Early the next day,
After Senichi went to work, he found Haruka and informed her that the new book was basically completed.
He asked her to choose an appropriate time to announce this news to maximize the promotional effect.
After the day passed peacefully, just as Senichi was about to finish work on Thursday night, the case arrived as scheduled.
When he arrived at the scene, the familiar figures in front of him didn't stir any waves in Senichi's heart.
Ran, Sonoko, and Conan, this combination seemed like they encountered a case while playing together on their way home after school.
But when Senichi saw another blond-haired woman beside the three, he squinted his eyes slightly.
Meeting Jodie again suggested that this case might involve some information from both the Black and the Red sides.
The small pieces of information in such cases were precious puzzle pieces for Conan, but for Senichi, they weren't something worth paying attention to.
He just greeted them with a smile and then carefully examined the scene.
Let Conan play with the small pieces of information revealed by the other party in the case. Senichi only needed to focus on the main aspects of the case.
After questioning Sonoko and others about their testimonies, the general situation of the case was understood.
Conan and the others met Jodie-sensei after school.
Because it seemed that there was a molester harassing students recently, Jodie wanted to ask the two about the situation. So, she brought them to this shopping mall for a drink and a conversation.
While they were talking, the lights in the mall suddenly went out, followed by a commotion outside.
When they rushed out, they found the deceased leaning against the wall by the escalator, clutching his chest, and had died.
The deceased's name was Katsunori Chujo, 43 years old, and the president of a detective agency.
As for the cause of death, it was simple: he died from being stabbed in the stomach with a knife.
Combining the fact that the incident occurred in a crowded place like a shopping mall, along with testimonies from Sonoko and others stating that the power had gone out before, it could be inferred that the culprit committed the crime in that short moment of blackout.
And in the file bag held by the deceased in front of his chest, a strange set of death messages was left behind, which the deceased had desperately tried to convey before dying— "○×△"!
After the forensic team examined the deceased's phone, they found that the last call he made was 30 minutes before his death.
And at that moment, it happened to be the exact moment when the case occurred!!
Yes, you heard it right. Senichi and the others took 30 minutes to arrive at the crime scene.
This was not only because of the long distance but also because of traffic on the way...
Thirty minutes might seem neither long nor short, but after hearing the report from the forensic team, Senichi directly took the phone, selected the deceased's last call through the evidence bag, and made the call.
When the call connected, amidst the onlookers, a sudden and sharp ringtone echoed.
"Ring, ring, ring!!!"
Hearing this piercing sound, Senichi and the others involuntarily looked toward the source of the ringtone.
Then, they saw a middle-aged man with a high hairline hastily pulling out his phone.
"Ah... wait... wait..."
Watching the continuously ringing phone, the man hurriedly pressed the power button and then couldn't help but sigh in relief.
But when he looked up, he found that the detectives had already approached him.
"It seems that thirty minutes ago, it was you who made the last call to the deceased."
Senichi's words immediately flustered the man in front of him, who hurriedly tried to deny it, "No... I..."
"Excuse me." Senichi, not willing to deal with the man's internal struggle, directly grabbed his wrist and turned the phone screen towards himself.
Sure enough, the name displayed on it was that of the deceased.
"Ah, I remember, brother-in-law!" Sonoko, seeing the phone, seemed to suddenly recall something. "At that time, he was sitting in the seat next to us, making a call, saying something about four times the price and asking the other party to come quickly..."
"Huh? That's a risky statement..." Senichi stared sharply at the man, "Sir, don't you want to explain something?"
"I know! I'll tell you everything! Just let me go!"
Facing the detectives around him who were watching intently, the man couldn't resist this pressure and quickly pleaded for mercy.
According to his self-introduction, his name was Norihisa Kisugi, and his company was on the 8th to 10th floors of this building. He was the administrative manager of the Trading company.
The reason for his connection with the deceased was that their company discovered an employee embezzling company funds last month. The higher-ups demanded that he find the embezzler before the company president became aware of it.
Naturally, he wasn't a professional investigator and didn't have the ability to conduct the investigation himself. So, he hired a detective to look into it.
In this world, such situations were quite common. Many private detectives often dealt with business investigations, finding mistresses, and other gray area matters rather than homicides.
However, it was clear that the detective he hired wasn't reliable, lacked professional ethics, and, after finding the culprit, decided to demand a higher payment.
What Conan and the others overheard at the coffee shop was his conversation with the detective, mentioning that the detective was asking for four times the price. If he wasn't willing to pay, the information would be sold to someone else.
Hence, the words they heard earlier in the coffee shop.
But when the agreed-upon time passed, the detective never showed up. Later, when he tried to find the detective, he was drawn in by the crowd and discovered that Katsunori Chujo was already dead. It was at this moment that the phone suddenly rang, revealing his presence.
"So, does this mean the file the deceased was holding in his arms contained that information?" Takagi speculated. "Now that the file is missing, it's evident that the culprit was after that information. Therefore, the embezzler is the culprit."
Senichi nodded at his words and then looked at Norihisa Kisugi. "So, Mr. Kisugi, did Mr. Chujo find out anything before this? Did he report anything to you?"
"Ah, yes, he did!"
Norihisa Kisugi quickly pulled out a list from his file bag. "One week ago, Detective Chujo provided me with a list of suspicious employees."
Seeing the densely packed list of names, Takagi glanced at it and immediately felt a headache. "Hey, hey, this is no joke. Investigating each of these names would be a massive undertaking!"
"There are fifty-eight potential culprits."
Looking at the list, Senichi quickly calculated the number.
Smiling at Takagi's comment, Senichi said, "Indeed, investigating each of these people individually would be too troublesome. However, as long as we decipher the 'death message' left by Mr. Chujo, everything should fall into place."
--------------------------------
🙏🙏Please consider supporting this translation project by becoming a P@treon member!!!
Your support is greatly appreciated!
Available on my P@treon page for just $4!!
Early access to the following translations:-
⭐MCU: Druid's Adventures (MCUDA) - 133 advance chapters
⭐Famous Police Detective in Detective World (FPDDW)- +165 advance chapters
⭐Marvel: Little Genius (MLG) (⭐COMPLETE⭐) - Total Chapter 450
⭐Harry Potter: Card System[⭐NEW NOVEL⭐] - 2 Chaptersp@treon.com/Lightreaper457
--------------------------------