Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 147 The Dead's Request for Help
November 11th, 25: pm, in an evening tea shop in Shinjuku.

"Miss, drinking coffee alone at night is boring, right? I know there is a more interesting place nearby..."

A young man who looked like a scoundrel started chatting up Misumi Mikoto who was sitting here alone.

"Sorry, I'm waiting for someone." Sancheng responded politely.

"Eh? Actually you can just wait for me..." The little yellow-haired boy hasn't given up yet.

But at this moment, the shop door creaked, and Sancheng immediately recognized Shiraishi - after all, it is not common to have a body that can fill the entire door and have some room left!

"Director Shiraishi, this way." Sancheng stood up and waved.

"Director?" The little yellow-haired boy turned his head unhappily, wanting to see what the "cow dung" looked like.

Gollum—

After swallowing his saliva, the little yellow-haired boy shrank his neck and obediently returned to his seat.

When Bai Shi got closer, he saw that there was another beautiful woman following this man...

"This is the forensic doctor Misaki Mikoto I told you about, and this is Suzuki Ayako, my..." Shiraishi introduced Misaki and Ayako to each other.

"I'm his driver." Ayako rolled her eyes.

"Sorry to interrupt your date?" Sancheng said embarrassedly.

"No, no, no, we weren't dating." Ayako said quickly, indicating that she was not emotional because of her.

But Ayako never expected that the forensic doctor... would be such a beautiful girl?

Originally, after Shiraishi had told her, in her mind, Medical Examiner Misumi would be a more conservative woman...

"Just talk about your own things and don't bother me!" Ayako was afraid that she would cause trouble.

The little yellow-haired boy next to him stared at the scene in astonishment, then paid the bill and left with a displeased look on his face.

Bai Shi also asked about the main matter at this time: "Did something go wrong with the autopsy of that body?"

"It's not that something went wrong with the autopsy, but... Nishi Musashino Police Station is preparing to close the case." Sancheng said helplessly at this time.

"Case closed? That couldn't have been suicide...has the murderer been found?" Shiraishi asked curiously.

"What the police mean is that we should follow the Suzuki family...ah! Sorry, that family also has the last name Suzuki!" Misumi said, and suddenly remembered something, and bowed his head and clasped his hands to apologize to Suzuki Ayako.

"It doesn't matter..." Ayako certainly didn't take it to heart. After all, there were too many "Suzukis" in the East Island Country, second only to "Sato".

At the same time, she also discovered that this forensic doctor Sancheng had an unusually cheerful personality and divergent ideas.

Then Sancheng continued, "It was the male head of the household among the three people who committed suicide. The police believe that the male head of the household killed the girl first, and then burned charcoal in the room with the other two people who met online and agreed to commit suicide, and placed the girl's body aside."

"Is there any evidence?" Shiraishi felt that this way of closing the case seemed to involve too much imagination.

"The basis for this is... before her death, the girl had expressed her intention to die many times in the bar where she worked, and the identities of the other three people have been confirmed, and they all committed suicide without a doubt. So the police believe that she was one of the people who agreed to commit suicide, but changed her mind halfway through, so she was forced to commit suicide." Sancheng said indignantly at this time.

"Forced suicide... that is, after killing someone, the person committed suicide, right?" Ayako couldn't help but agree.

"You think so too, right? Only in the East Island Country would there be such a statement... In fact, it is intentional homicide!" Sancheng immediately said as if he were a close friend.

"What do that Suzuki Shoichi... and Xiaohua's family say?" Shiraishi frowned.

"Suzuki Shoichi's family has no objection, they just want this matter to be resolved as soon as possible, and he doesn't have any close relatives. As for the family of the female corpse... this is what I am most worried about!
"After screening missing persons information nationwide, the police found a girl who matched the profile... Hana Matsukura, 18 years old, ran away from home after an argument with her parents and had been out of contact for several days.

"But today we asked her parents to identify the body, and they found out... the deceased was not Hana Matsukura! Previously, the deceased used a pseudonym at work, and now we are not sure whether the deceased is 'Xiaohua'. If not..."

Sancheng's tone also became serious at this time.

A ball of paper that the deceased had swallowed voluntarily was found in her stomach, so it was suspected to be a "death message" with the final signature being "Xiaohua".

but……

If the deceased was not "Xiaohua" herself, then...

"In that case, that could be... a distress message sent by the real 'Xiaohua'!" Shiraishi also realized this at this time.

"That's right! I'm worried about this too!" Sancheng was thinking the same thing and became increasingly uneasy. He even asked Shiraishi to come out and discuss the matter.

The detectives at the Nishi-Musashino Police Station were afraid of trouble. Seeing that the deceased had "suicidal tendencies" and indeed appeared at the scene of a "group suicide", they wanted to close the case with "forced suicide". After all, in their opinion...

