Conan Rick's Investigator

Next to the photo wall of the photo studio next door is a huge wardrobe.

Qin Zhibo stood at the door of the closet, holding the door handle with both hands, and took a deep breath.

When he reached out to open the bookcase and pushed aside the clothes hanging inside, he found a handle on the wall.

Pulling open the wooden board connected to the handle, an oval mirror was revealed.

Opposite the mirror was the situation in the photo studio next door. One could see Mouri Ran and Toyama Kazuha still standing next to the camera, looking around nervously.

Qin Zhibo searched the inside of the closet again and only came out after confirming that there was no one hiding inside.

"Looks like we're a little late..."

Qin Zhibo said lightly.

Hattori Heiji and Conan looked at the mirror in the closet in disbelief with slightly shocked expressions.

They were not surprised by this bizarre and scary method.

But when the photo was taken just now, all the members of the Tonkura family were clearly gathered together.

And after Mao Lilan and Toyama Kazuha saw Torakura Sakuya's head appear in the mirror, no one left the room until Qin Zhibo came over.

In other words, if someone from the Tonkura family in the photo studio had set up this trap during this period, it would have been impossible for them to take away the evidence in the closet.

Judging from the situation in the closet, in order to achieve the effect that Mao Li Ran and Toyama Kazuha just saw, at least Tora Kura's head must be cut off and hung on the closet.

But now, this head has disappeared...

There are three possibilities.

First, the real murderer was a servant in the villa, not a member of the Tonkura family.

The second is a servant in the villa, who is an accomplice, and the real murderer is still someone in the photo studio.

Third, Torakura Sakoya is still alive...

Generally speaking, a good mystery story should assume that the murderer is one person, rather than having someone with almost no presence as the murderer's accomplice.

The other people in the villa felt that there was no need to kill Torakura Sakuya.

Then it could be that...

Hattori Heiji and Conan's eyes changed and they immediately ran back to the photo room next door.

Seeing Hattori Heiji return, Toyama Kazuha, who was assigned to stay in the haunted room, felt as if she had been pardoned and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Hattori Heiji came up and grabbed Toyama Kazuha's shoulders, loudly demanding, "Kazuha! Did you really see clearly that the body in the coffin was Torakura Sakuya?"

"what?"

Before Yuanshan and Ye could react, Conan, who was standing lower, followed up with another question.

"Sister Xiaolan, when you found the body, did you notice anything else special?"

"this……

... "

Mao Lilan narrowed her eyes slightly, recalling the scene she didn't want to recall in her mind.

Suddenly, Mao Lilan's eyes changed slightly.

"...If there's anything special, it's that the blood I saw on the collar of my clothes seemed to be a bit pink, which is different from the normal color of blood..."

"Eh?" Toyama Kazuha turned around in confusion, "Is that so?"

Mao Lilan nodded slightly, "I remember it seems to be like this..."

Compared to Toyama Kazuha, Mao Li Ran has definitely seen blood more times and has more experience.

When Conan and Hattori Heiji heard the important clues proposed by Mouri Ran, their expressions suddenly changed, gradually from shock to calmness.

Human blood gradually changes from bright red to black depending on how long it is exposed to air.

Pink is not included in this process.

Pink blood is most likely caused by anemia, and cancer is most likely to cause anemia.

Mao Lilan's discovery proves that the blood should belong to Torakura Sakuya himself.

This means that Tokura Sakuya himself is most likely really dead...

But if he was dead, the situation in the closet just now should be that someone used his head to create that strange mirror illusion.

Because it would be too heavy to carry the entire corpse, and the target is too large to be convenient to move.

Furthermore, the people in the photo studio do not have the conditions to recover the head...

Then the person who can do this can only be a servant of the Tonkura family other than these people.

But why do this?

Hattori Heiji and Conan both held their chins in their hands, thinking about the further possibilities of the case.

Qin Zhibo was standing at the door and also heard what Mao Lilan said about her latest discovery after recalling it.

Pink blood...

Sounds reasonable for a cancer patient.

However, if we consider that Torakura Sakoya may be a real vampire, and if the description in literary works is correct, vampires should have a physique that is immune to all diseases.

Qin Zhibo was thinking, his eyes unconsciously glancing at the photo wall.

Suddenly, a photo hanging on the wall caught his attention.

Chapter 1408 History is repeating itself

On the walls of the Tonkura family's photo studio, there are a large number of photos and exhibits of ancient weapons.

Most of the photos are modern landscape photos.

The only thing that stands out is a black and white photo in the upper right corner, framed in an inconspicuous corner.

The shooting angle of the photo is very similar to that of Beethoven's most classic portrait, except that the protagonist in this photo is not holding a pen.

The man in the photo has slightly curly hair and a slightly square face and chin.

"Excuse me, who is that person?"

