Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 327 The Invisible Murderer

"Who can come in here normally?" Shiraishi confirmed with the security chief.

"Eh? Here? This... many people can do it. There are no valuables or equipment here. The keys are universal..." The security chief said after a moment of silence.

He still didn't understand why Bai Shi suddenly wanted to investigate this place.

"Does anyone come in here every day?" Bai Shi confirmed with him again.

"Well, people come in often. After all, they just bring in some sundries." The security chief nodded.

Conan was "jumping up and down" to look around at this time, and Shiraishi had already "recorded" the situation here into his mental space at the first opportunity.

"There's no sign of a major cleanup, nor any... um." Conan didn't finish his words because there were outsiders present.

The security chief thought he was just playing a detective game...

But Bai Shi understood what he meant - there were no signs of murder!
Since it is confirmed that the "Morri murder scene" is actually this room, there are three possibilities - one is that a murder really happened here, and was seen by Morri by coincidence, and then the murderer staged it three more times in order to make Morri give up the investigation, creating the illusion that "it was all an illusion";

Second, the murderer was really planning to kill, rehearsing it four times here, and wanted to take advantage of Maori;
The third possibility is that it is just a pure prank, but considering the tedious preparation required, as well as the risks and consequences that follow, this possibility is the smallest.

Although we are not using the luminol reagent to check the blood reaction, there is still floating dust in many places here, and it is obvious that they have not been cleaned up thoroughly. Since there is no blood, it is likely that no murder has really occurred.

Then...it is most likely the second case!
"There are no surveillance cameras here?" After Bai Shi came out, he found that there were no surveillance cameras in the corridor.

"Well, this is the old inpatient area and there is no surveillance installed." The security chief nodded.

The surveillance coverage rate in Dongdao Country is not high. Even in Dongdi Hospital, there are surveillance cameras only in the outpatient building, but not in the inpatient department.

After that, Shiraishi said nothing more and said goodbye to the security chief...

"It is now basically certain that the murderer used methods before. If we are willing to collect evidence, it can be easily proved, but..." Conan said with some hesitation in his tone.

Indeed, as long as the police are willing to collect evidence for the shadow play in the storage room, there will always be evidence. However, this is at best a prank, and there is no reason for the police to collect evidence like they would at a murder scene.

If it were in Mihua, transferring a few people would only be a matter of a word from Bai Shi, but now this place is not under the jurisdiction of the Mihua Police Department.

More importantly, even if the conspiracy is exposed at this time, at most it will only make the murderer give up this method.

but……

There are so many ways to kill people in the world!
If the murderer still wants to kill, he can just find another way to kill.

Now this method has been seen through, but if we change to another killing method, it will be completely out of our control.

Since the signs had been discovered before the crime occurred, Conan certainly hoped to stop it, or preferably completely resolve the murder.

"Let's first find out who wants to kill someone... I don't know anyone in this Fuji police station. You just keep an eye on them tonight and try to catch the person who's playing the 'prank'." Shiraishi said to Conan.

If it was at the Beihua Police Station, Bai Shi could just ask two patrolmen to keep an eye on it, but...

It's not a good idea to just send people to the Fuji Police Station's jurisdiction to do surveillance when there is no case!
Conan obviously felt the same way, so he nodded seriously.

Conan was not planning to go home that day. Instead, he volunteered to stay in his father-in-law's ward to "accompany him" under the pretext of "proving for Maori that it was not an illusion."

Shiraishi was also prepared to come and ambush personally at night - after all, it might involve human lives, so it was worth Shiraishi's personal "squatting".

Of course, since the method has been discovered, there is no need for Bai Shi to stay here and wait all day. After all, he can't kill people in the hospital in broad daylight, right?

Judging from the fact that the murderer planned so much, it is obvious that he is a criminal who wants to get away with it and does not want to kill openly!

Afterwards, Shiraishi prepared to look for Ayako - Ayako had previously attended the Atsumi family's recovery dinner on behalf of Shiraishi.

But what caught Shiraishi off guard was...

At noon that day, not long after Shiraishi left the hospital and just met up with Ayako, the phone rang - when he saw the caller ID was "Inspector Megure", Shiraishi instinctively felt that... something might have happened at the hospital!

"Hello, this is Shiraishi." Shiraishi now feels that in the six months since he took office at Mika, he has received more calls from Megure than during the year when he was on "trial duty" under him!
"Brother Shiraishi, it's me, Megure... I'm at Totei Hospital. There's a murder in the room you just checked... Is it convenient for you to come over?" Megure said in a low voice.

Shiraishi:? ? ?
Are they really going to do it in broad daylight?

