Harvest from Watching the Car

On Monday, October 3rd, the new week had arrived after last Friday's court hearing.

There were no longer any reporters staking out the police station. One reason was that a few days had passed, and public interest had waned. After all, in this age of information, with new trends emerging online all the time, sensational news like forced confessions could only hold people's attention for a few days at best.

Another reason was that after Shirai admitted to improper interrogation tactics and submitted his resignation, the uproar directed at the police gradually subsided. Even those still following the case were now focused on the prosecution and the trial's outcome!

Especially since...

Komikado had emphasized in court that Shiraishi was "newly appointed." This made it difficult for reporters who understood the situation but pretended ignorance to approach him for interviews at this time.

Of course, Shiraishi was still holding onto Shirai's resignation letter for now, telling him he wouldn't be going anywhere until the case was concluded...

Meanwhile, the Beika Police Station had not relaxed its investigation into the case!

After Shiraishi relayed the information from the courtroom, it opened up new avenues of thought for everyone, leading to several new investigative directions.

However, it was regrettable that...

After the two days of investigation over the weekend, the results were less than satisfactory—they neither confirmed nor disproved anything!

They checked the surveillance footage from the park vicinity for the day before and the day after the incident, but they couldn't spot Tsubokura or the Blogger Lady. After all, the camera coverage was far from sufficient; it was merely a long shot.

However, they did find a coffee order record showing a [Signature Iced Latte] placed at the same time of the incident on the afternoon of the next day!

This situation aligned with Shiraishi's speculation—the defendant had deliberately mimicked the Blogger Lady's attire and ordering habits the day after the incident to confuse the store clerk's memory.

But because there was no surveillance footage and the store clerk himself couldn't recall clearly, it couldn't be proven whether the Blogger Lady had ordered on the day of the incident and the defendant had ordered the next day.

Regarding the investigation into the blog's browsing history, since anonymous visitors were allowed, no useful information could be found. It only confirmed that an anonymous account had repeatedly visited the blog during the time of the incident, until the female blogger published her content.

However, tracing the online activity of this anonymous account also originated from an unregistered mobile SIM card!

Just then, Shiraishi received some bad "inside information"...

Ding-dong--

Shiraishi heard the notification sound and glanced at his messaging app. He saw a photo sent by Gina—a young woman with short hair, wearing a professional outfit and a pencil skirt, was asking a store employee something in front of a hair salon, jotting down notes in a small book...

Gina also sent a message: "Is she that 19-split assistant?"

19-split, of course, referred to Komikado, whose hairstyle was an extreme side part.

Clearly, Gina was paying close attention to the news of this case and had recognized the young female lawyer.

Theoretically, she wasn't Komikado's assistant but Tsubokura's former lawyer from the Miki Law Firm. However, this time, she had likely been used as a tool to lure Komikado into a trap.

But...

The sign of the hair salon in the photo was "shining brightly" at that moment. Shiraishi recalled and matched it—this was a newly opened hair salon in Kamurocho that the Blogger Lady had featured on her blog!

Clearly, the other party was already investigating the authenticity of the blog content...

The lady posted on her blog every day. In such a situation, as long as it could be proven that some of her posts were fake, her credibility would be significantly reduced. After all, she had emphatically stated in court that all her blog posts were written in real-time. To maintain her persona of "loving life" and "every day is wonderful," the witness had indeed lied!

This was the "fatal flaw" Shiraishi had discovered earlier.

[Thank you, report back when you've considered it?] Shiraishi replied directly.

It was already Monday!

Gina played dead and didn't reply...

However, this newly opened hair salon was indeed not far from the market where the Orphanage did its shopping. Shiraishi figured she was helping out at the Orphanage and didn't rush her. The Orphanage couldn't provide aid to adults due to limited funds and resources, but letting her stay for the last two weeks before she turned eighteen was no problem.

At 6 PM, having confirmed that "the prosecution's trump card had been countered," Shiraishi went to the Criminal Affairs Division after clocking out for the day.

Seeing the Criminal Affairs Division office still buzzing with activity, Shiraishi felt a sense of relief. If he were to start his own business, he wished he could have so many employees willing to work overtime for free; then he wouldn't have to worry about not achieving the life he desired!

The enlarged doorframe now allowed Shiraishi to walk in without stooping...

"Chief."

"Good afternoon, Chief!"

Several police officers who were discussing something in the office turned around when they saw Shiraishi enter.

"Are there any other difficult cases recently?" Shiraishi asked directly.

They all knew what "other" referred to and shook their heads.

"Chief, the rest are minor matters."

Shiraishi nodded upon hearing this. "Akasaka, come here for a moment." Saying this, Shiraishi walked to the small office next to the main Criminal Affairs Division office, clearly intending to speak with him privately.

"How is Ms. Rin-da doing?" Shiraishi asked vaguely.

Akasaka understood his meaning and replied directly, "We haven't found anything suspicious."

Ms. Rin-da... the deceased's estranged wife. They had kept her for 24 hours, but since there was no concrete evidence, they hadn't extended it to 48 hours.

In fact, if they had pressed the issue of her "seeing the body but not reporting it," they could have applied for an official arrest warrant. Regardless of whether that was true... if she hadn't confirmed Tsubokura was dead at the time, then as his wife, she could be suspected of "criminal negligence." If she had confirmed the body, then she could be suspected of tampering with the scene and "obstruction of justice"...

However, Tsubokura's suspicion had increased significantly at the time, and considering the Prosecutor's Office was unwilling to shift the suspect, detaining her longer would have been pointless. So, they let her go—after all, with her signed confession, they could always bring her back on charges of "criminal negligence"!

After letting her go, Akasaka had also assigned Gen and Yamada to tail her, hoping she would slip up and provide some clues! Tsubokura was indeed suspicious, even highly suspected of fabricating an alibi, but... Rin-da was also suspicious!

Not only did he quietly go to the deceased's home, it was clear he had met her before she died, but he also said things like "I parked the car there just so the neighbors wouldn't gossip," "I went to the supermarket at the time of the incident," and "I saw the body and didn't dare call the police"...

If Shirai had been in charge and hadn't found Tsubokura, he might have ended up interrogating her as a defendant too!

"Actually... I've been looking at cars recently. The police cars are just too cramped," Shiraishi suddenly said.

Akasaka heard this and didn't understand what he meant—he wasn't going to ask me for a bribe, was he? What a coincidence, I don't have any money either!

"So I discovered... that the Model S has parking surveillance. This means that if someone approaches it while it's parked, it will record them not just from the front, but even from the sides. At the time, its position should have almost completely blocked that small alley..." Shiraishi revealed something he had recently read in a car magazine.

Because this feature wasn't common yet, the police department had obtained her car's GPS records but hadn't thought to copy this as well!

Akasaka's eyes lit up—if that were true, and if they could obtain the surveillance footage from the car, it would be perfectly clear who had entered and exited that small alley that day!