Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

"Which possibility do you think is more likely?" Officer Matsumoto asked.

Lin Xiuyi shook her head: "There's too little information right now, it's hard to make a judgment."

"But one thing is certain: the relationship between Mrs. Arai and Otsuka is definitely not just a simple phone call of greeting."

Inspector Megure nodded and sighed, "Unfortunately, we don't have any solid evidence right now."

"Madam Arai won't speak, and Otsuka insists it was an accident, so we can only detain her as a suspect for 24 hours."

"If no evidence is found by tomorrow, the person must be released."

"What about that yacht?" Lin Xiuyi asked. "Have you searched it?"

"We are conducting a search," Officer Matsumoto replied. "We have obtained a search warrant and sent people to the port this morning."

"But after Otsuka brought the yacht back, he reportedly cleaned it, so the evidence may have been destroyed."

Lin Xiuyi thought for a moment, then stood up: "I want to go see that dazuka."

“Okay.” Officer Matsumoto stood up as well. “We’ll take you there now.”

“Ruri and I will go over there too,” Kogoro Mouri said, pulling his girlfriend to her feet. “Ruri won’t be at ease until we get to the bottom of this.”

“Alright,” Lin Xiu nodded.

Unexpectedly, Yukiko also jumped up at that moment.

"I am coming too!"

“I’ll go too.” Eri Kisaki immediately followed.

“Me too,” Midori Orikasa whispered.

Looking at the three spirited girls, Lin Xiuyi knew that nothing she said would make a difference.

Although these three girls usually bicker and quarrel, they can sometimes be of help in crucial moments.

"Let's go, don't waste time."

The group left the izakaya and got into the police car driven by Officer Matsumoto.

The police car started and drove towards the Metropolitan Police Department.

The car was quiet, with only the roar of the engine and the sound of the wind outside the window.

Yukiko was unusually quiet, simply leaning back in her seat and watching the street scenes rushing past the window.

Eri lowered her head in thought, her fingers unconsciously drawing something on her knee.

Midori Orikasa sat on the far side, her hands clasped tightly, her expression a mixture of nervousness and anticipation.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Lin Xiuyi looked out the window, but her mind was quickly processing the entire case.

Mrs. Arai disappeared for two days, and when she returned, her husband was killed in a car accident.

The man who hit her, Otsuka, was in contact with her, and they had spoken on the phone just an hour before the accident.

Otsuka rented a yacht and went out to sea, which happened to be those two days.

Mrs. Arai refused to reveal her whereabouts during those two days...

All the fragments are pointing in the same direction.

……

Footsteps echoed through the corridors of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Lin Xiuyi and his group followed behind Officer Matsumoto, passing through a series of iron doors that required identity verification, and finally arrived at an observation room.

The observation room is small, only a dozen square meters. One wall is a single piece of one-way glass, through which you can clearly see the situation in the interrogation room next door.

The room contained several chairs and a table, on which were listening devices and a microphone, allowing for communication with the officers in the interrogation room at any time.

Lin Xiuyi walked to the glass and her gaze fell on the interrogation room next door.

It was a standard interrogation room, with snow-white walls and glaring incandescent lights hanging from the ceiling. There was a rectangular table with a chair on each side.

The table was empty except for a glass of water sitting quietly there.

Otsuka sat on one side of the table.

He was a somewhat颓废-looking man, around thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old, of medium build and rather thin, wearing a wrinkled dark blue shirt.

His hair was a little messy, his eyes were sunken, and his dark circles were very obvious, clearly indicating that he hadn't slept well for the past few days.

His hands were cuffed in front of him and placed on the table. His fingers unconsciously rubbed the metal surface of the handcuffs, making a soft rubbing sound.

Lin Xiuyi frowned slightly and continued to observe.

Inspector Megure sat opposite Otsuka, holding a case file in his hand, repeatedly asking questions about the details of the day of the incident.

His voice came through the listening device, carrying a hint of weariness and helplessness.

“Otsuka, you said you didn’t do it on purpose, that you just bumped into it accidentally.”

"Then how do you explain that you parked your car on the street corner in advance and waited for almost twenty minutes?"

"As I said, I was a little tired that day and wanted to rest by the roadside for a while."

Otsuka's answer was exactly the same as before, calm and without any fluctuation in his tone.
"I had just started my car to leave when I saw it rushing towards me. I didn't have time to brake and crashed into it. It was that simple."

"But the witness said that you suddenly accelerated after you saw his car."

“The witness must have been mistaken,” Otsuka shrugged. “How could he have seen clearly from that distance? Besides, that old man is so old, how good could his eyesight be?”

"you!"

Inspector Megure took a deep breath, suppressing his anger.

He had asked the same question many times, but Otsuka always gave the same answer, repeating the same thing over and over again.

The bystanders could only prove that Otsuka started the car after seeing Mr. Arai, but whether he deliberately accelerated and crashed into him or accidentally failed to brake, it was impossible to judge from the outside.

Otsuka insisted it was an accident, so they couldn't do anything about it.

In the observation room, Kogoro Mouri watched this scene and couldn't help but curl his lip: "This guy is really stubborn. Even at a time like this, he's still putting on a brave face."

"Of course he has to hold on."

Lin Xiuyi's gaze remained fixed on Otsuka, observing every subtle change in his expression.

"If it is admitted to being intentional, then it is murder, and the sentence is at least ten years."

"If you insist it was an accident, at most it's considered a traffic accident, and you'll be released in two or three years. If you were in that situation, you would also hold out."

"What do we do then?" Yukiko leaned closer, also staring at the glass. "We can't just let him get away with this, can we? He killed someone!"

Lin Xiuyi didn't answer immediately. Instead, he thought for a moment and turned to look at Officer Matsumoto: "Where is Mrs. Arai?"

"Because there was not enough evidence to prove that she was involved in the case, she has been sent home."

Officer Matsumoto answered, his tone tinged with a hint of helplessness.
“We can only detain her for 24 hours. Once that time is up, we have to release her if there is no new evidence. She has been back for several hours now.”

Lin Xiu nodded, her gaze returning to Otsuka.
"If we want Otsuka to admit that he deliberately hit someone, we'll probably have to see what Mrs. Arai has to say."

"As long as we find evidence linking the two, such as traces on the yacht, their conversations, or some other incriminating evidence, we can definitely get them to confess."

"What about Otsuka?" Eri Kisaki frowned. "Aren't you going to interrogate him? Are you just going to wait like this?"

No, keep asking.

Lin Xiuyi suddenly revealed a wicked smile, a smile that startled Yukiko who was standing next to him.

She had known Lin Xiuyi for so long, and she had rarely seen him show such an expression. (End of Chapter)