Chapter 3066 3078 [Small Classroom]
As it concerns his own career, reporter Yanase had no choice but to straighten his clothes as if nothing had happened and sat on the sofa gracefully: "Let me go first - speaking of which, I saw you at the scene on the night of the fire, and you should have seen me too."
He raised his hand and gestured: "When the fire broke out, I was taking pictures on the viaduct opposite the house. How could I have the time to run to his house and set fire to it?"
Jiang Xia raised his hand and waved. The staff member next to him was startled for a moment, but soon understood what was going on and ran over to bring a large photo that the famous detective had asked them to prepare.
Jiang Xia placed the photo in a position where the camera could capture it, and explained to the audience, including the police, very considerately: "The viaduct looks far away from the scene, but there is actually an entrance for high-speed buses nearby. I tried it yesterday, and it only took less than three minutes to get to the viaduct from the crime scene."
"On the night of the fire, you came to Mr. Nakai's house and attacked him from behind, knocking him unconscious. Then you set up the automatic arson device and quickly ran to the viaduct opposite.
"When the device is activated and the flames start, you pretend to be passing by and start preparing to shoot those 'thrilling moments you encounter by chance'."
Yanase Takashi was sweating profusely in his palms, and had to cross his arms to hide his emotions. He pretended to be a stranger outside the situation and continued to host the event calmly: "Automatic arson device? I didn't even know there was such a thing. Can you show us what it looks like?"
Jiang Xia shook his head: "Unfortunately, the police were unable to find the remains of the device at the scene afterwards."
Yanase Ryuichi's heart fell back to the ground with a thud: "Then what makes you say I'm the murderer?"
Jiang Xia: "Although we didn't find it, we know your modus operandi - the thing you used to light the fire was quicklime, just like what you used when you 'accidentally' encountered other fire scenes before."
“?!”
The staff members were all shocked when they heard this: Could it be that this reporter who just won a big award for capturing fire photos is actually a habitual arsonist? !
The huge news that suddenly hit them on the head made them confused and excited, and their busy hands seemed to have increased in speed.
Unlike the turbulent backstage, Jiang Xia continued slowly in front of the camera: "The reaction of quicklime and water will produce calcium hydroxide, and release a lot of heat in the process. Under certain conditions, this temperature can even reach 200 to 300 degrees, which is enough to ignite some flammable objects.
"That's how you set a fire - you put quicklime in the sink of the deceased's house and then put wads of flammable newspaper on it. Then you just turn off the tap and let the water trickle into the quicklime, and a big fire will gradually build up.
“I remember that the day before the fire, at your award ceremony, the deceased Mr. Nakai threatened you with some white powder - now it seems that the powder was quicklime.
"He discovered your secret of always being lucky enough to encounter a fire scene, and wanted to use it as leverage, but you silenced him before he could succeed."
“…”
Everything was spot on.
Yanagisawa Ryuichi's heartbeat quickened: not long ago, he had secretly despised this detective for not living up to his reputation, but now, when the other party really showed his ability as a "crime killer"... he realized that compared to this, he seemed to prefer Jiang Xia to be an embroidered pillow with only fame but lack of strength.
...He would rather be stepped on by a fake genius with nothing but appearance than go to jail and eat prison food.
But now, it seems too late to regret.
"...Calm down, don't let him lead you by the nose!" After all, the reporter who was so bold as to create the fire scene himself was not an ordinary person. He took a deep breath and cheered up.
"It's an interesting guess." Yanase Ryuichi first clapped his hands in a pretentious manner, and then said, "But Mr. Detective, didn't you just say that the ignition device had been burned by the fire? - Have you ever thought that talking nonsense without any evidence may hurt some innocent people?"
These words were sharp, but they didn't seem to have any effect on the detective on the other side.
The high school student just smiled at him and waved his hand to the side.
The familiar scene reappeared, and the staff came running up again, handing over a few enlarged photos that looked like posters.
Jiang Xia gathered the photos together like a teacher organizing picture magazines and placed them where they were just now.
Yanase Ryuichi took a closer look and frowned in confusion: "Isn't this the photo I took of Mr. Nakai falling from the building? Why did you take it out?"
Jiang Xia took the pointer handed over by the staff and pointed to the background behind the right side of the reporter Nakamori: "Although it is not obvious, if you look carefully, it is not difficult to find that there is a mirror here."
The director quickly pushed up his glasses and looked at the photo, but even with his eyes almost popping out of his head, he couldn't find the mirror.
Jiang Xia seemed to have expected this scene. He uncovered the photo and revealed another one underneath: "This is the picture after it has been enlarged and processed."
"Oh!" Everyone nodded, "There is indeed a mirror!"
Jiang Xia looked at Yanase Ryuichi and said, "You are very good at using chemistry, but you don't seem to care much about some physical details. Unfortunately, from where you are taking the photo, the position and angle of the mirror just happens to reflect the pool in Mr. Nakai's house."
He pointed to the enlarged sink in the photo and said, "At this point in time, the metal kitchen counter has not been damaged to the point of being completely deformed. You can see that the faucet has been turned on a little."
"Oh." Yanase Ryuichi retorted, "What does that prove? Couldn't it be that Mr. Nakai forgot to turn off the water? - This has nothing to do with me."
Jiang Xia did not argue with him, but looked at his wrist instead: "I remember that at the award ceremony a few days ago, in addition to the trophy, you also received a gold watch as a souvenir."
"?!" Yanagisawa Ryuichi's heart skipped a beat and he subconsciously covered his empty wrist.
Jiang Xia reached out and uncovered the photo of the pool, revealing a further enlarged close-up underneath - a watch that was burnt completely, but many details could still be seen.
Jiang Xia: "I asked the organizer. What you received at the award ceremony was a specially customized gold watch that is unique in the world."
"On the night of the fire, you knocked Mr. Nakai unconscious and went to the kitchen to make an ignition device.
"The quicklime powder easily adheres to everything. In order to avoid dirtying the watch, you took it off and put it aside while you were working."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
