Ke Xue Lu Ren Wang

Chapter 47 Investigation

"The murderer is neither Yuko Ikezawa nor Yoko Okino."

Yuzuru spoke, his tone very calm.

Everyone in the living room paused for a moment.

"Huh? Isn't Yuko the murderer?" Sonoko Suzuki tilted her head, somewhat puzzled.

In her view, this woman had both motive and evidence, so there was no way she could escape.

"Hey, hey~ Don't talk nonsense, you brat!" Kogoro Mouri jumped up instantly, pointing his finger in Yuko Ikezawa's direction. "She not only knows where the toilet is, but she also knows where the lighter is! Maybe the whole attack was made up by her!"

He paused, then abruptly turned his finger towards Yamagishi Sakae.

"And another thing! You're also a suspect in Ms. Yoko's manager's case! Maybe you went into the house, found Ms. Yoko's ex-boyfriend, and killed him to prevent them from rekindling their relationship!"

"I didn't..." Yamagishi Sakae waved his hands repeatedly, his face turning pale.

"That Mori guy, this Yoko is also a prime suspect..." Inspector Megure stroked his chin, lowering his voice. "She clearly knew the victim, but initially claimed not to."

Yoko Okino clenched her fingers, unsure how to explain for a moment.

The scene was in complete chaos.

Sonoko Suzuki looked left and right, her head spinning from all the talking, so she simply turned and moved closer to Toru Hanyu.

"Hanyu-kun, who do you think is the murderer?"

"Actually, none of those are true."

Yuzuru shook his head and said seriously.

Yuko Ikezawa appeared before them without them even noticing.

"This handsome guy is the one who understands. I've already told him I'm not the murderer, but they still won't believe me."

She took half a step forward, drawing out her words.

"Young man, are you a police officer?"

"no."

"detective?"

"No, not exactly."

"and you……"

"Hey! Haven't you asked enough?!"

Sonoko Suzuki reacted quickly, grabbing Toru Hanyu's arm and positioning herself between the two, looking up at him.

Yuko Ikezawa paused for a moment, glanced down at Sonoko Suzuki's arm around Toru Hanyu's, then looked up at Toru Hanyu's face and let out a regretful sigh.

"So he's already taken~"

She took a postcard out of her bag and handed it to Toru Hanyu.

"By the way, my name is Yuko Ikezawa. Handsome, you have a great appearance. If you'd like to learn more about me, feel free to give me a call and we can chat!"

The woman's voice trailed off in a sticky, lingering tone.

Snapped.

Sonoko Suzuki reacted quickly and snatched the card from her hand.

"That despicable old woman!"

Sonoko Suzuki stared at Yuko Ikezawa's retreating figure, her cheeks puffed up like a pufferfish, her expression both fierce and adorable.

"Sonoko, throw the postcard away."

Sonoko Suzuki paused for a moment, then turned to look at him.

"Huh? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Yuzuru nodded. "Aren't there prettier women in front of me? Why would I contact her?"

Sonoko Suzuki's face turned bright red instantly, and she opened her mouth but couldn't utter a single word.

Conan watched the two of them interacting so affectionately, and his thoughts almost became a jumbled mess.

"What's going on? Why am I suddenly eating dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection)?"

"Ahem..." Inspector Megure coughed heavily twice. "Brother Yuzuru, you say that neither Ms. Yuko nor Ms. Yoko are the murderers, what is the evidence? Can you explain it to us in detail?"

Sonoko Suzuki quickly released Toru Hanyu's arm and took a half step back, but the tips of her ears were still red.

Yuzuru didn't say anything more, and walked to the body and squatted down.

Everyone's attention immediately turned to him.

"If I'm not mistaken, the murderer is Fujie Akiyoshi."

He paused for a second.

"That is, the deceased himself."

"ah?!"

"What?!"

Several voices erupted almost simultaneously.

Kogoro Mouri took a step forward.

"Kid! You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want! The person is dead, how could he kill himself?"

"Brother Yuzuru, what do you mean by that?" Inspector Megure's expression suddenly turned serious.

Conan pushed up his glasses and didn't say anything, but his mind was already racing.

"Let's start with the first key piece of evidence."

Yuzuru raised his hand and pointed to the several water stains that had been marked on the ground.

"I had a senior forensic scientist examine these water droplets on the ground before."

Takagi immediately opened the test report in his hand.

"The report shows that only the DNA of the deceased was detected in the water. The composition was ordinary tap water."

Yuzuru stood up and looked up at the air conditioner vent on the ceiling.

