Chapter 65: Fishing

"Once this case is wrapped up, I will definitely make sure you all get a proper vacation! For now, please bear with it just a little longer and handle the case right in front of us... The killer is definitely still inside the aquarium, so let's make it quick!" Shiraishi expressed his sincere affirmation of Akasaka and the other detectives' hard work.

At the same time... Shiraishi silently decided that he must appropriate a few more of their days off later to conduct training on the basics of office software!

Of course, Shiraishi did not show any of this in front of Akasaka.

After all, Shiraishi was the precinct chief. How could a senior leader make you work overtime for a training class? He was merely showing concern for your professional growth!

As for the matter of working overtime for training sessions, he could just leave that to Section Chief Kunikida to arrange later...

***

About half minutes had passed since the crime was committed—only ten minutes later than Akasaka and his team—when the personnel from the Metropolitan Police Department arrived. Moreover, it was someone Shiraishi knew very well...

"Yo, Shiraishi, my boy, is your arm alright?" Megure greeted him familiarly.

Following behind Megure was Wataru Takagi, whom Shiraishi had met previously. At the sight of the towering Shiraishi, he instinctively bowed, "Chief Shiraishi!"

Generally, no matter what kind of case it was, the patrol officers from the nearest police box were always the first to arrive. In the case of a major crime, patrol officers from surrounding police boxes would also come to provide backup, securing the crime scene and assisting the forensics unit with evidence collection—these were the duties of those police officers.

Detectives would also rush over if needed, but they were usually slower than patrol officers. After all, detectives weren't as numerous and didn't just patrol the streets; they had to dispatch from the police station.

In Todo, in the event of a homicide, kidnapping, arson, or other violent crimes, the corresponding division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Investigation First Division would also be dispatched. However, because they were traveling all the way from police headquarters, they generally took even longer.

Division Three, led by Megure, was one of the specific divisions dedicated to murder cases.

"Yeah, basic movement is fine now," Shiraishi said as he raised his arm.

With this slight lift, his hand brushed against the glass ceiling of the underwater tunnel...

"To think someone would commit murder in a place like this... Do you have any suspects yet?" Megure looked at the blood on the ground and the marked position of the deceased, then directly asked Shiraishi about the progress of the case.

The Beika Precinct was a relatively "independent" police station. This wasn't something that started just because Shiraishi took over; ever since the Shirai era, the criminal investigation division of the Beika Precinct rarely "ceded" cases.

Otherwise, for a violent crime shocking enough to alert the Metropolitan Police Department, the precinct's detectives could simply conduct the initial investigation and then hand it over to the detectives from the First Investigation Division.

It was said that the Metropolitan Police Department recently even proposed establishing a "Mobile Investigation Unit" under the "Criminal Affairs Bureau" dedicated to immediate response and conducting preliminary investigations at crime scenes...

"Not yet. It looks bright in here, but that's actually just an illusion... Only the fish tanks are bright, while the tunnel itself is quite dim. Besides, everyone was looking at the fish in the tanks when the crime happened, and no one paid attention to other visitors around them. By the time nearby tourists noticed the victim was dead, he had already lost a significant amount of blood.

"Our preliminary assessment is that only a minute or two passed from the time he became a corpse to the discovery of the body. Fortunately, we notified the aquarium in time and restricted visitor entry right after the incident. Even if the killer managed to leave the underwater tunnel, they must still be inside the aquarium!" Shiraishi briefed him on the case details.

Saying they didn't "cede" the case didn't mean they wouldn't let the First Investigation Division investigate; it just meant... the two sides wouldn't merge their investigative directions for the time being.

As long as a special investigation headquarters hadn't been established and unified command hadn't been implemented, they could theoretically investigate independently, which didn't mean the Beika Precinct wouldn't cooperate with the First Investigation Division...

"Can the killer's identity be confirmed? Is this the murder weapon?" Megure asked without standing on ceremony.

Although Shiraishi outranked him by two grades in terms of police rank, Megure had known Shiraishi for six years and knew what kind of person he was, so he wouldn't mind such matters and directly confirmed the case details with him.

"Yeah, there's a driver's license in the wallet, and the identity has already been confirmed... Kunihiro Yoshimoto, a gas station employee. No companions were found after the incident. The murder weapon is indeed this dagger left at the scene; it was covered in a plastic bag, presumably to prevent blood splattering. Additionally, there is a taser mark on his neck. The culprit likely used a stun gun first to strip the victim of any ability to resist, and then delivered the fatal stab," Shiraishi explained.

"A gas station... Has the gas station business been this turbulent lately?" Megure muttered wryly.

Well, the guy who died last month was also a gas station manager, and it also happened in Beika Town!

"Maybe Beika Town itself is just turbulent," Shiraishi shrugged—yesterday, someone had just died in Teimatsukawa Greenery Park, and today another person died at the aquarium...

"By the way, let us help with the preliminary questioning!" Megure offered proactively at this point.

He didn't care about the Beika Precinct's "arbitrary" approach, even referring to the First Investigation Division's involvement as "helping out."

Given the sheer number of tourists involved, even a simple preliminary questioning process would be a massive undertaking...

"As for the questioning... since it's just a preliminary investigation anyway, I've already had someone print out questionnaires. Except for the tourists who were right inside the underwater tunnel at the time, everyone else can just fill out a questionnaire," Shiraishi had no intention of conducting individual interviews one by one.

Otherwise, even if they drafted experienced patrol officers to make up the numbers and Megure joined in to help, they could at most question ten people simultaneously. Right now, however, there were thousands of tourists inside the Beika Aquarium!

The workload was simply too heavy, and it was impossible to detain the visitors for that long.

"Questionnaires... alright then." Megure hesitated slightly, but... this was indeed typical Shiraishi style.

When it came to saving trouble—especially when manpower was already scarce—Shiraishi had never shied away from using efficient methods that didn't quite adhere to standard protocols.

What Megure didn't know was that, after becoming precinct chief, Shiraishi felt even more dissatisfied with this aspect—especially when he saw the Beika Precinct detectives simultaneously suffering from a shortage of manpower while still busy "searching for immortals"!

"Besides, we might not even need these questionnaires..." Shiraishi said, glancing at Conan Edogawa standing nearby.

Just moments ago, Conan had provided a crucial lead for the investigation!

"Huh? Conan? You... ah, you and Ran are here too," Inspector Megure noticed Ran standing nearby at that moment.

"Inspector Megure, the scope of the search can actually be much smaller... I just had Chief Shiraishi temporarily collect the visitors' cell phones," Conan said with a smug little grin.

"Cell phones? Why?" Megure didn't understand yet.

"Because I just used the victim's phone to call back every single number in his recent call log... and several of those numbers rejected the call! I've already memorized those numbers. If any of those owners are still inside the aquarium, it proves that they knew the victim and wanted to conceal their relationship with him!" Conan spoke with the absolute confidence of someone who held victory in his grasp.

"I see..." Megure's eyes lit up upon hearing this.

This wasn't the first time Conan had helped him solve a case, and Megure's attitude toward him had completely changed from their previous encounter on the airplane.

Standing nearby, Takagi dimly recalled the scene from two months ago when he had mentioned wanting to "ride Conan's coattails" only to be severely reprimanded by Inspector Megure...