In a somewhat silent environment, Karasawa continued to modify the portrait while consulting Suenaga Kenji for his opinions.
Based on the other party's description, Tangze quickly confirmed the suspect's facial features. Then, with his superb painting skills, the image of a thin, handsome, comely, yet somewhat frivolous young man was drawn by Tangze.
emerge.
That appearance looks a bit like Orihara Izaya.
Well, that was an anime character from a TV series called "Hellless Horseman" that Karasawa watched in his previous life.
After thanking Suenaga Kenji, several people took the portrait and left the "Tsukigata Hotel".
"It's getting late, I'll cause trouble to you two."
Xiaolan looked at the time, bowed to the two of them and said, "If you don't mind, how about you two come with me to a nearby office for lunch. This is my thanks to you two."
"I'll forget it, I made an appointment with Sato Miwako to have dinner together." Takagi smiled and took out the portrait from Karasawa, "I'll take this back with me first. After dinner, I will investigate the identity of the person in the portrait.
of."
"Then I'll be disrespectful. There happens to be something I haven't figured out yet, and I feel like I need to go back to the crime scene to take a look."
Seeing that Takagi took the initiative to take the task of sending the portrait back to the Metropolitan Police Department for investigation, Tangze agreed to Xiaolan's invitation and returned to the office for a meal with him.
Of course, he was not greedy for Xiaolan's meal, but he felt that there might be some inadvertent clues that could help him open up his mind.
Isn't it like this many times? When Conan is thinking hard because he is quiet, a word inadvertently said by the "case triggers" becomes a key clue to solving the case.
Tang Ze cannot let this go.
After bidding farewell to Takagi, Karasawa drove the two of them to the Mori Detective Agency.
As soon as he entered the door, he saw Mouri Kogoro coming back and resting on the sofa. Xiaolan said hello to her father and walked to the kitchen in silence.
After some questioning, Mouri Kogoro also learned about their subsequent investigation and why his daughter was so unhappy.
"But that's the truth."
Mouri Kogoro shook his head helplessly and sighed: "My little girl is too soft-hearted and a little sentimental. I think she will get better after a while.
As for the case, I’m afraid it will be over soon after Takagi Criminal Investigation finds out the information about the people in the portrait.”
The two of them chatted one after another, and it didn't take long for Xiaolan to bring some fried rice.
"Finally it's here, I'm starving to death!"
As soon as the fried rice arrived, Mouri Kogoro eagerly took a spoonful and ate it.
Tangze took a spoonful and put it in his mouth. The fragrant and delicious rice mixed with the flavor of green vegetables exploded in his mouth instantly. Tangze couldn't help but praise: "It's delicious. Xiaolan's cooking is getting better and better."
"Of course, it doesn't matter whose daughter it is."
Mouri Kogoro laughed proudly, with a satisfied look on his face that showed no sign of worry about his daughter, he looked like a fool.
After a few more bites, Mouri Kogoro looked at Xiaolan and Conan who were motionless across from them and said, "Don't worry about it. Let's eat quickly. Since this is the case, we must accept the reality."
"That's good." Xiaolan couldn't help but smile when she heard Tang Ze's praise: "Because I'm not very sure about how much salt to add..."
"What? It's good to try this kind of thing when cooking." Mouri Kogoro said angrily: "Put in less salt at a time until you feel the salt taste is right."
But this seemingly ordinary sentence struck the two people's minds like lightning.
Karasawa and Conan, who were sitting on the sofa, looked at each other, a look of surprise flashed in their eyes, and they obviously thought of a possibility.
"Perhaps there really is something hidden behind the truth." After Tangze and Conan exchanged glances, he spoke as usual.
"Eh? Why are you talking about this all of a sudden?" Mouri Kogoro turned around and asked with a confused look.
"Did you think of something, Karasawa Criminal!?" Compared with Mouri Kogoro, Xiaolan seemed much more excited: "What is the discovery?"
"I don't know if you have noticed that Miss Nishimura's salad and steak on the dining table have traces of being eaten, but the food on the side of the ashtray has not been touched at all," Karasawa reminded.
