The sirens stopped.
The elite police of Search Division 1 arrived, led by a chubby, middle-aged officer with a sharp gaze who introduced himself as 'Megure Jūzō' and told the others to address themselves as Officer Megure.
Officer Megure and his men looked exceptionally competent, the very best of the best, but upon hearing that the murderer had been brought to justice, he didn't hesitate for even a second before he rushed over to Ichijō Mirai, overjoyed, "Thank you so much!"
He gazed deeply at Ichijō Mirai, as if remembering with all his heart a breadwinner with a wanted amount of tens of millions of dollars, "Detective Ichijō, isn't it? What a young man!"
"Leave a contact!"
Even if the handshake is avoided, he doesn't care about it, and instead of shaking Ichijō Mirai's wrist which is covered by his sleeve, "I've heard about you from my men, the great detective who came back from the United States!"
Ichijō Mirai: "?"
Ichijō Mirai: "..."
Well, after arriving at the scene of the crime, shouldn't the police have immediately split up for interrogation or gone back to the station to take statements, even if someone confessed to the crime, and just go with the evidence?
Why don't they even verify it? You're not sure if the victim was killed by the person who confessed?
It's fine if you don't verify, but...
Is the status of detectives in Japan so high that the elite police are so enthusiastic?
Or is the 'back from America' detective special?
Also, 'I've heard about you from my men'...
Ignoring certain points that must not be pondered over, the police are well-informed, which is barely one of the characteristics of the elite police.
Ichijō Mirai lowered his head and looked at Megure Jūzō's hand tightly holding his wrist, confirming: "Are you the inspector of Division 1?"
"Don't you need to confirm the murderer?"
"Yes," Megure Jūzō added, "the police chief of the Search Division 1 forcible offender Search Department Three."
He finishes his gaze, lets go, and mutters a little, "Well, it sure is handsome, no wonder..."
He waved his hand again, "No, no, no. The murderer confessed, didn't he? The evidence is there, so we can close the case."
Ichijō Mirai: "..."
I knew there was something wrong with the source.
Isn't the best part of the Japanese Police in Search One? This is the elite?
Ichijō Mirai didn't understand, but was shocked and didn't want to sympathize with the fact that 'it's the end of the 20th century, the year starts with 19, it's normal for the police not to be specialized in the 21st century'.
Along with the police, there was also a detective.
A middle-aged detective in his 30s or 40s, Mouri Korogō, Mouri Ran's father.
Unlike Megure Jūzō, who immediately recognized Ichijō Mirai and rushed up to him, he wasn't overly enthusiastic, but only looked at him from a distance.
But the same thing was that he also muttered something like, 'No wonder the client who commissioned me recently asked me in a roundabout way if I wanted to pass the commission on to a newcomer in the same lineup to support and help them out' or something like that.
The same thing is that he didn't ask too much about the case, and didn't mean to review the case from the beginning and solve it by himself.
They justifiably acquiesced: the one who confessed to the crime must be the real culprit.
Not only the police department and detectives, but also the police in charge of collecting clues near the body, they rightfully agreed, they put the half cigarette next to the body into the evidence bag, and reported with seriousness and surprise: "Police department, the key evidence has been collected!"
The evidence bag was transparent and contained only one cigarette, but it was a two-part cigarette, the tip and body of which had been pinched apart, and the smoker hadn't used a filter.
Ichijō Mirai's eyes lingered on the evidence bag for a few seconds, turned to Conan, and was surprised to find Conan staring at the evidence bag, and then looking up with a gaze that shone like a sharp dagger being refined in a flame.
The dagger swung in the air with a windy sound: Tanaka Naomichi is not the murderer!
Because Minagawa Katsuhiko didn't touch the poisoned filter, the poison wasn't from the cigarettes.
"Brother Ichijō," Conan said in a small, puzzled voice as he walked up to Ichijō Mirai, "didn't Brother Tanaka say that he poisoned the cigarette filters?"
"But the filters in the evidence pouch are separate from the body of the cigarettes, aren't they? Brother Minagawa doesn't use filters for his cigarettes."
"Could it be that when Brother Minagawa smokes without a filter, he also holds the filter in his mouth?"
He scrunched up his face, "That's strange."
Hearing this additional information, Megure Jūzō's face became serious, "Mr. Tanaka said he poisoned the filter?"
