Chereads / Phantom Rose / Chapter 7 - Chapter 7: Poison 2

Chapter 7 - Chapter 7: Poison 2

"How was the poison found in the soda? I know that one of them is the killer, but how did they do it?" Fujima thought to himself. 

Fujima went back to the place where Naomi died and examined the environment meticulously as he tried to find answers. When all seemed hopeless, something caught Fujima's eyes. Sticking out of Naomi's mini bag was a lipstick. Fujima picked it up using a cloth and sent it to the forensics team to analyze it. 

A few moments later, the forensics team came back to him and informed him that the presence of the same poison found in the soda drink was also found in Naomi's lipstick. Fujima realized how Naomi was killed instantly but wondered how the poison got into her lipstick. In the CCTV footage, Naomi never took out the lipstick ever since they got there so he wondered how the poison got in there. 

Fujima questioned the other three if they noticed anything unusual right after Naomi came out of the women's toilet. 

First was Aiko, the other girl in the group. Fujima was uncomfortable talking to her since she is dazzling with jewelry. Aiko told Fujima that she didn't notice anything unusual.

Next was Kaito, the other guy who also didn't notice anything unusual.

The last guy was Kenji who gave Naomi the soda. Unlike the other two, he seems to notice something. 

"Something unusual? Hmm let me think about it. Oh! There might be one! Not really that unusual but a change you may suppose." 

"A change?" 

"Yeah. Before Naomi went to the toilet, she didn't have lipstick on. If I remember correctly, Aiko and Naomi went to buy some in the shop by the entrance of this building." 

"A lipstick they bought? Now that I recall, that lipstick had sticker marks on it. It looked recent. So it was bought today huh?" 

Fujima then went to Ken and gave him an urgent task. 

"Why? Is that really necessary?" Said Ken.

"Yeah, have a police officer come with you." 

Fujima pretty much solved the case but he needed evidence to prove it. If he's lucky, this crime is already solved. 

"How long should we be held here?" Asked Aiko, to one of the officers. 

"Just a little bit longer." 

A few moments later, Ken told Fujima the things he had asked for and it lit a smile on Fujima's face.

"I guess lady luck is on my side right now." Fujima thought to himself.

Fujima asked the police officers and everyone to gather in one place to explain everything he found out. 

"What? Who are you even? A high school kid like you couldn't possibly solve this case. Don't play games on me. Let the adults do their stuff and you just sit and wait." Said the inspector in charge. 

"I would've sat still if you weren't taking too much of our time." 

Fujima knew how to manipulate inspectors of this type. When they are on the edge of not being able to solve a case, they tend to get frustrated and would hold on to their pride to act as if they got everything handled. All it takes is a little agitation and they would tell you to try and do it yourself.

"Then go ahead and embarrass yourself. You think this stuff is easy huh?" 

Fujima smiled and felt a sense of accomplishment as he successfully manipulated the inspector in letting him voice out his deductions. 

The college students and even the high school boys along with the police gathered in one place to listen to Fujima's discussion. 

"All of us here already knew what happened so I'll jump straight into it. We all here assumed that Naomi's cause of death was getting poisoned after drinking the "poisoned" soda. Yes, that is indeed the case, but there is a deeper explanation that lies within that will lead us to her killer." 

"A deeper explanation huh? Talking as if you solved this case. A bunch of nonsense. A kid playing detective games." Said the inspector while smirking as if waiting for Fujima to humiliate himself. 

"Well I already did Mr. inspector so spare this young naive kid a minute or two. The poison didn't come directly from the soda itself. It was induced there after Naomi drank the soda." The people listening showed looks of surprise as they heard what Fujima said. "The poison didn't come directly from the soda but from Naomi's lipsticks. Naomi's lips which are already induced with poison touched the soda after drinking it. Thus the existence of the poison in the soda. The forensics team even confirmed the presence of the poison from her lipstick so this justifies my claim on this one." 

"What? I've never heard of this?!" Said the inspector to the forensics team.

"I'm sorry sir. The kid asked us earlier to check it and we found poison in it." 

"Now let me continue. I asked Kenji earlier, he said that Naomi didn't have lipsticks on until she came out of the women's toilet moments before her death. Naomi might have used her lipstick inside the toilet. I bet the killer didn't expect her death to be as early as it happened but it all worked out in the killer's favor. It directed the suspicion to Kenji who gave Naomi the drink. The killer simply induced her lipstick with the poison before giving it to her. She would've died without drinking the soda as long as Naomi's tongue touches her lips. But before this even happened, she drank the soda. This action pushed the poison that is already in her lips, inside of her body." 

"But who put the poison in the lipstick? The CCTV footage didn't see anyone touch her bag during their stay here." 

"Getting interested now are we, inspector? I asked Ken to go and check the CCTV footage of the lipstick shop just a floor below the batting center. The lipstick came from Ms. Aiko. Which means that she is the killer!"

"Huh? Are you even out of your mind? I gave her the lipstick because it's a buy 1 get 1 free! How delusional are you?" Said Aiko angrily.

"Well that is indeed the case. But the CCTV showed that before giving it to Naomi, you went to the shop's toilet. If my guess is right, that is the time that you induced poison in her lipstick." 

"Do you even have evidence of this?" 

"Oh I wouldn't come here empty handed after all. I thought that the bottle of poison used must still be disposed somewhere near, considering that you guys went straight here after buying at the cosmetics shop. Upon reviewing the CCTV footage of the cosmetics shop, you never went near a trash bin, so the only place you could've disposed of it was in the women's toilet. And a small bottle inside the toilet's trash bin was indeed found with your fingerprints in it." 

Naomi then fell to the ground sobbing as if admitting her defeat.

"She took Kenji away from me! We were a happy couple but when she came into our class she stole him away from me!" 

Kenji just stood there in shock and never said a word. The police handcuffed Aiko as they went to the police station. 

"Who are you kid?" Asked the inspector.

"Just a normal high school kid who happened to be here Mr. Inspector." 

"Well, thank you and sorry for the way I acted earlier. You really did help us a lot on this one. Keep yourselves out of trouble." 

Fujima and Ken walked home together as Ken continuously bugged him all throughout about how awesome he was.

"That was really awesome dude! You were like the high school detective in a movie!" 

"Yeah Yeah sure. Just keep your mouth shut about this in school. I don't want to attract any unnecessary attention."