Chapter 290 So-called Growth

After hearing the shrill scream, Sera Masumi rushed out immediately, followed by Makino and the other two.

While running, Makino looked at Sera Masumi’s running back, and a look of helplessness flashed in his eyes.

Whether it is Sera Masumi’s running posture or her subconscious action of rushing out when she heard the scream, they are exactly the same as Conan, Hattori Heiji and others.

Nothing happened yesterday and when he had dinner with Conan and others a few days ago, so he thought that Conan and others’ “skills” might have weakened.

But at this moment, this somewhat unrealistic idea has been completely overturned by the Sera Masumi in front of him.

A few seconds later, everyone came to the door of a room called “Equipment Room” based on the screams they heard before.

A young woman with long black hair was slumped at the door with a look of horror on her face.

After hearing the movements of Makino and others, she turned to look at Makino and others as if she had seen a savior, then pointed to the equipment room with one hand and opened her lips slightly: “Then, then…”

Everyone looked in the direction of the woman’s finger into the equipment room.

At this moment, a middle-aged man covered in blood was lying unresponsive in front of the surveillance monitor in the middle of the room, with a knife stuck straight into his back.

Judging from the dried blood stains splattered on the ground, the middle-aged man had been killed for at least 20 minutes.

After a brief check of the situation at the scene, Makino turned his attention to the “first discoverer” who was helped up from the ground by Xiaolan.

Judging from the work uniforms worn by the young woman, she and the victim should both be employees of this indoor baseball store and should be colleagues.

Although judging from the depth and position of the knife on the victim’s back, the criminal should be a man, this is the world of science after all.

Therefore, Makino would naturally not rule out this seemingly very weak young woman as a suspect until she was completely ruled out.

Not only that, the crime profile he derived based on the circumstances at the scene and the victim’s cause of death clearly pointed to this young woman who seemed to have not yet recovered from her fear.

At this moment, a young man wearing the same work uniform as the victim walked quickly towards the equipment room.

After seeing the young woman at the door, he asked, “What happened, Miss Nakatani? I thought I heard you scream just now!”

After hearing the voice, the young woman glanced at the young man and said in a trembling voice: “Mr. Toyokawa… Manager Shirota… “

Although she didn’t finish her words, as the young man walked to the door of the equipment room, he also saw the situation inside the equipment room: “What?!”

Shortly after.

Since this indoor baseball store is not far from the Metropolitan Police Department, Inspector Sato and Officer Takagi and others who received Makino’s call quickly led a team to the scene.

After simply saying hello to Makino and the others, Sato and Takagi began to direct their subordinates to analyze and investigate the on-site situation as usual.

A few minutes later, a police officer walked up to Makino and his friends with a small notebook, saluted, and slowly spoke: “The victim’s name is Shirota Jiro, male, 45 years old, and he was the store manager of this baseball store. The cause of death was excessive blood loss caused by being stabbed in the back with a murder weapon. The time of death was between 9 and 10 in the morning. The first person to discover it was Kana Nakatani, a female employee of this store…”

After listening to their subordinates’ brief summary of the situation on the scene, Inspector Sato and Officer Takagi turned to look at Makino in unison, as if they were waiting for Makino to give a “conclusion.”

Makino glanced at the two people who looked expectant and narrowed his eyes.

Seeing this, the two immediately realized something, smiled embarrassedly, and subconsciously avoided Makino’s sight.

Unlike when they first started working at the Metropolitan Police Department, they are now independent “inspectors” and “deputy inspectors”.

If even a small case like this cannot be solved, and even requires the intervention of Counselor Makino, it is indeed a bit unreasonable…

At this moment, Sera Masumi in the room suddenly said: “There was no sign of resistance or fighting at the scene. The victim, Mr. Shirota, should have been attacked from behind. He fell to the ground after being stabbed and lost the ability and consciousness to resist.

However, judging from the tidy bloodstains on the ground and the fact that the victim did not leave any sign of death, the victim was likely to have lost consciousness before being stabbed with a knife.

