Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 357 Tsukishima's Sorrow
Yamada came to Tsukishima Police Station and saw that the whole police station was cleaning up. He was laughing secretly but also a little sad. Before, at Beika Police Station, only the Criminal Division was doing the cleaning up. Now Kunikida is the acting deputy chief of Tsukishima Police Station, and now the whole police station is involved...

After arriving at the Criminal Division office, Yamada also saw Kunikida personally wiping the table carefully.

"Um... Section Chief." Yamada called him softly.

"Hmm? Detective Yamada?" Kunikida was stunned when he saw this: "You missed me right after you left, didn't you?"

"No... well, besides missing you, I also came here because of something." Yamada's mouth twitched, and he told Kunikida about the case in Beika Town this morning.

If the victim is a police officer from another police station, it would be difficult to conduct a cross-jurisdictional investigation. Not to mention whether they would cooperate or not, more importantly, if they are too cooperative and request a joint investigation, it would be difficult for the Mihua Police Department to refuse.

Fortunately, this is Tsukishima Police Station. Kunikida is here, and the detectives from Beika Police Station are also easy to talk to...

After listening to Yamada's story, Kunikida frowned and called the head of the theft department, Uejima, over.

"Captain Uejima, did you say that all members of the Theft Department were present in the morning?" Kunikida asked Uejima at this time.

“Eh?” Shangdao was stunned when he heard that, but he still said, “Indeed, everyone is on duty…”

"Is this person here too?" Upon hearing this, Kunikida put Takahashi Keisuke's materials in front of him with a stern face.

Seeing this, Kamijima couldn't help but reveal a look of realization: "Ah! Takahashi... I really didn't see him."

"What do you mean I didn't see him? He's from your theft department, right? Where's his partner?" Seeing this, Kunikida didn't know why he was playing dumb - why did he look like he just remembered this person? His personnel information was in the theft department!
"Well... Takahashi's situation is a bit special. He doesn't have a partner." Kamijima said awkwardly.

Upon hearing this, Kunikida asked with a dark face, "Is he not drawing a salary for nothing?"

Looking at the situation, it seems very much like "eating empty salaries", but "eating empty salaries" is unlikely - because the Tsukishima Police Station has just been "severely cracked down on", and the entire management of the police station has been replaced. How is it possible that they didn't even discover the eating empty salaries?

Besides, you can't be a criminal police officer if you're not doing the job. This is too obvious...

"No, no, no, he...it's just that his situation is special. We don't usually assign tasks to him, but he will also catch some pickpockets himself." Shangdao said helplessly.

"What's going on?" Kunikida asked with a frown - I know that your Tsukishima Police Department had a chaotic management situation before, but... isn't this too chaotic?

“Well…” Kamijima looked at Yamada and Shima on the side with some hesitation, perhaps thinking that “family disgrace should not be made public.”

However, Kunikida directly said at this time: "Detective Takahashi was found dead this morning... in Beika Town, so they are here!"

"What?" Shangdao asked in surprise.

Looking at his surprised expression, it doesn't seem like he's faking it.

Upon learning that such a serious matter had occurred, Uejima no longer concealed the truth and said, "Actually, this is what happened... Five years ago, a murder occurred in Tsukishima, and at that time, the Tsukishima Police Station established an investigation headquarters. Because the case was short of manpower, Takahashi from the theft department was also loaned to the investigation headquarters.

"But then something happened... The suspect that Takahashi was targeting committed suicide due to excessive pressure. Not only did the case come to a standstill, but public opinion was also very loud at the time. Takahashi was seconded to the investigation headquarters from the theft department, so the person who was dealt with was his then-superior.

"But after this incident, people stopped interacting with Gao Qiao, and he became a loner himself, and then... before he knew it, he became what he is now."

Uejima said this with a somewhat sad tone, but he didn't notice that Kunikida was also in a trance at this time.

Seven years ago, Kunikida experienced a similar thing.

Of course, there are still many differences - the case had already been sent for prosecution, but Kunikida suddenly found problems with the evidence, so he wanted to stop the prosecution, but failed. Although the suspect never admitted his crime, the court eventually found him guilty... Later, the prisoner committed suicide in prison.