Shiraishi sighed, then said to Megure, "Okay, I'll drive back now."

"Thank you." Megure thanked him.

After all, this isn't a case of the Mika Police Department, so bringing Bai Shi here is considered a favor to them.

After telling Ayako that he had to work overtime, Shiraishi turned around and went back to Totei Hospital.

After Shiraishi returned to Dongdi Hospital, he originally wanted to go to the old inpatient department, but as soon as he got off the car, a patrolman came to pick him up...

"Huh? To the outpatient building?" Bai Shi was stunned when he saw him leading the way.

Originally, Shiraishi thought that Megure was talking about the storage room in the old inpatient department.

But now looking at the patrolman's guidance and the location of the cordon, Shiraishi realized that he was wrong - the crime scene was the brain MRI room in the outpatient building!
That is, the room opposite the Maori ward, which was previously used as the "projection background"...

When they arrived at the 17th floor again, as soon as the elevator door opened, Shiraishi saw Maori sitting in the lounge area. Xiaolan had also come and was accompanying him. The other patients had been evacuated - starting in the afternoon, the outpatient clinic here was closed and the patients were dispersed to other clinics.

"Detective Mouri, what's going on?" Shiraishi asked as he got out of the elevator.

"Officer Shiraishi... Hey!" Mao Li said in confusion, "Is it possible that I can predict the future? Is it because I have solved so many cases that I have been blessed by the God of Reasoning?"

Shiraishi:……

Afterwards, Shiraishi also listened to Maori talking about what had just happened - in fact, Maori didn't know much. First, Conan took the initiative to stay and accompany him, then something suddenly happened in the hospital, and then just when Maori was feeling uneasy, Dr. Shirai came to tell him that the "crime scene" he had seen before was actually a murder!
Moreover, Mao Li also knew the dead person, it was the doctor Eto whom he had met during the day...

……

Just before the end of lunch break, a doctor saw the body in person. The people at the Totei Hospital immediately became nervous, but the patrolmen from the Fuji Police Station were a little impatient at first - they were doing this in broad daylight, right?

It was not until they confirmed that there was indeed a body at the scene that the Fuji Police Department contacted the head office. The result was...

Inspector Megure from the Third Section of the First Investigation Division, scolded the patrolmen after arriving at the scene!
However, they explained afterwards that it was not because of their own negligence that they were slow in responding to the call and reporting the incident, but because they had been "cried the wolf" four times before, in exactly the same location.

When they heard the police say it was on the 17th floor of the outpatient building of Dongdi Hospital, they instinctively thought it was another mistake...

After hearing this explanation, Megure accepted this important clue and… scolded him again—is this a reason? Is this not considered slacking off?
Of course, Megure also paid attention to the previous four incidents of "crying wolf".

Four times in total, this obviously doesn't seem like a coincidence, there must be some underlying connection, so I also called Brother Maori over.

After learning about this from Dr. Shirai, Maori was also surprised. Maori, who had previously not believed that he was hallucinating, now began to suspect that he had mastered the ability of "prophecy" and could see "future cases."

However, Conan told Megure at this time that Director Shiraishi seemed to have grasped the truth of the previous "hallucination".

So there was this phone call from Megure to Shiraishi!
……

Megure also walked over from Room 305. Seeing Maori explaining the case to Shiraishi, he added, "And I don't know if it's related to the case... There was a fire in the old hospital building at the same time. Fortunately, the firefighting preparations of the Totei Hospital were sufficient, and the fire was extinguished before it spread. It only burned a storage room...

"But Conan said, Brother Shiraishi, you just visited this inspection room and the storage room that caught fire during the day, and it seems you found something?"

Shiraishi was very satisfied with Conan's reaction - it seemed that the previous incident with the Aomori Prefectural Police had indeed scared him. This mystery enthusiast did not choose to uncover the secret himself, but directly pushed the blame onto Shiraishi. It can be seen that Conan is more careful about hiding himself than before!

After learning that a murder had occurred in the examination room, Conan immediately realized that the murderer might have acted in advance, so he hurried to the old inpatient department.

Compared to the crime scene, the old inpatient department should have many traces left by the murderer, however...

When Conan arrived, he only saw security guards and medical staff putting out the fire!
This also made Conan even more certain that it must have been the guy who pretended to be a ghost the night before who did it, so he came here to destroy the evidence.

At this time, Shiraishi also told Megure the answer to the "mystery of illusion" that he had discovered before...

"So that's how it is. So what Brother Mori saw was actually the shadow of the storage room? Damn... It seems that the murderer also knew that his plan had been exposed, so he not only acted on the spur of the moment, but also burned the evidence in the storage room!" Megure also understood at this time.

