Maori Kogoro began to understand everything

"Lick your thumb?"

Mao Li frowned and looked at the three employees, "Who gave this money to your president?"

Male employee Hiroshi Iino responded: "That's me."

“Are there any toxic reactions on banknotes?”

Maori looked at the forensic officer.

"Toxic substances were indeed found on the victim's right thumb and several banknotes. However, the poison on the banknotes was the same as the fingerprint on the victim's thumb. It should have been stained by the poison on the thumb..."

The forensic officer replied, "According to our examination, apart from the victim's thumb and the face of a few banknotes, the only things that showed signs of poison in the president's office were the door handle and the door lock knob inside the room... However, the poison on the door handle and door lock also matched the victim's fingerprints, so they must have been touched by the thumb."

"That means President Hieda was most likely exposed to poison outside the president's office..."

Maori stroked his chin and fell into thought.

Although he didn't know the situation of these three employees very well, his intuition made him more suspicious of Nan Ze Shangshan - when the mahjong friends who played mahjong with President Hieda found that he had not arrived for a long time, they went to the company to look for him, and Nan Ze Shangshan happened to come back at this time on the pretext that his phone call was left at the company.

Such a coincidence, in the eyes of Mao Li, a seasoned detective, is almost directly equated with "suspicious"...

After all, this is not a cartoon for children, so where do so many coincidences come from?

……

Of course, suspicions aside, investigations aside, Mao Li watched the anti-theft video again and discovered something new.

(The victim seemed… flustered when answering the phone earlier? Could he have left the room in the middle of counting the money?)

(The question now is what did he touch, and how did the criminal make him touch it?)

(If it was a cell phone, Nan Ze might have left it in the office. If he had called the president and asked him to go out to answer it, it is possible... But in that case, there is no guarantee that the victim's right thumb would have been stained with poison, and...)

Maori looked at Minamizawa who was biting his thumb nail on the other side.

(There should be no virus on his phone...)

……

Feitian Finance is not a big company, but it is not a small one either. Just checking the office takes a lot of time. Based on the probability and importance, the police first checked the places that President Feitian was more likely to touch, and also included Nan Ze's mobile phone in the scope of inspection.

However, when the forensic personnel were checking——

"Hey! What are you doing?! Don't touch anything!"

A burst of noise outside the president's office interrupted Maori's thoughts. It turned out that the female employee had boiled water in the tea room to make tea without permission, which caused Inspector Megure to scold her loudly.

"You haven't touched anything else since you got here?"

Inspector Megure asked cautiously.

"With you police watching, I can't touch it even if I want to," Fujii Takako snorted while holding a cigarette in her mouth, "But I did go to the toilet once..."

Iino Hiroshi also confessed: "I also went to the toilet after her. If a policeman saw it, he should know the answer after asking."

"Oh, really?" Officer Megure said unhappily, "Besides going to the toilet? Did you touch anything else?"

"I... I just used the computer for a while, and there was a policeman nearby who said it was okay..."

"You are all suspects. How can you run around at the scene?! Just behave yourself!"

It seemed that Inspector Megure was really angry. After all, it was late at night and it was raining. He had originally thought that he should have gone off work and rested at home, but he had to go out on an emergency mission again, and he had to encounter this group of rather disobedient suspects.

Mao Li, who was used to encountering cases at any time, didn't have any thoughts and just observed the three suspects calmly.

Chapter 51: The Metropolitan Police Department Special Advisor and the Mysterious Elementary School Student

While Maori was looking at the three suspects, Inspector Megure personally began to interrogate them.

As the most critical link in the police's case-solving process, the seemingly insignificant interrogation is actually the easiest way to obtain valuable information. Because in most cases, the murderer is just an ordinary person. After killing someone, they can't just pretend nothing happened in a short period of time. Their behavior and thinking logic will definitely be different from those of normal people.

However, Mao Li, who was watching the interrogation process, felt that these three people were very suspicious, but he couldn't see anything special for the time being...

"What? No poison was found in any part of the office? In the restroom and the pantry too?"

"Yes, officer, we checked all the places the victim might have touched..."

By the time the interrogation was over, the on-site forensic personnel had examined the scene and the personal belongings of several suspects, but no toxic reaction was found.

Maori's eyes narrowed slightly, and his gaze swept across the three people, finally landing on their personal belongings that had been checked.

Judging from the motive of the crime, these three people are more or less likely to be the murderer - President Hieda discovered that Iino Hiroshi had embezzled public funds, and Minamizawa was asked by President Hieda to repay half of the money because a client of a high-value loan ran away. Finally, Fujii Takako often said that bad guys like President Hieda should die early and be reborn.

