Maori Kogoro began to understand everything

"Sticker?" Maori looked a little dazed.

If the murderer is among the hotel staff, perhaps he is the person who is truly related to the man in red, and the mustache man who was killed this time was just hired...

If you think in this way, the things in the suitcase become very important.

"Officer Yamamura," one of the officers reported, "we have searched the place, but found nothing suspicious."

"Really?" Shancun flipped through the newspaper in annoyance. "Could it be that there was only a sports newspaper in the suitcase from the beginning? Is there anything special about this newspaper?"

"If there's anything special, it's that there's more coverage of Akagi Maru..."

"Oh," Conan leaned over to the newspaper and asked curiously, "What does that top 5 mean? It's the top 5 written in front of Akagi Maru's name."

Officer Nakamura explained to the newspaper, "It means fifth from the front! Because Akagi Maru was the eastern team at the time, it means fifth from the east front!"

"What's the front?" Conan continued to ask, "What does this have to do with the Forest of the Head God?"

"How could it be related?"

"Where is the fallen Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva?"

"Maegata refers to the sumo wrestlers who are one level below Yokoami, Ozeki, Sekiwake, and Komusubi. Maegata-go is the fifth in this level."

Mao Li asked the forensic officer next to him to carefully check the fingerprints at the scene, and then he moved to the newspaper.

Huibara drooped her eyelids and looked at the battle information that occupied a large page in the newspaper. In addition to the rankings, each name was followed by a black and white circle.

White represents victory, black represents defeat, and Akagi Maru is only black in the eighth game.

"Just like playing flying chess?" Haibara suddenly interrupted Conan and asked.

"Eh?"

"The first five mean five steps to the east, and the eighth circle is black, which means eight steps to the right..."

Noticing that Officer Nakamura and the others were looking at her in astonishment, Huihara calmly walked over to Maori and grabbed the corner of Maori's clothes like a little girl: "Uncle Maori said this."

"Uh……"

Maori's eyes twitched. He couldn't handle Ai suddenly acting like a little girl...

"But," Shancun looked at Mao Li in confusion, "If this is a code in the newspaper, what does it mean?"

"Well," Maori looked at Huibara who was hiding behind him and coughed lightly, "I think we should first ask the hotel staff to gather and interrogate them carefully before we say anything."

"Okay, okay," Shancun thought about it and said to the hotel owner, "Then I'm sorry, everyone please go to the lobby. I want to ask for your alibis."

"Officer Yamamura," Mao Li stopped Yamamura as everyone headed to the lobby and asked quietly, "Was there a body found here four years ago?"

"Ah?" Shancun was stunned. "Yes, it's just like this time. I found it while picking wild vegetables at the end of the employee tour. It's near the fallen Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in Toushen Forest."

"And the man who found the body?"

……

In the hotel lobby, Yamamura questioned the employees one after another, while Maori was looking through some photos.

A crushed milk carton, smashed red bean bread and cigarettes, and a convenience store receipt... these are all clues to determine the time of death of the man in red.

At the same time four years ago, the body of a suicide victim was found. In addition, the man in red was wearing a sweater that was not suitable for the season, and his driver's license was missing... These inconsistencies usually hide the truth of the case. Not only him, but Conan also noticed it early on.

He had just learned from the Yamamura police officer that the person who discovered the body four years ago was Masao Kamiya, the employee who was in charge of picking wild vegetables at the time.

If nothing unexpected happens, Masao Kamiya is the murderer of this case, and he is also very likely the criminal who killed the man in red.

Maori looked at the tall, horse-faced young man named Kamiya Masao who was standing next to the innkeeper.

This employee was the one who helped me park my car at the beginning...

"Where's Conan?" Maori looked around but couldn't find Conan.

"I just went out," Xiao Ai fiddled with the computer and showed it to Mao Li, "I found out that five years ago, two men threatened a candy manufacturer and extorted 100 million in cash. After that, they disappeared without a trace. It seems that they fled to Gunma Prefecture."

"So that newspaper is the treasure map?"

Maori felt a little helpless, as Conan started to act without saying anything.

However, even if the treasure is found, it can only serve as supporting evidence. Five years is too long. It is basically impossible to find evidence to prove that Masao Kamiya killed the man in red. It is even difficult to prove that Masao Kamiya was one of the two intimidators back then.

