Chapter 168: Direction of Investigation
Ten Minutes Later - Teito Bank Lobby
The bank was deserted. Police tape had been strung up at the entrance, and only a few passersby occasionally pointed and whispered about the incident.
Some well-informed reporters were also waiting at the entrance, ready to get firsthand information about the case.
Murders happened daily in Beika City, and the citizens were used to them—it was other cases that attracted attention.
The most eye-catching thing was the amount stolen this time.
"What? You said there was a total of one billion yen?"
Kogoro exclaimed in disbelief, his mouth agape. "With so much money, why didn't you even notice when the armored truck arrived at the parking lot? You even had the side door closed!"
Inspector Megure had the same question. He'd heard from Kogoro that the side door was closed when the armored truck arrived, which seemed illogical.
Moreover, banks usually have surveillance cameras at the armored truck parking area. Even if the door was closed, the staff in the monitoring room should have noticed the robbery taking place.
Manager Otsuka smiled wryly. "The roller shutter suddenly malfunctioned this morning. Hirota Masami-san told me about it after she came to work, and we haven't had time to get it repaired yet.
As for the security cameras, the side door camera broke three days ago. The repairman we usually work with was supposed to come yesterday, but he was in a car accident the night before and is still in the hospital. So the security camera issue has been delayed."
"I see. That's really unfortunate." Kogoro stroked his chin, trying to recall any other clues from the case.
The long-haired armored car guard had died from excessive blood loss before the police arrived. Including the other two guards, a total of three people died in this case, and one billion yen was stolen.
Even in Beika City, this was a shocking crime.
"How could it be a coincidence?!"
Conan gritted his teeth. Uncle Mouri has been helping solve cases for so long—can't he see that this is way too convenient?
"What else could it be but a coincidence?" Kogoro stared at Conan with deadpan eyes. "Are you suggesting someone deliberately damaged the roller shutter and sabotaged the security cameras?"
Kogoro paused, exchanging a glance with Inspector Megure. The two suddenly began to warily scrutinize all the employees of Teito Bank standing before them.
This wasn't without reason—many bank robberies involved inside help, and this one might be no different.
Indeed, the simultaneous malfunction of both the roller shutter and the security cameras was highly suspicious.
"Otsuka-kachou, are all the employees here?" Inspector Megure asked.
"Yes." Manager Otsuka looked around, then frowned slightly. He glanced at the supervisor standing at the front of the group of employees and said, "Where's Masami-san? I remember she was the one who reported the broken roller shutter to me this morning. Why haven't I seen her?"
Manager Otsuka was quite interested in this employee who had been in training for two and a half months. He had initially decided to hire her not for any professional reason, but because of her good looks.
He'd hoped that hiring her would give him certain advantages, but Hirota Masami had stubbornly refused his advances, even with financial incentives.
Despite the failed pursuit, he remained interested, and Hirota Masami fueled his desire to win her over. He believed that persistence would eventually pay off.
"Did Masami-san tell you the roller shutter was broken?" Conan asked.
"Yes!" Otsuka glanced at Conan, puzzled. "Is there a problem?"
"But just now, didn't you open the electric roller shutter yourself?"
Conan pointed at the shutter, confused. "The roller shutter isn't broken at all!"
Otsuka paused, trying to recall how he'd exited earlier.
He did seem to have opened the shutter.
And now the shutter was indeed open, functioning normally.
He hadn't even considered this detail until the child pointed it out.
To verify, he took the remote from his pocket and pressed the button controlling the shutter, which was already at its maximum height.
A buzzing sound rang out, and the roller shutter responded, closing completely in less than ten seconds.
"..."
Everyone was stunned.
"It seems this Hirota Masami-san is highly suspicious!"
"Maybe Hirota Masami is the inside person!" Conan whispered in Kogoro's ear.
Uncle Mouri is always captivated by beautiful women and doesn't want to believe they could be criminals, so I need to gently correct his thinking.
"Who's highly suspicious?"
A voice reached their ears.
"Natsukawa-san! What brings you here?"
Inspector Megure exclaimed in surprise. With two of the most capable people together, this case will surely be solved quickly.
The one billion yen heist was a huge burden for him.
Setting aside the amount, the fact that three people died made it a major case.
Although cases occurred frequently in Tokyo, most were mundane matters like domestic disputes and debt conflicts.
Armed robbery and murder were rare, especially considering the huge sum involved and the multiple deaths. The fact that the robbers were armed with submachine guns made it particularly serious, especially in the capital.
