Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 264 Assassination Target
"Q, Uncle Mori!" Conan suddenly shouted, startling everyone.

"You brat, aren't you annoying?"

“Auntie Eri’s name has a Q.”

When Eri Kisaki's name appeared, Kogoro Mouri's expression froze, and he immediately realized why Conan had brought up Eri Kisaki.

Conan continued to explain: "The character '妃' represents the Queen in playing cards, which is the Q. If the opponent leaves a small sword, which represents the K, then the opponent's next target is very likely to be Eri Kisaki, whose name contains the character '妃'!"

"But Eri and Murakami shouldn't have any grudges, right? If they were to make a move, they would probably target Inspector Megure or Mr. Mori, who were witnesses to the events."

Noticing everyone's gaze, Joel continued, "Besides, Murakami Takeshi was just released from prison, right? It must have been yesterday. He simply didn't have time to plan these things."

"That seems to make sense." Conan, who had just gotten a clue, was confused again. Aunt Joel's words made a lot of sense. If it was Murakami Takeshi, how could the other party know Inspector Megure's habits? It takes time to scout a place. This is too strange.

It was already nine o'clock. Without thinking, Kogoro Mouri took out his mobile phone and dialed his wife's law firm.

"Beep beep beep beep."

The call went unanswered, and Kogoro Mori's forehead was covered in cold sweat.

"Although I don't know if the suspect is Murakami Takeshi, I'm sure something might have happened to Eri." Kogoro Mouri exclaimed, and then turned to go find his wife.

I had only run a couple of steps when the phone rang.

"Hey, Eri, are you alright?" Kogoro Mouri asked with surprise as he answered the phone.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Mori, Attorney Kisaki is in court and doesn't have time to answer the phone right now."

"what?"

Kogoro Mouri breathed a sigh of relief, but was also a little worried.

An awkward situation fell over the room. Inspector Megure coughed twice and said, "Alright, I think everyone was too hasty. We don't know how things will turn out yet. Keep an eye on things with Eri, Mori-kun, these next few days."

Takagi, go and investigate Murakami Takeshi's background, see what he's been up to these past few days. Mori and Natsukawa, you two can go home now. I'll invite you over after I've compiled more information.

There are too few clues now, and many inferences are self-contradictory.

Inspector Megure, true to his rank as a police inspector, spoke with perfect clarity and immediately attributed the numerous flaws in his reasoning to the suspect's lack of criminal activity.

Natsukawa and Kogoro Mouri nodded and left one after the other.

Once outside the room, Conan pulled Natsukawa aside and whispered, "Uncle Natsukawa, should we investigate the knife shop? This type of knife is rare; maybe we can find some."

Xia Chuan's lips twitched. Why did he have to be asked to do this? He wanted to refuse, but seeing Conan's expectant look, he finally agreed.

After dropping Joel off at home to keep the two children company, Natsukawa and Conan headed out immediately.

Fearing that the case would implicate Eri Kisaki, the Mori father and daughter did nothing but rush to the law firm to wait for her.

"Uncle Xia Chuan, where should we start our search?"

The incident occurred in Beika Town, and Conan thought he could start the investigation there. The suspect might not expect them to start with knives, and it's possible that he bought a small sword nearby.

"Wait a minute, let's go have lunch first, and then we'll look for something."

Xia Chuan glanced at his phone, waiting for Frank's message.

When he left the hospital, he had already asked Frank to investigate the identity and address of the sommelier the Maori family knew. Frank should be able to do it soon.

Conan was somewhat reluctant, but an empty stomach would indeed affect his thinking, and there were so many knife shops in Tokyo, there was no use in rushing.

The two found a restaurant and had a quick lunch. Xia Chuan finally received a message from Frank.

Based on the information he provided, Frank investigated and found a target who fit the requirements: the murderer was named Sawaki Kohei, 36 years old, a professional sommelier.

I currently work at a French restaurant in Beika and live in a studio apartment in Beika-cho 1-chome.

Along with my personal information, I also received a medical record.

According to the above record, three months ago, Sawaki Kohei's taste buds were damaged.

I had several follow-up visits during this period, but the treatment was not ideal. The doctor has issued a diagnosis confirming that my taste buds have no chance of recovery.

As expected of Frank, he even found out about this.

Natsukawa sent the other party an "OK" and then drove to Beika Town 1-chome.

