Chapter 2917 Chapter 2929 [Chasing Fugitives]

In any case, since the Black Organization cannot be caught at the moment, dealing with Chizo Ogura, the suspected drug dealer, is one of the most important things at the moment.

Hattori Heiji and Conan returned to the crowd and whispered to Inspector Otaki about their speculation about the identity of the "low-key guest".

"Fugitive?" Inspector Otaki's expression became complicated. "If I had known earlier, I would have sent more people to search the mountain."

The shop owner's wife was eavesdropping nearby. When she heard this, she breathed a sigh of relief: "I told you! That customer doesn't look like a good person. He must have beaten my husband to death!"

Jiang Xia came back to his senses and glanced at her: "I almost forgot that your case has not been resolved yet - you just asked me what evidence I had?"

The shop owner's wife's heart skipped a beat, and she said with a stiff upper lip: "Yes, yes, what makes you say that I killed someone?"

Jiang Xia pointed at her collar speechlessly: "Putting aside the fingerprints and the clothes stained with gunpowder, can you explain why there is human blood on your neck?"

"?!" The shop owner's wife instinctively covered the place where he pointed. When her fingertips felt sticky, her face changed.

——She felt something was wrong with her neck just now, but she thought it was because her collar was soaked with sweat when she ran back in a hurry.

But now, judging from what the detective said, could it be that...

"Madam boss, why is there blood on the inside of your collar?"

The old farmer and the falconer took a closer look and were shocked - he had also noticed that the color of the collar of the shop owner's wife was a little strange, but the blood was stuck on the inside of the collar, and he was embarrassed to stare at that place, so he had to convince himself that it was stained with coffee or something. But...

Amid the confused gazes of the crowd, Jiang Xia continued, "This spot is the same spot where your husband's clothes were stained with blood. It must have been when you put on his coat and pretended to be him and came out to wave and say hello to us that you accidentally stained yourself with blood."

“…”

Inspector Otaki was silent for a moment, and suddenly felt that this criminal was a bit of a disgrace to Osaka. He cleared his throat, interrupted the awkward silence, and asked the shop owner's wife: "Do you have anything else to say?"

The owner's wife's face was flushed, and her expression was so complicated that it looked like a color palette had been overturned on her face.

She was frozen for a long time, and finally said, "There's nothing to say. I killed him."

The old farmer and the falconer could not believe the answer: "It was really you? Why did you kill him? Weren't you on good terms?"

The shop owner's wife gritted her teeth and dug her nails into her palms: "Because that bastard actually wanted to sell this shop, and even sold it at a low price with all the facilities packed up!"

Two old employees who suddenly lost their jobs: “?!” Is there such a thing? ?

The store manager's wife said solemnly, "I went to see him a few days ago and found that there were rarely any customers in the store. I was worried about disturbing their business, so I didn't go over and waited in the corridor. But after a while, the more I listened, the more I felt something was wrong - it turned out to be a sales contract.

"I had no idea why he wanted to sell the shop out of the blue. I ran downstairs to ask him, and he told me that he wanted to sell it and start over.

"This is a shop that we built bit by bit after we both quit our jobs. All the wood carvings and small toys here were carved by me. Every day I think about how to run the cafe better... How can I give up so easily after so many years of hard work?

"I tried to argue with him, hoping he would take back his decision, but he just yelled at me to shut up and said I was annoying..."

Inspector Otaki nodded thoughtfully as he took notes: "So you decided to kill him?"

"I didn't... at least not at that time." The shopkeeper's wife covered her face in pain:

"I could hear the anxiety and irritability in his words, and after thinking about it carefully, I felt that it was right - the number of guests coming here is getting fewer and fewer every day, and the mountains are still too remote. Although I am very reluctant to leave, it may be a wise choice to change places and start over.

"I calmed down and told him I would order a few boxes to pack the wood carvings for easier moving.

"But he actually sneered and told me not to waste my time. He said that me and this store were a burden to him - his so-called new life was to throw me away as well!"

At this point, her clear eyes gradually became bottomless, like a dark vortex:

"I never thought he was such a jerk. After I shattered my fantasy about him, I thought back and realized that he seemed to have looked down on me and this village from the beginning. He just thought we were easy to manipulate, so he kept pretending to be nice to me."

Hattori Heiji recalled that the deceased store owner had taken in Chizo Ogura, and vaguely understood:

The reason why this shop owner resigned was probably to concentrate on the drug business.

It would seem a little suspicious after all that a person and a few grown men are hiding in the mountains together. But at this time, as long as they find a dull, love-minded wife to accompany them, all those suspicious things can be transformed into a leisurely pastoral scene like "men farming and women weaving".

The store manager's wife looked up at the coffee shop that she was very familiar with. "Although I don't know why he did this, if that's the case, I will let him have a taste of the power of me and this small mountain village - the 'gunshot' of the popcorn machine, the eagle's attack, plus my ability to make mechanisms. This can be regarded as revenge for the three of us poor people who were fooled by him."

The old farmer and the falconer took a step back and looked at her with trembling eyes, as if someone had dragged their hands and stabbed a dead person.

…

Anyway, the murder case came to an end.

Inspector Otaki was asking his subordinates to put the people into the police car when his cell phone vibrated and someone called.

The subordinates said excitedly: "Captain, we found the fugitive you just mentioned! He should have been hiding in a cave before, and when he found out that we were searching the mountain, he realized that he couldn't hide, so he ran out. We are chasing him now, and we have someone to drive the car, and we will catch him soon!"

"That's right!" Inspector Otaki was pleasantly surprised at first, and then he cautiously warned, "The other party may have weapons on him, so be sure to pay attention to safety when chasing him."

Subordinates: “Yes!”

After finishing the call, Inspector Otaki looked at the group of high school students in the room and said, "I'll go over and take a look too. You guys stay here and don't run around."

The two shop assistants had just recovered from the shock of "The boss's wife killed the boss!" and "Oh no, I think I'm out of work!", and when they heard these words, they were stunned again.

...The low-key customer in the store who had no desires before was actually a fugitive? !

(End of this chapter)