Chapter 24 Cause of Death Unknown
For most students, summer, while not their favorite season, is not their least favorite either.
Because summer means enjoying the longest period of freedom in the year:
summer vacation.
Shinichi Kudo is 17 years old this year, and after this holiday he will enter the second semester of his second year of high school.
His junior, Yuuki Sakai, has already progressed from junior high to high school.
Outside the window, the cicadas chirped loudly, one wave higher than the next.
Cicadas have short lives, so they must release all their vitality in this short time to prove that they have lived a part of the world.
Many people pity this humble and weak creature because of this.
But Shinichi felt that some people were even more pitiful, because they never had the opportunity or courage to speak out in their entire lives.
For example, some of the death cases mentioned in today's lecture.
Turning our attention back indoors, we find ourselves in the small auditorium of the Department of Forensic Medicine at the University of Tokyo.
A popular science lecture on forensic medicine was held during the day.
Shinichi only attended because of Yuuki. Ishiura Kaede, who is a close friend of Yuuki, works there.
It was called a lecture, but it was really just about educating everyone to cherish life, and incidentally talking about the development of modern forensic medicine to encourage young students to pursue a career in the medical field.
After the lecture, Shinichi was reluctant to leave.
There were plenty of corpse specimens to observe up close; how could he possibly miss such a golden opportunity?
"Dr. Ishiura, may I visit the corpses that have been dissected before?" Shinichi asked expectantly.
"Kudo-kun, you've already seen a lot, haven't you? What else would you like to see?" Ishiura asked, puzzled.
Shinichi explained, "No! I mean I want to see the real thing, not a video or picture."
"Eh? This, this won't do. The corpse can't be shown to just anyone." Ishiura waved his hands repeatedly.
No matter how much Shinichi pleaded, he resolutely refused.
Shinichi was quite annoyed and dejected.
God knows how much he longed to see those corpses with his own eyes!
Physical objects are the best first-hand learning materials.
So close, yet unattainable.
"Kudo-senpai, it's getting late, let's go!" Yuuki said softly.
He wasn't interested in these kinds of lectures at all, but Shinichi insisted on attending, so he reluctantly came along.
For the past half day, all Yuuki had seen were living people and dead people, and what was even more outrageous was that there were even more dead people:
Dead people on the projection screen, dead people in the murals on the walls, skeletons displayed in the glass windows, and even exquisitely crafted, remarkably realistic dead dolls made to enhance the lecture experience...
They were neatly laid out in a row on the ground, and the scene was absolutely terrifying!
Seeing this, Yuuki was so frightened that she could barely stand.
Hearing Kudo-senpai say that he wanted to have close contact with those corpses, she was terrified and cursed herself for being so stubborn as to come with him in the first place.
"Shipu, haven't you gone back yet?"
Suddenly, a middle-aged female doctor walked over.
Shinichi immediately recognized her as one of the forensic doctors who had spoken at the lecture earlier; her name was Eiko Oda.
Women are a minority in the forensic profession.
In recent years, the situation has improved. Although the male-to-female ratio is still skewed, it is generally moving towards a healthy balance.
However, in the era when Dr. Oda was studying, women were an absolute minority.
"Oda-senpai, I'm leaving soon. Are you going back too?"
"Okay, let's go together. Oh? Who are these two children?"
"Hello, Dr. Oda! My name is Shinichi Kudo." Shinichi took the initiative to step forward and greet him.
Oda smiled gently and said, "Hello, Kudo-kun. Are you here for the lecture today?"
Shinichi nodded vigorously and replied, "Yes! I'm very interested in forensic medicine, and I really enjoyed Dr. Oda's research presentation. But I have a question I'd like to ask!"
Shi Pu was a little flustered, afraid that this kid would make some strange request again.
Ishiura really wanted to pull Shinichi away to stop him from talking nonsense. But Oda didn't care about delaying the end of the workday and asked earnestly, "Do you have any questions about the lecture, Kudo-kun?"
"According to Dr. Oda, there are many types of poisons that can cause death, and current technology can only detect common poisons. So if I create a completely new poison and then poison someone without anyone noticing, wouldn't that be the perfect crime?"
Ishiura and Yuuki were shocked to hear this, completely baffled as to what Shinichi was thinking.
