In Conan, people have a brain option system.

Chapter 161 Investigation (12)

The facts were consistent with Akikawa Sosuke's judgment.

After Conan and Haibara Ai realized that the deceased died of hydrogen sulfide poisoning, they immediately asked the police to test the hydrogen sulfide concentration in the air in the women's hot spring area.

The result obtained is [0.001%], which is far lower than the lethal concentration of [0.07%].

The test results revealed two pieces of information.

One is that the murderer did not commit the crime where the body was found.

Another is that there is no danger for the police to conduct on-site investigation here.

Akikawa Sosuke did not see the police testing the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the air.
But this was determined through the reactions of the police at the scene, as well as Conan and others.

Moreover, Akikawa Sosuke also judged.

The murderer chose to use hydrogen sulfide to kill people because he wanted to use this gas, which is everywhere in Hakone, which has natural hot springs, to cover up his method of killing.

Because Akikawa Sosuke knew clearly the concentration of hydrogen sulfide required to cause acute poisoning.

So he concluded that this couldn't be an accident.

There must be a murderer who produced a high concentration of hydrogen sulfide gas and killed Kenji Furusawa.

But the biggest difference between hydrogen sulfide and other toxins such as potassium cyanide is that it is a gas.

Gas also means that it can easily spread to people around.

Plus this gas is heavier than the atmosphere.

Therefore, in the absence of wind, it is difficult for hydrogen sulfide to drift away from low-lying areas.

If the murderer did not control the amount when making hydrogen sulfide gas, then everyone around the room where he committed the crime would probably suffer.

This is also what Akikawa Sosuke said, that as long as the murderer wanted to, he could kill all the residents in the surrounding rooms, including himself, at any time.

Apparently Conan made the same judgment.

So he asked Dr. Agasa to instruct the Kanagawa Prefecture detectives to identify the suspects as soon as possible and catch the murderer.

'The latest time for ordinary tourists to enter the hot spring area is 20:00 at night, and after 21:00 at night, the hot spring is not allowed to be used by non-staying tourists.'

'So the murderer is either a staff member of the hot spring hotel or a guest who stayed here last night.'

The inspector of Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters looked at the notebook in his hand and repeated in his mind the judgment that seemed to be made by Dr. Agasa but was actually made by Conan.

He first sent the police to check the alibis of the staff of the hot spring hotel who were on duty here last night.

The results confirmed that none of the staff were suspects of the crime.

The next step is to check the surveillance cameras.

In order to protect the privacy of guests, Guquanan does not install cameras facing the corridors of guest rooms.

Instead, cameras are installed in the elevators that are used for going up and down the stairs, as well as at the stairwells on each floor.

After learning from Dr. Agasa that the murderer was likely to have committed the crime in the room, the police focused on checking the surveillance cameras at the stairwell and in the elevator in the guest room area.

Then he successfully saw a very suspicious scene in the surveillance video at the second floor staircase.

A man wrapped tightly up came down the stairs at around 1:20 a.m., dragging a black suitcase.

The police immediately realized that this must be the murderer transporting the body.

after all.

The other party was dragging such a heavy suitcase and actually chose to take the stairs, obviously to avoid the surveillance in the elevator.

Soon, the contents of the surveillance video confirmed the police's speculation.

The tightly wrapped man returned to the second floor via the stairs about twenty minutes later.

But when the man returned, the original suitcase had disappeared.

Obviously, the other party threw away the suitcase after disposing of the body.

The police then questioned the staff responsible for cleaning the women's hot spring area at Kosenan.

It was confirmed that they finished the cleanup at 0:30 in the middle of the night and that they did not see any bodies at that time.

Therefore, the police identified the murderer as a guest living in the standard room area on the 2nd floor.

"We have checked all the staff of Guquan'an and confirmed that none of them could have committed the crime."

"Secondly, through checking the surveillance, we determined that the murderer was a resident living in the standard room area on the second floor."

Based on the murderer's modus operandi, Conan judged that this was a premeditated murder, so he believed that the murderer was most likely acquainted with the deceased.

Then the suspects are four stage play actors including Akikawa Sousuke.

And since the two passers-by among the four stage actors are locals of Kanagawa Prefecture, they do not live in Kosenan.

So the only suspects left were Akikawa Sousuke and the man named Matsutani Jōichi who played the monster.

In addition, the person who first discovered the body was a woman named Motoki Mayumi who also lived on the second floor.

The police have temporarily narrowed their suspicions to these three people.

"The only camera that captured the murderer was the surveillance camera at the staircase entrance on the second floor of the guest room area. However, since the murderer deliberately concealed his figure, it is difficult to determine the murderer's gender and body shape."

"But the murderer dumped the body between 1:20 and 1:44 in the middle of the night, and none of the three of you have an alibi for that time."

Mayumi Motoki, who was the first to discover the body, became unhappy when she heard the reasoning of the inspector in front of her.

She looked at the police officer with some annoyance, and then said loudly:

"Why am I also a suspect?!"

"I don't even know the deceased!"

Upon hearing this, the police chief said:

"This is just your one-sided statement, Miss Yuanmu. It doesn't prove that you really don't know Mr. Gu Ze."

Yuan Mu Mayumi suddenly became angry, and she retorted:

"But if you follow this logic, then everyone living on the second floor should be a suspect."

"After all, officer, you don't know whether the other party really doesn't know the deceased or is lying."

"Besides, it's 1:20 in the middle of the night. Most people would be asleep by this time, right? How could we have an alibi?"

Another suspect, Matsutani Cho, who played the monster in the stage play, nodded and agreed with Mayumi Motoki's statement:

"That's right! Anyone could know Mr. Gu Ze!"

"Just because I performed with Mr. Gu Ze, you concluded that I was a suspect of murder. Isn't that too much?"

"What's the motive? What good will his death do to me? If he dies, I won't become the lead actor, and my work will be interrupted early!"

Both suspects, Mayumi Motoki and Jōichi Matsutani, felt strongly dissatisfied with the police's suspicion.

Everyone present subconsciously looked at Akikawa Sosuke.

It was obvious that she thought that Akikawa Sosuke would also vent his dissatisfaction to the police like the two of them.

Then they saw this handsome chestnut-haired artist looking at Motoki Mayumi and Matsutani Jōichi with a confused look on his face, and then he said:
"Come to think of it, Mr. Matsutani and Ms. Motoki, you two should know each other, right?"

"Yesterday I seemed to see the two of you gathered together to discuss how to make some kind of gas."

Akikawa Sosuke's remarks caused the expressions on Motoki Mayumi and Matsutani Choichi's faces to freeze in an instant.

Then, almost at the same time, the two people made extremely confused voices:
"what--?!"

"What--?!"

(End of this chapter)