Numerous Doubts

Yamada then raised a point of doubt—assuming Ms. Rin-da is telling the truth... Why did she specifically avoid the alley on her first return to the scene?

Makotaka seemed to suddenly recall something, quickly flipping through the notes he had just taken, and then said, "Ah! Right, Tsubokura left at 14:05, which was fifteen minutes after Ms. Rin-da checked out. Could it be that she saw Tsubokura leaving in the alley and therefore went back to the main entrance?"

"Based on the timeline, it's possible, but... that's assuming Tsubokura is the true culprit and not in cahoots with this Rin-da," Akasaka emphasized.

"And if that's the case, the time that woman spent at the Crime Scene is a bit too long... She saw Tsubokura downstairs at 14:05, avoided him by entering the apartment through the front door, and didn't leave until 14:43. That's at least half an hour at the Crime Scene!" Fuji questioned her actions.

Half an hour. That's definitely not consistent with her claim of leaving because she was "scared" after seeing the corpse...

Scared? Why would you stay for half an hour then?

Yamada speculated from the side, "Could it be... Tsubokura didn't kill the victim, but rather Rin-da, who arrived later..."

"Impossible. Although Ms. Rin-da's actions are a bit strange, it's clear she wasn't prepared for this case beforehand... Her car was parked in an inconspicuous spot, but if she had really come to kill someone, she wouldn't have driven such a conspicuous red car, let alone been caught on surveillance repeatedly, left the scene midway, and gone to a supermarket," Aoki directly dismissed Yamada's guess.

"Then... it's still Tsubokura?" Yamada changed his tune.

Everyone fell silent—who knew? They needed to interrogate him!

The problem was, Tsubokura was in detention. Theoretically, Beika Police Station couldn't apply to question him again unless the Prosecutor's Office cooperated—the Prosecution could question him at this point.

"Bring Ms. Rin-da in for an interrogation first," Shiraishi stated directly.

Shiraishi didn't mention an Arrest Warrant. With the Court Session scheduled for Friday, they needed to see results within 48 hours!

Previously, the search warrant was applied for under the grounds of supplementary investigation. Applying for the arrest of "another suspect" in a case already under trial at this point would likely raise objections from the Court.

"Chief, it's already past eight," Gen reminded them.

According to regulations, interrogations couldn't be conducted after 10 PM to prevent "hawk-like" coercive confessions.

"Go now... we'll hold her all night first!" If Shiraishi's Gentleness could be quantified, it would probably be around forty to fifty.

This person definitely had a problem. Even if she didn't kill the victim, she was certainly involved in illegal activities related to the case, directly interfering with the investigation. In this situation, Shiraishi leaned towards intensifying the pressure on her, which wasn't non-compliant.

With the Chief personally making the decision, no one else objected.

That night, Ms. Rin-da was detained. It was now basically certain that she was at least guilty of "obstruction of justice," which allowed them to be more forceful.

The next morning, Akasaka personally began the interrogation...

Compared to the gentle Gen, Akasaka, with his slicked-back hair and rough demeanor, had an interrogation style that perfectly matched his appearance—you could judge a book by its cover!

Although he wouldn't lay a hand on the suspect, he slammed the table and yelled at her for two hours straight...

With the parking surveillance footage of her vehicle repaired and a large amount of evidence unfavorable to her discovered, Ms. Rin-da was quite flustered this time and couldn't maintain her composure as before.

When Akasaka got tired of yelling, Gen, who had arrived earlier, pretended to have just arrived, "coaxed" Akasaka out, and then continued the interrogation...

Under this "whip and sugar" tactic, when Shiraishi came to check on the situation, he saw Rin-da crying hysterically to Gen in the Interrogation Room.

"How's the confession going?" Shiraishi asked Akasaka, who was standing nearby.

"She claims she saw someone coming out of the alley, which is why she entered the apartment through the main entrance. After confirming the victim's death, she took the video the victim used to threaten her and erased any traces of her presence, which is why she took some time. The so-called video has been sent for by Makotaka and Suzuki to her home and will be confirmed by Makotaka," Akasaka said, touching his slicked-back hair, clearly a bit troubled.

Rin-da's statement aligned with the police's previous "presumption of innocence," but...

It was plausible, but there was no evidence to prove she didn't kill the victim. On the contrary, there was a lot of incriminating evidence.

In fact, normally, at this stage of the investigation, they would be just one step away from the "truth."

All they needed to do was interrogate Tsubokura and Rin-da separately. With so much evidence, Tsubokura would have no choice but to confess what he did at the Crime Scene. Even if neither of them admitted to the murder, with their testimonies cross-referenced, the truth would eventually surface, and one of them would be caught in a lie.

However, the biggest obstacle now was that Tsubokura was already a defendant and was in detention. They had no room to intervene there and could only interrogate Ms. Rin-da alone!

Her statement was plausible, but it wasn't necessarily true, nor did it mean she wasn't hiding anything...

Shirai, who had little presence in the case by now, was also present. Not only did he feel guilty, but he also sensed the subtle resentment from his colleagues—if he hadn't rashly "intensified the interrogation" and hastily pushed the case forward for prosecution, they wouldn't be in this predicament.

"Did you ask about the kitchen knife?" Shiraishi pressed.

"Yes, she also used a kitchen knife, but it was another one from the set. To avoid suspicion, she wiped off the fingerprints... She also said she washed the entire set of kitchen knives before using hers and took the half-finished ingredients with her when she left," Akasaka replied.

This indeed explained why only that particular knife, the murder weapon kitchen knife, had Tsubokura's fingerprints on it!

It's just that...

"Currently, both Tsubokura and Rin-da have a motive and even the opportunity to kill... Logically speaking, Tsubokura is more suspicious because he was clearly prepared, fabricated an alibi, and basically approached the victim with homicidal intent. Ms. Rin-da's actions at the time of the incident seem rushed..." Aoki said, adjusting his glasses.

"However... it's not without its doubts. If Tsubokura really killed him, it's very strange that he wore gloves and even covered his hair with a hat, yet still left fingerprints on the handle of the most crucial murder weapon," Akasaka said with a headache.

Shiraishi suddenly noticed something and immediately confirmed, "Wait, she said she washed all the kitchen knives and used another one herself, but also wiped the fingerprints off it?"

"That's right..." Akasaka nodded quickly.

"But the murder weapon kitchen knife had both the victim's and Tsubokura's fingerprints on it, right?" Shiraishi recalled the previous evidence records.

Akasaka, Aoki... and Shirai were stunned—indeed, if that was the case, why would the victim's fingerprints be there?

"Damn it! If only we could interrogate Tsubokura..." Akasaka blurted out impatiently, but immediately reacted and quickly said, "Ah! Section Chief Shirai, I was talking about those guys at the Prosecutor's Office..."