Tokyo Unnatural Forensics

Chapter 228, Reversing the Verification!

Everyone was confused, but how could Uesugi Muneyuki, who had successfully experienced a death flashback, not understand?

There were no signs of ransacking inside the house. The danger of being discovered increased exponentially with every extra second the perpetrator stayed. The entrance was not an ambush point because Igarashi Aiko could still open the door for help. Even though Japanese people are often cold-hearted, they would not ignore a neighbor's plea for help in broad daylight. The murderer had no reason to waste time searching the storage cabinet by the door.

So most likely, the Kanagawa police kept this evidence themselves, and then...

Ha ha.

Uesugi Muneyuki suddenly realized that he had seriously overestimated the limits of the Japanese police.

Before this, Uesugi Muneyuki had always had a decent impression of the Japanese police. Although there were many scoundrels like Tanaka Ryoto, Kuwahara Asako, and Sudo Koshino in the local police stations, and the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters had ultimate pragmatists like Kosaka, routine civil servants like Shiratori, and slaves to honor like Kashiwagi Jin, these people were not inherently bad; they were just a bit stupid.

But this hall is this hall, and the local area is the local area.

This sparked a thought in Uesugi Muneyuki.

They intervened halfway through the process, meaning that the initial investigation of the case was conducted by the Kanagawa police, and by the time they took over, much of the information had already been investigated and filtered by the Kanagawa police.

Is it possible that some crucial information and key clues were simply let slip by the local police?
"We must overturn all current inferences, reconsider all possibilities, start the investigation afresh from scratch, leave no stone unturned, and forget about the Mitsui Sumitomo Group and its father's background as the former head of the Second Investigation Division!"

"We want to reverse the forensic evidence!!!"

“Uesugi-kun is absolutely right.” The head of the First Investigation Division, Sugishita Ukyo, immediately ordered, “Higurashi!”

"Present!" Inspector Higurashi stood up.

"You will lead the First Division and the Special Missions Division to conduct a comprehensive resurvey of the entire Igarashi residence!"

"Yes!"

"Kashiwagi, Shimano, you two go back to Mitsui Properties and start investigating all of Igarashi's relationships from the beginning, including her ex-husband and lover."

"Yes!"

"Itami, you take the Fifth Element and go to the neighborhood to investigate. Ask every single household; don't miss anyone!"

"Yes!" The head of the Fifth Department was named Kenichi Itami. Although he was only in his forties, he looked like he was sixty. Several blind dates and crushes had ended in failure. He was still single and his rank was Assistant Inspector. He was only acting as the department head and would be officially promoted to Inspector next April.

"Special Investigation Headquarters, mobilize!"

Thus, on the night of September 25, the Metropolitan Police Department, in conjunction with the Special Investigation Headquarters, reopened the investigation.

On the way, Uesugi Muneyuki, sitting in the back seat, asked Ishihara Mikoto beside her, "Assuming that the gold ring wasn't taken from the scene by Tanaka, but was deliberately left outside afterward, how can we prove it?"

"Huh?!" The forensic pathologist was stunned by Uesugi Muneyuki's judgment: "You mean? The Kanagawa police..."

“Yes, that’s what I suspect too.” Uesugi Muneyuki smiled. “So, what can we do? Mikoto-nee, you should know more than I do, right?”

"Hmm... According to the Scientific Investigation Institute Act, we can apply to a third-party organization to conduct DNA timeliness testing on the evidence, such as professional identification of the degree of bloodstain oxidation and fingerprint overlap sequence analysis, to prove that the physical evidence contradicts the timeline of the crime." Sister Mikoto, as expected of a forensic expert, immediately gave her answer.

"Does Japan have the capability to perform fingerprint overlap timing analysis and timeliness testing?" Uesugi Muneyuki asked.

“The University of Tokyo Hospital, the National Cancer Center, and St. Luke’s International Hospital can do it,” Mikoto Ishihara quickly replied after a moment’s thought.

