Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 89 Kunikida’s doubts
At around eight o'clock in the evening, Akasaka came back from his visit and went to the conference room, where he found Director Shiraishi and Section Chief Kunikida who were working overtime. It was only after he asked Section Chief Maruo that he found out that the two were in the conference room at the moment, and he didn't know what they were doing.

dong dong dong-

"Come in." Bai Shi said after hearing the knock on the door.

Akasaka opened the door with a serious expression and said in a dilemma: "Director, I just went to that Ninja Pizza and found the deliveryman from the night before yesterday..."

"So that guy is not lying, right?" Bai Shi asked with his back to him without turning his head.

"It can't be said that he didn't lie at all... He just ordered the food over the phone. It turned out that he deliberately made it vague in order to increase the difficulty of the search. However..." Akasaka's tone was also very confused and solemn.

"But is the alibi valid?" Shiraishi continued to confirm without turning his head.

"That's right. The delivery man still had an impression of it because the food was rarely delivered so far away. I showed him a photo of Hiroya Yoshii, and he said...it was him who opened the door and signed for it in person. Judging from the time on the receipt, it's the same as what you said..." Akasaka said helplessly.

"Well, then...it seems that the previous direction was very problematic." Bai Shi said calmly.

"How is that possible? Director, the murder weapon is obviously from his home..." Akasaka hurriedly tried to explain.

At the same time, Akasaka discovered that the projection that Shiraishi was staring at was nothing else but the previous interrogation video of Hiroya Yoshii!

Section Chief Kunikida was also watching at the side, and the two of them watched one scene over and over again - the scene when Yuan first asked about his "alibi" after he was "urgently arrested"...

"What were you doing between six and nine last night?"

"From six to nine... What was I doing... I need to recall this. Oh, by the way, I was watching TV at home. That show was really interesting. No wonder the ratings were over 20%..."

"Can anyone prove it?"

"I'll tell you what happened yesterday. Can it be considered evidence?"

"Of course not..."

……

Seeing Yoshii Hiroya pretending to be stupid and making sarcastic remarks, Akasaka was immediately furious. However, Shiraishi and Kunikida seemed to have discovered something at this time and fell back and forth several times!

"Detective Akasaka, what do you think of the suspect's performance?" Shiraishi asked suggestively.

"That's... just nonsense! If he was really watching the six o'clock TV series, why would he have to think for so long? And the same goes for the pizza incident. He clearly ordered it over the phone, but he deliberately said that he ordered it in advance in the store. There is no call record..." Akasaka said angrily at this time.

Shiraishi turned his swivel chair and said to Akasaka, "It's useless to ask him for confirmation on such trivial matters. He will just say that he remembered it wrongly. The important thing is that he does have an alibi, right?"

"But..." Akasaka's hair was drooping a little at this time, but he couldn't say anything that could mean "but" - he didn't realize that the delivery man was lying.

"So there are two possibilities. Either the murderer is someone else, and the reason why a hemp rope similar to the murder weapon was found in Yoshii Hiroya's home and his suspicious behavior were all due to other reasons; or the murder scene was not in the Beika Forest, and the verification of the alibi is not rigorous... No matter which possibility it is, we can only ask the deceased." Shiraishi suggested.

"The deceased...ah! I understand, Chief, I will go and check it again!" Akasaka regained some fighting spirit.

Shiraishi nodded, and at the same time, when Akasaka went out, Deputy Director Aikawa came in.

"Director, Yoshii Daijiro is here again... He seems to have known that our police has found an alibi and asked us to release Yoshii Hiroya immediately." Akihabara said in embarrassment after coming in.

Shiraishi looked at his watch and said, "Well, it's already past eight o'clock...you should go and complete the release procedures."

"Eh? Director..." Upon hearing that, Akasaka quickly turned his head and looked over.

"The time limit for emergency arrest is 24 hours, although it can be extended to 48 hours, but now that we have an alibi, it's already 31 hours, there's no reason to extend it further." Kunikida reprimanded him at this time, but then added: "Or do you have anything to interrogate him about?"

"This... No, I went to examine the body." Although Akasaka was unwilling, he could not refute anything.

……

Soon, Yoshii and his son were reunited, but the scene was not very warm.

Yoshii Daijiro's attitude was cold - although he was very dissatisfied with the police for detaining his son, he showed no sign of distress or concern when he saw his son released...

From a psychological point of view, Yoshii Daijiro's behavior shows that he does not think his son is "detained innocently" at all. He is only angry about his son being "detained"!
Unfortunately, this kind of thing cannot be considered as evidence.

Shiraishi and Kunikida were both at the police station, bidding farewell to the father and son, as if to apologize for their previous detention. "I'm very sorry for causing trouble to you, young master." Kunikida put on a "red bean paste private Marseille" posture and took the initiative to speak softly.

