Detective Conan: The Ultimate Growth Space

At that moment, a policeman ran in and said, "Officer Yokomizo, I found some bloodstains in the cracks of the floor in the entryway."

"what?"

Officer Yokomizo arrived at the entrance.

The policeman pointed to a crack in the floor and said, "Right here. I suspect this is the primary crime scene."

at this time.

Another policeman came over and said, "Officer Yokomizo, I found a wooden knife with bloodstains on it near the escape stairs."

As he spoke, he handed the wooden knife to Officer Yokomizo.

Inspector Yokomizo asked, "Mrs. Shibata, do you have any wooden swords at home?"

Kyoko Shibata nodded and said, "Yes, we have a wooden sword at home, which is placed on the shoe cabinet by the door. My husband uses it to scare away salesmen who come to our door."

Inspector Yokomizo nodded and said, "The wooden sword is gone now, and it's been found on the emergency staircase. By the way, Mrs. Shibata, how many telephones do you have at home?"

Kyoko Shibata replied, "We have two telephones in our house, one in the bedroom and one in the living room."

Inspector Yokomizo smiled and said, "I see. So, you are the murderer."

He pointed at Hattori Shizuka and said, "Ms. Ikenami, that's you."

Kogoro Mouri exclaimed, "That's impossible, Inspector Yokomizo!"

Inspector Yokomizo did not answer, but continued, "You called beforehand to confirm the location of the photo. In fact, you were here this morning. You and Mr. Shibata had an argument in the entryway about the photo. In the end, you grabbed a wooden sword from the shoe cabinet and hit Mr. Shibata."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "At the time, you thought Mr. Shibata was dead, so you hurriedly left. But soon Mr. Shibata woke up and crawled to the living room to make a phone call. At this point, he was getting weaker and weaker. He happened to see the book in front of the bookshelf, and with his last bit of strength, he knocked the book over and grabbed the photo in it."

Kogoro Mouri said doubtfully, "No way."

Officer Yokomizo continued, "There must be some secret behind this photo, which is why she went to find Mr. Mori again, hoping to find the photo. Alright, Ms. Ikenami, come back to the police station with me now."

Hattori Shizuka smiled and said, "I refuse to go with you."

When everyone was surprised to see it.

She continued, "If you want me to be questioned, you should first apply for an arrest warrant from the judge before making this request. However, to get an arrest warrant issued by the court, there needs to be sufficient evidence. Based on the current evidence, it will be very difficult to get the judge to approve it."

She paused for a moment, then added, "Of course, if Mrs. Shibata sues us for trespassing, that's a different story."

Everyone was quite surprised to see each other smiling.

Zhiyong said, "Just as this lady said, Officer Yokomizo, you don't have enough evidence. Also, I'd like to ask you two questions!"

Officer Yokomizo asked in confusion, "What?"

Zhiyong asked, "The first question is, you said that this lady thought the other party was dead and left in a hurry. In order to get the photos back, she asked Uncle Maoli to come. Isn't that a bit strange?"

Inspector Yokomizo asked, "What's strange?"

Zhiyong explained, "Since she wanted to retrieve the photos, she had already killed Mr. Shibata. Why didn't she look for them herself instead of going all the way to Tokyo to hire a famous detective?"

Inspector Yokomizo hesitated and said, "Well... maybe she was scared at the time and left in a hurry. After calming down, she wanted to get the photos back, but she was afraid, so she went to ask Mr. Mori for help."

Zhiyong shrugged and said, "Do you believe that explanation yourself? Anyway, whatever. Now I'll ask a second question. I agree that Mr. Shibata climbed into the living room to make a phone call, but you said that he knocked over the book to get the photos because he couldn't move. That's what I find strange."

Officer Yokomizo asked, puzzled, "What's so strange about that?"

……

Chapter 368 What an Embarrassing Situation for Officer Yokomizo (Bonus Chapter for Review)

Zhi Yong said speechlessly, "Officer, the deceased's body was so far away from the bookshelf. Did he have special abilities? How could he not only knock over the books from such a distance, but also get the photos?"

Ignoring Officer Yokomizo's embarrassment, he continued, "Also, the bookshelf and the telephone are clearly not in the same direction. If he wanted to make a call, he wouldn't have passed by the bookshelf, so how could he have just knocked over the book and gotten the photo? Was he there to make a call or to get the photo?"

Zhiyong really wanted to say, "Are you blind?"

However, it wouldn't be right to be rude to the other person, so I didn't say anything sarcastic.

