Chapter 287 Crow Shadow Red Wine
There was no smell of blood in the air, and there was even a fresh floral scent wafting from nowhere.
The house is small, but the interior is neatly furnished and equipped with all household appliances such as televisions.
Except for the bloodstains that were cleaned up, everything else in the house was restored to the crime scene as much as possible.
Normally, upon the death of a homeowner, their property and household belongings would be passed on to their relatives. These relatives would be responsible for cleaning the house and sorting out the deceased's belongings. However, Rintaro Kawakami was an only child, his parents had died young, and he had no immediate family around. He couldn't contact his more distant relatives, so there was no one to sort out his belongings.
"This bottle of wine..." Kudo Yusaku picked up the bottle from the ground.
Lin Xi took a quick look and said, "Madeira wine. This type of Madeira is very expensive..."
"Is Miss Lin knowledgeable about wine?"
"No, I don't drink, I just often see others do." Lin Xi shook her head. "So, with Kawakami Rintaro's financial resources, wouldn't it be a bit strange for him to drink this kind of wine?"
"It's really strange," Kudo Yusaku said, pointing to the entrance. "Those old bottles sorted and ready to be thrown away are all beer and sake. Similar alcohol can be bought directly from nearby vendors, but this kind of alcohol... Miss Lin, this kind of alcohol shouldn't be sold in supermarkets, right?"
Lin Xi nodded.
"We usually buy from specialized wineries. Madeira wine itself is graded. The production process for premium Madeira, like this, is very complex. After fermentation, the wine needs to be stored in oak barrels at a high, constant temperature for nearly six months. It then needs to rest for a year or two, and then be sealed for five to ten years."
"So, producing a bottle of this wine takes at least seven years!" Kudo Yukiko smacked her lips. "That's quite a hassle."
Lin Xi smiled. "That's why it's so expensive."
Kudo Yusaku shook the bottle. There was still a little liquid at the bottom. The police report stated that a large amount of alcohol had mixed with the blood, diluting the color of the blood.
According to this, Rintaro Kawakami was killed before he could even take a few sips of the wine - no, not just a few sips, he didn't even have time to pour the wine into the glass.
The low table that was overturned at the crime scene is now standing aside, and the small wine glasses have been picked up and placed on the low table.
Two ordinary glasses. They were placed here, specifically for the host to entertain guests. This also indicated that the host did not normally drink wine. He had no wine tasting utensils at home, so he used these obviously inappropriate straight, thick glasses to drink wine.
A picture immediately appeared in Kudo Yusaku's mind: Rintaro Kawakami accidentally got a bottle of expensive wine. Maybe because he felt lonely drinking alone, or maybe because he wanted to show off, he invited the honest helper to his home to drink with him.
But just as he opened the bottle of wine, the helper suddenly attacked and killed him brutally.
Something must have happened when he opened the bottle... Maybe Kawakami Rintaro said something that angered Numabuchi Kiichiro...
Miss Haibara said that Kiichiro Numabuchi escaped on April 1st. Twenty days later, he arrived in Nanami-cho, Kamakura City, and worked as an assistant at Rintaro Kawakami's fish shop. Kawakami was murdered on May 17th. He had been working there for nearly a month, starting on April 20th.
The fact that Rintaro Kawakami invited him to drink shows that he trusts his helper Kiichiro Numabuchi.
The fact that Kiichiro Numabuchi went to a port city to find a job also shows that at least at this time he wanted to integrate into society.
A person who longs to integrate into society cannot suddenly commit murder. Murder will destroy the social relationships he has worked so hard to build, and if discovered, he will face imprisonment.
Yusaku Kudo suddenly understood why Lin Xi wanted to re-investigate the case of Kiichiro Numabuchi.
Is she suspecting what the organization did?
The organization discovered Kiichiro Numabuchi and, seeing that he wanted to start a new life, they came out to destroy his hopes... three times in a row.
If this is really the case, then Ms. Lin is ostensibly inviting him to investigate the case, but in reality, she wants to use the case to find the organization behind it...
This was a good opportunity, but it was also extremely dangerous. If the organization found out that they were still investigating the case, they would probably kill them to hide the evidence.
No wonder Lin Xi insisted on not letting Miss Huiyuan come with her.
When investigating subsequent cases, he will ask Yukiko to stay at home as well.
Kudo Shinichi looked around.
If a third party is suspected to be involved, the case becomes simpler.
All the abnormal factors that appear in this case must be taken into consideration to see whether it is a coincidence or deliberate act by a third party.
