Chapter 13

I was treated as a suspect again. What kind of luck is this!

Although he complained in his heart, Xingchuan and Ming were not surprised by this. On the bright side, maybe this is what he must face as the protagonist of a new comic series? Didn't you see that Conan in the original book also had a case in each episode, and his cute smile would lead to corpses everywhere? In comparison, his situation was still good.

The suspect couldn't leave at will, so Xingchuan and Ming simply found a chair and sat at the crime scene to watch the police and detectives busy themselves.

"The deceased, Yuko Kobayashi, was a female pastry chef at a nearby dessert shop. She died of mechanical asphyxiation caused by being strangled. Preliminary estimates put her death at about 12:00 to 2:00 this afternoon. No murder weapon was found at the scene, but based on the strangulation marks, it was determined to be a thin, long rope. At 2:30 this afternoon, her neighbor, Kyoko Ichikawa, came to her room at the agreed time and found her lying on the ground while she was trying to help water the potted plants. She was wearing heavy makeup, and there were obvious cosmetic residues near the strangulation marks on her neck, which should have been caused by a struggle before death."

"According to the suspect's confession, the next-door residents, Hoshikawa and Akira, were alone at home before 1 a.m., and the opposite resident, Ichikawa Kyoko, was at home the entire time. Neither of them has an alibi. The opposite resident, Kimura Katsu, claimed that he had been staying in the room since 1 a.m. and talking on the phone with a colleague, and had not gone out. That colleague has testified that they had been talking about the new product premiere that was to be held at the department store opposite tonight, and that no women's cries for help or struggles were heard during that time."

Inspector Megure looked at Maori and his group with a look of sagery, and said meaningfully: "Brother Maori, you arrived at this apartment at 2 pm, which means that you arrived here right after the victim was killed. What do you think about this?"

"Huh? What do you mean, Officer Megure? Are you trying to say that we were the ones who killed that person? Stop joking!" Kogoro Mouri retorted loudly in dissatisfaction, with a long face.

One of the suspects, Kyoko Ichikawa, said hesitantly, "Excuse me, but I think Yuko was still alive at one o'clock. She called me at that time and told me that she had to work overtime and would not go to the date that night. She also left me the key to her room and asked me to go to her room at 2:30 to water her potted plants for her."

Her face was painted with delicate makeup, and even though she hadn't left the house yet, her clothes and jewelry were still appropriate. But now she had a sad look on her face, looking very pitiful.

"What? You are going on a date? But you two are women!" Everyone looked at her, stunned by this sudden news.

"What are you thinking about? We agreed to buy new skin care products together." Ichikawa Kyoko's expression froze. Her face, which was sad a moment ago, immediately darkened and her tone became impatient: "Anyway, I have been staying in the house all this time and have not gone out. Besides, Kobayashi Yuko and I have a good relationship. It is impossible for me to kill her. Instead of suspecting me, you might as well suspect that Kimura. They have been arguing all the time."

Another suspect, Kimura Masaru, quickly defended himself: "Don't talk nonsense. Yuko and I were just bickering between lovers. How can it be considered a quarrel?"

He has a plain appearance, and his clothes are sloppy and casual, with some unnoticeable yellow dirt on his trousers and hems. At first glance, it is hard to imagine that such a person would be the boyfriend of Kobayashi Yuko, who cares so much about her image.

Yi Dahang was a little surprised when he heard this, and raised his eyebrows and looked over: "Since you and the deceased were in a relationship, how could you keep arguing with each other?"

Kimura felt a little uncomfortable with the question and was about to make a provocative remark, but when he saw Date Kou's sturdy figure, he suddenly became silent. He lowered his head and answered honestly: "We have been together for a while, but Yuko has always disagreed with marriage, and we have been arguing about this recently."

Date Kou was obviously disgusted by Kimura's words, his eyebrows were furrowed, but he didn't say anything because of the situation. He just suddenly asked a seemingly irrelevant question:

"The deceased was a pastry chef by profession. Does he normally wear such heavy makeup?"

Hearing this question, Conan Edogawa and Kazuaki Hoshikawa nodded in their hearts at the same time. As expected, he hit the nail on the head as soon as he opened his mouth. It seems that he is also a veteran in handling cases.

Kimura didn't realize the purpose of Date Kou's question, and answered in confusion: "Ah, no, if she's at work, she always wears light makeup."

Then he gritted his teeth, looked up with a sly look, and added: "One more thing, Yuko has been very interested in Xingchuan who lives across the street recently, so I think he might have killed Yuko."

Xingchuan Heming didn't expect that he was just watching the show obediently this time, but he was hit by a black pot falling from the sky again. He was so angry that he could hardly maintain his professional smile.

I am not a murderer, why would I kill someone just because someone is interested in me? And once this kind of love triangle is involved, my image in the forum will definitely be greatly affected, so I quickly explained:

"I've only bought Japanese confectionery from the dessert shop where she works a few times. I'm not familiar with your girlfriend at all. Don't make such nonsense."

After he finished speaking, he thought to himself, "Oh no! How come my explanation makes me look even more suspicious?" No, I have to change the subject quickly.

