Crouching in front of the corpse, Ritsu began examining the victim's cause of death.
He pulled out a face mask and handed it to Shinichi, who had been rubbing his nose nonstop. The stench of decomposition was pretty overwhelming, this was probably the boy's first time encountering a body that had been dead for an extended period.
"Put this on."
"Thanks."
Ritsu crouched behind the victim and began inspecting her clothing. She was wearing a lemon-yellow Pikachu T-shirt, and two things immediately struck him as odd.
First, the clothes clearly didn't fit the victim's build, they were at least two sizes too large. Second, there were traces of blood on the back of the shirt, yet the fabric itself was completely undamaged, which made no sense.
Using a small pair of scissors borrowed from the forensics division, he cut open part of the fabric on the victim's back. The horrifying wound underneath made him pause in surprise. He had assumed it would be a knife wound but it turned out to be a gunshot wound.
"Kudo-kun, check whether there are wounds on the chest."
"Got it."
Because rigor mortis had already set in, forcing the body open was difficult. Shinichi bent down as far as he could and cut open the clothing around the chest area. He quickly spotted penetrating gunshot wounds and called out,
"There are. Gunshot wounds."
"How many?"
"Two."
That matched up.
Ritsu was extremely familiar with firearms. In his mind, he reconstructed the killer's posture during the shooting. Judging from the position of the wounds on both sides, he could estimate the killer's height.
"The killer is between 175 and 180 centimeters tall."
Ritsu stood up and inspected the trunk. Aside from bloodstains, there were no bullet holes or signs of struggle. Frowning slightly, he said,
"So this wasn't the primary crime scene. The killer just dumped the body in the trunk… which means the car probably belonged to the victim herself."
"Committing murder in a residential area is already risky, let alone firing a gun," Shinichi said while checking the body for additional clues. "I think the murder most likely took place in a more remote suburban area."
Then he added, "Inspector, there are a lot of defensive wounds on the victim's arms. Looks like she put up a fierce struggle."
If she had struggled violently, then traces of the killer's tissue should have remained under her fingernails!
Ritsu immediately hurried over and crouched beside Shinichi. Looking at Yositaka's fingernails, he discovered that all ten nails had been completely removed. The method was exceptionally cruel but he could tell the injuries had been inflicted after her death, not before.
The killer had clearly done it to eliminate any human tissue that might have remained beneath the nails. Ritsu stared at the victim's shaved head and realized it was probably done for the same reason as well.
What a cunning and cautious killer.
Shinichi also hadn't expected the murderer to be this meticulous. Capturing the culprit was going to be difficult. He scratched behind his ear, feeling stumped.
Thinking back over all these years, the only case he had truly solved entirely on his own was the Valentine's Day murder case a few months ago. And even then, it was only because he had personally witnessed a few subtle details at the scene.
Otherwise… he probably wouldn't have solved it faster than Ritsu standing before him.
Lacking investigative experience, Shinichi recalled how, back in middle school, he had relied heavily on hints from his father to crack cases. He hesitated, wondering if he should call his father for advice.
And then, a phone rang.
Ritsu looked down and saw that the call was from Takagi. It seemed the investigation had turned up something new.
"Hello, this is Onizawa."
"Inspector, I checked the surveillance footage from the victim's workplace. The victim left the factory at 10 PM last night, so she was likely killed sometime after that."
After hearing Takagi's report, Ritsu already had his answer. His deduction regarding the time of death had been correct. Now the next step was to see whether Hayasaka had uncovered anything useful.
"Got it. Come back."
"Yes, sir!"
Right after hanging up, they heard the sound of heels striking the ground.
"Inspector, I finished questioning all the residents in this apartment building and found two suspects."
Hayasaka hurried over to Ritsu, breathing lightly as she delivered her report.
"Two suspects?" Ritsu asked with interest. "Let's hear it."
"The first suspect is Yuki Eguchi, a thirty-year-old woman living alone in Room 301. She works part-time at a restaurant. When asked to provide an alibi, she became visibly flustered, so she's clearly hiding something."
Hayasaka flipped through her notes and continued,
"The second suspect is a twenty-five-year-old man named Taito Fukunaga, who lives alone in Room 401 and works at a fishing equipment store. He claimed he was asleep and didn't even know there was a case downstairs. But after learning I was a police officer, he became noticeably nervous. He also couldn't provide an alibi and seemed eager for me to leave."
Before Ritsu could respond, Shinichi cut in with a question of his own. "How tall are they?"
"Eguchi is taller than me, probably around 173 to 176 centimeters," Yuna said, gesturing to compare heights with Ritsu. "Fukunaga should be around 180 centimeters."
Hearing that both suspects matched his height estimate, Ritsu adjusted his glasses and smiled.
"Looks like we'll have to pay these two a visit. Hey, detective kid, want to come upstairs and meet the suspects with me?"
"Of course!"
Hayasaka blinked in confusion. "What about me?"
Ritsu tilted his chin toward the crowd gathered beyond the police tape and instructed, "Help disperse the onlookers. Make sure nobody contaminates the crime scene."
"..."
Watching the two head upstairs, Hayasaka's eyes filled with resentment. Running errands was always dumped on her, even though she was the one who identified the suspects in the first place.
Seriously infuriating. With a cold expression, she marched toward the police line and barked at the crowd,
"What, are you all planning to let the killer memorize your faces so they can hunt you down one by one later? Unrelated civilians, clear out immediately! Don't interfere with the police investigation!"
Even from the third floor, the two of them could still hear Hayasaka yelling downstairs.
Shinichi said curiously, "Didn't expect the police lady to be that intimidating. As her boss, has she ever punched you?"
'What kind of weird logic was that?'
Ritsu thought of Ran, whose toned arm muscles were quite impressive.
Over the past year, he had worked hard to strengthen his karate training while abandoning many of his Jeet Kune Do habits, so he could naturally tell that she was a fellow martial artist.
A teasing smile tugged at his lips. "So, have you been beaten up by your little girlfriend?"
Hearing that term, Shinichi instantly flushed red.
"She's not my girlfriend, okay?! We're just childhood friends who get along really well. It's not like I like her or anything!"
And yet, the moment he heard those words, the corners of his mouth had lifted upward. Young people really were transparent. When you liked someone, there was no hiding it.
"Oh? So she's your future girlfriend, then?"
Ritsu quite enjoyed teasing these underage boys and girls in the middle of their awkward youthful romances.
Maybe because, back when he was in middle school himself, he never got to experience that sort of bittersweet feeling. Deep down, he envied it a little.
"Geez, shut up already! Inspector, could you focus on the investigation instead of this pointless stuff? I'm ringing the doorbell now, okay?!"
Clearly unable to handle the teasing anymore, Shinichi spoke in a panic.
"Oh? Go ahead."
Shinichi narrowed his eyes into a deadpan glare.
What was with this guy? How could someone go from grinning mischievously and teasing people one second to instantly switching into a serious expression the next? Even Ditto from Pokémon couldn't transform that fast.
He raised a finger and pressed the doorbell.
Almost immediately, a woman's energetic voice rang out from inside.
"Coming!"
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