Chapter 25 Two Lives in One Corpse
By the time the police returned from their investigation, the autopsy was also complete.
The preliminary autopsy results surprised everyone—
Horii was carrying a fetus that was about three months old.
The child, naturally, died along with its mother.
"To actually kill a pregnant woman is absolutely unforgivable!" Ida cursed through gritted teeth, a toothpick dangling from her mouth.
Normally, Date is very calm in the face of trouble, but today he was unusually emotional.
Shinichi was puzzled by this, and he secretly pulled Takagi aside to ask what was going on: "Officer Takagi, why is Officer Date so angry?"
Takagi hesitated for a moment, but couldn't resist Shinichi's persistent questioning, so she replied, "I think it's because Date-senpai's wife is also pregnant that he's particularly sensitive to pregnant victims, right?"
Upon hearing this, Shinichi couldn't help but start gossiping.
He had heard about it when Ida got married last year. His bride was supposedly a blonde beauty, though he had never met her.
I can't believe I'm already pregnant!
Shinichi, curious, pestered Takagi, asking, "How many months pregnant are you? When is the due date?"
Takagi rolled her eyes at him and retorted irritably, "It's Date-senpai's wife giving birth, what are you doing here?"
Shinichi pouted unhappily and muttered, "Officer Takagi, I doubt you know either."
Feeling somewhat embarrassed that the other person's prediction had come true, Takagi retorted, "We'll know once the baby is born!"
So Shinichi temporarily put aside his gossip and began to focus on the case.
According to the autopsy results, the time of death was approximately between 5:00 and 7:00 AM.
The deceased exhibited symptoms of acute tubular necrosis.
Among the various organs in the human body, the kidneys, in addition to their urinary function, also play an important role in detoxification.
Renal tubular necrosis means that Horii was very likely poisoned.
To Shinichi's disappointment, even the experienced Dr. Oda was unable to determine the exact nature of the deadly poison.
"What's Dr. Oda's opinion on this case?" Shinichi asked, stepping forward.
"The possibility of poisoning is extremely high, and the second possibility is acute illness."
"However, the toxicology test results did not detect any substances. Furthermore, according to the police investigation, Ms. Horii has no history of any medical conditions."
“The preliminary assessment is incomplete, and we need to conduct further analysis. In addition, even without a prior medical history, there is the possibility of a sudden acute illness. Moreover…” Oda hesitated for a moment before continuing, “The fact that the fetus died before the mother is quite unusual.”
"Did the fetus die first?"
This statement greatly surprised Shinichi and the police officers.
"Yes. The baby was somewhat underdeveloped, and several medications were detected in the mother's body, presumably for treatment. However, I don't believe that the underdeveloped fetus was the cause of the mother's death. It's more likely that the mother experienced some kind of sudden event that caused her health to deteriorate rapidly, and the fragile baby died as a result. There were several very deep finger marks on the abdomen of the body, which I think were left by the mother in unbearable pain due to the baby's violent reaction in the last moments of her life."
"Is it possible that the medication was accidentally ingested? Or that the prisoner switched the medication?"
"I think this is very likely, but we need the help of the officers to investigate what kind of drug it is."
"But generally speaking, even if the fetus dies in the womb, the mother can still survive, right?" Shinichi asked.
"If it was poisoning, then perhaps the poison was transmitted to the fetus through the umbilical cord via the bloodstream. If it was disease... I'm sorry, I can't think of a possible answer yet."
"So Dr. Oda is currently leaning towards poisoning? Even without conclusive evidence?"
Oda thought for a moment and nodded: "Yes, there is indeed not enough evidence yet. This is all based on my intuition as a forensic doctor and as a former mother. Kudo-kun, I'm sorry to have disappointed you this time, but I will continue to investigate the cause of death."
"Thank you so much, Dr. Oda!"
However, what Shinichi really cares about is the phrase "was once a mother".
"Has something happened to Dr. Oda's child?"
It was getting late.
After disposing of the body, the detectives returned to the Metropolitan Police Department.
Shinichi quickly stopped Takagi to inquire about the situation.
"Officer Takagi, has the police identified any suspects in the attack?"
"Ah, well... Ms. Horii left her job about six months ago and hasn't worked since."
"And what about her husband?"
"Ms. Horii is not married."
"Huh? Pregnant before marriage?"
“No, no, we didn’t find anyone who seemed to be her boyfriend either,” Takagi explained somewhat awkwardly. “Date-senpai and I went to Horii-san’s rented apartment. She lives in a small, inexpensive apartment. According to the neighbors, she moved here about six months ago and has always lived alone. She doesn’t usually have any friends or social interactions. The neighbors also said that she doesn’t go out often, so they don’t know much about her situation.”
"What about the landlord?"
"The landlord wasn't home today, so I didn't see him."
"What about her parents? They must know something, right?"
“Ms. Horii’s parents do not live in Tokyo. We informed them of their daughter’s death. They just cried and didn’t know anything about what had happened. They didn’t even know where Ms. Horii lived, or that she had changed jobs several times before.”
"Has Ms. Horii changed jobs many times?"
