"...I understand, protect the scene, we will be there soon."
Miwako Sato's low tone made the other two people in the office stop their childish behavior of attacking each other. Katsuki Uehara turned to look at his partner who had obviously lost his smile, and said without knowing why: "What's wrong, Sato? What happened?"
What happened?"
"A new victim has appeared Uehara, we have to leave." After hanging up the phone, she took a deep breath to calm down the surging emotions in her heart. Miwako Sato's words were relatively restrained.
Uehara Katsuki understood immediately, and turned around to say goodbye to his friend: "It seems that the prisoner couldn't bear the loneliness for now, so he left Narashi first. I'll treat you to dinner when I'm done."
"Well, be careful."
With his hands in the pockets of his white coat, Aso nodded and watched as the two men hurriedly opened the door and left with the autopsy report.
In the corridor on the floor, the two people walking in a hurry perfectly blended into the atmosphere of the hospital.
"what's the situation?"
"Sayuri Matsumoto may have encountered an accident. Takagi and Chiba went to the apartment she rented to question her, but found that she was not there at all, and the murderer's iconic metal card was still left on the ground."
"Sayuri Matsumoto?"
When he first heard the victim's name, Katsuki Uehara frowned: "Did this lunatic take drugs and destroy his brain?"
Regardless of her status as the fiancée of the Takasugi Foundation, her father is the manager of the 1st Investigation Section of the Metropolitan Police Department.
"Obviously, if the murderer was on drugs."
Miwako Sato who walked to the employee parking lot saw her red Mazda and raised her hand without looking back: "He even calls himself a messenger of God."
"Messenger of God?"
Twenty-three minutes later, Sayuri Matsumoto's house in Miwa Town.
There were several police cars parked at the entrance of the apartment, attracting the attention of residents from time to time. The angry EVO and the Mazda, which finally had a chance to show off their filial piety after many days, parked in front of the apartment building——
Two figures got out of the car and hurried upstairs after showing their IDs.
"Chiba, Takagi."
Miwako Sato stepped out of the elevator and pushed open the door of 602. The layout of the room immediately came into view——
One bedroom, two living rooms, one kitchen and one bathroom, although the house is small, it has all the internal organs.
Near the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, two figures who were still discussing something with the police officers heard the voice coming from behind and turned their heads: "Sato, Uehara, you are here."
"How is the situation?" After nodding and greeting the surrounding police officers, Miwako Sato stepped forward and asked.
"You may not believe it, but according to the surveillance video, Sayuri Matsumoto was not kidnapped."
"What did you say?"
Miwako Sato frowned when she heard what Chiba said: "Don't tell me that she broke the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room by herself. She put this metal card here by herself."
"Judging from the surveillance in the apartment, this is very possible." Takagi Wataru waved to the two people who had arrived late, dropped the laptops on the coffee table in the living room, and hit Enter with the middle finger of his right hand.
key--
In the surveillance footage, a long-haired woman wearing a pale white down jacket hurriedly walked out of the apartment with a bag. The time showed that it was 10:46 last night.
After that, until fast forwarding to this morning when Takagi and Chiba came to the door, Sayuri Matsumoto no longer appeared in the surveillance footage.
"..."
No matter how many times Takagi Wataru turned it upside down, the result was always the same.
Miwako Sato put her hands on the coffee table, biting her lips back and forth while staring at the screen with her eyes fixed on the screen. She looked solemn and said nothing.
"You have to go out so late... Where is the surveillance at the intersection? Can you help us determine the location of Sayuri Matsumoto?" Katsuki Uehara turned to ask while frowning and looking at the French window that had been punched through from the inside.
"It has been confirmed that Sayuri Matsumoto appeared in Cupido Town around midnight, but then there was no trace of her again." Opening the small book that recorded the love affair, Chiba Kazunobu gave a surprising result.
.
"Acupido Town? Is there anything unusual in the video?"
