Chapter 313 The Hattori Family Murderer

Jiang Xia turned around and saw a middle-aged man with a high hairline.

The man had a short nose, a mustache, and was wearing home clothes. He looked like a neighbor who came to visit from the same building.

Hattori Shizuka secretly looked at him and nodded: "We are indeed here to look for Mr. Shibata. Are you his neighbor?"

"Yeah." The middle-aged man also had something to ask Shibata. He walked past Jiang Xia and the other two to the door of Shibata's house, and while ringing the doorbell, he said unceremoniously, "We have an appointment to play mahjong at my house in a while. If you want to find him, hurry up."

Jiang Xia also hoped that he would move faster, and quietly hinted: "Mr. Shibata doesn't seem to be at home. We rang the doorbell just now, but no one opened the door."

Neighbor Yoshikawa Takezo shook his head: "He must have fallen asleep and didn't hear it. After all, last night we..." He was halfway through his words when he suddenly remembered something, cleared his throat, and swallowed the rest of the words.

Amuro Toru smelled a suspicious scent and looked at him carefully.

Jiang Xia was not very interested in Yoshikawa Takezo. After all, this man had no ghost on his leg, and there was no murderous aura on him at the moment. He knew that the reason why Yoshikawa Takezo was evasive when talking was because Shibata Shiro and several other people often gambled at Yoshikawa's house. Yesterday, Shibata Shiro also played mahjong at his house all night, so Yoshikawa Takezo thought that Shibata might have fallen asleep because of sleepiness and did not hear the doorbell.

This group of friends were very familiar with each other. After Yoshikawa Takezo rang the doorbell, he found that no one answered, so he simply reached out to turn the doorknob.

The door was just closed, not locked.

Yoshikawa Takezo immediately showed an expression of "as expected". As he pushed the door open and walked into the room, he looked at the three spectators next to him with a bit of boasting: "See, I told him he was home."

Yoshikawa Takezo stepped into the entrance and walked in, calling Shibata's name.

Jiang Xia followed him in naturally.

Toru Amuro often broke into private homes and he also walked in very naturally.

Hattori Shizuka had just hesitated for a moment when there was no one around.

She looked at the wide-open door and remembered that Shibata Shiro had agreed to wait for her at home today to give her the photo, but he did not answer the phone or respond to the doorbell. She thought for a moment and followed her into the house cautiously.

The house was full of life. When Jiang Xia passed by the living room, he saw that the TV was on, a half-eaten meal was on the table, and there was also a copy of today's evening paper.

Jiang Xia withdrew his gaze and planned to take another look at the room in front to collect clues to facilitate "reasoning" later.

At this moment, the door at the entrance was suddenly pushed open.

A sharp, trembling voice with a hint of fear came from the door: "What are you doing?! Why are you breaking into someone else's house without permission? I'm calling the police!"

Toru Amuro was startled, turned around, and saw a short-haired woman holding shopping bags standing at the door.

Judging from the woman's tone of voice and age, she looked very much like Shibata Shiro's wife. She was probably frightened when she suddenly saw a few strangers when she got home.

Amuro Toru was about to apologize for breaking into someone's house. But when he opened his mouth, he looked at Shizuka Hattori, who was dressed elegantly in a kimono, and then at Jiang Xia, who seemed to be apologizing for being caught breaking into someone's house, and suddenly felt something was wrong.

…It was not early in the morning or late at night, and Mrs. Shibata was not alone. In this case, if she suddenly saw a few well-dressed strangers in the house after returning home, wouldn't most people first assume that they were guests brought back by her husband?

But why did Mrs. Shibata react so violently? Their family had been robbed before, leaving them with psychological trauma?

He was just about to ask about the situation in a tactful way, but at this moment, another scream came from the corridor in the opposite direction.

——This time, the person who shouted was the middle-aged man who opened the door and brought them in.

Yoshikawa Takezo's voice sounded very anxious: "Shibata?! What's wrong with you? Cheer up, Shibata!!"

It sounds like Shibata Shiro is in some trouble.

Toru Amuro and Shizuka Hattori turned their heads to look at the source of the sound with vigilance and confusion, when they suddenly saw a figure passing by - Jiang Xia reacted quickly and rushed over, as if he wanted to provide support there as soon as possible.

Hattori Shizuka then quickly walked towards the direction where the scream came from, and nodded secretly: This child is very enthusiastic.

…

Half a minute later, everyone came to the study, including Mrs. Shibata, who was carrying a bunch of shopping bags and had a wary look on her face.

Looking inside from the door, you can see Shibata Shiro lying on the ground, with his hair stuck together as if it had been soaked in blood.

Jiang Xia half-knelt on the ground, poked Shibata Shiro who had already begun to stiffen, and withdrew his hand slightly heavily: "It's difficult to save him."

This is a euphemism for someone being completely dead.

Neighbor Takezo Yoshikawa stared at the body with a dazed look on his face, while Mrs. Shibata covered her mouth and began to sob sadly.

Add to that the solemn-looking Hattori Shizuka next to him. It was another standard choice between three.

…

The police arrived quickly, and as more people gathered, the scene became chaotic.

Jiang Xia walked to the body and found that Shibata Shiro's right hand was slightly extended forward, holding a rolled-up photo in his hand.

——If I just look at the photo again and the hand of the corpse holding the photo, I can start fast-forwarding the clues I have collected.

As a detective who usually cooperates happily with the police, Jiang Xia did not directly twist the corpse's hand. Instead, he lingered briefly beside the corpse's hand, waiting for the clever police officer to notice this side, and then came over to act as a hardworking wrench tool.

Not long after, the police indeed came, but they were a special type of policeman.

——Toru Amuro walked over while no one was paying attention. He took a few pictures with a camera that someone had given him, then squatted down, took the photo from the corpse's hand, unfolded it and took a look.

The photo shows a girl with a ponytail, sad eyes, and tears in her eyes, touching the medal.

Her face looked somewhat familiar, and combined with the junior high school kendo club photo that Hattori Shizuka had taken out earlier, the identity of the person in the photo was very clear - she was Hattori Shizuka, a classmate of the deceased Shibata Shiro, nearly thirty years ago.

Toru Amuro took a deep look at it, then silently rolled up the photo and stuffed it back to the dead man.

Then he stood up and saw Jiang Xia who seemed equally surprised, and whispered, "Don't let the identity of the suspect affect your judgment."

Murder can happen to anyone at any time. Anyone can be killed and anyone can be the murderer, including the wives of high-ranking officials...

However, after coming back to his senses from the excitement of eating melons, Toru Amuro always felt that something was wrong.

He was silent for a moment, and his eyes fell back on the corpse's hand holding the photo.

(End of this chapter)