Oda pondered for a moment before replying, "Kudo-kun, the science I explained in the lecture was only the basic methods of poison detection. Current technology supports a much broader range of toxin analyses. Even if current forensic methods cannot identify it, I think it's only a limitation of time and technology. If the body and belongings can be properly preserved, I believe the truth will eventually come to light. Besides, the perfect crime scenario you described is too idealistic—creating an unheard-of, nameless poison while ensuring the poisoning process is foolproof and undetected. Such a plot probably only appears in detective novels, right?"
However, just fifteen minutes later, a similar scene unfolded at the forensic medical school.
More accurately, Shinichi discovered the body left behind by a criminal who had committed the perfect crime.
Unable to resist Shinichi's persistent pleading, Dr. Oda reluctantly agreed to let him visit the real corpse used for teaching demonstrations.
To his surprise, Shinichi discovered a woman's corpse as soon as he opened the door!
The body was well-preserved, with no signs of decomposition, and appeared to have been dead for only a short time.
There were no external injuries on the body, nor any signs of poisoning.
The deceased's face was contorted in agony, as if he had suffered immense torment and torture before his death.
"How could it be her?"
Shi Pu stood frozen in place, his face pale.
"Does Ishiura know this woman?" Shinichi asked anxiously.
After a moment of calm, Ishiura replied, "She's a classmate from my university, though we weren't in the same major. We did club activities together, so she's kind of my junior! Her name is Horii Haruko."
"Horii Haruko?"
Shinichi frowned in thought, feeling that the name sounded somewhat familiar.
Suddenly, a thought struck him: Isn't this the accountant who was innocently implicated in the kidnapping of Yuki that Officer Takagi mentioned back then?
"What a coincidence, how could it be her?"
Oda immediately called the police.
Upon hearing the news, the officers from the First Investigation Division who rushed to the scene immediately began questioning Shinichi.
Shinichi recounted the whole story truthfully, and then began to explain his reasoning: "First of all, this place is inaccessible to outsiders, so the presence of a body here must indicate a murder."
"There was a lecture from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. today, with about fifty people in attendance. I think the perpetrator must have taken advantage of the fact that the body was unguarded during this time to smuggle it into the forensic medicine classroom."
Date frowned and pondered, "Although prisoners can easily blend into the crowd, how were the corpses brought in?"
"There are two possibilities. First, the perpetrator brought Ms. Horii here and then murdered her. Second, the perpetrator hid the body in a large box containing a dead doll."
"A dead doll?" Takagi exclaimed in surprise. "What's that?"
"Look, that's the one Dr. Ishiura brought out! There were four life-size dolls on display at the lecture, but judging from the size of that box, it could fit five. Considering the deceased was petite, it was entirely possible to hide him inside the box's partitions and bring him in."
“Officer, we originally ordered five dolls. However, due to time constraints, we were unable to complete them and only delivered four,” Shipu added.
“Then it is highly likely that this was a meticulously planned and premeditated crime,” Ida said with a grave expression.
"But more important than the method of disposing of the body is the cause of death! Don't you all think that's interesting?"
Shinichi suddenly said something surprising, startling everyone present.
"interesting?"
“Yes! We all know that the forensic doctor’s job is to determine the cause of death. The criminal went to great lengths to bring the body directly to the forensic doctor. Isn’t that a provocation, saying, ‘I wonder if you doctors can determine the cause of death?’ This criminal is very arrogant…” Shinichi said quietly.
Oda smiled slightly and replied, "If it's really as Kudo-kun deduced, then I'm happy to accept the culprit's challenge. Ishiura, prepare for the autopsy!"
"yes!"
Shinichi watched the two forensic doctors' backs as they walked away, and couldn't help but wonder where Dr. Oda's confidence came from.
"That Dr. Oda seems quite capable..." Shinichi muttered to himself.
"Eh? Kudo-kun doesn't know Oda-senpai?" Takagi asked in surprise.
"I don't know, what's wrong?" Shinichi's curiosity was piqued.
"The massive flu outbreak three years ago was diagnosed by Dr. Oda through autopsy. At the time, everyone thought it was just a common cold, but it turned out to be a mutated virus. It even made that game popular later, what was it called again?"
"Dr. Virus?"
"Ah, right! That's the one!"
A slight smile appeared on Shinichi's face.
"I see"
"In that case, I really can't wait to see the autopsy report."
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