Chapter 92: A New Suspect
As dawn broke over Tsukikage Island, fishermen were already out on their boats, the scene so peaceful it was as if no murders had occurred at all.
The lights in the community center had been burning all night.
Nishimoto Ken was dead, but police had discovered powder residue in his house—as well as in the Kuroiwa and Kawashima residences.
This confirmed portions of Asai Narumi's testimony.
Asai Narumi himself had been detained by police on suspicion of deliberately tampering with crime scenes.
Metropolitan Police Department reinforcements arrived just before sunrise.
Considering the murderer was brazenly provoking law enforcement, headquarters had dispatched thirty officers this time—including two forensic examiners.
"What's the verdict?" Inspector Megure asked.
"Kawashima Hideo's time of death was approximately 12:30 AM. Nishimoto Ken's time of death was approximately 2:00 AM."
The coroner paused before continuing. "Kuroiwa Tatsuji's body wasn't properly preserved, so we can't determine a precise time. We can only estimate his death occurred between noon and 1:00 PM yesterday."
"I see." Inspector Megure nodded thoughtfully.
"Mouri-kun, what's your take on this?"
Kogoro, just woken up, asked groggily with a completely bewildered expression, "What's for breakfast?"
Inspector Megure: ...
Inspector Megure decided to skip over Kogoro. The man was proving somewhat unreliable at the moment.
Although they'd found Aso Keiji's son last night, they still hadn't identified the actual killer.
"All right then, what about you, Natsukawa-kun?"
Natsukawa had been casually munching on sunflower seeds from seemingly nowhere when Inspector Megure called on him. He looked genuinely surprised.
However, adhering to his principle of being helpful, he offered his observations.
"Kawashima Hideo's body was dumped shortly after 1 AM—right around the time Asai Narumi arrived at the Kawashima residence. Nishimoto Ken's body was dumped around 2:30 or 3 AM, and I happened to pass by the Nishimoto house at that exact time—just as Asai Narumi was preparing to climb over the wall."
He paused for emphasis. "In conclusion, the deaths of Kawashima and Nishimoto have nothing to do with Asai Narumi. The killer is definitely someone else."
Inspector Megure nodded slowly.
So who is the killer?
Please tell me quickly—I'm desperate to clock out. I haven't slept all night, for crying out loud.
"If we're ruling out revenge as a motive, perhaps we should try a different angle," Natsukawa suggested. "What if these aren't revenge killings at all, but murders stemming from conflicts of interest?"
"So, Natsukawa-kun, tell me what you've discovered!"
Inspector Megure practically ground his teeth thinking about the killer. After all, dumping bodies right in front of police officers twice was absolutely intolerable.
"It's not exactly a concrete discovery—more of a suspicion about Shimizu Masato."
Natsukawa pointed toward Shimizu Masato, who despite staying up all night still wore that irritating smirk on his face.
"This guy is highly suspicious. And killing people doesn't necessarily require getting your own hands dirty. If Asai Narumi could hire a detective, why couldn't Shimizu Masato use money to hire an assassin? He, along with the deceased Kuroiwa Tatsuji and Kawashima Hideo, were all candidates for village chief. His polling numbers were the worst by far, so it's entirely plausible he'd resort to murder."
In the world of Detective Conan, people died over the most trivial matters—let alone competing for village leadership.
Moreover, Kuroiwa and Kawashima had both used money to buy votes, while Shimizu Masato lacked those financial resources.
So he had every motive to hire a professional killer to eliminate his two rivals.
As for Nishimoto Ken—he was probably just collateral damage. Shimizu Masato likely felt that killing only two political rivals would draw too much attention, so he added the unemployed Nishimoto to muddy the waters.
Inspector Megure nodded outwardly, though inwardly he found the hypothesis somewhat far-fetched—a bit beyond his usual frame of thinking.
So the killer isn't among the people gathered at the community center at all, but rather a hired assassin who appeared out of nowhere and then vanished?
But thinking it through carefully, Natsukawa's theory wasn't entirely unreasonable.
