Conan: Becoming the Boss Starting with Winning Over Ran

Page 34

However, both of them maintained a good facade, looking at Inspector Megure and the other detectives with curiosity, as if something had happened.

It's absolutely true that women are born actresses.

If it weren't for the fact that Xing Gongyu's thigh was being pinched so hard under the table, he wouldn't have been able to tell that the two of them were actually very nervous.

"Inspector Megure, what are you doing here?"

To spare her thighs some pain, Hoshiguma Yu took the initiative to start the conversation.

Inspector Megure took off his hat and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"A horrific serial murder case has occurred here."

"Tsukikage Island belongs to Tokyo, so it's also under my jurisdiction."

He didn't mention the fire at all.

The community center was almost completely burned to the ground, and nothing could be found out. Since there were no casualties, it could be treated as an accident.

No one is more skilled at this than him.

The problem now is that three lives have been lost.

Among them are the current village chief and the candidate for the next village chief. Without an explanation, the villagers of Moonshadow Island will not give up easily.

After explaining, Inspector Megure asked again, "Hoshimiya-san, is it just you and Ran? Kudo-kun didn't come?"

"No, Ran and I are here because Uncle Mori received a strange request..."

After briefly explaining the matter entrusted to him, Hoshigumi Yu took out the letter.

"Since we couldn't find the client, Uncle Mori thought it was a prank and went back first. Ran and I thought that since we were already here, we might as well stay and play for a few days."

Inspector Megure took the letter of request, reading it as he nodded, saying, "Hmm, Tsukikage Island is indeed quite suitable for a vacation..."

I read the letter of authorization several times, and apart from the fact that it was signed by Keiji Aso, who had been dead for more than ten years, I didn't find any other suspicious points.

"Brother Xinggong, thank you very much."

Inspector Megure patted Hoshimiya Hajime on the shoulder and said sincerely, "I think this person impersonating Keiji Aso is most likely the murderer who killed the three village chiefs, including Kuroiwa."

Megure Juzo originally just wanted to put on an act and distract the villagers so that the police would have time to downplay the incident.

But he never expected that this casual remark would be so close to the truth.

Hoshigumi Yu glanced at the chubby middle-aged policeman in surprise. She had to admit, he was quite capable to have reached the position of police inspector.

He didn't know that Inspector Megure's actions were based entirely on guesswork, without any evidence or reasoning.

I thought the police had discovered something from the deceased's interpersonal relationships.

"Inspector Megure, the police acted very quickly this time. They found out about the relationship between Keiji Aso and the three of them so soon."

Hoshigumi Yu feigned surprise, but actually wanted to find out how far the police investigation had progressed and whether any evidence had been found at the crime scene.

"Huh?" Megure Juzo's chubby face suddenly changed, and he grabbed Hoshimiya Yu, exclaiming in shock, "What? Aso Keiji is connected to the three who died?"

The police have just finished investigating the three crime scenes and haven't even had time to investigate the interpersonal relationships yet. How could they possibly discover that Keiji Aso and Kuroiwa are childhood friends who grew up together?

Now it was Xinggong Yu's turn to be dumbfounded. Was it really necessary to be so shocked? Didn't you already know...?

However, he quickly realized that he had overestimated the Tokyo police.

He nodded, somewhat amused and exasperated, and whispered, "Inspector, this isn't the place to talk. Let's find somewhere else to chat."

Inspector Megure looked around and realized that everyone in the restaurant was staring at him, including the detectives he had brought with him.

"Have all of them... been registered?"

Inspector Megure looked at his subordinates with a hostile expression.

Once the detectives had all turned away, he awkwardly released Xing Gongyu, coughed twice with his fist in front of him, and said, "Brother Xing Gong, let's go talk over there."

To cooperate with the police, the restaurant emptied a private room to serve as a temporary interrogation room.

With Inspector Megure's special permission, Hoshimiya Hayao and the other two did not need to register or queue, and were questioned in order.

After the person in the interrogation room came out, the group went inside.

Being stopped by the police and unable to do anything is bound to be boring; everyone wants to get it over with as soon as possible and leave.

Seeing that Hoshino Yu and her two companions didn't have to wait in line, several people in line were quite unhappy, including Kuroiwa Reiko.

She was satisfied after being pampered all night and wanted to come to the restaurant to replenish her energy, but the police arrived shortly after she arrived.

This prevented her from eating, which already made her very unhappy. Seeing Hoshimiya Yu, Asai Makoto, and Ran being so close made her even more unhappy.

Looking at Hoshigumi Yu's handsome face and tall, muscular figure.

Then I thought of the chubby secretary and the skinny fiancé...

Kuroiwa Reiko suddenly felt that last night wasn't so enjoyable after all.

No matter how much you try to convince yourself, you can't compare.

Quantity can never compare to quality!

As the village chief's daughter, Kuroiwa Reiko showed little respect for the police.

She slammed her hand on the table, stood up, and glared at the detective guarding the door, yelling, "Me, the village chief's daughter, have to wait in line? Why don't the other three get to do it!"

In Japan, politicians hold a much higher status than police officers.

Japanese politicians are more afraid of detectives than police officers.

Few Japanese politicians have clean hands; the appearance of detectives often indicates that their misdeeds have been exposed.

Even if they weren't exposed, they were still afraid that the detectives would notice something.

There's no way around it; the police are notoriously incompetent, but to become a detective, you need to have some skills.

Except for Kogoro Mouri, that bumbling detective.

He's more like a jack-of-all-trades employee than a detective.

