Kōyū came to Takagi's side and tugged at him.
Takagi looked down and saw Kōyū. She swallowed hard, a bead of cold sweat forming on her forehead. She said tremblingly, "Kōyū, we can talk about ice cream later. Can you go play over there for a bit?"
Hearing this, Kōyū squinted at Takagi with dead fish eyes: "Am I that scary?"
Takagi really wanted to nod!
Guangyou scoffed, "I was going to tell you who the murderer is, so you could show off in front of Miwako-neechan, but seeing how you are, I'll just forget about it!"
"No! There's plenty of ice cream!" Takagi quickly said, afraid that Kousuke would turn around and leave. "Kousuke, tell me!"
Guangyou smiled and said, "Squat down, and I'll tell you."
Takagi couldn't wait to crouch down and get close to Kōyū.
After a while, Takagi's face showed a hint of doubt: "Really?"
"Fine, don't believe me if you don't want to."
"No, I believe you!"
As he spoke, Takagi walked around the scene, looking at everything, seemingly to confirm whether what Kōyū said was accurate.
A moment later, Takagi walked over to Kōyū with an excited look on her face, bent down and patted Kōyū on the shoulder: "I knew it! You can have as much ice cream as you want later! I'll make sure you get plenty!"
At this moment, Shiratori also noticed the bookshelf behind him. After lifting the curtain, he looked confident: "I think the culprit sneaked into the room through the corridor window before Mrs. Masuo got up, then hid in this bookshelf, and then attacked Mrs. Masuo from behind when she was riding her bicycle."
Miwako glanced at the bookshelf and asked doubtfully, "There's not enough space on this bookshelf for a person to hide in, is there?"
Shiratori chuckled: "Wouldn't it be better if we just removed the partition?"
As he spoke, Shiratori gave a simple gesture to prove that what he said was true.
At this moment, Takagi interrupted Shiratori: "Excuse me, Officer Shiratori, I think your reasoning is wrong!"
Everyone looked at Takagi with puzzled expressions.
Takagi walked to the corpse, squatted down, and pointed to the knife on the corpse's back: "If what Inspector Shiratori said is true, then the direction of this knife is too strange!"
Miwako glanced at it and nodded: "Indeed, there is a problem with this direction."
"Perhaps the perpetrator used his knee to hold the victim down before stabbing him like that?" Shiratori offered an explanation.
Takagi shook his head: "No, there were no sweat stains around, which means the victim did not resist. In addition, there was a phone next to her, so the victim could not possibly have resisted. She must have been attacked in one go."
"Furthermore, if the perpetrator had overheard the victim talking to the police on the phone, he would have known that if he was slow, he might be caught red-handed by the police. So I don't think the perpetrator would have had time to put the bookshelf back together."
Just then, a police officer ran in carrying a photo album.
The officer held up a photo album: "We found a strange photo album in the victim's room. Most of the photos in the album had circles drawn on them, and we don't know what they mean."
When Masuo Keizo saw the photo album, his face immediately panicked, and he quickly snatched the album and hugged it to his chest.
After seeing Keizo Masuo's behavior, Takagi knew that the photo album must be related to the case. Recalling what Inspector Shiratori had said earlier, this gave him a better understanding of the whole story.
Immediately, Takagi snatched the photo album from Masuo Keizo's hand and said, "Mr. Masuo, this can also be considered important evidence. By the way, everyone, I already know who the murderer is!"
Everyone was surprised to hear this, except for Masao Keizo, who was somewhat flustered.
Conan, standing to the side, couldn't hide his surprise: How could it be so fast? I still have several questions to answer! Even though I've already confirmed the culprit's identity.
Takagi pointed at Keizo Masuo and said amidst the shocked gazes of the crowd, "The murderer is you, Mr. Keizo Masuo!"
"Wait a minute, officer, what evidence do you have that I'm the murderer?" Masuo Keizo asked, his face showing some panic.
Takagi said sternly, "The evidence is in your pocket!"
Then, Takagi explained to everyone Masuo Keizo's modus operandi and his deduction: "I believe that the person who robbed the bank was none other than Mr. Masuo Keizo, and another friend of yours!"
"Mr. Keizo Masuo, your bank robbery plan was originally foolproof, but coincidentally, your wife also arrived at the bank. After your wife was taken hostage, you recognized the robber's voice as your friend. You were afraid she would tell the police, so you murdered her, right?"
"And the people circled in this photo album must be your friends, Mr. Keizo Masuo! Your wife must be trying to use that photo album to tell the police who the robbers are!"
Takagi's reasoning completely shattered Masuo Keizo's hopes.
A slight smile played on Kōyū's lips as he thought: But how could Mrs. Masuo recognize them as friends just by their voices? Hmm, there's more to it than meets the eye! Masuo Keizō is probably being cuckolded!
The case was resolved quickly and smoothly.
Upon hearing that the two cases had been solved simultaneously, Matsumoto Kiyonaga praised, "Brother Shiratori, you are truly capable! You solved two cases as soon as you took office!"
Shiratori sighed, "Alright, Officer Matsumoto, stop teasing me. I didn't solve this case."
Miwako, who was standing nearby, said with a smile, "We really owe this case to Officer Takagi!"
Shiratori nodded somewhat reluctantly: "Officer Takagi did indeed deserve the most credit for this operation."
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