Accidental Death

Edogawa Ranpo dissatisfied: "Assist? A detective doesn't need that kind of thing."

Atsushi Nakajima was also a little puzzled, but he still managed to smooth things over: "Well, there must be a reason for the police to do this, and it is also a good thing to be able to solve the case faster."

Edogawa Ranpo obviously didn't agree with such a statement, but he didn't say anything more.

Atsushi Nakashima breathed a sigh of relief.Looking at the three characters in the palace hall on the paper, he fell into deep thought.

Some time ago, Atsushi Nakajima heard Osamu Dazai mention this name.

It is said that the Imperial Household Agency is an agency outside the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.The number of detectives under it is very small, but each one is quite famous.Ayatsuji Hitohito, who had visited the Armed Detective Agency with All Might before, was among them.

Who will come this time?

Atsushi Nakajima tilted his head, and finally chose to ask Edogawa Ranpo beside him: "Mr. Ranpo, do you know who is here?"

Edogawa replied casually: "Probably the one you have seen."

"You mean... Ayatsuji-sensei?"

Atsushi Nakajima froze for a moment.Ayatsuji Koichi seemed to be the only detective he had ever seen who belonged to the Imperial Household Agency.

He wanted to ask more specifically, but Edogawa Ranpo refused to say more.

The world's number one detective stretched out his voice: "It doesn't matter who comes, right? Anyway, this kind of case will soon reveal the truth under my 'super reasoning'."

Atsushi Nakajima: "...As expected of Mr. Ranpo."

After showing the police warrant to the guards guarding around the villa, Nakajima Atsushi and Edogawa Ranpo followed the guards to the first floor of the villa.

After entering the villa, what appeared in front of us was an extremely luxuriously decorated hall.

In the same style as the exterior of the villa, the interior of the house is also designed in a European style.Most of the furniture placed inside is made of wood, with thick blankets laid underneath, and several brightly colored oil paintings are lined up on the left wall.

The pillars around the corners are engraved with intricate and beautiful patterns, and the design is exquisite and gorgeous. A chandelier full of crystals hangs on the dome in the center of the hall.

Even a layman can easily see that these decorations are expensive.

Seeing the scene in front of him, Atsushi Nakajima first let out a sigh in his heart.

With his salary, it is estimated that he can't live in such a house if he saves for 100 years...Maybe he bought himself for 70 billion and hoped to be a little bigger.

When he and Edogawa Ranpo entered the door, there were several military policemen in black uniforms standing in the hall.

The person in charge frowned, as if he was having a headache over the difficult case.

Seeing Ranpo Edogawa and Atsushi Nakajima enter the door, the man hurriedly greeted him: "This is Ranpo-kun from the Armed Detective Agency, right? My name is Yohide Watanabe, the person in charge of this incident."

Edogawa Ranpo didn't respond to his greetings, but seemed to be very interested in the scene in the hall, looking left and right with great interest.

Atsushi Nakajima had no choice but to step forward and respond: "Yes, this is Mr. Ranpo, what is going on with this incident?"

Rongxiu Watanabe was a little embarrassed after being ignored, but he still said: "The people from the Imperial Household Office have just contacted, saying that their detective will be here soon, and after the detective arrives, we will introduce the specific case to a few of you." .”

"—No need, you can start now."

A voice suddenly came from behind.

Atsushi Nakajima turned around.

The young man with blond hair and ocher eyes pushed open the door and stepped into the villa.

Behind him, a woman with long light blue hair stepped forward: "I am Fukatsuki Tsujimura, and this is Mr. Ayatsuji. Entrusted by the Supernatural Special Affairs Division, I am here to assist Mr. Ranpo Edogawa in handling this incident."

Nakajima Atsushi looked at Edogawa Ranpo in surprise: "Mr. Ranpo! It's really Detective Ayatsuji."

……

After introducing each other's identities, several people sat down in the hall.

Tsujimura Fukatsuki turned her head back calmly, peeked at the obviously absent-minded Ayatsuji pedestrian, and let out a silent lament in her heart.

Ayatsuji pedestrians are in a bad mood.

This morning, before Tsujimura Fukazuki came to the door with the commission from the Supernatural Secret Service, the detective seemed to have other things to do, but he had to temporarily put it on hold because of the commission from the Supernatural Secret Service.

This caused Ayatsuji's pedestrians to be indifferent to Tsujimura Mizuki all the way.

Tsujimura Shenyue tried to talk to him several times, but was choked up and speechless.

——In any case, let this incident be resolved as soon as possible!

Praying like this, Tsujimura Fukatsuki suddenly thought of another detective present, Ranpo Edogawa.

According to Ango Sakaguchi, this detective is from the Armed Detective Agency of the supernatural organization, and he is a very good detective——

She looked at Edogawa Ranpo, only to find that although the latter was holding the report provided by the military and police, he was holding it upside down and raising it above his head, as if he was studying the light transmission of the paper.

Tsujimura Fukatsuki: "..."

Ahhh, are all the detectives in this world so weird? ? !

……

After a few people chatted for a while, the military policeman named Rongxiu Watanabe sent his subordinates upstairs to gather the suspects in the hall, and began to tell them detailed information about the case.

