It rained in New Tokyo in the afternoon. In the evening, after the rain stopped, the setting sun cleared the haze in the sky, but the downstairs apartment building of the Aragaki Detective Agency was filled with a gloomy and gloomy atmosphere.
"Mr. Nishimaru, please control your emotions first and cooperate with our investigation."
"Please! Please find my daughter."
"Okay, please rest assured that we will do our best to find your daughter."
After finally stabilizing the collapse of the man who called the police, the two patrol officers from the Ogawa Town Police Station breathed a sigh of relief. After looking at each other, one of them clenched his fist and coughed dryly:
"Hello Mr. Nishimaru, please be sure to answer the following questions carefully so that we can help you find your daughter faster."
Among the crowd of onlookers, Higashinohara looked at Shunsuke Nishimaru who was slumped on the ground. His hair was messy and his face was haggard. He nodded quickly.
"What's your daughter's name?"
"Nishimaru Miria."
"age?"
"Five years old...oh no! Six years old! Just turned six!"
"Okay, missing time?"
"The school teacher called me in the afternoon and asked me if I had picked up my daughter to go home. I said no."
"Has the school surveillance checked?"
"My daughter was not captured on the surveillance cameras entering and exiting the school gate, and the surveillance cameras inside the school did not capture her. It was like she disappeared after lunch."
"What time in the afternoon was it found?"
"It's past one o'clock... It should be almost two o'clock. I'll check the record later. Yes, it's two o'clock."
One patrol officer asked Nishimaru Shunsuke, and the other patrol officer was responsible for recording and handwriting down important time points and details.
"Okay, so was there anything unusual about your daughter going to school this morning?"
"Is it abnormal? No...no, she went to school as usual in the morning."
"Did you give it to her?"
"Uh, no, I can't get up until noon because I have to work the night shift. Wei Li is very considerate of me. I take the school bus to school by myself in the morning."
"..."
After the general questioning, the two patrol officers looked at each other helplessly. It was obvious that they were unable to obtain any information from Shunsuke Nishimaru that would be helpful in solving the case.
One person could only say, "Okay, Mr. Nishimaru, the information you provided is very valuable, but we have to retrieve the school's surveillance video. Don't worry, we will find your daughter as soon as possible."
Nishimaru Shunsuke seemed to have calmed down from the previous collapse, but he still grabbed the patrolman's hand anxiously, "Then please! My daughter has congenital heart disease, please be sure to find her as soon as possible.
, I really can’t live without her..."
As he spoke, Shunsuke Nishimaru began to sob again.
Do you have congenital heart disease?
Higashinohara frowned when he heard this. Nishimaru Miria usually looked soft and frail, but the little girl never mentioned it, and he never thought that she would be suffering from a disease.
As for congenital heart disease, ordinary timely surgical treatment will generally improve the condition, but for some more complex or even deformed cases, the surgical effect is not great, and there may even be hidden dangers of arrhythmia and death from hypoxia at any time.
...
After taking the notes, the two patrol officers felt a little helpless. This kind of missing case with few effective clues is the most difficult to handle.
In recent times, Tokyo didn’t know why there had been several missing cases in a row and they were still being investigated. They didn’t have much time to spend here, so they could only say a few words of relief and asked Shunsuke Nishimaru to sign the record.
Words and other notifications.
"We will go back for further investigation first. Please keep your communication open. If we find anything, we will contact you as soon as possible."
With these words, the two patrolmen from Ogawa Town drove away.
The surrounding tenants looked at the devastated Nishimaru Shunsuke. Although his popularity in this building was not very good, his daughter Nishimaru Miria was still very lovable.
Many people came up to pat him on the shoulder to comfort him, and some even said they had forwarded the missing person information on their social networking sites.
Shunsuke Nishimaru was stunned for a while. After coming back to his senses, he quickly expressed his gratitude to the tenants who said they would forward the missing persons information.
Higashinohara stared at him twice, then calmly withdrew when the crowd dispersed.
Suddenly, someone pushed him from behind.
Higashinohara turned his head and found that it was the unscrupulous uncle Aragaki Satoru who was wearing slippers and holding a chicken coop on his head. This guy looked past Higashinohara and looked at Nishimaru Shunsuke who was standing there, and said with a smile:
"This guy...lied...right?"
After saying that, he turned to Higashinohara.