Let's solve the case at hand first...

"Hmm," Shancun looked at the information written in the notebook with a headache, "I have basically asked everyone, and almost no one has a clear alibi at the time of the crime..."

"Of course," the hotel owner said unhappily, "Everyone is working, coming and going, and I haven't hired some weird employees who keep an eye on the time and monitor other people's actions all day long!"

"Well, that's true..."

"Officer Yamamura!"

Maori called Conan and looked at the confused Yamamura So.

"If it's just the murderer in this case, I already know who it is?"

"what?"

"Already know?"

Before Yamamura could react, it was Masao Kampo who changed his expression first. The hotel owner and his group were confused and looked around but couldn't find Conan.

"Where did that little boy go?"

"Do you really know who the murderer is?" Yamamura finally reacted and looked at Maori in surprise.

"Well, the murderer was obvious from the beginning. The difficulty of this case is not who the murderer is..."

Maori calmed down and scanned the many hotel staff present one by one, finally landing on Masao Jimbo.

"In fact, the forensic examination results have just come out. Toe prints were found on the table and chessboard at the crime scene, and they were not from the victim... Mr. Jinbao, could you cooperate in checking the toes?"

Masao Jinbao's face turned pale. "What do you mean? Do you think I'm the murderer?"

Mao Li said calmly: "The forensic personnel have tried it. If they want to lift a person to the height where the victim hanged himself, they must stand very close to the ceiling. The things used to raise the height were the chessboard and the table... Mr. Jinbo, you should not have thought that in addition to fingerprints, toe prints can also serve as evidence, right?"

A trickle of sweat dripped down Kampo Masao's forehead. "Wait, wait a minute, it's normal to have my footprints on it, because I stepped on it when I changed the light bulb in the room... I'm not lying, if you don't believe me you can look at the light bulb, there are definitely my fingerprints on it!"

"There are indeed your fingerprints on it," Maori chuckled, "but the fingerprints are covered with a thick layer of dust. So when did you change the light bulb?"

"This……"

The innkeeper looked at Masao Jimbo in disbelief: "Jimbo, is this true? You..."

"But... isn't this very strange?" Kamiya Masao faced everyone's gaze, swallowed his saliva and laughed dryly, "Why do you directly regard me as the murderer? As if you are sure..."

Mao Li looked at the nearly collapsed Masao Jinbao: "At the beginning, Xiaolan forgot her phone in the car. After you helped to get it back to the lobby, you came to me without thinking and said, 'This is your daughter's, right?' Is that right?"

"Haha, what's the problem? I saw a sticker with 'Mouri Ran' on the back of the phone, so..."

As Kamiya Masao explained, his expression suddenly changed.

Maori paused and helped to answer, "Yes, you knew from the beginning that I was the real Maori Kogoro."

"Just because of a cell phone sticker..."

Masao Kamiya hung his head in despair.

"Because of something like this."

"What on earth is going on?" The innkeeper looked closely at Mori, "How could Jinbo kill that impostor? There is no reason at all..."

"The reason is obvious. It's this suitcase."

Mauli was carrying a briefcase.

"The man named Sendaf was actually hired by him to pretend to be me and get the suitcase...

"Five years ago, two men threatened a candy manufacturer and extorted 100 million yuan. One of them was probably you, and the other should be the long-haired man who left this suitcase with the hotel owner. The sports newspaper in the suitcase is a map that hints at the hiding place of the 100 million yuan. I have just contacted my assistant Conan, and he has found the stolen money near the fallen Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in front of the Toushen Forest."

Upon hearing this, Kamiya Masao raised his head slightly.

"If what I'm thinking is correct," Maori continued, "in the autumn five years ago, you and he made an appointment to meet in the Toushin Forest. After knowing that this was a suicide spot, he might have sensed your murderous intentions, so he came here before you and made preparations for any eventuality...

"After you heard the long-haired man say that he had left his belongings with the hotel owner, you killed him and pretended it was suicide. Then you took the suitcase key and disguised yourself as a bearded man to come to the hotel. Since the owner had been instructed in advance, of course you could only receive a curse letter...

"After that, you chose to work at the hotel and searched for the whereabouts of the money nearby. This time, the long-haired man's body was found, and the boss happened to mention the suitcase. When you heard that the boss wanted me to investigate, you hired Sendaf to take the suitcase away in advance...

