Ke Xue: This police officer is too martial

Chapter 164 Silver Nuclear Bomb
After reading his subordinates' investigation report, Inspector Otaki leaned over and carefully examined the victim's body, and said solemnly:

"The victim is Ed Michael, a newspaper reporter currently stationed in Chicago. He is 48 years old and died from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was killed almost instantly. The murder weapon used was a Smith & Wesson revolver. There were some signs of a struggle at the scene..."

After understanding the situation at the scene, Inspector Otaki stood up and looked at Hattori Heiji and others, and asked, "Heiji, when did you hear the gunshots?"

Hattori Heiji said without hesitation: "It was around 8:05 in the evening. At that time, Kazuha and I were outside the hotel, helping the three hosts of today's banquet to check the lights in the hotel rooms..."

After listening to Hattori Heiji's explanation, Inspector Otaki put his hand on his chin and thought for a while, with a slightly complicated expression.

This hotel just opened today and there are very few guests staying in the rooms.

It seems that the three hotel owners mentioned by Hattori Heiji are very likely the main suspects in this case.

According to Hattori Heiji, the three people were in the hotel before the incident, and were responsible for turning on the lights in the rooms on each floor.

The football player named Ray Curtis was in charge of the rooms on the first and second floors, the baseball pitcher named Mike Nord was in charge of the rooms on the third and fourth floors, and finally the boxer named Rick Barre was in charge of the rooms on the fifth floor.

A few seconds after the gunshots, the three men poked their heads out of the room.

At the time, football star Ray Curtis was in the room on the far left of the first floor, baseball star Mike Nord was in the middle room on the third floor, and boxer Ricky Barre was in the second room from the left on the fifth floor.

It took only a few seconds from the time the gunshots rang out to the time these three men appeared.

The victim's room was located in the middle of the second floor.

Even Ray Curtis on the far right of the first floor and Mike Nord on the third floor could not have completed the entire process of "killing people on the second floor" and "running" to their respective rooms within just a few seconds.

Not to mention the boxer Ricardo Barre who was on the fifth floor.

Although these three people are the most likely suspects, judging from the timing, it seems impossible for these three to have committed the crime.

Seeing Inspector Otaki suddenly fall silent, Hattori Heiji and Conan beside him also lowered their heads to think.

They also roughly guessed what Inspector Otaki was thinking about at the moment.

A few seconds later, Maori Kogoro walked up to Inspector Otaki and said seriously: "Inspector Otaki, I think the criminal is among these three, because they all hate the victim. If I remember correctly, the victim has published negative information about these three people!"

"Well, it turns out that these three are the most suspicious..." Inspector Otaki looked at Kogoro Mouri and nodded slightly.

Hearing this, Kazuha and Xiaolan behind Maori Kogoro spoke up one after another, questioning Maori Kogoro's speculation:

"This doesn't seem possible, does it? This room is in the middle of the second floor, and when the crime happened, the three of them were far away from this room. Am I right, Xiaolan?"

"Yes! A few seconds before the gunshot, Mr. Mike, who was on the third floor, had just opened the curtains of the room on the third floor. And Mr. Lei, who was on the first floor, had just turned on the light in the room on the first floor."

After hearing the conversation between Kazuha and Xiaolan, Inspector Otaki and Kogoro Mouri also lowered their heads to think.

What He Ye said was absolutely correct. Judging from the time, it seemed that these three people did not have the time to commit the crime.

At this moment, Conan, who was standing at the back of the crowd, suddenly spoke up: "Since it's not these three, is it possible that the criminal is a guest invited to the restaurant?"

Hearing this, everyone turned to look at Conan.

Under everyone's puzzled gaze, Conan continued, "My brother Heiji and I had just arrived here not long ago, and a lot of people immediately gathered here. I guess the criminal was probably hiding in a nearby room at the time, and finally escaped in the chaos."

After listening to Conan's description, Inspector Otaki nodded and said, "It is indeed possible, but in this case, all the guests invited to the banquet will be suspects, and it will be more difficult to find the criminal."

Kogoro Mori and others also nodded with serious expressions.

Conan’s guess makes sense. If those three people are not the criminals, then all the guests present today are suspects!
Hattori Heiji on the side looked at Conan in surprise and frowned.

