security guard. He was pulled out of the crowd by Ran Mouri, an eyewitness. According to him, he had just gone to the restroom at the time, so he was unaware of the situation.

Then the fourth suspect, Shirakawa Noriyuki's father and the general manager of the department store, jumped out and said that the third suspect, Ding Jin Fangxiong, was the murderer. The evidence was that a year ago, Ding Jin Fangxiong was a security guard at his family's rival company, and that he had switched jobs to ruin their reputation.

Finally, there is one more clue that might be useful.

Noriyuki Shirakawa's father referred to the deceased as "a woman with a bad record."

After being questioned by Kogoro Mouri, Noriyuki Shirakawa revealed the answer: the deceased had caused a traffic accident in this parking lot a year ago.

A little boy was hit and killed.

It was precisely because of this incident that the deceased was dismissed.

"By the way, Mr. Shirakawa, may I ask how tall your father is approximately?"

When Kogoro Mouri asked again, the answer he received was about 150 centimeters.

In addition, Kogoro Mouri asked about the heights of the other three.

Noriyuki Shirakawa is 173 cm tall.

Yuri Amano is 144 cm tall.

Ding Jinfangxiong's height is 167 cm.

...I hadn't noticed before that none of these three people were very tall, especially the woman in the middle.

Sano withdrew his gaze. Of course, he didn't discriminate based on height. In particular, although his current body was quite tall, he was only slightly taller than Shirakawa Noriyuki in his previous life, perhaps if he were to hunch over lazily.

You might even look shorter than the other person.

But a height of 140cm is really a bit outrageous.

But there's nothing we can do about it, so we can't blame anyone.

Ahem, let's get back to the main point. The reason why Kogoro Mouri is so focused on height is because the testimonies of the three victims mentioned that the suspect's height was about the same as theirs, around 1.5 meters.

Of the four suspects, if we exclude the woman, the most likely suspect is the company CEO.

Despite Sano's view, this was a particularly obvious directional clue.

They're usually troublemakers.

However, sometimes you can follow the trail of the troublemaker to find the person holding the stick.

Next, after learning about the clue about height, Shirakawa Noriyuki suddenly became agitated and started cursing at Inspector Megure, saying something like that.

They have clues but can't catch the culprits. They're the ones who caused the death. The police are all a bunch of incompetent idiots.

This made Inspector Megure's face extremely ugly.

Sano had initially thought that Inspector Megure was in a bad mood because he had been scolded, but the guy almost collapsed to the ground, clutching his head in pain, which made the case seem less ordinary.

Is this post-traumatic stress disorder?

Is it because Inspector Megure has encountered similar cases before, and failed to solve them or paid a heavy price, that this is the reason for his current situation?

Sano glanced thoughtfully at Conan, who was also looking at Inspector Megure with a thoughtful expression, and the case that Kogoro Mouri had mentioned earlier came to mind.

Yes, it's very likely.

After Yuri Amano apologized on behalf of Noriyuki Shirakawa, she led him away from the scene. Masao Tatekin also returned to his post. The case seemed to be reaching a deadlock, but at this moment, Conan came up with a new clue based on the photos of the three victims earlier—the car.

Because the second victim was dressed very lightly, yet collapsed in a very cold toilet, Conan suspected that she had just left from a warm place and would soon return, such as a car with the air conditioning on.

The first and third victims had also just gotten out of the car before being attacked.

Is the key point the car?

Sano quickly connected the incident to the deceased's traffic accident and approached Inspector Megure.

"Investigate those four suspects to see if any of their family members, friends, or lovers have died in traffic accidents."

"Hey?"

Inspector Megure paused for a moment, and just as Sano thought he didn't understand the reason, the other party asked another question: "Four suspects, who are they? Where are the suspects? Are there any suspects? I don't know anything about them."

Sano: "..."

He forgot that Inspector Megure wasn't himself.

...The "suspect" that Sano mentioned is not actually a suspect; he simply added that label from his own perspective.

Others might also suspect those people.

But they would never say they are a suspect.

Otherwise, Inspector Megure wouldn't have let those people leave so easily.

After gathering his thoughts, Sano explained things to Inspector Megure in more detail.

Chapter 381, Crossdressing is Impossible

Inspector Megure nodded thoughtfully, already having some guesses in his mind, while still having some unresolved questions. However, with his past experience, he naturally understood the "rules," neither asking further nor rejecting the idea, but instead arranging for officers to investigate as Sano had suggested.

Then, Matsumoto Kiyonaga also arrived.

As the investigator who solved the Matsumoto Sayuri case, Sano was naturally greeted warmly and exchanged pleasantries with Matsumoto Kiyonaga for a while.

However, after that, Matsumoto Kiyonaga told Inspector Megure to finish the investigation and go home as soon as possible.

We will re-enter the investigation tomorrow.

The reason given is the pressure from public opinion.

Many journalists wanted to characterize this case as a random killing to gain traffic and popularity, and to generate more buzz, i.e., to exploit the situation.

Inspector Megure, of course, remained opposed, because he felt that the best time to resolve the case was now, right here, so he stuck to his position. Then, Sato Miwako, who wanted to act as a peacemaker, said that she could go and change clothes again tomorrow to act as bait to lure out the suspect.

This was to persuade Inspector Megure not to be so stubborn.

However, Inspector Megure, who had lost his composure, roared at him that he was not allowed to do so.

Upon seeing this, Matsumoto Kiyonaga sighed and asked Inspector Megure if he was still bothered by the case hidden under his hat, which confirmed Sano's guess.

This also made Sano want to complain.

Damn it, just say it clearly! Why leave it half-said?

Riddler, get the hell out of Tokyo!

"But the person dressed up as bait doesn't necessarily have to be a woman, right?"

Just as the atmosphere became somewhat tense due to Inspector Megure's attitude, Sonoko Suzuki, probably thinking that he was worried that women might get hurt if used as bait, suggested, "How about we have men dressed as women to be used as bait?"