Page 204
The floor tiles in this abandoned warehouse are much cleaner than the shelves.
"President Moriyama's body should have been stored in this warehouse." Conan stood up and said, coming to this conclusion immediately.
An abandoned warehouse where no one has entered or exited for a long time should have the same level of dust on its shelves and floors. It is impossible for there to be dust on the shelves while the floor is spotless.
Combined with the trace of blood under the faucet, there is only one most likely reason.
After killing Hiromichi Moriyama yesterday, the murderer temporarily hid his body in this small warehouse. After moving the body, he used the faucet in the warehouse to clean the bloodstains on the floor. The bloodstains on the faucet were stained at that time.
"Hattori, have the police conduct a luminol reaction test on the floor here. Perhaps they will find something."
"Ah."
"Oh? High school detective, did you find anything?"
Suddenly, another person walked into the warehouse. This person was tall and was none other than the deputy director of the aquarium, Shotaro Harada.
"Mr. Harada, what's wrong?" Hattori Heiji looked at him and asked.
"Haha, nothing much. I just saw you guys staying in this warehouse for quite some time, so I wanted to come over and take a look..."
Shotaro Harada smiled, then looked around the empty warehouse with a hint of nostalgia in his eyes.
"By the way, do you know why this warehouse was abandoned?"
"Why?" Hattori Heiji asked curiously.
"The reason is not complicated, because, ah, a person was hanged here before." Harada Shotaro looked at the two of them and said dimly, "And the person who was hanged was the president's... well, should I say, his mistress?"
"what?"
"That happened last year. The girl was originally a keeper at the aquarium. After being seduced by the president and then abandoned by him, she hanged herself in this warehouse..."
As he said this, Harada Shotaro sighed in a sad tone.
"Alas, such a pure and beautiful girl was destroyed and withered by the president. It's so tragic... Oh, by the way, it seems that this girl had a good relationship with Miss Cang Yuan before she died. If you need anything, you can go and ask her."
Reika Kuramoto, the breeder who has the key to the rock farm door, is one of the suspects who is suspected of being the murderer.
"Mr. Harada, do you have a bad relationship with President Moriyama?" Conan asked directly after being keenly aware of this.
"Haha, what a clever little fellow..." He glanced at Conan with a smile and said meaningfully, "Of course, and it's not just me. To put it mildly, the few of us who are suspected by the police don't have a good relationship with the president, and we all have reasons to want to kill him..."
Although Conan wanted to ask for more information, Harada Shotaro obviously didn't want to say anything more, so he turned around and left the warehouse.
[It seems that the suspect needs to be re-interrogated. ]
After him, Conan and Hattori Heiji looked at each other, and then they left the warehouse immediately.
Then, the two saw a scene that stunned them.
Suzuki Sonoko is assisting the police in solving the case.
"So, when we first saw President Moriyama's body, there was actually already a problem!"
Looking at the police officers who were looking at each other in bewilderment, Suzuki Sonoko raised her hands above her head, twisted her waist, and imitated the scene when she first saw Moriyama Hiromichi's body in the sink, and said:
"Think about it carefully. If a normal corpse is thrown into the water, how can it have its hands stretched out and raised above its head? This is totally wrong, right?!"
"Sonoko, what do you mean?" Sato Miwako raised her hand and touched her chin. After Suzuki Sonoko said this, she seemed to vaguely realize something.
"What I mean is, the reason why President Moriyama's body was placed like 'Astro Boy' is because the murderer absolutely had to do it!"
As she spoke, Suzuki Sonoko glanced at Shizuka Shizuka who was sitting in the corner behind her. Seeing Shizuka Shizuka nod to her gently in encouragement, she, who had originally felt a little timid, suddenly regained her courage.
She walked around the crowd and went straight to the closest place between the rock fields on the left and right. She pointed at this area and said:
"The murderer was at the rock field on the left side of the warehouse. At that time, the steps between the rock fields had been taken away by Miss Kuramoto Reika who was off work. So if the murderer wanted to leave, he had to make another step that would allow him to walk to the rock field on the right side! And the stiff body of President Moriyama was the step used by the murderer!"
"Wait, little girl."
At this moment, Maori Kogoro suddenly interrupted her and said:
"I think the distance here is only about 1.56 meters at most. Any normal adult should be able to cross it easily, right?"
As Kogoro Mori said this, he personally jumped from the right rock field to the left rock field in front of everyone to prove the truthfulness of his words.
"Your reasoning doesn't make sense. The murderer isn't a child. How could he have to step on a pedal to get from the left to the right...!"
Kogoro Maori stopped talking halfway, and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
"Yes, uncle."
At this moment, Suzuki Sonoko also showed a mysterious smile on her face.
"The murderer is not a child. A normal adult can jump over this distance, so why did he have to use a pedal to get back to the right rock field from the left rock field?"
Chapter 267 In Progress
"In other words, when President Moriyama's body was found, his hands were raised above his head?"
