Maori Kogoro began to understand everything

"The truth is revealed? No, it's just the beginning now," Mao Li shook his head and looked at Hattori who was picking up the fax, "Everything will be determined after the murderer is arrested."

"It is indeed that Swamp Abyss!"

Hattori got the graduation photos of the driving school and quickly found Kiichiro Numabuchi and the others who were with him 20 years ago.

All the relevant people are in one photo, and combined with the recent serial killings, there is obviously something fishy going on behind the scenes.

"What happened at the training camp 20 years ago?"

"It's been 20 years, I'm afraid no one remembers it anymore." Sakata said worriedly.

"Go check at the city library," Maori reminded. "If newspapers from 20 years ago are entered into the computer system, they should be easy to find."

"Uncle, you actually know this?"

Hattori said in surprise.

"I'm different from you young boys. I'm a reliable adult from that era."

Maori smiled and took another copy of the faxed photo to examine it carefully.

Even though 20 years have passed, several victims can still be clearly identified, right in the middle. As for the wanted criminal Kiichiro Numabuchi mentioned by Hattori, he is a skinny man who looks like a skeleton, with a side-parted hair, deep eye sockets, and upturned nostrils. He looks ordinary, but he is a wanted criminal in a serial killing case.

……

At the Nakanoshima Municipal Library, it suddenly rained heavily after nightfall. Mori was still thinking about Kiichiro Numabuchi, and Hattori found a report from Hyogo 20 years ago.

"Twenty years ago, on the day the six of them graduated, a driving instructor at the school died in a drunk driving accident... That's right!"

Hattori said excitedly: "The person who died in the accident happened to be their coach, a famous devil coach. He was in a big car accident. There were several reports... Do you think that the accident was related to the six of them?"

Hattori sat in front of the computer, and continued to reason with his imagination: "Now Kiichiro Numabuchi is short of money because he is on the run, so he wants to use the past to blackmail Goji, but was rejected... So he killed related tasks one after another to threaten the congressman? Maybe Goji, who is planning to run for a member of parliament this time, used Numabuchi to kill people in order to eliminate the past scandal..."

"It's possible," Sakata agreed cautiously, "Nagao and Noyasu worked as secretary and driver for Goji respectively, and both received huge severance pay before resigning."

"Well, let's meet that congressman first," Hattori said with a smile on his face, his eyes sparkling. "If we bring up the car accident from 20 years ago, plus the graduation photos from that year, he will have to tell the truth no matter how much he hates dealing with the police! Let's go, I won't let the murderer run wild in Osaka!"

Mao Li looked at the graduation photo from 20 years ago without moving, his brows tightly furrowed.

His thoughts were different from Hattori's. He still felt that Goji was the murderer's next target, and the possibility that the murderer was Numabuchi was quite small.

If you think about it carefully, there are still many suspicious points in this serial murders, and there are also obvious traces of the method used in the case.

According to his point of view, he felt that Numabuchi was just a cover and was used by the real murderer, otherwise the murder of Okazaki Sumie would never be so mysterious.

As for the township councillor being the mastermind behind this… if it was to silence them, was it necessary to do it so conspicuously? It was as if they were afraid that the police would not be able to find out…

"What's wrong?" Huiyuan looked at Mao Li who didn't catch up with him in surprise, "Is there any problem?"

Maori gathered his thoughts and looked closely at the figures of Hattori and the others: "The criminal's next target is Councillor Goji. I'm afraid his purpose is to avenge the coach who died 20 years ago."

"why?"

Haibara looked even more surprised, wondering how Maori could be so sure.

"Of course it's my detective intuition."

Mauli shrugged.

Although it is best for detectives not to have inertial thinking, Mao Li has solved so many cases and has seen too many similar motives.

20 years ago, an old friend and coach died unexpectedly... and now there are serial killings. The possibility of revenge is already very high. If you rule out other impossibilities, the only possibility left is revenge.

"Then how do you think the murderer is going to kill Xiangsi?"

Huiyuan rolled her eyes slightly and said coldly, "The victims so far were all strangled to death, and then the wallet was pierced into the chest with a knife... How did the criminal kill Goji? It's not easy to get close to a city councilor, and he has bodyguards following him..."

