mtl008 Chapter 1290 A Very Uncivilized Murderer
Chapter 1290 A Very Uncivilized Murderer
Chapter 1290 A Very Uncivilized Murderer
Not daring to retort to Tang Ze's unfriendly attitude, Atsuo Tadada could only turn back and unleash his anger on Riko Mizobata again.
"Don't act like a victim's family member and criticize others. You have the nerve to talk to me? Is he your boyfriend? Didn't you break up a long time ago? Oh, you still have the mood to go for a drive together after breaking up? I certainly don't have that kind of leisure time."
"you----!"
Hattori Heiji picked at his ear, impatient with their continued accusations, and looked at Shimitori Taishi, who was standing silently to the side: "He was the one flashing his high beams, and you were the one honking, right?"
"Uh, it was indeed me." Shimotori Taishi did not deny it and answered straightforwardly, "Mr. Kojo Gunpei swore to me at my son's funeral that he was indeed sorry for it and would quit the biker gang. When I saw the two of them chasing each other on the road again, I felt that he had gotten involved with those people again and did not take his oath seriously, which made me very unhappy."
"Excuse me, but who is your son?"
"Yes, he died in an accident during a match against Kojo Gunpei."
Takagi Wataru, who was taking notes, paused, not daring to ask any further questions.
"In short, we've now figured out the relationship between these three and the deceased." Sato Miwako nodded without offering any further explanation, then turned and winked at Takagi Wataru.
Takagi Wataru understood and put away his pen and paper, then looked at Kogoro Mouri: "Mr. Mouri, Officer Sato will go and wait for the forensic team to collect evidence at the scene of the death. Please wait here with me and these three relevant personnel for a moment."
We need to check the scene before the suspect arrives and verify the details and clues provided by the detectives.
The tollbooth blockade has been lifted, and warning signs have been put up at the scene. Now that they are going back to the scene, they can only walk there.
As Hattori Heiji walked along the edge, he pondered the situation.
As he walked, he saw Akechi Goro following closely behind Tang Ze, and suddenly felt that the scene was very subtle.
Goro Akechi has personally confessed to Kudo his identity as a codenamed member of the organization. Regardless of his true intentions, he has a close relationship with the organization.
As for Tang Ze, Kudo is now questioning the true nature of his relationship with Joker, even suspecting that Tang Ze and Joker might actually be the same person.
These two people, who seemed destined to never get along, are now acting like bodyguards following behind the latter.
Do they know each other's situation, and what are they really thinking?
Out of curiosity, he leaned closer to Akechi Goro and whispered, "Why didn't you let Tang Ze wait at the tollbooth with them?"
Hoshikawa Teru, who had been completely lost in thought and automatically following along, was almost startled by his sudden voice. He turned to look at him, his tone not very friendly: "What, are you worried that he'll be scared by the scene? You're overthinking it."
It's just a strangled corpse, what's the big deal? Tang Ze wouldn't be scared of that, would he? You should really see what Tang Ze's finished Thomas Sindora looks like!
"No, it's mainly because he's not a detective—" Hattori Heiji, who was actually observing their state, continued to make conversation.
He looks very relaxed, much more relaxed than usual when I've seen Goro Akechi. His good relationship with Karasawa doesn't seem to be just an excuse.
"His reasoning skills aren't bad either." Hoshikawa Teru looked at him strangely. "Is there anything you can't let Tang Ze know?"
Ultimately, the core of this detective identity is Tang Ze himself. Without Tang Ze, he might not be able to continue acting. If not Tang Ze, then who should go?
Just as Hattori Heiji was about to speak, he saw Tang Ze, who had already heard their commotion, turn his head and silently look at him. He changed the subject: "Aren't you always quick at solving cases, and even claimed that you can sometimes see clues just by observing suspects? After looking at these three suspects, what are your thoughts now? Anyway, it's just a preliminary conclusion, so it's okay if you're wrong—"
Hoshikawa Teru didn't think much of it, assuming that the famous Kansai detective was also indulging in a quiz, and casually replied, "My thoughts? I feel the murderer is probably that ex-girlfriend, the one named Mizobata Riko."
"Huh?" Hattori Heiji, who was just casually starting a conversation, was suddenly surprised. "You actually figured something out?"
'
"I didn't notice anything, but out of the three, she's the most likely," Hoshikawa Teru replied calmly. "Her car was parked too close."
