stonecrandall Page 158
Page 158
Conan quickly retreated behind Matsuda.
"Officer Matsuda has some questions for me!"
"Fumino, I'm sorry, Mom has something to do today and can't go out with you."
Shichie Kujuu also bent down and said to her daughter with a full sense of apology.
For her, her living daughter was indeed important.
However, determining the cause of her husband's death is also an urgent matter.
"Waaah... Mom, didn't you promise me?"
Fumino sobbed and burst into tears.
"Mom, you're lying to me. Dad is the same. Tomorrow is my birthday, and he's gone abroad and isn't coming back!"
"Adults are all liars, Fumino hates you all!"
Fumino's sobs silenced everyone in the room.
Those who knew the truth were unsure how to face the little girl.
Especially Fumino's mother.
She knew that the truth about Fumino's father's death couldn't be hidden forever.
But now, I really don't know how to bring it up with Fumino.
"Then I'll go with you, and I can give you some advice on buying clothes."
Miyoshi Asako was the first to react, and she quickly squatted down in front of the girl to comfort her.
……
As Matsuda watched Miyoshi Asako leave with Fumino, he felt a little hesitant.
Is this really okay?
The most suspicious individuals in Tsukumo Motoyasu's death are his three disciples.
In other words, Sanhao Mazi is actually one of the three suspects.
But, remembering the little girl's tear-streaked face just now,
Matsuda could only sigh inwardly, hoping it wasn't her!
……
After Miyoshi Asako left with Fumino, Momochi Yuuji went to prepare lunch.
Kujuro Nanae was accompanied by Matsuda and the three members of the Mori family.
We went together to the basement where Tsukumo Motoyasu was murdered.
"This is my husband's private study, where he often studies magic," Natsumi Shichi explained simply.
"These photos are..."
Kogoro Mouri looked at the row of photos hanging on the wall and asked a question.
“These are all my husband’s former students, most of whom have already started their own businesses,” Kujuku Shichie replied.
"And what about this person?"
Matsuda pointed to one of the photos of a magician playing with fire and asked,
"Who is he? Why are all the other photos dusty, but his is spotless? Does someone clean this photo regularly?"
"He is Kinoshita, a genius among geniuses,"
"It's regrettable," said Shichie Kujo.
"Unfortunately, fourteen years ago, Kinoshita had an accident during a practice session."
"Speaking of which, this person does look quite like Shinichi Kudo?" Matsuda said to Conan with a smile.
Chapter 195 Can’t find it
"Hehe, I... Shinichi is obviously much more handsome!" Conan retorted irritably.
The two of them were joking around, forgetting that Xiao Lan was right next to them.
Shinichi?
The girl was reminded by them and looked up at the photo.
In the photo, most of Kinoshita's face is covered by her hat.
However, judging from the exposed face shape, it does resemble Shinichi Kudo somewhat.
"Officer Matsuda, please focus on investigating my husband's case!"
Seeing Matsuda's nonchalant attitude, Shichie Kujuro was already somewhat dissatisfied.
"The Metropolitan Police Department had already concluded that my husband committed suicide. Does Officer Matsuda also believe that?"
"No, in my opinion, Mr. Tsukumo Motoyasu's death was clearly a murder," Matsuda said with certainty. "The murderer should be one of those three disciples."
"What evidence do you have?" Mori asked. "The three of them have been together ever since they went out with the lady that day, and even if they were poisoned, the door here is locked but can be opened from the inside."
"In addition, there is a telephone in the room that can contact the outside world."
"Tell me, how did those three manage to poison him?"
"I have seen the photos of the deceased."
Matsuda pointed to the shape markings left on the floor by the forensic team on the shape of the deceased's body.
“If it were suicide, one would clutch their chest or throat in pain after taking poison, but Mr. Tsukumo Motoyasu’s hands were taut.”
"Are you trying to say that Mr. Tsukumo Motoyasu was poisoned after being tied up?"
Mori shook his head in denial.
"But don't forget, no matter how careful you are, if you're tied up, you'll always leave marks!"
"The reason there were no traces is because it was just a wonderful magic trick performed by the murderer for us."
Matsuda pointed to the photo of Tsukumo Motoyasu on the wall and prompted,
“Mr. Kujuku Motoyasu was wearing a ring that day.”
"ring?"
Conan looked up at the photo Matsuda was pointing to.
In the photo, on Tsukumo Yasushi's fingers,
It has ten rings, and each ring is connected to a steel wire.
After a moment's thought, Conan understood Matsuda's meaning.
"The murderer used a ring and wire, which were part of Mr. Motoyasu's magic props, to tie him up, and then secretly removed the wire while everyone was in a panic upon discovering the body!"
"In that case, the only place we can find the ring mark is on Mr. Motoyasu's finger."
"That's a reasonable way of thinking,"
Mori nodded.
"To come up with such a magic trick, the culprit can only be one of the three of them. But what is the hidden meaning in those two playing cards?"
"Could the Ace and Jack of Spades be some kind of code?" Xiaolan asked.
"No, those two playing cards stuck together actually refer to the replay button."
Matsuda walked to the table, pointed to the landline, and said to the group,
"Look at the symbol for this replay button. Doesn't it look a lot like two playing cards stuck together?"
"That's right, it really does look a lot like a redial button,"
Mori held up the playing cards and compared them.
The two playing cards, slightly offset from each other and glued together, do indeed resemble the shape of a redial button.
"Since the playing card refers to the redial button, then this must be the clue that Mr. Tsukumo Yasushi left for us."
Mori pressed the redial button, and a long string of numbers appeared on the landline's LCD screen.
126871*32489*13548*1397.
What exactly does this mean?
Conan was deep in thought, while Mori and Ran beside him were also thinking hard.
Only Matsuda realized what was going on after seeing the numbers on the landline.
"Officer Matsuda, do you understand now?" Ran noticed the strange expression on Matsuda's face.
"Well, actually this code is quite simple. The asterisk in the clue is actually a separator. Remove it, and what's left are the numbers,"
Matsuda picked up the landline on the table and demonstrated it to the four people in the room.
"We input it sequentially on the landline, like the first one, 126871. What does its shape look like?"
"The letter 'd'?" Xiaolan asked in surprise.
"That's right,"
Matsuda nodded and entered the remaining numerical clues one by one.
The first two sets of numbers are represented by the English letters "dc" on the landline.
The last two groups are shaped like the Japanese word "mako".
"Mako? Does that mean Mako?" Shichie Tsukumo exclaimed in shock.
"But what does 'dc' mean in front of it?" Mori asked, scratching his head.
"Speaking of which, this 'dc' often appears on piano sheet music, and it's usually pronounced 'dacapo'," Xiaolan replied after thinking for a moment.
“Yes, my husband sometimes plays the piano too.”
Shichie Tsukumo confirmed Ran's guess.