Difference

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"Kazuhiro... Kazuhiro!"

"Wait, Ms. Amano, you can't get close right now..."

After seeing Ootaka Kazuhiro's corpse, they finally understood why the Police Officer had called them over. At this point, Shiraishi and the others also learned that this Ms. Amano Tsubame was the deceased's girlfriend.

Washinuma Noboru, who had also gone to the restroom, was Ootaka Kazuhiro's friend. Along with Tachikawa Chizuru, who had not gone to the restroom, the four of them had set off for vacation in the United States...

"Wait, you weren't just on vacation, were you? I just heard you talking about film negatives and selling them for money! It's something dangerous, isn't it?" Uncle Ukai Tsuneo from the next seat immediately exposed them.

Just as the plane was taking off, Ukai had exchanged a few words with the deceased due to the excessive noise from the next seat.

"As expected..." Megure looked at the deceased's three companions.

They didn't hide anything either...

"Indeed, Ootaka took photos of a scandal involving an American Congressman who came to Tokyo previously, and he was planning to sell them for a good price..." Washinuma Noboru said, but then added, "This isn't a secret; many people in the industry know about it."

Meanwhile...

Shiraishi Kuro put on his gloves and asked, "I'm going to inspect your carry-on items. Is that okay?"

Although there was no "Search Warrant," theoretically, they had the right to refuse a search of their person and belongings, but...

Not to mention that doing so would make them look suspicious for no reason, and... looking at Shiraishi Kuro, the three of them nodded.

Only the Caucasian man looked like he didn't understand!

"Damn, I need to find a translator..." Megure said helplessly, as his Spanish was also terrible.

However...

"Glibberish, glibberish." Shiraishi didn't give Edward a chance to pretend he didn't understand, nor did he give Shinichi a chance to show off. He immediately communicated with the other party in fluent Spanish.

After all, Shiraishi was a genuine University of Tokyo master's graduate, and years ago, he had specifically learned the [Spanish] skill for easier investigation—although he had only leveled it up to Lv6, it wasn't just for one language but for all kinds of "Spanish," allowing him to read and write normally!

Even if the other party spoke rural slang, he could communicate without issue.

Edward still wanted to refuse, but he felt immense pressure from Shiraishi Kuro... Helplessly, he nodded in agreement.

"Brother Shiraishi..." Megure called out to Shiraishi, who had already turned around.

But seeing Shiraishi's serious eyes when he turned his head, Megure could only say, "Then I'll leave it to you..."

He could also tell that Brother Shiraishi had another motive.

And that was indeed the case!

The matter Shiraishi Kuro was investigating was the Minister of Justice's suspected control over Violent Organizations, leading to multiple malicious cases where civilians were framed, deliberately creating "wrongful convictions"...

Regarding these wrongful convictions, since most of them were not Tokyo cases, Shiraishi Kuro couldn't trace their origins and had to approach it from other directions.

For example...

Pulling the rug out from under someone!

He discovered that the operating funds of these Violent Organizations mostly came from international money laundering activities, facilitated by the Minister of Justice and connected to American Congressmen.

The so-called "scandal" Ootaka Kazuhiro had photographed earlier appeared to be an American Congressman engaging in indecent behavior with a woman in Tokyo. However, in reality, that woman was also the Minister of Justice's mistress and the wife of a Violent Organization leader. This was not just a "scandal" but sexual bribery!

Although the investigation into the case had been halted, and Shiraishi Kuro had been ordered to take a leave of absence for publicly contradicting his superior, he had not given up on pursuing the matter.

Shiraishi Kuro believed that as long as he could prove the collusion between the Minister of Justice, Violent Organizations, and the American Congressman, it would at least force his superiors to restart the investigations into those wrongful convictions...

At the same time, Shiraishi said to the flight attendants, "Notify the captain. There has been a murder case on board. To prevent the culprit from escaping overseas, return immediately!"

"Huh? This... requires applying for a route change..."

"Then apply immediately! In any case, with me here, I will absolutely not let the plane continue flying to The Americas. It's just a matter of how we turn back. This involves an important classified incident; silencing with a bomb is not impossible!" Shiraishi Kuro threatened casually.

"This... Okay."

Shinichi: ...

Shinichi had wanted to say that he could find the culprit and that there was no need to go back the way they came, which would be so troublesome, but... at this moment, he also vaguely sensed that Officer Shiraishi was deliberately finding an excuse to make the plane return!

Shiraishi Kuro, having put on his gloves, first went for Ootaka Kazuhiro's luggage. Looking at how he rummaged through it, it was clear he wasn't collecting evidence but purposefully searching for something!