For example, this bottle of wine shouldn't be here. Besides the wine, there must be something else... The problem isn't the wine itself. The police conducted a chemical test on the wine, and the bottle contained nothing but pure wine.
Besides this, what else was there that drove Kiichiro Numabuchi crazy on the day of the incident...
"Ms. Lin," the pensive Kudo Yusaku suddenly spoke, "Ms. Huihara was once the person in charge of Kiichiro Numabuchi. I remember Ms. Huihara mentioned that Kiichiro Numabuchi had a serious mental illness. Could you please ask Ms. Huihara what type of mental illness he had? What external factors could affect the onset of his mental illness?"
"Ah, well... Xiao Ai told me about Kiichiro Numabuchi's condition. He suffers from depression and schizophrenia. As for what factors influence the onset of the disease... I can answer that question myself," Lin Xi said. "Chemical agents. Re-enactment. Optical imaging. Generally speaking, there are three."
"Chemical agents aren't just taken or injected directly, they also include inhaled mists. Besides the well-known contraband, things like aromatherapy that calm people down also count. Some hypnotists rely on aromatherapy to relax people, then use verbal induction to achieve their hypnotic purpose. However, these substances evaporate quickly. If the windows are wide open like here, the wind will blow away all the vapor in no time."
"To put it simply, optical imaging is stimulation caused by light. Photosensitive epilepsy is a condition triggered by visual stimulation such as strong light sources and flashing lights. In fact, many mental illnesses are also related to specific types of light. Under certain optical conditions, pre-existing mental illnesses can be triggered again."
"Reenactment involves placing a mentally ill patient in a simulated environment, causing them to involuntarily associate past trauma with the experience and trigger a stress response. This is the most crucial of the three conditions. In reality, chemical agents and optical imaging are merely aids in creating this specific environment."
"Mr. Kudo certainly believes that Kiichiro Numabuchi, who wanted to integrate into society, didn't have enough motivation to kill Rintaro Kawakami, who offered him a job. Something must have brought him back to the hurt he once felt, leading him to kill Rintaro in such a brutal way... Rather than murder, Kiichiro Numabuchi probably saw himself as acting in self-defense."
As Lin Xi finished speaking, the air fell into silence.
Kudo Yukiko seemed to have noticed the unusually serious atmosphere at this moment and fell silent as well.
"So, Kiichiro Numabuchi's psychological trauma probably stems from the person who hurt him... the experimenter who performed the experiment on him," Kudo Yusaku said. "Regarding this, I'd like Ms. Lin to ask Ms. Huibara to describe what the research institute that organized human experiments looks like and what the researchers in the lab usually wear..."
"Well, I can answer you directly on this point, Mr. Kudo," Lin Xi said. "The organization's research institute is no different from other research institutes. The researchers also primarily wear white coats. The only difference is that there is a row of rooms that serve as 'cages' for 'storing' the experimental subjects. One wall of the 'cages' is completely transparent, made of shock-proof glass and steel bars."
Kudo Yusaku looked at her deeply.
At this moment, he was certain that Lin Xi really didn't want Huihara Ai to be involved. He suspected that Huihara Ai didn't even know that there was an organized third party involved in this case, and simply thought that Numabuchi Kiichiro's case was related to the organization.
And Lin Xi herself… was she really unrelated to the organization? When facing the organization, she showed no ordinary fear at all. She showed up at the transaction site that night and confronted the members head-on… And this was obviously not because she was unaware of the organization's power—she didn't want the organization to notice Huiyuan Ai at all.
Even Kudo Yusaku thought of his son saying that the FBI wanted to set up a witness protection program for them... Now thinking back, was it really Lin Xi who needed the witness protection program? It always felt like Lin Xi deliberately prepared it for Huiyuan Ai.
Lin Xi didn't seem to notice Kudo Yusaku's meaningful look. He picked up an object from the corner of the table and handed it over: "Mr. Kudo, take a look at this."
Kudo Yusaku took a closer look.
Safely held in her fair fingertips was a bottle opener.
This isn't surprising. Drinking wine requires a corkscrew. The strange thing is that Rintaro Kawakami didn't even prepare a glass for drinking wine, so why would he have a corkscrew?
And this type of bottle opener is very rare... Kudo Yusaku took the bottle opener, his pupils shrank, and he instantly understood the real murderer's method of committing the crime.
"I see..." He placed the bottle opener into the evidence bag and stood up. "I think I understand."
"Huh?" Kudo Yukiko was a little surprised. "So, there really is a third party involved in this case? But according to the police report, no one else appeared at the crime scene..."
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