Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Chapter 381 Tomoko's Deduction
Upon seeing the two bodies lying on the ground, the older officer showed little surprise, merely letting out a routine sigh, clearly accustomed to seeing bodies drowned in the sea.

The older officer gestured to his younger colleague to find a phone to report the situation to the police, while he himself began cleaning up the scene and preventing unrelated people from approaching the body.

"Excuse me, everyone, please do not get too close to the body."

As the veteran police officer approached Lin Xiuyi, he was about to speak when Pengzi said sarcastically, "This is your colleague, you don't know him, do you?"

This young lady is really petty; she's still holding a grudge about that elevator incident...

Lin Xiuyi mentally complained, while taking out his identification and briefly introducing himself.

"Oh, so you're that high school detective from Tokyo?"

The veteran police officer suddenly realized, but the wrinkles on his face deepened.
"I didn't expect you to actually join the Metropolitan Police Department. We've heard about you here too."

His tone was tinged with doubt and a hint of bitterness.

After exchanging pleasantries, Lin Xiuyi told the police officer what Pengzi had just said and asked him to contact the bus driver to determine the location where the two had fallen into the water.

The veteran officer nodded, took out a small notebook and carefully took notes, occasionally looking up to confirm the details.

After the young officer returned, the older officer turned and left, and soon found the bus driver.

The driver and Lin Xiuyi and the others on the same bus yesterday were not the same person.

Today's bus driver was a middle-aged man with dark skin, clearly an experienced driver who frequently travels to the coast.

Upon seeing the two bodies on the ground, he immediately nodded: "They did get into my car in front of the hotel this morning."

"Are you sure? Don't make a mistake?" the veteran officer reminded him while carefully observing the driver's expression.

“There’s no mistake,” the driver rubbed his hands together, his voice rough. “This girl is so beautiful, and she’s dressed so sexily, no one who sees her will easily forget her.”

He smiled sheepishly, revealing a set of uneven teeth.

"I remember that when we got to the viewpoint on the coastal cliff, the two of them got out of the car together. Then when it was time to leave, I didn't see them come up. I waited for a few more minutes, and when they still didn't come, we drove away."

"Could it be that they both fell into the water near the observation deck?"

After finishing her watermelon, Lingzi, who had also come to join in the fun, chimed in.
"I remember when we went there yesterday, my older brother reminded me not to lean against the railings, because those railings are easy to break."

“Now it seems that’s very likely,” the old police officer sighed, took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “There’s an undercurrent flowing from the sea below the observation deck over there. These two must have fallen into the water over there and then been swept here by the current.”

"Are there many people on the bus today?" Lin Xiuyi asked the bus driver. "Did those two argue on the bus?"

"On my trip, there were only two passengers, which is why I waited for them," the driver paused, as if recalling something. "As for the argument, I didn't hear it while I was driving. But when they got off, the blond guy seemed to want to touch the girl inappropriately, but she stopped him by cursing at him."

"It seems that while the two were enjoying the scenery from the observation deck, the man started touching her inappropriately again. The girl resisted, and during their struggle, they accidentally fell into the sea together."

The veteran officer glanced smugly at the silent Lin Xiuyi, as if showing off his deductive reasoning skills.
"This isn't the first time something like this has happened here."

"Is that so?" Shizuka sobbed again, tears streaming down her face like broken pearls. "If I had known, I should have stopped Kaori from going out with Taisuke this morning. That guy Taisuke always likes to take advantage of girls, sob sob..." As she spoke, she threw herself into her rich boyfriend's arms, her shoulders shaking violently.

Lin Xiuyi didn't say anything, but squatted down and carefully examined Huang Mao Taijie's body.

Like He Xiang, he had no obvious external injuries, but when Lin Xiuyi parted the hair at the back of his head, she found a wound there.

It looks like something hit this wound, and it's bleeding. It's just that the wound is swollen because it's been in the water for too long.

"Maybe his head hit something on the cliff when he fell from the observation deck," the old policeman said casually, while taking out his cigarette case, then putting it back after thinking for a moment.

"How long does it take for the ocean current to travel from the observation deck to this area?" Lin Xiuyi asked, staring at Taisuke's wound.

"I can't say for sure," the veteran officer scratched his head, "but it should take at least two or three hours."

“If it’s been two or three hours, then these two definitely didn’t fall into the water together,” Lin Xiuyi stood up and said with certainty.

"Why do you say that?" the veteran officer asked, his brow furrowed. "What evidence do you have?"

Lin Xiuyi pointed to the two corpses on the ground: "Isn't the evidence obvious?"

"Obvious?" The veteran officer squatted down to take a closer look, but still couldn't figure it out.

"No wonder you're still just a patrolman at your age," Tomoko couldn't stand it anymore and mocked directly. "If Taisuke and Kaori fell into the water together, their bodies should have been in about the same condition from being submerged in water."

She crouched down and gently pointed at the skin of the two corpses with a twig.
“But look at their bodies. Taisuke is already quite swollen from being soaked, but Kaori is fine.”

“Oh right,” the veteran officer slapped his forehead, an embarrassed blush creeping onto his face, “How could I have forgotten that?”

"If you ask me, Taisuke and Waka might really have had an argument at the observation deck,"

Tomoko paced around the corpse, analyzing in a low voice,

"Because Taisuke made unwanted advances towards Kazuka, Kazuka couldn't help herself and hit him with something, but unexpectedly Taisuke fell into the sea because of it."

"Out of fear, Kaori hurriedly flagged down other cars to try to return, but halfway there, overwhelmed with guilt over Taisuke's death, she chose to jump into the sea to atone for her sins."

"That's why the two of them spend different amounts of time in the sea."

After finishing her sentence, Tomoko confidently raised her chin, waiting for everyone's reaction.

"Tomoko, you're amazing!"

Saki Toda covered her mouth in surprise, and the other members of the tennis club nodded in agreement with Tomoko's reasoning.

Shiro Suzuki frowned, as if he wanted to say something.

But seeing Tomoko's smug face, he hesitated for a moment, then swallowed back the words that were on the tip of his tongue...

(End of this chapter)