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Chapter 1112: The Case Progresses
Officer Kinoshita recalled and nodded. "It seems that's correct."
"The method of suicide Miss Ozawa chose was to wrap the iron wire hanging on the showerhead hook around her neck, lean against the wall, and sit down to hang herself. You also said that Miss Ozawa had no traces of struggle. So, from this point of view, she faced death resolutely and calmly, without even a single thought of regret during the process of executing the plan," Chi Feichei's voice was light and calm. "If that's the case, it's possible, as you said, that she calmly cleaned up to die gracefully. But someone who has chosen to end their own life after careful consideration, and has already decided to leave this world, would not purchase books related to improving life, such as cuisine or tourism, in the recent period. Let alone the statement 'attempt to change mood, suddenly couldn't bear it,' which is a psychological process that should only occur with impulsive suicide... That said, you should have also discovered that, without looking at the remaining traces at the crime scene and the suicide note, just from the reason for Miss Ozawa's suicide and the expected behavior pattern relative to the reason, there are many contradictions in the process of her suicide."
Two basic reasons correspond to two different psychological processes and action processes.
Based on the specific reason and different personal personalities, during the process of having the thought, formulating the plan, and executing the plan, people will make different choices, and it's also inevitable that unstable factors like accidents and coincidences will join in, ultimately resulting in different situations. But no matter what, there is absolutely no possibility of repeatedly switching between the two modes.
In other words, a person will not be both someone who resolutely committed suicide after careful consideration and someone who committed suicide impulsively. This is an irreconcilable conflict, corresponding to different psychological levels.
If this situation occurs, then the incident is problematic.
"That does sound strange, but could it be because of the sleeping pills?" Officer Kinoshita saw Chi Feichei look at him and scratched his head apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't explain clearly just now. Actually, the forensic doctor detected components of sleeping pills in her body. I was thinking, could it be that when she was formulating the plan, she eliminated the possibility of regretting it herself? She could have taken sleeping pills first and then chosen to hang herself. This way, even if she regretted it, she couldn't save herself..."
Conan suddenly remembered something. "Officer Kinoshita, I remember Brother Chi asked you before whether Miss Ozawa had any traces of struggle on her body, for example, attempting to untie the iron wire or attempting to stand up. You said there were no such traces, right?"
"Yes, the forensic doctor said that if she was restrained, attempting to stand up, or struggling to untie the iron wire, that could also be seen from the traces on the corpse and the situation near the corpse," Officer Kinoshita said, also sensing something was wrong. His speaking speed slowed down considerably as he thought. "But there wasn't. Miss Ozawa didn't struggle..."
"Miss Ozawa didn't even struggle a bit when facing death. She must have taken a lot of sleeping pills," Conan said in a child's tone, but there was a determined glint in his eyes. As long as there's a suspicious point, the Criminal Investigation Department can intervene and investigate it as a homicide case. Suspect all existing possibilities, and then use the clues at hand to eliminate the impossibilities among them. That's a detective's instinct! "There isn't a single trace of struggle, which means that when she went to the bathroom, she must have already been very unconscious. It's really strange that she could still tighten the iron wire and successfully hang herself!"
Chi Feichei picked up the photo album on the table. When he flipped to one page, he touched the page with his gloved hand, rubbed the powder stuck to his fingers, took out a large evidence bag from his pocket, and directly put the opened photo album into it.
Officer Kinoshita noticed Chi Feichei's action and asked curiously, "Mr. Chi, is there any problem with this photo album?"
"Next to that photo on the entrance cabinet, there are some strange fine white dots, and there are also some on the tabletop next to this photo album," Chi Feichei handed the photo album in the evidence bag to Conan. "That photo should have been taken from this page of this photo album. The photo album still has traces of having the same size photo attached for a long time, and moreover, those fine white dots were not cleaned up or blown away by the wind, indicating that they weren't left long ago, probably not exceeding twenty-four hours, and this page of the photo album also has the same powder remaining..."
