CHAPTER 395: CHAPTER 295: FUJIWARA HOMARE’S FLAWLESS LOCKED-ROOM MURDER

On the other side, inside Nakagawara Police Station, Minamoto Tamako received the case file and immediately went to examine the scene.

This case is not so hard, yet not so simple either. On her way to the scene, she had already pieced together the details.

Earlier, Fujiwara Homare had run away from home for days, his whereabouts unknown, and had not returned.

She understood the specific reasons, after all, Fujiwara Homare returned with them—only, after returning, she did not inquire about Fujiwara Homare’s situation.

Originally, it was thought that Fujiwara Homare would go home right away, reunite with his parents, talk about how perilous it was on Cat Island, narrowly escaping death, seeing his parents again nearly moved him to tears... However, in reality, Fujiwara Homare did not return home, but instead called friends to go to a bar to get drunk together.

The crime occurred in the early hours yesterday. According to witnesses, Fujiwara Homare was at the bar as usual, flirting with a woman, then took her back to the hotel... Though he seemed somewhat tipsy, he was still sober, at least able to walk properly.

The following morning, today at six o’clock, the hotel staff was doing routine cleaning, saw there was no ’Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door, so they used the universal room card to open it, only to find the safety chain was latched — through the crack, the staff saw a woman’s corpse, slumped at the edge of the living room.

After being shocked, the staff reported to the manager, who decisively chose to call the police.

Nakagawara Police Station acted quickly, patrol police brought identification officers to handle the scene, collected the victim’s body, woke the sleeping Fujiwara Homare from bed, and took him to the interrogation room for questioning — after organizing the case file, it was handed over to Nakagawara Police Station for processing.

Kinosaki Shoujin took over the case file and was unsure how to investigate, after all, the suspect was the son of the Fujiwara family, also the son of the Director of Police...

But Minamoto Tamako didn’t care about these complexities, as a criminal police officer, her task is to find out the truth and clear the deceased’s name!

Minamoto Tamako continued to peruse the case records. The victim’s identity had been confirmed, her name was Yoshikawa Ritsuo, an elementary school English teacher. It’s said she had troubles recently, went to the bar to drown sorrows, and coincidentally met Fujiwara Homare, somehow got involved, and eventually was taken to the hotel by him, where she died the next day.

When she arrived at the hotel scene, a crowd had gathered at the entrance, several journalists were trying all means to squeeze inside.

Four or five patrol police blocked the entrance, continuously rebuking, but the reporters ignored them.

Seeing this, Minamoto Tamako adjusted her pants; it was her first field assignment, and she was wearing a suit and trousers, which were a bit oversized, too loose on her, needing a tight ladies’ belt.

Ha! Finally, it’s my time to shine!

She imagined the entrance of detective dramas, then cleared her throat and walked closer, snapped out her police badge.

Nakagawara patrol police recognized her, quickly moved the cordon, pushed aside reporters to make a path: "Senior Tamako, you’ve finally come..."

The journalists immediately turned their cameras towards Minamoto Tamako, snapping away. She blocked the lens with one hand, stepped into the scene, telling them not to take pictures, but inwardly appreciated it.

That’s more like it!

This is how a criminal police officer should be treated!

But she hadn’t rejoiced for long when the patrol police began rapidly conveying bad news — First, somehow the victim’s information had leaked out, possibly a witness recognized the deceased, or for other reasons, but the victim’s family and workplace knew about it.

Now the deceased’s family blocked the station asking for an explanation, reportedly the workplace also held a memorial, and it seemed only a matter of time before the suspect’s identity became known.

Minamoto Tamako felt this situation was familiar, the case had just occurred, yet public opinion was already boiling over, she seemed to have seen this somewhere before.

Upholding respect for the suspect’s privacy, no matter how the journalists inquired, she only responded with ’No comment’.

Minamoto Tamako entered the hotel room, closed the door to prevent journalists from peeking, meticulously put on shoe covers, a head cover, and gloves.

The patrol police followed, pointed to the hallway’s end near the living room, where a white outline was drawn: "The victim’s body was found here, lying prone..."

Minamoto Tamako slightly bent over, observing intently for a while, saw a lot of blood on the ground, many bloody handprints on the wall, and upon closer inspection, could see slight scratches, indicating the victim struggled before dying.

Afterwards, she followed the trace of blood, walked into the bedroom, where the bed was covered in blood, and the murder weapon lay on the bed.

A blood-stained fruit knife.

Minamoto Tamako took out a sealed bag, packed up the crucial evidence, carefully examined it for a while, confirmed the windows were locked, and no other entrances existed, nor were there signs of forced entry on the door...

In other words, this was a locked-room mystery!

Yes, finally a puzzle she excelled at!

Minamoto Tamako was thinking hard while messaging Fushimi Roku, trying to recruit Fushimi Roku to join... no, not trying, must get Mr. Fushimi to join!

After surveying the scene, she rushed to the morgue, and with the forensic doctor, conducted an autopsy.

Yoshikawa Ritsuo was a natural beauty, even after being dead for half a day, her corpse still carried a bittersweet sense of first love lost.

Minamoto Tamako and the forensic doctor clasped their hands together, as per custom paid respects to the deceased, then began the dissection.

