NABC Page 33
Page 33
"On my first day at work, Death is making me work overtime?"
Matsuda got out of the car and had just raised his hand when Conan cleverly hid behind Mori.
Conan retorted, "I'm not the Grim Reaper. This case was clearly summoned by Uncle Mori!"
"What do you mean I summoned them? You brat!"
Kogoro Mouri skillfully punched Conan on the head, then smugly remarked...
"This is clearly an event calling upon me, the great detective!"
"Ha ha……"
Matsuda and Conan couldn't help but show the same expression.
"Alright, stop arguing," Inspector Megure coughed. "What's going on, Mori-kun?"
"The crime scene is over here,"
As Mori led the way, he briefly explained what had happened.
In short, Kogoro Mouri was given the task he excelled at: investigating extramarital affairs.
Then he brought his daughter Ran and Conan to the house of the deceased Maru Fukujiro.
I'm preparing to report the results of my investigation into his wife's infidelity to Marujiro.
Midway through, Marujiro went out to greet a guest.
When the Mori family saw Marujiro again, he was already dead!
Led by Mori, the group arrived at the house where the crime occurred.
The room was covered with countless sword marks, and Marujiro was pinned to a pillar by a samurai sword.
He was still holding a samurai sword in his hand, suggesting that he had engaged in a fierce battle with his killer before he died.
The forensic officers started working on their own without needing to give instructions.
The doctor who was acting suspiciously near the mansion was Dr. Hatano.
Akutsu Sei, an artist, borrowed 1000 million yen from Marufujiro by pledging his own sculptures and asked Marufujiro for an extension on the repayment period.
And Zou Fangyu, who also borrowed 500 million yen from Marujiro, but this time came to repay the money.
Inspector Megure began questioning them about their situation.
Matsuda stood in front of the cabinet covered in sword marks.
The discontinuous sword marks on the drawer gave Matsuda a sense of familiarity. Where had he seen this scene before?
correct!
Matsuda suddenly remembered!
Isn't this a scene from Young Justice Bao?
"Madam, what do you usually keep in this cabinet?" Matsuda asked the deceased's wife.
“Usually it’s just a bunch of random odds and ends, like keys,” Mrs. Marufu thought for a moment.
“Then please take a look, Madam,” Matsuda asked. “Are the drawers on these cabinets in the wrong places?”
"What's wrong, Matsuda? Is there a problem with the cabinet?" Inspector Megure asked.
Is there anything suspicious about the cabinet?
Conan's attention also turned in this direction.
Soon, he also realized that something was wrong!
Damn it! How come I didn't notice that just now!
Matsuda beat them to it again!
“Inspector, there’s something wrong with the sword marks on these drawers,” Matsuda casually pointed to two spots. “Look here, the sword marks are quite deep here, but they suddenly disappear where the drawer meets the cabinet.”
"That's right, if it was a sword strike, the sword mark should extend further!"
Inspector Megure patted his hat, suddenly realizing what was going on.
“Officer, the drawers here have indeed been moved,”
Mrs. Wan rummaged through the drawers for a while.
"The key to the vault should usually be in this drawer,"
She pointed to a spot in the corner.
"But now it's actually come here."
Madam Wan Fu then pointed to a spot near the upper right.
“The deceased was killed by a sudden attack, so he couldn’t have moved these drawers on his own. Therefore, the person who moved the drawers is very likely the real murderer!” Matsuda said decisively. “Perhaps the deceased carved evidence against the murderer on this cabinet before he died, so the murderer rearranged the drawers to cover it up.”
"Incidentally, to make the sword marks on the cabinet less noticeable, sword marks were also carved in other places in the room!"
Matsuda pointed to the numerous marks scattered throughout the room.
"So," Inspector Megure said excitedly, "as long as we put the drawer back in its original place, we'll know who the murderer is!"
"Yes, as long as we match the sword marks on the drawers and cabinets, we should be able to find out the message left by the deceased."