"Is it flour?" Conan observed the white powder that had fallen off that page of the photo album through the transparent evidence bag, feeling emotional in his heart that his little partner was truly careful when he became serious. He gently rubbed it with his hand through the bag. "It doesn't seem like it..."
"It doesn't smell like anything. There's a fine grainy feel when rubbed. Looking at the color and touch, it should be a starch product like sweet potato starch," Chi Feichei looked towards Aikawa Etsuko standing in front of the wall calendar, his voice still light and calm. "Besides using it by sprinkling it on cuisine, it's also often used for making wagashi, daifuku, and other Japanese sweets. Of course, for an accurate result, it's still better to wait for the Forensics Division to test it."
Conan looked towards Aikawa Etsuko, who was tightly gripping the hem of her clothes with both hands, continued acting cute and pretending to be a child, and secretly applied pressure. "Landlady, you often use this when you make wagashi, right?"
His little partner is a cuisine big shot. Making handmade noodles and pancakes is not a problem for him. He's not someone who usually jumps to conclusions. Even if he says this is an inaccurate result that hasn't been tested, saying it out means his little partner has at least 80% certainty.
Aikawa Etsuko lowered her head, seemingly hesitating whether or not to say something, and also seemingly resisting answering with silence.
"Officer Kinoshita, please find the man in the photo who took a group photo with Miss Ozawa," Chi Feichei said to Officer Kinoshita, and then said to Aikawa Etsuko, "While waiting for the Criminal Investigation Department police officers to arrive, Miss Aikawa, please consider how to explain the suspicious points about you."
Aikawa Etsuko looked up at Conan and Chi Feichei, sighed, and said in a low voice, "Correct, I did come here this morning. After discovering Fumie's corpse, I put the photo from the photo album into a photo frame and placed it on the entrance cabinet, and also wrote today's appointment to see the dentist on her wall calendar. I also didn't see any suspicious man. I was lying..."
"Why did you do that?" Officer Kinoshita asked. "Could it be that this incident is..."
"No, Officer Kinoshita, Mr. Chi, Fumie's death is definitely related to that man!" Aikawa Etsuko explained eagerly. "Fumie would tell me everything, including her dating that man named Shimizu, including how that man guided her to embezzle company funds. Originally, she had an appointment with me today for me to accompany her to the police department to surrender. I even helped her gather five million Japanese yen, hoping it could help lessen her punishment. Someone who decided to tell the police everything, how could they suddenly commit suicide? That man named Shimizu definitely killed her! I... I just wanted the case not to be concluded as a suicide, that's why I did these things."
Conan lowered his head and pondered.
If the landlady is the murderer, letting this incident be concluded as a suicide is the best outcome.
Even if she wanted to frame the man in the photo, there was no need to leave so many traces at the crime scene afterwards, guide the police to strengthen the investigation, and bring trouble upon herself.
Moreover, the landlady's statements before and after have no conflict, and her behavior also conforms to logic...
Officer Kinoshita also didn't rashly accuse the landlady of suspicion again. Holding his mobile phone, he asked Chi Feichei, "Mr. Chi, then should I still call over the man in the photo?"
Chi Feichei nodded. "Thank you."
Not only does the landlady's statement conform to logic, but based on his speculation of Ozawa Fumie's personality, it is indeed easy for her to be guided to embezzle company funds due to excessive reliance on her lover.
In other words, that man in the photo is a key person, either the murderer or holds some clues.
"Also, that Director Shimizu to whom Miss Ozawa sent the suicide note," Conan reminded. "He has the same surname as that Mr. in the photo. It's best to contact him as well."
Chi Feichei walked towards the bathroom, preparing to go check the place where Ozawa Fumie committed suicide.
The crime scene, this most important place, of course, should be left for last.
Seeing Officer Kinoshita was calling to find that man in the photo, Conan quietly followed Chi Feichei into the bathroom.
There were no trace outlines left in the bathroom, but there was only one showerhead, hung on the hook on the wall, and a section that had been twisted was still wrapped around the hook, the lower section of the iron wire left in a ring shape.
Below was a bathtub wooden cover, which should be the place where Ozawa Fumie died.