The body showed no visible trauma, no bruises or scars, with food residue and alcohol in the stomach, multiple stab wounds on the back, the fatal injury likely being the ruptured spleen, which was the deepest stab.

After the autopsy was completed, it was time for pharmacological tests to rule out the possibility of poisoning. She couldn’t help with this part and could only wait for the lab results.

Minamoto Tamako had finished running back and forth just in time for the end of the workday—Kinosaki Shoujin called her, saying if she needed manpower, just ask, but don’t mention the establishment of a secret task force.

"Okay, okay, I know, I know, secrecy is needed! Trust me, I won’t leak anything!"

Minamoto Tamako repeatedly agreed, feeling she’d taken on an important secret mission. This case was very significant; there was no time to rest. She had to summon the main members of the mystery squad to help!

But Mr. Fu Jian wasn’t responding to her messages, so she decided to go home personally to ask Mr. Fu Jian for help—if he didn’t agree, she’d use Rabbit Coin!

Solving the case is a top priority; personal enjoyment must make way for it!

Minamoto Tamako unlocked the apartment with a key and was hit by the fragrant aroma of cooking coming her way. She didn’t have time to ponder what delicious thing Fushimi Roku was secretly eating again, swiftly slipped off her shoes, and dashed into the living room, loudly proclaiming, "It’s a super case! Fujiwara Section Chief committed a locked-room murder!"

...

The three people next door heard everything clearly.

Watanabe Shun’s eyes widened in surprise, wanting to ask who Fujiwara Homare was, muttering "Abaabaaba" for a while, but no one answered him; Moriyama Yasurou and Kazama Tatsuya wore serious expressions, exchanged glances, and both pressed paper cups to the wall, trying to listen more clearly.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Fushimi Roku was busy in the kitchen.

He heard the door open, quickly finished the sauce in the pan, striving to perfect tonight’s candlelit dinner.

Music was playing in the living room, fresh flowers were arranged in the vase on the dining table, and there was the gourmet meal he had personally cooked—the ambiance was so perfect that Yuzi Beast would undoubtedly be unable to resist confessing to him!

When the romantic feelings were mutual and deep, he planned to use shared expenses as an excuse to trick Minamoto Tamako’s bank card password from her.

Of course, he wouldn’t touch Minamoto Tamako’s own savings; he’d only transfer those twenty-five million to avoid arousing her suspicion.

With his understanding of Minamoto Tamako, that fellow would absolutely not use the ill-gotten money but would definitely donate it for charity... His life was rather tough; why let it go to outsiders, better donate it to him.

However, Minamoto Tamako’s first words upon entering made him slightly surprised.

Fujiwara Homare actually dared to commit murder?

And in a locked-room murder...he actually had the brains to arrange a locked room?

Fushimi Roku regained his composure, shook his head, thinking the matter was insignificant, what did Fujiwara Homare committing murder have to do with him?

He adjusted his state, squeezed out a flawless fake smile, so perfect that anyone witnessing it would commend his deep feelings: "You’re back? Hungry? Let’s talk about the case later, let’s eat first!"

Minamoto Tamako was already immune; she stood at the玄关 turn, expression wary.

Last time Mr. Fu Jian pretended to be a sunny boy, she utterly detested it; she disliked such insincerity, it was utterly hypocritical, clearly up to no good!

Rarely did Mr. Fu Jian cook; today was indeed unusual... What bad thing was he up to again? Or was he planning something bad?

Although his smile was fake, the food on the table wasn’t, and Mr. Fu Jian’s culinary skills were impeccable. Minamoto Tamako swallowed down her saliva and approached, noticing the dining table was arranged with roasted cod and soy-glazed eel, as well as steaming hot potato curry beef brisket – perfect for mixing with rice!

"Hm... okay, let’s eat and talk."

Minamoto Tamako obediently sat at the table; Taira Sakurako also came out of her room and sat beside her, waiting for dinner.

Even when investigating a case, one must first fill their stomach; as the saying goes, sharpening a knife does not delay chopping firewood!

Minamoto Tamako impatiently served herself rice, scooped a big bowl with rice overflowed from the edge, while she kept talking: "Rested well enough? Seeing as you have the mind to cook, you should be okay, right?"

Fushimi Roku couldn’t say his state of mind was poor; saying so would spoil the mood. If he showed low spirits, Minamoto Tamako would certainly feel embarrassed to confess.

"Hm, no problem at all." he casually replied.

"If that’s the case, then come investigate the case with me!" Minamoto Tamako reached out with a spoon, scooped some steaming hot curry, drizzled it over her rice, then picked up a piece of eel, placed it over the rice, preparing to chew it down in one bite.

Taira Sakurako liked eating beef brisket; she secretly helped herself to several pieces, her bowl piled high like a mountain of beef brisket.

"The investigation can wait for now..."

Fushimi Roku was ready to speak some warm and tender words but was sternly interrupted by Minamoto Tamako: "How can we wait? Lives are at stake; as soon as we finish eating, we head out. Next, we need to question Fujiwara Section Chief himself..."

She puffed her cheeks, munching away, and muttered faintly, "Uh, we shouldn’t call him Fujiwara Section Chief now; now we call him suspect Fujiwara Homare."