Chapter 11 Continuous Arson Cases
Chapter 11 Continuous Arson Cases
At some point, a cake shop opened on the corner of the street, called SMW No. 6, which seemed to be a chain store.
A strange name, at least that's what she thought.
But out of curiosity and love for food, I wanted to try it. And I was also a little curious why this store was still open so late.
Just as I was about to push the door open, I suddenly heard someone shouting something outside.
"It's on fire, can anyone help me?"
It was an anxious male voice, sounding very young.
Qinghai Chuantang went over to find the sound and saw that several bags of garbage had caught fire. Fortunately, the fire was not very fierce because it had only been burning for a short time.
She walked into the store, found a pot of ice water, ran out with it, poured it on the flames, and the fire was immediately extinguished.
Qinghai Chuantang looked at the other party, his face somewhat speechless.
She looked to be in her early twenties, more like a high school student. Her eyes were purple, and she had short pink hair with the ends of her hair slightly curled up, which made her look a little cute.
"How old are you? You're so flustered over such a small thing."
The words of thanks were swallowed back as soon as they came to his lips, and instead, he had an apologetic look and tone.
Seeing him looking a little aggrieved, Qinghai Chuantang inexplicably felt a sense of guilt. But soon, this feeling disappeared, and a new thought came to his mind: I really want to ravage him.
Qinghai Chuantang coughed lightly, "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
After she finished speaking, she looked up, took out a pair of gloves from her bag and put them on. Then, she squatted down and picked up the plastic bottle on the ground, which still had some colorless liquid in it.
She put it to her nose and sniffed it.
"It's acetone, and it smells like strawberry."
"Eh?"
Akagawa Aoi blinked, looking a little confused.
"Although the bottle cap was opened, the probability of a burning cigarette butt flying next to the acetone bottle that had not yet completely evaporated and landing on the ground is not high. This was a deliberate arson, not an accident."
Akagawa Aoi nodded as if she understood, then looked at her with a curious tone: "But, may I ask who you are?"
Qinghai Chuantang put the things back to their original place and stood up.
"I just saw that this shop was still open, so I wanted to buy a cake. I didn't expect to encounter something like this."
"Are you going to buy a cake?"
Akagawa Aoi smiled happily, as if she had received some great reward, and she actually looked "happy". "I'm the manager of SMW Cake Shop. How about I treat you as a reward?"
Qinghai Chuantang hesitated for a moment, "Isn't this a bit bad?"
Then, he changed the subject and continued, "One tiramisu, thank you."
Authentic tiramisu is always served with Marsala wine.
Things don't end there.
The next day, the police received several more reports, all related to arson, which fell under the jurisdiction of the First Investigation Division.
Of course, detectives are sometimes involved in cases.
“That smell is acetone!”
"If acetone vaporizes, even a small flame will catch fire."
This was a makeshift device, designed to give me time to escape while the acetone vaporized and burned.
"That's what the guest who came that day said."
Masumi Sera and Conan looked at him together, "Customer?"
Akagawa Aoi nodded, "Yes, I helped put out the fire that day."
Sera Masumi stroked his chin and thought, "Sometimes, arsonists will show up at the scene of the arson to put out the fire."
Conan asked quickly: "Brother, do you remember what that customer was wearing?"
"Well," Akagawa Aoi scratched his head, his face slightly red, "Let me think about it. After all, my memory has never been very good."
"She has long black hair tied in a ponytail. She is wearing a black base shirt and a white hooded jacket."
A voice suddenly appeared behind the two of them, getting closer and closer.
When Qinghai Chuantang met their eyes, he was stunned for a moment and blurted out: "No one had an accident, right?"
If it was just Sera Masumi who was there, she wouldn't think it was a big deal, but whenever Conan was at the scene, she would always have a preconceived idea that another murder had occurred.
"Fortunately, there were no casualties. Although it was not a major fire, there have been several similar incidents recently, which shows that...
Before Sera Masumi could finish, Conan rushed in and said, "This means this is a serial arson case! If the culprit is not found quickly, there may be casualties!"
Maybe, it will cause more serious consequences.
Because this thing is addictive.
Akagawa Aoi stared at him, then blinked, her expression slightly surprised: "Although you look quite young, the tone of your speech just now was more like that of an adult."
Conan realized something and scratched his head with a wry smile, "No, these are all taught to me by Uncle Maori."
"Mori? Are you talking about the famous detective, the sleeping Kogoro? I didn't expect that you are related to Mr. Mori. No wonder you have become like this under his influence."
Although it was a compliment, Conan was not happy at all. The corners of his mouth twitched: Actually, I was the one who solved those cases, okay?
