Chapter 288 Crow Shadow's Flaw
"Yes. Because the culprit was *definitely* not at the crime scene. From beginning to end, it was Kiichiro Numabuchi who killed Rintaro Kawakami. There is no doubt about that."
"However, the criminals somehow created a specific environment in the room, putting Kiichiro Numabuchi in a special situation and triggering his mental illness."
"As Ms. Lin mentioned, there are three factors that can trigger mental illness: unnecessary drugs/fragrances, unusual lighting, and objects, clothing, furniture, etc. that remind you of a traumatic environment."
"The specific circumstances that caused Kiichiro Numabuchi to panic and rage were likely related to the torture he endured in the tissue laboratory."
Kudo Yusaku took out the bottle opener in his hand.
"From a while ago, I've been wondering about one thing. It's the timing of Kiichiro Numabuchi's madness."
"Kiichiro Numabuchi went crazy when Rintaro Kawakami used a bottle opener to open the bottle cap." Kudo Yusaku showed the bottle opener in his hand to Lin Xi and Yukiko, "And this bottle opener is a pneumatic bottle opener."
"This is a corkscrew that uses vacuum pressure to open wine bottles. To use it, you insert the needle into the bottle through the middle of the cork, then move it up and down a few times to squeeze air into the bottle, and the cork will slide out of the bottle."
"Needle? So..." Lin Xi touched his chin, "Mr. Kudo, do you think that Kiichiro Numabuchi mistook the needle of the bottle opener in Rintaro Kawakami's hand for the needle of the syringe?"
Kudo Yusaku: “That’s right.”
Lin Xi: "But, there must be other factors, right? If he would attack someone just because of this level of similarity, then Numabuchi Kiichiro should have reacted long ago. After all, there is no shortage of similar sharp objects in daily life, even sewing needles are found in our homes..."
"Yes, so we have to take into account the other factors you just mentioned, Miss Lin," said Kudo Yusaku. "The factors that drove Kiichiro Numabuchi crazy also include the potion and the light..."
"From what we've seen so far, the murderer seems quite cautious," Lin Xi said. "If he did use a potion, it was likely a volatile one. Two months would be enough time for it to evaporate. Like the wine, it must have been carefully prepared so that Rintaro Kawakami could take it home without him noticing."
She walked over to a vase on the table, which had held several now wilted flowers, and picked it up.
"There are flowers in the vase in Rintaro Kawakami's house. Does he like flowers normally? Or were they given to him by someone else?" As he spoke, Lin Xi leaned close to the mouth of the vase and smelled it.
…
A rich smell rushed into the nose.
Lin Xi covered her head with her hands, and the vase slipped from her hands and was caught by Kudo Yukiko quickly.
"Are you okay, Miss Lin?" she asked anxiously.
Lin Xi had no time to respond. Her mind was buzzing, and in just a moment, many images flashed before her eyes.
Someone seemed to be sneering in her ear. Perhaps it was Lin Xi's voice, she wasn't sure.
Finally, all the sounds suddenly disappeared. Lin Xi heard a sigh...
"Mr. Kudo, Sister Yukiko." She shook her head. "I'm fine... That vase contains hallucinogens! There should be some left. It's best to put it in a larger evidence bag."
Yusaku Kudo took the vase from Yukiko Kudo's hand.
"So, the traces of the drugs were found quickly." He glanced at Lin Xi. The girl still had her eyes closed, and seemed a little uncomfortable.
"Ms. Lin, do you want to take a rest?" he asked.
"No, I'm fine." Lin Xi opened his eyes and seemed to have returned to normal. "The drugs have been found, so the only thing left is the light. Kawakami Rintaro was killed at 8:30 pm, when it was completely dark. Was it the light in the room?"
"Uh, let me try turning on all the lights."
Yukiko Kudo walked to the entrance and turned on the lights in the house.
It was daytime now. If you didn't look carefully, you couldn't even see the light from the incandescent lamp. The three of them looked carefully and confirmed that it was in good condition, with no malfunction or poor contact.
"It's probably not the lighting." Kudo Yusaku pointed to the coffee table at the crime scene. "On the night of the incident, the deceased and Kiichiro Numabuchi were sitting there drinking. At the moment Kawakami Rintaro tried to open the wine with the corkscrew, the light, the potion, and the scene replay acted on Kiichiro Numabuchi at the same time, driving him crazy. If that was the moment he saw something."
"He sat with his back to the door. From his angle, he could see the window."
"That's right." Lin Xi looked out the window. "This is a busy fishing port, and not far away is the metropolis of Kamakura. If the murderer wanted to, they could use the large floodlights there to create the perfect lighting conditions..."
"But this leaves a fatal problem unsolved," said Kudo Yusaku. "How did the murderer know when Kawakami Rintaro would open the cork? Unless he had been watching their every move with a camera, and when he saw Kawakami Rintaro about to open the cork, he immediately called his accomplice in the metropolis and asked him to control the lights... But this doesn't seem like the murderer's style."