"Wait, speaking of which..."

A bright light suddenly exploded in Maori's mind, and before Haibara could finish speaking, he strung together the details and process of the entire case like watching a movie.

Corpses, police cars, serial murders, a knife piercing a wallet, an unlocked door, a victim who was out, an accident 20 years ago...

Maori stroked his chin and sorted out all the clues.

The criminal could have killed people secretly, but he still did so many of them. If it wasn't because he was too resentful, then there must be some reason why he had to do so.

He smashed the body of Noyasu Kazuto, who had been dead for a day, on a police car, and left a message for nearby Okazaki Sumie to come to the scene. When the police went to look for Okazaki Sumie, he called her out of the room and killed her...

The next question is how the murderer approached the township councillor.

"Could it be that……"

Mao Li's eyes were shocked, and his gaze returned to the graduation photo 20 years ago.

Haibara was stunned when she saw Maori who seemed to be close to the truth.

"Did you find anything?"

"……Um."

Mao Li looked at Huibara again after a while, "I have figured it all out. Let's go to the village councillor's house."

……

At the entrance of the library, in just a moment, an old acquaintance of Hattori's police officer came with Xiaolan and Kazuha to pick up Conan, and also invited Maori and Haibara to come along.

"Okay, little brother,"

Hattori threw Conan to Xiaolan, "During the investigation, you said you wanted to visit everything, so I reluctantly agreed to it. But now we are about to enter the final stage of the case, and it is not appropriate for you to follow us... Don't worry, I will tell you the story after everything is over."

"Brother Heiji!"

……

"What do you understand, uncle?"

After Huiyuan hurriedly followed Maori back to the car in the rain, even with her calm personality, Maori kept her appetite a lot, and her blue eyes couldn't help but glance at the latter:

"Do you already know who the murderer is?"

"It's just speculation for now. We'll know everything when we get to the village councillor's house."

Mao Li did not explain much, nor did he rashly express his opinion. He quickly reversed and turned.

"Hold on tight, uncle, I'm going to speed up!"

Chapter 72: Mao Li’s investment vision is amazing!

"what?"

When they were far away from the library, Conan was the first to react, "...Where is Uncle Maori?"

Xiaolan turned around in confusion and asked worriedly, "Dad's car was still there just now? Did he lose it?"

"Want to go back?"

Officer Otaki, who was driving, asked.

"That's too much trouble. Just give him a call."

Xiaolan looked back at the rain-covered street behind the car and shook her head.

Xiaolan called Maori, but soon hung up speechlessly: "Dad said he has a friend in Osaka who he wants to meet, and maybe we'll have dinner together tonight, so he won't come over for the time being!"

"Ah? Then uncle and Ai will miss out on Heiji's mother's cooking."

Kazuha said regretfully, "We all recognize that Heiji's mother's cooking skills are the best, and she even prepared a special dinner tonight..."

"really?"

Xiaolan said happily, "Then not only can we enjoy a good meal, but I can also learn from her!"

"That is to say, his mother is best at..."

The atmosphere in the car was cheerful. Xiaolan and Kazuha were discussing cooking. Only Conan was leaning against the window looking at the night sky in the rain.

He was absolutely sure that Mao Li was definitely not taking Huibara to meet friends and have dinner, but to go with him to see the village councillor...

As Conan was thinking this,

"Hello, I'm Otaki..."

Officer Otaki, who was driving in front, suddenly received a call, "What? Kiichiro Numabuchi's car was found on Minoh Mountain?!"

After hanging up the phone, Officer Otaki quickly put on his sirens and made a sharp U-turn, "Sorry, Ms. Ran, but Heiji's mother's dinner will have to wait a while, and I have to stop by somewhere now!"

"What happened?"

Conan was stunned and asked, "Isn't Kiichiro Numabuchi the wanted criminal who fled to Osaka?"

"Yes," Officer Otaki said solemnly, "I'll find another policeman to take you to the chief's house later."

……

Outside the residence of Sotaro Goji, when Mori and Ai arrived, Hattori and Sakata had already been there for quite a while, but Goji was nowhere to be seen.

