Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 553 The Third Dead

To avoid causing a disturbance, the patrol officers climbed up and took down the banner, while the forensic team took photos as evidence.

Gen Tamako quickly realized the murderer's intention—it was a provocation, a complete and utter provocation against law enforcement!

She had to admit that Fushimi Shika's reasoning was spot on; the culprit who set up the mechanism for the falling banner would definitely leave it at the scene, or at least have witnessed it being triggered.

Perhaps the murderer really was hiding behind the window, observing everyone's reactions.

Yuan Yuzi quickly grabbed a patrol officer and said in a low voice, "I suspect the murderer is nearby. Please organize a team to set up a checkpoint and search the area immediately..."

As she spoke, she noticed the police officer's bewildered expression.

"Aren't you going to clean up the scene?" The patrol officer was a little uneasy. He had only been in the patrol unit for a few days and didn't know how to handle a murder case, let alone how to organize manpower for surveillance and investigation. "There's still blood on the ground..."

Yuan Yuzi realized that she had spoken empty words. There were only four or five patrol officers in the judo unit, and they were all dispatched to deal with the scene. Where would they find the manpower to set up a checkpoint and investigate?

She had no choice but to call Section Chief Kinoshita, relay the situation, explain her reasoning, and suggest that he send reinforcements.

"Another case like this..." Kinoshita Shojin felt annoyed from the bottom of his heart. He didn't know why there were so many mentally ill people in the world.

If someone is sick, they should be locked up! If you can't raise a child, don't raise one! Why let them out to cause trouble for society!
He selected several detectives who were idle and writing case files, and sent them over to help handle the murder case.

However, before the scene could be secured, a detective recognized the deceased as Yoshitaka Takahashi, a current member of parliament.

This was a serious problem. The detectives had barely reported to their superiors when journalists, drawn by the smell of blood, rushed over. They surrounded the police cordon, snapping photos of any bloodstained areas.

Not wanting to be photographed by reporters, Yuan Yuzi covered her face and hurriedly left.

Fushimi Shika didn't follow her. Instead, she wandered around, glancing at the window every now and then, trying to find the culprit using the system's entries.

Unfortunately, the people gathered nearby were all normal, but the windows further away were too far away to see clearly even if there were people behind them.

The Metropolitan Police Department immediately established a Special Investigations Division, drawing elites from various investigation divisions to solve the case within fifteen days.

Before he even returned to the police station, a note saying "Special Investigation Division" was posted in the office. That's the rule: whenever a department is established, it's requisitioned, and a departmental note is posted. Once the case is closed, the note is removed, and the office is used as usual.

Next came the meeting. The commander who was parachuted in was named Murata Anzu, a female police inspector with short hair, around forty years old, and looked very capable.

The group took their seats in the meeting room, with Murata Anzu at the head of the table, accompanied by an administrative officer.

She tidied up the manuscript, rubbed her forehead, and said, "I'm sure everyone already knows the identity of the deceased, but I'll still formally announce it here according to procedure..."

"The deceased was a 59-year-old male named Yoshitaka Takahashi, a member of the House of Representatives, belonging to the Takeshita faction of the Liberal Democratic Party, and was in charge of deliberations on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's construction budget for a long time."

"Today I went to Asahi Shimbun for an interview. On my way home, I got out of the car and told my private driver that I was going to an izakaya for a drink. In reality, I was meeting my lover. I got out of the car around noon. The identity of my lover is unknown."

"At 1 p.m., a waiter at an izakaya (Japanese pub) in the commercial street discovered the body and called the police. No passersby witnessed the incident, but an izakaya waiter had seen a male electrician wearing a mask repairing a street light. The man's appearance was unclear, and his physical features were unknown. Because he was half-sitting on a ladder, the witness could not determine his height." "That's all."

The above are the points that can be discussed openly.

On her way back to the police station, Minamoto Tamako secretly inquired about Representative Takahashi, mainly by asking Mama-chan.

You wouldn't believe it until you asked; Representative Takahashi's reputation in politics is extremely poor. However, few politicians have clean hands; as long as there's no conflict of interest, no one will expose each other's shortcomings, so his public image is still relatively good.

To cite a recent example, early last year, Representative Takahashi accepted a political donation of 1.2 million yen from cult leader Shoko Asahara, becoming the cult's first political protector. He then used his budget review authority to include the cult's base in Kamikyu Isshiki Village, Yamanashi Prefecture, on a whitelist, legalizing its illegal land occupation and circumventing government scrutiny.

In addition, he was very active in the news media, and publicly accused the Asahi Shimbun of "infringing on religious freedom" during a parliamentary inquiry, forcing the newspaper to withdraw a series of investigative reports.

This is just the tip of the iceberg that can be found on the surface. Yuan Yuzi doesn't even dare to imagine what other dirty tricks they've been up to behind the scenes.

In short, this person deserved to die; the phrase "divine punishment for seeing the face" is accurate.

These two cases of divine retribution were not linked to the Sugamo apartment massacre, mainly because the two perpetrators' handwriting was completely different. The difference was so subtle that even an elementary school student could recognize it, because the Sugamo apartment massacre case used simplified Chinese characters, while the murders of the magistrate and the member of parliament used traditional Chinese characters.

Minamoto Tamako suspected that the person was a copycat and expressed her opinion during the meeting.

Anne Murata adopted her idea and then asked others for their opinions.

The elite investigators are no pushovers; some are top students with expertise in criminal psychology. They can deduce many clues from just these two cases.

One factor is the group of people the perpetrator attacked.

Every serial killer has a preference for killing. For example, some serial killers like to kill blonde women, some target specific professions, and some like to kill children. The murderer in the magistrate's murder case and the murderer in the congressman's murder case were the same person, and the target group was very clear: 'corrupt officials'.

Secondly, there's the killer's personal information. From the footprints, glove prints, clothing fibers, and other clues left at the scene, it can be deduced that the killer is male, aged 18-25, has violent tendencies, and has pale skin. Yuan Yuzi didn't know how they deduced this last point; she wanted to know the reasoning process, but unfortunately, no one bothered to answer her.

In conclusion, the investigation meeting finalized the direction of the investigation.

One group went to find Representative Takahashi's lover, who may have witnessed the crime; another group investigated electrical repair companies based on the suspect's sketch and searched through Representative Takahashi's social circle—the murderer knew where Representative Takahashi got off the bus in advance and must have known him.

Minamoto no Tamako and Fushimi Shika were assigned to the same group. Perhaps it was Commander Murata An that made a special effort, as the two were partners in the same group, responsible for finding Representative Takahashi's lover.

Minamoto no Tamako was very efficient at her job. That very evening, she and Fushimi Shika found Representative Takahashi's mistress at the Sugamo apartment.

The other person was lying on the floor, motionless, and had been dead for some time.

"The third victim," Fushimi Shika, wearing white gloves, knelt down beside the body, looking at the terrified face of the female corpse, and muttered to himself, "What crime did you commit this time?"

(End of this chapter)