"I was planning to come and withdraw some cash, but it looks like that's not going to happen now." Natsukawa shook his head in mock frustration.
"Let's put the cash withdrawal aside for now. Since you're here, Natsukawa-san, you might as well help me out."
Inspector Megure then explained the case to Natsukawa in detail.
Many hands make light work, and Inspector Megure was adept at resource coordination.
"Didn't you get any useful information?" Natsukawa asked.
Inspector Megure and Kogoro exchanged glances and shrugged, indicating they didn't know much yet.
Conan pondered for a moment before deciding to share what he knew. Although he desperately wanted to find the culprits single-handedly, he knew there was little a child could do alone.
"I heard from the deceased long-haired armored car guard that they were supposed to change vehicles at Beika Bridge."
"What?!" ×2
Kogoro bonked Conan on the forehead. "Why didn't you mention something so important sooner?!"
"I was so nervous I forgot! The more important thing was trying to save the guard's life!"
Conan grimaced, clutching his head, and ran behind Natsukawa for protection.
Of all of them, only Natsukawa-san is relatively gentle and won't hit a child so easily.
Even a shot to the heart didn't kill him immediately...
Natsukawa was somewhat suspicious that this was intentional on the part of fate itself, leaving Conan with some clues.
His order had been to shoot the man in the chest, yet he hadn't died instantly—it was too unexpected.
But the problem was, he was dead nonetheless. Judging from Conan's serious expression, it seemed he'd even obtained some clues about the Organization.
Next, the remaining two robbers would also die. This would be handled by other peripheral members, with him in overall command.
And then there was Miyano Akemi.
Gin had instructed him to kill Miyano Akemi personally, since she was Sherry's sister, and Gin didn't quite trust the peripheral members with such an important task.
Natsukawa had outwardly agreed, but in reality, he didn't intend to kill her. Instead, he wanted to save her life. This was the main reason he'd suggested to Gin that he handle the Suzuki dog kidnapping operation.
Speaking of which, Miyano Akemi and the two robbers should have already changed vehicles and left by now.
"Inspector Megure, let's go check it out quickly! And we should investigate Masami-san too. If she really is one of the robbers, she's not at the bank right now—she must have met up with the other two robbers and escaped."
Inspector Megure nodded, waved his hand, and led several police cars away.
Ran was sent home. She'd originally wanted to take Conan with her, but Conan refused, and it was only after Natsukawa intervened that Ran gave up.
Ten Minutes Later - Beika Bridge
The police cars stopped at the edge of Beika Bridge, and several forensic personnel carrying equipment boxes walked toward the van at the bottom of the steep slope beneath the bridge.
"It's confirmed that this is the vehicle used in the robbery. There's no one inside, only three hoods. It seems that, just as Mouri-san mentioned before, there are three robbers."
"Of course! I heard it with my own ears—there's absolutely no mistake. That long-haired guard was an accomplice of these three. Because he didn't die immediately, I was able to obtain this valuable information."
Kogoro put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest proudly.
Conan: ...
Doesn't this guy know he's just repeating what I told him?
But that was just how Uncle Mouri operated. Conan was used to it, and it actually made him feel safer.
Especially since this case involved the Black Organization—he needed to be extremely cautious and couldn't expose himself.
"Uncle Natsukawa, shall we go down and take a look?" Conan tugged at Natsukawa's sleeve and whispered, "I know Masami-neesan. Maybe we can find something at the scene and confirm if she's one of the accomplices."
Natsukawa nodded in agreement and led Conan toward the crime scene.
Inspector Megure and Kogoro stayed on the road to review surveillance footage sent by the traffic police on their laptop.
Beika Bridge, being an important transportation facility, had surveillance cameras.
The two wanted to use this method to find out what vehicle the robbers had switched to, which was crucial for the subsequent pursuit.
However, their idea was clearly unrealistic. Conan had already noticed that the surveillance cameras at the bridge didn't cover this particular area.
Besides, these robbers were clearly well-prepared. They'd even sabotaged the bank's surveillance cameras—they couldn't possibly be careless here.
"What's this?" Natsukawa asked, watching as forensic personnel placed a black knitted item into a transparent evidence bag.
"A hood. All three robbers' hoods are here." The forensic officer placed the hoods side by side in Natsukawa's hands and continued collecting evidence.
The personnel's proficiency made Natsukawa feel a pang of sympathy.
