Chapter 91

The police attached great importance to the clues provided by Xingchuan Heming. This could be said to be the biggest breakthrough in the case so far. It directly helped them to identify three people who had false confessions and behaved suspiciously.

Next, as long as we can find possible motives for murder or obvious clues from these three people, we can directly identify them as suspects.

Even Conan couldn't help but look at Xingchuan and Ming a few more times. Although he guessed that there was something wrong with these three people from their conversation at noon, he didn't have any strong evidence to support his point of view. Unexpectedly, Xingchuan and Ming just chatted with one of them for a while, and then combined with the distance between the three people's dormitory and the cafeteria, they easily solved the problem.

As expected, although this guy Xingchuan and Ming always like to play tricks on me, once something really happens, he is still very reliable as a teammate.

Due to the large number of people involved in the case, they had to go outside the dormitory. Soon, two other faculty members who were suspected of providing false testimony were also brought in.

The two had already learned from the police that their lies had been exposed, so since they were called by the police, although they were still pretending to be strong, they had been feeling weak in their hearts.

When he saw the ferocious look on Shinichi Kitajima's face standing next to him, his uneasiness increased.

However, when everyone saw the three of them appear at the same time, whether they were the police and detectives who had just arrived here today, or the teachers and children in the welfare home, they all felt a very strong sense of violation.

Everyone present knew that the original economic conditions of this welfare home were not good. Correspondingly, the salary level of the teachers and staff here was also relatively low.

However, the three of them are ordinary faculty members here. Ms. Arimori is dressed very luxuriously and fashionably, and Kogoro Mori was very attentive to her when they first met.

Mr. Inoue's suits are also very expensive. Even the children in the welfare home know that he likes to dress up.

Even Shinichi Kitajima, who looked the youngest, was wearing high-end clothes that he would never buy at his age, and he even had a high-end watch from a well-known brand on his wrist.

Normally, dressing like this may just be their personal habit. In addition, society generally attaches great importance to other people's privacy, so people in the welfare home have long been accustomed to their style.

But when they gathered together like this, it suddenly became particularly conspicuous and awkward.

A trace of doubt inevitably arose in people's minds: Are these three people really teachers in this financially distressed welfare home, rather than middle-level leaders of some well-known company?

Before, these three people were mixed in with the entire teaching staff, and this feeling was not obvious. If Xingchuan and Ming had not caught the broken thread and linked the three people together, I am afraid no one would care about this slight discord. But when they gathered together, coupled with the fact that they all provided false testimony, the suspicion on the three people instantly increased.

Xingchuan and Ming's gaze swept across the three people, then retracted it with disinterest, and just curled the corners of their mouths sarcastically.

Then he heard a familiar "Ah-le-le!" from the crowd.

Xingchuan and Ming's faces froze, and they began to rub the goose bumps that suddenly appeared on their arms.

Conan appeared out of nowhere and pointed at the three people standing side by side.

"It's so strange! In the collection room this morning, Arimori-san was yawning the whole time. Just now in the old tree forest, Kitajima-sensei was also yawning the whole time. Now even Inoue-sensei looks tired, with dark circles under his eyes!"

Inoue was shocked and immediately retorted:

"Don't talk nonsense. I don't have any dark circles under my eyes."

As he spoke, his fingers unconsciously reached out to the area where his eye bags were and began to grope around.

Kogoro Mouri thought Conan was causing trouble again, so he angrily walked up the mountain and picked him up.

"You little brat! Didn't I tell you not to disturb the police?"

Having said that, he made a gesture to throw the difficulty away again.

Conan was roughly lifted up in the air by Maori Kogoro. He waved his arms in panic and protested loudly, but Hagiwara Kenji stepped forward in time to stop Maori Kogoro's actions and said soothingly:

"Don't scare the kids, Mori-senpai. Conan is absolutely right."

He looked at Inoue and the others and said in a familiar tone as if it was a matter of course:

"It's obvious, all three of them put on makeup. But maybe the two men didn't use it skillfully enough, and their concealer had already faded. If you look closely, you can still see the dark circles under their eyes."

"Eh? Is that so?"

Maori Kogoro was too busy teaching Conan a lesson. He came up to the three men with a fierce look on his face. Seeing that they all looked uncomfortable, he suddenly changed his attitude and shouted:

"I know! You must have discussed the plan in this room last night and conspired to kill Mr. Sakai, which caused you to stay up all night, and that's why you have dark circles under your eyes today!"

After he yelled at them like that, the slight discomfort felt by the three of them immediately turned into fear and confusion.

When the students and other teachers who were watching on the side heard Kogoro Mori's guess, they looked at the three people in disbelief and started talking about it for a while.

When Ms. Arimori heard the discussion, her temper suddenly changed and she yelled back at Kogoro Mori:

"What nonsense are you talking about! Even if we were here, we can't just say that we killed the person? Couldn't we have been working overtime here?"

"What? Overtime?"

Kogoro Mori was so shocked that his eyes widened, and the others were choked by this assumption and were speechless for a moment.

Date Kou took several brand new account books from the Forensic Division police officer who had searched Kitajima's room and asked Ms. Arimori:

"You worked overtime all night, just for this?"

Ms. Arimori immediately stopped talking and stared closely at the account book in Date Kou's hand, her eyes full of wariness.

It was Inoue-sensei who broke the tense atmosphere between the two with a light cough and changed the subject:

"The overtime issue is an internal matter of our welfare home. It should have nothing to do with this case, right? We did lie about our whereabouts yesterday and worked overtime together all night. But this also proves that we didn't have the time to commit the crime, right? So, it's impossible that we killed the person. There's no need for this officer to keep harping on the overtime issue."

At this time, Maori Kogoro suddenly asked:

"Wait! What time did you guys start getting together yesterday?"

"Well, it should be after 8:30, almost 9 o'clock."

Inoue stroked his chin and recalled:

"I remember that at eight o'clock, the vice president was looking for help everywhere, trying to prepare the welcoming props that would be used the next day. I also went to help at that time, and was busy for about half an hour. Not long after I came back, I received a call from Beidao, inviting me and Yousen to work overtime at his place overnight. As you know, it's hard to refuse an invitation from a friend."

After hearing this, many people at the scene showed a puzzled expression. Some friends make an appointment to play mahjong all night, and some friends make an appointment to watch movies all night, but which friend would make an appointment to work overtime all night? Are they really friends, rather than poor office workers who are exploited by their bosses?

However, everyone looked at Kitajima Shinichi, who was said to have taken the initiative to invite people. It was obvious that he had only been working for a few years and could not possibly be a boss. Then they looked at Inoue and Arimori, who were obviously seniors. How could they be manipulated by a young man like Kitajima?

Could it be that these people are really just friends making an appointment to work overtime?

This is so scary! How can there be such a heartbroken friend?

The author has something to say:

Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2022-08-28 12:52:57~2022-08-28 17:24:32~

Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: 20 bottles of "Yu Yu Bu Xiao Ugly Fish" and 1 bottle of "Candy Girl";

Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!