Maori Kogoro began to understand everything

"Looking at this, the police probably won't be able to come tomorrow..."

He Ye stood at the door, looking at the dark night in the rain, and then looked towards the end of the corridor: "Speaking of which, why didn't that old lady come after waiting for so long..."

Xiaolan smiled and said, "Miss Junhui just said that she would try to call her great-grandmother, but the old lady is already very tired from today's festival and may not be able to call us."

"what?"

He Ye closed the door and sat down at the kotatsu table. "By the way, do you know how those number plates were selected?"

"About this, I heard from the people on the island that it seems that there are a lot of number cards in a big box, and everyone lines up to draw one, one for each person," Xiao Ai replied, "There are 108 number cards, and they will be drawn until all of them are drawn. Then, the old lady will pick three from these numbers during the festival."

"One hundred and eight, draw three..." Maori propped up his chin and suddenly heard a series of knocking sounds on the floor coming from the corridor outside.

"Ok?"

"Are you guys looking for me for something?" The wooden door opened, and an old woman with a wrinkled face and a cane appeared in front of everyone. Her voice was hoarse and her face was pale. She looked like a goblin.

Conan was startled, swallowed his saliva and asked: "Excuse me... Old lady, how do you decide the number of the dugong arrow?"

The longevity lady stared at everyone in the room for a while, then suddenly laughed and said, "It depends on the situation. Sometimes I also use the numbers drawn in the horse race, haha."

"In that case," Hattori laughed dryly, "Why only give away three a year and not sell more?"

"That's impossible," the old lady said regretfully, picking up a strand of white hair. "The hair I can use to tie those arrows is already very limited..."

"Great-grandmother!" Shimashiro Kimie called from the other side, "I've already prepared the bath water for you!"

When Changshou Po heard the shouting, she walked away and said, "I'm sorry, if you don't have anything important to do, I'm going to take a shower and go to bed..."

Conan said anxiously: "But I still have something to ask..."

“Also,” the longevity lady paused and looked at He Ye in the house, “that little girl with tied hair over there, the dugong arrow was originally an arrow to drive away demons and evil spirits. If you let it leave your side, the demons will build a nest on your body. If it’s a man, he will be buried in the ground and become a heartless hungry ghost. If it’s a woman, she will enter the water and become a mermaid who can’t speak!

"I advise you to keep it with you all the time."

"In the end, I didn't ask too many questions..."

Maori watched the mysterious longevity lady leave and was suddenly stunned.

"Ok?"

"What's wrong?" Conan asked curiously, "Uncle Maori, is there any problem?"

"Ah, no."

Mao Li retracted his gaze, paused, and said to the uneasy Kazuha and Xiaolan who was comforting her: "That longevity woman doesn't seem to be anything special. Don't take the monster seriously."

“But,” Kazuha held the dugong arrow tightly, “Didn’t Miss Saori disappear because she lost the arrow? Maybe she has turned into a mermaid…”

"Come on," Hattori said unhappily, "that old woman herself doesn't look like she'll live much longer, do you really believe this mermaid's revenge?"

……

The next day, the weather still did not improve. The sky was covered with dark clouds and thunder rumbled.

Maori took a black umbrella, asked the villagers for the location, and rushed to Kadowaki's house with Haibara, but there was no response after ringing the doorbell several times.

"Strange, isn't that drunkard at home?"

"What should we do now?" Huiyuan said calmly, with his hands behind his back, "Go back?"

"How can I go back now? That drunkard is not here..."

Maori looked around and his eyes fell on the potted plants placed at the door.

"Based on my many years of experience as a private detective, this kind of family is likely to have a spare key hidden somewhere outside... Got it."

I picked up several potted plants one after another, and sure enough, there was a key under the potted plant next to it.

Maori smiled and said, "Look."

Huiyuan's face fell: "Uncle, you don't want to break in illegally, do you?"

"Detective work, how can that be called illegal invasion?"

"Hey!" Fukuyama Rokuro passed by the door and saw Mao Li opening the door with a key, and shouted, "What are you doing?"

"what?"