Although Officer Yokomizo was a little embarrassed, he quickly recovered.

He asked, "What are your thoughts?"

Zhiyong replied, "One thing is certain: the murderer is among Madam Jinghua, Mr. Yoshikawa, and Madam Shibata."

Inspector Yokomizo asked, "Mrs. Shibata didn't have time to commit the crime, and only Ms. Shizuka and Mr. Yoshikawa are suspected."

Zhiyong said, "Madam Jinghua did tell quite a few lies today. For example, you said you couldn't cook, but you immediately knew what kind of fish was on the table. You said you didn't know Mr. Shibata's address, but you called him before. Also, you said you were single when you were married."

Kogoro Mouri asked in surprise, "What? Married?"

Zhiyong nodded and said, "Yes, the band-aid on her ring finger was to cover up the ring mark. For this reason, she also put band-aids on her index finger and thumb."

Hattori Shizuka smiled and said, "Even if there are ring marks, it might just be because I'm divorced, so it's nothing to have ring marks on my fingers."

Kogoro Mouri nodded and said, "Yes, yes."

Zhiyong shrugged and said, "If that's what you want to say, then whatever!"

Inspector Yokomizo asked, "So she's the murderer?"

Zhiyong shook his head and said, "Although Madam Jinghua lied, it has nothing to do with the case. She must have had another purpose in saying that. She just didn't expect to be unlucky enough to encounter a murder case."

Inspector Yokomizo then asked, "If it's not her, then it must be Mr. Yoshikawa?"

Yoshikawa Takezo hurriedly said, "You can't say things like that. How could I possibly kill someone?"

Zhiyong shook his head again and said, "Mr. Yoshikawa and Mr. Shibata's deaths are indeed somewhat related, but he was not the one who killed them."

Inspector Yokomizo asked in bewilderment, "It wasn't Ms. Shizuka, nor Mr. Yoshikawa, so could it be Mrs. Shibata? That's impossible; she didn't have time to kill anyone."

Zhiyong shook his head and said, "Officer, I would like to ask, when was Mr. Shibata murdered?"

Inspector Yokomizo explained, "We've already deduced that Mr. Shibata was murdered between 8:00 and 8:45. A TV episode takes about 45 minutes to play. The restaurant's video recording function was on but not off. This means that Mr. Shibata turned on the video recording function at 8:00, but he was murdered before he could turn it off."

Zhiyong shook his head and said, "That's not how it's calculated."

Officer Yokomizo asked, puzzled, "What's the problem?"

Zhiyong explained, "The fact that the morning newspaper was on the dining table and that 'The Legend of Swordsmanship' was recorded means that Mr. Shibata was still alive at 8 o'clock. Isn't that a bit far-fetched? The morning newspaper is in the mailbox. Whether it's 7 a.m. or 7 p.m., what difference does it make if the morning newspaper is on the dining table?"

Inspector Yokomizo replied, "That's true, but 'Legend of the Sword Hero' can only be recorded at eight o'clock, so at least at eight o'clock, Mr. Shibata was still alive!"

Zhiyong continued, "That doesn't make sense either. If the murderer recorded the program at 8 o'clock after killing Cong in order to delay the time of death, that would make sense. Also, if the time was calculated and the video recorder was set to record automatically at 8 o'clock, that would also be fine. Therefore, the time of death in the deduction is definitely wrong."

Inspector Yokomizo then asked, "So, when do you think Mr. Shibata was killed?"

Kogoro Mouri replied, "We consider the food on the table to be breakfast, mainly because of that morning newspaper. What if it's not breakfast, but a midnight snack?"

Officer Yokomizo asked in confusion, "Late-night snack?"

Zhiyong nodded and said, "Yes, Mr. Shibata returned at three o'clock in the morning. If he was delayed for a while, such as taking a bath, it would be close to five o'clock. If Mr. Shibata was allowed to eat at that time, it is not impossible that Mrs. Shibata would kill him and arrange all this while he was eating half of his meal."

Kyoko Shibata said angrily, "Even if I arranged all of this and had the video recorder record it automatically, what about the morning paper? When I came back, you were already in my house. I simply didn't have time to put the morning paper in the dining room."

Zhiyong shook his head and said, "Mrs. Shibata, your friend said that she took you downstairs after seven o'clock, but seven o'clock and seven ten o'clock are both after seven o'clock."

Kogoro Mori nodded and said, "Yes, if Mrs. Shibata had returned before us and arranged everything, you were about to call the police when Mr. Yoshikawa left a message on the phone saying he would come to pick up Mr. Shibata later."

