After entering the Beika Art Museum, we were led by the mobile search team to a room called the "Hell Exhibition Hall". Standing at the door, we could see that the lights inside were dim, and there were various artworks displayed around.
For example, the lizard man and the three-headed dog of hell at the door, and the execution props placed on both sides of the passage.
When Fujiwara Yu noticed the stuffed black goat head hanging on the wall, he felt a faint tingling in his temple. A faint bitterness played at the corner of his mouth. He never expected that seeing a black goat would cause post-traumatic stress disorder.
The frequency of nightmares has not been very high recently, and the memory fragments drawn out are not coherent. I really don’t know when I can get the lost memories back.
Fujiwara Yuu shook his head slightly. Now was not the time to think about such things. The most important thing was to focus on the case at hand. He followed the mobile search team officers all the way to the murder scene and saw the victim, with a sword piercing his throat and his body nailed to the wall.
It feels like turning the victims into exhibits in the "Hell Exhibition Hall".
"Um?"
Fujiwara Yu suddenly felt that this scene seemed familiar. He turned around and looked at the huge painting on the wall. The demon in the painting was pierced through the body by a knight's sword, exactly the same as the victim's condition.
He put his hands in his pockets and leaned over, then with the dim light of his cell phone, he finally saw the name of the painting.
Divine punishment.
The painting depicts a righteous knight subduing a demon.
Fujiwara Yuu couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. So the murderer considered himself a knight full of justice, and the victim an evil demon? Oh, it was really ridiculous. How could a murderer be associated with the word "justice"?
He walked towards Takagi Wataru, who was inspecting the scene with a flashlight, and asked:
"Takagi, why don't you ask the staff to turn on the lights here?"
"It's not that I don't want to, but this exhibition hall deliberately didn't install much lighting equipment in order to create the atmosphere of hell, so now we can only use flashlights to investigate." Takagi Shigeru couldn't help but smile bitterly. He thought the director of the art museum had a unique idea, and he really put a lot of effort into making the visitors have an immersive experience.
"Have you figured out the identity of the victim?"
"Officer Sato is still questioning us. Since the lighting is a bit dim here, she took the museum director and others to a nearby lounge."
When Fujiwara Yu looked up, he noticed a surveillance camera in the corner. Sure enough, the art museum had installed such equipment to prevent theft, so this case should be easier to handle.
He put on his gloves, waved to Takagi Wataru, and said:
"Sato has quite a lot of work to do. You can go over and help. I'll take care of this."
"Okay police department."
Takagi Shu slipped away very quickly. He was obviously not good at dealing with this kind of terrifying atmosphere. Fujiwara Yuu let him go only after noticing the goose bumps on his face. He also silently admired Takagi's professionalism in his heart.
Even though he was frightened by the circumstances, he still insisted on completing his work, which is indeed worthy of praise.
Fujiwara Yu took the flashlight that Takagi Wataru handed to him before he left, and after carefully examining the victim, he found that the victim had three knife wounds on his body, including cuts on the back and chest, and the final fatal penetrating stab wound.
Why not just pierce the wound right from the start? You know, today's art exhibition is free, and there are many visitors. If someone notices, wouldn't it be a waste of effort?
What puzzled Fujiwara Yu the most was why the murderer chose to commit the crime in an exhibition hall where surveillance cameras were installed. He must have worn armor to hide his appearance, so why didn't he choose a more secluded place to commit the crime?
You know, putting on and taking off armor is not an easy task. This thankless and contradictory behavior always feels very strange.
"Um?"
Fujiwara Yu suddenly noticed that the victim's right hand was in a clenched fist. It had been less than two hours since the victim's death, and the mild rigor mortis would not make it impossible to open his fingers.
He reached out and pried open the victim's fingers that were clenched towards his palm, and took out the note hidden in his palm, on which the words "Kubota" were clearly written.
Fujiwara Yuu doesn't think the surname written on the note has anything to do with the murderer. He always feels that it was a note left by the murderer on purpose. It seems that if he wants to know the answer, he can only check the surveillance video.
He did not stay here any longer. After asking the police officer, he went straight to the door of the lounge. Before he walked in, he heard a very familiar voice coming from inside.
——"Officer Takagi, as the first witness, I should be able to watch the surveillance video, right?"
This voice, could it be him again?
Fujiwara Yu pushed open the door of the lounge, and after seeing that the young man with his hands in his pockets and a cocky look matched the person he was thinking of, he stared at him speechlessly with his crescent eyes.
The young man who noticed the movement at the door quickly turned around and said excitedly after seeing the familiar purple color:
"Officer Takashi! I didn't expect to see you so soon, hehe!"
"...I don't want to see you at the murder scene at all." Fujiwara Yu's mouth twitched slightly. He really didn't understand why Kudo Shinichi always appeared at the crime scene, and his identity was always the first eyewitness.
Could it be that this guy has some mysterious device installed in his body to attract murder cases?
Fujiwara Yu nodded politely to Mao Lilan, then leaned forward slightly and whispered in Kudo Shinichi's ear:
"I suggest that you and Ms. Maori don't choose to travel anywhere other than home in the future."
"Hmm? Why?"
"You don't want your date to be disturbed by an incident, do you?" Fujiwara Yu felt a little uneasy when he said this. He thought about the incident that happened when he and Akemi went out for the first time, and that their subsequent meetings were basically at the scene of the murder. It seemed that he had no right to say anything about Kudo Shinichi.
Kudo Shinichi rolled his eyes speechlessly. He didn't think it was his fault that he was at the scene of a murder. Besides, encountering a murder with Xiaolan was a rare occurrence. They had to walk a long way home from school every day, and they didn't always run into a murder.
Fujiwara Yu had no intention of continuing the topic. He took the notebook handed to him by Sato Miwako, which recorded in detail the useful clues obtained from the questioning.
The victim's name was Takayuki Manaka, 52 years old, a businessman who acquired the Beika Museum of Art.
The suspects who had contact with him were the museum director Tamio Ochiai, museum employees Yuta Iijima and Kei Kubota.
Fujiwara Yuu glanced meaningfully at Kubota Kuroki. The victim had a slip of paper with Kubota Kuroki's last name on it. He didn't reveal this clue, but pretended not to know.
"Mr. Director, could you please take us to the monitoring room? I want to review the surveillance video of the crime scene."
"Okay, everyone please follow me."
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