"Tsuneo, is there a problem?" Inspector Megure pressed the pause button.
The video tape stopped exactly at nine o'clock. On the TV, President Kojima was seen talking to two security guards.
"Did you seriously examine the body?" Tsuneo looked around and saw that even the small Detective beside him was frowning in thought, so he couldn't help but ask.
Could it be that he was the only one who had carefully looked at that terrifying face?
"Lipstick…" Conan was the first to spot the blind spot. At the same time, he turned his head to look at Miss Kojima Chihiro, who was looking panicked and covering her mouth.
"Oh!"
Uncle Mouri's eyes lit up. On the TV screen, President Kojima, wearing a face mask, had purple-red lipstick on her lips, but the body lying on the floor did not have this feature!
"Speaking of which, if you want to put on a face mask, you should remove all your makeup first," Ran leaned in closer, carefully looking at President Kojima on the screen, and said doubtfully.
Inspector Megure's face darkened. "Miss Kojima, can you please explain what exactly is going on?"
"It, it was my mom who forgot about it herself and wiped off the lipstick after returning to her room," Kojima Chihiro stammered, then immediately retorted.
"Do you know that there's a significant difference between a face mask applied when someone is alive and one forcibly applied after they've died?" Tsuneo said, extending his hands and pinching his handsome face hard.
Not to mention how many wrinkles the fifty-year-old President Kojima would have on her face.
Her mouth and eyes were wide open, yet the face mask remained so smooth. Was it a face mask made of super glue?
"I, I…" Kojima Chihiro panicked for a moment, unsure how to defend herself.
"Tsuneo Ge, how do you know all this?" Ran didn't expect that Tsuneo, a grown man, would even notice this.
"Observation, careful observation." Tsuneo smiled.
He usually dealt with wealthy housewives who stayed at home. Even with slight movements while talking, their face masks would show some wrinkles, unlike how perfectly smooth they were on a dead person.
"The culprit most likely applied the face mask and put on the bathrobe after the victim had died."
"In that case, the culprit is you, Kojima Chihiro!" Uncle Mouri immediately made a judgment, pointing the finger at President Kojima's daughter.
A stray cat triggered the alarm system in the yard. At exactly nine o'clock, security personnel came to check the situation.
If no one answered the door, the two security guards would probably immediately try to break into the house.
At that time, Kojima Chihiro had not yet had time to leave after killing the person.
With no other choice, she thought of pretending to be her mother to get away with it.
Wearing a face mask and a bathrobe, she pretended to have just finished bathing, opened the door, and sent the security personnel away.
This is why she had to put a face mask on the victim!
That's right, it must be like this!
This is my Mouri Kogoro's famous deduction!
"Uncle, I think you might be wrong," Tsuneo said with a smile, then explained his views to everyone.
Regardless, this motive for murder was too weak.
Moreover, if Miss Kojima Chihiro wanted to strangle a woman of similar build with her bare hands, there wouldn't be just a tiny bit of struggle marks.
Conan nodded and then lowered his head, lost in thought.
Just as Tsuneo explained, Kojima Chihiro's attire in the video was no different from her current appearance, not looking like she had been in a struggle.
Sure enough, the killer could only be that person.
The Detective looked again at Izumi Takeo, who was tightly clenching his fists.
Wait.
There seemed to be something at his pant leg?
Where the other party's suit pant leg was rolled up, there was an inconspicuous circular chip embedded inside.
Could it be!
Conan's face changed, and he rushed out of the house to find the police officer from the forensic department.
Tsuneo glanced sideways at the Detective, smiled slightly, and then looked at Kojima Chihiro, who was still trying to defend herself.
"This gentleman is right, my mom was already dead when I got here!"
"I was afraid of being suspected, so I came up with this method, pretending to be my mom to open the door for the security personnel."
Kojima Chihiro looked at Tsuneo gratefully and immediately told the truth.
Uncle Mouri also began to ponder, not casually refuting Tsuneo's words.
"If what you say is true, then the culprit is…" Inspector Megure mused.
Everyone collectively turned their gaze to Izumi Takeo, the first person to visit President Kojima.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't talk nonsense without evidence. When I left, the President was still alive and well," Izumi Takeo feigned composure, stood up, and defended himself.
"Who said there's no evidence?"
The "Repairman's" voice suddenly rang out again.
Tsuneo turned his head to look at the small figure hiding behind him, holding a bow tie, and twitched his lips speechlessly.
Again?
I'm going to charge next time!
"Oh! Tsuneo, do you already have evidence?" Inspector Megure's eyes lit up as he asked expectantly.
In fact, after the other party had previously said why Kojima Chihiro was unlikely to be the culprit, he himself was more inclined to believe Izumi Takeo was the culprit.
But without evidence, anything was possible.
He never expected that Tsuneo, standing there without even moving a step, would actually find evidence!
"Cough, cough."
Tsuneo lightly coughed twice and said:
"Before watching the video tape, I had already determined that you should be the culprit."
Tsuneo began to speak of Izumi Takeo's various strange behaviors.
"However, I really can't understand what method you used to bring President Kojima back to life to meet her daughter and send the security personnel away."
"I, I…"
Izumi Takeo wanted to say something else, but he was directly interrupted.
"My conclusion is that you didn't use any method at all!"
"We were completely led astray by Miss Kojima Chihiro, who chose to cover up the truth out of fear."
Tsuneo said, staring at the other party and smiling.
"Yes, I'm sorry," Kojima Chihiro bowed to apologize.
Tsuneo continued:
"You must have had a dispute with President Kojima over the three hundred million yen, and in a fit of rage, you reached out and firmly choked her neck."
Upon hearing this, Izumi Takeo shook his head violently and shouted, "I didn't kill anyone!"
"Inspector Megure, please help me open Izumi's rolled-up pant leg and see what's inside," Tsuneo instructed.
"Pant leg?" Inspector Megure walked forward, squatted down, and found a circular chip at the pant leg.
"This is, a contact lens?!"
"That's right, this is the evidence I was talking about…"
Tsuneo said, nodding, and like everyone else, a look of sudden realization appeared on his face.
It seems being short still has its advantages; you can always find strange things in nooks and crannies...
Huh?
I'm not talking about the color of the underwear...
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