Yamada raised a doubt at this point—assuming they believed Ms. Rin-da... why had she specifically avoided taking the back alley when she returned to the scene for the first time?
Makitaka suddenly seemed to remember something. He hurriedly checked the notes he had just taken and continued, "Ah! Right, Tsubokura left at 14:05, fifteen minutes after Ms. Rin-da paid and left. Could she have seen Tsubokura leaving in the alley and then gone in through the front entrance?"
"Timing-wise, that's possible, but... that assumes Tsubokura really was the killer and wasn't acting in concert with Rin-da," Akasaka emphasized.
"And if that's true, then that woman stayed at the crime scene far too long... She saw Tsubokura downstairs at 14:05, avoided him and returned to the crime scene through the front entrance, then didn't leave until 14:43. She remained at the scene for at least half an hour!" Fuji questioned her behavior.
Half an hour. That was definitely not consistent with what she had said—that she had fled in "fear" after seeing the body...
Afraid? You stayed for half an hour even though you were afraid?
Yamada speculated from the side, "Could it be... that Tsubokura didn't kill the victim after all, and it was Rin-da, who came later..."
"Impossible. Ms. Rin-da's actions may have been strange, but it was clear she hadn't prepared for this crime in advance... Her car was merely parked somewhere inconspicuous. But if she had really come prepared to kill someone, she never should have driven such a conspicuous red car. Let alone let her own car get caught on camera repeatedly, then leave the scene halfway through to go to the supermarket." Aoki directly rejected Yamada's guess.
"Then... it's still Tsubokura?" Yamada changed his tune again.
No one spoke—who knew? They had to interrogate him!
The problem was that Tsubokura was in detention. In theory, Beika Police Station had no way to apply to question him again unless the Prosecutor's Office was willing to cooperate—the prosecution could question him at this point.
"Bring Ms. Rin-da back and interrogate her first," Shiraishi said directly.
Shiraishi did not even mention an "Arrest Warrant." The trial was set to resume on Friday, and they needed results within forty-eight hours!
They had used the reason of supplementary investigation for the previous "search warrant." Applying now to arrest "another suspect" in a case already under trial would likely raise objections from the court.
"Chief, it's already past eight," Gen reminded him.
By regulation, interrogations could not be conducted after ten at night, to prevent coercive all-night questioning.
"Go now... Keep her overnight first!" If Shiraishi's "gentleness" could be quantified, it was probably only around forty or fifty.
There was definitely something wrong with this person. Even if she had not killed the victim, she had certainly committed illegal acts in connection with the case and had directly interfered with solving it. Under such circumstances, Shiraishi was inclined to turn up the pressure, and that was not against the rules.
With the chief personally making the call, naturally no one objected.
That night, they detained Ms. Rin-da overnight—by now, they could basically confirm that she had at least obstructed official duties, so they could take a harder line.
The next morning, Akasaka personally went in to interrogate her first...
Compared with gentle Gen, Akasaka, who wore a pompadour every day and looked like a full-fledged delinquent, had an interrogation style perfectly matching his appearance. You could absolutely judge him by his looks!
Though he would not lay a hand on a suspect, he slapped the table until it rang and started by roaring at her for two hours...
Because the parking surveillance footage had been restored and they had found a great deal of evidence unfavorable to her, Ms. Rin-da was in quite a mess this time and could no longer remain as calm as she had been before.
Once Akasaka had tired himself out from shouting, Gen, who had arrived long ago, pretended he had just gotten there. He "coaxed" Akasaka out, then continued the interrogation...
After that round of "whip and candy" tactics, when Shiraishi came by to check on things, he found Rin-da sobbing loudly in the Interrogation Room before Gen.
"How did it go?" Shiraishi asked Akasaka beside him.
"She claims she saw someone come out of the alley, which was why she entered the apartment through the front entrance. After confirming the victim was dead, she took the recording the victim had used to threaten her and erased traces showing that she had been there, which delayed her for some time. Makitaka and Suzuki have already been sent to her home to retrieve the so-called recording. Makitaka will verify it afterward." Akasaka rubbed his pompadour, clearly troubled as well.
Rin-da's statement fit the police's earlier presumption of innocence, but...
It merely made sense. There was no evidence proving that she had not killed the victim, while there was a mountain of evidence against her.
Normally, once an investigation had reached this point, they would only be one step away from the truth.
They only needed to interrogate Tsubokura and Rin-da separately—with so much evidence, Tsubokura could only honestly explain what he had done at the crime scene. Even if neither admitted to murder, under cross-verification, the truth could not be faked. Sooner or later, they would get one of them to reveal a lie.
But their greatest obstacle now was that Tsubokura was already being held in detention as a defendant. They had no room to intervene over there and could only interrogate Ms. Rin-da!
Her story merely made sense, but that did not mean it was true, much less that she was not hiding anything...
Shirai, who had barely had any presence in the case, was also there at this moment. Not only did he feel guilty himself, but... he could also sense his colleagues' faint resentment. If he had not rashly "increased the interrogation pressure" and impatiently pushed the case toward prosecution, they would never have ended up in this predicament.
"Did you ask about the kitchen knives?" Shiraishi pressed.
"Yes. She also used a kitchen knife, but it was another one from the set. She wiped off her fingerprints so she would not be suspected... She also said that before using the knife, she washed the entire set, and when she left, she took away all the partially prepared ingredients." Akasaka answered.
That did explain why only the murder weapon had Tsubokura's fingerprints on it!
But...
"At present, both Tsubokura and Rin-da had motives for murder and even opportunities... Going by logic alone, Tsubokura was more suspicious, because he had obviously come prepared and even fabricated an alibi. It could basically be confirmed that he met the victim with murderous intent. Meanwhile, Ms. Rin-da's actions at the time of the crime looked rushed no matter how you viewed them..." Aoki said as he adjusted his glasses.
"Still... there is one doubt. If Tsubokura really committed the murder, he wore gloves and even covered his hair with a hat, yet he left fingerprints on the handle of the most important piece of evidence—the murder weapon. That's very strange," Akasaka said with a headache.
Shiraishi suddenly noticed something and immediately confirmed, "Wait. She said she washed all the kitchen knives, and she used another one herself, only she wiped off the fingerprints from it too?"
"That's right..." Akasaka nodded hurriedly.
"But the murder weapon had both the victim's and Tsubokura's fingerprints on it, right?" Shiraishi recalled the earlier evidence record.
Akasaka, Aoki... and even Shirai were stunned at that moment—indeed, if that was the case, why were there fingerprints from the victim?
"Damn it! If only we could interrogate Tsubokura..." Akasaka blurted out in his irritation, but immediately caught himself and hastily added, "Ah! Section Chief Shirai, I meant those guys at the Prosecutor's Office..."
Before you continue