No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

Conan then added insult to injury by saying:

"But isn't that strange? The assistant put out the cigarette out of respect for the fans, so the assistant must have seen the murderer, and the murderer must have seen the assistant as well. But if the murderer is a fan, how could she mistake one person for another? The deceased had short hair, while Mitsui-neechan has long hair."

Mitsui barely suppressed the urge to strangle Conan, then smiled and said:

"Little brother, the murderer is probably nearsighted or has night blindness, so it's not surprising that he attacked me after seeing my sweater."

Kitahara Maki drank her hot coffee without saying a word. After all, the most crucial question now was how she had killed her assistant.

Chapter 353 The Switched CD

The employee lounge is on the fifth floor. Going down to the parking lot from the fifth floor, killing someone, and then running back up—that's incredibly fast. As for ruling out the elevator, it's possible that only the elevator's security cameras are on at night. So, to get down from the fifth floor to the first floor without being caught on camera, the only options are the stairs or going out the window.

Kitahara Masaki first went to check on Ms. Mitsui's lounge. The windows were completely locked, so rappelling down from the window was not feasible. That left only the stairs.

"Kitahara-senpai, since the suspect is Ms. Mitsui, wouldn't she only be able to go down to the first floor by taking the stairs?"

"Yes, unless this building is some kind of secret passage. And to make a round trip within five minutes is no easy feat."

Based on the time of death, it can be deduced that the murder must have occurred during the early morning radio broadcast. The only time Ms. Mitsui disappeared from everyone's sight was when she said she was going to the lounge to listen to a CD brought by a newcomer—a mere five minutes.

Kitahara Maki leaned against the wall, then suddenly turned to Takagi and asked:

"Takagi, how's your running speed?"

"Hmm? I think my running speed is pretty good."

"Really? Then try it now and see if you can run back and forth in five minutes. Remember to run to the crime scene in the parking lot and then run back."

Takagi realized things were going badly. If he couldn't even outrun an ordinary girl, he'd become a laughingstock in the police station. But since it was for solving the case, he had to give it his all. With that thought, Takagi stared ahead, poised to start running.

"Three, two, one, run!"

Kitahara Masaki waited for a while, keeping track of his time, before realizing that Mitsui, being a long-time employee, would definitely know how to find the shortest route, while Takagi, who was completely unfamiliar with the terrain, would probably just find a staircase and run straight to the first floor without thinking twice.

So Kitahara Masaki asked Chiba to get a floor plan of the Nichiuri TV station, and then started looking for the shortest route on the map. After finding the shortest route, which was like navigating a maze, Takagi finally ran back. He was panting heavily as he ran at full speed, supporting himself on his knees, with an expression that said, "I can definitely run faster than her."

"Kitahara-senpai! How long have I been running?"

"Hmm? Not bad, you ran for seven minutes."

"What! How is this possible! I'm already at my fastest speed! I've been working out regularly!"

Kitahara Masaki shook his head. Inspector Megure had just found Ms. Mitsui's resume. This young woman in her twenties was a member of the track and field team in junior high and high school, and even participated in various competitions and won many awards. Even now that she has become a female host, she still has the habit of exercising.

"Ahem, I didn't tell you the shortest route from the fifth floor to the first floor just now, so you probably took a long detour."

Sato arrived with the recording tape of the early morning radio broadcast. Seeing that Takagi was exhausted, he assumed that Takagi had just gone after the suspect.

“Perfect! Let Sato handle this. Having a policewoman do it will make our arguments more convincing in court.”

Takagi sat to one side, wondering if he had made a wasted trip, but when he remembered that Kitahara Masaki was a police inspector, he immediately dared not say anything.

"Takagi, what are you standing there for? I'm going to listen to the entire early morning radio tape. I'll leave the timing for Sato to you."

"Okay! I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"

Upon hearing that he had been assigned a task that would allow him to be with Sato, Takagi immediately stopped feeling tired and took out his phone to start timing.

Kitahara Masaki called Vermouth and Conan over to listen to the tape together, having already forgotten about Uncle Mori.

"By the way, Kitahara-kun, if the murderer is Ms. Mitsui, what would be the murder weapon she used?"

Vermouth smiled; she had already thought of this question.

"High heels, huh? The murderer must have run to the parking lot carrying the shoes and then smashed the victim to death with them."

