Arakawa Group

September 23rd, Saturday.

Inside the Interrogation Room, Haitani stared coldly at Sato. "Mr. Sato, I believe I made it clear that you were not to act on your own, didn't I?"

Now that she had calmed down, Sato was deeply remorseful as well. "I'm sorry. I was just too anxious. I was afraid that guy would get away, so I chased after him—I didn't expect him to have a knife. I panicked and grabbed something to fight back. I didn't expect to hit him that hard—"

Sato's voice grew quieter and quieter. She had never imagined that a casual swing of her arm would actually kill someone.

Haitani could only feel helpless about it.

The homicide had taken place just before the detectives arrived.

They had even tried to save him on the spot, but they still could not bring him back.

Based on the accounts from Jiren and the others, the traces at the scene, and the minor knife wound on Sato's abdomen, Sato had not lied. The knife had been in the suspect's hand, while the rebar had been something Sato picked up on the spot.

By all rights, this was self-defense, and the police could hardly fault her for it. But with that one blow, she had completely severed the trail of clues.

And—

Considering that she had already been suspected of staging the whole thing herself, and had now killed someone because of it, quite a few people suspected—

"Mr. Sato, although it currently appears that you acted in self-defense, that rests on the premise that you really have not lied. Let me ask you again—did you know the deceased?" Haitani stared at her.

"No, I didn't. I really didn't." Sato shook her head repeatedly.

Outside the Interrogation Room, Munakata and Megure were also watching. Their