The fire and the murder are indeed closely related, and it is very likely that they were committed by the same person!
Mao Li was stunned at this moment - ah? It's not a prophetic vision?
Shiraishi was puzzled and asked, "Wait, Inspector Megure... From what you said, we still don't know who the murderer is? I remember there were surveillance cameras outside the crime scene, right?"

That’s right. The main reason why Bai Shi felt that the murderer would not commit the crime here was that there were surveillance cameras in the corridors both in front and behind!
Although the surveillance camera is in the corridor and cannot see inside the room, it is clear who has entered... However, when Megure heard this, his expression became strange.

"About surveillance... Forget it, Brother Shiraishi, if you are curious, let's go and take a look together! I also have something I want to ask you." Megure's tone was also puzzled.

Then Shiraishi and Megure came to the monitoring room again...

The security chief was wiping his sweat desperately at this time - not long ago, he was still complaining in his heart that Shiraishi was "causing trouble", but now he wished he had paid more attention before!
Seeing how nervous he was, Shiraishi was a little puzzled - was this kind of "murder" so closely related to the security department? Was he so nervous?

But it’s right to think about it…

Although people die in hospitals every day, it also depends on how they die!

It would be fine if someone died of illness, but the fact that a doctor was killed will definitely trigger social discussion.

Seeing Inspector Megure coming with Shiraishi, the head of the security section quickly said, "Chief Shiraishi, did you find anything before? That inspection room..."

"Let me see the surveillance footage first." Bai Shi ignored his mumbling and interrupted him directly.

"Ah... OK!" The security chief then used two screens to adjust the surveillance footage in the corridor at that time.

As soon as the scene started, Bai Shi frowned.

Because the scene started with Shiraishi and Conan leaving, Megure thought that Shiraishi reacted because he saw him, but what he didn't know was...

In Shiraishi's opinion, both screens are glowing!
It was the kind of glow that showed that someone had sensed a clue, but...

Because the entire screen was glowing, Shiraishi was unable to lock onto the real clue for a moment.

The video was still being recorded at this time, and after a while at an accelerated speed, a figure in a white coat was seen walking over, opening the door of the examination room and walking in. The door of the examination room was in the middle of the corridor, and the two cameras could each see half of it.

Megure slowed down at this time, allowing Shiraishi to see that the person who entered was indeed Eto!

then……

Here comes the most critical question!
There was no one in the corridor, but the door of the examination room opened a crack by itself...

You know, the door here is a heavy side-sliding door, there is no way it can be blown open by airflow or something like that!

And as if to verify that it was not an illusion, two minutes later, the door moved again...

Then, after a while, a doctor and a patient came in. However, only half a minute after the door was opened, they rushed out in a panic and seemed to be shouting at other people. Soon, more people came outside.

Megure also paused at this time, and then said to Shiraishi: "That's it...Then Totei Hospital called the police."

Just now on the road, Megure briefly told Shiraishi about the situation - to put it simply, there is no "person" in the surveillance video!

After the victim went in, it seemed that another "ghost" went behind him. He only saw the door moving but no human figure!

This is also the reason why the head of the security department feels that he has to bear the blame...

To be honest, he didn't really believe in ghosts or anything like that.

But if this news gets out, there will definitely be rumors in society saying that "the doctor at Dongdi Hospital is being pursued by ghosts" - what else could be the reason why a doctor in the hospital is being pursued by ghosts?
The quack doctor killed people!

Regardless of whether he believes it or not, the reputation of Dongdi Hospital will definitely be affected. After all, there are many people in Dongdao Country who believe this.

"Brother Shiraishi...what do you think?" Megure asked Shiraishi at this time.

"Twelve minutes after I left, Eto went in. Three minutes later, the door moved by itself. Two minutes later, the door moved by itself again... Seven minutes later, the first person to discover the scene entered..." Shiraishi then summarized the time.

Shiraishi immediately asked, "Was the first person to discover it the doctor in the examination room?"

"Although Dr. Hara is not the doctor in the examination room, he did bring a patient for an examination... I was shocked after opening the door, and... the patient was always at the door." Megure said tactfully.

Because there were outsiders present, Megure did not say it explicitly - he also knew that Shiraishi asked this because he must have some suspicion about the person who first discovered the discovery!
Moreover, in murder cases, suspecting the first person to discover the crime is a common practice among the police...

Megure had previously interrogated Dr. Hara Mori, the first person to discover the disease.