And...

Shiraishi finally sighed with regret.

As the passenger next to him had said earlier, Ootaka Kazuhiro had carried the film negatives with him. And it was obvious that the corpse had already been searched earlier!

Then, Shiraishi Kuro immediately went to search Edward's luggage...

He had already noticed from "micro-expressions" that Edward could definitely understand Japanese and was completely pretending.

With [Psychology] Lv8 and [Insight] Lv10, Shiraishi Kuro's mastery of "micro-expressions"... unless the target was a highly trained agent or someone with [Spirit] Lv8 or higher, it was difficult to hide anything from him without revealing any clues.

Shiraishi was certain in his heart that Edward's reporter identity was most likely a cover; he was actually working for the Congressman.

If he were the one who killed Ootaka Kazuhiro, the film negatives would likely still be with him...

Inspector Megure's side would conduct a body search, but Shiraishi Kuro felt it was more likely to be in the luggage... Unfortunately, he still found nothing.

Shiraishi Kuro's face was already filled with regret...

"Officer Shiraishi, the other three could also be the culprit..." Shinichi said helplessly. Isn't your real intention too obvious?

However, Shinichi couldn't directly intervene himself. After all, he wasn't accompanied by Inspector Megure or that seemingly indecisive "First Investigation Division" rookie, but by Inspector Shiraishi, whose face clearly read "don't mess with me"!

"Mm." Shiraishi Kuro then looked at the seats of the other three people.

"Hm?" Shiraishi immediately noticed something.

He reached out...

And pulled a piece of black film scrap from the gap in Amano Tsubame's seat, his face turning ashen.

Shinichi was also taken aback. How did he see this directly from the seat crevice without even touching it? What kind of eyesight is that?

"Inspector Shiraishi..." Shinichi quickly reminded him as he saw Shiraishi clutching the scrap, about to crush it.

Only then did Shiraishi slightly relax, take out an evidence bag, and place the scrap inside.

"This evidence is already very strong... Looking at that woman, a little interrogation should yield results," Shiraishi Kuro muttered somewhat unwillingly.

Although he didn't know why...

It seemed that Ootaka Kazuhiro's murder had nothing to do with this scandal's film negatives. He was killed by his girlfriend!

And to confuse matters, the film negatives had already been cut into pieces. The remaining fragments were likely flushed down the restroom, and after an hour or two, they would have become part of the "ice." Trying to find them now would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

This film scrap on the seat was probably accidentally stuck to her clothes and brought back.

"Wait, Officer Shiraishi, the murder weapon hasn't been found yet, nor has the method of killing been confirmed..." Shinichi immediately said.

Shiraishi looked at him as if he were an idiot...

"The police and detectives are different. This is something the victim carried before they died, and it appeared on the seat of a suspect. There are clearly residual fingerprints on the film scrap, which contradicts her previous statement..."

"With this, an Emergency Arrest can be made. Then, within the 48 hours of detention, you can get what you want out of her," Shiraishi said, having no time to play detective games about cracking murder methods.

Judging by her aura, Amano Tsubame, with evidence like "film scraps" to pressure her, and an Lv5 Interrogation should be enough for her to confess the crime. The "First Investigation Division" had plenty of talent, including Lv7 and Lv8 Interrogation experts!

Even if she was stubborn enough to resist Lv7 or Lv8 Interrogation, it wouldn't matter. Since the investigation direction was clear, a comprehensive survey of her living environment would be conducted later to determine the motive for the murder. At that time, increasing the pressure further would make it easier to break through her psychological defenses.

Shinichi was greatly disappointed to hear Shiraishi say this, but...

Recalling Shiraishi's actions just now, Shinichi's eyes lit up. "Inspector Shiraishi, if she's the culprit, don't you want to know who moved the corpse after the incident?"

That's right. Judging by the misplaced bloodstains on the wall and the dried water stains in the pocket, someone else had searched the corpse after the victim died!

Shiraishi had already given up on this line of inquiry after seeing the film scrap. As for who moved the corpse... it was obvious, most likely Edward. After all, he had the motive to find the film negatives and wouldn't hesitate to search the corpse.

However, the film negatives had already been cut and flushed away. Edward would have found nothing...

But upon hearing Shinichi's words, Shiraishi Kuro suddenly realized!

Since the film negatives were cut by the culprit, and Edward only searched the corpse later, then... he probably didn't know the film negatives were gone and would only assume someone else had obtained them!

"What you said... makes sense." Shiraishi then pocketed the evidence, looking like he didn't want to take it out immediately.