Although there are surveillance cameras inside and outside the equipment room, judging from the black screen in the room, the surveillance camera here has either been turned off in advance or is broken. “

At this point, Sera Masumi pointed to a suspicious bloodstain in a square shape not far from the victim, then turned to look at Makino: “Judging from the shape, this bloodstain should have been caused by something like a wallet.”

Before Sato and Takagi could react, Makino nodded and said, “You are right. The victim may have taken drugs such as sleeping pills and fell into a coma before being killed. However, there was no water bottle or anything like that in the room. I guess it must have been disposed of by the murderer.

In addition, the victim did not have a wallet or anything else that matched the square on the ground. Regardless of whether the object belonged to the victim or not, it should have been taken away by the murderer. “

Hearing Makino’s affirmation, Sera Masumi subconsciously raised a smile at the corner of his mouth.

At this time, Sato and Takagi also came back to their senses and looked at Makino in confusion.

Although they have some impression of Xiaolan and Sonoko’s classmate, but…

After noticing the gazes of the two, Makino nodded and said, “You may not have met her at the crime scene. In fact, this Sera Masumi is also a high school detective.”

Upon hearing this, Sato and Takagi immediately looked at Sera Masumi in surprise.

They didn’t expect that in addition to Kudo Shinichi and Hattori Heiji, this high school girl named Sera Masumi was also a detective.

But then, Inspector Sato officially entered the working state, turned around and looked at the first person who discovered it, Kana Nakatani, and another male employee named Toyokawa Eisuke, and asked:
“Ms. Nakatani, Mr. Toyokawa, what’s going on with the surveillance here?”

The young man named Toyokawa Eisuke explained, “The surveillance camera broke down the day before yesterday. We have called to schedule a repair. The repairman should be here tomorrow morning.”

Hearing this, Sato, Takagi, and Sera Masumi’s eyes all flashed with brilliance. Although this indoor baseball store is not small, it is a coin-operated self-service store. Employees only need to go in every once in a while to “pick up baseballs” and “replenish baseballs in the pitching machine”, and the workload is not heavy.

Including the victim, manager Shirota, there were only three employees in this store.

Therefore, although the possibility of “external crime” cannot be ruled out at present, the possibility that the real culprit is among these two employees named Kana Nakatani and Eisuke Toyokawa is undoubtedly the greatest.

Because they both knew that the surveillance was damaged, and they also knew that a maintenance worker would come to repair it tomorrow morning.

For the real murderer, this was naturally the best opportunity to take action.

Thinking of this, Sato quickly signaled to Takagi beside him with his eyes.

Takagi nodded, then slowly walked up to Nakatani Kana and Toyokawa Eisuke and said, “To be on the safe side, I would like to ask you two where you were and what you were doing between 9 and 10 o’clock.”

Hearing this, both of them were stunned.

The next moment, Toyokawa Eisuke reacted and frowned, “Officer, do you think we killed Manager Shirota?!”

Gao Mu waved his hand and said, “No, this is just a routine inquiry. We also want to eliminate the suspicion of the two of you as soon as possible.”

Hearing Takagi say this, Toyokawa Eisuke’s expression also eased a little: “Well, if that’s the case… 9 to 10 o’clock is exactly our regular working hours. With this equipment room as the center, Miss Nakatani and I are each responsible for half of the site cleaning and maintenance work. We are all working at that time and have no time to kill Manager Shirota.”

After finishing speaking, Toyokawa Eisuke looked at Kana Nakatani beside him: “Right, Ms. Nakatani?”

Kana Nakatani nodded slightly, then turned to look at Officer Takagi in front of her: “Yes, after cleaning the site, I was going to take a rest in the equipment room as usual, but I didn’t expect…”

After listening to the two people’s explanation, Takagi turned his head and glanced at Sato and Makino behind him, his expression became much more serious than before.

With the surveillance broken, neither of them had a clear alibi. Not only that, the two of them worked separately with this equipment room as the center…

At this moment, a police officer wearing white gloves walked quickly into the equipment room holding a square wallet, came to Makino and the others, saluted, and immediately said, “Report, we found this bloody wallet in the bushes outside the door! Although the bank card and commuter card are still there, the cash inside seems to have been taken away by the criminal.”

