Chapter 53 Bringing them to justice
According to Sanada Shu's testimony, Sanada Haru had agreed to pay her around 1:30 p.m.
However, by 1 p.m., neither the police lying in ambush at Sanada's house nor the police waiting at the hot spring hotel had seen the two criminals show up.
"What's going on? Did the prisoner realize that Sanada Shu had been arrested?"
"Or did the transaction location change at the last minute?"
Amuro had a vague sense of unease.
"Amuro-nii, how about I use a voice changer to call the culprit?" Conan suggested.
"No way! Are you afraid people won't know you have this thing? What are you going to say if the police officers in Nagano ask about it?" Amuro sternly stopped the young detective. "If anyone's going to fight, it has to be Sanada himself."
Conan initially wanted to argue, saying, "What if Sanada accidentally lets something slip?" But seeing the blond man's cold gaze, he immediately fell silent, too terrified to utter another word.
Gao Ming, who was in charge of directing the operation, agreed to the proposal.
Sanada Shu called her cousin Sanada Haru to ask when she could receive the money, but only received an impatient reply: "Soon, soon, I'll definitely get it to you before dinner!"
Then he hung up the phone.
The call was too short for the police to understand what was going on.
The only clue we can deduce from the background whistle that the prisoner is on the road, and given the prisoner's extremely anxious tone and lack of suspicion that the person making the call has already been apprehended, the most likely scenario is that the prisoner encountered some trouble that caused a delay on the road and is now rushing to their destination.
"Will this be the prisoner's destination?"
The police waited patiently until about 4 p.m.
Finally, one of the prisoners, Maruyama Ken, appeared.
The bad news was that only Maruyama drove there.
"Where is the child? And where is the other prisoner?"
"He came in and took a large black package. I think it contains money," Yui, disguised as a hotel hostess, reported to Gao Ming. "The boss didn't show up; he must have left the package here beforehand. Should we move in?"
However, before Gao Ming could give the next instruction, the prisoner himself gave himself away.
Whether it was because he was relieved that his plan had finally succeeded after going through so many hardships, or because he was extremely excited that he had received so much money for the first time in his life, Maruyama was not paying attention to where he was going as he walked on the marble floor of the hotel. As a result, he slipped and fell flat on his face.
This fall had a significant impact, as it knocked the gun he was carrying out of his hand!
This scene was witnessed by a woman nearby, which immediately triggered a scream.
Maruyama didn't have time to think about anything else. He scrambled to his feet, pulled the trigger, and shouted, "Don't move!"
"Sir, please calm down!" Yui quickly stepped forward to stop him; she recognized it as a real gun.
The current situation has truly caught the police off guard.
According to the investigation, Maruyama had never been involved in any gun-related cases before, and no firearms were found during the most recent search for illegal activities.
Therefore, the police are more inclined to believe that it is a fake gun.
Even if it were true, no one would have imagined that the criminal would pull out a gun for such a ridiculous reason.
However, whether out of embarrassment or guilt, Yui's words had the opposite effect.
Maruyama raised his gun high and fired a few shots haphazardly.
However, his marksmanship was truly appalling. After smashing a large light in the hotel and nearly hitting himself, the criminal escaped in the chaos.
"Go ahead and stop him!" Gao Ming ordered.
"Leave it to me!"
Gan-zhu, who was using crutches, skillfully fell to the ground and got stuck in the hotel's revolving door.
The prisoner, panting, ran to the gate and froze upon seeing the situation. Pointing his gun at Gan Zhu, he stammered, "You...you get up, get up!"
Gansuke pretended to be terrified and pleaded, "Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I really can't stand up anymore, please help me!"
The prisoner looked back and saw that several people were chasing after him. He was at a loss and had no choice but to bend down and help Gan Zhu up.
Just then, the cane that was stuck in the door crack was pulled out instantly and gently swept across the prisoner's feet, causing him to fall face-first into the mud.
"Police officer, don't move!"
Gan Zhu and the others rushed forward and firmly handcuffed the prisoner.
Date and Takagi rushed in from outside.
Because Gao Ming was worried that the prisoner might recognize Ida, he did not allow him to lie in ambush inside the hotel.
The police confiscated the prisoners' guns and packages.
Ida opened the large bag and was surprised:
It's full of waste paper, there's no money in it at all!
The top sheet of paper had two large characters written on it—
idiot!
Date showed Maruyama the contents of the package, which enraged him so much that he cursed, "You old liar, how dare you play me!"
The police did not expect that the crime boss would pull off a scheme to get something for nothing.
Ida grabbed the prisoner by the collar and demanded, "Where are your accomplices? Where are your children?"
