Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 362: The Unscrupulous Zongfang

Ugh—Ugh—

Alleys, corners.

Yamada and Shima were both vomiting, and if you didn't know, you would think they were drunkards.

But in reality, of course, the two of them didn't drink a drop of alcohol. They were just full - as two ordinary adult men, they ate a total of enough food that Shiraishi ate half full, it was hard not to be full!

After coming out and taking two steps, I reached my limit.

After vomiting, the two felt better, and then Yamada immediately called the police station - just now, they actually got an important clue!

……

Just when they were trying hard to fight with Beef Rice, Huigu and Narcissism finally found a clue.

Earlier, when visiting the victims' lives, Haitani learned that Takahashi encouraged antique buyers to conduct appraisals, apparently suspecting that there was something wrong with the things Sakamoto sold to them.

Because the antiques being traded are originally in the gray area, these collectors are tight-lipped and it is difficult to ask anything directly.

However, after being reminded by Zi Nasi, Hui Gu changed his mind in time...

Go find someone who appraises antiques!

In the end, there was something to be gained. Huigu took the head of the thief Shan Department of the theft department with him, and finally found out from the owner of a pawn shop in Kamurocho that Takahashi had been there before...

"He didn't identify anything, he just confirmed the identification result of the 'Yōhen Tenmoku Tea Bowl' to me..." the pawnshop owner said honestly.

"What's that?" Narcissistic had never heard of it.

"Yōhen Tenmoku tea bowl? Have you ever appraised something like this?" Huitani asked in surprise - obviously he knew what it was.

Facing the narcissistic and doubtful look, Huitani explained: "It is also called Inaba Tenmoku tea bowl... In short, it is a national treasure-level antique with only two or three in the whole country."

"Anyway, it's pretty impressive?" Narcissistic looked at the boss in surprise.

However, the pawnshop owner waved his hand and said, "Of course it's fake. Although the craftsmanship is very good, you can see the traces of modern imitation."

"Sure enough... is there someone coming to identify it?" Huigu continued to ask.

Upon hearing this, the pawnshop owner glanced at Bandit Mountain and said awkwardly, "I don't know about that... Generally speaking, this is also a private matter that cannot be disclosed. The reason I told Brother Takahashi was because he directly asked me about the 'Yōhen Tenmoku Tea Bowl' and didn't ask for someone's appraisal results."

This is directly related to his business rules and his job, and cannot be resolved by socializing. Unless there is a "search warrant", he will not cooperate.

I told Takahashi before because what Takahashi asked was "Have you appraised XYZ antiques recently, whether they are real or fake?" instead of "Has XYZ come to appraise anything recently?" So it can be considered as skirting the issue and it doesn't count as him leaking the customer's secrets - if Takahashi knew who it was, he would have known it from the beginning, not the pawnshop owner who told him.

Similarly, telling the big cases in Thieves Hill and Gray Valley now is just "what Officer Takahashi and I said before", not disclosing the privacy of the guests.

Upon hearing this, Huigu did not continue to ask - there was no point in asking who the fool was.

"By the way, Brother Takahashi once asked me a question... He asked if a similar Yohen Tenmoku tea bowl had been appraised in the past few years." The pawnshop owner suddenly said.

"Eh? Is that so?" Huigu asked hurriedly after hearing that.

"Yes, about four or five years ago... someone brought a similar bowl here for appraisal, and the police officer should know about it, because ordinary appraisers will never see this kind of bowl in their lifetime, so I still have an impression of it... Even if it's just a fake, it's a bold enough fake." The pawnshop owner said and shook his head.

Although he has seen a lot of fakes, the ones that are too exaggerated still leave an impression on him.

Just like in China, if someone brings a Terracotta Warrior to be appraised, even if it is fake, the appraiser will remember it for a long time...

"There was one five years ago?" Huigu hadn't reacted yet.

However, Zi Narcissism immediately asked: "Who is it? This is very important!"

The pawnshop owner still shook his head and said, "I don't know... I really don't know. The person who came to appraise it didn't reveal his identity. Now I can't even remember what he looked like."

beep beep-

Just then, Haitani's cell phone rang. Haitani looked at the caller ID and found it was Yamada.

"Yamada, it's me." Huitani answered.

