Chapter 561: The murdered shopkeeper, the stolen beetle

Chapter 561: The murdered shopkeeper, the stolen beetle

This time, the hardworking subordinate who arrived at the scene was Miwako Sato.

Inspector Megure was said to have another case to deal with and had no time, and when he heard that Yuya was also there, he sent Sato Miwako over. It didn't matter who came anyway, they all would help the famous detective.

Miwako Sato ordered the forensic officer to inspect the scene and began routine questioning.

"I see. Yuya-kun wanted to buy a pet, but he found that the shutter door of the pet shop was not locked. He came in to check and found that the owner was dead."

"Yes."

Miwako Sato tapped the manual with her pen and asked, "So you should have checked the scene? Did you find anything?"

Yuya said: "There were marks of being strangled by a thin rope on the deceased's neck, which should be the cause of death, but no rope suspected to be a murder weapon was found at the scene.

In addition, there was some dirt and rotten leaves on the deceased's clothes, and there was an empty bottle in his pocket, but the bottle cap was not found. I just checked it briefly, and the scene remained the same. "

Miwako Sato took a look at the body and found that the pockets were bulging. The forensic officer hurriedly checked the pockets and found an empty bottle inside, which he put in an evidence bag.

"Can't find the bottle cap? And why would the deceased have an empty bottle in his pocket?"

Yuya continued, "I don't know, but it's normal that you can't find it, because this is not the first crime scene."

Sato Miwako's eyes narrowed. "What? You mean, the deceased was strangled to death somewhere else and then brought here?"

Yuya nodded. "Yes, if the deceased was killed in the store, according to the position where he fell, his legs should be straight after the body stiffened, but now they are bent, which means that the body stiffened during transportation, so it maintains this posture."

"The murderer overlooked this point in order to disguise the victim as being killed in the store. If I'm not mistaken, this should be a spur-of-the-moment murder case, otherwise this point would not be overlooked."

Miwako Sato nodded, thinking that Yuya's analysis made sense.

She turned to look at the man next to Yuya and asked, "Are you Mr. Ninomiya? What are you doing here?"

Ninomiya Yuya quickly told him about his plan to buy the beetle: "The store manager told me to call him at six last night to confirm whether it had arrived, and then arranged to meet at the store at ten this morning."

Miwako Sato asked, "Was there anything unusual about his voice at that time?"

Ninomiya Yuya recalled and shook his head, "No. But I heard the sound of a frog or some animal."

"Scream?" Miwako Sato was confused.

As if to echo Ninomiya Yuya's words, the frog in the store suddenly croaked.

Miwako Sato hesitated for a moment and said, "Can I ask where you were yesterday?"

Ninomiya Yuya recalled and said: "Yesterday I slept until noon, and worked in the factory from 3pm to 10pm..."

"Oh, could this be the beetle the manager brought me?" Ninomiya Yuya suddenly shouted in surprise.

Miwako Sato was surprised to see the beetle lying in the cupboard: "There are still beetles in this season?"

Ninomiya Yuya smiled and explained, "I heard that there is a place in Gunma that can provide beetles all year round, so I asked the store manager to see if he could help me buy some..."

Yuya glanced at the beetle and his eyes fell on the wall. On it was a promotional poster for the Gunma Insect Museum, and the image was an enlarged beetle.

He suddenly thought of something and turned to look at Sato Miwako: "Officer Sato, can you show me that empty bottle?"

Sato Miwako was stunned for a moment, and although she was a little confused, she still handed the evidence bag to Yuya.

Yuya opened the bag, sniffed it, and frowned slightly.

"What's wrong?" Sato Miwako asked quickly.

Youya sealed the bag and frowned, "There is a fishy smell in this bottle. I thought it was from an armored beetle, but it doesn't seem to be..."

He turned around and glanced around the pet shop, his eyes finally falling on the frog: "If I have to say, it might be the fishy smell of the frog?"

Miwako Sato was a little confused: "Why does the bottle smell like frog?"

Yuya stroked his chin and pointed at the sea report on the wall: "I have a guess... Officer Sato, maybe we need to go to this insect museum."

Miwako Sato looked at the poster with a confused expression: Insect Museum? Gunma Prefecture?

···

Miwako Sato drove Yuya and Shiho Miyano to the Insect Museum in Gunma Prefecture.

Unexpectedly, I met an acquaintance as soon as I entered the museum - Shancun Cao.

"Isn't this the famous detective Yuya?" Yamamura Cao ran over excitedly when he saw Yuya, "You came just in time, let me see your reasoning show!"

Yuya looked confused, "What?"

Yamamura Cao touched the back of his head again and said awkwardly, "That's true. It shouldn't be the turn of a famous detective to catch a mere beetle thief."

Yuya was stunned for a moment, and looked at Sato Miwako, squinting his eyes and said: "Officer Yamamura, perhaps you need to tell us the details of what happened."

Yamamura Cao then noticed that there was a very heroic woman beside Youya, and asked tentatively: "Who is this..."

Miwako Sato took out the police handbook and said, "Hello, I'm Sato from the Metropolitan Police Department. Can you explain in detail about the beetle thief you just mentioned?"

Shancuncao nodded blankly: "Of course no problem, you guys follow me..."

Yamamura Cao brought Youye and a few others to the edge of a forest where a small truck was parked.

"I received a report from the museum that a truck was stolen. We just found the stolen truck."

"So, is this really the truck you lost?" Yamamura Cao asked a young man named Araki Yutaka who was standing next to the truck.

Araki Yutaka nodded and said, "Yes, it's this one."

The museum's insect researcher, Saburo Haruna, opened the trunk and couldn't help but sigh: "All the beetles in the car are gone!"

Shancuncao guessed: "I'm afraid the criminals prepared another car to move the beetles."

Miwako Sato asked, “When was the beetle stolen?”

Yamamura said, "It was around seven o'clock last night. Mr. Araki from the museum and Mr. Haruna, a beetle researcher, put the beetles in the trunk and returned to the museum to deal with some things. Someone took advantage of this opportunity and drove the truck away."

At this time, a man nearby said with some reluctance: "I didn't expect that those precious beetles were stolen after I left yesterday."

Sato Miwako looked at the man, and Yamamura So hurried over to introduce him, "This is the editor of Insect Magazine, Mr. Ishida."

Ishida Ryuji looked a little sad, as if he was feeling aggrieved about the beetle being stolen.