His face, which was already pale due to weakness, looked even more fragile. He turned to look at Mao Lilan for confirmation:

"I visited Mr. Mori at 1 p.m., and according to Ms. Ichikawa, the victim was not dead at that time, so it is impossible for me to kill anyone. Mr. Mori, you can testify for me, right?"

Mao Lilan immediately replied: "Of course, my father and I can testify that when the crime happened, Senior Hoshikawa was a guest at the office, so he could not be the murderer."

She looked at the pale faces of Xingchuan and Ming, and became more and more worried. She couldn't help but suggest, "Officer Megure, the senior is seriously ill and is still recuperating. If he is confirmed to be innocent, can we let him rest first?"

However, before Inspector Megure could say anything, Conan ran over and stood in front of Ran Mouri, looking at Hoshikawa and Akira with a vigilant look on his face, but he said coquettishly: "Don't worry, Ran, brother Hoshikawa just didn't have lunch, so he's hungry."

Mao Lilan also responded: "Oh, by the way, Senior Hoshikawa thought the food was poisoned, so he didn't even eat lunch and ran to ask dad to investigate the situation."

"Poisoned?" Everyone cried out in surprise. Ida Kou, who was already concerned about the situation of Xingchuan and Ming, stepped forward and asked, "Xingchuan, are you poisoned?"

Xingchuan Heming was nervous. He must not let anyone know that he had been poisoned, whether it was the police in front of him or the readers in the forum. He quickly repeated his previously fabricated excuse to everyone, and in order to divert attention, he also told Date Kou:

"After we arrived, we found signs of prying on the door lock. It looked new, and we didn't know if it was done by the same person. Also, the laptop was opened for unknown reasons, and when I wanted to check it, it suddenly malfunctioned and shut down."

As expected, Date Kou turned around to check the door lock and food, and asked his colleagues to move the computer that might have problems to check. Maori Kogoro, who had been ready for action, suddenly had an idea and said loudly:

"The result is obvious. The victim died after 13:00, and Hoshikawa and Akira were already out at that time. Kimura Katsu was on the phone with his colleagues and couldn't have killed anyone, so the murderer could only be Ms. Ichikawa."

"You're talking nonsense! I didn't kill anyone!" Kyoko Ichikawa shouted at Kogoro Mori angrily.

Hoshikawa Kazuaki also frowned when he heard this. According to his analysis, the murderer should not be Ms. Ichikawa. However, he did not need to rush this time, so he did not participate in the investigation, and naturally did not know the real situation. And since Conan Edogawa was present, the case would definitely be solved, so he might as well take a break and browse the forum.

When he opened the comic book, Date Kou happened to pass by him. Hoshikawa and Akira unexpectedly found that the labels of the other three copies that had not yet been opened flashed twice when Date Kou approached. This surprised Hoshikawa and Akira. Even if Date Kou was the target of the mission of copy 1, shouldn't the copy 1 corresponding to him resonate? Why did the other copies react instead?

Hoshikawa Kazuaki stared at the comic book and fell into deep thought.

Conan had recovered from his anxiety about his girlfriend being cheated. He ran to the good-natured Officer Takagi and naively guided him:

"That's so strange. Why did all the potted plants next to the air conditioner suddenly wither? Could plants also get heatstroke?"

As expected, the attentive Takagi Wataru noticed the anomaly, and after confirming it, he turned around and said to Date Kou who was walking over:

"That's true. It seems the deceased was not very good at taking care of plants."

Conan was a little anxious when he saw that Takagi didn't understand his hint, but then he saw Ida Kou coming over and just looked at the condition of the potted plants. Suddenly his expression changed and he immediately reached out to touch the air conditioner nearby.

Conan felt relieved, so he looked at Date Kou with curiosity. He heard that Officer Date often led a team to catch fugitives, and he had not had much contact with him before. He did not expect that he not only had high fighting power, but also had a strong reaction ability. He was indeed as reliable as Officer Takagi said.

At this time, Inspector Megure was about to arrange for someone to take Ichikawa Kyoko back for questioning, but Date Kou suddenly stopped him and said in a deep voice:

"Wait a minute, Officer Megure, things may not be that simple. If I am not mistaken, the time of death we estimated before should have been misled by the murderer."

"What? Ida, are you sure?" Inspector Megure looked over in disbelief, but saw Ida Kou smiling confidently, pointing at the air conditioner in the corpse room and saying:

"The air conditioner's engine is still hot, obviously it has just been used. The potted plants nearby have withered. I heard from Natalie that this kind of plant is very sensitive to temperature changes and will wither quickly if the temperature is too high. Obviously, the air conditioner must have been turned on for quite a while before we came, and it was still in heating mode."

Takagi Wataru said thoughtfully: "The initial autopsy on the scene relies on the degree of temperature drop of the body from normal temperature to determine the time of death. If the temperature of the room is too high, it will indeed create the illusion of delayed death. So, does this mean that the actual time of death of the deceased is earlier?"

Mao Lilan asked curiously, "But when the deceased was found, we were the first to rush over. The air conditioner was not turned on at that time, and the temperature in the room was not particularly hot."

Ida Hang touched his chin and said, "Perhaps the murderer adjusted the air conditioner in time and turned it off when the time was right. But how did he do that?"