Higashinohara thought of Aragaki Satoru's elusive presence behind him in the morning. He probably saw it at that time, so he nodded and said, "Well, Miri-chan probably didn't go to school by himself this morning. He got up very early."
Aragaki Satoru crossed his arms across his chest and rubbed his unshaven chin, with a look of interest on his face, "Here comes something interesting...why did he hide it? What do you think?"
Higashinohara knew that Aragaki Satoru used to work in the Metropolitan Police Department, and he heard that he was still at the police level of the Criminal Division.
Later, I didn't know why I was dismissed from my job, so I inherited the family business and opened this detective agency in an apartment building. But I guess I still have some connections within the Metropolitan Police Department, otherwise it would be impossible to put my daughter Aragaki Mai into the third party after graduating from high school.
Investigation team internship.
After thinking about it, Higashinohara looked at Aragaki Satoru and asked, "Did Mr. Nishimaru pay the rent he owed today?"
"Well... yes, I paid it at noon, and I was charged extra interest." Aragaki Satoru was stunned for a moment, and then said quickly, "He said he was lucky and won a sum of money. What do you mean?
..."
"I have no idea."
Higashinohara shook his head with a cold expression.
He never speculates on the evil of human nature, but he also doesn't naively think that everyone has a bottom line.
Aragaki Satoru was very straightforward. After thinking about it, he took out his mobile phone and made a call.
Higashinohara didn't expect that Aragaki Satoru would use his brain to come up with such an unreasonable method, so he couldn't help but blurt out and asked, "Is it illegal?"
Aragaki Satoru kept talking, and said, "It depends on where the law is. In my case, as long as we can obtain evidence of the crime and let justice be carried out, it is not illegal."
Having said this, he looked up at the sky and said leisurely, "Higashino-kun, you have to remember that if you want to do things, you can't always be honest."
It's no wonder that you were dismissed - seeing the other person acting like a life mentor again, Higashinohara couldn't help but complain in his heart.
However, he also wanted to find the little girl who sweetly called him "big brother" as soon as possible, so he could only place his hope in Aragaki Satoru, a middle-aged uncle with local connections.
After a while, a police car drove up from nowhere and stopped downstairs. After opening the door, a young man in police uniform, probably in his twenties, jumped out.
Apartment third floor, Aragaki Detective Agency.
Seeing the young man pushing the door open, Higashinohara was a little surprised at the other's efficiency and speed.
However, the man's face didn't look good when he saw Aragaki Satoru. He just tried not to have an attack, and then looked at Higashinohara, who looked like a high school student.
"I didn't expect you to come here so quickly. Don't worry, I'm one of my own." Aragaki Satoru, who was lying on the boss's chair, waved his hands and said with a smile.
During this time, Higashinohara occasionally did some work for him outside, but he was really not an outsider. Besides, he was also very concerned about this matter, and nodded to him with a smile on his face.
"Excuse me, this is my former proud disciple A-Tuo..."
Unexpectedly, before Aragaki Satoru finished speaking, a young man named Morita Taku complained with a straight face, "Master, please be kind! Let me go! I may be promoted next year, and I am always asked to do these things.
What if someone gets caught? Do you want me to be a police officer like you for the rest of my life?"
The smiling Aragaki Satoru's face froze, and he scolded with some shame, "What nonsense are you talking about, brat? I also had the potential of a police chief back then, okay? Besides, I'll look for you in a year...cough
Ahem...five, six, seven or eight times, right?"
"A-Tuo, you have changed... When you first joined the team as an intern and hugged my legs and asked me to make love to my master... you were not so impatient..."
Facing a greasy veteran like Aragaki Satoru, Morita Taku was obviously no match for him, so he could only sigh after being defeated.
"Tell me, who is this time?"
Aragaki Satoru, who was lamenting, changed his face quickly, and immediately said with a smile, "You are indeed a good apprentice of the master. I did not love you in vain. Come on, I will take you upstairs, which is the resident of 505 above. This is what I have just organized for you.
material."
With that said, Aragaki Satoru casually typed print on the keyboard, and the printer next to him quickly spit out several sheets of A4 paper with photos of Shunsuke Nishimaru and personal family information on them.
Good guy...so fast?
Higashinohara just saw Aragaki Satoru lazily slumped behind the computer, laughing, and thought this guy was watching some Wano-style variety show, but he didn't expect that he was surprisingly reliable at critical moments.
