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In Japan at that time, such items were essential for any male household, but they were not found in the shoe cabinet of the Hanada family.
The biggest possibility is that this pair of slippers has been used by someone, which means... could Mr. Hanada still be in this house now?
Realizing this, the boy felt even more uneasy.
The two continued walking forward and saw a few dirty plates that had not been cleared away after the meal, as well as a pile of beer bottles on the dining table in the living room.
The boy walked forward, first looked down at the oil stains on the plate, then picked up a few beer bottles and smelled them.
"It's been at least one day."
There were no signs that the stove and cupboard next to it had been touched since then, which meant that Mr. Hanada had not cooked for him at least today.
The answer was already clear, and the boy wasted no time. He took Xiao Wuwan and hurried upstairs. After looking through every room, he finally came to Mr. Hanada's bedroom.
However, once again, the boy was beyond his expectations.
There was no body lying in the bedroom as the boy had guessed. On the contrary, Mr. Hanada's bedroom was very clean and tidy, with the bedding neatly folded aside, and there were no extra dirty stains in the room.
It can be seen that the owner who lives here is a person who pays great attention to personal hygiene.
Would such a person leave the dishes after eating for a whole day without washing them?
"Wooden Man, did Mr. Hanada encounter any accident?" Even Kougamaru had sensed something was wrong.
The boy slowly put away his gun, and after a brief moment of contemplation, he said, "Let's go look in this house and see if we can find any indoor slippers for men."
"Oh, okay..." Nodding, Xiao Wuwan didn't ask any more questions, turned around and left quickly.
Of course, the end result was that she searched several rooms in the house but still couldn't find the pair of indoor slippers that were supposed to be used by Mr. Hanada himself.
He and his pair of slippers were missing from the house.
The surrounding neighbors were soon called over by the criminal police, and the boy got some useful information from them.
Mr. Hanada returned home from get off work last night, which was witnessed by several neighbors. At that time, Mr. Hanada seemed to be holding several bottles of beer in his hands.
It is said that before his daughter committed suicide by jumping off the building, Mr. Hanada did not have the habit of drinking, but since his daughter committed suicide, he began to drink all day long, and the neighbors around him could see him bringing alcohol home after get off work almost every day.
Despite this, Mr. Hanada did not take any further outrageous actions, at least he did not affect the neighbors around him.
At the same time, the boy also learned from these neighbors that the story was similar to what the Muraki couple said.
After his daughter committed suicide by jumping off a building, Mr. Hanada did go to the Muraki family to ask for an explanation, but in the end nothing came of it. He was even warned by the detective who came to investigate not to affect the stability of the community.
Since then, Mr. Hanada has never recovered. All he does is drink all day long, or cry while holding his daughter's portrait. The neighbors around him feel sorry for him, so they don't say much.
In addition, the last time the neighbors saw Mr. Hanada was when he returned home from get off work last night.
In other words, they had not seen Mr. Hanada in person throughout the whole day.
The boy also tentatively asked Mr. Hanada whether he had ever thought of seeking revenge on the Muraki family in private after his daughter's death.
However, neighbors have different opinions on this.
Some people say that Mr. Hanada always has a resentful expression whenever he mentions the Muraki family, and this idea is definitely there.
Some people also say that Mr. Hanada has always been law-abiding and never remarried after his wife died. His daughter is also well-behaved and sensible under his influence. It is impossible for such a person to do something that violates the law.
In short, there are all kinds of opinions. Although there is not much useful information among them, the boy still roughly understands that Mr. Hanada should be the kind of "honest man" generally recognized by the public.
Under normal circumstances, the possibility of committing a private murder for revenge is relatively low.
"Wooden man, I think the murderer who killed Kyoko must be Mr. Hanada."
It was already late. After finishing today's investigation and sitting in the police car on the way home, Xiao Wuwan pondered for a long time and suddenly said.
Then, without waiting for the boy to speak, she explained herself:
"Didn't they say that Mr. Hanada has never gotten over the grief of his daughter's murder? And he drank quite a lot of alcohol last night.
So I think it is very likely that Mr. Hanada got drunk last night and thought about his daughter's death and the police's perfunctory handling of the case. He impulsively ran to Muraki's house and ran into Kyoko, who was going to stay at a friend's house last night. He eventually killed her and then fled...
That's why his bedroom was so tidy, because he didn't sleep last night, so there were dirty dishes piled on the table in his living room, and his indoor slippers were nowhere to be found, and the door was not even closed.
Because he came home drunk and left home and committed the murder. "
Kogumaru's reasoning was very logical, and he basically incorporated most of the clues and intelligence they had obtained so far.
This made the boy feel relieved. This kid did have a lot of potential to be a detective. If he really couldn't make it in other places in the future, he might consider developing in this direction.
Of course, the boy did not say this out loud, because what he was thinking at this moment was slightly different from what Kogumaru was thinking.
"Little Karasuma."
Turning his head to look at the dark street outside the window, the boy called out Kokarasuma's last name, which was very rare.
"Have you ever seen a tree with only a trunk and no branches?"
Chapter 632 What about me?
"Karasuma-chan, have you ever seen a tree with only a trunk and no branches?"
Turning his head to look at the dark street outside the window, the boy called out Kokarasuma's last name, which was very rare.