Therefore, in terms of procedures, Kunikida, who investigated the case, did not make any mistakes and even made contributions to the case.

However, Kunikida himself could not accept this result, so he left the criminal police post and stayed in the publicity department for six years...

Now hearing about another case of "suspect committing suicide", Kunikida suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

even……

The case that Kunikida committed back then also happened on Tsukishima!

Yamada was unaware of Section Chief Kunikida's complex psychology at this time, and asked Uejima more about the case that year.

"Inspector Kamijima, can you show me the information about that case? And... why would a detective seconded from the theft department be in charge of such an important matter?" Yamada asked puzzledly.

"I don't know the specific circumstances. I'll look for some materials later... But I remember that the case had actually happened half a year ago. The suspect who committed suicide was arrested at the time of the crime, but was released due to insufficient evidence. After that, the investigation headquarters kept a close eye on him. Of course, this kind of thing was done by people from our local police station in turn, and it wasn't a big deal." Uejima explained.

The suspect did not just have contact with Takahashi, but was under pressure from the police as a whole, and then happened to commit suicide when it was Takahashi's turn to be followed...

From this point of view, it is not Takahashi who needs to be punished, but the higher-level person in charge!

Moreover, in the suicide note of the deceased, he still stated that he was wronged and complained about his dissatisfaction with the police. This also led to the police facing tremendous public pressure afterwards, and ultimately they had to hastily disband the "Investigation Headquarters" in the form of a "cold case."

"What about Detective Takahashi's partner at the time? At times like this, partners need to support each other more, right?" Shima suddenly asked.

“Hey…” Upon hearing this, Yamada whispered and tried to stop the “newcomer”.

After all, although this kind of question is worth wondering about, asking it is like questioning the bad atmosphere within Tsukishima Police Station.

Uejima looked thoughtful after hearing this, and then said, "It seems...his partner resigned soon."

Not long after, Shangdao went to get the case file of that year and handed it directly to Yamada. If he didn't have "someone in the police station", people in the same police station would not cooperate so much if their scars were exposed!
"But it's best not to take the original away." Shangdao reminded.

"You can't take the originals away!" Kunikida corrected him - showing it to him is to cooperate with the investigation, how can you just give the files to someone else? Even if the "Investigation Section 1" wants it, they have to bring the documents!

“Excuse me.” Yamada also opened it and started reading.

After turning two pages, Yamada paused when he saw the name of the first discoverer, who was also the first suspect of suicide. He muttered in confusion, "Kinoshita Kouhei? This name... seems familiar..." Shima, who was standing by, immediately reminded him, "It's that flyer! The flyer that the deceased was carrying said 'Chef Kinoshita's Home Service'..."

Shima immediately remembered that it was the surname "Kinoshita" that sounded familiar, and he went straight to work, flipping through the case materials. Soon he came across the photo of Kinoshita Kohei - a young man. Comparing it with the photo on the poster in his memory, it was indeed the same person!

"This Kinoshita Kohei should be the owner of the home-cooking restaurant on the flyer...it is indeed an old flyer." Shima said confidently.

The boss committed suicide five years ago, so the poster with his photo could only be from five years ago...

"So, could it be that Detective Takahashi's death is related to the case five years ago?" Yamada said thoughtfully.

"No..." Kunikida and Shima said at the same time.

“Eh?” Upon hearing this, Yamada looked around, not knowing where he had said anything wrong, causing the two of them to deny him.

Seeing Section Chief Kunikida gesture over, Shima explained, "Ahem, at the moment we can only say that the deceased Takahashi was probably still investigating this case before he was alive, or...he hadn't let it go. As for whether his death was related to this, it's still unclear."

The logic here needs to be straightened out...

The reason why the deceased had the leaflet was that he had it in his pocket and it was covered with his own fingerprints. In other words, it was not placed on him by the murderer, but he carried it with him. This can only prove that the deceased was still thinking about this matter before he died!
Although it cannot be said that his death is definitely unrelated to this case, if he was killed for any reason, he would have this leaflet on him.