He always felt that Kudo seemed different from usual.

Generally speaking, Kudo would not easily rule out suspects before thoroughly investigating the scene and finding any clues.

But Kudo just ruled out the suspicion of those three athletes!

not right...

Just as Hattori Heiji was staring at Conan's face, a police officer suddenly walked up to Inspector Otaki and saluted, "Inspector! According to our investigation, it seems that a foreign female star has checked into the third-floor guest room of this hotel before the banquet started this afternoon!"

Hearing this, Inspector Otaki and Kogoro Mori all frowned.

There was an immediate flash of light in the eyes of Hattori Heiji and Conan standing by.

Checked into this hotel in advance?
Although this incident itself is not worth making a fuss about, now that it has happened, the guest who checked into the third floor of the hotel in advance seems a little suspicious...

After hesitating for a second, Inspector Otaki looked at the police officer next to him and said, "Third floor? Or did he move in earlier? Well... go and invite this guest in!"

Before the police officer could reply, a voice in fluent English suddenly sounded behind everyone.

——"Are they talking about me?"

Amid everyone's surprised gazes, Chris Wynyard with a blushing face and Makino with a calm expression suddenly appeared at the door of the room.

The next moment, everyone in the room turned to look at Makino.

"Officer Makino is serious?!"

"Brother Makino?"

"Wait a minute Makino! Who is this foreign beauty next to you?!..."

"..."

After briefly greeting everyone, Makino looked at the officer next to Inspector Otaki and said, "Isn't that the one you're talking about? She's Chrissie Wynyard, the guest who checked into the hotel early."

Compared to Chris Wynyard, Inspector Otaki was obviously more "concerned" about Makino's sudden appearance.

He originally thought that only Hattori Heiji and Detective Mori were in the hotel, but he didn't expect that Inspector Makino Shimasa was also in the hotel!

It seems that he doesn't have to worry about whether this case can be solved successfully!
Thinking of this, Inspector Otaki led his subordinates to walk quickly to Makino and saluted respectfully.

The next second, Inspector Otaki looked at Chris Wynyard next to Makino and whispered, "Officer Makino, may I ask...?"

Under everyone's curious gaze, Makino briefly explained what had happened between him and Chris just now.

After listening to Makino's explanation, Inspector Otaki nodded immediately and said, "I understand. Since this lady was with you at the time of the crime, her suspicion can be ruled out. But then again, you probably haven't checked out the scene yet, right? The victim is Ed Michael, and the cause of his death is..."

Hearing this, Makino looked at Inspector Otaki in surprise.

Have you forgotten that you are the "Osaka Police"?

No matter how much you resemble Inspector Megure, no matter how high my rank is, you can't just tell me, a "Tokyo policeman", the details of a case that happened in your Osaka, right? !
After all, he is different from "private detectives" like Kogoro Mori. He is a serious Metropolitan Police Department policeman.

Except in special circumstances, criminal police from different jurisdictions generally do not interfere in each other's cases without permission.

This is the unspoken rule within the criminal police circle... no, this can actually be said to be an "explicit rule" known to everyone.

Although given his relationship with Hattori Heizo and others, it would not matter if they intervened privately, but Inspector Otaki, who "actively invited" him to solve the case, would inevitably be despised by other colleagues and might even be reprimanded by his superiors.

After seeing Makino's gaze, Inspector Otaki finally realized something. He slapped his head embarrassedly and laughed dryly.

Chris Wynyard on the side had been quietly observing everyone in the room.

After learning that this case had nothing to do with Xiaolan and the others, her expression became obviously more relaxed than before.

Therefore, after taking a quick look at the crime scene and observing the people in the house, she turned her attention back to Makino.

Just from the attitudes of everyone in the room and Inspector Otaki towards Makino, one can see Makino's "impression and status" in everyone's mind.

But for Vermouth, she actually cares more about something else.

Or rather, she still has a problem that she hasn't figured out yet.

As early as when she met Makino at the bar, she had carefully examined Makino's entire body with her peripheral vision and found no signs that he was carrying any "weapons".

