Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 317 Three “coincidences”?
"This...even if the technique makes sense...but...why?" Zhongfu looked at Huangchuan in disbelief.

Shiraishi looked at Tadao and asked, "Mr. Akabane, have you lent the key to the abandoned warehouse to Mr. Huangchuan recently?"

"Keys? A few days ago, Uncle Huang Chuan took away the bunch of keys, saying he was looking for something..." Zhongfu said after recalling.

"That's right, Mr. Huang Chuan, you should have used the key to the abandoned warehouse to find the bar where Mr. Qinggu was hiding?" Bai Shi confirmed with Huang Chuan.

"Hidden wine?" Upon hearing this, Zhongfu immediately glared at Qinggu.

Qing Gu was embarrassed and said quickly: "Did you really find out? But..."

"But because Mr. Huangchuan made another discovery, he concealed the fact that he had been to the abandoned warehouse, and did not tell Mr. Akabane that he discovered your wine storage." Bai Shi said on behalf of Huangchuan.

"Another discovery... is that pit? But there's nothing there!" Qinggu also thought of the hole in the floor before.

"Of course there is nothing now. After all... since Mr. Huang Chuan has already discovered it, he can't just watch his ex-wife's body continue to be hidden there."

Although Bai Shi's words were speculative, his tone was very certain...

"Ex-wife? What? She...she's dead? And still in that warehouse?" Qinggu thought about how he had been going in and out of there frequently, and his face turned pale with fright.

"Could it be..." Akabane Miwa seemed to have thought of something at this time.

"What happened afterwards is just my personal guess, and I can no longer verify it... I think Mr. Huang Chuan's wife packed her bags and ran away from home after they had a big fight... But she didn't go far. Instead, she went to find the person she had an affair with, Akabane Tadao... Yes, the person she was communicating with."

Shiraishi said, nodding to Tsuruko.

"But then the two of them had another conflict. After all, Mrs. Akabane was still alive at the time, and this farm was owned by Mrs. Akabane's family. Akabane Tadao would definitely not let their affair be exposed.

"Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Akabane Tadao killed her anyway. As for the specific cause of death...it's been so long, it's hard to tell." Shiraishi shook his head.

"What evidence do you have to support this?" Zhongfu interrupted dissatisfiedly.

Although Shiraishi looked very oppressive, he did not deliberately show his aura at this time. In order to protect his father's reputation, Tadao still questioned him.

"Since Mr. Akabane Tadao has passed away, it would be difficult to find direct evidence. However... there is indirect evidence. Mr. Tadao, you should have noticed it, right? Why did your father suddenly believe in some legend and forbid you to destroy the warehouse...

"And Miss Tsuruko, you were frightened ten years ago. According to you, you saw the 'ghost of a samurai' in that warehouse, but...

"I think what you saw was just the silhouette of someone holding a samurai sword, but because of the legend, you imagined this scene as a ghost wearing samurai armor.

“Although I haven’t asked you specifically, I think the day you were frightened was not long after Mr. Huangchuan’s wife ran away from home, and the man holding the samurai sword was Mr. Akabane Tadao, because he needed the samurai sword to pry open the floorboards to hide the body!

"It is precisely because of this that Mr. Tadao, who had never believed in such things, immediately locked up the warehouse and stopped using it after Ms. Tsuruko was frightened..."

This was purely speculation on Shiraishi's part and it had not even been verified before, but after Aotani and Akabane Miwa thought about it secretly, they discovered that the time of the two events was indeed very close, meaning they happened in the same week.

When Akabane Tadao hid the body and his daughter saw it, she was also shocked. Fortunately, she later found out that her daughter thought it was a ghost and was frightened to the point of falling seriously ill. After that, her memory became increasingly blurred...

So he used this excuse to close the warehouse so that his attempt to hide the body would not be discovered!

However, ten years later, the son who took over the farm actually wanted to demolish the warehouse, which made Akabane Tadao nervous, and...