"Yes, compared to how she was dressed when going out, Matsumoto Sayuri did not have her handbag when she appeared in Cupido Town. It is reasonable to speculate that it should have been left somewhere. Our people are already investigating nearby hotels, but
No results yet.”
Chiba and Nobu closed the notebook and sighed with a sad face. Just as they announced their follow-up actions, they unexpectedly received a basin of cold water from Katsumi Uehara——
"It is unlikely that there is a hotel. Sayuri Matsumoto should have been called out by the murderer. In other words, the murderer knew that she would be exposed to surveillance that had not been destroyed.
"So either this is just a cover-up, and Sayuri Matsumoto is still in Mihua Town; or, she is in a certain family's house in Cupido Town.
"The murderer knows very well that the police will definitely investigate whether it is a cover-up or not. And if it is a hotel or hotel, the risk of being discovered by the police is very high."
Katsuki Uehara bit the nail of his right thumb and said thoughtfully: "The question now is, what did the murderer say to Sayuri Matsumoto to make her cooperate so well without doing anything or saying anything?
—”
Suddenly, Uehara Katsumi seemed to have thought of something, and his words stopped abruptly.
"Takasugi Toshihiko."
"Takasugi Toshihiko."
The voice sounded almost at the same time. Uehara Katsumi turned his head, just in time to meet Miwako Sato who also looked up at him: "To make her fiancée willing to take risks alone, it seems that our second-generation rich man has hidden a lot of things."
"Does she know the secret that Yuka Miyazawa said her husband accidentally knew?" Miwako Sato, who was also thinking of Nobu Miyazawa's car accident, looked at her partner.
"Her previous confession was that she didn't know."
Shaking the phone, Katsuki Uehara made a decisive call——
"Detective Mori? It's me, Katsuki Uehara. Yes, please bring your client to the Metropolitan Police Department."
"Now? Okay, I understand."
Mori Detective Agency, second floor.
Mouri Kogoro, who was working seriously, hung up the phone with a bit of confusion on his face. As a former detective, he heard something was wrong in Uehara Katsumi's voice.
He was thinking, but he was not slow and dialed the phone to his client.
Edogawa Conan, who was lying lazily on the sofa watching TV during the weekend, was so bored that he almost yawned. When he heard the movement from Kogoro Mouri's side, his ears suddenly stood up.
"Xiaolan, I'm going to the Metropolitan Police Department. You shouldn't have to cook for me at noon today."
"Okay dad, be careful on the road."
"Um."
Mouri Kogoro, who put on his suit jacket, straightened his collar and walked downstairs. The Honda car he rented from the car rental agency just for this reason was parked next to the coffee shop.
"Conan, we are the only two left at home today at noon. What do you want to eat?"
After Kogoro left, the virtuous Mao Lilan had just tidied up the cigarette butts and beer cans on her desk, and her gentle words could not be answered for a long time.
"Conan?"
Puzzled, Mao Lilan turned her head. There was still Conan's shadow on the sofa in the living room.
"Conan?!"
In the Honda car, Kogoro Mori, who had almost arrived at his client's house in Cupido Town, was about to roll down the window and light a cigarette when he caught a glimpse of a small head suddenly popping up in the rearview mirror from the corner of his eye. He was stunned.
After a moment, my temples suddenly started pounding——
"Oh yeah! Yeah, the seat cushion is so soft! Uncle Maori, this is simply the most comfortable car I have ever ridden in. You are so discerning!"
As if he had seen a new world, Edogawa Conan held up his big face and his innocent voice, which made Mouri Kogoro swallow back the anger that had surged to his mouth.
This little devil...
What a crime!
"Uncle, he has to go to work, not to go out for fun. Don't make trouble for me, kid, do you hear me?"
"Okay~"
Conan looked cute with his right hand raised high.
"Really, how did Xiaolan do it? She can't even look down on a child..."
Conan, who got into the car, didn't seem to hear Kogoro Mouri's beeping. He sat in the back seat and swung his short legs, turning his head to look at the rapidly moving street scene outside the window.