"By the way, Mr. Shirakawa, if I may ask—roughly how tall is your father?" Mouri asked, turning toward Noriyuki Shirakawa.
"About 150 centimeters," Noriyuki replied, glancing back.
This answer cast a heavier shadow of suspicion over President Shirakawa.
Before the incident, Noriyuki and Tae Aizawa had been waiting for the President at the upstairs restaurant. When he failed to show, Tae had gone down to the parking garage to check on the situation.
"The woman who was attacked earlier?!"
"Officer, are you saying this was the work of that serial assailant?" Noriyuki's voice grew agitated.
"Well, that is..." Inspector Megure faltered, realizing he had let too much slip.
"What on earth are you people doing? If you already knew the culprit's height, why haven't you caught him yet!"
"If you had just caught that criminal, Tae wouldn't have met such a tragic end!"
"Tae's death is entirely the fault of you police officers!"
"You're all a bunch of incompetents!" Noriyuki roared, tears streaming down his face.
Tsuneo glanced at Inspector Megure. The Inspector was clutching his head, his expression pained, as if an old wound were resurfacing. It seemed the case buried deep in his memories still carried a significant amount of trauma.
With that, the police's preliminary questioning came to an end.
"Officer Takagi, did those three victims really all say the culprit was around 150 centimeters tall?" Conan asked, a look of doubt crossing his face.
Based purely on height, the President was certainly suspicious, but something felt... off.
"No, only the first and third victims said that," Takagi replied, pulling out three photographs.
As for the second victim, she had been attacked from behind and knocked unconscious immediately, so she never saw the culprit's face.
"There shouldn't be a mistake. During the follow-up interviews, both of them stated the culprit was roughly the same height as them," Sato added with a nod.
The police had measured their heights at the time: 151 centimeters and 153 centimeters, respectively.
Nearby, Ran stared at the fallen victim in silence, lost in thought.
"Ran, are you sure you didn't see anyone suspicious at the time?" Mouri checked once more.
"I really didn't. When I came down from upstairs, I only ran into the security guard. Then I got lost wandering around and couldn't find the exit, so I called Sonoko," Ran explained. "But... don't you all think something feels strange?"
Ran was still preoccupied with the victim lying before them.
"I feel it too," Sonoko added, leaning in.
Mouri stepped closer to take a better look, but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"Speaking of things being 'off,' the second victim was attacked after coming out of a public restroom in the park in the middle of the night, right?" Conan asked, pointing at the photo in Takagi's hand.
"Indeed. This photo was taken right after the police arrived on the scene," Sato said, crouching down. The background of the photo showed the public restroom in question.
"Since she was found by a passerby who called the police, it means she didn't have any friends with her at the time, right?" Conan asked curiously.
In the photo, the victim wore a sleeveless blue dress, but a suit jacket was draped over her shoulders.
"That jacket is mine. It was a very cold night," Takagi explained, noting that he had lent it to her.
Something's wrong. Her clothes were far too thin. Even if one were chasing fashion trends by baring their legs, there was no reason not to bring a jacket.
Unless...
"Now that you mention it, she never told us that she had lost a jacket or anything like that," Takagi mused.
"And that girl has been extremely high-strung since the incident. She never even came to headquarters to give a detailed formal statement," Sato added, her own doubts beginning to surface.
"Idiot! Young girls these days just like wearing thin clothes!" Mouri snapped at the inquisitive brat.
"No, that's not the point," Ikumi Kyoda said, shaking her head.
If she were dressed fashionably for a bar, that would be one thing, but what was the point of dressing up just to go to a park? Detective Mouri was truly difficult to read sometimes.
"Maybe she was in a very warm place originally, and only stepped out to use the restroom, expecting to be back quickly!" Conan said, blinking innocently.
For example... inside a car.
"Now that you put it that way, the first and third victims were indeed attacked right after getting out of their cars," Megure noted with a nod.
The first was a rear-end collision; the third had stepped out to use a phone booth. If the second victim had also come from a car...
"And this fourth case happened in a parking lot," Sato added.
A new connection between the victims had been found. Officer Takagi immediately ran off to confirm if the second victim had been driving a vehicle that night.
"Hahahaha!"
A burst of laughter echoed as a man with a distinct scar over his left eye approached.
"Sorry to trouble you and your 'Famous Detective' skills every time."
Mouri jumped, startled, and hurriedly greeted him. "Superintendent Matsumoto! Hello, sir... I didn't expect you to come here personally!"
Kiyonaga Matsumoto nodded, then turned to Inspector Megure with a stern expression. "Megure, the media outside are already screaming that this is a spree of random murders. Wrap things up here quickly and restart the investigation tomorrow."
"But..." Megure protested, feeling they had just grasped a lead.
"Let's do that, Inspector. If we really hit a dead end, I'll just dress up as a 'gal' again and drive around to bait him out," Sato suggested comfortingly.
"I've already told you—you are not allowed to use yourself as bait again!" Megure barked, his expression suddenly becoming intensely serious.
Everyone present was taken aback; it was the first time they had seen Megure lose his temper like this.
"Superintendent, let us search this area thoroughly one more time. We might find something else!"
"I have a strong feeling that the culprit is still somewhere nearby!" Megure requested earnestly.
Matsumoto nodded. "Fine. Have it your way."
"Megure... you aren't still bothered by that case from years ago, are you?"
"The one you keep hidden under that hat?"
Megure's thoughts seemed to drift to a painful memory. He lowered his head, touching the brim of his hat. "No... I've long since moved past it."
Tsuneo took a long, lingering look at the stout Inspector.
To be honest, back when he was a kid, he had always assumed the man was just hiding a bald spot...
(End of Chapter)
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