At this time, he was unable to walk independently, and naturally could not move the bones in the warehouse, so he could only try his best to prevent this from happening.

"Similarly...it was precisely because this 'private affair' was related to a murder case that Akabane Tadao immediately chose to transfer the money when he was blackmailed using the words in the letter." Shiraishi said, and looked at Tsuruko again.

Otherwise, this happened ten years ago, and his wife has passed away now. In theory, being "blackmailed" like this should not pose much of a threat.

However, Akabane Tadao was guilty and afraid that his murder would be exposed, so he transferred the money immediately!
"Blackmail?" This was the first time that Zhongfu heard of this matter and he immediately glared at his sister.

Hezi ignored him...

"Mr. Huangchuan, can I take your silence as an admission of guilt?" Uesugi stepped forward and asked.

The case from ten years ago was not within the scope of Uesugi's investigation. Firstly, the victim's body had not been seen yet, and even if it was, it would be impossible to determine the cause of death. Secondly, according to Shiraishi's reasoning, the murderer was the victim this time, Akabane Tadao...

The victim's condition cannot be determined, and the murderer is already dead, so this case is bound to be an unsolved case.

"Please help me bury the bodies buried in my backyard." Huang Chuan didn't say anything else.

But this has undoubtedly been acknowledged. What Shiraishi said before is basically nine out of ten correct.

……

Not long after, the Akabane family watched Qing Gu and Huang Chuan being taken away by the police, and watched a long line of police cars drive away...

Needless to say, Huang Chuan was suspected of intentional homicide, and as for Qing Gu...

“I wonder how long Uncle Qinggu’s sentence will be…” Tadao sighed.

"It shouldn't constitute theft. Although this behavior is spoken of as 'stealing', the actual crime should be 'embezzlement' or something like that, which means it's a smart crime and the Second Investigation Division is responsible. Officer Uesugi just took him back for the sake of convenience. If you take the initiative to forgive him later, the sentence won't be too long." Shiraishi explained.

Shiraishi and Ayako did not leave together. After all, it was already late, and they would not be able to get enough rest if they rushed back to Aomori City. The Akabane family was happy to host them for another day - including Koizumi Akako, who was suspected of fraud!
Regardless of whether they were happy with the result or not, it was ultimately because of Shiraishi that the case of Akabane Tadao's murder was solved.

Ayako had accompanied Tsuruko to sort out her father's belongings. Tsuruko was still holding the old photos that she found together with "those shameless letters".

The photo showed my teenage father, Uncle Huang Chuan, Uncle Qing Gu, and another woman whose face could no longer be seen...

Hezi looked at their smiling faces and photos of them playing together and felt sad.

"Dad used to have a good relationship with Uncle Huangchuan, Uncle Qinggu... and her, right? Why did it become like this... Is it because of this farm, because of the money?" Hezi sighed.

"No, it has been said since ancient times that treachery leads to murder and gambling leads to theft. The ancients were not deceiving me..." Bai Shi did not think that the culprit was "money".

Ayako nudged him lightly with her elbow to urge him to speak less.

"So... cherish the person in front of you." Ayako changed the subject.

Before, Ayako had listened to Tsuruko's talk about her young boyfriend. To Ayako, Tsuruko, who was just 20 years old, and her boyfriend were of course "juniors" and could give her some advice.

At this time, Hezi was still a little upset because her boyfriend went to the nightclub just because he had money.

"That's right, cherish the person in front of you!" Akabane Miwa murmured beside her.

Ayako:……

"Um... Aunt Meihe, didn't I tell you..."

……

In the evening, Shiraishi received a call from the Mika Agency. After hanging up, Ayako asked, "How is it? Do you need to rush back?"

"Not for now. Even though there was a murder, it was solved on the spot." Shiraishi said that this was another case of "encountering the detective".

