Kudo Shinichi hates being told that he is still young, and Kawakami Tsumugi seems to like to emphasize this point.
Before, the junior high school detective was only vaguely aware of the bad character of the gray-haired young man, but now he has a deeper understanding of Kawakami Kei's bad character.
"By the way, little detective." Kawakami said to Kudo Shinichi, "You can help check the video and analyze the path of Michiko Motoshima's activities during her lifetime."
This is also Kudo Shinichi's plan.
The little detective ran off to find the hotel manager.
Officer Duran was negotiating with the manager, and the reporter, Rena Mizuno, was also there. Apart from the initial gaffe, the well-known host did not make any suspicious moves.
Kawakami Masanori and Maori Kogoro returned to the scene of the crime.
Uncle Maori seemed to want to get involved and give advice to the police officers on their work, but was pulled aside by Kawakami Tsumugi.
"Mr. Mori." Kawakami said politely, "For things like autopsies, the French police may be more professional. Let's provide help after analyzing the conclusions based on clues."
Well-trained people have an instinctive stress response when someone pulls them hard. Maori's muscles tensed up at first, and then he was pulled aside by Kawakami Tsumugi's strength - reluctantly struggling a few times.
He does behave like an ordinary policeman who has been retired for a long time and whose sharpness has been worn away by the dull middle-aged life.
At least Kawakamiji didn't see the problem for the time being.
"You kid, huh." Mouri Kogoro glanced at Kawakami Tsumugi, "Are you Kudo Shinichi's friend?"
"We know each other." Kawakami replied, "I think we should be considered friends."
"How do we know him?" Uncle Maoli continued to ask, quite unyielding until he got to know his details.
"Case solved. He helped me clear my suspicion of a certain murder case." Kawakami replied, "Otherwise I would have to find a way on my own."
They also had to find a good seat to watch, so the two of them walked around to the right side of where the police officers were working. At this time, the police officers were very busy.
Michiko Motoshima's body was removed from that small area by the police.
She had her eyes closed, and her expression was even somewhat peaceful, more like she was sleeping.
She didn't look like she'd been roughly crammed into a small space. Kawakami Tsumugi couldn't help but think that if this was a supernatural movie, Miss Motojima would probably have walked in by herself.
"rigor mortis usually begins to appear in the chin 1 to 3 hours after death, and spreads to the whole body in 4 to 6 hours..." the forensic doctors calmly judged, "it is still soft, and the time to death without special circumstances will not exceed One hour."
"Minor abrasion on right forearm."
"A blood sample has been collected. Mitchell, send it back to the laboratory."
"It will take at least three hours to get the results."
...
Kawakami listened to the forensic doctors' conversation. The French police seemed to be planning to take the body back to the police station. Further operations such as dissection can only be carried out in a professional environment.
Mouri Kogoro murmured on the side: "There is nothing to investigate, it must be that the victim provoked someone and was retaliated against!"
"It is indeed a correct idea to start with the victim's interpersonal relationship." Kawakami replied absently.
After finishing the lemon candy, he took out another one from his pocket.
Kawakami was modeling in his mind how, if he were the murderer, he could complete such a clean murder in a short period of time - or how to arrange such a clean scene.
In the simplest case, he is a person with quick movements and strong physical fitness. He can complete a series of operations such as killing people, hiding corpses, and erasing other traces in a maximum of three to five minutes - a relatively high requirement.
Kawakami recalled the sudden glances he took as he passed the entrance. He noted down everyone's faces and body features.
Unless someone is a master at hiding, no one in the group of employees retained by the manager meets the conditions.
The second is to find a way to confuse the victim's time of death to deceive the police.
However, the hotel corridor environment is simple, and it is difficult to do anything with ice cubes, liquid nitrogen, etc.
Of course, there are several pharmaceuticals in the winery that can meet the requirements, but even those pharmaceuticals need to be approved by Kawakami even if he wants to use them - it is basically impossible.
One killing method after another emerged from Kawakami's mind, like bubbles floating on the surface of a quagmire, and was rejected one by one by him.
Kawakami has never used too complicated methods to send mission targets on the road, so this kind of thinking is quite interesting to him.
In fact, there is another possibility...
"They found the murder weapon." Mouri Kogoro, who had been complaining in Japanese, suddenly said.
The gray-haired young man woke up from his meditation.
Forensic investigators found a piece of reinforced concrete from the bottom of the water pipe maintenance room, which they put into a transparent evidence bag.
The murder weapon was actually at the crime scene, so to speak——
Kawakamiji quietly moved closer.
The leading forensic doctor put the evidence bag into a black storage box, but Kawakami still saw clearly the appearance of the murder weapon.
It was about the size of two fists, with a rough and uneven surface, a slightly pointed lower end, and stained with blood.
Such a weapon must be held tightly by hand, and it is easy to get blood stains and other things on the body.
More importantly, why did the murderer leave it at the crime scene?
Maybe the murderer couldn't take it away...
Suddenly, a line connected the fragmented things, like lightning passing from the clouds to the earth in a dark night. Kawakamiji came up with a perfect modus operandi.
Perfect in theory, but in execution... a little outrageous.
"Little detective, how are you doing there?" Kawakamiji dialed Kudo Shinichi's phone number and asked.
"Not very good." Kudo Shinichi's voice was a little depressed, "Police officers Duran collected statements from hotel employees. Almost all of them said that Michiko Motoshima was gentle and kind, and did not conflict with others very much. The only one she had conflicts with was her. One of the female workers has a perfect alibi——"
"——In other words, it is impossible to start with the victim's social situation." Kawakami Tsumugi interrupted Kudo Shinichi, "What about Miss Motoshima's surveillance situation before she was killed?"
"Everything is normal. Miss Motojima finished tidying up the rooms that the tenants on the third and second floors had checked out, went to the toilet for a while, and then went to the first floor to change shifts. Due to time constraints, the earlier surveillance is still under review."
"They found the murder weapon, which was a piece of reinforced concrete, at the bottom of the sewer maintenance room."
"Wait! Reinforced concrete? Are you saying that the murderer left the murder weapon?" The little detective became excited, "The seventh floor of the hotel is being renovated. This is most likely the source of the murder weapon-"
Kudo Shinichi's voice gradually became quieter. Kawakamiji heard the rapid footsteps, and the little detective seemed to run over to find Officer Dulan. After a while, his voice reappeared in Kawakamiji's ears, with a resentful tone:
"Officer Dulan already knows. They are checking the surveillance on the seventh floor. Can you tell me earlier next time."
"Ah, no." Kawakami replied calmly, "Also, Shinichi, I want to ask you something: What are the typical cases you encounter in Mikka Town?"
"Ah?" Kudo Shinichi was a little confused, "What did you say? Mihua Town?"