Although he was not a doctor in the examination room, he was indeed a doctor in the oncology department. He came to Room 305 to bring his patient for examination. Normally, examinations would start in the afternoon and people would be examined in the order of registration. However, for convenience, he brought his patient and came directly before the examination room opened in the afternoon, planning to use the equipment directly.

Not only was the reason valid, but the patient was also at the door when he entered the scene.

Although the door will close automatically, the patient's view of the door will be blocked for only a dozen seconds at most.

At present, this seems to be the normal first discoverer.

Although Shiraishi had not seen the scene just now, he had seen the photos - the body of the deceased was near the window, stabbed in the heart with a sharp weapon, and the body was leaning against the wall near the window, with blood all over the floor...

It's not like the killing effect can be achieved by hiding it from the door after entering!
But then, things get a little weird...

"Brother Shiraishi, there was no one else in the examination room when you left, right?" Megure couldn't help but ask again.

He had previously confirmed this with the hospital's security chief and Conan.

But the situation was too strange now, so he had to confirm with Shiraishi again - after all, Conan was just a child, and the other one, although an adult, looked restless and panicked!
If there were omissions in their testimony, the situation would be better.

However, Shiraishi shook his head at this time, breaking Megure's expectations and said: "There was absolutely no one else in the room at that time."

At that time, Shiraishi and Conan were checking the house with the mentality that "a murder might have occurred in the house", so how could they have missed someone?
Not to mention, there was no place to hide in that room!

However, this means that the situation became that Shiraishi left and confirmed that there was no one in the house, which means that the victim was the first to enter the scene, and then... the door opened twice by itself, and then the "first discoverer" saw the body.

During this period, the surveillance did not detect the presence of the "murderer"...

Although there is such a thing as "mosaic spray", the most it can do is to make the surveillance camera unable to see the human figure clearly, and it is only effective for long-distance surveillance. The interference effect on close-range indoor surveillance is far less than wearing a mask, and it is even more impossible to be completely "invisible"!
Therefore, when Shiraishi saw the door moving by itself, his first reaction was “the victim was fiddling with the door for some purpose”!
After all, no one was more certain than Shiraishi that there was definitely no one else hiding in the examination room.

But the problem is, if the "first discoverer" did not have the opportunity to commit the crime, then... it couldn't be that the victim committed suicide, right?
Not to mention that this method of suicide was a bit too bizarre, but you have to know that there wasn't even a murder weapon at the scene!

Just then, Takagi ran over.

"Inspector Megure, the eyewitness testimony has been confirmed... Although the patient at the door did not see the body directly, it is certain that Dr. Hara did not approach the window.

"After Doctor Hara went in, he was startled by what he saw and immediately tried to open the door of the inner room to check. At this time, the outer door was automatically closed and the patient did not see anything. But in about ten seconds, Doctor Hara retreated in a panic and pulled him to call for help." Takagi reported to Megure.

After hearing this, Bai Shi thought about the layout of the examination room he had seen before, and he understood the general process...

After entering, there is the operation room outside and the equipment room inside.

According to the location of the body, the first person who discovered the situation should have immediately noticed the body through the glass, opened the door leading inside, seen the situation clearly, and then retreated immediately out of fear... This action is completely in line with common sense!

"It seems that the conditions for Dr. Hara to commit the crime are not sufficient..." Megure also thought about this after hearing Takagi's report.

In fact, judging from the time, Megure vaguely felt that it was unlikely.

After all, Dr. Yuan went in for less than half a minute before coming out in a panic, and it didn't look like he had any weapon with him.

After thinking for a while, Megure asked Shiraishi helplessly: "Brother Shiraishi, what do you think?"

Apparently his thinking was fruitless...

"First of all, it can be confirmed that the murderer is the person who made Detective Mori witness the shadow before. This time he must have discovered that I saw through his trick, so he took action in advance. Otherwise, he must have wanted to frame Detective Mori." Shiraishi said with certainty.

"Huh? Framed?" Megure was stunned when he heard that.

"That's right. Although we still don't know how he managed to avoid being caught by surveillance cameras, but... imagine if this incident happened in the middle of the night and Detective Maori was the first to arrive at the scene?" Shiraishi asked back.

"Ah!" Megure also reacted at this time. If he hadn't seen the criminal enter, and Brother Mori was the first to go in, but if there were not enough witnesses, he might be mistaken for the murderer!

After all, if that were the case, from the surveillance video, besides the victim, only Mao Li would go in...

Even the reason is ready-made - since Detective Maori can have hallucinations due to excessive pressure, he can naturally become mentally disturbed under pressure and accidentally kill someone!
Even if the murderer stayed inside and attacked Maori immediately after he entered, Maori himself might not be sure whether he was really crazy after he woke up...

(End of this chapter)