"That's right. The attack was very quick. I guess the killer shouted before even getting close to the victim and then knocked the victim to death with a shoe heel. But we can't convict her based on the shoes now, since she hid them in a corner of the TV station on her way back, or even threw them away in some secret place. In short, she has changed into new shoes now."

Conan finally gave up on investigating the murder weapon, but this reminded Kitahara Masaki of something. He took Conan to do something first, and then came back to listen to the tape.

While the three were listening to the tape, Ms. Mitsui, though now a suspect, could still freely enter and leave the TV station without evidence. She immediately grabbed the CD the newcomer had given her, because she had gone to commit murder during her five-minute disappearance and hadn't listened to it at all. Now she wanted to listen to it before it was taken away.

Bang bang bang.

Ms. Mitsui opened the door to the lounge and saw the police. Mori and his group were standing outside the door; basically, everyone had gathered in front of her lounge.

“Ms. Mitsui, if you turn yourself in now, your lawyer might be able to negotiate a shorter sentence for you.”

"What are you saying, Officer Kitahara? I've been at the TV station all night, but I left for a short while to listen to a new artist's CD. How could I possibly kill someone in five minutes?"

"That's not necessarily true. Someone like you, with years of track and field experience and familiarity with the inside workings of the TV station, can indeed make a round trip in less than five minutes if you find the shortest route."

Takagi also filmed a video of Sato running back and forth, which did indeed take about five minutes.

"Okay, okay, I knew my affiliation with the track and field team would be brought up, but you don't have any evidence! The police can't just arrest someone without proof!"

Kitahara Masaki walked to her side, picked up a CD from the table, and asked:

"So you really did listen to this CD during those five minutes?"

"Of course, but the newcomers this time are really bad. I only listened to the intro and then stopped."

"I see. So the newcomer's voice sounds like a tone-deaf kid?"

"Yes! That's right, newcomers of that level should resign as soon as possible."

Kitahara Masaki laughed uncontrollably after hearing Mitsui's assessment, while Conan's face darkened.

"what happened?"

"Hahaha!!! We switched that CD a long time ago. The one you just listened to was a hastily sung version by this kid, hahahaha!!!"

The entire lounge was filled with a cheerful atmosphere, except for Mitsui and Conan, whose faces were all dark.

Chapter 354 Sprint Champion

Mitsui thought she was fast enough, but Kitahara Masaki had already swapped the CD for her. Now she was standing there like an idiot, looking like two unfortunate brothers standing next to Conan, who also had a dark expression.

"So what? I only missed listening to that CD for five minutes in the lounge. You can't arrest me without evidence. Even though I used to be a member of the track and field team, I can't necessarily run as fast as a policeman."

Kitahara Masaki shook his head, indicating that he had already found the evidence, but he just wanted to give you a chance to confess in front of so many people.

"Conan, stop looking so sullen. Didn't we just hear something in the radio recording?"

Conan had been waiting impatiently, and as soon as he heard Kitahara Masaki's permission, he immediately pressed the record button for a short segment.

"Mr. Mori, if the robber is wearing a mask, like the criminal in the breaking news just now, wearing the Tokyo Gourmet Mask, will the detective still be able to identify him?"

"Ahem, of course. We can identify the prisoner from his fingerprints and physical characteristics."

Click.

After playing the recording, Ms. Mitsui, unaware of the problem, asked:

"Is there anything wrong with this conversation? The breaking news about the convenience store robbery was broadcast over the loudspeakers in the TV station building; anyone inside the building could hear it."

"That's right, the loudspeaker is for radio hosts to keep up with breaking news and remind listeners, or to provide background information for the radio station. But when this breaking news segment was broadcast, it was never mentioned that the robber was wearing a Tokyo Gourmet mask."

Mitsui smiled smugly, clearly amused by Conan's words. She waved her phone, indicating that she could see it on her phone.

"The case was also reported on my phone. I saw this detail on the news on my phone, is that not allowed?"

"Of course it's not impossible, but at that time—although there were related reports online, they didn't say what kind of mask the robber was wearing. In other words, it was impossible for Mitsui-neechan to know what the mask looked like on her mobile phone at that moment."

Mitsui suddenly remembered where she had seen the mask and what it looked like. At that moment, she took a few steps back and saw the young security guard on duty on the first floor in the crowd.