"How would I know? You saw it yourself, the money is all fake!"
"Where did you and Haru Sanada break up? She took both children with her, didn't she?"
"I forgot."
Maruyama was quite stubborn and wouldn't tell anyone no matter how much they threatened or bribed him.
Amuro, who overheard everything from a distance, was so angry that he wanted to use the Public Security Bureau's unique memory recovery technique.
In the end, it was thanks to Conan that the criminal's life was saved. The little detective said, "That black package was left at the hotel by the man who was missing two toes. I think that man probably knew something, right?"
Upon hearing this, the police immediately shifted their attention to another suspect.
As soon as the police were about to leave, the prisoner hurriedly began his performance.
Maruyama called out in a sarcastic tone, "Officer Date, I have something to say to you!"
"What are you saying? Speak up!" Ida was quite annoyed by the other person's winking and gesturing. However, out of police professional ethics, she suppressed the urge to hit him.
"Don't you want to know why I've taken a liking to your son?" the prisoner asked smugly.
So you admit you were deliberately targeting me?
"What do I have to hide? I'm targeting you!"
"But we've never met before, we have no grudges against each other, so why are you doing this?" Ida asked, trying to calm herself down, even though the prisoner's smirk was truly repulsive.
The prisoner burst into laughter as if he had heard something ridiculous. After laughing for a while, he finally spoke: "No grudge? I have a grudge against every single dog in your police Paw Patrol! Weren't you so proud of catching that bomber? So I have to say something and congratulate you!"
Ida sneered, "Thank you. To be remembered by a prisoner like you makes me feel that my work has more value."
"Value? What value does your job have? Protecting the country? Fighting crime? Maintaining order? Defending justice? What have you Paw Patrol done?!" Maruyama demanded angrily. "Do you know why I dropped out of school? Because my sister went missing, but you bunch of incompetents couldn't find her! Later, my parents divorced, and my company went bankrupt—it was all your fault!"
"Sanada Haru is your younger sister?" Date asked in shock.
"Yeah, I found it myself! So what, do you admit your Paw Patrol is incompetent?" Maruyama asked arrogantly.
“I sympathize with what you and your sister have gone through, although I don’t know which colleague handled the case. But I think this is a situation no one wants to see. Since your family was torn apart by your sister’s abduction, why would you want to bring the same suffering to other families?”
Maruyama leaned forward, staring intently at Date, and said, "Because I've realized something. The people I should hate the most aren't that human trafficker, but you self-proclaimed guardians of justice, your lackeys! In all these years I've been searching for Koharu, has the law ever protected me? Has the police ever offered any help? No! Not a single bit!"
“Maruyama, I know you’ve suffered a lot, but you’ve also made a lot of mistakes. That’s no reason for you to take revenge on society,” Date said seriously.
Maruyama glared at the other man fiercely and said, "As expected of a low-ranking lackey, what a high-sounding rhetoric! These things haven't happened to you, so of course you can stand there and righteously accuse me! But what if it were your son who was handcuffed right now? Would you still be able to say such things?"
Ida frowned and remained silent; the prisoner before him was pushing his patience to its limit.
However, the man seemed completely unaware of this and continued talking incessantly.
"Big dogs give birth to puppies, and puppies grow into big dogs. How do we break this vicious cycle? The answer is simple: rescue the puppies from their kennels and tell them: You're not a dog, dogs are the enemy! Officer Ida, in twenty years your son will become like me! Or even worse, a murderer! Then you and your son will meet at a murder scene. Can you bear to send your son to prison? Hahaha, your son is gone, he's no longer a dog! Woof woof woof..."
Looking at Maruyama's face, twisted with a sneer, Date clenched his fists, wishing he could tear the man to pieces!
However, just as Maruyama was barking like a dog, he suddenly fell silent, like an engine that had stalled.
His head lolled to the side, and he fainted.
Confused, Date glanced past Maruyama and looked behind him, only to see Takagi holding a baton, trembling with anger.
Takagi said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Date-senpai, that person went too far, I couldn't help myself..."
Ida paced back and forth for a while before finally calming down and saying, "This is the last time."
“Let’s go check on the other suspect,” Ida said.
However, to their great disappointment, the police reconstructed the person's route using surveillance footage, only to lose track of him at the entrance of a certain scenic area.
The person seemed to have vanished into thin air, disappearing without a trace.
"Date-senpai, should I not have knocked the prisoner unconscious?" Takagi asked, covering his face.
"We'll just have to wait for the prisoner to wake up before we can interrogate him," Ida sighed.
However, he had an even greater sense of unease because the scenic area was a snow-capped mountain.
And there will be a blizzard tonight.
Will the weather forecast be accurate this time?
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