Using his superpower Scene Rewind to quickly review what had happened, Kurosawa Hoshino understood the situation. "Let's go in."
After saying that, he took Ran's hand, spoke to the people in front of him, and successfully squeezed into the empty warehouse.
Inside were four people and a corpse. Three of the four were Kogorō Mouri and his companions. The extra person—like the corpse on the ground—was the doctor on duty at the hospital that night.
After entering the room, Kurosawa also used his superpower to review what had happened at the scene. He glanced slightly at the doctor, because in his "rewind" scene, this man was the murderer.
"Dad, how is it?" Ran came to her father's side and asked in a low voice.
"I don't know. The person was already dead when we arrived," Kogorō said with a serious expression.
"Doctor." Sato Miwako stopped examining the body on the ground, took out her police ID, and asked the doctor who had discovered the body with them, "I'm Detective Sato Miwako from the Metropolitan Police Department. May I ask your name? And what is his name?"—"him" referring to the corpse.
"Officer Sato, hello. My name is Shirai Mitsuo, and his name is Eto Tori." Shirai looked at the corpse, his face filled with shock and confusion. "We were both on-call doctors tonight. Dr. Eto was perfectly fine before, but suddenly—sigh. Officer Sato, please, you must catch the murderer." By the end, Shirai's body was trembling slightly, seemingly overwhelmed by anger and grief at his colleague's death.
Sato nodded, then looked at Kurosawa and asked, "Hoshino, do you have any leads?"
Hearing this, Shirai couldn't help but look at Kurosawa. When he saw the man's face clearly, his pupils constricted sharply. His body trembled, and cold sweat instantly beaded on his forehead. To avoid showing any abnormality, he forcibly suppressed his trembling and tried his best to appear normal.
"Kurosawa Hoshino?" At that moment, someone in the crowd outside recognized him and exclaimed excitedly, "He's currently the strongest high school detective in Tokyo! I heard he solves cases incredibly fast!"
"Really? Is that Kurosawa Hoshino?"
"Yes, I've seen his picture. It's him."
"Wow, hurry up and record it with your phones! Kurosawa-kun should be solving the case soon!"
Instantly, the area outside the room became noisy. People with phones pulled them out, either recording or taking pictures. If it weren't for the corpse inside, this group would probably have rushed in for autographs and photos.
Conan and Kogorō frowned. In such a noisy environment, they couldn't concentrate on finding clues at all. It was incredibly annoying.
Kurosawa put a finger to his lips and nodded to the crowd outside.
Instantly, as if a pause button had been pressed, the noise disappeared. They all looked at him with flushed faces and great anticipation.
Kurosawa lowered his hand, looked away, and asked, "Uncle Mouri, did you arrive first, or did Dr. Shirai arrive first?"
"We arrived first," Kogorō replied. "Shortly after we came in, Dr. Shirai appeared at the door and exclaimed. I remember it very clearly."
Kurosawa nodded and looked at Shirai. "Dr. Shirai, where were you at the time? Did you also see what happened here and rush over immediately?"
"Yes." Shirai said in a low voice. "I was at my office window and saw the shadow on this window, so I rushed over immediately."
"Can anyone confirm you were in the office at the time?"
Hearing this, Shirai's heart skipped a beat. A sense of panic washed over him. He knew he couldn't let things continue like this. He had to take the initiative—not let Kurosawa lead him by the nose. Feigning anger, he said, "Kurosawa-kun, do you suspect I'm the murderer? If I were, your Uncle Mouri would have seen me at the scene. If I had killed someone and fled, they would have encountered me on their way here. How can you suspect me? Is this how you claim to be the fastest at solving cases? Randomly accusing others of murder?"
Kurosawa picked at his ear and said calmly, "Dr. Shirai, you're overreacting. If you can answer my questions, you'll clear yourself of suspicion. So why are you so agitated? Are you afraid of my questions?"
Oh no! Shirai thought to himself, feeling extremely annoyed. He realized he had panicked in front of Kurosawa and done something foolish. He should have remained calm. Instead, he had become agitated, making himself even more suspicious.
Shirai took a deep breath and apologized, "I'm sorry, Kurosawa-kun. I've never encountered anything like this before. My actions just now were a bit excessive. I'm sorry. I'm very sorry."
This guy is the murderer? Unlike the onlookers, Kogorō and the others were staring intently at Shirai. After all, Kurosawa had solved so many cases, and his suspects had never been wrong. This trust was built through countless real interactions. They would never doubt it.
Sato quietly moved to a spot just outside the door. This position was perfect—if Shirai tried to escape, she could immediately block him or close the door.
Kurosawa said, "Dr. Shirai, could you tell me if anyone could confirm you were in your office before the incident?"
"Yes." Shirai glanced at the crowd outside the door and said to a nurse, "Kazumi, could you please tell them about the coffee you brought to my office earlier?"
Nakayama Kazumi blushed, hurriedly put her recording phone back in her pocket, and walked in shyly. But seeing the corpse on the floor, she temporarily suppressed her other emotions, revealing a hint of sadness. "Kurosawa-kun, hello. My name is Nakayama Kazumi. A few minutes before the incident, I did deliver coffee to Dr. Shirai, and we had a conversation. However, I didn't see him. He was busy in the inner room and asked me to put the coffee on the table outside before leaving."
"Dr. Shirai, what do you say?" Kurosawa asked.
Shirai breathed a sigh of relief, a confident smile spreading across his face. "Kurosawa-kun, I was on the phone with an anonymous patient. He asked me some questions—I don't know who he is—but there are call records in my office."
"Are you sure you were in your office?"
"Yes."
"You didn't lie?"
"Yes."
"And if you did lie?"
"Haha, Kurosawa-kun, if I lied, I'd be the murderer. After all, if I lied, there must be something I'm hiding."
"Is that so? Then could you take out your phone and let us see your call records?"
As soon as Kurosawa finished speaking, Shirai's smile vanished. He stared at him in horror, not understanding how he knew.