"A tree without branches?" Xiao Wuwan was stunned for a moment. Although she didn't know why the boy suddenly asked this, she still thought about it seriously and replied:
"I'm not sure, but I guess not?"
After all, normally growing trees need branches to support and spread more leaves to carry out photosynthesis and respiration. Even if the climate environment is different, the branches should only differ in size. There is no such thing as a big tree with only a trunk but no branches.
"Unless it has been trimmed artificially." Xiao Wuwan added.
When she was in the United States, she occasionally saw some sanitation workers manually trimming unnecessary branches from roadside trees.
"Yes, unless it has been trimmed artificially." The boy nodded slightly as she said this.
"Huh?"
The boy's words obviously had something else in mind, and Xiao Wuhuan was stunned again when he heard it.
Trimmed by humans? What does this wooden man mean? What is he trying to say?
and many more!
Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his mind, and Xiao Wuwan suddenly realized.
"Wooden Man, are you trying to say that someone has tampered with this case, and that the information we have investigated now was deliberately guided by the person behind the scenes?!"
"I do think so." The boy nodded slightly.
"One of the two important nodes in this case is the student from another school who was said to have invited the deceased, Kyoko, to spend the night at his home last night. Apart from hearing about this from the Muraki couple, we still don't have any clues related to him.
But even the Muraki couple only heard about this incident from the deceased, and did not know the specific situation of this so-called "student from another school". The deceased's teachers and classmates in the school knew nothing about it, so it was completely an isolated testimony.
Not to mention, the claim that the deceased had friends from other schools was a rumor that was spread by word of mouth.
Analyzing from these perspectives, the information from the Muraki couple that "the deceased went to a friend's house from another school to spend the night last night" is extremely unreliable, and since there is no other source of information, we cannot even disprove this information.
This is the first point that makes me suspicious. The second point is Mr. Hanada. Although your reasoning just now, Kokarasuma, is very good, there are too many coincidences in it.
Mr. Hanada is an honest and cowardly person. Although he went to the Muraki family to ask for an explanation after his daughter's death, he soon fell silent after the police intervened and warned him. He just stayed at home drinking and never caused any trouble for the Muraki family again.
A person with such a personality would never commit murder, even if he was drunk, unless he was suddenly and extremely stimulated.
According to the neighbors around Hanada's home, Mr. Hanada's mood did not fluctuate much at least when he returned home from get off work last night, and he was as depressed as usual.
Judging from the fact that he still has the mood to cook for himself and keep his house clean, what these neighbors said should be correct. "
"Then, could it be that Mr. Hanada got drunk at home last night, and someone suddenly came and instigated him, causing him to..."
"Doesn't this further prove that there is another mastermind behind the murder of classmate Anzi?" The boy interrupted Kogumaru and asked.
“Yeah, that’s right…”
"If my guess is correct, we may never find the missing Mr. Hanada..." The boy looked out the dark car window again and suddenly said.
"Eh?"
“After all, if there really is another murderer behind this case, then Mr. Hanada can only be a poor man who is used as a scapegoat.
If he could be found by the police, the plot of the murderer behind the scenes would be completely exposed. Therefore, it would be best if Mr. Hanada could flee for fear of crime and disappear.
This will not only draw the police's attention to him and protect the real murderer behind the scenes, but also prevent the police from ever catching the murderer and solving the case, turning this case into an unsolved case as time goes by."
Just like the example the boy just gave, this case is like a "big tree that has been trimmed by humans". Its trunk is extremely prominent, but it has no branches.
From the moment the investigation began, the police seemed to have walked into a path that had already been paved by the murderer behind the scenes. All the "branches" that could be used for verification had been cut cleanly, and they could only passively follow this single "trunk" towards the predetermined destination that would never be found.
"So what should we do next?" asked Kougamaru. This was her first time participating in such an investigation and she had no experience in dealing with such a situation.
"Just continue investigating." The boy said without hesitation, "No matter how ingenious a plan is, there will always be flaws. Don't stop searching for Mr. Hanada. Issue a wanted order and search as much as possible."
The boy obviously said the last sentence to the two detectives in the car.
"Yes."
"What about me? What about me?" Xiao Wuhuan pointed at himself and asked hurriedly.
"It's getting late, you should go back to sleep." The boy glanced at her and replied.
"Huh?!" She suddenly became unhappy, "Didn't you agree to let me join the investigation?!"
"I'll let you know when there's progress. Go to class tomorrow. If you feel free, go investigate the information about the deceased's 'friend from another school' at school."
"I always feel like I was just dismissed by someone..." Xiao Wuhuan curled his lips immediately, but did not insist any more.
"parking."
The boy didn't say anything else and shouted to the detective who was driving.
The police car stopped immediately. Not far ahead was the cemetery where the deceased classmate Xingzi was found this morning.
The boy picked up the flashlight in the car, opened the door, and said, "I'm going to take another look at the scene. You guys take Miss Karasuma home."
"Yes."
"I also……"
"Go home and sleep."
"Hey?!"
Without giving Xiao Wuwan any chance to speak, the boy closed the car door and the police car accelerated and sped away.
Watching the police car drive away and looking at the frustrated expression of Xiao Wuhuan in the rear window, the boy's mouth corners slightly raised.