For her, who has been working in the "dark world" for so many years, she is very confident in her observation and judgment in this area.

That was why she took the initiative to lead Makino into the room in such a clumsy way.

but……

Without her knowledge, Makino took away the gun on her body and crushed it with his bare hands! He even took out an automatic rifle from his dress in front of her! !

Also, now that she thought about it, she seemed to have seen two dazzling lights in Makino's eyes...

At that moment, she had a strong sense of palpitations as if she was being targeted by the "devil" and an intuition that she was facing death.

Before today, any of these events would have been unimaginable to her.

But it was precisely because of this that she completely determined that Makino was the "silver bullet" that could destroy the organization!
And...compared to the silver bullet, Vermouth felt that it might be more appropriate to describe it as a "silver nuclear bomb".

At the same time, Conan looked up at Chris Wynyard next to Makino and frowned slightly.

He remembered that this actress named Chris Wynyard seemed to have appeared in the Beihu Hotel before.

After thinking about this, Conan shook his head and put the matter behind him.

Compared to this female star, the current situation undoubtedly makes him more upset.

Although he had just subconsciously cleared the three people of suspicion, but...

……

Not long after, seeing Inspector Otaki suddenly stop explaining the case to Makino, Hattori Heiji walked directly to Makino's side, continued with Inspector Otaki's explanation, and told Makino the whole situation at the scene.

After finishing speaking, Hattori Heiji looked at Makino seriously, his eyes full of curiosity: "Officer Makino, do you have any ideas?"

In previous cases such as the "Villa Murder Case" and the "Red Tengu Case", he and Kudo inexplicably lost to Makino.

Although he had long understood "from the bottom of his heart" how terrible Makino's "reasoning ability" was, he still wanted to see with his own eyes how he lost.

This case does not seem as complicated as the previous ones. Instead, it allows us to see more clearly how Officer Makino solved the case.

Maybe I can see the difference between myself and Officer Makino!
Under the expectant gazes of Hattori Heiji, Inspector Otaki and others, Makino looked at Inspector Otaki helplessly and spoke slowly:
"What I'm going to say next is just my guess. Inspector Otaki, if you send someone to carefully check whether the three athletes have any reaction to the smoke, especially Mr. Ray Curtis who was on the first floor at the time... maybe you can solve this case~"

Hearing this, Inspector Otaki seemed to understand something. He saluted Makino with gratitude, then immediately turned around and sent his subordinates to check the smoke reaction on the three people.

Hattori Heiji and others on the side also stared at Makino in surprise, their eyes full of astonishment.

Officer Makino had already identified the criminal even though he had just learned about the case?!

Conan lowered his head, clenched his fists, and bit his teeth hard, with an extremely complicated expression on his face.

Although Officer Makino's words were very "euphemistic", those who were familiar with Makino's reasoning style knew that since Makino had said so, the criminal was most likely the football player Ray Katis!

Since Makino just said it was his "guess", before the result came out, everyone tacitly did not ask Makino how he came to the conclusion.

Seeing this scene, Vermouth stared at Makino in surprise, with a hint of curiosity and confusion in his eyes.

It is not difficult to see from everyone's reactions that they all seem to be very sure of the "suggestions" that Makino just said.

She had already read Makino's detailed information, so she naturally knew the titles given to Makino by the media, and she also knew that Makino had a strong ability to solve cases.

But this was the first time she saw Makino solve a case with her own eyes.

Could he really accurately identify the criminal based on this information alone?
……

Not long after, a police officer ran back to the room and looked at Inspector Otaki excitedly: "Inspector! We detected gunpowder reaction on Ray Curtis's shoes! Officer Noguchi and his men are bringing him here!"

"Really?!" Inspector Otaki excitedly clapped his hands on the police officer's shoulders.

The police officer nodded and said, "That's right! But there is no smoke reaction on his clothes. According to the investigation, he just sent his shirt and pants to the hotel's laundry not long ago, and Officer Maeda has already gone to the laundry room to look for those two clothes. Judging from the time, those two clothes may not have been washed yet!"

"..."

After hearing the conversation between the two, Hattori Heiji and others immediately turned to look at Makino, who had a calm face, with their pupils slightly shrunken.

(End of this chapter)