Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

"Could I see the dialing history of this phone?" Lin Xiuyi turned to ask the store manager, "especially the calls made between 8:00 and 8:30 last night."

The store manager nodded quickly and pulled out a thick call logbook from under the counter.
"The dialing information from public telephones is automatically printed out for billing records. However, it only records the number and time, not the content of the call. All of this month's calls are recorded here."

Lin Xiuyi took the record book and traced the densely packed numbers with her fingertips.

Because even Yui Murakami couldn't say for sure what exact time she saw Ichikawa enter the convenience store last night, she only vaguely knew it was between 8:00 and 8:30.

At that time, mobile phones were just beginning to develop and were not yet widely used. People usually used landlines to contact each other, so the public telephones in convenience stores were naturally very busy.

Lin Xiuyi quickly found more than a dozen phone numbers that matched her criteria in the landline's call log.

He took out his notebook and copied down all the numbers, including the call duration.

Three of the calls lasted more than two minutes, while the shortest one lasted only a dozen seconds, as if the wrong number had been dialed.

"Can you check the owner information for these numbers?" Lin Xiuyi looked up at Inspector Samezaki, his excitement almost overflowing.

If we can find someone Ichikawa is in contact with, we might be able to follow the trail and find the mysterious person who left the high-heeled shoe footprints.

Inspector Samezaki thought for a moment: "To check private numbers, we need to go to the telecommunications company, which requires an investigation warrant. Going through the process will take quite a bit of time."

Lin Xiu frowned. He didn't want to wait that long. Since that was the case, he had no choice but to call and ask.

He took a deep breath and picked up the landline phone in the convenience store.

"Hello, this is a technician from NTT Communications..." Lin Xiuyi mimicked the tone of a telephone company representative, "How was the call quality just now?"

The first number was quickly disconnected, and a rapid "beep beep" sound came from the receiver.

The second person to answer the phone was a drunk man, with the background noise of a television program mixed in.

The third was a housewife who complained about the intermittent signal strength, and that she was speaking while her baby was crying...

I made nine calls in a row, but to no avail.

Every time Lin Xiuyi hung up a call, she crossed out a number in her notebook.

As the number of numbers on the notebook dwindled, Lin Xiuyi's mood gradually darkened.

Was this lead about to go cold? He took a deep breath and dialed the last number.

The receiver emitted a "beep-beep" waiting tone, each sound like a blow to Lin Xiuyi's temple.

"This is the Shimadzu Corporation. How can I help you?"

The phone was answered after three rings, and a clear, pleasant female voice, with professional politeness, came through the receiver.

"Hello, this is the general manager's office of Shimadzu Corporation. How can I help you?"

Shimadzu Corporation!

Lin Xiuyi's heart skipped a beat, and he subconsciously exchanged a glance with Inspector Samezaki, both of them seeing surprise in each other's eyes.

Ichikawa contacted people from the Shimadzu Corporation!

"Hello, I am..." Lin Xiuyi was about to reveal his identity when he suddenly realized that he couldn't alert the enemy yet, so he quickly changed his words.

"I'm from a telecommunications company and I'd like to verify the signal strength of your number. Recently, some users have reported that the signal in this area is not very stable."

The woman paused, seemingly a little confused, but still politely replied, "We haven't noticed any signal problems here. However, could you please make a note of this? We'll contact you again if there are any issues later."

"Okay, thank you." Lin Xiuyi hung up the phone. "Ichikawa called his own office last night. Even if someone was in his office at that time, it should have been his secretary..."

Inspector Samezaki stroked his chin, a meaningful smile playing on his lips: "Most of these CEOs' secretaries are young women, so wearing high heels is perfectly normal. Maybe that footprint on the riverbank was left by this secretary."

"When did the police receive the call reporting Ichikawa's death?" Lin Xiuyi asked.

"This morning, around six o'clock, just as dawn was breaking," Inspector Samezaki took out a cigarette case from his pocket, then remembered that he couldn't smoke indoors, and reluctantly put it back.

"Ichikawa called around 8 p.m. last night. He had a stomachache because of the expired poison from Professor Takeshita, so he called his secretary to ask her to come pick him up,"

Lin Xiuyi recounted the events of the previous night.
"Afterwards, Ichikawa walked out of the convenience store and was hit by Murakami's car and fell off the embankment."

"Judging from the footprints next to the body, the secretary clearly discovered the body after arriving at the scene, but did not call the police,"

Lin Xiuyi's voice grew colder and colder.

“Perhaps Ichikawa was already dead at the time,” Inspector Samezaki shrugged. “Isn’t it normal for a woman to suddenly see a corpse and run home in fear?”

"I just looked at the autopsy report and found a problem,"

Lin Xiuyi opened her notebook and pointed to the key points she had recorded.
“Ichikawa’s right hand was covered in mud and water, even under his fingernails, which shows that he struggled very hard before he drowned.”

“Even if he was seriously injured when he was hit by Murakami, since he had so much strength to struggle, he should have been able to move his face away from the water. He just fell on the bank and did not fall into the depths of the river.”

"Besides, since it's a drowning struggle, you should use both hands to exert force,"

Lin Xiuyi gestured with her fingers in the air.

"But his left hand was relatively clean, not at all like he had been groping in the mud. Don't you find that strange?"

“You mean…” Inspector Samezaki frowned, his forehead wrinkles creased together.

“Those high-heeled footprints were all on the left side of the body,” Lin Xiuyi said coldly. “If the other party found Ichikawa before he was dead, and that woman not only didn’t save Ichikawa, but instead pushed his head into the mud and water.”

“Ichikawa will definitely resist,” Inspector Samezaki’s eyes lit up. “Because the woman holding him down is on his left, he’s using his left hand to push her away while his right hand is struggling in the water…”

“At present, this is quite a possibility,” Lin Xiuyi said with a smile. “However, some key evidence is still missing. It depends on whether this secretary has handled it properly.”

Yui Murakami, who was standing to the side, watched the two discuss the case, then turned her head away, looking at the rainy scene outside the window with boredom.

Raindrops meandered along the glass, distorting the neon lights outside into blurry patches of color.

She suddenly sighed softly, her slender fingers unconsciously stroking the folds in her skirt.

She originally thought that her confession would end everything, but she didn't expect it to involve so many other things. Moreover, it seems that she is not the real culprit who killed Ichikawa.

That bastard, just how many people want him dead?! (End of Chapter)