Chapter 563: Murder Case Caused by Unequal Distribution of Loot

Chapter 563: Murder Case Caused by Unequal Distribution of Loot

Miwako Sato perked up: "Who is the murderer?" She suddenly understood why Inspector Megure always looked happy every time he saw Yuya.

While she was still wondering where the owner of Shirai was killed and how the pets were transported to the pet shop, Yuya actually already knew who the murderer was?

Yuya coughed lightly, then said, "Let's put aside the question of who the murderer is for now and focus on the beetle theft case in front of us."

Miwako Sato was a little confused: "Is there any connection between these two cases?"

Yuya smiled and said, "What if I say that the criminal who stole the beetle is the murdered Mr. Shirai?"

"What?" The others showed surprised expressions.

Miwako Sato immediately raised a question: "But according to Mr. Ninomiya's testimony, when he called at 6 pm yesterday, Mr. Shirai was still in the store, and the train was stolen at 7 pm. He didn't have time to commit the crime, right?"

Yuya smiled slightly: "Why is Officer Sato so sure that Mr. Shirai is in the pet store?"

Miwako Sato was stunned for a moment: "Of course it's because when Mr. Ninomiya was on the phone, he heard the sound of a frog? The frog must be from his store, right? And he called the pet store too."

Yuya shook his head: "No, he was using Mr. Ninomiya's phone as an alibi, so he specifically told him to call him at six o'clock and make an appointment to meet at ten o'clock the next day. As for the phone, he only needs to use the call forwarding function to transfer the calls to the store to his mobile phone."

Sato Miwako nodded thoughtfully: "What you said is indeed feasible, but how do you explain the frog's call?"

Yuya reminded: "Officer Sato, do you remember the empty bottle on the deceased? There was a fishy smell in it. At that time, I speculated that it might be the smell of frogs."

Miwako Sato thought for a moment, her eyes fixed. "You mean, Mr. Shirai put the frog in an empty bottle, and deliberately let the other party hear it during the call. Then he saw the frog in the store the next day, so that Mr. Ninomiya would mistakenly believe that he was in the pet store at the time, and then his alibi would be established?"

Yuya nodded. "That's right. In fact, he was already near the museum at that time. After the call ended, he lay in ambush and waited for the right moment to steal the truck containing the beetle."

Miwako Sato pinched her chin and said, "Well, your reasoning does make sense."

"So the culprit in the beetle theft case has been found, but who killed Mr. Shirai?" asked Miwako Sato puzzledly.

Yuya's eyes moved, and then he said: "In fact, there were two people who stole the truck at that time."

"Two?" Sato Miwako narrowed her eyes. "Could it be that accomplice who killed Mr. Shirai?"

Yuya nodded, "That's right. After the two stole the truck, they had an argument on the way out for some reason, and the accomplice killed Mr. Shirai in anger."

"The murderer deliberately moved the body to the pet store in order to make people think that Mr. Shirai was killed in the pet store. The sound of the rolling door opening that the neighbors heard at five o'clock was the sound left by the murderer when he opened the door."

Sato Miwako was a little puzzled: "But why do we have to go in the morning? Where was the body during that long period of time?"

Yuya said: "In the truck that originally contained the beetles, the leaf mold on the body of the deceased and the corks of the empty bottles left in the truck are the evidence.

After the murderer moved the beetles away, he lowered the temperature of the air conditioner, which accelerated the drop in the body temperature and brought the time of death forward to around 6pm.

"In this way, the murderer only needs to be somewhere in the evening where someone can testify for him, and his alibi will be established."

Sato Miwako said in a deep voice: "I see. This explains why the body's temperature dropped too quickly."

"The murderer probably did this because he heard the conversation between Mr. Shirai and Mr. Ninomiya and knew that he had used the other party to forge an alibi, so he deliberately transported the body back to the pet shop and messed up the rooms inside to create the illusion of a burglary.

If the time of death was moved forward to 9 o'clock, people would mistakenly believe that Mr. Shirai was killed after talking to Mr. Ninomiya on the phone. Unfortunately, he lacked experience in killing people and did not expect the police to correctly infer that the time of death was between 10 and o'clock in the evening. "

Sato Miwako's mouth twitched slightly: What do you mean by lack of experience in killing people? Is there such a thing as experience or not?

"Then, the murderer who had agreed to come here today drove a truck here and abandoned the truck in the nearby mountains."

Yuya moved his gaze to Ishida Ryuji and asked, "Mr. Ishida, you actually know Mr. Shirai, right?"

Ishida Ryuji subconsciously retorted: "No, I'm not..."

Yuya interrupted him directly: "If you didn't know him, why did you say directly that Mr. Shirai was killed in Tokyo when we first came here? Obviously, neither Officer Sato nor I mentioned this matter."

In an instant, Sato Miwako's sharp eyes fell on Ishida Takashi.

"Mr. Ishida? Can you explain?"

Ishida Takashi was sweating profusely and stammered, "I... I just know his pet shop, but I don't actually know him personally."

"Really?" Yuya smiled slightly, not dwelling on this topic any more, "There is one more thing I want to ask, how did Mr. Ishida get to Gunma?"

Ishida Takashi said: "I drove here by myself."

"I see," Youye nodded in realization, "If that's the case, then we should be able to find your vehicle's passing record in the surveillance at the highway intersection, right?"

Ishida Ryuji's expression suddenly changed: "I, I..."

"Also," Yuya took out the beetle pendant given to him by Haruna Saburo from his pocket, "where is the cell phone pendant that the museum gave you yesterday?"

Ishida Takashi: "I gave it to a kid I know..."

Yuya smiled and said, "In that case, can you provide me with the child's contact information? If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Shirai's dandruff should be detectable on the lanyard, right? Because..."

"You strangled Mr. Shirai with that hanging rope!"

"There are rope marks on the back of your neck. I guess he pulled off the phone you had hanging on your chest during your argument. In that case, there might still be Mr. Shirai's fingerprints on your phone if you didn't think to wipe it off."

Ishida Takashi was silent for a while, then suddenly smiled bitterly: "That's right, I didn't even think about wiping fingerprints. I'm afraid my phone is covered with his fingerprints, right?"

"That guy always cheats me every time he divides the spoils after selling the beetles, saying that I just followed him in and out and didn't put in any effort, and he only gives me very little money!"

Youye curled his lips. Well, it turned out that the murder was caused by rage due to uneven distribution of the spoils. This is a fairly common reason.