After Matsuda finished speaking, he waved his hand, and two police officers immediately stepped forward and began to compare the sword marks on the drawers and cabinets one by one.
Everyone in the room was watching the two police officers' movements.
Soon, the results came out.
Looking at the two large "Zou Fang" signs on the cabinet...
Everyone's attention quickly turned to Zou Fangxiong Er, the only person in the room who was related to those two words!
“That’s impossible. Mr. Zou Fang was a master of swordsmanship, but the way the murderer held the sword in the deceased Mr. Maru Fujiro’s hand was wrong. If it were Mr. Zou Fang, he shouldn’t have made that mistake…”
Maori realized what he was saying halfway through his sentence.
"I understand now. The way the sword was held was wrong. Mr. Zou Fang deliberately made us think that the murderer did not understand swordsmanship!"
Chapter 40 A sharp tongue gets him into trouble
"That's right. The way the deceased held the sword incorrectly, the sword marks all over the house, and the deliberately disordered cabinets were all things the murderer did to try to cover up his actions."
Matsuda looked at Zou Fangyu, who had been silent since earlier.
"Am I right, Mr. Zou Fang?"
"...That's right,"
Zou Fangxiong sighed.
"As expected of a detective, he noticed the most crucial part as soon as he entered the room. I even deliberately didn't scratch the dragon carving and intentionally covered up Mr. Akutsu's recording with my own. I originally thought that this might be able to frame him for the murder."
What? There's another trick up your sleeve? Matsuda was stunned.
"Why? Didn't you come to return the money?" Inspector Megure questioned. "Why did you have to kill Mr. Marufujiro?"
"It's a knife."
Mr. Zou Fang explained the whole story with a wry smile.
It turns out that the martial arts school run by Zou Fangjia was facing difficulties.
Mr. Zou Fang needed a large sum of money for business operations, so he pawned his family heirloom sword, Kikuchiyo, to Mr. Marufujiro.
However, Mr. Marufujiro did not take good care of this famous sword.
He sold the mortgaged Kikuchiyo at a high price before the loan term expired.
When Mr. Zou came to repay the money today, he unexpectedly discovered that he had lost his family's treasured sword, Kikuchiyo, forever!
In a fit of rage, he killed her!
"Greed is the original sin,"
Matsuda looked at the body that the forensic personnel had already lowered from the pillar, and Marujiro.
If Zou Fang failed to repay the money by the deadline, then it would be understandable for Marufujiro to sell the pawned sword.
But you sold the collateral before the loan period was up?
Even loan sharks should have some professional ethics, right?
Thinking of this, Matsuda glanced at Marufujiro's wife.
Just now, in his incoherent rant, Mori has already revealed the whole affair between Mrs. Marufuku and Dr. Hatano.
Is it worth risking your life for money?
Matsuda squatted beside Marujiro's body, sighing with emotion.
"After you die, other men can live in your house, sleep with your wife, spend the money you worked so hard to embezzle, and incidentally, bully your children. Oh, right, you don't seem to have any children..."
"Cough cough!"
Inspector Megure suddenly coughed twice.
Matsuda looked up and saw Mrs. Marufuku and her lover, Dr. Hatano, both standing there with embarrassed expressions.
"To be honest, I was initially quite unwilling,"
The murderer, Zou Fangxiong Er, suddenly laughed.
"But after hearing what Inspector Matsuda said, I felt much better. This guy was so greedy when he was alive, but after he died, everything he accumulated in his life went to other men! Hahaha..."
"Ah!" Xiaolan suddenly screamed.
"What's wrong?" Kogoro Mouri, who dotes on his daughter, immediately expressed his concern.
"Just now, the corpse's eyeballs moved!" Xiaolan said in horror.
“How is that possible? This guy has been dead for hours,” Mori said irritably.
"It's also possible that someone simply touched the body by accident,"
Conan, not wanting Ran to be frightened, explained, "The body was moved earlier, and perhaps someone touched the body's eyes, which made Ran feel that the body's eyes were moving."