"Ms. Yoko mentioned before that she didn't turn on the air conditioning when she left. But when we came in, the air conditioning was not only on, but also set to warm air."

Yoko Okino nodded in confirmation.

"It's almost summer now, who would turn on the heater at this time of year?"

"Didn't you say before that it was to disrupt the determination of the time of death of the corpse?" Kogoro Mouri said, arms crossed.

"Disrupting the time of death is just a side effect."

Yuzuru glanced around at everyone.

"The killer's real purpose in turning on the heater was to hide evidence."

"What evidence are you hiding?" Inspector Megure pressed.

Yuu Tetsu didn't answer directly, but turned to look at Takagi.

"Takagi-senpai."

"Ah...yes."

"If you wanted to commit suicide, what method would you usually choose?"

Takagi paused for a moment, then thought about it seriously.

"Hanging, jumping off a building, or... taking poison?"

"What if you wanted to kill yourself with a knife, but also make the scene look like a homicide?"

Takagi scratched his head.

"This... seems impossible, doesn't it? It's not very realistic to stab yourself in the back several times."

"It is actually possible."

Yuzuru squatted back down next to the body and pointed to the wound on the deceased's chest.

"Let's first go over the whole sequence of events."

His voice was neither hurried nor slow.

"First, Mr. Yamagishi's spare key was taken by Ms. Ikezawa Yuko. Out of jealousy, Ms. Ikezawa Yuko repeatedly broke into Ms. Yoko's house, trying to find negative information about her. However, because she looked too similar to Ms. Yoko, from her clothes to her hairstyle to her back view, she was mistaken for Yoko Okino by the deceased Fujie Akiyoshi, who was hiding outside the house during one of her intrusions."

"The deceased attacked her. Ms. Ikezawa Yuko struggled to break free and escape, and that's when her earring fell off."

Upon hearing this, Yuko Ikezawa breathed a sigh of relief and nodded repeatedly.

"That's it! I was terrified! That man kept holding me, preventing me from running away!"

"The deceased, Fujie Akiyoshi, after seeing 'Okino Yoko's' desperate attempt to escape, believed that she had completely abandoned their past relationship."

Yuzuru paused for a moment.

"So he made a decision: to destroy Yoko Okino with his own death."

"You mean... he deliberately committed suicide at Ms. Yoko's house, making it look like he was murdered by Ms. Yoko?" Inspector Megure's voice was somewhat somber.

"Yes, and the deceased was also holding Ms. Yoko's hair in her hand, but Mr. Yamagishi took it away at the time, right?" Yuzuru looked at Yamagishi.

When Yamagishi Eiji was exposed by Yuzuru, his expression changed and he nodded. "I took the hair. I was afraid the police would find clues... and then suspect Yoko..."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Kogoro Mori rushed forward. "Even if your motive is sound, what about the method? The angle at which the knife was stuck in his chest—it's clearly not something he could have done!"

Inspector Megure also frowned slightly.

Indeed, given the angle and depth of the blade entering the body, it is difficult to explain it as suicide based on the scene.

Yuzuru straightened up and patted off non-existent dust from his knees.

"That's why I say the real purpose of the warm air is to hide evidence."

He pointed to the water stains on the ground.

"This water is the answer."

"Tap water... DNA only from the dead... warm air..." Inspector Megure murmured, repeating these keywords, his face wrinkling more and more.

Yuzuru glanced at him, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Inspector Megure, have you ever used ice at home?"

Inspector Megure was taken aback.

Takagi was also taken aback.

Conan's pupils suddenly contracted.

"ice……"

"That's right." Yuzuru put his hands back in his pockets and looked around at everyone.

"The weapon was secured with ice."

He looked at the air conditioner.

"The deceased had secured the knife to a support with ice beforehand, with the tip pointing towards himself. He then stood on a nearby stool and fell down, using his body weight to hit the object. The purpose of the warm air was to melt the ice as quickly as possible, eliminating any traces of the fixation."

"By the time we arrived at the scene, the ice had already melted into water, leaving only a few drops of water on the ground that hadn't completely evaporated."

The living room was completely silent.

Sonoko Suzuki's mouth dropped open.

Kogoro Mouri's hand froze in mid-air.

Inspector Megure turned to look at the forensic officer, who was frantically flipping through the data records in his hand.

"The location of the water stains on the ground... is indeed about one meter directly in front of the body..." The forensic investigator's voice trembled slightly. "If we assume there was originally an ice support structure there... that makes perfect sense!"

"So... the deceased, Fujie Akiyoshi, really did die by suicide!"