Takagi sighed and said, "Yes. Ever since she resigned after that case, she has repeatedly run into obstacles in her job search and has had a lot of trouble finding work. She lost her job six months ago and hasn't been able to find work since."
"But how could a reclusive, unemployed woman get pregnant? With no income and little contact with her family, she could barely support herself, let alone raise a child," Shinichi questioned. "So, Ms. Horii does have a boyfriend after all?"
"Ms. Horii had a boyfriend three years ago named Hiroshi Shintani, but she broke up with him after leaving the company. It seems that Shintani was also implicated and left the company for another company."
"Is there any possibility that they will get back together?" Shinichi pressed.
Takagi frowned and said, "Actually, when I went to her house to investigate, I had no idea that Ms. Horii was pregnant. The room's layout clearly indicated it was the residence of a single woman, and there were no traces of a man. So I thought it was unlikely."
Shinichi suddenly asked on a whim, "Officer Takagi, do you think it's possible that Ms. Horii doesn't know she's pregnant? I mean, what if something happened to her that led to an unplanned pregnancy? And maybe the medication she's taking is for treating another illness?"
Takagi nodded in agreement, then asked, "What was the motive of the murderer who killed Ms. Horii?"
"He wouldn't rob money or assault women. Aside from indiscriminate killing, I think the most likely reason is revenge?"
"How could this be?! With Ms. Horii's gentle personality, how could she have made enemies with others?" Takagi shook his head repeatedly in opposition. "Kudo-kun, you haven't had direct contact with Ms. Horii, so you may not know, but she is truly a very soft-hearted person, almost timid. She speaks very little and has a soft voice. I really can't understand how someone like her could inexplicably bring about her own demise!"
"Could it be that it was precisely this personality that attracted the murderous intent? A weak woman, uncared for by anyone and living in seclusion, was spotted by the culprit. Just think, if the body hadn't been found here, if Dr. Ishiura hadn't happened to recognize her, how many more days would it have taken for Ms. Horii's death to be discovered?"
Hearing this, Takagi broke out in a cold sweat and asked, "So why did you do that? The culprit could have killed her silently. And it's summer now, the weather is hot, by the time someone finds the body, it will be in a terrible state of decomposition. Why did you have to leave the body here?"
“I still stand by my initial opinion on this issue: the prisoner was challenging the authority of forensic experts,” Shinichi replied firmly.
Seeing the expression on the other person's face, Takagi tentatively asked, "Does Kudo-kun already know who the culprit is?"
"How could I possibly know something that even the police officers don't know?" This time, Shinichi unusually didn't confront the police and started playing dumb.
"Huh?" Takagi was completely baffled, wondering why the detective, who was always on the front lines, had suddenly fallen silent.
But this was his job, so he didn't want to bother Shinichi with anything else.
Takagi glanced back at the morgue, recalling how passionately and confidently he had promised Horii that he would uphold justice.
So what happened? How did she fare during those three years?
To live a life devoid of light, and to die an inexplicable death.
He never spoke much during his lifetime, and after his death, he left behind only a corpse of unknown cause of death and an underdeveloped fetus.
What did she want to say at the end of her life?
As night deepened, the cicadas' chirping grew even louder.
But for the first time, Takagi felt that the cicadas this year were really too noisy.
"I'll take my leave now. You should all go home early too!"
Takagi said goodbye to the two middle school students.
Shinichi smiled as he watched Takagi leave.
He certainly didn't give up on finding the real culprit, but this time he changed his usual approach and quietly prepared to investigate on his own.
"Um, Kudo-senpai, if you want to investigate something, can you take me with you?" Yuuki, who had been sitting silently to the side, suddenly spoke up.
"Huh? Sakai, why are you suddenly interested in this?"
“It’s not that I’m interested, but…” Yuuki hesitated before speaking, “Didn’t Kudo-senpai just say that the culprit might be trying to provoke us? In the previous case, you also said that the culprit didn’t respect the police at all. So, could the culprit be the same person?”
Shinichi looked at the other person with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. The way they connected the cases through this link was quite a unique perspective.
However, Shinichi didn't want to involve Yuuki, so he said, "Are you kidding me? How could that be? Besides, those criminals' target has always been your father, what does it have to do with Ms. Horii?"
"But I'm wondering if it's too difficult to directly target someone close to Dad. So, the culprit chose Ms. Horii as their target? Because she was also involved before, right? In that case, could Ms. Horii... have died in my place? So, I was thinking if there's anything I can do to help..."
“Absolutely not!” Shinichi categorically denied. “Sakai, don’t overthink it. I’ll investigate this matter.”
"But I really want to help!" Yuuki pleaded eagerly.
Seeing this, Shinichi smiled slightly and said, "Since you're so serious, there's something I really want to ask you for a favor."
Yuuki nodded excitedly.
"Kudo-senpai, how exactly did Horii-san get murdered? If it was poison, what kind of poison would it be?"
"I'm not sure about that yet, but I think that since the culprit was able to develop such a bizarre poison, he probably didn't just make one batch, right? If we find the culprit, we might be able to solve the mystery."
However, Shinichi did not expect that three months later he would risk it and experience it for himself.
However, the capsule that changed his fate was still in the early stages of research and development, and its medicinal properties were unknown, so it had not yet been named.
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