Before Makino and the others could speak, Kana Nakatani suddenly pointed at the wallet and said, “Ah! That’s right, this is Manager Shirota’s wallet! I saw him take it out before.”

Toyokawa Eisuke also nodded and said, “I’ve said it before, Miss Nakatani and I were both at work at the time, and we both have alibis, so it’s definitely not us who killed Manager Shirota! Since Manager Shirota’s wallet is outside and the cash inside is gone… This means that this is a robbery and murder case, and the robber who killed Manager Shirota must have escaped!”

Hearing this, Makino sighed secretly and shook his head helplessly.

Even if he hasn’t yet identified the culprit as Kana Nakatani…just based on the “naive” remarks and behavior of Toyokawa Eisuke, the possibility that he is the culprit is very low.

Although the method used in this case is not complicated, it is not so simple that it does not require any brains.

Makino turned around and looked at Sera Masumi, Sato, and Takagi in front of him.

Judging from the expressions on the three people’s faces, it was obvious that they did not agree with what Toyokawa Eisuke said.

Not only that, Sera Masumi’s eyes were always focused on the wallet in the police officer’s hand, and he seemed to be lost in thought.

Thinking of this, Makino coughed lightly, turned his head to look at Sato and Takagi, and said casually, “Let’s not talk about the wallet for now. Judging from the bloodstains at the scene, when the murderer stabbed the victim with a knife, there should be a lot of blood on his body. If the murderer was wearing gloves or something, there must be a lot of blood splashed, right?”

Upon hearing this, Sato and Takagi were stunned.

But the next second, Sato’s eyes suddenly lit up. He turned around and looked at Makino with gratitude. He immediately pulled Officer Takagi aside and began to instruct him with a serious face.

Soon after, Officer Takagi nodded seriously and quickly walked out of the equipment room.

Seeing this scene, Kana Nakatani on the side frowned for a moment, but returned to normal in less than a second.

Toyokawa Eisuke also frowned and said, “Officer, since our alibi has been established and you know that the criminal is an outside robber, then there should be no suspicion on us, right?”

Before Officer Sato could speak, Masumi Sera at the side shook his head with certainty and said, “No, this is not a robbery and murder case! The criminal deliberately took the victim’s wallet and took out the money inside to make us think this was a robbery and murder case. The real criminal… is among you!”

Officer Sato also nodded and said, “She is right. Please wait patiently for a moment. It won’t be long before this case is over.”

“What?!” Upon hearing this, the expressions of Kana Nakatani and Eisuke Toyokawa changed obviously.

……

Not long after, Officer Gao Mu walked into the equipment room excitedly, holding an empty mineral water bottle and a yellow plastic glove:
“Counselor, Officer Sato, I found it! I’ve had the forensic personnel test it. Although the blood has been washed away, there is luminol reaction on both the mineral water bottle and the plastic gloves!
I have left the other glove with the forensic personnel, and they will be able to extract the criminal’s DNA from the inside of the glove soon!”

Upon hearing this, a light flashed in Inspector Sato’s eyes.

Sera Masumi also looked at the mineral water bottle and plastic gloves in Takagi’s hand in surprise. After thinking for a while, she turned to look at Makino, Sato Takagi and the other two in front of her, then smiled and shook her head.

“As expected of him, it seems that there is no need for me to appear~ This Inspector Sato seems to be much more capable than the Inspector Megure I met before…”

The next moment, Inspector Sato turned his head to look at Nakatani Kana and Toyokawa Eisuke in front of him, and slowly said: “The crime happened not long ago. If we use the exfoliated cell extraction method to carefully examine the inside of the gloves, we can successfully extract the criminal’s DNA.

In addition, in order not to leave fingerprints on the wallet, the criminal may have worn gloves when taking out the cash from the wallet. Since we did not find the money outside, it means that the money is likely to be in this venue. If we investigate carefully…”

Officer Sato did not finish his words. Instead, he stared at Kana Nakatani, who had already turned pale, and let out a sigh of relief.

A few seconds later, under the gaze of everyone in the equipment room, Kana Nakatani collapsed to the ground, crying and covering her face.

(End of this chapter)