"Fortunately, we found an alibi... After all, your arrest was too hasty!" Yoshii Daijiro seemed to think that he and his son were "safely on shore" and he actually perked up.

Daijiro Yoshii specifically scolded Kunikida in front of Shiraishi, and then said loudly: "As law enforcers, you should be more cautious, otherwise it will be the greatest damage to this country and this society!"

"You mean, it's getting late, do you need me to call a taxi?" Kunikida looked completely cowardly.

"No need... The case happened at this time, right? After all, if someone could invite a girl to a place like Beika Forest after dark, the crime must have been committed by someone she knows!" Daijiro Yoshii said, glancing at his watch.

Shiraishi, who had been silent the whole time, looked at Yoshii Daijiro looking at the watch on his right hand, and his mouth slowly blossomed. Then he suddenly asked, "Mr. Yoshii is left-handed? Can I ask where you were and what you were doing the night before yesterday?"

"Huh?" Kunikida looked at Director Shiraishi in surprise and confusion when he heard that.

Daijiro Yoshii suddenly looked so angry that his mouth was shaking. He shouted with a trembling voice: "Enough! Chief Shiraishi, what do you mean by this? You want to investigate me, right? The night before yesterday until eight o'clock, I was in a meeting to expand the channels for retired police officers to re-enter the police force. It was because of your irresponsibility that things were delayed... If you don't believe me, go and investigate it yourself!"

After saying this, Daijiro Yoshii turned and left angrily.

but……

Shiraishi's peripheral vision was always on Yoshii Hiroya behind him. When Shiraishi asked about his father, Yoshii Hiroya had a half-smile on his face. After Yoshii Daijiro turned around, Yoshii Hiroya even showed a strange smile when facing Daijiro. Yoshii Daijiro paused for a moment, but still quickly left.

After the two of them left, Kunikida couldn't help but ask in confusion: "Director, why did you just…"

Kunikida also discovered that Yoshii Daijiro was wearing a right-handed watch for left-handed people, but...

"Will asking at this time alert the enemy? Ha, you think too simply. Even if you confirm in advance, the result will be the same." Bai Shi said as a matter of course.

That’s right, since it was strangled twice, then…

The most likely scenario is that the victim pretended to be dead after the first strangulation, and then after the body was moved, the victim probably regained consciousness and was completely strangled to death.

Since the two attacks were not committed by the same person, and Hiroshi Yoshii did have an alibi, that means it was someone else who moved the "corpse" and actually caused the victim's death!

Things like moving a body would never be done by people who are not on good terms with each other, and even the murderer himself would not be trusted.

but……

If it was Yoshii Daijiro, then it would be logical - after all, Yoshii Hiroya was his only son, and even though he was extremely dissatisfied with Yoshii Hiroya, he still did not have the decisiveness to "kill his own son for the sake of justice."

Otherwise, Hiroshi Yoshii would have been in jail last year!

At this time, it was discovered that Yoshii Daijiro was left-handed, which can be said to be suspicious index soared, especially...

He just said something like "make an appointment with the deceased to go to the Rice Flower Forest after dark"...

You know the time of death is "six to nine"!
It was still light at six o'clock, which shows that Yoshii was psychologically certain that the time of death was after dark, which was definitely not something that could be known just by looking at the files.

In addition, Shiraishi and Kunikida had also watched the video of Yoshii Hiroya's first interrogation before. When the time of death was mentioned at the beginning, Yoshii Hiroya was obviously hesitant...

It can be seen that he did not know that the victim had woken up later. What he was thinking at the time was "This must be a trick of the police", so he slowed down his tone and started to answer normally after thinking.

The fact that he didn't mention the "pizza ordering" thing right away at the beginning might not be out of bad taste, but rather that he hadn't sorted out his thoughts yet and didn't know what the police were up to when they said "wrong time"!

After all, it was impossible for Daijiro Yoshii to tell him on his own initiative that he had helped him to “finish the job”.

However, after several attempts, Hiroya Yoshii discovered that the police seemed to really think that the crime occurred between "six and nine o'clock". He then sorted out his thoughts, guessed something, and gave the real alibi.

When Shiraishi just mentioned "left-handed" and asked Yoshii Daijiro for confirmation of his alibi, Yoshii Hiroya was completely sure of this!
But just as Shiraishi said, Yoshii Daijiro must have already prepared an "alibi" long ago. Given his status, it is even possible that some police officers were present at that so-called meeting and testified.

Of course, even so, Kunikida did not understand Shiraishi's actions - even if there was a glimmer of hope, he should not alert the enemy...

In the situation just now, is there any benefit in asking directly?

Kunikida still couldn't figure this out...

(End of this chapter)