Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Chapter 264 You're settling accounts! How come I didn't know so much money was stolen?
"Ten million..." Lin Xiu was immediately tempted, "But what about my safety..."

“We’ll go with you,” Officer Teraoka assured him. “You’re the First Division’s precious treasure; we’ll never let anything happen to you.”

Well, no wonder you two are so interested in this. Daisuke Yamada's payment is definitely more than what I received...

Lin Xiuyi pondered to himself, then looked at Inspector Samezaki with a hint of mockery in his eyes.

"Well, my share isn't much, only 500,000 yen," Inspector Samezaki blushed and coughed awkwardly twice. "Police salaries are too low, and my daughter is growing up..."

“Inspector, no need to say anything, I understand,” Lin Xiuyi waved his hand, glanced at the wall clock, “Shall we go now?”

“Yes, the sooner we resolve this, the less trouble we’ll have later,” Officer Teraoka said meaningfully. “By the way, if Mr. Lin finds anything, please let me know first, so that we can be prepared in case the murderer isn’t Takikawa.”

Lin Xiuyi nodded knowingly. Putting aside the fact that the murderer was originally Takikawa, even if it wasn't him, I would still make him the murderer if I spent ten million. Anyway, none of these gangsters are good people.

……

Since we're investigating a case, we naturally have to go to the crime scene.

Ito Ichiro's sworn brother, Yamada Daisuke, was waiting at the entrance of Ito's residence.

Although they are brothers, Daisuke Yamada is much younger than Ichiro Ito, and looks to be just over forty years old.

Compared to Takikawa's fierce-looking face, Yamada Daisuke doesn't look like a gangster at all.

He had an obese physique that filled out his suit to the brim, a round face that gleamed with oil, and a persistent smile on his face. He looked more like a shrewd businessman than a gangster.

"Mr. Teraoka, you've finally arrived!"

When Daisuke Yamada saw Hideaki Hayashi and the other two get out of the car, he immediately greeted them warmly.

"This must be our famous high school detective from Beika High School. I've been seeing Lin-san's name in the newspapers a lot lately. Truly, a hero emerges from among the young..."

“Mr. Yamada, there’s no need for formalities,” Lin Xiuyi interrupted with a smile. “Let’s go to the crime scene right away. If we waste too much time, some clues might be destroyed, which would be troublesome.”

“Lin-san is right,” Yamada Daisuke quickly nodded and led the three of them into the Ito residence.

This was the second time Lin Xiuyi had come to this house. Last night, he and Fuzawa Chikage climbed over the wall from the backyard, but this time they entered openly through the front gate.

“Brother Ito has several other houses in Beika besides this one,” Daisuke Yamada explained as they walked. “Usually, he changes where he stays at night depending on his mood. Sometimes, he doesn’t go home and just stays at a nightclub; he likes to sing…”

Daisuke Yamada rambled on and on, but the meaning behind his words was crystal clear.

Lin Xiuyi immediately followed up, saying, "Judging from Mr. Ito's habits, the murderer should not be an outsider. After all, he decides where he stays every night based on his mood, and an outsider obviously cannot make preparations in advance."

“Hmm, Lin-san makes a good point,” Yamada Daisuke slapped his forehead, as if he had just realized something. “So, the murderer is a member of our team.”

“The murderer not only has to be someone from your group, but also someone close to Mr. Ito,” Lin Xiuyi pretended to think for a moment. “Have you investigated all the underlings who were with Mr. Ito yesterday?”

“Including Takikawa, there are six people in total,” Yamada Daisuke was obviously prepared and nodded immediately, a hint of smugness flashing in his eyes. “Except for Takikawa, the other five have all been taken into custody. I won’t hide it from you, Lin-san, I already sent someone to ask them before you came.”

"I don't know if they really didn't participate or if they're just being stubborn, but none of them admitted to killing Brother Ito."

"Where's Takikawa?" Lin Xiuyi frowned. He came here tonight not only for the ten million, but also to take care of Takikawa's matter.

If he escapes, Yamada Daisuke and the others might be fine, but Hayashi Shuichi would be in danger.

After all, what he had to do tonight was to "testify" that Takikawa was the murderer, and that guy must hate him the most.

When the time comes, with old and new grudges combined, Takikawa will most likely seek revenge. Lin Xiuyi himself is not afraid, but he is worried that it will implicate those around him.

