dmims Page 65
Page 65
"By the way, you two, don't you have to go to school today?" Matsuda asked Ran and Conan with a puzzled look. "Why are you always showing up at crime scenes?"
"School's closed today, so Conan and I came with Dad," Ran explained.
Damn, the students in the Conan world have it too easy.
They get holidays every day. But these police officers have to work every day! They rarely get a day off.
Indeed, not only is reincarnation a skill, but time travel is too.
Matsuda looked regretful.
"Officer Matsuda, how's the matter that Ms. Koshimizu asked you to investigate going?" Conan asked.
"I contacted the police headquarters in Shikoku, but unfortunately I couldn't get any information out of them. I'm planning to go to Shikoku in the next couple of days."
As Matsuda was speaking, his phone suddenly rang.
He took it out and saw that it was the email Yue Shui had replied to him.
She arranged a time and place to meet Matsuda in Shikoku.
"Well, Officer Matsuda, can I also..." Conan said shamelessly.
“No,” Matsuda shook his head decisively.
"Why?!" Conan asked, puzzled.
“I’m worried that if I take you there, there will be another murder at the police headquarters in Shikoku,” Matsuda replied. “We’re all police officers, after all, and I don’t want to see my colleagues over there suddenly encounter an accident.”
"Ha ha……"
Conan's cheek twitched. Did this guy really see him as the Grim Reaper?
……
In Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku, Matsuda arrived at the agreed-upon location.
Soon they met Yue Shui, who was dressed in the same androgynous style as last time.
Led by Yue Shui, the two first went to the Lavender Villa.
Kochi Prefecture is a mountainous region bordering the sea. As you travel along the winding mountain roads, the azure sea stretches out beside you.
Just as Matsuda's eyes had adjusted to the surrounding mountain and sea views, suddenly a vast expanse of lavender appeared before him.
The house surrounded by vast fields of lavender was their destination: the Lavender Villa.
This villa belongs to the wealthy Nagasone family of Shikoku. The person who died earlier was the eldest daughter of the Nagasone family, Nagasone Rakuko.
Because of the two murders that occurred in succession, the lavender villa has been abandoned by the Nagasawa family.
Although servants still come to clean regularly, no one lives there anymore.
Koshimizu expertly pointed out all the suspicious points in the case to Matsuda, including the reasoning of the unknown high school detective.
"This window was removed and then glued back on,"
Yue Shui pointed to the window of Zeng Lezi's bedroom on the first floor and said sadly,
"The detective used the removal of the window screws as evidence to accuse my friend of using this to create a locked room."
"But actually, judging from the degree of corrosion on the broken screws, it should be easy to tell that the date the window was modified and the date Miss Chang Zeng hanged herself don't match at all!"
"Where are the screws?" Matsuda asked while taking pictures with his camera. "And have you found out who removed the windows?"
The camera was something Matsuda bought specifically for this trip, to record evidence and to make it easier to confront that high school detective later.
"The screws were kept as evidence at the Kochi Prefectural Police Headquarters. The person who modified the window was a petty actor with a history of dishonesty. He modified the window that day to facilitate his future thefts."
“It will be very difficult to get him to admit to the crime he committed back then,” Yue Shui said helplessly. “More than half a year has passed, and I only found out from people close to him that he let it slip when he was drunk that he had once wanted to steal from here.”
“Such rumors, if he denies them, cannot be used as evidence in court.”
Chapter 79 The Loyal Butler
"Yes, it is indeed a bit troublesome." Matsuda nodded. "Then let's go find that butler first. Didn't you say he concealed the fact that Miss Nagasone was using drugs?"
Many of the banned drugs in Japan are actually narcotics, but they haven't been completely banned because they still have some medical uses.
“That guy is probably not easy to persuade.” Yue Shui rubbed his temples. “He is very loyal to the Nagasawa family. In order to protect Nagasawa Raku’s reputation, he didn’t tell the police anything.”
"By the way, how did you find out that their eldest daughter is a drug addict?" Matsuda asked.
Yue Shui explained, "I investigated Chang Zeng Lezi's friends, and I found out about her drug use from them. However, they are all from wealthy families, so it might not be easy to get them to testify."
"Let's go find the housekeeper first and get him to admit that Nagasone Rakuko committed suicide. That way, we'll be more proactive when we get to the police station," Matsuda suggested.
However, before going to find the villa's butler, Renzo Kotani,
Matsuda and Koshimizu made a special trip to the place where Kana Mizuguchi jumped into the sea.
Yue Shui placed the prepared bouquet on the edge of the cliff.
"Xiangnai, don't worry, I will definitely avenge you," Yue Shui swore in a low voice.
As soon as she finished speaking, a cold wind suddenly swept up from the cliff, carrying the bouquet that Yue Shui had put down into the sea.
"This..." Yue Shui was somewhat stunned.
“It seems your friend heard what you said,” Matsuda comforted him, “which is why he took advantage of the wind to accept the bouquet of flowers.”