"Good!" Uesugi Muneyuki snapped his fingers and immediately called Ryoichi Kirenakawa, the head of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office Special Investigation Unit: "Hello? Head Kirenakawa? This is Uesugi Muneyuki. Um, I have something to inform you. Are you familiar with the Kanagawa District Public Prosecutors Office?"

Uesugi Muneyuki told the district public prosecutor that he suspected the Kanagawa police had used on-site evidence to frame him, and then took the initiative to guide them on which hospitals to go to for third-party testing.

The satisfied tone coming from the phone, tinged with the smell of blood, sent chills down the spines of Miss Minami and Inspector Okada, who was driving.

Would the Kanagawa police really dare to do something like that?

But since it was Uesugi Muneyuki's judgment, it should be correct.

This is outrageous!
These guys are the ones who really want to destroy the Japanese police!
Miss Minami immediately called Eiji Watanabe: "Hello, Father, something's happened, something terrible has happened! The Kanagawa police..."

This is the ultimate storm that could destroy the Japanese police! She knew she couldn't persuade Uesugi Muneyuki, so she had to notify the Metropolitan Police Department and the National Police Agency in advance.

Divine Separator, Righteous Cut!

Upon receiving the message from Miss Minami, the entire Metropolitan Police Department and the National Police Agency stayed up all night.

The blinds in the top-floor conference room of the Metropolitan Police Department remained brightly lit. Criminal Investigation Department Chief Kanji Uchimura was crushing the third pack of mint throat lozenges, while a report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which had conducted an overnight investigation into a shoe factory in a certain country in Fujian, was projected on the wall.

Upon receiving his daughter's report, Watanabe Eiji dared not delay and immediately called Chief Cabinet Secretary Onoda of the National Police Agency, instructing him to promptly inform his brother that the Kanagawa police might be using on-site evidence to frame him for entrapment.

In the subsequent recording of a phone call between Chief Cabinet Secretary Kimiaki Onoda and National Police Agency Commissioner Tsurugi Kaneko, the clinking of glasses drowned out the official phrase "putting the people's peace of mind first." Faced with his younger brother's urgent report, Chief Cabinet Secretary Onoda simply said, "I know."

In the Cabinet Crisis Management Center on the basement floor of the Prime Minister's Official Residence, large groups of interns, coffee in hand, moved between electronic screens displaying "West Coast Area Alert Status" and "Yokohama Port's 1.5 Trillion Yen Crisis," as night quietly settled into the sea of ​​pending documents rising and falling like the tides of Tokyo Bay. Six days had passed since the Special Investigation Headquarters was established on September 19th.

On the night of the 25th, Uesugi Muneyuki fully reinstated the inspection of the Igarashi residence.

After reconsidering all possibilities, Inspector Kenichi Itami of the Fifth Division delivered a new message.

Aiko has a neighbor named Tai, with whom she had a conflict. The reason for the conflict was simple: a parking space issue.

As is well known, parking spaces in Japan are quite narrow. Aiko's detached house did not include a parking space, so she always parked her car in the open parking lot behind the community.

However, because Aiko is a workaholic, she rarely gets home before 10 p.m., and when she does, her neighbor, Tajii, often occupies her usual parking space, leading to arguments between them.

This wouldn't have been a problem, since the parking spaces are public spaces in the community and are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

But it was probably a neighbor named Tai who said, "Earning so much money and still being so stingy, no wonder she divorced her husband and was abandoned by him," that broke Aiko's defenses, and the two had a big argument.

However, after investigation, the Kanagawa police found that Tadashi had a clear alibi and had ruled him out as a suspect, so they did not report the incident at all.

Fighting for a parking space?
Upon hearing this, Uesugi Muneyuki re-inspected Aiko's car.

Aiko Igarashi's car is a Toyota Highlander SUV, and it's quite large, probably because Aiko herself is rather overweight, hence the large size of her car.

On this very car, Uesugi Muneyuki suddenly noticed obvious dents and impact marks on the side and rear. They weren't very serious, but it must have been in a car accident recently and hadn't had time to be repaired.