……

At the same time, Haitani and Narcissistic also found the store based on the address on the flyer - the store was right in Beikacho.

It is no longer the "home chef" as stated in the flyer, but an ordinary restaurant.

From the current boss, Huigu also learned about the situation of this store five years ago - although the current boss didn't know it so clearly, he at least knew that the young man who had rented the store before "committed suicide because of the police." After all, this incident caused quite a stir back then.

"Because of the police? Then, Mr. Kinoshita, do you have any relatives?" Haidani asked the middle-aged lady boss in front of him.

"Yes, the wife of the Kinoshita family has been working in my shop since then... It's not easy for them, being an orphan and a widow." The old lady said, looking at the two police officers with some wariness.

After Masayoshi Kinoshita died, his wife Erika Kinoshita relied on working as a waitress and doing part-time jobs to support the family, and life was not easy.

"We have some questions and would like to ask Mrs. Kinoshita... please." Haidani asked.

Seeing that he was sincere, the aunt told him Erika Kinoshita's contact information.

……

On the other side, Kuroki and Kanzaki came to the company office of "Iwasaki Art Transport" - the business card found on the corpse in the morning belonged to an executive of this company named "Sakamoto Mikiya".

When Kuroki arrived and learned that Sakamoto was not there, he went to see President Iwasaki first.

Iwasaki looks still very young and dresses very stylishly, seeming to care a lot about his image.

This is normal. After all, as the name suggests, the main business of this company is "art transportation" - this is a niche industry that requires customer trust, and the president's own image is of course very important.

Kuroki first showed Iwasaki the photo of the business card and confirmed it...

"Yes, this is the business card that our company collectively prints out." After seeing it, Iwasaki nodded in acknowledgement.

"Then this Director Sakamoto is indeed an employee of our company?" Kuroki further confirmed.

"Yes, but he is out on business now..." said Iwasaki.

"President Iwasaki, do you have any impression of this person? He might be someone Director Sakaki knows." Kuroki said as he placed Takahashi's photo on the table.

Of course, it was his police ID photo, not a photo of the corpse.

"This... I don't have any impression of him." Iwasaki showed a thoughtful look, but still shook his head and asked in confusion: "Is there anything Mr. Sakaki can do for you?"

"Actually, this morning..."

Before Kuroki could say anything, Kanzaki said, "Nothing, just checking the situation."

Compared to Kuroki, Kanzaki cares more about investigation ethics. When he knows nothing, he will try his best to avoid causing trouble to the person involved - he will come to the other party's workplace and investigate a murder case. Even if it is finally proved that he has nothing to do with it, rumors are inevitable.

"What kind of person is Director Sakamoto?" Kuroki asked.

"Excellent!" Iwasaki praised him generously, his tone even a little exaggerated. Then, as if worried that Kuroki and Kanzaki would not believe him, he explained a few more sentences: "Sakamoto came to our company five years ago, and his performance has always been excellent..."

When he got to this point, a female assistant came in to serve tea. Iwasaki asked, "Ms. Shibata, you have been following Mr. Sakamoto, right? Tell me..."

"Well, Director Sakamoto's instructions are always clear, and he will take the initiative to take responsibility. It's safe to work under him." Miss Shibata said sincerely at this time.

It seems that Sakamoto is really popular here, and both his superiors and subordinates praise him highly.

But at this moment, Kuroki and Kanzaki both noticed that when Shibata saw Takahashi's photo on the table, he was obviously stunned for a moment, as if he recognized Takahashi, but then he didn't say much, just lowered his head and left the office.

Seeing this, Kanzaki wanted to ask more questions, but was stopped by Kuroki...

Kuroki then continued to ask President Iwasaki: "May I ask what exactly is the work of Director Sakamoto's 'New Business Preparation Office'?"

"Oh, that's right. In addition to the original artwork transportation, we also want to develop some antique and art trading business. After all, our customer base is very suitable for this. It's just that the business is still being expanded, so it can only be regarded as an idea." President Iwasaki explained.

Just then, Sakamoto came back from a business trip, and Kuroki and Kanzaki immediately met with the person involved in the case...

(End of this chapter)