Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 118 Eighteen Years Ago
Wednesday, August 2016, 11.

Shiraishi came to the Metropolitan Police Department again to take the assessment for the position of Superintendent. Taking the promotion exam for two consecutive months was not a treatment that ordinary people could get. After all, being promoted twice in a row was usually a treatment that only people who died in the line of duty could get...

Outside the examination room, Bai Shi also brought a "bag-carrying boy" this time - Yuan was outside, carrying the leader's bag.

There were many similar guys carrying bags outside the examination room.

Not all the officers in the examination room were promoted to "Senior Superintendent of Police". After all, in the entire East Island Country, there were less than 600 "Senior Superintendent of Police" and the higher level "Superintendent of Police". Ninety percent of the people in the examination room were taking the "Superintendent of Police" examination - there were nearly 10,000 Superintendents of Police in the whole country.

However, Shiraishi discovered last month that even many "superintendents" were accompanied by bag-carrying assistants, so he brought Yuan with him this time.

This is exactly what Yuan expected, because...

After taking the test, Shiraishi took Yuan directly to the "Investigation Section 1".

Shiraishi greeted Inspector Megure last night. Megure knew that Shiraishi would come to visit today, and also knew... that he wanted to talk about what happened in the past, so Megure booked a small meeting room in advance.

If Megure came to the Beika Police Station to be a section chief, he might be able to have an independent small office, but as a department head of the "First Investigation Division" of the Metropolitan Police Department, he would only have an independent workstation in the large office of the entire department, which is not suitable for discussing matters.

"Inspector Megure, sorry to bother you." Shiraishi greeted Megure after entering the room.

"Hello! I'm Gen Seiji from the Criminal Investigation Department's Third Division of the Beika Police Department. Sorry to bother you!" Gen's greeting was more formal.

After all, his current behavior seemed a bit rash, even...

It seems to question Megure's investigation results!
If it weren't for Shiraishi, he probably wouldn't have had the chance to find Inspector Megure to verify the matter.

Shiraishi also said at this time: "I'm sorry, the young people in our department are too clingy."

Although Shiraishi is only two years older than Yuan, he behaves more maturely.

"I think it's because of the director...hahaha." Megure joked to ease the atmosphere.

However, Megure immediately stopped smiling. Shiraishi instinctively felt that Megure was also worried about something at the moment!

"Inspector Megure, do you still remember this case from eighteen years ago?" Shiraishi asked tentatively.

"Of course... On November 1998, 11, Tani Shigetoshi Akari, the president of Beika-cho Shuren Foods, fell to his death downstairs of his company. The police later closed the case as suicide." Megure said, with a look of reminiscence in his eyes.

When Yuan heard this, he felt that there was a way!

I'm sure not all cases from eighteen years ago can be remembered so clearly...

Of course, it is also possible that Inspector Megure went to look through the files again after receiving Shiraishi's call yesterday.

However, at this time, Shiraishi heard the hidden meaning behind Inspector Megure's words.

"The 'police' closed the case as suicide? Then...what do you think, Inspector Megure?" Shiraishi became even more concerned when he heard this.

"If I were to judge from my own perspective, I think... it wasn't suicide." Megure said helplessly.

"Eh?" Yuan was stunned when he heard this, but soon realized that this didn't seem to be a good idea, and quickly coughed and said, "Ahem... You must have discovered something, right?"

"I remember very clearly that on the rooftop where the deceased fell, we found a birthday cake he bought for his son... Normally, no one would commit suicide like this, right?
"Not only was there no suicide note, but when we visited the company afterwards, we found that although Zhulian Food had some financial problems at the time, many companies had financial problems at that time, and it was not to such a degree...

“So at the beginning, we were investigating it as a homicide, and we found cigarette butts on the rooftop… At that time, the cleaning staff repeatedly assured us that he had cleaned the rooftop carefully in the afternoon of the day of the incident, and President Gu Fan himself did not smoke, so it was clear that President Gu Fan was not alone on the rooftop.

"Even... it was later tested that the saliva in the cigarette butt came from a man called Saegusa Hisahiko!" Megure said, also getting a little angry.

"Hmm? Then how could it be..." Shiraishi was also stunned at this time - how could it be closed as "suicide"? That Saegusa Naohiko was just the president of a small company, there was no reason for him to have such a strong relationship, right?

"Because of this... the pressure from above was quickly put down, and in the end the case could only be hastily closed as 'suicide'." Megure said, placing a newspaper in front of Shiraishi.

At first glance, Shiraishi was a little puzzled, because... this looked like a new newspaper, with no trace of being from eighteen years ago. The date was indeed the day before yesterday...

"Hmm?" Shiraishi looked carefully and saw that the page that Megure assigned to him was reporting the news that "After 18 years, the murder case of the daughter of the Yama real estate tycoon has been retried."