Morita Taku, a master at the stall, had already accepted his fate. He reached out to take the information and glanced at it for a few times. He frowned slightly and said, "His daughter... disappeared today?"
Taku Morita is a member of the Investigation Section 2 of the Criminal Division of the Metropolitan Police Department. He is mainly responsible for investigating fraud, counterfeit currency, and public officials' malfeasance, bribery, and tax evasion.
Missing persons cases have never been dealt with.
"Yes, don't worry."
Aragaki Satoru had already stood up and took Morita Taku out the door and went upstairs.
As he walked, he said to Taku Morita beside him, "When you knock on the door and go in, don't say anything. Just say that you suspect him of defrauding a huge amount of property. I have prepared all the evidence for you."
"Where's the evidence?"
Higashinohara, who was following behind, interrupted.
"Oh, I just forged it conveniently."
Aragaki Satoru didn't even look back.
"..." Higashinohara.
Did this guy really work as a criminal police officer before?
...
Arriving at the fifth floor and arriving at the door of Shunsuke Nishimaru's house, the two masters and apprentices, Aragaki Satoru and Morita Taku, immediately became strangers to each other.
Dong dong dong—!
The voice of Shunsuke Nishimaru came from the door.
"Who?"
Outside the door, Aragaki Satoru said leisurely, "Excuse me, Mr. Nishimaru, it's me. There was a policeman downstairs looking for you just now. I helped bring him up when I had nothing to do."
"Huh? Oh okay...please wait a moment."
After waiting for a while, the door of 505 was opened. Shunsuke Nishimaru seemed to have washed himself, and his face did not look as haggard as he did just now.
"Is there any news about my daughter?" Shunsuke Nishimaru asked, looking at Taku Morita who was wearing the uniform of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Morita Taku didn't speak, he just stared at Shunsuke Nishimaru for a long time with sharp eyes like an eagle's gaze. It wasn't until Shunsuke Nishimaru evaded his eyes that he slowly said, "Mr. Nishimaru, we suspect that you are involved in Internet fraud. Next,
Please also cooperate with the investigation."
Nishimaru Shunsuke looked up in shock.
"Wha...what?"
...
Next developments...
Higashinohara can only be described as magical.
Of course, Shunsuke Nishimaru did not admit that he committed Internet fraud, but the aggressive Morita Taku immediately produced evidence - a large amount of unexplained funds had recently flowed into Shunsuke Nishimaru's bank account.
Aragaki Satoru at the door still poked his head in a dastardly manner, "Mr. Policeman, Nishimaru-san did pay off half a year's rent arrears in one go today, and he will be moving in the near future, ah no! I didn't mean that... I just
Suddenly I remembered this, doesn’t it mean that Nishimaru-san must be a fraudster?”
At the corner of the corridor, Higashinohara was speechless. Shunsuke Nishimaru, who was confronting Morita Taku inside, was also anxious.
At first, he insisted that he had recently won a sum of money through a lucky bet, but under Taku Morita's pressure, he could not clearly explain when, where, and how he won...
A few minutes later, Nishimaru Shunsuke was a little incoherent, "I...I'm really not...Mr. policeman, I really didn't cheat!"
"I have nothing to say about this, Mr. Nishimaru. Judging from the current situation, maybe you have to go to the Metropolitan Police Department with us. We have professional colleagues who will handle your case. When can we give you a clear explanation before we can release it?"
you come back."
With that said, Morita Taku took out a pair of handcuffs from his arms.
Shunsuke Nishimaru's expression changed when he saw this.
He struggled and hesitated for a long time, then suddenly gave up, gritted his teeth and changed his words, "Okay, I confess, just now I... I lied, this money is actually... the fee for my daughter's drug test."
Trial fee?
Hearing this word, Morita Taku frowned, and Aragaki Satoru at the door and Higashinohara in the corridor looked at each other.
"What kind of medicine? How much does it cost?" Morita Taku asked.
"My daughter has congenital heart disease, and the other party said that it is a special medicine to treat this disease." Nishimaru Shunsuke's eyes became even more evasive, and he whispered guiltily, "The cost is... five million yen."
Well...it's almost two years' salary of a normal office worker. For someone like Shunsuke Nishimaru who is half a year behind on his rent, it's really a lot of money.