Conan looked at the bathtub wooden cover. "Indeed, there are no traces of struggle... Huh?"
Chi Feichei also saw the reflective object next to the bathtub wooden cover, squatted down and observed. "Fish scale."
Conan squatted down next to Chi Feichei, looking at the fish scale that had fallen near the drain. "How could this kind of thing be here?"
Japan's grocery stores and fish markets will help clean the fish, so very few people kill fish at home. Moreover, if someone caught fish themselves and brought them back to clean for fish dishes, the fish scales should fall in the kitchen, instead of the bathroom.
"There's no camera here, don't touch it randomly," Chi Feichei stopped Conan, who was about to reach out to pick up the fish scale, stood up, and looked towards the iron wire on the hook. "Using a cooler box for fish, large ice cubes could be brought over..."
"Put the ice cubes below the wooden board cover, then let the unconscious Miss Ozawa sit on the wooden board, wrap the iron wire around her neck and hang it on the hook," Conan took over the conversation in a low voice, also looking towards the iron wire. "Afterwards, after a period of time, the ice cubes melt, Miss Ozawa's body falls downwards, and she is subsequently strangled. After another period of time, the melted ice water flows away along the drain, and the water stains on the floor will also slowly dry up... Of course, this is just our speculation. We still need to let the police investigate whether the landlady and that Mr. Shimizu bought ice cubes. And if our speculation is not wrong, the murderer should have wanted to use this method to manufacture an alibi."
"Inside the iron wire, besides Miss Ozawa's dyed long hair, a very short black short hair was also wrapped around it," Chi Feichei was staring at the iron wire circle and didn't rashly step forward to touch it. "That Mr. Shimizu's suspicion is not small."
"Ah, it seems we still need to trouble the Forensics Division police officer to identify whose hair that is. If the person pointed to by the identification result bought ice cubes, this can prove that person is the murderer!"
After saying that, Conan was momentarily in a daze.
Huh, wait...
Inspector Megure hasn't come over yet, and the people with suspicion haven't all arrived yet, but they've already grasped so many clues. Is today's pace fast again?
Officer Kinoshita recalled and nodded. "It seems that's correct."
"The method of suicide Miss Ozawa chose was to wrap the iron wire hanging on the showerhead hook around her neck, lean against the wall, and sit down to hang herself. You also said that Miss Ozawa had no traces of struggle. So, from this point of view, she faced death resolutely and calmly, without even a single thought of regret during the process of executing the plan," Chi Feichei's voice was light and calm. "If that's the case, it's possible, as you said, that she calmly cleaned up to die gracefully. But someone who has chosen to end their own life after careful consideration, and has already decided to leave this world, would not purchase books related to improving life, such as cuisine or tourism, in the recent period. Let alone the statement 'attempt to change mood, suddenly couldn't bear it,' which is a psychological process that should only occur with impulsive suicide... That said, you should have also discovered that, without looking at the remaining traces at the crime scene and the suicide note, just from the reason for Miss Ozawa's suicide and the expected behavior pattern relative to the reason, there are many contradictions in the process of her suicide."
Two basic reasons correspond to two different psychological processes and action processes.
Based on the specific reason and different personal personalities, during the process of having the thought, formulating the plan, and executing the plan, people will make different choices, and it's also inevitable that unstable factors like accidents and coincidences will join in, ultimately resulting in different situations. But no matter what, there is absolutely no possibility of repeatedly switching between the two modes.
In other words, a person will not be both someone who resolutely committed suicide after careful consideration and someone who committed suicide impulsively. This is an irreconcilable conflict, corresponding to different psychological levels.
If this situation occurs, then the incident is problematic.
"That does sound strange, but could it be because of the sleeping pills?" Officer Kinoshita saw Chi Feichei look at him and scratched his head apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't explain clearly just now. Actually, the forensic doctor detected components of sleeping pills in her body. I was thinking, could it be that when she was formulating the plan, she eliminated the possibility of regretting it herself? She could have taken sleeping pills first and then chosen to hang herself. This way, even if she regretted it, she couldn't save herself..."