"So, rather than a sudden flash of light, I think this is a continuous condition. Whether it's the volatile drug or the flashing light, these are continuous conditions that existed at the crime scene that night. In this way, there is no need to worry about when Kawakami Rintaro opened the wine, just make sure he opened the wine on the night of the crime."
"A continuous...light show?" Lin Xi murmured, "Could it be a light show or something like that? Looking outside through the window, there are indeed lights flashing all the time."
"That's my guess," Kudo Yusaku said. "We need to confirm this with the surrounding residents. Let's assume this for now. The murderer met three conditions, causing the crazed Numabuchi Kiichirō to kill Kawakami Rintaro. These are the results. Now, we have to use these results to reverse-engineer the course of events."
"We need to find out why this unusual bottle of red wine appeared in Kawakami Rintaro's house? Why was this bottle opener chosen? Who put the hallucinogen in the vase? Why was the murderer so sure that Kawakami Rintaro would invite Numabuchi Kiichiro to drink red wine with him that night?"
"To understand these questions, the scope of investigation cannot be limited to the crime scene. We need to ask people around the deceased's shop and neighbors what happened that day."
Lin Xi nodded.
"I understand...but I'm feeling a little uncomfortable right now." Lin Xi said, "Can we divide the work, Mr. Kudo and Sister Yukiko? I'll ask you two to take care of the interrogation part, and I'll continue to look for clues in the house."
"Oh, of course." Kudo Yukiko touched Lin Xi's head with heartache, "You were too reckless just now. You just sniffed it up casually. I was scared by you. I'm afraid you're still dizzy now. Let my husband and I be responsible for collecting information! You stay here. It doesn't matter whether you can find any extra clues. Rest is more important."
"Thank you, Sister Yukiko..."
"You're welcome." Kudo Yukiko winked at her, making Lin Xi sigh that a big star is a big star, and a retired big star is still a big star. Even if they disguise themselves as middle-aged women, they are still charming.
"Then Miss Lin, please stay here." Kudo Yusaku nodded and reached out to take the vase that was already in the evidence bag. "We'll hand this over to the police first."
Lin Xi didn't seem to have any unnecessary reaction to his words.
Was I being overly suspicious? Kudo Yusaku wondered.
Before leaving, he looked back again. Lin Xi did not sit on the stool to rest as Kudo Yukiko suggested, but instead carefully checked the items in the house.
Kudo Yusaku went over the information he had received so far in his mind again.
There should be nothing missing in the house.
Moreover, even if there is something wrong with Lin Xi, we have to solve the case first to find out.
There was a very contradictory point in Lin Xi's words just now, which made Kudo Yusaku very concerned.
Kudo Yusaku wasn't sure if this was a deliberate flaw revealed to him. Regardless, this contradiction made Lin Xi's previous words no longer credible. To be precise, it was only partially credible. Kudo Yusaku was willing to believe that Lin Xi was a good person, but he was also certain that Lin Xi was hiding something from them. In some cases, what she said might mislead them and cause them to make the wrong judgment...
But right now, the case at hand is the most important.
"Mrs. Goto, have you seen this vase..." He began his first inquiry with a smile on his face.
.
In the room, Lin Xi was checking the items.
It can be seen that Rintaro Kawakami is a person who loves cleanliness and is good at storage. He has always lived alone and has never married. He is the only one who cleans the house.
In his bedroom, there was a row of neatly arranged books. Lin Xi took a quick look and found that they were all comics.
There were over forty books in a series, along with comic-related illustrations and figurines. Next to these comics lay a stack of sorted letters. Lin Xi took them and began to search through the letters from May.
I quickly found a letter about red wine. However, it wasn't a letter in the strict sense, just a piece of printed paper with some words on it.
"Good friend. It's nice to see you in person."
"How are you doing in Yokohama? I haven't spoken in a while, so I hope you don't mind. I'm contacting you out of the blue because I stumbled upon two bottles of valuable wine. Yuriko and I kept one for ourselves, and I'm sending the other to you. I hope you can find a friend in Yokohama like I did, and enjoy it with them. I wish you good health. A bottle opener is included with the package."
No signature.
The other person seemed to be a friend of Rintaro Kawakami who he hadn't contacted for a long time, but with whom he had a deep friendship.
Rintaro Kawakami was obviously very happy after receiving the wine, so he pulled Kiichiro Numabuchi to drink with him.
Kiichiro Numabuchi had no place to live and slept in Rintaro Kawakami's fishing shop at night. On the night of the incident, someone saw Rintaro Kawakami happily closing the shop door and pulling Kiichiro Numabuchi home with him.
Lin Xi placed the printed paper into the evidence bag. She remembered that the sorted trash in the entrance hadn't been disposed of yet. She wanted to go inside and see if there were any packages or boxes.
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