Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Chapter 310 The Witness Who Gave False Testimony
Matsuda Jotaro took the photo, looked at it carefully for a while, and said, "I think I vaguely remember it. Maybe I saw it during a competition before, but I wouldn't say I know it."

Lin Xiuyi nodded thoughtfully and continued to look through the remaining materials.

The eyewitness was named Hideji Komura, and he was the one who confirmed that Jotaro Matsuda was present at the crime scene.

Sitting in the back, Matsuda Jotaro peeked at the file in Hayashi Hideichi's hand and exclaimed in surprise when he saw the name, "I know this Komura Hideji! He and Kuroki Takeshi are from the same boxing gym!"

"Are you sure?" Lin Xiuyi turned her head sharply.

“Yes!” Matsuda Jotaro said confidently, “I have been fighting Kuroki Takeshi for many years, and I am quite familiar with him and the people in his boxing gym.”

"So," Inspector Samezaki looked at him with surprise in the rearview mirror, "you might have been framed? The other side deliberately got you involved in the case so you couldn't participate in today's finals... and then the champion will be Takeshi Kuroki?"

To everyone's surprise, Matsuda Jotaro shook his head. He took a deep breath and said firmly, "It shouldn't be. I know Kuroki—"

As he spoke, a nostalgic smile appeared on his lips, and his eyes softened.

“We’ve been fighting for over ten years. He would rather lose fair and square than resort to such underhanded tactics.”

“Some people are two-faced,” Inspector Samezaki shook his head. “Even close friends might betray each other for personal gain, let alone rivals.”

“What you say may make sense, but I still believe in Kuroki!” Matsuda Jotaro insisted on his opinion.

“In Komura Hideji’s testimony,” Lin Xiuyi pointed lightly to a line of text on the document, “he only said that he had seen Matsuda Jotaro in the park, but did not mention that he had any contact with the deceased. Perhaps it really was just a coincidence.”

……

Metropolitan Police Department First Investigation Division Office,

Inspector Samezaki led a team to find witness Hideji Komura, who clearly believed that Jotaro Matsuda had been framed by his rivals.

Officer Matsumoto took another statement from Matsuda Jotaro. After he finished, he returned to find that Hayashi Hideichi had also finished studying the information from the Bunkyo Police Station.

"So, any leads?" Officer Matsumoto casually tossed the notebook onto the table.

Lin Xiuyi took out a photo of the scene and pointed to the clothes on the body: "Look at these stains on the deceased's clothes."

"These golden yellow things around the collar?" Officer Matsumoto leaned closer to the photo, squinting as he examined it carefully. "They're probably just dirt on the clothes. Isn't that normal?"

“According to the autopsy report, these are oil stains,” Lin Xiuyi analyzed. “They are concentrated on the collar, which is likely the result of the murderer rubbing against Takeda Yamato’s collar when he grabbed him.”

"It's also possible that he put it there himself," Officer Matsumoto said dismissively, scoffing.

“Yamato Takeda is a boxer,” Hideichi Hayashi shook his head. “He probably doesn’t come into much contact with engine oil in his daily life and work.”

"Maybe he just happened to bump into it while he was repairing his car," Officer Matsumoto guessed.

“Except for the collar,” Lin Xiuyi pointed to the corpse in the photo, “his shirt was very clean. If it was just a car repair, it’s impossible that the collar would be dirty.”

“…That’s true,” Officer Matsumoto nodded, then suddenly perked up and grabbed his coat from the table. “I’ll go investigate Takeda Yamato’s connections right now, focusing on those who frequently work with engine oil.”

“The killer must have been very strong to kill the victim with a single blow,” Lin Xiuyi reminded him. “He probably did manual labor, like being a car mechanic.” “Understood,” Officer Matsumoto replied, striding away.

The investigation report from the Bunkyo Police Station was ridiculously simplistic. Perhaps because of Hideji Komura's testimony, they concluded that Jotaro Matsuda was the murderer and therefore did not conduct an in-depth investigation into other issues—such as the victim's interpersonal relationships.

Seeing that the investigation report revealed nothing, Lin Xiuyi stood up and prepared to go to the corridor for some fresh air.

The officers in the First Investigation Division's office were almost all heavy smokers, and the entire office was filled with a smoky atmosphere that made one's eyes sting.

There's nothing we can do about it; being a criminal investigator is mentally and physically exhausting, and sometimes you can only stay alert by smoking.

Lin Xiuyi's work environment in his previous life was similar to this, but in this life, he has hardly smoked. He can accept it mentally, but he still can't quite stand it physically.

Just as Lin Xiuyi stepped out of the First Investigation Division's office, he encountered Inspector Megure walking quickly towards him.

"Lin-kun, the Inspector asked me to tell you," Inspector Megure said, panting and wiping sweat with a handkerchief, "that Hideji Komura has been taken to the Metropolitan Police Department."

"Take me to see it."

Lin Xiuyi thought the person was in the lobby or office, but she didn't expect that following Inspector Megure, they would end up in the interrogation room.

"Isn't he a witness?" Lin Xiuyi asked in surprise. "What's he doing here?"

“The inspector thinks he might have fabricated evidence to frame Matsuda Jotaro,” Inspector Megure explained. “So we brought him here to scare him a bit, hoping to get the truth out of him.”

With that, Inspector Megure led Hayashi Shuichi into the monitoring room next to the interrogation room.

The two rooms are separated by a one-way glass panel, allowing the monitoring room to see the interrogation room clearly, but not vice versa.

As soon as Lin Xiuyi entered the house, he heard Inspector Samezaki from next door shout sternly: "Tell me quickly, why did you frame Matsuda Jotaro?"

"Was it to help your gym's Kuroki win, or did you actually kill Takeda Yamato? Are you framing him to find a scapegoat?"

Even Lin Xiuyi in the monitoring room was so shocked by Inspector Samezaki's shout that his ears hurt, let alone Komura Xiuji sitting in the interrogation chair.

He had never seen anything like this before, and he immediately trembled in fright, his face turning deathly pale. He instinctively blurted out, "How...how did you know I did it on purpose?"

He realized the problem halfway through his sentence and quickly shut up, but it was clearly too late.

"Hmph," Inspector Samezaki sneered, placing his hands on the interrogation table and looking down at Komura, "You really did frame Matsuda Jotaro on purpose!"

At this point, he suddenly slammed his hand on the table, making a loud "bang."
"Do you know that giving false testimony is a legal offense? You accused Matsuda Jotaro, which is a murder charge!"

“I…I didn’t say that,” Komura Hideji explained in a trembling voice, “I only said he appeared in the park, not that he killed him!”

“But what you said is misleading the police,” Inspector Samezaki said coldly. “You probably saw the boxing match at the performance hall today, right? Matsuda Jotaro almost couldn’t compete because of this case!”

(End of this chapter)