Conan: The Man Behind the Romance

Chapter 40 Kudo Shinichi’s evil nature!
Staying in the room, Kogoro Mouri flipped through the facial profiles of Kisaki and Eri one by one and compared them.

He was completely oblivious to the angles that the computer system judged to be most similar.

But when he saw a certain left side profile, his body suddenly shook, as if struck by lightning.

Kudo Shinichi, who had been keeping an eye on him, quickly walked behind him and looked at the two photos.

Kisaki Eri's makeup makes her look a little younger than usual, and her already beautiful skin becomes even more lustrous and tender; her eyes are brighter against the backdrop of the black-framed glasses, and her eyeshadow is lightly smudged, as warm as the morning glow in early spring; her long brown hair is lightly tied up, with two strands hanging lightly in front of her forehead, adding a touch of freshness to her elegance.

Is Xiaolan’s mother so beautiful?

A strange idea suddenly popped up in Kudo Shinichi's mind, and he quickly shook his head and looked at another photo of Towako taken from the same angle.

Emmm... In short, it’s a low-profile version.

Moreover, the similarity between these two pictures is not very high. Could there be other factors involved?

After a while, Maori Kogoro finally returned to normal and told the two waiting people the answer:

"I seem to see Eri from ten years ago. She looked almost like this then."

ten years ago?
Kudo Shinichi recalled carefully that ten years ago, Aunt Eri had not yet separated from Uncle Maori, and he often saw her when he was playing with Xiaolan.

What did Aunt Yingli look like at that time?

hiss--

Two fists suddenly flashed from his memory. Kudo Shinichi touched the non-existent bump on his head and took a breath. No wonder he had forgotten that Aunt Eri was Xiaolan's mother before. It turned out that the beating had left a psychological trauma.

Speaking of which, the other fist was directed at Xiaolan.

Last time, he seemed to have...

"Brother Kudo, have you thought of anything?" Megure Jusan saw Kudo Shinichi's sudden action and looked expectant.

Kudo Shinichi nodded: "A simple profile with low similarity is meaningless. It must be connected to some impressive pictures, which awakened the memory at that moment and made the drunken uncle Maori mistake the person."

Maori Kogoro thought hard after hearing this, but got nothing for a long time. Kudo Shinichi reminded him again:

"Unless the mastermind knew you ten years ago, he was able to create this specific profile. He probably had a photo as a template. Uncle Maori, think back to where you and Aunt Eri took photos ten years ago, and where are the photos now? Oh, you must have been standing on the left at that time."

When Kogoro Maori heard this, he sighed and gave up thinking.

"There are so many photos like this, all of them are kept at home."

"..."

"..."

This sentence silenced the two of them. It was over. There was no way they could continue the investigation like this.

Megure Jusan also had another peculiar observation point. He stepped forward and patted Maori Kogoro on the shoulder, and said to him, "Brother Maori, it seems that you and lawyer Hime had a very good relationship in the past. Why can't you figure it out now? Listen to your brother, go out and apologize to others and start a new life."

"..."

Kogoro Mouri was speechless. Inspector Megure never talked about such things before, but now... Alas, maybe his performance was too bad this time and he was detained by the police, which greatly reduced his image in Inspector Megure's eyes.

Since the old friend cannot handle his life on his own, of course he has to lend a helping hand.

Honestly, it's quite touching.

But it just feels a little weird...

Seeing that Brother Maori still did not respond to this question, Megure Jusan shook his head and looked at another brother: "Brother Kudo, do you want to go to Maori's house to investigate the signs of intrusion? Maybe there are photos stolen from ten years ago."

Kudo Shinichi, who was thinking about other things, shook his head subconsciously: "There's no need for that. It's been so long, even if there are traces, they will most likely be gone."

Maori Kogoro sighed and said, "Xiaolan cleans up every day, and so did the footprints that day. They could have been used to determine the height and weight of the suspect."

Kudo Shinichi frowned slightly, but did not say anything, just continued to think.

Megure Jusan thought for a moment and said, "Should we ask Xiaolan if she noticed anything?" Maori Kogoro shook his head in frustration, "Even if there was something wrong, she would only blame me for getting drunk and ruining the house. How could she notice something like that?"

Kudo Shinichi also said: "Aunt Eri must have such photos at home. This line of investigation is meaningless. We need to find another breakthrough."

"Ok."

Megure Juzo slumped weakly in the chair, his hand subconsciously reaching for the cigarette box in his pocket, but after feeling the vague gaze of Mouri Kogoro, he paused and took out his hand.

"Brother Kudo, the days are long now. It won't be long before dawn."

It's not that he is unwilling to support his younger brother, but firstly, there is pressure from above, and secondly, judging from the current situation, this is basically a dead end.

There were even some rumors within the Metropolitan Police Department, but he didn't dare to tell his younger brother.

What about forcing an explanation, abusing power for personal gain, protecting criminals...

Alas, the source was Yukina Nami who was detained in the Metropolitan Police Department. Even though she was arranged to stay in a single room, the news gradually spread.

There is no way. From an outsider's perspective, this matter is indeed full of conspiracy theories from beginning to end.

Even with the good social reputation of Megure Juzo and Kudo Shinichi as endorsement, this reputation will naturally decline due to the relationship between the parties involved and them.

"How did Yamada Okao die?" asked Kudo Shinichi.

"Medical accident." Megure Jusan replied.

“Why did the hospital misread the CT scan results?”

"There was no reason. The doctor on duty tried to quibble and shirk responsibility at first, but you exposed him in one fell swoop. He analyzed that he was just distracted for a moment and he was willing to accept the punishment."

"Could it be that someone replaced the report at the time and then replaced it again the next day?"

Megure Jusan sighed and said, "Brother Kudo, you...don't be too stressed. Our police are incompetent in this matter. You have done well enough."

Kudo Shinichi was silent. He certainly understood what Inspector Megure meant.

Reasoning without evidence is just conjecture!
In ordinary cases, at this point all you have to do is follow the clues and fill in the evidence.

But this time, he really couldn't find any evidence!
"Where is Gao Yuanyi's cell phone?" he asked in a deep voice.

"Emails, messages, call records, nothing, not a single suspicious record."

Kudo Shinichi was silent for a long time again. Finally, he took a deep breath, and his eyes became extremely firm, even with a hint of coldness, which made Megure Jusan and the other man feel a chill in their hearts when they saw this scene.

"Brother Kudo, you..."

"Officer Megure."

Kudo Shinichi interrupted him: "Are you thinking about just letting Xuesong Nami go and ending everything there?"

Megure Jusan nodded: "If there is no major progress in the case, then we can't delay it any longer. Who knows if there will be another accident later."

"Then let it happen."

"Nani?!!!"

Megure Jusan's eyes widened immediately, and he couldn't believe what he heard.

"Brother Kudo! Do you know what you are talking about?!"

"Officer Megure, assuming the mastermind continues to act, he won't have many targets left to choose from. The police are capable of placing spies around them. Give me one last chance, and I will definitely catch him!"

This is to lure the snake out of its hole!
When Kudo Shinichi said this, his eyes lit up with an unprecedented excitement.

I have never encountered such an opponent.

He must win!
(End of this chapter)