The victim of this incident was Horikita Yoshino, the owner of the villa, and the current suspects are his wife, Mrs. Horikita, and two subordinates Inohara and Suzuki Kyoko who stayed here overnight due to business.

The three of them sat on the sofa, their expressions were very gloomy, and they seemed uneasy because of being suspected.

"The first person who discovered the scene was Mrs. Horikita. According to her recollection, Mr. Horikita locked herself in the study room from last night until ten o'clock this morning when she felt something was wrong and opened the door. Only then did I find out that Horikita-san had been assassinated."

"Later, Mrs. Horikita called the police immediately. After the police arrived, they sealed off the scene and conducted relevant analysis on Horikita Zen's body." Watanabe Rongxiu put down the notes in his hand, and picked up the bloody dagger on the side. The transparent evidence bag was shown to several people present, "The victim's place of death should be the study on the third floor of the villa, and the cause of death was a wound running through the lung lobe - it is worth mentioning that the murderer did not take the murder weapon. The dagger was thrown aside at the scene."

Atsushi Nakajima: "Then... it really was murder."

Watanabe Rongxiu nodded affirmatively.

"Can the identity of the murderer be determined based on the dagger?" Tsujimura Fukatsuki looked at the dagger, "This should be a specially equipped dagger in the military and police. I remember that each of these daggers has a fixed number."

Being in the Supernatural Secret Service Section, he would naturally have contact with the military and police, and Tsujimura Fukatsuki also had some understanding of their internal affairs.

Rongxiu Watanabe shook his head: "We have checked the serial number of this dagger and found that it belongs to the victim himself."

In other words, it is impossible to trace clues from here.

Watanabe Rongxiu said again: "Based on the current information, the victim's death time should be between ten o'clock and eleven o'clock last night."

"But the estimated time of death on this autopsy report is from nine o'clock to eleven o'clock...?" Atsushi Nakajima pointed to the information in his hand and asked doubtfully.

"Ah, the autopsy result is indeed like that," said Watanabe, looking at the mournful woman sitting on the left side of the sofa, "but Mrs. Horikita thinks that her husband was killed after ten o'clock."

"Yes," Mrs. Horikita wiped the tears from her face, and whispered, "My husband has the habit of writing his diary at night. And he has a very strong sense of time, so he will definitely start writing at ten o'clock every day."

Watanabe Rongxiu nodded, and picked up a notebook from the table: "This is Mr. Horikita's diary we found when we investigated the scene of the crime."

He turned to the last page: "The last record in the diary was May [-]th, that is, yesterday. The technicians of the forensics department and Mrs. Horikita confirmed that this is indeed Horikita's own handwriting."

"I see," Atsushi Nakajima suddenly realized, "Since Mr. Horikita wrote his diary yesterday, it means that he was still alive at ten o'clock."

"After ten o'clock, these people..." Tsujimura Fukatsuki turned his gaze to the three suspects, "Do they all have relative alibi?"

Hearing her question, Watanabe Rongxiu showed a distressed look: "Yes, these three—Ms. Horikita, Mr. Inohara, and Miss Suzuki were all watching a broadcast at ten o'clock in the room on the second floor last night. TV show. The three of them can prove each other."

Tsujimura Fukatsuki frowned: "Then there is no possibility of committing a crime after ten o'clock."

Rongxiu Watanabe was helpless: "This is why we asked the two detectives for help. Now we are a little helpless with this case."

Inohara raised his hand: "Since we all have alibi, the murderer might have invaded from the outside, right?"

Mrs. Horikita glanced at the two young men beside her, and said, "I also don't think the murderer is Inohara or Suzuki. Both of them are my husband's valued subordinates. I really can't think of them killing my husband." motivation."

At this time, Kyouko Suzuki, who had been silent all this time, suddenly raised her head: "Inohara and I are both policemen?! How could they kill someone! Did you misunderstand the suspect? What you should suspect is the black hands around here Party!... The port area is their territory."

She said, as if thinking of something terrible, she flinched a little, but still held her spirits up and said: "Someone from the port mafia must have sneaked into the villa and killed Mr. Horikita!"

Port Mafia...

Tsujimura was deep in thought.

It is indeed possible.However, the cause of Horikita Zen's death is very different from the behavior of the Mafia during the murder.

So she personally didn't think the killer was someone from the port mafia.

But the three suspects currently have alibi... Could it be that someone from outside really committed the crime?

Watanabe Rongxiu reassured: "Please be calm, everyone, I think Detective Ayatsuji and Mr. Ranpo will prove everyone's innocence."

After finishing speaking, he looked at the two detectives and asked, "Would you like to go upstairs to see the crime scene now?"

"unnecessary."

Edogawa Ranpo let out a "huh": "Isn't the prisoner of this incident already clear?"

Watanabe Rongxiu froze in place: "What!"

Ayatsuji pedestrians threw aside the information in their hands: "You should understand this kind of thing if you use your brain a little?"

Watanabe Yoshihide & Nakajima Atsushi & Tsujimura Fukatsuki: "..."

We don't understand at all! ! !