After leaving the eucalyptus discovery site and going outside, the fresh air flowing around me successfully blew away the dullness that had clogged my heart.
Otaki Goro, who was the first to leave, hurried back. He was obviously very good at dealing with the world of people. He took the warm tea and simple food purchased by his subordinates to help the old woman who had not eaten lunch solve the problem of food and clothing.
But the old lady didn't appreciate it. She shook her head in despair and said that she was not hungry. The scene of her precious daughter's tragic death at home was still vivid in her mind. She really had no appetite to enjoy it, so she chose to reject the police officer's kindness.
Through the confession recorded by the police, we have learned that the grandmother's name is Akashi Mari, and the victim is her only daughter Akashi Honoko, who was also one of the people she cared about most in the world after the death of her husband.
The other person is naturally the grandson who is still missing, the little boy who appears in the group photo.
Fujiwara Yu noticed that Akashi Mari refused to eat. He reached out to take the plastic bag from Officer Otaki's hand, walked to the old lady and squatted down. Maybe he was tall enough, even if he was squatting on the ground, he could easily communicate with the old lady sitting on the chair.
Eye level.
He changed from his usual stern look, his eyebrows were smeared with warm colors, his thin lips were curved, and his voice was clear:
"Grandma Mari, what can you do if you don't eat well? We still have to bring the bad guys to justice, right? If you don't eat well, you won't have the strength to witness this scene, and you don't want the progress of this case to stop at this point.
Bar."
Akashi Mari didn't expect that the young police officer would say these words to her. She lowered her eyes and thought that the murderer was still on the loose. Yes, the young police officer was right. Her daughter would never come back. She had to at least witness the murderer being arrested.
OK.
At this time, we cannot have the pessimistic idea of giving up on ourselves.
"Thank you, little police officer."
Akashi Mari took the hot tea and Miso stewed mackerel bento and began to taste it in small sips. Fujiwara Yu and Otaki Goro were relieved when they saw this scene. They did not ask in a hurry but waited for Mari's grandma to finish the meal before speaking.
:
"Grandma Mari, do you know your daughter's social relationships? You two probably talk on the phone frequently when you don't live together. During the chat, did you mention anything that has been bothering you recently?"
"Hey, Suiko has been very sensible since she was a child. I have never heard of her having any enmity with anyone, whether at school or at work. She always reports good things but not bad things in front of me, so... I may not be able to do anything about it.
Please help." Mari Akashi showed a guilty expression at the end. I'm afraid she felt deep down that she didn't understand her daughter well enough.
Be sensible, don't make enemies with others, report good things but not bad things.
Humiliation, photo taking, and disappearing boy.
Fujiwara Yu closed his eyes and combined with these keywords, his brain started to work rapidly. He rubbed the five-yen coin in his hand with his fingertips. A silver light flashed through his mind. He realized that there were key clues that had been ignored. Without saying a word, he dropped all the coins.
Otaki Goro, who had a question mark, ran towards the scene of the eucalyptus discovery.
He put on his gloves again and grabbed the photo on the dressing table from the female colleague of Kesouyan. He completely ignored the other person's speechless expression and focused all his attention on the photo of the victim Akashi Honoko and her son Akashi Shinji.
In the background of the photo, there are two other little boys who won the award. They have trophies in their hands, but why does Akashi Shinji, the champion, not have a trophy in his hand?
And if you look carefully, you can see that Akashi Shinji's eyes are not directed at the camera. He seems to be unwilling to look directly at the person who took the photo. Could it be that the photographer took away his trophy, which made Shinji feel dissatisfied, so he was angry
Don’t want to see it?
Fujiwara Yu couldn't figure it out, so he had to leave quickly under the speechless gaze of his female colleague from the Science Research Institute. He handed the group photo directly to Akashi Mari, leaned down and asked:
"Grandma Mari, the boy in the photo is your grandson Shinji Akashi, right?"
"Yes, Shinji is very similar to Suiko. He was very obedient when he was in the nursery school and never let Suiko worry once."
"Then I want to ask a question, why is Shinji Akashi not at home? Where has he gone?"
Fujiwara Yu thinks this is a key point, because according to the clues currently available, it can be concluded that the possibility of an acquaintance committing the crime is as high as 80%. Therefore, Akashi Shinji is a more critical point. Why did he happen to not be at home and who was taking him?
gone.
Akashi Mari did not feel anxious because her grandson was not at home. She took a sip of hot tea to moisten her throat and said slowly:
"You can rest assured, little police officer, that Shinji was picked up by his father the day before yesterday. Suiko told me that Shinji will send Shinji home this evening... Hey, I'm afraid there is nothing we can do now, and this child can only
I can let Shinji raise me."
"Shinji?"
"He is Suiko's ex-husband. They divorced six years ago. He is actually quite nice, but Suoko said that the two of them are still used to being friends, so they chose to get married after careful consideration." Mari Akashi thought for a while and replied.
Akashi Shinji is only seven years old this year. If the divorce is really amicable, why would he choose the time when the child is just one year old? You must know that raising an infant and young child alone is very tiring. Akashi Honoko even has to find a way to make ends meet. No
The child will be given to the ex-husband as a financial source.
Wait a moment and change the sentence?
A terrible thought arose in Fujiwara Yu's mind. He didn't want the answer he had deduced to be correct, so he wanted to quickly prove its error. He returned to the scene of the accident again and looked at the people who were looking at him.
A female colleague from the Science Research Institute glanced at the other person’s job badge and asked bluntly:
"Hello, Ms. Asao, did you find the same trophy as in this photo at the scene?"
Mitsuyo Asao glared at his half-moon eyes and had no favorable impression of this impolite handsome boy, but thinking that the other person just wanted to detect the case as soon as possible, he didn't care about his discomfort when he was ignored, and responded with a loud voice:
"Well, I didn't find it. Is there any problem?"
"Not finding it is the big problem."
Asao Mitsuyo saw the young purple-haired police officer leave these words and walk out. She was speechless in her heart. So what is the importance of this trophy? It can't be a weapon to beat the victim.
Huh? Wait, it’s not really the murder weapon, is it?
Mitsuyo Asao, a researcher at Kosoken, is naturally capable. She walked to the victim's body and looked closely at the wound on the back of the head. After simulating the approximate appearance of the murder weapon in her mind, it turned out that it actually matched the ball at the top of the trophy in the photo.
Right.
Is it really the murder weapon?!
And the murder weapon was not at the scene, so there was only one possibility left - the murderer took the trophy away.
"But the murder weapon has indeed been solved, so why does he think it's a big problem?"
Asao Mitsuyo was puzzled. From a normal perspective, he should be very happy to find out what the murder weapon was. Why did his face turn sour... This rookie police officer was really strange.
At this moment, Fujiwara Yuu, who was considered strange by others, had already come to Otaki Goro. He deliberately lowered his voice and leaned into the senior's ear, saying at a volume that Akashi Mari, who was sitting next to him, could not hear:
"The murder weapon should be the trophy Akashi Shinji won in the karate competition. I suspect that the victim's ex-husband has a motive for committing murder, and I want to apply for a search warrant to go to her ex-husband's house."