"I'll ask."
Tanaka Naomichi had not yet gotten into the police car, but was in the courtyard receiving a pair of silver handcuffs from the police, and before he could put them on, he was questioned by the police.
Unsure of what he was talking about, he confessed honestly: "Yes, I put the poison in the filter."
"Don't you hold the filter when you smoke? It's enough to poison the filter, not the rest of the cigarette, because too much poison will produce a strange odor."
Then, the police officer who collected the cigarettes carefully studied the evidence bag and handed it to Megure Jūzō, "Officer Megure, the tip of the cigarette is dry, the part connected to the filter is the ignition part, and the end of the cigarette is wet."
And, "The deceased had only smoked about one or two puffs, and the tear on the lighted part was still visible."
Tanaka Naomichi's poison did not reach the point of killing Minagawa Katsuhiko.
Megure Jūzō's face changed, and she subconsciously looked at Ichijō Mirai, "But, Detective Ichijō you... Oh, no wonder you asked 'if you want to identify the real murderer again'."
"You didn't say the murderer was Tanaka Naomichi!"
"Well,"
He looked at Watanabe Yoshimi, who was being questioned in a corner of the living room, and his gaze sharpened, "Is it that lady?"
The police officer who collected the evidence exchanged a few words with his colleague and held up an evidence bag containing chocolate, "We've also collected the chocolate from the side of the body, so we'll be able to find out if it's poisoned or not if we test it!"
There are three suspects.
Since it wasn't Tanaka Naomichi, the only two suspects left were Watanabe Yoshimi, who sent the chocolates, and Mrs. Minagawa, who made the meal that everyone ate.
Watanabe Yoshimi is more suspicious than Mrs. Minagawa.
Even Ichijō Mirai's eyes sharpened when he saw Mouri Korogō, "Ms. Watanabe!"
He agreed with Megure Jūzō, and swore with considerable conviction that "Mr. Minagawa took Ms. Watanabe's chocolate before he died."
"Mrs. Minagawa's food was eaten by everyone, so it couldn't have been poisoned, could it? It could only be Ms. Watanabe!"
Megure Jūzō nodded approvingly, "In that case, let's send the chocolate and cigarettes for testing first."
"Don't tell them yet."
Ichijō Mirai didn't say anything.
He looked down at Conan again.
Having eliminated one suspect and relocated the murderer, Conan's brow was still furrowed as he looked at Watanabe Yoshimi, who was unaware of the crime, Tanaka Naomichi, who had willingly accepted the law, and then went to look for Mrs. Minagawa.
Mrs. Minagawa is talking to the police.
Since she was the mother of the deceased and had cooked the meal that everyone had taken, there was relatively little suspicion, and only two young officers were taking statements.
But they weren't in the living room, they were in the kitchen.
In the kitchen, the tap was turned on, and Mrs. Minagawa answered the police in a low voice while she washed coffee cups in a slow, soft, and cooperative manner.
...And so on.
You calmly washed coffee cups after your son's death? Seven years with a son who's not your own. That's a bit cold, isn't it?
Conan searches for memories: Mrs. Minagawa smiles when she sees Ichijō Mirai drinking coffee and eating cake.
He searched again: Minagawa Sasumu was reprimanded for eating chocolate, but after drinking coffee, Mrs. Minagawa fed him a sweetened cake!
Catching these two moments, he immediately went in search of Minagawa Sasumu.
Minagawa Sasumu was being gently questioned by two policewomen in another corner of the living room, and was holding his cheeks with tears in his eyes. Although he didn't cry out immediately due to the arrival of the police, he choked every now and then and was obviously suffering from tooth decay.
As he watched, Conan's eyes sank.
He looked up at Ichijō Mirai and said, "Brother Ichijō, Mrs. Minagawa is strange, uh."
It ended abruptly when he met Ichijō Mirai's eyes.
Ichijō Mirai smiles at Conan, "What's wrong?"
He half crouched down and perfunctorily went through the process of touching a child's head, gently praising, "What a sharp little detective, like a natural police officer."
And directly asked: "Have you ever considered to become a search division one, FBI and other elite police? Any country will do, as long as it's a police force that can participate in cross-country pursuit of criminals."
If you've thought about it...
:)