But compared to the three murderers, the only crucial source of the poison could not be found...

All three of them went to the bathroom, but the time was so short that even if they disposed of the poison, there would be no trace left.

As for the three people's personal belongings, Mr. Nan Ze had a wallet, a watch, house keys, a notebook, a ticket holder and a wet handkerchief.

Takako Fujii had keys, a watch, a wallet, a necklace, cigarettes, a lighter and a handkerchief that was also wet.

The last Hiroshi Iino had a wallet, a watch, car keys, house keys, tissues, and a soaked handkerchief...

Mao Li walked into the bathroom with one hand in his pocket, his brain working rapidly, filtering out all the clues of the case so far and the various actions of the suspects one by one.

Although the behavior of these three people was very suspicious, "picking a general among short men" - Fujii Takako was the most suspicious one in Maori's opinion. It would be fine if she kept smoking during the interrogation, and it could be said that she was addicted to smoking, but her left hand was always in her pocket and she never took it out, whether it was taking a cigarette or lighting a cigarette, she used her right hand to solve the problem.

Maori is also an old smoker, and neither he nor other smokers he has met have ever said that anyone always holds a cigarette with one hand...

In addition, Minamizawa touched the phone, Iino touched the computer, and Fujii Takako touched the gas stove when she was boiling tea. If there is anything that is most likely to be poisoned and just happen to touch the victim's specific fingers, it is undoubtedly the switch knob on the gas stove.

What’s interesting is that after Inspector Megure scolded her, Fujii Takako used her left hand to turn off the gas stove switch, even though the switch was originally designed to be used with the right hand.

As if playing a movie, the scene of President Hieda's death appeared in Maori's mind:

When he received a call from the mahjong parlor, he ran out of the president's office in a panic and went to the tea room.

The reason was probably the whistle of boiling water. Fujii Takako deliberately did not turn off the gas stove when she left, and when the water boiled, President Hieda hurried to the tea room to turn off the switch.

Judging from the toxic reactions at several locations at the scene, the left side of the switch touched by President Hieda's right thumb should have been coated with cyanide in advance.

President Fei Tian, ​​whose finger was stained with poison, returned to the president's office, locked the door, started counting money again, and licked his poisonous thumb out of habit...

All the clues match up, and it makes sense that Fujii Takako would go to the tea room.

The only problem is, how come there is no toxic reaction detected on the gas stove switch.

Maori put on gloves, opened a cabinet in the bathroom and searched carefully. Soon, a bottle of bleach among the bottles and jars attracted Maori's attention.

"So that's it, that's it!"

……

Takako Fujii's method of committing the crime was indeed quite clever - no matter who was doing what, after hearing the kettle siren on the gas stove, the first reaction would definitely be to quickly turn off the gas stove switch. It was because of this that President Hieda was contaminated with the deadly poison.

When she returned to the scene, she immediately went to the bathroom, dripped bleach on a handkerchief, and then found an opportunity to wipe the gas stove switch. Because the sodium sulfate contained in the bleach can react with methyl cyanide to make it lose its toxicity, the police could not detect any toxic reaction...

But to be honest, compared to the method of committing the crime, Fujii Takako's motive impressed Maori more - after graduating from university, she had been hospitalized due to heart problems. In order to pay for her medical expenses, her boyfriend borrowed high-interest loans from Hieda Mitsuru, and later chose to hang himself because he could not pay it back...

Simple and plain, completely different from the reasons given by Teiji Moriya which are filled with personal morbid pursuits.

It was this simplicity and plainness that made Maori feel a little uncomfortable.

(How about taking one poor commission every month for a nominal fee?)

Mao Li couldn't help but think so.

……

The next morning, at the Maori Detective Agency.

In Xiaolan's room on the third floor, the girl on the bed moved her eyelashes slightly, then slowly opened her eyes, looking around with confusion and vigilance.

It was not a laboratory, nor was it a place where the organization imprisoned people. It was just an ordinary residence. And judging from the furnishings and some items in the house, it was probably a young girl's room.

The girl couldn't help but think back to last night.

She seemed to have fainted from the fever, and fell in front of the famous detective Maori Kogoro who was often reported on TV. I vaguely heard him say that he would send her to the police station...

"No, you absolutely cannot go to the police station."

The girl weakly got up and put on her big slippers, and found that the lab coat she was wearing had been washed, and now she was wearing some old girls' clothes.

This change made the girl realize something instantly, and her face flushed. But soon she let out a breath, and a trace of bitterness flashed across her face.