Mao Li froze, turned around pretending to be relaxed, scratched the back of his head and laughed, "It's Mr. Rokuro, haha, we originally wanted to look for Mr. Kadowaki, but he doesn't seem to be at home..."

Fukuyama Rokuro said coldly: "If you want to look for him, he went to the pub to drink last night and didn't come back all night."

"is it?"

Mao Li took the key, not knowing whether to leave or stay, so he simply explained, "It's nothing, we just want to investigate Ms. Saori's room, maybe we can find clues to this case..."

Fukuyama Rokuro glanced at Maori, took the lead and walked into the Kadowaki family and said, "If you just want to investigate Saori's room, hurry up, or you will be in trouble when his drunk father comes back."

"Excuse me,"

Mao Li followed the young man and asked, "Was there anything unusual before Ms. Saori disappeared?"

Fukuyama Rokuro said calmly: "She was scared to death even when the wind and waves on the sea were a little stronger. She said that the mermaid would seek revenge on her...Okay, this is Saori's room."

"Thanks."

Maori took a quick look around the room, bookcases, storage cabinets, tables, beds, floor-to-ceiling windows... It looked neat and tidy, not messy at all. However, apart from some stuffed doll decorations, it didn't look like a girl's room either, as it was quite neutral and even had a fanatical fighting game poster.

Maori walked straight to the bed and opened the luggage bag on the bedside.

"Headache medicine, toothbrush... Ms. Saori seems to have prepared a lot of things..."

"That's Saori's standard equipment when she runs away from home," explained Fukuyama Rokuro.

"These things are left here," Maori looked through the luggage, his eyes slightly tense, "which means Miss Saori didn't go anywhere, but something happened..."

"It's hard to say," Fukuyama Rokuro hesitated, "because every time she ran away from home, she almost always went to Junhui's house, so it seems that Junhui's house has spare clothes and even spare glasses."

"But there's no one at Miss Jun Hui's house, right?"

Maori emptied out all the contents of the bag.

"Besides, even if you went to the main island, you wouldn't leave any documents behind, right? Your bankbook, ATM card, seal, driver's license...even your passport are all in your bag... Would an average person leave these behind when running away from home?

"Perhaps, something unexpected happened to her before she was about to run away from home..."

"Something unexpected?" Fukuyama Rokuro's lips were dry.

“It might be the worst case scenario.”

Maori put down his ID in a deep voice, continued to check the room, and found a photo album on the cabinet.

Judging from the photos, most of them are group photos of five childhood friends, and Saori Kadowaki seems to be a short-haired girl with glasses and dyed brown hair.

Fukuyama Rokuro said with some nostalgia: "These photos were taken when we were filming the movie "The Story of the Nun" in college. At that time, we won the gold medal because of Saori's special photography and Kimie's special makeup..."

"Is it……"

Mao Li snapped the photo album shut, a thoughtful look on his face.

……

At night, the Ebihara family held a funeral. Most of the islanders came to pay their respects wearing black clothes. The atmosphere was solemn and a little heavy.

Maori was wearing a black suit this time, so he didn't need to change or borrow anything from the villagers. He directly took Hattori and the others to the funeral site.

At the entrance, Maori took the lead in signing at the registration desk, while Hattori and Kazuha followed behind in their school uniforms.

"Luckily we brought our uniforms, right Kazuha?"

Hattori rejoiced.

"Isn't this a bad idea?" He Ye whispered, "We'll disturb them if we come here..."

"You think too much. We can take this opportunity to find out more about the island."

"Hey, hey," Conan reminded from behind, "Brother Heiji, stop grumbling. We're keeping vigil for Miss Sumi right now."

Maori glanced at Hattori and Kazuha - wearing school uniforms to attend a funeral... I guess Hattori was mentally prepared before coming to Mermaid Island?

Walking into the inner hall where the coffin was being kept, there were already several people kneeling on the futons inside, including Shimashiro Kimie, Fukuyama Rokuro, and even Saori's alcoholic father...

"Mr. Maori?" Shimashiro Kimie stood up in surprise, "You guys are here too?"

"Yeah," Maori nodded with a smile, and looked around in confusion, "Huh? Why don't I see Miss Naoko? Her name is on the list."

