Chapter 35: What I Gained from Looking at Cars

Monday, October 10rd, a new week has arrived after the trial last Friday.

There were no reporters lying in wait outside the police station. On the one hand, it was because a few days had passed and the attention had decreased. After all, in this information age, the Internet was the new hot topic. It was good enough for torture to be popular for a few days.

On the other hand, it was after Shirai admitted to improper interrogation and submitted his resignation that the storm against the police gradually subsided. Even if people were still paying attention to the case, their focus was on the prosecution and the trial results!

especially……

In court, Kumimon also emphasized that Shiraishi had “just taken office” and that some reporters who pretended to be ignorant despite knowing the truth would not be in a good position to continue interviewing him at this time.

Of course, Shiraishi still has Shirai’s resignation letter, and tells him not to run away until the case is over…

At the same time, the Rice Flower Agency did not relax its investigation into the case!
After Shiraishi conveyed the information from the court and opened up new ideas for everyone, several directions for investigation suddenly emerged.

But unfortunately…

After two days of investigation over the weekend, the results were not satisfactory – nothing was confirmed, nor was anything refuted!
I checked the surveillance footage near the park the day before and after the incident, but I didn’t see Tsubokura or the blogger – after all, the surveillance coverage is far from enough, so I can only take my chances.

However, it was discovered from the order records of the coffee cart that there was indeed an order for [Signature Iced Latte] at the same time as the incident occurred on the afternoon of the next day!
This situation is consistent with Shiraishi’s speculation – the defendant deliberately imitated the blogger’s dress and ordering habits one day after the incident to confuse the clerk’s memory.

However, because there were no surveillance records and the clerk himself could not remember clearly, it could not be proved that it was the blogger who placed the order on the day of the incident and the defendant who placed the order the next day.

As for the investigation into the blog browsing history, because anonymous visitors were allowed, no useful information was found – it only confirmed that during the time period of the incident, there was indeed an anonymous account that visited the blog many times until the female blogger published the content.

However, the online tracking of this anonymous account also comes from an anonymous mobile phone card!

At this time, Bai Shi also received a bad “tip”…

Ding-dong-

Shiraishi heard the message and took a look at the communication app. He found that it was a photo sent by Gina – a young woman with short hair, professional attire and hip skirt, standing in front of a barber shop, asking the clerk something and taking notes in a small notebook…

At the same time, Gina also sent a message – Is she the assistant who scored 19 points?

The 19-point hairstyle, of course, refers to Kumimoto, whose hairstyle is an extreme side-parting.

Apparently Gina had been following the news on this case and had even recognized the other party’s young female lawyer.

Theoretically, she was not Kumimon’s assistant, but Tsubokura’s former attorney, who was from Miki Law Firm. However, this time she should have been used as a tool to lure Kumimon into the trap.

but……

The sign of the barber shop in the photo was “shining” at this time, and Shiraishi recalled and compared it – this was the newly opened barber shop in Kamurocho that the blogger lady had posted about in her blog!

Apparently, the other party is already investigating the authenticity of the blog content…

That lady blogged every day. In this case, if it can be proved that a few of them were false, the credibility of her testimony would be greatly reduced. After all, she had sworn in court that all the blogs were written in real time. In order to maintain her image of “loving life” and “every day is wonderful”, the witness did lie!

This was also the “fatal flaw” that Shiraishi had discovered before. [Thank you, what about the report I asked you to think about? ] Shiraishi replied directly.

It’s already Monday!
Gina just pretended to be dead and didn’t reply…

However, this newly opened barber shop was indeed not far from the market where the orphanage purchased things. Bai Shi guessed that she was indeed helping with work in the orphanage, so he did not urge her – the orphanage could not provide assistance to adults, after all, financial resources were limited. But it was no problem to let her stay there for the last two weeks before she became an adult.

At six o’clock in the afternoon, Shiraishi, who was sure that “the prosecution’s trump card had been cracked”, went to another criminal class after stamping today’s documents.

Seeing that the Criminal Law Office was still bustling with activity, Shiraishi was very pleased – if he started his own business, he would also have so many good employees working overtime for free, so he would have no worries about not being able to live the life he wanted!
The expanded door frame would allow Shiraishi to walk in without lowering his head…

“Director.”

“Hello Director!”

Several police officers who were still discussing something in the office turned around when they saw Shiraishi coming in.

“Are there any other difficult cases recently?” Shiraishi asked directly.

Everyone obviously knew what this “other” meant, and they all shook their heads.

“Director, everything else is just a small matter.”

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi nodded and said, “Akasaka, come here for a moment.” Then Shiraishi came to the small office next to the large office area of ​​the Criminal Division, obviously wanting to talk to him alone.

“How is Ms. Hayashida?” Shiraishi asked vaguely.

Akasaka also understood what he meant and answered directly: “I didn’t find anything suspicious.”

Ms. Hayashida…the deceased’s estranged wife, had previously kept the man for 24 hours, but because there was really no evidence, she did not extend it to 48 hours.

In fact, if she was caught for “seeing the body but not calling the police”, a formal “arrest warrant” could be applied for – regardless of whether this was true or not… If she had not confirmed that Hayashida was dead, then as a wife, she would be suspected of “crime by omission”. If she had confirmed the body, then she would be suspected of destroying the scene and “obstructing public service”…

However, at that time, Tsubokura’s suspicion had increased greatly, and considering that the Prosecutor’s Office was unwilling to transfer the suspect, there was little point in forcing her to stay for a while, so they let her go first – anyway, with her signed confession, they could arrest her at any time by relying on “crime by omission”!
After letting her go, Akasaka also asked Gen and Yamada to follow her, hoping to get some clues so that she could reveal her true identity herself!

Tsubokura is indeed suspicious, and there is even a strong suspicion that he has forged an alibi, but… Hayashida is also suspicious!
Not only did he quietly go to the deceased’s home, he also made it clear that he had met the deceased before his death, and he also said things like “I parked the car there just to avoid gossip from the neighbors”, “I went to the supermarket when the incident happened”, “I saw the body but didn’t dare to call the police”…

If Shirai was in charge of the case and hadn’t discovered Tsubokura, she would probably have been tried as a defendant as well!
“Actually… I’ve been looking at cars recently. The cars in the police station are too crowded.” Shiraishi suddenly said.

Akasaka heard this, but still didn’t understand what it meant – you can’t ask me for a bribe, right? What a coincidence, I don’t have any money either!

“So I found out… the Mazda3 S has a parking surveillance system, which means that if someone gets close to it while it’s parked, it will take a picture of that person not just from the front but also from the sides. At the time, it was in a position that should have almost completely blocked the small alley…” Shiraishi told what he had recently seen in a car magazine.

Because this function is not yet popular, the police station obtained her car GPS records before, but did not copy this down!
Akasaka’s eyes lit up – if this was true, and if he could get the surveillance records from the car, then he would know exactly who entered and exited that small alley that day!

(End of this chapter)