Qin Zhibo looked at the photo in the corner and asked.

The old woman looked up, following Qin Zhibo's gaze, and then replied, "This is the ancestor of the Yincang family. It is said that he was the one from three generations ago. This is the only photo he left behind."

"Oh……"

Qin Zhibo nodded in understanding and then asked, "Since your family takes group photos every year, where do you keep them?"

"I see that the only pictures hanging on the walls here are of modern landscapes. Except for the picture of your ancestors, none of them have anything to do with your family."

"That's because half a year ago, my eldest brother had all the old photos taken down."

Torakura Sannan answered while lowering his head to check his camera.

Suddenly, his expression froze, and he muttered, "I actually took a picture of it..."

Hattori Heiji and Conan, who were standing nearby, heard what happened and hurried over to check.

It turned out that when Mao Lilan and Toyama Kazuha discovered the strange shadow in the mirror, they happened to press the shutter and took a photo.

However, since this family respects tradition, they still used an old-fashioned film camera, so it is unclear what exactly was captured.

Hattori Heiji held his chin high. "If only I could develop the photos and take a look at them now..."

Torakura San'nan immediately replied, "There's a darkroom in this house specifically for developing photos. I can go there right now."

"what?!"

When he heard that he could develop the photos here, Hattori Heiji's expression immediately became excited.

Although the trick of the mysterious shadow in the mirror has been cracked, if there were photos, perhaps more clues could be analyzed.

And when the police come, it can also be used as evidence.

Hattori Heiji immediately sent Torakura San'ao to develop the photos.

When I turned around, I found that Toyama Kazuha and Mao Li Ran were gone.

"Huh? Where did they go?"

Conan raised his little hand and pointed in a direction.

When the two men chased after them, they found that the two girls had escaped to the kitchen and were asking the chef if he had any garlic.

"garlic?"

"But since the master has become very disgusted with garlic recently, it seems that there is no garlic left in the kitchen?"

The chef's tone was uncertain, which meant it was possible.

So Mao Lilan and Toyama Kazuha volunteered to look for it in the kitchen inventory.

Conan and Hattori Heiji put their hands in their pockets, watching their girlfriends busying themselves in the kitchen, and complained helplessly.

"Because there are vampires, we need to eat garlic..."

"After all, it's something we can fight against..."

The two straight men just stood at the door and watched, without thinking of going over to explain the trick used by the strange shadow in the mirror just now. In fact, anyone who is not a vampire can do that.

The two girls rummaged through the cardboard box but didn't find any garlic, so they prepared to open the large refrigerator in the kitchen.

"Why can't I open this refrigerator door..."

Yuanshan Heye pulled the handle, but the refrigerator door didn't move at all.

When Mao Lilan saw this, she stepped forward to lend a hand.

Fortunately, the chubby chef saw it and quickly stopped him, "That's the refrigerator that the master bought for himself to store things. I remember the refrigerator door was locked, and outsiders couldn't open it..."

"The refrigerator door is locked? Why?"

"I don't know." The chef held his chin up and recalled, "I heard the master say that there is

We are preparing some very high-quality meat to entertain the guests who are visiting today."

"Until now, the master hasn't said anything about serving it to the guests."

Conan and Hattori Heiji were standing at the door listening casually, and suddenly they remembered that at dusk, butler Koga said that a chef provided an alibi for Torakura Sasuke, so they asked the fat chef about it.

The fat chef nodded and admitted it honestly.

"Yes, it was indeed me who provided evidence to the police at that time."

"The night before, the master said he wanted to taste the freshly made soup as soon as he woke up, so he asked me to bring the soup to wake him up."

"Before closing the lid, the master said he suspected someone had recently lifted it while he was asleep to check. He asked me to place something on the coffin lid to confirm if anyone had opened it."

"So I casually placed three sesame seeds on the edge of the coffin lid. When I came back to wake the master up, I found that the three sesame seeds had not been moved at all."

"That means the coffin lid was never opened during that time, right?"

When Conan and Hattori Heiji heard this description, they became slightly alert.

The two of them turned around and left the kitchen with serious expressions, and returned to Tokura Sakuya's bedroom on the second floor, which was the house where the coffin was placed.

As soon as I entered the room, I saw Qin Zhibo trying to move the coffin inside.

"You guys are here too... What are you standing there for? Come over and lend a hand~"

Hattori Heiji and Conan hesitated for another second before coming over to help Qin Zhibo push the coffin.

As the coffin slowly moved, the marble bricks underneath were exposed.

There is a metal handle on a marble tile in the center.

"This is……"

Hattori Heiji subconsciously wanted to reach out to pull it, but Qin Zhibo took the lead and put his hand on it.

As the marble bricks were lifted up, a deep and narrow secret passage was revealed underneath.

As expected...