Have you been in a car accident?

Why didn't the Kanagawa police report it?

After thinking for a moment, Uesugi Muneyuki called Takeda Hironobu, the claims manager of Nippon Life Insurance.

After hearing Uesugi Muneyuki's question, Takeda Hironobu was both amused and exasperated: "Uesugi-san, I'm not trying to be mean, but you should understand that insurance is divided into property insurance, life insurance, car insurance, and so on, right? Japan Life mainly covers life insurance, not car insurance!"

"I know, so could you help me find out which company underwrote the victim's Toyota Highlander SUV insurance?"

"No need to check, Aiko Igarashi's car insurance is with Tokio Marine Holdings... Wait a moment, I'll transfer it to you."

A little while later, a phone call came in.

"Hello, Uesugi-san, this is Shibukawa from Tokio Marine Holdings. Are you asking about Ms. Igarashi Aiko's car insurance claim?"

"Yes." Uesugi Muneyuki asked, "Has Miss Aiko recently encountered any issues with car accident insurance claims?"

“Well, normally we can’t disclose client privacy, but… if this is the case, it does exist.” Shibukawa of Tokyo Marine Holdings checked the records and confirmed, “A little over a month ago, Ms. Aiko Igarashi’s car and a Mazda driven by a man named Sasaki had a minor collision on the road.”

Ok? !

Uesugi Muneyuki suddenly realized something: "Could you explain in more detail?"

"Well, here's what happened: Ms. Aiko Igarashi's Toyota Highlander was overtaking when it collided with Sasaki's Mazda changing lanes, resulting in a minor collision. The Mazda owner believes that Ms. Igarashi's Toyota Highlander was too large, leaving insufficient space for a proper lane change and causing the accident. Since the two parties have different opinions on the accident, they have hired a third-party agency to conduct an assessment, and our company has initiated the claims process."

"After an investigation by a third-party organization, it was determined that Ms. Igarashi bears 10% of the responsibility, and Mr. Sasaki bears 90% of the responsibility," said Shibukawa of Tokyo Marine Holdings after checking the documents for a while.

"Then why wasn't Ms. Igarashi's car sent for repairs?" Uesugi Muneyuki pressed.

“That’s right… Please wait a moment.” Shibukawa checked for about 5 minutes before saying, “Oh, oh, oh, here’s the thing, Sasaki didn’t buy car insurance, and he himself can’t afford the repair costs.”

No car insurance?

Uesugi Muneyuki frowned. "Motor vehicles must have car insurance to be driven on the road. How could there be no car insurance?"
Unless... unless the other party is a...

“Our company discovered that Sasaki is a publicly known member of a designated yakuza group, so he did not have car insurance. Also, because Sasaki was injured in the car accident, the damage has changed from purely property damage to potentially involving personal injury, and the two parties may enter into legal proceedings. However…” Tokyo Marine Holdings’ response was: “In fact, no legal proceedings have actually been initiated. This matter has been concluded. We have made partial compensation, but the compensation process for Sasaki has been suspended.”

"What? Why? Wait, why didn't you report this to the police?"

“Because…” Shibukawa of Tokyo Marine Holdings wanted to laugh when he heard this: “Because on September 12, Sasaki’s Mazda was in another car accident. The car slipped and fell into the sea when it was passing Hakkeijima. It probably wasn’t repaired after the accident.”

"At this point, both Ms. Igarashi and Sasaki have disappeared. How can two dead people be involved in a lawsuit? Therefore, the legal proceedings in this case have been suspended, and our compensation process has also ended."

After hearing Tokyo Marine Holdings' words, a torrential current surged through Uesugi Muneyuki's heart.

This is it!

What I want, what we've overlooked, what the Kanagawa police have ignored, is this!
We've all been scammed!

Everyone thought that dead people couldn't commit crimes!

But this Sasaki is very likely the key to breaking the deadlock in the Yokohama case!
(End of this chapter)