Morita Taku's eyes were a little unkind, "Where do you know this person? Have you never thought that the other person might be a liar? Is the medicine fake?"
Shunsuke Nishimaru was stunned when he heard this. He seemed to have never thought about this problem, but he said clearly:
"No! It can't be a liar! It was introduced by my friend in the nightclub. The other party is very rich and paid me half of the deposit in advance. This is where my money comes from. If you don't believe me, I will show you the transfer record later.
I really didn’t commit fraud, Mr. Police!”
As he spoke, he hurriedly took out his cell phone.
If you have money, you won't be a liar?
Higashinohara sighed, it was really sad to have such a father at Nishimaru Miria's stall.
Morita Taku glanced at the transfer records. There were two transactions in total, one last night and one this morning, totaling five million yen. It seemed that he was not panicking.
He glanced disdainfully at Shunsuke Nishimaru, whose face was full of panic, and then turned to look at Satoru Aragaki, who smiled and nodded in thanks.
So Morita Taku patted Nishimaru Shunsuke on the shoulder, "Okay, congratulations on clearing the suspicion of fraud, then I will take the first step."
Morita Taku was somewhat vigorous in his work. He turned around and left immediately, heading out the door.
Is this... leaving?
Shunsuke Nishimaru in the room was suddenly stunned.
At the door, Aragaki Satoru lazily leaned against the door frame and asked, "After trying the medicine this morning, Nishimaru-san, will you send your daughter to school?"
"Yeah, that's right, I bought her sushi on the way." Nishimaru Shunsuke said hurriedly.
Aragaki Satoru glanced at him, "But Nishimaru-san, when you reported this matter just now... why didn't you explain it to the police?
"me..."
Shunsuke Nishimaru opened his mouth.
After all, it is not a glorious thing to make money by testing drugs with his daughter... The key point is that his daughter disappeared from school in the afternoon. How could he say this?
But people will always find reasons for themselves.
Shunsuke Nishimaru said hesitantly, "The drug testing agency told me that they are a gray industry and do not want to contact the police. One million out of five million is hush money. I thought... this should be with my daughter at school.
It doesn’t matter if you disappear...so I didn’t mention it..."
Finally, he added in a low voice, "Those people...those people look very fierce. I'm afraid I can't afford to mess with my daughter..."
"So your daughter has disappeared, do you want to find her?" Aragaki Satoru asked.
"Of course I do," Shunsuke Nishimaru said quickly, looking anxious but not pretending.
Aragaki Satoru said leisurely, "Haha, if you really want to, I advise you to contact the police again and report the matter to them completely. Maybe this will be a clue to solve the case."
"Really?" He looked hesitant.
"Don't you want to get your daughter back?"
"I...of course I want to!"
Nishimaru Shunsuke struggled for a moment, and suddenly gritted his teeth in the sight of Aragaki Satoru who was smiling but not smiling, "Okay! I'll report it right away! Anyway, I won't live here anymore."
As he said that, he picked up the phone.
After a while, a siren sound came from downstairs - two patrol officers from the Ogawa Town Police Station received the call and drove back.
Nishimaru Shunsuke closed the door and went downstairs uneasily.
In the corridor, Higashinohara pretended to be passing by, looked at each other with Shunsuke Nishimaru, and suddenly asked casually:
"Mr. Nishimaru, I just passed by and heard something... If you don't mind... I would like to ask what those special drugs for congenital heart disease look like? Are they really effective? I have a relative in my hometown who also has such drugs.
disease."
Shunsuke Nishimaru raised his head and glanced at Higashinohara, recognizing him as the high school student who took care of his daughter last night. He nodded and said:
"It's a plate of peeled oranges. They said it's a fruit medicine, and it has a patent issued by the World Government. If it's curative... Wei Li said it was sweet on the way back..."
orange?
Why is it orange again?
Higashinohara was startled when he heard this.
In his mind, he subconsciously recalled the image he saw in the cross-section of Tianhu girl Xia Li - that was also a smooth, plump, bright orange.
what is happening?
...
...
(I am very grateful to Zhuge Wanjun, Zi Chenxing, Fu Xianlian, Weiyu Aijin, Qianhui, finally started to watch the original Yin, Wandering on the Bridge, Xiaochu, Mr. Tan really has something, Xiong Pupu’s reward support. ~
Ps: New book seedlings, voting and rewarding can improve the potential ranking, please support me~