After examining the marks on the victim's chest, Shiraishi carefully inspected his clothes—the body of Amano Yusuke was dressed in a suit and shirt, fitting his profession. Apparently, even though it was Saturday, he had still been out conducting business.
Besides...
Shiraishi then looked at the soles of his shoes, which were caked with quite a bit of mud.
After a brief pause, Shiraishi said, "It rained yesterday afternoon, before dark, didn't it?"
"That's right, so Mr. Otani probably really did see the sunset." Although Gen had not known Otani before, he did not want that stubborn old man who had been swindled out of his money to be the murderer.
His partner, Yamada, understood Shiraishi's intention even more clearly. Looking at the mud on the corpse's shoes, he said, "That's true. The crime scene was still muddy until this morning... Huh? I get it!"
Yamada finally realized what Shiraishi had been trying to say...
And that was indeed what Shiraishi wanted to remind them of—if the situation had not been urgent, he would have hinted at it more subtly. After all, as the chief, training officers was far more important than charging ahead himself.
"Ah! Chief, I... I'll call Makitaka and ask whether the victim's clothes from last night are still there?" Yamada hurriedly sought Shiraishi's confirmation.
Seeing the chief nod, Yamada immediately called Makitaka. "Makitaka, it's me... You're still at Amano's house, right?"
"That's right. Is Section Chief Kunikida with you? Fuji found the clothes the victim wore last night in the dirty laundry basket. They may change the main direction of the investigation!"
Makitaka's voice came through the phone—Fuji seemed to have found the hard evidence Shiraishi wanted before he had.
Because the people involved in the case were unusual, Kunikida, as head of the Criminal Affairs