Conan didn't care where he started his investigation; starting in Beika Town was indeed a good choice, and it seemed that Natsukawa had the same idea.

The location where Inspector Megure was attacked was also a park in Beika Town, and given that the attacker was very familiar with the roads, it's quite possible that he really was from Beika Town.

As for Murakami Takeshi, we'll have to wait for news from the police. If they are connected to Murakami Takeshi, then the other party must have accomplices.

Beikacho is a relatively prosperous commercial street with a large flow of people and many shops.

It's really hard to say where knives are bought; they could be from supermarkets, hardware stores, knife shops, or even small private workshops.

That little sword looked ordinary, and it was really hard to say where it came from.

The investigation was tedious and somewhat tiring.

By evening, after visiting no fewer than twenty shops related to swords, the owners of each shop shook their heads and said they didn't know anything about them after seeing the photos.

"If it's the last one, let's go back."

Xia Chuan rubbed his temples. He should have asked Anya to accompany Conan. Why did he agree to this? He would have been better off spending that time at home with Joel.

Oh, Joel went to work this afternoon, that's alright.

"it is good."

Conan thought finding clues would be difficult, but he didn't expect it to be this difficult.

In the past, he could find clues just by going out or someone saying a few words. What happened today?

The two arrived at the last store, which should be the last hardware store in 1-chome.

"If this place still doesn't have it, then we'll leave it to Inspector Megure."

"Hmm." Conan nodded; there was nothing he could do about it.

"Gentlemen, is there anything you need?"

The hardware store owner was very hospitable. When he saw the two of them come in, he assumed that a family had bought a new house and was coming to buy some household tools.

"Do you have this little sword here?" Conan asked, showing the photo.

"Small sword?"

The shop owner squinted at the photo, then turned to look at the grid frame behind him.

On the shelf, rows of kitchen knives are arranged in a neat and orderly fashion.

Most of the kitchen knives here are single-edged, with only two or three being different styles, being double-edged and resembling small swords.

"Yes, this is it!" Conan's eyes lit up. After searching for a long time, he finally found it.

They look exactly the same, and the handles are identical.

"Ten thousand yen per hand, how many hands do you need, sir?" the shopkeeper asked with a smile, rubbing his hands together.

"Actually, we want to know who..." Before Conan could finish speaking, Natsukawa had already taken out money and handed it to the shopkeeper: "Take one first, and come back if you like it."

Xia Chuan took the small sword and examined it for a while. "By the way, is this a kitchen knife? It's a bit unusual. Did anyone else buy it besides me?"

"Speaking of which, this kind of kitchen knife was actually designed by my son, who graduated with a design degree. Only our family sells it, and its appearance also has a special meaning."

Having confirmed that both Natsukawa and Conan were captivated by his story, the shop owner continued, "This kind of kitchen knife symbolizes that chefs, like swordsmen, can possess unwavering perseverance and the courage to innovate."

"."

Even a kitchen knife has so many intricacies.

"Other people's fruit knives (pfft) and kitchen knives sell for seven or eight thousand. Our kitchen knives are a bit more expensive, but there's a reason why they're more expensive."

The shop owner clearly wanted to boast about his son's design, but Xia Chuan wasn't interested anymore. He interrupted directly, "Has anyone else bought this kind of kitchen knife recently?"

"Hehe, is that the one in the photo?" The shop owner smiled confidently: "I'm not bragging, this kind of water knife is very special, and many cooking enthusiasts like it, so sales are pretty good."

Let me think... I must have sold about a dozen this month."

"Do you remember what they look like?" Conan's head sank when he heard "a dozen or so".

"Of course I don't remember!" the shop owner said breathlessly, then asked with a curious look, "Why are you asking this? Although you don't have to sign a confidentiality agreement when you buy things here, we can't just tell our customers' things to others."

"I'll buy two more and give them away as gifts."

"I certainly can't remember what they look like, but our hardware store has CCTV footage."

The hardware store owner was very attentive; the 30,000 yen fee made him abandon any notion of customer privacy and allow the two to sit at the front desk and review the surveillance footage.

After reviewing the surveillance footage, Conan was completely bewildered.

"Are they all women? And why is the surveillance footage only for seven days?"