"I hope so," Yue Shui clasped her hands together and prayed sincerely, "Kana, you must bless us to succeed..."
Matsuda, standing nearby, also looked somewhat serious; the chilling wind just now carried a heavy, eerie aura.
This is the same place where people from Yueshui jumped off the cliff. Let's hope nothing else happens here!
……
Since the Lavender Villa was abandoned, the former housekeeper, Renzo Koya, was dismissed by the Nagasone family out of anger.
According to Koshimizu's investigation, Renzo Kotani recently rented an apartment and is looking for a new job.
Matsuda packed up his camera, took the voice recorder, and went with Koshimizu to the apartment rented by Renzo Kotani.
As soon as he knocked on the door, Renzo Koya's expression changed immediately upon seeing Koshimizu.
He tried anxiously to close the door, but Matsuda blocked it with his hands and feet, making it impossible to close.
"Didn't I already tell you that I don't know anything?" Renzo Kotani said weakly.
"Mr. Kagaya, if we didn't have evidence, do you think we would have come here to find you?"
Matsuda first showed him his police handbook, then took out a voice recorder.
"This contains the confession of Nagasone Rakuko's friend. As far as we know, this Ms. Nagasone Rakuko has done a lot of other outrageous things besides taking banned drugs."
Yue Shui, who was standing to the side, was a little stunned. When did I ever use a voice recorder?
However, she was also very clever and immediately understood Matsuda's meaning, so she pretended to be indifferent and said...
"You might care about Miss Chang Zeng's reputation, but her friends won't."
“We just want to find out why she committed suicide,” Matsuda threatened with a sneer. “If you don’t say anything, we’ll send this recording pen to the newspapers and the TV stations.”
"At that time, Miss Chang Zeng will be embarrassed for more than just taking banned drugs."
"Why are you still pursuing this matter? Miss Rakuko is already dead..." Mr. Kagaya leaned against the wall with a pained expression.
"Nagazo Rakuko committed suicide, but what about the other girl, Mizuguchi Kana?"
"She was innocent, but because of your young lady's suicide, she was ultimately driven to jump into the sea!"
Matsuda said sternly, "Does only the reputation of the eldest daughter of the Nagasone family matter? Does the injustice suffered by the girl who was forced to her death not matter?"
After saying that, Matsuda gave Koshimizu a wink.
Although it was Koshimizu's first time partnering with Matsuda, she reacted very quickly, immediately showing a nostalgic expression and saying, "Kana mentioned Mr. Koya to me before. She said you are a very good person, very considerate of your subordinates, and made her very happy working at the Lavender Villa."
"Mr. Koya, Kana has always trusted you, but in the end, because of your concealment, she was forced to jump into the sea to prove her innocence!"
"But you only care about your young lady's reputation. Do you think that's fair to Xiangna, who trusts you?" Yue Shui's face was full of sadness.
The two men, one playing the good cop and the other the bad cop, quickly broke down Koya Renzo's psychological defenses.
“I didn’t mean to,” Renzo Koya said, his voice hoarse as he covered his face. “I just wanted to protect Ms. Rakuko’s reputation. I thought the police would investigate the matter thoroughly and that Kana would be fine. I really didn’t expect her to be so foolish!”
"So, you're certain that Nagasone Rakuko committed suicide?"
As Matsuda asked the question, he secretly turned on the recorder.
"Um,"
Lost in painful memories, the butler, Renzo Koya, didn't notice anything amiss. He spoke haltingly...
"In fact, Miss Lezi has been taking banned drugs for some time now, but she has been keeping it a secret from the master and madam."
"But as her dependence on banned drugs grew, the amount of money she spent on them each month also increased."
"Miss Lezi herself was also in great pain. She asked the doctor for help and tried to quit several times, but she failed each time."
"Miss Lezi knew in her heart that this was wrong, but she couldn't help herself every time she had a drug craving. As a result, she was always filled with pain and regret after taking banned drugs."
"I couldn't stand it anymore one time, so I threw all of Miss Lezi's banned drugs into the fire."
"Miss Lezi was furious about this. I've watched her grow up since she was a child, and this was the first time I'd ever seen her so angry."
"Later, after finding the banned drug elsewhere and taking it, Miss Lezi gradually regained her composure."
"She apologized to me, saying how much pain she was in every day, how much she regretted it, and how much she wanted to commit suicide."
"And not long after that, Miss Lezi really did hang herself."
"The moment I saw Miss Lezi's body, I knew for sure that she had ended her own life out of remorse for taking banned drugs."
Renzo Koya collapsed to the ground, uttering everything he knew in one breath.
These words had clearly been bottled up in his heart for a long time.
"I'm so sorry, Chanel. I really never imagined she would choose to commit suicide..."
As he spoke, Renzo Koya shed tears of regret.
"What about that doctor?" Matsuda pressed. "The one who helped Nagasone Rakuko overcome her drug addiction!"