Chapter 1153 1161 [Europe… African Mao Lilan]

The owner of the antique shop, Genda Takanori - the man who was still humbly promoting his shop at the Morokaku family this afternoon, was now standing in the crowd of onlookers, staring at the burning house with a look of horror and regret.

Two hours later.

The fire was finally put out, and firefighters and police began to search inside.

There were policemen guarding the door. Jiang Xia walked to the gate of Zhujiao's house and looked up at the charred roof.

Before he could say anything, the other two detectives nearby had already expertly approached, trying to infiltrate the crime scene.

However, the person guarding the gate this time was also a police officer from the Investigation Division 1, but he was no longer the Criminal Investigation Division 3 that the detectives usually dealt with. The difficulty of getting in suddenly increased.

Conan had just slipped to the door and was about to sneak in when he was ruthlessly pulled back - the gate to the courtyard was not very spacious, and his low presence when necessary was unfortunately ineffective at this time.

Face recognition doesn’t work either, after all, we’re not familiar with the person.

The three detectives were gathering together, plotting whether to sneak in or find a high point - such as the attic of the lady next door, to observe secretly.

Behind them, an eight-foot-tall strong man suddenly appeared.

The unfamiliar police inspector with a broad chin, holding a cigarette in his mouth, looked at them for a moment and joined the conversation: "When did the fire scene become the domain of detectives?"

Jiang Xia gave him a look that said "you lack common sense" and said confidently: "A detective can do anything."

Conan and Hattori Heiji were about to refute: "..."

Although this is true, I still feel like something is not right...

"Haha, that makes sense." The strange police chief looked scary, but he had a good temper. He took the initiative to shake hands with them. "I'm the police chief of the arson investigation department, Yumio."

He looked at Jiang Xia with great interest - the detective who was often mentioned by the third investigation team next door. After thinking for a moment, he provided the detectives with a clue:

"This fire must have been intentional arson, and it was one of the most recent series of arson cases. I just heard from my subordinates that they found that specific red horse statue in the house. After identification, it was found that the material of the statue is very similar to the ones that appeared in the previous three incidents. It should have been produced in the same batch."

The police had already checked and found no similar red horse ornaments for sale on the market.

The origin of this batch of "red horses" left at the fire scene is quite special. If it was a copycat who read the newspaper, it would be difficult to imitate to this extent - so this should be the work of the serial arsonist himself.

"The fire started in the small room on the right side of the house, which is the closet door of the room where the red horse was found. The floor of the house had been poured with oil, which is why it burned so quickly. According to preliminary speculation, the arsonist poured oil into the house through the window and then set it on fire."

At this point, Inspector Yumio smiled mysteriously, looked around, and lowered his voice: "In fact, we already have a clue."

"Hmm?" Jiang Xia responded and immediately remembered something, "..."

Sure enough, the next second, Inspector Yumio whispered:

"We have extracted some messy fresh footprints in the yard on the side of the fire point. Although we have not further identified them, it seems that there are three clearest footprints at present. They are probably two adult males, plus one..." He hesitated, "plus a woman with very small shoes, or a child?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Inspector Yuminaga realized something belatedly.

He looked at the three students in front of him. Especially at Conan, who looked embarrassed and had a very special shoe size: "......?"

…

"We actually received a commission."

Jiang Xia pointed to the memo in Hattori Heiji's hand and said, "A few days ago, Mrs. Morokaku said that she saw a suspicious figure near her house. But today when we came to ask for details, she said she was wrong. We were planning to go back, but suddenly a lot of suspicious people came to her house..."

He briefly told the police officer in front of him what happened during the surveillance.

…

Inspector Gong Chang had only heard from his colleagues in the third department next door that Jiang Xia was an "anti-overtime artifact". Now that he happened to meet him, he was curious and wanted to see what was going on. Unexpectedly, he actually gained a lot of intelligence.

Although the three young men happened to leave before the fire, even so, it has greatly reduced the workload of the police.

"The store manager who was insulted, the gambler fortune teller who wanted to ask Mrs. Morokaku for money, and the lover who wanted to destroy the evidence... Indeed, no matter which one, it sounds suspicious."

Inspector Yumio thought for a moment and quickly realized what to do next: "Since there are suspects and a clear time of the fire, let's go find them and ask for their alibi."

…

On the other side, Beika-cho 5-chome.

Mao Lilan and Toyama Kazuha had already prepared dinner and were packing up the pile of things they bought in the afternoon.

When I took out a piece of clothing from the bag, a small square box fell out with a click and landed on the ground.

The box is about six or seven centimeters long, made of kraft paper, and has an ancient blessing label with the words "prosperous trade" written on it.

Yuanshan Heye was startled, picked up the iron ring on it, held it in front of him and looked at it, with a puzzled look on his face: "What is this? When did I buy it?"

Mao Lilan heard the noise and came over from behind her to take a look.

Then he quickly remembered the origin of the boxed keychain: "Have you forgotten? This is a souvenir given to us by the uncle who gave us his seat when we were coming back on the bus."

When it comes to giving up seats, Yuanshan Heye remembered.

——On the way back, the two of them carried a lot of things. Although they didn't think they were too heavy to carry, in the eyes of others, it probably looked like they were struggling.

So not long after they got on the bus, a kind uncle stood up and gave them his seat.

After giving way, he asked carefully: "Well, excuse me, where do you live?"

"Huh?" Yuanshan Heye looked at him in surprise, "Uncle, are you trying to flirt with me?"

"No, no, of course not." The amiable uncle waved his hand hastily and explained, "It's like this, I opened a shop in Haido Town, dealing in antiques, and the shop also has some beautiful handicrafts for young people - if you have time, you can come and have a look."

Seeing that the two young girls were interested, the uncle reached into his bag, took out a product catalog and this keychain in a small box, and gave them as souvenirs.

At that time, Mao Lilan and Toyama Kazuha had too many things in their hands. In addition, the small box looked plain and did not fit their aesthetic taste, so the two did not open it on the spot.

When he took the clothes, the key chain fell out. Yuanshan Heye picked it up and opened the lid of the box curiously.

(End of this chapter)