"Yeah! This doesn't make sense. There must be something wrong." Xiaolan seemed to have thought of some possibility and hesitated: "Could it be..."
"What?" Mouri Kogoro asked.
"I'm wondering if Miss Nishimura's boyfriend exists..." Xiaolan said hesitantly.
"Huh? Are you thinking too much? Of course it exists."
Mouri Kogoro said angrily while eating his rice: "The lady who lives next door to Miss Nishimura heard Miss Nishimura talking to her when she passed by her house."
"But she just heard Miss Nishimura's voice."
Karasawa pulled out the transcript and confirmed: "The contents recorded in the oral confession are all what Miss Nishimura said, but there was no response from the man."
"What does that mean?" Mouri Kogoro stuffed a spoonful of rice and complained casually: "It's just that he didn't speak. Isn't it possible for a person to talk to himself now?"
"Maybe that's true!" Xiaolan stood up and said with firm eyes: "Tang Ze Criminal, let's go investigate!"
"Eat first." Tangze gestured to the food on the table and said with a smile, "Searching is not something you have to do in a hurry. Patience is also a necessary quality."
However, having said that, Karasawa still unconsciously speeded up his movements, and Xiaolan and Conan did the same. For a moment, it seemed like it was a racing competition.
Seeing this scene, Mouri Kogoro was extremely confused, but before he could ask a question, the three of them had finished their meal and hurried out.
"What...mysterious..." Mouri Kogoro took a spoonful of fried rice and stuffed it into his mouth speechlessly, then immersed himself in cooking.
After leaving the Mori Detective Agency, Karasawa drove the two of them to Miss Nishimura's best friend.
After some questioning, the three of them learned an important piece of news. Although she didn't know Miss Nishimura's current boyfriend, she did know her former boyfriend.
It has been more than five years, and the other person is a man named Benmi, who likes to climb mountains very much.
"It's the same as what the neighbor lady heard!"
After bidding farewell to Miss Nishimura's best friend, Xiaolan looked excited and said: "This shows that our guess is probably correct!"
Then Tangze drove the two of them all the way to Hemian's house. After asking the housekeeper's mother, the group of people completely confirmed their thoughts.
Miss Nishimura's boyfriend absolutely cannot be the murderer!
They got this irrefutable proof.
"It seems that the only remaining criminal in the case is that person..." The three of them thought of that person's words in unison, and their eyes became serious.
After identifying the main suspect, the rest is just a matter of time and effort. Facing a behemoth like the Metropolitan Police Department, it is easy to investigate all the circumstances of a person.
After contacting Takagi and Chiba, the group separated and carefully investigated everything around the suspect, and finally obtained decisive evidence from a friend of the other party.
The three of them drove to Tsukigata Hotel again and found Suenaga Kenji who was working.
"It's you, what's wrong, Mr. Criminal, do you have anything else to ask?"
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Suenaga Kenji looked at the three of them and said hello with a smile.
"That's it." Tang Ze took out the portrait he drew: "About the portrait I drew according to your description..."
"My memory can probably only recall so much." Suenaga Kenji smiled apologetically.
"No, that's not what I want to say." Tang Ze shook his head and said: "But from the beginning, this portrait was wrong."
"Eh? What are you talking about?" Suenaga Kenji couldn't help but be startled when he heard Karasawa's words, and immediately a trace of uneasiness flashed in his heart.
"We have something we would like to ask you for help with. Please come with us to Miss Nishimura's house." Tang Ze smiled and said, "Of course I will explain the situation to your boss."
"Yes, yes...but what are you going to do there?" Kenji Suenaga looked confused.
"It might be more intuitive to explain some things there." Tang Ze smiled and said, "It's not that far anyway, isn't it?"
Tangze drove the three of them to Miss Nishimura's apartment, walked in and entered the living room.
On the dining table, two exquisite meals for two were quietly placed there, as if waiting for someone to taste them.
"Mr. Criminal, why did you call me here?" Kenji Suenaga asked with a look of unnaturalness flashing in his eyes as he looked at the scene in the room, but he still maintained a natural expression.