If it weren't for Eri Kisaki's constant financial support and Ran's constant care for his daily needs, Kogoro Mouri's detective agency would never have been able to stay afloat.

Kuroiwa Reiko was certainly aware of her father's dirty secrets, but she didn't think the police would find out, especially since her father hadn't been involved in drug trafficking for many years.

048 Case Progress

The detective guarding the gate didn't intend to pay any attention to Kuroiwa Reiko. It was easy to offend people in this kind of job, and they were used to it.

Unexpectedly, the other party turned out to be the deceased's daughter.

The detective guarding the gate changed his expression and asked kindly, "Is this young lady the daughter of the Black Rock Village Chief?"

"Hmph." Reiko Kuroiwa turned her head away, not responding to the detective in front of her at all.

So what if she's a criminal investigator? Once she finds out she's the village chief's daughter, she still has to fawn over her.

In Japan, a village chief is not just a title, but a person with real power; in a broader sense, he is a politician.

If you have the right connections, you might even get promoted and become a city councilor.

With a little effort, you might even become a county councilor.

If you dream a little more, you might even become a member of parliament someday!

Others may not know, but Reiko Kuroiwa really thinks so.

To her, the detective's politeness was nothing but flattery.

Reiko Kuroiwa, who is obsessed with lust, is still unaware that her village chief father was sent to his death while she was enjoying herself last night.

The male detective guarding the door wasn't annoyed at all. Instead, he said in a friendly tone, "Then this young lady doesn't need to queue anymore. Here, this is specially prepared for you."

Before Kuroiwa Reiko could react, two detectives approached from a distance and forcibly took her to a police car.

Reiko Kuroiwa tried to resist, but was subdued in an instant.

"What are you doing! Let me go!"

"Behave yourself!" A detective pulled out handcuffs and warned, "You'd better cooperate; you're a prime suspect now."

Once unauthorized personnel have registered, they can leave.

It's understandable that the police would suspect Kuroiwa Reiko, as her daughter, for not knowing that Kuroiwa Tatsuji died outside her home.

After Kuroiwa Reiko was taken away, the rest of the restaurant immediately quieted down, and no one dared to mention Hoshimiya Hayao and the other two cutting in line anymore.

The village chief's daughter was taken away for expressing her dissatisfaction; let alone the others.

The three people inside must be very important...

Inside the restaurant, everyone secretly started imagining things.

Unaware of the farce unfolding outside, Hoshimiya and her two companions had just finished recounting the truth about the deaths of Aso Keiji's family twelve years ago to Inspector Megure.

"It turns out that Keiji Aso and the deceased were childhood friends, and their entire family was killed by these three..."

If Inspector Megure didn't suspect Hoshimiya Hayao, then the Aso Keiji family's affairs would be easy to investigate.

This is also the only way to explain why the three Black Rocks were killed.

It was clearly for revenge.

As for the former village chief, Kameda, who was involved, none of them mentioned it.

The person has been dead for several years, so this matter definitely has nothing to do with the other party, and it's pointless to bring it up.

"Someone must have wanted to avenge Keiji Aso, which is why they killed these three people."

Inspector Megure, holding the letter of authorization, frowned with his thick, short eyebrows. "But why would this murderer specifically call Mori over to investigate?"

"They probably want to expose the evil deeds of the three Black Rocks to the public."

Hoshimiya Yu glanced at Asai Makoto without showing any emotion, and seeing that she was still relatively calm, she continued, "Actually, this murderer forgot one thing: if the Kuroiwa trio's drug trafficking activities were exposed, Aso Keiji would not be able to escape either."

"Ah."

Megure nodded. "Aso Keiji must have used his trips abroad to smuggle drugs for the three of them more than once, but I don't know why he suddenly refused."

“Maybe he never intended to traffic drugs in the first place, he just wanted to help his friend, but then the three of them, Kuroiwa and his friends, went too far, so he refused,” Asai Makoto suddenly said.

Seeing that everyone was looking at her, she smiled and waved her hand, saying, "Of course, this is just my guess."

As Keiji Aso's daughter, Makoto Asai certainly knew why.

She was still young then, and Keiji Aso and others didn't hide anything from her and her sister when they talked about things.

This was also a major reason why Black Rock and his group chose to exterminate the entire clan.

Children don't understand when they're young, but what about when they grow up?

As a renowned pianist, Keiji Aso has absolutely no need to make money through drug trafficking.

But the others on Moonshadow Island didn't have his abilities, so if they wanted to get rich, they could only resort to unconventional methods.

Keiji Aso helped out of consideration for his childhood friend.

Of course, this was also partly due to Keiji Aso's strong desire to save face.

Just like how they always claimed that Makoto Asai was a boy, if they didn't help him, Keiji Aso would be talked about in the village.

To reiterate, everyone on Tsukikage Island, including Keiji Aso's generation, was involved in drug trafficking.

Keiji Aso not only helped his childhood friend get rich, but also helped the entire island's villagers get rich.

Having grown up on Tsukikage Island, Keiji Aso couldn't refuse the villagers of the entire island.

He simply underestimated the wickedness of human nature.

After everyone on the island became rich, he said he didn't want to continue. As a result, some people were not satisfied and wanted to continue, while others were afraid that he would inform on them.

Ultimately, this led to the murder of his entire family.

Makoto Asai closed his eyes, unwilling to continue recalling the past.

She was afraid that if she continued to think about it, she wouldn't be able to control her true feelings.

Asai's slight unusual behavior went unnoticed, and Inspector Megure nodded, saying, "Yes, that's certainly possible."

"By the way, I haven't yet asked who this gentleman is..."

"My apologies for not introducing myself."