"Then can I attend Miss Kimura's birthday party tomorrow?" Ayako confirmed.

"Of course." Bai Shi nodded.

Junko Kimura, the daughter of the Aomori Prefectural Police Chief, will be turning 20 tomorrow. Chief Kimura has held a birthday party for his daughter at his home.

It was just the relationship between Director Kimura and Suzuki Shiro, so there was no special invitation sent to the Suzuki family - although Ayako had met Kimura Junko, it was five or six years ago.

But since Ayako happened to come to Aomori Prefecture for something, and she had previously used the relationship between General Kimura and her uncle, of course she couldn't just leave like that afterwards.

Although Kimura has reached the end of his career in the police force, he is still the chief inspector and the chief of a county headquarters. There is no harm in interacting with him.

Tomorrow, March 3rd, is already Friday, so Shiraishi simply did not go back to the Mika Office. As the director, his working hours are very flexible anyway.

After resting for a night at the Akabane family, the rental car arrived at the Akabane farm early the next morning. In order to make it convenient for Shiraishi to drive, it was also a QX56, or two cars came together. After delivering the rental car to Shiraishi, the designated driver took another car back.

Which car rental company has such good service? Of course, it is the car rental company owned by Suzuki...

"Koizumi-san, do you want Shiraishi to take you directly to Aomori Station? It's not a problem!" Ayako asked Hongzi specifically.

"Well, that's troublesome." Hongzi nodded directly.

Ayako:……

Don't you understand what "be polite" means? Just fly back on your broomstick! Why would a witch take the Shinkansen?

"Okay..." Ayako nodded with a smile.

But it's indeed on the way...

Shiraishi drove Ayako and Hongko to the city center of Aomori City. As for Hasko, no one knew where Hongko had arranged for him to go.

As the seat of Aomori Prefecture, Aomori City is the largest city in the county and a medium-sized core city. However, the urban area has a population of only 300,000, which is similar to that of Beika Town. After all, the entire Aomori Prefecture has only about one million people.

Of course, in terms of population density, it is far less than that of Beika Town, and the urban area is not comparable to that of Beika Town.

In terms of prosperity, Beika Town is much better than Beika Town - after all, Beika Town is located in the eastern urban area, which is also a prosperous area with large aquariums, amusement parks... and countless landmark buildings.

Although the "county" of East Island Country does not have the same meaning as the county in China, the city where the county seat of Aomori Prefecture is located does have some of the feeling of a county-level city in China - there are prosperous places, but most of the places are low-rise buildings, which look a bit shabby. Shiraishi and Ayako were not in a hurry to go to Kimura's house. The birthday party was in the evening, and Shiraishi did not have any official business at the moment. Anyway, he had to visit his family in the evening, so naturally he did not go directly to the county police headquarters to greet anyone.

During the day, Shiraishi and Ayako went to Aomori Station first, on the one hand to send Koizumi Akako off, and on the other hand to buy some specialties of Eastern Capital as gifts - they were so worried about Akako's case that they had no time to take care of these things!

Well, even though I bought it at Aomori Station, it was a token of my appreciation anyway, and it’s enough as long as it looks like a specialty of Tokyo.

Afterwards, Shiraishi and Ayako wandered around the city, asked the locals about the delicious food, and tried all sorts of delicacies. With Shiraishi around, Ayako felt like she was eating a "city-wide buffet", ordering a few dishes from each restaurant and taking only one bite of each, so she could eat for a whole afternoon without worrying about wasting food.

……

It was around four o'clock in the afternoon when Shiraishi and Ayako started rushing towards Kimura's house.

The Kimura family's home is on the seashore north of Aomori City. Shiraishi drove over from a distance and saw this large villa with bright lights.

Although it is not as exaggerated as a "manor", it is also incomparable to ordinary city villas, and it even has a sea view.

Especially now, because of the birthday party of Minister Kimura's youngest daughter, this place is particularly lively.