She touched her hungry stomach, walked into the kitchen in slippers, saw the unwashed dishes, frowned, and turned to the refrigerator.

There was quite a bit of food in the refrigerator. The girl looked around and finally took a sandwich and started eating it in small bites like a hamster.

……

On the second floor of the office, Mao Li was sleeping soundly on the table with a stack of filled-in forms in front of him.

After finishing her sandwich, the little girl turned the door handle outside and found that the door was not locked. She gently pushed the door open and saw what was happening inside the office.

"Mori Detective Agency..."

The girl looked at the sleeping Maori in surprise, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, then she stood on tiptoe, picked up the stack of forms on Maori's desk, and began to read them with relish.

"Information registration form for special advisors of the Metropolitan Police Department?"

……

"It's already dawn..."

After an unknown amount of time, Maori yawned and rubbed his eyes in a daze.

Last night, Mao Li solved the case and took notes at the police station. It was already past two o'clock when he got home. Officer Megure also gave him a stack of forms and told him to fill them out. Then the Metropolitan Police Department would announce that he would become a special consultant of the Metropolitan Police Department.

Therefore, Mao Li did not go back to the third floor to sleep, but instead spent several hours at his desk after filling out the form.

Sleeping on his stomach made Maori's whole body stiff. He stretched and made a comfortable sound. Suddenly, the girl sitting on the sofa looking at a table came into his sight. He couldn't help but be slightly startled.

"You're awake, kid."

Mao Li walked up to the girl and took the form from her hand while trying to put on a kind smile: "Do you know so many words? Uncle still has work to do. I'll show it to you after I finish my work, okay?"

The girl was very quiet, completely different from the energetic Xiao Xiaolan, which made Maori feel relieved. He sat back down and began to carefully check the content he had filled out.

The Metropolitan Police Department's special adviser, this position sounds very unusual and it is indeed unusual. In fact, the Metropolitan Police Department has not used this position for nearly 30 years. The last person who held this position was the legendary detective Morihiko, who therefore had the same powers as the police and could carry guns.

In fact, in terms of status in the Japanese detective world, Mao Li is still far behind that Dan Morihiko. However, Mao Li, like Dan Morihiko, was once a policeman and was considered an insider of the Metropolitan Police Department. Moreover, he has recently solved several extremely serious cases in succession, maintaining the reputation of the police. Considering these two aspects, the highest officer of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Superintendent Hakuba, overcame all objections and reopened this position, and chose Mao Li to take the position.

Faced with such a responsibility, Mao Li must take it seriously, even if it is just basic form filling work that he never took seriously before...

"Page 3, line 15."

The girl suddenly spoke mysteriously.

"what?"

Mao Li looked at the girl who had stood up and was quietly flipping through the books she had placed in the bookcase, and responded, "Uncle will take you back later. By the way, I don't know if you..."

"On line 15 of page 3, you cited the Green River Serial Murders and gave the wrong age for the first victim at the time,"

The girl looked at the detective novel in her hand and said calmly without raising her head, "The murderer Gary Ridgeway attacked his first victim, a 16-year-old boy, when he was 6. Gary stabbed a branch into his liver, but he miraculously survived."

Mao Li stared at the little girl who said those horrible words, and subconsciously followed her words and turned to the third page of the form in his hand:

"16 years old?"

Sure enough, perhaps because he was confused when writing, Mao Li wrote the victim’s age as sixteen, which is the murderer’s age.

"besides,"

The girl raised her head and looked towards Mao Li. "There are no other mistakes, but the handwriting is a bit ugly... I have seen the handwriting in the homework book left in the room by your daughter Mao Lilan. She writes very well. How come you, as a father, can't do it?"

Mao Li dropped the stack of forms in his hand, and looked at the girl with trembling eyes. The girl looked like an ordinary child under her brown wavy hair, but at this moment he seemed to be facing an adult with high IQ.

This brat, and that Conan kid...

"who are you?"

Maori stared at the little girl, his body tense, "What's your...name?"

The girl paused, smoothed her hair by her ears, and glanced across Maori's bookcase, finally landing on the book "Unnatural Causes" in her hand:

"Gray...Grayhara Ai, right?"

"Haibara Ai?"

Maori was slightly dazed. After the switch in his brain was turned on, he understood a lot of things, including a little information about Haibara Ai, Conan's future partner.

Indeed, the casual, clear, and aloof ice-blue eyes, paired with brown hair, were a combination of cuteness and maturity... plus the adult clothes at the beginning, so this was indeed a strange child.