She didn't want to live anyway!

Maybe he just agreed to commit suicide but then changed his mind, and ended up being killed by the murderer who really wanted to commit suicide?

Moreover, the family of the deceased who was presumed to be the murderer had no objection, and the Nishi-Musashino Police Station was about to send the case to the procuratorate as "the suspect is dead" and close it...

As for the paper ball found in the stomach, they did not think of it as a "cry for help."

Just because of the name on an unclear note, it was not concluded that there was another victim who "may still be alive".

Sancheng also talked to Director Kamikura about this matter, but there was nothing Director Kamikura could do about it. They were just a civilian forensic agency and did not participate in the investigation, let alone the power to direct the investigation!
At this point, Sancheng thought of Director Shiraishi...

Misumi Mikoto had seen that in order to "not close the case so hastily", Shiraishi had even challenged the "Prosecutor's Office" and rushed to perform the autopsy. Naturally, she thought... if it was Director Shiraishi, he might seriously investigate the matter.

But after saying this...

"Sorry, it obviously has nothing to do with you." Sancheng said a little embarrassedly.

After all, he is the director of the Rice Flower Agency, and this matter has nothing to do with the Rice Flower Agency. Sancheng also knows that he is being very presumptuous.

After a moment of silence, Shiraishi asked, "You collected data on charcoal combustion and carbon monoxide concentrations in the house, right?"

"That's right! The carbon monoxide concentration in the house is far lower than the theoretical value. Although it must have leaked out from the gaps in the doors and windows, but... in order to commit suicide, they sealed the gaps in the windows and doors. The difference shouldn't be that big. It is very likely that someone entered from the outside!" Sancheng said hurriedly.

"If that's the case, then... there must be another person who knew about their suicide agreement and used the suicide scene to fake the 'homicide' as part of a 'collective suicide'..." Shiraishi nodded.

"The Nishi Musashino Police Station has discovered that the three of them had logged into the same suicide forum, but that forum has been closed in the past two days." Sancheng provided a clue at this time - the Nishi Musashino Police Station did not do nothing.

"Forum... I don't know how the Metropolitan Police Department's Cyber ​​Security Countermeasures Department is preparing!" Shiraishi complained at this time - cyber crime is rampant, and even a countermeasures department has not been established!

(In reality, the Metropolitan Police Department of Japan established the Cyber ​​Security Countermeasures Department in 2016, but this is a different world in the novel.)
Then Bai Shi asked, "What are the other test results?"

After hearing that there might be another "victim waiting to be rescued", Shiraishi also became concerned.

If it was just a homicide case, Bai Shi might not have meddled in it. After all... human energy is limited, and it's good enough if he can manage his own jurisdiction well.

However, the desire to save people has no jurisdiction.

"Here! I brought it..." Sancheng said, and hurriedly took out the information from his bag without caring whether it was legal or not.

Seeing Shiraishi taking the information and starting to read it, Sancheng breathed a sigh of relief.

She was just worried whether Director Shiraishi would take care of this matter!

"Hmm? Are the white particles on the hair crystals of mixed iron salts?" Bai Shi noticed this first.

"That's right, but no similar items were found in the nearby cold storages, and the composition of the seawater around Dongdu does not match..." Sancheng confirmed.

"Residues in the stomach... seaweed, rice... unknown meat?" Shiraishi found this "unknown meat" a bit eye-catching.

"Yeah, similar to beef, but lower in fat and higher in protein, not sure what it is yet," Mitsuzuki nodded.

"Ingredient identification" is actually "data comparison". Once it does not match the existing reference data, it can only be "unknown".

Shiraishi was tapping his fingers on the table as he thought...

In the absence of any other clues about the "murder location", the residues on the surface of the body and the contents of the stomach are the most important clues.

and……

These two items were highlighted in Bai Shi's perspective!
In other words, based on the memories in Bai Shi's mind, he can come up with some important inferences from these two items!
Misumi and Ayako didn't disturb him at this time, they just stared at him. The former's eyes were more nervous, and I don't know if she can analyze anything, while the latter is... more obsessed.

"Horse meat!" Bai Shi suddenly said.

"Hmm? Horse meat... Indeed, horse meat has a higher protein content, but..." Sancheng was stunned when he heard this - and wondered if this was a bit arbitrary.

However, Shiraishi continued, "Iron salt... horse meat... Arima Hot Springs! Arima Town in Hyogo Prefecture has always been known for its horse meat dishes, and the local famous Arima Hot Springs has a very high iron salt content!"

"Eh? Hyogo..." When Sancheng heard the location, he immediately realized, "The missing Hana Matsukura is from Hyogo Prefecture!"

In this way, the clues about the location can be matched!
(End of this chapter)