"What? The village chief is hiding in his study and refuses to come out?"

"Yes," the detectives who arrived beforehand said helplessly, "We have been waiting since before. I heard that he is compiling materials for the next city council meeting."

"That's just an excuse!" Hattori said angrily, "I'll go find him directly..."

Sakata quickly grabbed Hattori and whispered, "Don't be like this, brother Heiji, you have to consider the face of the police officers..."

"Drip drip!"

Sakata was interrupted by the ringing of a phone.

After a moment of hesitation, he answered the phone in confusion. The next moment, his expression suddenly changed and his whole body trembled slightly.

"What's wrong with you?" Hattori asked curiously, "Is there something wrong? You look very unhappy..."

"No, nothing..." Sakata put away his phone with sweat all over his forehead and smiled at Hattori, "I'm going to go to the bathroom. Brother Heiji, I'll trouble you here. As long as we have the graduation photo, Councillor Goji will definitely come out."

Goji's residence is a typical Japanese mansion. Sakata left the living room, passed the warehouse in the yard, and walked out of the back door with a sullen face. After a while, he saw a figure waiting for him.

"Officer Sakata."

Maori stood quietly in the drizzle, holding a black umbrella taken out of the luggage. As for the gray principle, he left it in the car.

"Detective Maori?"

Sakata stopped and laughed dryly, "You said you knew who the murderer was... What's going on? Why did you let me come here alone?"

"I almost made a mistake of preconception,"

Mao Li did not respond, but said calmly, "Policeman and murderer, these two identities were subconsciously separated by me."

"What are you talking about?" Sakata smiled stiffly, "Detective Mori, are you doubting the police?"

"At first I thought it was a coincidence that the body hit the police car," Mao Li continued to himself, "but in fact you planned it from the beginning, including taking us there, parking the police car downstairs, and calling Okazaki Sumie to the scene..."

"Haha, Detective Mori, stop joking. How could I have arranged this? Miss Okazaki was called to the scene by the murderer." Sakata looked silly.

"Why would the murderer do this?"

The corners of Maori's mouth rose slightly - although the message was severely distorted after being processed by the machine, with the technical support of Dr. Agasa in Tokyo, Sakata's voice was still nearly 80% similar.

Although this could not be used as evidence, it helped Mao Li further identify the suspect.

"Why did the murderer leave a special message to call Okazaki Sumie to the scene? Why did he kill Miss Okazaki when you were rushing over? And how can you get Miss Okazaki to go out after she is locked in her house?"

"Well... maybe you're afraid that Miss Okazaki will reveal the secret?"

Sakata was sweating profusely. "Anyway, at that time, I was on Mido Street, which is a one-way street. When I went back to Saito Apartment, Ms. Okazaki had already..."

"You didn't take a detour at all!" Mao Li interrupted without hesitation, "You deliberately left a message threatening Miss Okazaki, and then locked her up at home under the guise of a police officer, and even used Hattori to deliberately miss the Saito Apartment at that time.

"Worried about Ms. Okazaki's safety, Hattori had to jump out of the car and turn back. As for why he didn't find Ms. Okazaki... I think you parked the car on the side of the road and followed him to the Saito Apartment, and you called Ms. Okazaki on the way."

Seeing Sakata's expression change, Maori continued to reason: "You also asked her to go to the public toilet under the identity of a police officer, right? For example, 'I am the police officer who called just now. It is too dangerous for you to stay in the house. Hurry up and hide in the public toilet next door and wait for me'..."

"If I'm not mistaken, you rented two identical cars beforehand, and after killing Ms. Okazaki, you used the car parked near the apartment and pretended to take a detour to get to the scene."

Sakata's eyes narrowed, he tugged at his fingers and forced a smile, "Where's the evidence? These are just your guesses, Detective Maori."

Maori did not directly answer Sakata's question. Instead, he was silent for a while and said in a deep voice: "You and Heiji should be very good friends, right? He also respects you very much. Is it really okay for you to do this?"

……

In the living room of Goji's house, Hattori was still thinking about whether he could use the graduation photo to talk to Councillor Goji, but he found that Sakata had left for a while and had not returned yet.