Conan suddenly remembered something. "Officer Kinoshita, I remember Brother Chi asked you before whether Miss Ozawa had any traces of struggle on her body, for example, attempting to untie the iron wire or attempting to stand up. You said there were no such traces, right?"
"Yes, the forensic doctor said that if she was restrained, attempting to stand up, or struggling to untie the iron wire, that could also be seen from the traces on the corpse and the situation near the corpse," Officer Kinoshita said, also sensing something was wrong. His speaking speed slowed down considerably as he thought. "But there wasn't. Miss Ozawa didn't struggle..."
"Miss Ozawa didn't even struggle a bit when facing death. She must have taken a lot of sleeping pills," Conan said in a child's tone, but there was a determined glint in his eyes. As long as there's a suspicious point, the Criminal Investigation Department can intervene and investigate it as a homicide case. Suspect all existing possibilities, and then use the clues at hand to eliminate the impossibilities among them. That's a detective's instinct! "There isn't a single trace of struggle, which means that when she went to the bathroom, she must have already been very unconscious. It's really strange that she could still tighten the iron wire and successfully hang herself!"
Chi Feichei picked up the photo album on the table. When he flipped to one page, he touched the page with his gloved hand, rubbed the powder stuck to his fingers, took out a large evidence bag from his pocket, and directly put the opened photo album into it.
Officer Kinoshita noticed Chi Feichei's action and asked curiously, "Mr. Chi, is there any problem with this photo album?"
"Next to that photo on the entrance cabinet, there are some strange fine white dots, and there are also some on the tabletop next to this photo album," Chi Feichei handed the photo album in the evidence bag to Conan. "That photo should have been taken from this page of this photo album. The photo album still has traces of having the same size photo attached for a long time, and moreover, those fine white dots were not cleaned up or blown away by the wind, indicating that they weren't left long ago, probably not exceeding twenty-four hours, and this page of the photo album also has the same powder remaining..."
"Is it flour?" Conan observed the white powder that had fallen off that page of the photo album through the transparent evidence bag, feeling emotional in his heart that his little partner was truly careful when he became serious. He gently rubbed it with his hand through the bag. "It doesn't seem like it..."
"It doesn't smell like anything. There's a fine grainy feel when rubbed. Looking at the color and touch, it should be a starch product like sweet potato starch," Chi Feichei looked towards Aikawa Etsuko standing in front of the wall calendar, his voice still light and calm. "Besides using it by sprinkling it on cuisine, it's also often used for making wagashi, daifuku, and other Japanese sweets. Of course, for an accurate result, it's still better to wait for the Forensics Division to test it."
Conan looked towards Aikawa Etsuko, who was tightly gripping the hem of her clothes with both hands, continued acting cute and pretending to be a child, and secretly applied pressure. "Landlady, you often use this when you make wagashi, right?"
His little partner is a cuisine big shot. Making handmade noodles and pancakes is not a problem for him. He's not someone who usually jumps to conclusions. Even if he says this is an inaccurate result that hasn't been tested, saying it out means his little partner has at least 80% certainty.
Aikawa Etsuko lowered her head, seemingly hesitating whether or not to say something, and also seemingly resisting answering with silence.
"Officer Kinoshita, please find the man in the photo who took a group photo with Miss Ozawa," Chi Feichei said to Officer Kinoshita, and then said to Aikawa Etsuko, "While waiting for the Criminal Investigation Department police officers to arrive, Miss Aikawa, please consider how to explain the suspicious points about you."
Aikawa Etsuko looked up at Conan and Chi Feichei, sighed, and said in a low voice, "Correct, I did come here this morning. After discovering Fumie's corpse, I put the photo from the photo album into a photo frame and placed it on the entrance cabinet, and also wrote today's appointment to see the dentist on her wall calendar. I also didn't see any suspicious man. I was lying..."
"Why did you do that?" Officer Kinoshita asked. "Could it be that this incident is..."