Whether the method involves a trap or remote control, the murderer must have access to the victim's vehicle.
Compared to another racer who was not a rival, and the father of the deceased former team member, it seemed more likely that the ex-girlfriend would have access to the deceased's vehicle. Moreover, the two of them were acting together, making it easier for them to tamper with the vehicle.
"Yes, first of all, the method used this time couldn't have been done by the murderer himself, right?" Koshimizu Nana stepped forward and continued, "To cause the victim to suffocate, a quick strangulation wouldn't be enough; the strangulation would have to be maintained for two or three minutes. Let's assume the murderer really put the rope around the victim's neck and kept a stable parallel to another car on the highway to ensure strangulation? With that kind of skill, there's no need to consider such a complicated situation."
Therefore, it is most likely that the murderer made some arrangements to the victim's car, and Riko Mizobata's suspicion has suddenly increased dramatically.
"Thinking about it carefully, her attitude at the time was also very strange." Shinichi Kudo, thinking they were discussing the case, naturally joined the conversation. "She was a little further away from the victim's car than us, but the car stopped faster and more decisively than ours, rushing to the car window before everyone else—of course, it could also be because the other two suspects' cars hadn't been checked yet, but at the moment, suspecting her is indeed the most reasonable."
"No need to defend her." Tang Ze shrugged, ignoring Kudo Shinichi's stack of nail polish. "Our appearance was an accident. Taking such a risk to force the victim's car to stop might have been something even the killer hadn't anticipated. Now we have to consider the killer's original plan. What would have happened to the victim's car without us?"
"The driver died while driving at high speed, and the car went out of control. Isn't it obvious what would happen? It's a car accident." Hattori Heiji said, his lips curling downwards.
A vehicle suddenly encountering a problem on the highway is an extremely dangerous situation.
Putting aside everything else, the fact that the deceased's car was spotted as soon as it slowed down and then stopped in the emergency lane with a high-difficulty maneuver is a low-probability event. If it were an ordinary driver with poor driving skills and poor reaction ability, it could have been a tragic chain-reaction accident.
It's easy to imagine how horrific the scene could be caused by a car traveling at over 100 miles per hour. This murderer not only killed the victim but also threatened public transportation safety, which is extremely heinous.
"According to the killer's original plan, all the evidence that would expose him would have been destroyed in the car accident. Thinking about it that way, doesn't Ms. Mizobata Riko's panicked actions have another explanation?" Tang Ze pointed to the row of cars parked in front.
The forensic police, who had been notified, had arrived and were parked far behind the car that Kogoro Mouri had rented. They, along with Kogoro Mouri himself, were already standing in front of the vehicle taking photos as evidence.
"That means she wasn't confirming the deceased's condition; she was probably destroying evidence," Hattori Heiji agreed. "Kudo, the detail we discovered, the information that could connect it to the case, might have been disposed of by her at that moment."
After guarding the suspect for a while, Kogoro Mouri, who had come with the police, was pointing out the car window and discussing something with the officers.
"When we saw this car on the road, the window was already like this. The few of us only touched the deceased's body to check for basic vital signs; we didn't touch the vehicle or the scene unnecessarily, so as not to interfere with the investigation," he said. "At the time, it felt very strange. Would someone really leave their car window open like that on the highway?"
When driving at 60 or 70 mph, opening the window halfway is enough to make it impossible for the person sitting by the window to open their eyes. Opening the window all the way down is like driving against a storm. The airflow compressed by the window is even more exciting than that of a convertible sports car.
"The ashtray is full of cigarette butts. Could it be from someone smoking?" Sato Miwako pointed to the center console. "Don't we often see people like that, smoking while driving, and carelessly flicking ash with the window open—"
"That's under normal driving conditions in the city." Kogoro Mouri shook his head decisively. "Smoking at this speed means the windows can only be opened a little bit; any more and it will affect driving."
"How much is one point?" Hattori Heiji, who had absolutely no experience with smoking, asked.
"That's about it."
Upon hearing this, Tang Ze, who was pondering the car door, took out a handkerchief, pinched the door handle, opened the car door, and then pressed the window control button to push the window up.
When the distance was about five centimeters from the maximum, Tang Ze let go and gestured a couple of times.
"—You're quite experienced, aren't you?" Kogoro Mouri couldn't help but glance at him sideways.