Shimashiro Kimie said in surprise: "She's here? But I didn't notice her..."

"Are you going back again?"

He Ye guessed so, but he quickly found a cushion and knelt down.

Maori did not sit down. He looked around with a serious face and then opened the wooden door leading to the corridor and courtyard.

In the dark night, Naoko was entangled in a fishing net that was opened. Her face was horribly entangled like a dried fish, and the sand was covered with messy footprints.

It's hopeless...

Maori's eyes narrowed, he turned on the flashlight, and walked to the body with Hattori and others amid the exclamations of everyone in the mourning hall, taking photos for evidence while inspecting the scene.

"The time of death was less than an hour... The cause of death was asphyxiation caused by strangulation..."

Maori said after looking at the body.

"The footprints left on the sand are from slippers and long boots," Hattori said, squatting down to check. "The murdered Miss Naoko was wearing the slippers here, so this pair of long boots should belong to the murderer..."

"Look here," Conan found an arrow mark next to the footprints and shouted, "This should be the mark of a dugong's arrow, right?"

"Indeed," Hattori thought, "Judging from the traces left by the slippers, the dugong arrow might have been dropped when Miss Naoko and the murderer had an argument, and then stepped on... So the murderer's target was the dugong arrow?"

Xiaolan lifted the fishing net surrounding the yard and followed the footprints, saying, "Follow the footprints of the long boots, maybe we can find the murderer's escape route..."

Maori stood aside with his hands folded, his eyes following the footprints of his long boots on the sand, looking straight towards the beach with rolling waves not far away.

He had seen them at the first sight. These footprints extended all the way into the sea, so there was no way to pursue them...

There would be nothing to be gained from further investigation.

The most crucial thing now is the connection between these serial murders. I don’t know if it is a coincidence, but the people who were killed were all those five childhood friends, and it seemed that they all had been drawn by the dugong arrow.

First, there was Kadowaki Saori, who lost the Dugong Arrow and was afraid of revenge. Then there was Ebihara Sumi, who was likely to draw the Dugong Arrow. Finally, there was Naoko, whose Dugong Arrow was stolen...

Scenes from the beginning of the incident flashed through Maori's mind. Everyone's words passed by his ears quickly, and the picture was frozen on the trembling longevity woman.

"It depends on the situation," said the longevity lady with a grin. "Sometimes I also use the numbers drawn from the horse race, haha."

"There are a lot of number cards in a big box, and everyone lines up to draw one... Then the old lady will pick three from these numbers during the ceremony..."

"Later, because there were tourists who heard about the mermaid's tomb and came to rob it, my great-grandmother hired someone to secretly move the tomb to this forest last year..."

"As long as the longevity lady knows where the mermaid's tomb is..."

"By the way, do you want to try your luck too?" Shimadai Kimie took out two number plates and asked Xiaolan and Kazuha, "This morning an elderly couple just returned their number plates, so I have two extra ones..."

All the information comes together and turns into rays of light.

Maori opened his eyes - yes, the key to the case lies in that longevity lady!

Chapter 99: Mermaids really exist!

"Huh?" Hattori, who was searching with a flashlight, suddenly exclaimed, "There seems to be something shiny next to these footprints... Is it fish scales?"

Conan stayed beside the body like Mori, and heard Hattori's voice and followed: "If it is really fish scales, there are two or three pieces on Miss Naoko's clothes!"

"You guys!!" At this moment, a group of policemen with flashlights suddenly ran over from the other side and shouted, "What are you doing there?"

"What? Of course, investigating a case..."

"That's our job as Fukui Prefectural Police!"

"..."

Although Mori, as a special adviser to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department who has not yet taken office, has the authority to participate in the investigation of the case, in order to avoid trouble, he still handed over the on-site investigation to the Fukui Prefectural Police.

The people waiting in the corridor, especially Xiaolan and Kazuha, saw Maori and the others coming and hurriedly asked: "Did the murderer's footprints really disappear at the seaside?"

"Well... the police are currently comparing the footprints and style of the pair of boots," Hattori looked at the busy police forensics personnel, "following those footprints, there are some fish scales on the ground..."

"Fish, fish scales?!"