"No, Officer Kinoshita, Mr. Chi, Fumie's death is definitely related to that man!" Aikawa Etsuko explained eagerly. "Fumie would tell me everything, including her dating that man named Shimizu, including how that man guided her to embezzle company funds. Originally, she had an appointment with me today for me to accompany her to the police department to surrender. I even helped her gather five million Japanese yen, hoping it could help lessen her punishment. Someone who decided to tell the police everything, how could they suddenly commit suicide? That man named Shimizu definitely killed her! I... I just wanted the case not to be concluded as a suicide, that's why I did these things."
Conan lowered his head and pondered.
If the landlady is the murderer, letting this incident be concluded as a suicide is the best outcome.
Even if she wanted to frame the man in the photo, there was no need to leave so many traces at the crime scene afterwards, guide the police to strengthen the investigation, and bring trouble upon herself.
Moreover, the landlady's statements before and after have no conflict, and her behavior also conforms to logic...
Officer Kinoshita also didn't rashly accuse the landlady of suspicion again. Holding his mobile phone, he asked Chi Feichei, "Mr. Chi, then should I still call over the man in the photo?"
Chi Feichei nodded. "Thank you."
Not only does the landlady's statement conform to logic, but based on his speculation of Ozawa Fumie's personality, it is indeed easy for her to be guided to embezzle company funds due to excessive reliance on her lover.
In other words, that man in the photo is a key person, either the murderer or holds some clues.
"Also, that Director Shimizu to whom Miss Ozawa sent the suicide note," Conan reminded. "He has the same surname as that Mr. in the photo. It's best to contact him as well."
Chi Feichei walked towards the bathroom, preparing to go check the place where Ozawa Fumie committed suicide.
The crime scene, this most important place, of course, should be left for last.
Seeing Officer Kinoshita was calling to find that man in the photo, Conan quietly followed Chi Feichei into the bathroom.
There were no trace outlines left in the bathroom, but there was only one showerhead, hung on the hook on the wall, and a section that had been twisted was still wrapped around the hook, the lower section of the iron wire left in a ring shape.
Below was a bathtub wooden cover, which should be the place where Ozawa Fumie died.
Conan looked at the bathtub wooden cover. "Indeed, there are no traces of struggle... Huh?"
Chi Feichei also saw the reflective object next to the bathtub wooden cover, squatted down and observed. "Fish scale."
Conan squatted down next to Chi Feichei, looking at the fish scale that had fallen near the drain. "How could this kind of thing be here?"
Japan's grocery stores and fish markets will help clean the fish, so very few people kill fish at home. Moreover, if someone caught fish themselves and brought them back to clean for fish dishes, the fish scales should fall in the kitchen, instead of the bathroom.
"There's no camera here, don't touch it randomly," Chi Feichei stopped Conan, who was about to reach out to pick up the fish scale, stood up, and looked towards the iron wire on the hook. "Using a cooler box for fish, large ice cubes could be brought over..."
"Put the ice cubes below the wooden board cover, then let the unconscious Miss Ozawa sit on the wooden board, wrap the iron wire around her neck and hang it on the hook," Conan took over the conversation in a low voice, also looking towards the iron wire. "Afterwards, after a period of time, the ice cubes melt, Miss Ozawa's body falls downwards, and she is subsequently strangled. After another period of time, the melted ice water flows away along the drain, and the water stains on the floor will also slowly dry up... Of course, this is just our speculation. We still need to let the police investigate whether the landlady and that Mr. Shimizu bought ice cubes. And if our speculation is not wrong, the murderer should have wanted to use this method to manufacture an alibi."
"Inside the iron wire, besides Miss Ozawa's dyed long hair, a very short black short hair was also wrapped around it," Chi Feichei was staring at the iron wire circle and didn't rashly step forward to touch it. "That Mr. Shimizu's suspicion is not small."
"Ah, it seems we still need to trouble the Forensics Division police officer to identify whose hair that is. If the person pointed to by the identification result bought ice cubes, this can prove that person is the murderer!"
After saying that, Conan was momentarily in a daze.
Huh, wait...
Inspector Megure hasn't come over yet, and the people with suspicion haven't all arrived yet, but they've already grasped so many clues. Is today's pace fast again?