It certainly meets the requirement of the amount of cigarettes smoked in the ashtray, which is not a judgment that a non-smoker could make so quickly.
"It's just a deduction, nothing more," Tang Ze waved his hand.
Hattori Heiji's attention wasn't on Karasawa, but rather he looked down and examined the edge of the car window.
When they inspected the car, they noticed that there were small scratches on the edge of the window, as if they had been caused by something like a rope.
Now that the car window is rolled up, the meaning of those two holes changes again.
"Your deduction is quite accurate." Shinichi Kudo leaned over and looked for a while, then reached out and pushed the window up button again.
The windowpane slowly peeked out another two centimeters, and two tiny holes appeared below, almost right next to the height Tang Ze had just pushed it to.
"Oh, I see." Koshimizu Nanatsuki nodded in understanding. "Let me take a look at this car window."
As she spoke, she also took out a handkerchief and pressed another down button.
This time, without needing to press continuously, the car window rolled down automatically.
"It's designed to automatically descend to the bottom, huh?" Hattori Heiji clicked his tongue. "That's a pretty crude method."
This design is found in many vehicles. Simply put, if the driver doesn't have precise control when the vehicle is going up, there is a risk of it being caught in the air in a fully automatic situation, which could pose a safety hazard. However, there is no such concern when the vehicle is going down.
The murderer took advantage of this point, and it was not difficult at all to complete this mechanism.
The only problem is————
"Judging from this, the deceased might have done it intentionally." Koshimizu Nana straightened up, thoughtfully nodding her chin. "Should we consider this suicide?"
Given that the deceased was a highly experienced racer, even capable of racing on mountain roads, it was impossible for him not to notice such a basic thing.
In this situation, the person still died; it's hard to say that he wasn't deliberately trying to kill himself.
"Whether it can be considered suicide is hard to say, but it's certain that he knew the murderer's plan and still cooperated with the murderer." Shinichi Kudo affirmed Nanako Koshimizu's statement.
The method wasn't complicated. The murderer probably knew the victim's smoking habits and how big the window would be. Like Tang Ze just did, the murderer chose to drill two small holes along the edge of the glass near the open window, and then threaded the murder weapon, the rope, through the holes and through the metal post connecting the neck pillow to the car seat, and fixed it around the victim's neck.
Riko Mizobata previously stated that the deceased felt tired and took a nap at the service area, sleeping for an hour. This means he sat in that spot for an hour, head down, sleeping, which is the most likely time for the crime to occur.
Even the most oblivious person wouldn't wake up without realizing there's a noose around their neck; that would be incredibly careless. The most likely explanation is that the murderer wrapped it around the victim's tie.
Given that the cord must be able to retract into the window gap along with the movement of the car window glass, the answer becomes obvious.
"Fishing line," Tang Ze blurted out, answering with this all-purpose tool.
"Yes. Since this thing wasn't at the scene, it's most likely in the car of Ms. Mizobata Riko, the first person to approach the scene." Shinichi Kudo confirmed confidently. "From the time we checked until the police arrived, no one else should have approached the scene except for Ms. Mizobata."
"That can't be called suicide, can it? It's not like the deceased tied the string to their head themselves," Kogoro Mouri said, speechless.
The murderer's intent to kill is very clear. The judgment of whether the victim subjectively wanted to die is left for the lawyer to win sympathy points from the judge, and has nothing to do with the detectives.
"Even if it's a fishing line, the deceased couldn't possibly not feel it," Hattori Heiji said, unceremoniously grabbing Kogoro Mouri's tie under his shirt collar. "Driving isn't like sitting upright. The deceased was smoking. Even a fishing line that's not taut will feel a pull. He would have noticed it immediately if he had moved even slightly."
"Well, we probably won't know what the deceased was thinking," said Koshimizu Nanagi, uttering a pointless remark.
"Now we can only ask the murderer himself why he did this," Tang Ze said, and immediately started dialing Takagi Wataru at the tollbooth.
It wasn't a particularly troublesome little incident, so it's understandable that it was resolved quickly.
The deceased had a history of violence and bravado, and he probably foresaw that he would die because of this feud. The murderer's intent to kill may have been just a catalyst, and his desire to die was indeed the main reason for his death.
But then again, the murderer who strangled the driver on the highway must be so rude that he should sit at the same table as those who use high beams.
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