“Takikawa is the newly appointed head of the new government,” Yamada Daisuke said with a hint of helplessness. “Even I can’t just arrest him arbitrarily. But please rest assured, I have already sent people to keep an eye on him. As long as there is sufficient evidence here, we can take him down immediately.”

Lin Xiu nodded and went up to the second floor. The hallway was dimly lit, with some old paintings hanging on the walls, and a faint smell of disinfectant in the air.

“This room near the stairs is the eldest brother’s study,” Daisuke Yamada said, pointing to the room in front of him. “I heard from the younger brothers that this room was also broken into last night. The safe was opened and nearly 100 million yen was stolen.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiu's expression immediately turned strange.

Last night, he came here with Tomizawa Chikage to rob the rich and help the poor.

Despite her still-healing injuries, the phantom thief lady only stole a backpack full of banknotes, amounting to about twenty or thirty million, but it couldn't possibly be over a hundred million!

Is someone trying to take advantage of the situation, or is this an opportunity to settle scores?
Daisuke Yamada keenly noticed Hayashi Hideichi's unusual expression: "Has Hayashi-san discovered something?"

“I was just thinking, could this be the murderer deliberately trying to cover it up?” Lin Xiuyi made up a story on the spot. “He deliberately created the illusion of theft so that you would think that the murderer’s original goal was not Mr. Ito, but the money in the study. It was only because Mr. Ito discovered him during the theft that he had no choice but to kill him.”

"Of course, there is another possibility: that in addition to the murderer, a thief broke into the house last night."

"As expected of a famous detective, you figured out the culprit's disguise so quickly," Daisuke Yamada said, clapping his hands in praise as if he had just realized what was going on. "You're amazing!"

Lin Xiuyi's lips twitched at his sycophantic attitude: "Where was Mr. Ito's death scene?"

“It’s right next door,” Yamada Daisuke said, leading Hayashi Hideichi and the other two to the doorway guarded by four or five henchmen.

There was also a weapon rack next to it, which displayed several Japanese swords and a set of armor that looked very old.

"Has anyone moved this weapon rack?" Lin Xiu asked after glancing at it.

"How did Lin Sang find out?"

Daisuke Yamada seemed genuinely surprised this time. "After my older brother was murdered last night, the armor here was scattered on the ground, and a bloodstained katana was lying next to it."

He walked to the weapons rack and pointed to the spot on the ground.

“My men were too panicked at the time and made a mess of the place. I saw that we couldn’t find any clues here, so I simply had someone clean it up. I also had someone take the bloodstained katana into the room.”

“Pay attention to the details and you’ll naturally spot the problems,” Lin Xiuyi casually replied.

The armor that fell over at the door was knocked down last night when Tomizawa Chikage accidentally encountered the murderer while seeing Ito Ichiro's body, and was so startled that she knocked it over.

Lin Xiuyi was naturally fully aware of this.

"...Details?" Daisuke Yamada couldn't help but lower his head to examine the details closely, while Inspector Samezaki and Officer Teraoka beside him also looked at the information.

A moment later, Daisuke Yamada suddenly paused, "So that's how it is."

"What's wrong?" Officer Teraoka asked, puzzled. Inspector Samezaki next to him had a similar reaction.

What a disgrace! Even the gang leader noticed the problem, but the Metropolitan Police Department officers couldn't see anything!

Lin Xiuyi suppressed the urge to complain and explained, "Look at the corner under the weapon rack. There's still a trace of blood on the wall there, but the adjacent floor is very clean."

“So that’s where the problem lies,” Officer Teraoka nodded in sudden realization.

"Let's go inside and see the scene," Lin Xiuyi said.

Daisuke Yamada clapped his hands, and the henchmen guarding the door quickly opened it and made way for him.

"Lin-san, please come in," Yamada Daisuke bowed respectfully, his smile full of flattery.

Lin Xiuyi glanced at him, and compared to his previous feigned support, Yamada Daisuke now seemed to genuinely admire him.

In fact, just as Hayashi Shuichi thought, Yamada Daisuke initially didn't think much of this so-called high school detective.

The reason I asked Officer Teraoka to invite Hayashi Hideichi here tonight is simply to use his fame to confirm that Takikawa is the murderer of Ito Ichiro.

Daisuke Yamada couldn't handle this himself, and as a member of the yakuza, he couldn't ask the police for help, so he had no choice but to find a well-known detective as a third party.

