"By the way, Hattori, do you have any ten-yen coins on you?"
Shinichi's words left Hattori somewhat confused: "Yes, I do. What do you need the coins for?"
Suddenly, Hattori had an idea. After all, he was a renowned high school detective, and his mind was definitely sharp. In an instant, he understood what Shinichi meant.
Hattori took out a coin and handed it to Shinichi.
Inspector Megure asked, "Kudo, I'm glad to see you back, but no traces of poison were found in the drinks of the deceased and the other three people."
"Don't rush, Inspector Megure. The murderer took advantage of a trivial little habit of the victim, and the murderer should still have a piece of evidence in his hands."
Shinichi was very confident; he had already figured out the whole story in his mind.
Inspector Megure still couldn't figure it out. In his opinion, no poison was detected in the cup, and the victim drank the entire beverage, so it looked like a suicide by poisoning.
Shinichi shook his head: "Indeed, that's what it seems at first glance, but all you need to do is use one thing, which is ice!"
"ice?"
"Potassium cyanide is poorly soluble in ice water. If you inject potassium cyanide into the center of an ice cube, then patch the hole, and put it in Mr. Urata's glass along with the other ice cubes, Mr. Urata can drink most of the beverage before it melts."
Even so, there should still be some dissolved poison remaining in the cup, which is what Inspector Megure can't figure out.
"Mr. Urata's cup lid is open, right? Do you know why it's open?"
Without hesitation, Uncle Mori said, "Perhaps Mr. Urata was in unbearable pain after ingesting the poison, so..."
Before he could finish speaking, Inspector Megure interrupted Uncle Mori, saying, "Nonsense! If that were true, the cup would have been broken long ago!"
Shinichi continued, "There's only one reason why Mr. Urata would open the lid after drinking this iced beverage: he ate the ice, not drank poison. When he ate the ice containing potassium cyanide, of course you wouldn't be able to detect any residue."
As he spoke, Shinichi pointed to a corner of the crowd and pursed his lips: "Just like what Kouyu is doing now."
Everyone looked in the direction Shinichi pointed and saw Kwangyu holding a drink, tilting his head back and swallowing the ice cubes in the glass, making a sound as the ice cubes were being crushed.
At this moment, Guangyou had just finished a glass of iced juice, feeling refreshed. On a hot day, an iced drink is the perfect way to cool down and feel good.
He usually eats the leftover ice to avoid waste. But as he was biting into the ice, he felt that someone was watching him, and not just one, but many.
He turned around and looked at the crowd, pointing at Shinichi in the middle, and said indistinctly, "Why are you looking at me? Look at him, he's just having a drink."
Everyone was speechless, but then Takagi stepped in to smooth things over: "Yeah! Inspector Megure, don't you often eat the leftover ice cubes too?"
Inspector Megure nodded: "Indeed, once we know that Mr. Urata has this habit, it would be very easy to kill him with poison."
This is a common habit, not unusual. Most people wouldn't imagine that someone would use it to kill someone; it's simple and discreet.
Uncle Mori wasn't particularly interested in how the murder was carried out. He squinted and asked, "So, who put the poison in the ice?"
Mitani and Noda, who were only responsible for delivering the drinks, were naturally ruled out as they had no opportunity to commit the crime. In contrast, Ninagawa, who sold the drinks, was highly suspicious, since she was the one who added the ice. It is perfectly normal for her to be a suspect.
However, Ninagawa deliberately replaced the iced coffee that the deceased Urata had originally ordered with a cola without authorization. This means that the drink could be returned and replaced at any time, which is quite normal. But this point greatly reduces Ninagawa's suspicion. A murderer would not usually do such an uncertain and foolish thing. Moreover, there was another person who ordered iced coffee at the time, which could easily lead to accidental injury. The murderer is not a serial killer. The murderer would not do such a thing.
After everyone eliminated these people using Shinichi's method of elimination, among all the people present who had contact with and knew the deceased, only Kouuei Mai, who went to buy drinks and brought them to the audience, remained a suspect.
After eliminating all the impossible, what remains, no matter how illogical or impossible, must be the truth. No matter how much Shinichi thinks, he absolutely cannot imagine another person having the opportunity to poison him.
Noda and Mitani, as Mai Kougami's friends, naturally couldn't believe that their friend would commit murder. They instinctively tried to defend Mai Kougami, saying, "According to you, Mai pretended to add creamer and syrup and then secretly poisoned her, but weren't unused creamer and syrup found in Urata's pocket?"
By this time, Kōyū had finished chewing the ice cubes. The coolness in his mouth made him gasp, and the refreshing sensation instantly relaxed his mind. He said to the group, "But, isn't Mr. Urata's drink cola? Have you ever seen cola with creamer and syrup? I doubt Mr. Urata would drink it if you added that, would he?"
Adding creamer and syrup to sugary drinks is heresy; it completely ruins the original flavor of the drink!
Shinichi nodded: "Yes, if we add it, Mr. Urata will very likely not drink it. Besides, Ms. Kou Shang brought the drinks to your place before the performance to prevent Mr. Urata from having to change them. Since the lights are off during the performance, it would be troublesome to go out. Unless he particularly dislikes Coke, Mr. Urata probably won't go through the trouble of changing his drink."
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