This is probably the benefit of being the chief of the county police headquarters...

No matter how courageous Director Bai Ma is, even if he works for ten years, he can never hope to get himself such a large sea view villa in Dongdu, which is almost as good as the main house of Suzuki family in Dongdu!

Of course, you may not see anything before retirement, but after retirement, when you "take over the world" of the enterprise, the income of the White Horse Director is not something that a department head can touch.

After Bai Shi arrived, he certainly stood out among the guests.

When Junko Kimura saw Ayako... and mainly when she saw Shiraishi, the "moving landmark", she took the initiative to come over.

"Sister Ayako! Long time no see." Junko greeted warmly.

Ayako also looked like she missed him very much, so she started the greetings and then introduced Shiraishi to Junko.

"Hello, happy birthday, Ms. Kimura." Shiraishi said and shook hands with her...it felt like a big hand holding a small hand.

"Don't be so polite, just call me Junko. I've heard about Officer Shiraishi in Aomori..."

Judging from Junko's expression, Shiraishi guessed that she had heard something like "Rice Flower Kong" or "Rice Flower Red Hair".

"Many rumors are exaggerated, haha..." Bai Shi said modestly.

"No, meeting you in person is more important than hearing about you." Junko looked up at Shiraishi.

"By the way, where is Uncle Kimura? I haven’t had time to thank him for what happened yesterday." Ayako asked.

"My dad won't be out for a while, and this birthday party is mainly for us young people to get together." Junko specifically said, "Besides Officer Shiraishi, only a few officers who are close to my dad came, and I didn't specifically invite any colleagues to come."

Junko looked very satisfied. After all, if a group of police officers, especially detectives, came, she would not be able to celebrate her birthday well, and it would be more like a "party organized by the director" rather than her birthday party.

Bai Shi was also suddenly enlightened when he heard this - indeed, there were a lot of people at the scene. The courtyard, which was arranged in a "layered" and layered manner, was now full of people. However, not only were they mostly young people, but Bai Shi had just discovered that he did not see anyone with a "strong police aura", which was different from what he had originally imagined.

"Hmm?" Bai Shi just thought of this when he saw someone with "that smell" on him, and it was not just an ordinary police smell.

Seeing Shiraishi in a daze, Ayako followed his gaze and her expression froze immediately - she saw a beautiful woman with long ponytail and curly bangs walking past Shiraishi's sight, and Shiraishi's gaze followed her.

Seeing this, Junko also turned her head to look over, and then said, "That person... is the anchor of Nichimi TV. He was invited by 'that person'."

Junko's tone at this time sounded a little low, as if she was not very fond of "that person".

"Nimi TV?" Shiraishi was stunned when he heard this - the anchor of Nimi TV? How could...

It is true that some of the unique habits of police officers are not seen in her, but Bai Shi's intuition tells him that this woman is not simple. She doesn't look like a TV anchor, but more like...

"Ah, it's Rena Mizunashi, right? Shiraishi, you have sharp eyes!" Ayako also recognized this person at this time.

"Rena Mizunashi... Yeah, I was wondering why she looked familiar." When Shiraishi heard the name, he felt somewhat familiar. After noticing Ayako's emotions, he immediately made the excuse that she "looked familiar."

Of course, in reality, Shiraishi had never paid much attention to the TV program, and he didn’t recognize the female anchor as the person on TV, but he just thought this “Rena Mizunashi” was a little strange.

When I heard this name...

If you ask Shiraishi directly, "Who is the female undercover agent who infiltrated the Black Organization and then infiltrated the TV station under the arrangement of the Black Organization?" Shiraishi probably won't be able to think of it, but...

Now that the name has been mentioned, Shiraishi immediately thought of it - this should be the undercover agent from the CIA!
In other words, on the surface, she is a "female anchor of Nichimi TV", on the second level, she is a formal member of the [Black Organization], and on the third level, she is a CIA agent...