How many cases must they have worked to be able to hand over evidence so skillfully?
"Uncle Natsukawa, let me see!" Conan grabbed the hoods and began examining them carefully.
Before long, he noticed something wrong with one of them.
"This is..." There were two red marks inside one of the hoods that looked somewhat strange.
Conan brought it to his nose and sniffed it.
Natsukawa: ...
Is that really appropriate?
"These are lipstick marks, right?" Natsukawa pointed out to Conan.
As a man with a girlfriend, he was no stranger to these kinds of things.
Conan was different—at seventeen, he was still single. He had a childhood friend but hadn't confessed yet. No wonder he's single. No wonder he couldn't recognize what it was at first glance.
Lipstick...
Conan couldn't help but think of bank employee Hirota Masami. The color of this lipstick was very similar to Hirota Masami's lip color.
As for the scent—yes, he'd just smelled it—it did have a vaguely familiar quality.
That's right! It's Hirota Masami!
Conan searched the van for a long time, but apart from a few empty metal boxes lying on the ground, he found nothing else.
There weren't even any fingerprints, hair, or skin cells in the vehicle, showing how cautious the robbers had been.
"Natsukawa-san, should we go check Hirota Masami's house? If she's a robber, maybe we can find something there."
It was basically confirmed that Hirota Masami was one of the robbers, but now the question wasn't who the robber was, but where they had gone.
The robbers had changed vehicles, and the police couldn't locate the new vehicle in a short time. They could only look for clues at Hirota Masami's residence.
Natsukawa nodded and returned to the roadside. "Inspector Megure, how did it go? Did you find out what car they switched to?"
Inspector Megure sighed and shook his head. "No. This spot happens to be a blind spot for the surveillance cameras. They didn't cross Beika Bridge when they left."
Natsukawa nodded. This was within his expectations, because he had chosen this vehicle-switching location himself. There wouldn't be any problems.
"In that case, Inspector Megure, perhaps you could continue investigating along this road. There are convenience stores at most intersections, and most of these stores have surveillance cameras facing the street. Check the footage from nearby convenience stores at each intersection—maybe you can find something."
Conan raised his hand to offer his suggestion.
This method was rather tedious, but tedious had its advantages, and at least it was the most effective option at this moment.
"The robbers left Teito Bank at 12:30 PM. At normal speeds, it takes about fifteen minutes to get here from the bank.
Inspector Megure can use 12:45 as a starting point and calculate the time it takes for the robbers to reach each intersection. This should help narrow down suspicious vehicles.
If the robbers didn't turn at any intersection and left the city directly along this road, then there's nothing we can do. But if they stayed in the area, this is a great breakthrough."
Conan's words stunned everyone present. Even Natsukawa was somewhat impressed.
As expected of a famous detective—he even thought of this method.
Natsukawa had been considering whether to reveal some information, but he hadn't expected Conan to come up with a solution so quickly.
"Kid! Don't interfere with our investigation!"
Kogoro was about to punch Conan, but Natsukawa quickly pulled the boy back, dodging the attack.
"Uncle Mouri, please don't be angry. Conan-kun's method might actually have merit. Although it's a bit time-consuming, it's still a relatively practical approach."
Natsukawa glanced at the surrounding officers and added, "Inspector Megure, I'd like to go to Hirota Masami's residence. Could you find someone to take us there?"
Inspector Megure nodded. "Yes, I was just planning to go to that armored car guard's house with Mouri-kun to investigate. Going to Hirota Masami's place will help divide the workload.
But you need to be careful—they haven't finished collecting evidence at Hirota Masami's residence yet, so be careful not to disturb the crime scene.
I'll have someone try Conan-kun's method. It does make considerable sense."
"Great!" Conan felt relieved. This method still has a chance of finding the three robbers, as long as they haven't left Tokyo!
"Takagi! Come here for a moment!"
"Yes, sir!" A tan-skinned, lean police officer with sharp eyes strode over. He was dressed in plainclothes, his hair slightly disheveled, making him easily recognizable.
Takagi walked up to the group and saluted Inspector Megure.
"Alright, you've been on the force for a while now. We don't need so much formality in Division One." Inspector Megure waved his hand. "Takagi, take Natsukawa-san to Hirota Masami's place and investigate the situation."
"But..." Takagi was about to say that the forensic team hadn't examined it yet, which wasn't in accordance with regulations.
Before he could finish speaking, Inspector Megure glared at him, silencing him immediately.
(End of Chapter)
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