"Inspector Haidani, we just found some clues and were looking for the leader of the Thieves Mountain Division...Did you borrow the leader of the Thieves Mountain Division?" Yamada said helplessly.

"I'm really angry today...what's the matter with you?" Daozeishan also heard it from the side.

"Captain of the Thieves Group, you know a lot of people in pawn shops, right? Can you help me find out if anyone sold an antique called... which was going to be turned into a bowl, five years ago... after the bourgeois named Washimiya from Tsukishima died?" Yamada asked.

It’s not that Yamada has a bad memory, but Erika Kinoshita has only heard her husband mention it once and can’t remember its exact name!
When Shima was consulting Mrs. Kinoshita just now, he asked her to recall if her husband had said anything special, even if it was a small thing...

After recalling, Erika Kinoshita really remembered that Kinoshita said something special after the murder happened...

The boss Washimiya who hired him to handle the case was talking to someone on the phone about something called "some bowl" when he first arrived. He was holding a tea bowl that looked like an antique at the time. However, after the murder, the bowl was not found at the scene!

Kinoshita also told the police about this, but...

After the police investigation, it was found that Washimiya did not have this collection, and there were no other signs of theft at the scene, so the police determined that it could not be theft and murder, and that it was Takahashi at the time, so it was certain that there could not be this "something bowl"...

In addition, Kinoshita himself only saw this scene by chance and was not sure whether this valuable bowl really existed, so this incident was not recorded in the case.

But now that the question has been asked, Yamada and Shima must of course find out more - if the murderer's goal back then was to "turn this bowl into something", then maybe they can find out something about the channels for selling the stolen goods.

"What kind of bowl do you want to turn into? Do you mean... the Yohen Tenmoku tea bowl?" Haitani asked immediately.

"Eh? Is that it? It's possible... Inspector Haidani, where did you hear it from?" Yamada asked in confusion.

"Where did you hear that?" Huigu asked immediately.

"It's Kinoshita's wife..." Yamada said, and told Haidani the previous conversation.

"Kinoshita was at the scene and seemed to have seen the Yohen Tenmoku tea bowl?" Haidani seemed a little distracted when he heard this, as if he was thinking about something.

"That's right, but the police did not believe it, especially Mr. Takahashi, who specifically emphasized that it was impossible," Yamada relayed.

Upon hearing this, Huitani said, "It's normal for Detective Takahashi not to believe it. This Yohen Tenmoku tea bowl is a national treasure. How could there be an extra one out of nowhere?"

"What's going on? Deputy Inspector Haidani, Chief of the Thieves Mountain Department, where did you hear about this bowl?" Yamada was very anxious.

As Haidani spoke, he also shared the information he had just obtained with Yamada. In other words...

"Is it really a case of robbery and murder? Or is it fake?" Bandit Shan muttered at this time.

"No, there is another possibility..." Shima's voice came from the receiver: "Someone sold a fake antique to Mr. Washimiya, and after Mr. Washimiya went for an anonymous appraisal, he found out that what he bought was a fake. Of course, he was unwilling to let it go. The seller, perhaps for money or for his own reputation, killed him."

Indeed, what Shima said is undoubtedly more reasonable!

If it was a theft and murder, it would be impossible for them to steal Muxia's kitchen knife in advance and have such obvious intention to frame him.

Moreover, in this way, it is possible to understand why Takahashi is paying attention to the "fake goods selling case" after five years!

I'm afraid he has already discovered this and is secretly collecting evidence.

When the murderer found out, he killed another person in order to cover up the truth. He even hired the social scum Ayabe Yutaka to follow Takahashi and then killed him to escape the blame.

"Come to think of it... could it really be Mr. Sakamoto?" Huitani frowned.

Indeed, Takahashi had previously had a big fight with him over the issue of selling counterfeit goods.

but……

Narcissistic shook his head and said, "It's unlikely, right? If Takahashi suspected Sakamoto, it's impossible for him to alert the enemy by selling fake goods."

At the same time, Zi Narcissistic looked at his phone and said, "And... who is the murderer? I think we can find out as long as we go to 'Iwasaki Art Transport' again!"

As Zi Nai said this, he showed Hui Gu the screen of his phone, which showed a message from Hei Mu - [The fingerprint of the suspected murderer has been found! ]

The picture accompanying the text message was a brown paper envelope in an evidence bag, and judging by where the photo was taken, it should be in the identification room of the police station...