A little earlier in time, in a corner of the rock playground on the second floor, Shizuka Shizuka was listening to Suzuki Sonoko telling the details of the murder of Hiromichi Moriyama.
"Yeah, just like this!"
Suzuki Sonoko nodded repeatedly, then stretched her hands above her head and made the classic "Astro Boy" pose.
"When we first saw him in front of the water tank, President Moriyama was soaked in the water like this, with his hands and feet stretched straight, only his waist tilted back a little, it looked so weird..."
[This posture is indeed problematic...]
Listening to Suzuki Sonoko's description, Shizuo Shizuka lowered her eyes.
"Brother-in-law, have you thought of anything?" Suzuki Sonoko looked at her curiously.
Facing her expectant gaze, Qing Shuijing considered her words carefully and replied, "The posture in which the body was first discovered was indeed very wrong.
Even if we take into account that President Moriyama had fought with the murderer or escaped before he was murdered, it is hard to imagine that he would make such a weird posture.
I think the strange posture of President Moriyama's body must be directly related to the murderer."
"Related to the murderer?"
Suzuki Sonoko pointed her index finger at her chin, looking confused.
"So the murderer killed President Moriyama and then placed his body like that? But what was his purpose? Was it some kind of evil ritual?"
It was obvious that her thinking was too divergent.
"Well, that is indeed a possibility."
Qing Shuijing nodded with a smile, then turned her head and scanned the entire rock field.
"When exactly was President Moriyama murdered?"
"The police said it happened between one and three o'clock yesterday afternoon." Mao Lilan, who was also sitting next to them, replied.
"Are the suspects the ones sitting over there?"
Following Shizuka Shizuka's gaze, there were three suspects sitting in a corner on the other side of the rock field: the breeder Kuramoto Reika, the lame technical director Yaguchi Takashi, and Harada Shotaro who had an injured right arm.
Among them, Harada Shotaro stood up and walked over after seeing Hattori Heiji and Conan walking towards the abandoned warehouse on the left side of the rock field.
Yaguchi Takashi then stood up and walked towards the police who were gathered not far away with his crutches. Only Kuramoto Reika was sitting alone in the corner, staring blankly.
"Well, besides President Moriyama, they are the only three people who have the key to the rock field, so they are the most likely suspects."
"Did the police find any clues on President Moriyama's body?" Shizuka Shizuka suddenly asked.
"It seems there are no clues..." Suzuki Sonoko replied.
"Yes, Sonoko. They are the two that the police took away later." Mao Lilan reminded her.
"Oh! It seems like I found a USB flash drive and a broken pocket watch." Recalling this, Suzuki Sonoko said quickly.
"Broken pocket watch?" Qingshui Jing keenly noticed this abnormality.
"Well, I heard from Officer Sato and the others that the time on that pocket watch seemed to have stopped at 6:10..."
【Six ten?】
Suddenly realizing something, Qingshui Jing quickly turned her head to look at the abandoned warehouse on the rock field on the left.
“Has that warehouse been abandoned?”
"Well, it is said that it has not been used since last year."
I see. "
She nodded slightly, then looked at Suzuki Sonoko beside her and said with a smile: "Sonoko, can you help me find the breeder and ask her a few questions?"
"Well! Leave it all to me!"
After clearly memorizing Shimizu Shizuni's words, Suzuki Sonoko immediately stood up, held her head high and walked towards the breeder Kuramoto Reika in the opposite corner.
"Ms. Kuramoto!" Suzuki Sonoko grinned and sat down next to Kuramoto Reika.
"Hello, may I ask you..." Reika Kuramoto looked at the female high school student with some confusion.
"Just call me Sonoko, Miss Kuramoto. Can I ask you a few questions?" Suzuki Sonoko went straight to the point.
"Uh, if this is a question related to the case, then the police just..."
"It's okay! The police and the two detectives are all my good friends! I just suddenly thought of some suspicious points, so I came here to ask them first!"
"Eh? Is that so?"
"So, Miss Kuramoto, what exactly were you doing yesterday afternoon?" Following Shizumi Shizuka's instructions, Suzuki Sonoko asked the first question.
"Well... if you're asking about the time when the president was murdered, I was in the aquarium the whole time, cleaning the tanks with other keepers," replied Reika Kuramoto.
"I see. So what happens next?" Suzuki Sonoko continued to ask.
"after?"
"Yes, what did you do after three o'clock until you got off work yesterday, Miss Cangyuan?"
Upon hearing this, Cang Yuan Ling Xiang looked at her with some embarrassment, "Well, this has something to do with the president..."
"It is related! It's a very important relationship! Please don't hide it, Miss Kuramoto!" Suzuki Sonoko suddenly pressed her shoulders and said in a firm tone.
"Yes, yes..."
Nodding subconsciously, Kuramoto Reika recalled and continued:
“After three o’clock, we cleaned the sink and then sprinkled a neutralizer in it to neutralize the detergent.