Zhiyong continued, "That's why you abandoned your original plan, left home, and waited at the emergency staircase. After all, if you returned after Mr. Yoshikawa arrived, the police wouldn't suspect anything."

Kyoko Shibata angrily said, "What do you mean by this? You call yourself a famous detective, yet you're spouting nonsense without any evidence, trying to frame me for the crime."

Zhiyong shook his head and said, "We're not talking nonsense. Mrs. Shibata, you put Mrs. Jinghua's photo into Mr. Shibata's hands. I don't think it was just to frame Mrs. Jinghua. I know the reason very well. But it is precisely because of this that I noticed Mr. Shibata's right hand."

Officer Yokomizo asked in confusion, "The right hand?"

Zhiyong nodded and said, "Yes, Officer Yokomizo, open Mr. Shibata's right hand and see what's in his palm."

Completely bewildered, Officer Yokomizo knelt down and forcefully pried open Shibata Shiro's right hand.

He exclaimed in surprise, "There is a small, circular bloodstain on Mr. Shibata's right palm."

……

Chapter 369 A Mother and Son with Vastly Different Differences (2/4)

P.S.: Making up for the missed updates.

……

Zhiyong continued, "Then look at his left hand. There's a band-aid on his ring finger, but his left hand is covered in blood, yet there's no blood on the band-aid."

Officer Yokomizo went to the left side of the body and found it just as Tomoyu had said.

He exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be... that small circle on Mr. Shibata's right palm is his wedding ring?"

Zhiyong replied, "That's right. When Mrs. Shibata returned, she was very surprised to find that her husband's body was not in the entrance hall, but in the living room. She also noticed that Mr. Shibata's ring was missing from his left hand."

She paused for a moment, then continued, "She looked around and found the ring in Mr. Shibata's right hand. She took the ring and wanted to put it back on Mr. Shibata's finger, but at that moment, Mr. Shibata's finger became stiff, and she couldn't put it on at all."

Kogoro Mouri also said, "In order to avoid being discovered, she took the ring and put a band-aid on Mr. Shibata's left ring finger to cover up the ring mark. In order to avoid attracting attention, she also put a band-aid on Mr. Shibata's little finger."

Zhiyong also said, "At this time, she also discovered a problem. After she took the ring, Mr. Shibata's hand shape seemed to be holding something. If there was nothing in his hand, it would arouse the suspicion of the police. So, she casually took the photo in the book and put it in Mr. Shibata's hand."

Goro Mori continued, "The whole process should be like this: in the morning, while Mr. Shibata was eating, she killed him and then left. When she returned in the evening, she put the morning newspaper on the table, discovered the problem with the ring, dealt with the ring issue, overheard Mr. Yoshikawa's phone call, and then went to the emergency exit staircase to wait for Mr. Yoshikawa to discover the body."

Zhiyong and Kogoro Mori recounted the whole story, one after the other.

Inspector Yokomizo smiled and said, "I see. That should be the general outline. Mrs. Shibata, is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Kyoko Shibata kept a cold expression and didn't say anything.

Officer Yokomizo loudly ordered, "The case is almost closed now. Everyone, find the ring."

Zhiyong said, "Humans are strange creatures. They are unwilling to easily discard anything that poses a danger to themselves. There is blood on that ring. Even if you wipe the blood off, it will still be detected once a luminol reaction is performed. You can't leave the ring at home because it has been stained with blood. You wouldn't dare to throw it away for fear that someone else will throw it away. So, the ring is on you right now. Am I right?"

Kyoko Shibata said blankly, "People really shouldn't do bad things, but why has my husband and Mr. Yoshikawa been gambling in groups, and the amount involved is huge, yet it has never been exposed? This is so unfair."

Zhiyong said, "Your husband probably lost all the items in your house, such as the LED screen and speakers, to Yoshikawa and the others."

Kyoko Shibata nodded and said, "Yes, I sold my computer, jewelry, car, LD, speakers, one by one. It was all because of gambling. My husband even said that he would sell my golf equipment next, as well as the expensive sword that my father gave me as a wedding gift. I just can't stand this kind of life anymore."

Officer Yokomizo sighed and said, "In that case, come back to the police station with me."

Kyoko Shibata nodded blankly and said, "Okay, I'll go change my clothes and then I'll go to the police station with you."

Zhiyong suddenly thought of something.

Just as Kyoko Shibata was about to enter the bedroom.