"Oh—it seems you've remembered. Back then, there wasn't any relevant information online, but you knew about the mask design so early on, so you must have found out about it from somewhere else."

So this "elsewhere" is the security office on the first floor. Just a few minutes after Ms. Mitsui pretended to rest, a friend of the security guard called her, saying that he had just witnessed a convenience store robbery, and the robber was wearing a Tokyo Gourmet mask. He was finally subdued by a man and a woman. The man was named Hattori Heiji, and the woman was named Toyama Kazuha. They were a detective couple from Osaka.

“We checked the security guard’s call log. Just as he was talking to his friend, you also took a five-minute break. Do you understand, Ms. Mitsui? You admitted on the radio that you weren’t in the fifth-floor lounge at all, but quickly ran to the vicinity of the security room on the first floor. But—you managed to evade the security guard’s sight. What were you doing there?”

The best solution for Ms. Mitsui now is to admit that she was an accomplice to the robber, which is why she knew the design of the mask. However, under the interrogation of Kitahara Masaki and Conan, Ms. Mitsui's defenses finally crumbled, and she could no longer hold on, so she could only kneel down helplessly on the ground.

Kitahara Masaki looked at the female host, whose running speed was almost as fast as Sato's, and thought to himself, "You could probably succeed in anything else, but why do you have to kill someone in front of the police and detectives? If I let her go, I'd be making a fool of myself." Therefore, he and Conan would definitely do everything in their power to solve this case.

You've really messed up, woman. It's ridiculous.

"Tell me, why did you want to kill your own assistant? Judging from the fact that she put out her cigarette when she saw you, didn't she respect you quite a bit?"

"Respect? What a joke! She doesn't respect me at all! If she respected me, how could she have stolen my boyfriend!"

Ah, this is another classic emotional entanglement. It seems that this kind of thing will still happen no matter when.

Kitahara Masaki shook his head at her, telling the police officers to quickly take away this criminal who was practically admitting his crimes.

“Brother Kitahara, we’ll head back now. We’ll interrogate this criminal again tomorrow.”

"Yes, Kitahara-senpai, we'll head back now."

us?

After the case was solved, everyone's attention turned to Takagi and Sato. Compared to the female criminal whose man was stolen, the gossipy people were more interested in hearing about Takagi and Sato. In fact, some people in the Metropolitan Police Department still had illusions, thinking that even if Shiratori betrayed Miwako's defenses, they could still hold the last line of defense.

Little did they know that Takagi and Sato had already started living together.

Sato looked at Takagi, who had let slip the secret, speechless. As a mature woman with a higher rank than Takagi, she dragged him to a corner and gave the lax officer a good scolding.

"It seems those dreamers have no chance at all."

Looking at the group of older detectives who started to cry their hearts out, Conan seemed a little proud, probably feeling superior because he wasn't single.

"You brat, without my help, you'd be just like those detectives now, wouldn't you?"

Damn it! Kitahara Masaki, couldn't you let me be happy a little longer?

Conan clutched his head, looking very annoyed. The joy he felt after solving the case was instantly wiped away by Kitahara Masaki.

Meanwhile, Takagi Sato was still flirting not far away, while the middle-aged men who felt they had no chance remained kneeling on the ground, leaving Vermouth speechless. It seemed that the Metropolitan Police Department would really be finished without Kitahara Masaki. Most of them were basically love-struck, and how many of them allocated their brains to solving cases? No wonder that kid was once called the savior of the Tokyo police. But for the Tokyo police, the real savior was the matchmaker who could help them find their other half.

Chapter 355 One wave subsides, another rises

After solving the murder case right under the noses of the police and detectives, Kitahara Masaki, Vermouth, and the Mori family went to a restaurant that was still open to rest, planning to eat something before going back. Uncle Mori originally wanted to have a few beers, but he was severely scolded by Ran.

Not far from this restaurant, a villa is where the prelude to a crime is unfolding.

"I don't want to! I don't want to! I'm not some tool, I can't accept this!"

A woman was being held by the arm by a man, struggling desperately, while the middle-aged man, still wearing a suit late at night, helplessly held her back. Behind them stood an elderly man with gray hair, who happened to be one of the Tokyo city councilors.

"Ms. Kakuta, please part ways with Representative Muto amicably. We have prepared a settlement for you, more than enough to ensure you live a carefree life for the rest of your days!"