It’s true that this matter has caused quite a stir recently, but…

Seeing Shiraishi looking over in confusion, Megure reminded him, "Read the second to last paragraph."

The last part of the report reviewed the case eighteen years ago, and also mentioned the key to the murderer's final conviction - a witness saw the murderer leaving the scene on a motorcycle!

And this crucial witness is none other than the "President of Saegusa Foods," that is, Hisahiko Saegusa himself!
Shiraishi realized something and quickly confirmed the time of this old case. Sure enough...

"Around 1998:11 p.m. on November 14, ... the same time as Tani Shigeaki's case!" Shiraishi also understood at this time.

"That's right. Because the victim was the daughter of Yama no Fudosin, the Metropolitan Police Department was under a lot of pressure at the time. Therefore, even though homicide was not ruled out, the case of Tani Shigeru Akari was investigated independently by the police station, and the progress was relatively slow...

"And just when we locked onto Saegusa Naohiko, he had already become an important witness in Ono Miki's murder case... As for the cigarette butt, he insisted that it was left behind when he visited the day before, and looking at the time and the distance between the two crime scenes, it was impossible for him to be in both places at the same time, so...

"Some people above chose to believe his testimony in the murder of Ono Miki, and soon the Beihua Agency received guidance from above that the case of Tani Shigetoshi's death could only be closed as 'suicide'."

Megure's tone at this time was also helpless.

but……

After all, he is not Shiraishi. Ordinary police officers cannot insist on anything in this situation. Even if they do, the result will be that they will be idle or even kicked out of the team.

All Megure can do is to always remember this case!
Even if it was mentioned again eighteen years later, he could still describe it clearly...

Obviously he had been prepared to bring this case back into everyone's attention one day.

"I see..." Bai Shi also sighed at this time.

I have to say, if this Saegusa Naohiko is really the murderer in the Tani Shigeru case, then he is really "smart"!
Although he didn't have any strong connections, he created one for himself that forced the police to cooperate with him!
Shiraishi also remembered that Ayako had said before that Ono, the chairman of Yamano Real Estate, was stubborn and had a bad temper. He must have put the police under great pressure at the time, and Sanzhi must have taken advantage of this after seeing the news...

But there is one thing that Shiraishi has to worry about: "Inspector Megure, who was the 'superior' in charge of Ono Miki's murder case?"

When Megure heard Shiraishi ask about this, he became a little reserved. He instinctively looked at the door and after making sure that no one was there, he lowered his voice and said, "The responsible counselor of the Special Investigation Headquarters established at that time is the current Deputy Director Moroboshi!"

Deputy Commissioner Moroboshi, of course, refers to the "Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Department", Toshio Moroboshi!

"No wonder." Bai Shi rubbed his brows.

Generally speaking, the person who takes the lead in establishing the "Investigation Headquarters" is usually the "Management Officer" of a certain section of the Criminal Department, with the police rank of "Superintendent". For major cases, a "Special Investigation Headquarters" will be established, and the person in charge is the "Counselor", with the police rank of "Senior Superintendent".

The rank of "Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Department" is [Superintendent of Police], which is second only to the only [Superintendent of Police]. There are only 38 of them in the country, which can be said to be "one man for one job"!
In the past eighteen years, Toshio Moroboshi has been promoted twice steadily, and he has basically reached the top among the police officers of the East Island Country...

"So... this case is indeed very difficult to handle. I think President Tani Shigeru did not commit suicide, but it could only be suicide." Megure said, looking at Shiraishi with scrutiny.

Moroboshi Toshio's position will undoubtedly become an obstacle when he wants to overturn the case he once led the investigation of!
At this time, Shiraishi opened his big hands, rubbed his big face, and confirmed with Yuan beside him: "We have to mediate between Tani Shigeru Naoki and Saegusa Hisahiko again tomorrow, right?"

In theory, the case that the Beihua Police Department is dealing with now is not the "Tani Shigeto Akari suicide case" that was closed 18 years ago, nor is it the "Ono Miki murder case" that is now making the news, but...

The assault case involving Naoki Tani occurred the night before.

"That's right..." Yuan didn't dare to say anything at this time - in his heart, he wanted to reinvestigate the case of that year, but... since it was related to another big case, especially to Deputy Director Moroboshi, he couldn't encourage Director Shiraishi to "take a chance."

Even Yuan was thinking about taking a year off and trying to investigate on his own - after all, he was just a small detective, and the worst that could happen was that he would be fired...

"Well... tomorrow is one of the few opportunities to invite Sanzhi to the office!" Bai Shi's voice became deep at this time, and it was obvious that he had regarded the other party as an "investigation target"!
"As expected of you, Brother Shiraishi." Megure said with a smile, and took out a stack of documents from the briefcase beside him: "This is the case record of that year, and the copy of the evidence I found in the evidence storage department, including the saliva DNA analysis of the cigarette butt. Then... I'll leave it to you!"

(End of this chapter)