"You could check Shimizu Masato's bank accounts to see if there have been any large transactions recently. If there are substantial withdrawals that disappeared without a trace, then this scenario becomes very likely."
"But even if we find suspicious transactions, we don't have grounds to formally interrogate him. He'd have plenty of ways to evade the issue."
Inspector Megure looked genuinely helpless.
What they needed most right now was evidence. Without concrete proof, even if their theory was correct, Shimizu Masato would never admit anything.
"Inspector Megure!"
Anya suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere, climbing up from Natsukawa's legs to be eye-level with Inspector Megure, then said mysteriously, "I heard that uncle say yesterday that he has a computer at home!"
"A computer?" Inspector Megure pondered for several seconds, then suddenly slapped his left hand with his right, his expression one of dawning realization.
"What's significant about that?" Natsukawa looked confused, not understanding Anya's implication.
"This might actually work!" Inspector Megure didn't answer directly. He hurried to the side, pulled out his cell phone, and began dialing.
After a moment's thought, Natsukawa understood what Inspector Megure was planning.
There were two ways to post contracts on the dark web: either contact someone already on the dark web to post the job for you, or log in yourself and post it directly.
The first method left no digital trace, but made it easy for dark web intermediaries to gather information about the client. Most people chose the second option and posted contracts themselves.
Although this method could hide one's identity, bank transfers left records, and computer browsing history and chat logs could be recovered even after deletion.
However, residential computers weren't normally under surveillance, so while this method sounded riskier, the actual chance of exposure was quite low.
"Anya's really smart!" Natsukawa reached to pat Anya's head but ended up touching her hat instead.
"When did you buy this outfit? I had no idea. You're even wearing sunglasses—are you imitating Bond again?"
"I bought it a while ago. I used my allowance and saved money by not buying peanuts." Anya poked her index fingers together nervously, worried her father might be angry.
But Natsukawa obviously wasn't that kind of person. How his daughter chose to dress was her freedom—he wouldn't interfere with something so minor.
Besides, this outfit looked much better than Conan's blue suit.
Speaking of Conan, where had he disappeared to?
"Where's Conan?" Natsukawa asked.
The boy had been hiding behind Kogoro Mouri's sofa earlier, but now he was nowhere to be seen.
"I don't know." Anya shrugged.
Natsukawa turned to ask Uncle Mouri, only to find him fast asleep again.
Impressive.
"Everyone can go now."
At Inspector Megure's dismissal, the gathered crowd stood up to leave.
They'd been dragged out in the middle of the night to listen to a deduction, only to find the culprit still at large.
Aside from the bombshell revelation that Asai Narumi was actually a man, they'd gained absolutely nothing.
Actually, wait—Kuroiwa Reiko had gained something. She was about to receive notice that her father's assets would be seized. Her fiancé, who'd been cuddling with her all night, was no longer standing by her side.
In the words of her now-ex-fiancé, Murasawa Shuichi: "What kind of relationship works without money? You're broke now!"
After everyone departed, Inspector Megure began pacing around the room.
"Inspector Megure, did you have someone trace his IP address?" Natsukawa asked.
Inspector Megure stopped mid-stride, a rare, somewhat sinister smile spreading across his face. "That's right—I've had the Metropolitan Police Department's cyber division locate his IP. As long as he turns on his computer, we can trace back through his activity to see if he's posted any dark web contracts."
"Speaking of which, this tracking program was developed for us by Professor Agasa. It's incredibly useful! Since we implemented it, Tokyo's overall crime rate has dropped considerably."
Inspector Megure beamed with satisfaction, and Natsukawa felt too embarrassed to interrupt his enthusiasm.
If Tokyo's crime rate has decreased NOW, I can't even imagine what Tokyo was like before...
Come to think of it, Natsukawa suddenly realized that running a comprehensive funeral service in Tokyo would be extraordinarily profitable.
Unfortunately, the market share for that industry had probably already been monopolized by people with better foresight.
(End of Chapter 92)
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