As for whether Takikawa was the real culprit, Daisuke Yamada didn't care at all.

When Ichiro Ito was alive, the two were sworn brothers who respected and loved each other. But now that he is dead, their original brotherhood has naturally vanished, leaving only a conflict of interests.

Lin Xiuyi stepped into the bedroom, and the first thing that caught her eye was the large pool of blood in the middle of the floor.

After a day, the bloodstains had dried, turning a dark red color that was particularly glaring under the dim light.

"Can someone tell me what happened?" Lin Xiu asked.

Daisuke Yamada beckoned to his underlings guarding the door, and a moment later, a man with a bruised and swollen face and bound hands and feet was brought over.

The man's eyes were filled with terror, his body was trembling uncontrollably, his face was covered in blood from the wounds, and his clothes were tattered, clearly indicating that he had been through a lot of torture.

“Tell me what happened last night again,” Daisuke Yamada said gently.

"……yes,"

The man shuddered, swallowed hard, and said in a trembling voice,
"Last night, the team leader was supposed to go to a nightclub to sing, but suddenly decided not to go and to rest here instead."

"After we got here, we first followed the team leader to the bedroom to check it out. Only after we made sure the team leader had locked the door from the inside did we go down to the first floor to keep watch."

"Around 1 a.m., we suddenly heard Takikawa shouting from the second floor, saying that the team leader had been killed,"

"We rushed up to the second floor and saw a woman wearing a tight-fitting outfit, carrying a bag, break open a second-floor window and jump out."

"Takikawa said that the woman was the murderer who killed the team leader. We didn't think much of it and chased after her."

Just as they were about to catch up, a strange man in a tuxedo jumped out from behind a tree in the yard.

"Under his cover, the two climbed over the wall, and by the time we got out, we could only see them riding away on their motorcycles..."

“I had someone draw a rough sketch of what the intruders they saw last night looked like,” Daisuke Yamada said, handing over two sketches.

Lin Xiu glanced at it twice and couldn't help but sigh inwardly, thinking that the underworld really does have all sorts of talented people.

The painting of Chikage Tomizawa shows off her curvaceous figure, and most of the details on her clothes are also reproduced.

As for Lin Xiuyi's picture, since he directly blocked the pursuing underlings, apart from the fact that he was wearing a mask and his face was not clearly visible, everything else was drawn clearly.

"Isn't this the Phantom Thief Lady?"

Inspector Samezaki looked at the woman's portrait, his words filled with confusion.

"She committed more than a dozen major crimes in Japan, but they were all thefts; she never killed anyone."

"Moreover, before each theft, she would deliberately send a notice to her target that she was coming to steal from them."

"Did you receive anything before Ichiro Ito's accident?"

“No,” the bound man shook his head, “I’ve never heard the team leader mention it.”

“Given Ito’s personality,” Daisuke Yamada said confidently, “if he received a notice of the crime beforehand, he would either not come here to rest at night, or he would be prepared to capture the Phantom Thief Lady. He would never just ignore it.”

“Besides that, the Phantom Thief Lady always works alone,” Inspector Samezaki wondered. “I’ve never heard of her having a partner.”

"So, this 'Lady Thief' is actually an imposter?" Inspector Teraoka took the sketch and looked at it. "This man is dressed so elegantly, he seems to want everyone to notice him. He doesn't look like a thief at all."

You'll have to ask Chikage Tomizawa about that. I also want to know why she gave me such a gorgeous outfit last night...

Lin Xiuyi mentally complained, then looked around the bedroom. Ito Ichiro was clearly a coward; the bedroom didn't even have windows. Apart from the door, it was all walls with some self-defense weapons hanging on them.

"You just said that you saw Mr. Ito lock the bedroom door before you went downstairs?" Lin Xiuyi turned his head and asked.

“Yes,” the man nodded vigorously, “I’m not lying, and other people can testify to that.”

Lin Xiuyi thought for a moment: "Was Mr. Ito wearing shoes when he died?"

“I was wearing slippers,” the man replied. “I remember it very clearly.”

"What about his wounds?" Lin Xiuyi pressed. "Have you examined them?"

“Brother Ito was stabbed about ten times,” Daisuke Yamada said with a pained expression. “Most of the wounds were in his chest and abdomen, with only one in his back…”

(End of this chapter)