"Is there a problem?" the shop owner asked matter-of-factly. "In Japan, it's not like all men are out earning money while women stay home as housewives. It's normal for it to be all women, right? It's you who are like that."
As for surveillance footage, do you know how big a storage device you need to buy to store more than seven days' worth of footage? I don't have that kind of money.

The hardware store owner curled his lip. Seven days would actually be enough. Besides, he ran a hardware store, not a gold shop, so no one would choose to rob him here.

"Cough cough."

Conan smiled apologetically, but this made him feel a little uncomfortable.

Based on Inspector Megure's description of the suspect's build and physique, the suspect should be male, which does not match the description of the women.

“The surveillance footage is from the last seven days, so maybe the other party bought it seven days ago,” Xia Chuan whispered to Conan, then asked, “Since most of the knife buyers are women, have you encountered any men who came to buy knives who were at least 1.75 meters tall and thin?”

Or is there any really strange guy?

"Uh"

After racking his brains for a while, the shop owner suddenly realized and said, "I know, so you're looking for him!"

"You found out?" Xia Chuan's eyes widened. Could it be that Ze Mugong really did slip up when buying the knife?

"Yes, that man came to our store eight days ago to buy a kitchen knife. He went straight for this knife when he came, so I guess he had been here before."

However, he was wearing a mask and a hat, making it impossible to identify him, which is why I remember him so vividly. He was rather thin, and probably around 1.75 meters tall.

The hardware store owner continued to recall, then shook his head, ultimately unable to provide any further useful information.

My physical features were mostly obscured, and although I had some recollection of them, eight days had passed, and much of that memory had faded.

"The trail has gone cold, damn it!" Conan was furious and wanted to continue the investigation, but he had spent a lot of time watching the surveillance footage, and it was already past eight o'clock. Ran had already called to tell him to go home.

Half an hour later.

Maori Detective Agency.

Conan ran up to Ran and asked her if anything had happened after she met Eri Kisaki that afternoon.

He was still very concerned about this, worried that Eri Kisaki might be in danger.

Although he didn't like this old hag, she was, after all, Xiaolan's mother, and he couldn't let anything happen to her.

"No, we're probably overthinking it. Nothing happened to Mom, and this matter is probably unrelated to Murakami Takeshi. As Joel said before, he hasn't been out of prison for long, so it's impossible for him to have gathered information about Inspector Megure's morning run."

This is indeed a problem.

Conan silently returned to his room, his mind still preoccupied with the case.

Although the lead through the hardware store had run dry, he felt it wasn't completely gone. He would ask again tomorrow what time the other party appeared at his hardware store, hoping to get surveillance footage of the other party's appearance from another store.

Another point.

He can also wait for the next case to happen.

Since they left behind distinctive items, there is a high possibility of a series of crimes.

Of course, this was definitely not his primary desire. His greatest desire was to apprehend the other party as quickly as possible and prevent them from committing a second crime.

As for Natsukawa, he's already considering whether to let Ai Haibara stay at home for a few days.

After all, going to Professor Agasa's house, I don't know if I'll get caught up in the consequences.

Forget it, I've already used up all my excuses for not letting her study it a few days ago, so it seems like there's no reason to stop her now.

Xia Chuan went up to the second floor and quietly opened the bedroom door of the two girls.

Anya was fast asleep; she didn't know when half of the blanket had been kicked off the bed.

Ai Haibara's sleeping posture is fine.

After confirming that both of them were asleep, Xia Chuan returned to his own room.

I had just returned to my room when my phone rang.

It's a text message.

In recent times, communication devices have developed rapidly, evolving from the big mobile phones to ordinary PHS phones, which are small, portable, and much cheaper. Apart from the fact that the signal is a major problem in remote areas, there are no other major issues.

Xia Chuan has been receiving a lot of harassing text messages lately, and he thought this time would be the same.

Out of caution, he still prepared to carefully check the contents.

However, this time the text message wasn't sent by random people, but by the winery.

The text message was from Gin, and the subject line clearly indicated that it was about a mission.

The target of the mission is an entrepreneur named Asahi Katsuyoshi.

It also included a photo and some personal information about Katsuyoshi Asahi.

"The owner of the Water Crystal shop?"

Xia Chuan frowned. He had seen the news about the water crystal by chance when visiting shops that afternoon. It seemed to be an underwater restaurant.

The restaurant is located underwater, allowing diners to enjoy watching the fish swimming in the sea.

(Ask for monthly ticket)

(End of this chapter)