"Mr. Suenaga, don't you feel strange seeing these two dishes on the table?" Xiaolan asked, looking at the dishes on the table.
"Weird? What's so strange?" Kenji Suenaga looked at the food on the table and said in confusion: "This is a table of normal food, right?"
"These are all dishes carefully prepared by Miss Nishimura for her boyfriend who she hasn't seen for a month."
Xiaolan explained: "In this case, no matter who it is, it would be more reasonable for everyone to let the other person taste it first, and then ask the other person how it tastes before eating it themselves.
But if you look at these dishes, only Miss Sachiko has touched them. It seems that she is eating while the other party is just watching.
I think everyone will let the other person eat something at this time. After all, it is carefully prepared by oneself. Even if he has eaten or has no appetite, it should be symbolically longer.
But the food served by Miss Sachiko’s boyfriend didn’t even move, so I concluded that no one actually came here to have dinner with Miss Sachiko last night!”
"I don't know why you are telling me this, but isn't it too strange?"
Suenaga Kenji suppressed his inner uneasiness and said, "Look, there are clearly two portions of food here.
If it's just one person, why waste such expensive ingredients to make two servings?
And it’s even arranged as if it’s two people.”
"This is what Miss Sachiko prepared for her boyfriend." Xiaolan said sadly.
"Hey, you just said you were the only one in the apartment, and now you said it was for her boyfriend."
Suenaga Kenji smiled helplessly and said: "Isn't this inconsistent? The more I talk about it, the more confused I become."
"Although Ms. Nishimura, whether in front of her colleagues or Xiaolan, expressed that she was very happy that her boyfriend was coming yesterday, and even carefully prepared dinner, that was just a lie made up by him."
Karasawa revealed the truth behind this contradiction: "From the beginning, there was only one Miss Nishimura.
But she made two dishes and pretended to be on a date with her boyfriend, talking and eating with him.
In other words, if the neighbors heard it from Miss Nishimura’s house, it was just a one-man show performed by her alone.”
"This is the truth of the matter." Xiaolan said a little disappointed: "Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain all this..."
"If there was no such person in the room from the beginning, naturally there would be no trace of this person's fingerprints." Conan agreed.
"I think Suenaga-san knows exactly what we are going to say."
Takagi looked at Suenaga Kenji and said with careful eyes: "No one came last night, but you said in your testimony that you saw Miss Nishimura's boyfriend running out in a hurry, and asked Karasawa to draw the portrait.
.
The purpose of your doing this is to divert our attention from you to this completely non-existent person!!"
"Stop joking, Mr. Officer, why do I have to do such a thing?"
Kenji Suenaga forced a smile and said with a guilty conscience: "I am just a person who has met Miss Nishimura before. I am not familiar with her at all. At most, I am just a regular customer of her who often comes to my workplace to buy wine."
"Yes, but according to our investigation, this does not seem to be the case."
Karasawa smiled meaningfully and said, "You seem to have a friend named Izaki. We found him after asking your boss."
Hearing Karasawa's words, Suenaga Kenji was immediately startled, and cold sweat broke out instantly.
"According to what Mr. Izaki said, you seemed to have complained to him last month, saying that you fell in love with a girl who lived alone who often went to your store to buy things, but she was rejected.
"
Karasawa looked at the ugly-looking Suenaga Kenji and said, "I don’t need to say more about the next words.
If you, who have been pursuing Miss Nishimura, find out that she does not have a boyfriend and is just a one-man show, it will be obvious that you will become angry and kill her on impulse. "
"Why do you say that about me?" Kenji Suenaga said angrily, "Where's the evidence? Why do you say I'm the murderer if there's no evidence!"
"Aren't you still giving up?"
Karasawa looked at Suenaga Kenji and said calmly: "You should know from the fact that we interviewed Mr. Izaki that the luck you thought of has no chance of coming true."
Then Takagi took out the evidence from his arms. After Suenaga Kenji saw it, his face instantly turned pale.
This chapter has been completed!