It was also in "Detective Conan" that the proliferation of fake liquor in "wineries" began.

Thinking of this, Bai Shi turned his eyes away and stopped looking.

If it weren't for the previous activation of his [Spirit], Shiraishi's intuition might not have been so sharp. After all, Rena Mizunashi's gait control could no longer reveal her true professional habits.

Simply by observing with the naked eye, Bai Shi would not be able to discover anything, or what he discovered was not enough to make him notice anything, but now, Bai Shi's "intuition" detected this inconsistency.

After remembering her identity, Bai Shi immediately stopped looking at her - otherwise the other party would probably feel his gaze!

Although he was curious about who invited Rena Mizunashi, seeing Junko's attitude, Shiraishi didn't ask any further questions.

When Junko went to greet other friends, Ayako whispered to Shiraishi: "Junko should be talking about Uncle Kimura's current wife... um, her stepmother."

Because she was a young wife whom he had just married last year and was not much older than Junko, Junko always called her "that person".

"Happy Birthday, Junko-chan."

Just then, a loud voice sounded, attracting a lot of people's attention.

Shiraishi also looked over and found that it was a woman with short blond hair and an obviously Western face, who was greeting Junko cheerfully.

"Teacher Judy, you're here too." Junko looked embarrassed.

"Don't look so sad. I'm not here to check your English homework!" Judy hit her shoulder.

"Junko seems to want to study abroad because she is not getting along with her stepmother. Maybe it means out of sight, out of mind." Ayako saw Shiraishi staring at the female foreign teacher again, so she explained to him in a low voice.

Shiraishi:……

"I see." Bai Shi quickly looked away again.

Foreign teacher, Judy...

You don't want to change the name, right? Well, maybe the visa to the East Island Country is under this name.

Now there’s no need to sound familiar, Shiraishi still remembers this name – the female FBI agent who tracked down the “Black Organization”!
Did the FBI already suspect Rena Mizunashi at this time?
wrong……

Shiraishi suddenly remembered what Ayako had just said, "Judy's current identity" is Junko's foreign teacher, so...

Her target of investigation should be Junko, or the Kimura family.

It's impossible that I would go through so much trouble to come to Kimura's house as a foreign teacher just to investigate Rena Mizunashi!

On the contrary, the Kimura family was targeted by the FBI and invited members of the Black Organization to their daughter's birthday party, which seemed a bit suspicious!

However, Shiraishi didn't think or look too much at this time. After all, Judy was also an FBI agent. Shiraishi didn't want to alert the enemy without certainty.

and……

Shiraishi thought again and realized that Chief Kimura was the No. 1 of the Aomori Prefecture Police. Even if he knew nothing and did nothing, he would still attract the attention of the "Black Organization" or the "FBI" - after all, if anyone wanted to do anything in Aomori, Chief Kimura would have to be involved.

From this point of view, it is normal for them to get close to Director Kimura.

At this time, a waiter came over with a tray and wine glasses. Seeing that Shiraishi and Ayako had nothing in their hands, he stopped for a moment.

"Thank you." Ayako said and took a cup at random.

Shiraishi didn't think about driving himself later, so he also picked up a cup.

But when the waiter passed by Bai Shi, Bai Shi's expression suddenly changed...

Ok?
This taste...

Bro, do you smell good?

Although the smell is very faint, how can it be hidden from Bai Shi?

Bai Shi then glanced at his departing back - there were two possibilities... one, he was a Nan Liang; two, she was a woman dressed as a man!
Then Shiraishi looked at Judy and Rena Mizunashi again...

If one coincidence occurs, it is a coincidence; if two occur, it is an accident; if three occur... it means there is a hidden inevitable condition behind it!

Although he hadn't confirmed who the waiter was, Bai Shi had already focused his attention on him. He looked calm on the surface, but in fact he was observing his surroundings all the time...

(End of this chapter)