"Unfortunately, there was no money in it, only an old newspaper. I had no choice but to kill Sendaf and leave the suitcase behind. I will let the real me help you solve the mystery of the newspaper."

Kamiya Masao remained silent.

"But," the innkeeper asked in confusion, "didn't the long-haired man die in the summer four years ago? It was during our staff trip, and Jinbo was with us at the time!"

"What if the long-haired man wasn't killed four years ago?"

"Huh? No?"

"The long-haired man was killed after handing his suitcase to his boss in the autumn five years ago," Maori explained. "The milk, cigarettes, red bean bread and the convenience store receipt in the victim's backpack were actually put in later. Yes, at that time four years ago, a suicide body was found, and the discoverer was Mr. Jinbo himself..."

"Is it possible?" The hotel owner and his group looked at Kamiya Masao with wide eyes.

"Mr. Jinbo put the suicide man's things on the long-haired man," Maori looked at Jinbo Masao who had a grim look on his face, "The purpose was to confuse the time of the long-haired man's death and create an alibi for himself in advance."

Masao Kampo's lips went dry: "How did you know?"

"There's no straw on the milk carton, there are cigarettes but no lighters or matches," Mao Li said with a smile as he showed the photo. "He died in summer but was wearing a sweater. He has car keys but no driver's license... The reason he didn't have a driver's license is probably because it had expired, right? If the deceased had an expired driver's license, the actual time of death would definitely be questioned, and it might even lead to the extortion incident that year."

Masao Kampo's pupils dilated and he stared at Maori closely.

Mao Li answered another call from Conan and nodded gently, "Mr. Jinbo, Tokyo has confirmed the stolen money and has launched an investigation. I believe it won't be long before the blackmail case of that year will be solved."

Yamamura Cao straightened his chest and walked up to Jinbao Masao, imitating the policeman's posture in TV dramas and said solemnly: "Okay, Mr. Jinbao, come with me to the police station!"

Then he quietly gave Mao Li a thumbs up: "Well said, hero!"

"Hero?"

Mao Li's mouth twitched.

"By the way, why hasn't Conan come back yet?" Maori looked outside in confusion.

After Conan went out, he dug up the stolen money and contacted the Metropolitan Police Department to investigate the blackmail case five years ago. Logically, he should have returned long ago...

……

On the path leading to the inn in the Tougan Forest, two young girls called out to Conan happily.

"Excuse me, little friend, is this the way to get to Aoiya Inn?"

"We heard that Mr. Kogoro Mori was going there, so we wanted to come and take a look, but after getting off the bus, we seemed to be lost..."

……

A week later.

"I'm so sorry, are you Detective Maori?"

At Shin-Osaka Station, as soon as Maori got out of the station, he was met by a woman in her thirties or forties who was dressed intellectually and came to greet her with another girl.

"I called you just now because my friends told me about you. I hope you can come over anyway. I hope it doesn't cause you any trouble?"

"No, no," Mao Li laughed, "Actually, I'm also interested in poetry, but is it okay to ask a layman like me to come here?"

"No," the intellectual woman chuckled, "It is an honor for our Osaka Rengakai to have Detective Mori as our guest of honor. To be honest, we are still talking about many of the cases you solved before... Oops, I almost forgot to introduce myself. My name is Ando Reiko, and I am currently an assistant professor in the Department of Japanese Literature at Osaka Junior College..."

"Are you a teacher?"

"Yes, this is my student, Mizuki Kawaguchi. She works in the library."

"Hello." The girl next to me who seemed a little shy was wearing a pair of thick glasses and had her hair tied up behind her. Probably because of her job, she still looked like a high school girl.

"Detective Mori, let me take you to the hotel first. We have to gather and head to Shimane Prefecture early tomorrow morning."

"It's troublesome."

Chapter 167 Songjiang Lianju

Seeing these people being so polite, Maori smiled bitterly.

Why did you agree before?

The original intention was to travel for free, but in the end Ai and Ran didn't come along.

And after reading haiku books for a few days, I still don’t know what this rune is…

"Detective Mori, don't worry," Kawaguchi Mizuki said carefully, lowering his head. "In fact, run-on sentences are similar to haiku, except that there are multiple people connecting the sentences..."