"Talk about it"
Akagawa Aoi seemed to have thought of something. "In addition to store No. 6, store No. 5 also encountered the same problem. I was hesitant before whether to ask Mr. Maori to solve this matter. But then I thought, Mr. Maori is such a famous person, I don't think he can spare the time to solve a small case like mine."
The cakes in SMW Cake Shop are all very good, and the price is the same as the taste, but many people still like them. If it is because of this that the other party is jealous and wants to destroy SMW, it seems to be expected.
"Don't bother a famous detective with such trivial matters. Even though I'm just a high school student, I'm also a detective and have solved many cases. Right, Conan?"
As he spoke, Sera Masumi looked down at him and smiled.
"Ah? Ah, yes, yes."
At first, Conan was still lost in thought and didn't react. Then, when he heard Sera Masumi calling him, he suddenly felt nervous and answered "yes" without realizing what the other person had said before.
Akagawa Aoi showed a delighted expression, "That's great, please help me find the real culprit."
Helping the cake shop find the arsonist is also helping other victims with similar experiences. Even if Akagawa Aoi doesn't say anything, they will continue to investigate and find the arsonist, and will never let him go unpunished.
"By the way, I have a map in my store that might be of some help."
As she spoke, Aoi Akagawa opened the door and made a "please" gesture.
Based on the information published online, Masumi Sera circled the locations where the arson cases occurred, mainly concentrated on Haraei-michi and Shirogane-michi.
"The criminals set fires at the same time. In the afternoon, it was Yuanrong Road, and in the evening, it was Chengchuan Road. But during the day, it seemed unusually quiet."
Conan stroked his chin and thought, "It seems that the criminal should be an office worker."
"He set the fire on his way home from get off work. He is a person who does things based on his mood, so there may be many unreported arson attacks. Judging from the way he committed the crime, he is not a strict person, but a simple person who acts according to his mood at the time and will not regret or look back. Male, early 30s, single."
Shira Masumi looked up at her and said in surprise, "Why do you know so much?"
Qinghai Chuantang then remembered that she had not told the other party about her identity.
So he simply introduced himself: "Qinghai Chuantang, I am a profiler."
"Sera Maju."
A certain memory from before had been hidden in Qinghai Chuantang's hypnosis without anyone noticing. As long as there was no major stimulation or the other party took the initiative to unlock it, the other party would not remember it.
"From the Wonrong Road bus stop to the Chengchuan Road bus stop, there was nothing and it seemed very quiet. But there was an arson case between the bus stop and the subway station. This means that the criminal lives in Chengchuan Road and takes the bus to work in Wonrong Road."
He gets off work between 6pm and 6:30pm and lives in Seongcheon-do. So if we just look for people who buy cigarettes and acetone near Seongcheon-do, we might be able to find the criminal.
Convenience stores, supermarkets, cosmetics stores. As long as any of their ingredients contain acetone, they need to be checked one by one.
"Oh, and there's also a pharmacy." Seeing everyone staring at her, Akagawa Aoi smiled shyly and said, "Because it's very useful for descaling in the kitchen, I sometimes go to the pharmacy to buy some."
"Oh, that's a bit strange!"
Conan seemed to have discovered something, pointing to a certain place and saying: "SMW5 started the fire at around or o'clock, during the day. If it is based on what the elder sister said before, it should be during work, how could it be possible to commit a crime?"
Sera Masumi didn't find it strange. "If there are unexpected situations, it's actually easy to understand. For example, rest days, suspension, and monthly leave."
"It is indeed possible. Hey, big sister, do you want to join us in catching the criminal?"
As he spoke, Conan looked up at Qinghai Chuantang and smiled innocently.
Qinghai Chuantang stared at him with strange eyes, which made Conan feel a little puzzled and puzzled.
"Isn't it the job of the criminal police to catch criminals?" Then, he changed the subject and said, "However, if you want to go to SMW store No. 5, I can give you a ride."
If you walk, it will take one or two hours, but taking a car is much more convenient. It takes no more than 6 minutes to drive from store 5 to store , which greatly reduces the time consumption.
As the saying goes, time is money.
So, they didn't refuse.
After arriving at SMW Store No. 5, Masumi Sera and Conan checked and searched the fire site.
"This cigarette butt is just lit"
There is still a long section left.
However, the cigarette butts in SMW store No. 6 were discarded after being smoked.
"Perhaps, there is more than one criminal."
Conan's eyes grew firm.
It seems that the arsonist of SMW store No. 5 imitated the former's modus operandi.
Happy birthday to our motherland.
I also wish you all a happy Mid-Autumn Festival~
There will be another update later
(End of this chapter)