Kuroki just got the brown paper envelope that Ayabe Yutaka used to pay off his debt from the Arakawa Group's office!
The murderer finally made a mistake.

After Ayabe Yutaka followed Takahashi, he went to kill Ayabe Yutaka, but he didn't expect that the money he had given to Ayabe Yutaka before was instantly cleared - it was used to pay off his debts.

In this way, he couldn't get his money back at all...

What's more, I didn't expect that as a violent organization, they would actually cooperate with the police so well and even rummage through boxes and drawers to find out the "pockets where the debtors kept their money" and hand them over to the police officers!
In this way, we only need to check the fingerprints of the people involved in the case...

"What's wrong? What fingerprints?" Shima asked hurriedly on the phone - he just heard vaguely that not only was Sakamoto very suspicious now, but it seemed that the criminal's fingerprints had also been found!
"Yes, it's the fingerprint of the suspected criminal. Kuroki has just checked it and it's not Sakamoto's. We have to find out whose it is." Narcissistic said.

As a former criminal policeman, Sakamoto's fingerprints were already in Curry.

The fingerprints Kuroki found were not found in Curry, so they must have come from someone who was not in the police force, not a criminal with a criminal record, and not a missing person!
But the scope is not large...

And combined with the findings of Huigu and Yamada, this case and the case five years ago are closely related to the "fake goods case", so...

Just check all those who are "suspected of being involved in selling counterfeit goods"!
"That's great... I'll find a way to get the fingerprints of the person in charge of 'Iwasaki Art Transport' without telling the section chief... Hmm... should I do it without telling the section chief?" Haidani was saying this when he suddenly realized that the section chief was no longer Kunikida.

If Kunikida were the section chief, he would never let them collect fingerprint evidence illegally.

"It's already this time, the company must have been off work, let's call the section chief first... send him a text message," said Haitani.

It's getting late, and now is not the right time to check fingerprints.

After Zongfang received the text message from Huitani...

"Hmm? The section chief just said 'got it'. Does this mean we can do it?" Huitani wondered.

……

The next morning, Zongfang called all the detectives involved in the investigation back to the Criminal Division office to clock in, and then...

"Hmm? Inspector Haidani? You guys are here too?"

"Yeah, I wonder what the section chief wants..."

"Isn't it about the case? Then shouldn't we be transferred to do something else now?"

Everyone was a little surprised by this. Normally, they were investigating a case, so it was normal for them not to report to the police station. What Yamada said to Shima before was certainly a lie, but it did make sense... The detective's workstation was empty most of the time throughout the year!

When they arrived at the Criminal Division office, they found that Section Chief Sohkata and Director Shiraishi were talking about something.

and……

Without waiting for them to report the case to Director Shiraishi, Director Shiraishi, contrary to his usual behavior, left the Criminal Division office directly.

"Section Chief Munakata, I'll leave it to you from now on." Shiraishi said and left, like an ordinary director who was not interested in the actual investigation of the case.

"Yes!" Zongfang responded.

Before the detectives could get suspicious...

Seeing everyone gathered, Munakata solemnly announced: "Just now, I received an insider report that 'Iwasaki Art Transport' is suspected of conducting illegal narcotics transactions in secret!"

Everyone:? ? ?
"Although 'Iwasaki Art Transport' is in Tsukishima Town, the illegal transaction involves an illegal organization in Beika Town, so we have to conduct cross-regional law enforcement... You put aside the things at hand for now, I have also contacted the regional department, and will bring some patrol officers with us, and we are going to search 'Iwasaki Art Transport' thoroughly!" Munakata said righteously.

Everyone:...

Now everyone knows why the section chief called everyone back for no reason...

"Yes!"

Although everyone knew in their hearts that the "such a coincidence" insider report was, if not completely false, at least self-written and staged, but... at this time, of course no one would tell the truth!

At the same time, they also understood why the director turned around and left without waiting for them to report anything.

Completely different from Section Chief Kunikida...

No, it's quite the opposite!

This kind of swift and even risky approach is also the daily routine of the "Inspectors".

In this way, the final difficulty of the case is gone...

(End of this chapter)