Conan: The truth lies only within the range of fire

Looking at the three people in front of him, Kamiya Minazuki was very happy. Finally, it was time to choose one of the three.

Soon, hardworking Officer Megure and Officer Takagi arrived at the crime scene with their men.

Officers Megure and Takagi are looking at Mr. Nishizu's body.

Officer Megure looked at the wounds on Mr. Nishizu's head and back and said, "The victim was bleeding profusely from the head, and there was also a deep wound on his back."

Officer Takagi said: "According to the coroner, the cause of death was probably a ruptured aorta caused by a sharp weapon stabbing the back."

Officer Megure frowned and asked, "A sharp weapon?"

Officer Takagi replied, "Yes, the murder weapon should be the long gun standing there, the one closest to the door. There are no fingerprints of the murderer on the gun handle. There are bloodstains on the tip of the gun, and there are marks of hitting something on the metal edge below."

Officer Takagi and Officer Megure both looked at the rifle near the door.

Officer Megure nodded: "Understood."

Officer Takagi continued, "Dr. Agasa first came to this room around 2 o'clock this afternoon. At that time, the victim, Mr. Nishizu, was still alive. This shows that the murderer must have hit the victim with a rifle. Dr. Agasa happened to come to find Mr. Nishizu, and the murderer was hiding in the closet or somewhere else.

When Dr. Agasa turned back to call the police and ambulance, the murderer picked up the gun again and stabbed the victim in the back, causing the victim's death.

Inspector Megure looked at Dr. Agasa at the door and asked, "Dr. Agasa, why are you here?"

Dr. Agasa quickly replied, "I asked Mr. Nishizu to help me identify an antique plate. I came here today to ask about the results. Mr. Kamiya and the others happened to be at my house, so I brought them over to have a look."

Inspector Megure looked at Mr. Nishizu's body and said, "You asked him to identify something. So..."

Officer Takagi took over Officer Megure's words and said, "Yes, Mr. Nishizu, who was murdered, was an appraiser of ancient art."

Officer Megure asked in confusion: "But why would an ancient art appraiser be murdered?"

Kamiya Minatsuki rolled his eyes. This question was as stupid as asking why we should eat.

Why was he brutally murdered? It must be because he had a grudge against someone.

Moreover, the ancient art appraiser was brutally murdered, most likely because he offended someone because of the ancient art.

Akai Shuichi guessed, "I think it might be because of that pile of black plates. I heard that someone commissioned him to help identify Chinese lacquerware artworks. If they are authentic, they are antiques worth tens of millions.

According to Dr. Agasa's recollection, Mr. Nishizu, who was dying with blood all over his head, fell in this room, and the antique plate was placed next to him, but now the plate is gone, so I wonder if the murderer's target is the pile of black plates. "

However, Inspector Megure directly denied Akai Shuichi's guess: "The pile of black disks you just mentioned is in the box over there."

Inspector Megure opened a box, and inside the box was a plate carved with a crane: "You are talking about this plate, right? This plate has not been stolen."

Conan pointed to the other two boxes and said, "There are two boxes of similar size next to that box. Take a look at what's inside."

Officer Megure opened the other two boxes and was immediately surprised: "Ah? How could this be? These three plates are exactly the same! What is going on?"

Conan said to Officer Megure: "I heard from the doctor that three people came to the appraiser to appraise the pile of black plates with the same pattern."

Ai Huihara looked at Inspector Megure with dead eyes and said, "They must have watched a treasure appraisal program, because a black disk worth 100 million yen was shown on the program."

"One, one hundred million yen?!"

Inspector Megure and Inspector Takagi were both stunned. One hundred million yen for a broken plate?

Sera Masumi said confidently: "The victim, Mr. Nishizu, called the three clients here today to explain to them in person the difference between the real thing and the fake. In fact, if you think about it casually, you should know that if you kill the appraiser and put the real plate in your own box, you can get a huge sum of money.

So, the murderer is among you three!"

Masumi Sera looked at the three people in the corridor.

Officer Megure agreed, "That makes sense. Then please tell us your names, occupations, and where you were and what you were doing at around 2 p.m. when the incident occurred."

The three people in the corridor swallowed nervously.

The tall, square-faced man is called Toshima Motoyuki, 41 years old. He currently works in a securities company. His grandfather passed away last year, and I inherited a warehouse from him. There was a plate in the warehouse that was exactly the same as the one on the treasure appraisal program on TV, so he brought it for appraisal.

However, according to Toshima Motoyuki, he did not come for the appraisal for the money, but having a valuable antique plate would give him more security in the future.

At the time of the incident, Toshima Motoyuki, who was waiting in the reception room with two other people, wanted to go to the toilet, but the house was too big and he got lost. He wandered around the house for a while, and then he heard the hurried footsteps of Kamiya Minatsuki and others in the corridor, and he rushed over.

The second short and fat man, Qinzhi Chono, is 74 years old. He originally opened a real estate company, retired 10 years ago, and now lives a leisurely life. According to him, he bought his black plate for 20 million 1 years ago.

At around 2 p.m. when the incident occurred, Kinji Chouno said that he and the woman next to him stayed in the reception room for a while. Because he was impatient, he could not stay there, so he went to the study and looked through some ancient art books. Then, like Motoyuki Tooshima, he heard the footsteps of Minatsuki Kamiya and others and rushed over to take a look.

The third woman is Sakamaki Suzue, 46 years old, the curator of the Gusi Art Museum. According to Sakamaki Suzue, the pile of black plates she brought has been on display in the museum for several years. This time it happened that the museum had just reopened after renovation, and the owner wanted to use the pile of black plates as an attraction, so he asked her to find an appraiser to help appraise its value and determine whether it was really valuable.

At around 2 o'clock when the incident happened, Sakamaki Suzue was in the reception room, but the nanny also came here at the beginning.

When Akai Shuichi heard about the babysitter, he was surprised and said, "Really? So this family hired a babysitter."

"I remember that there were two nannies when I came here before."

Dr. Agasa recalled that when he visited Mr. Nishizu's house before, he saw two nannies.