The Truth Comes to Light / The Suspect Betrayed by a Friend

Even just by scanning the area with Eagle Eye, he noticed quite a few things that seemed out of place.

First, there are the bedding and pillows on the bed.

At first glance, it seems to be fine, but upon closer inspection, apart from the smell of alcohol left by Higashida last night, it appears to be a brand new quilt that was just bought recently. If you smell it carefully, you can even smell some formaldehyde, which is unique to new quilts.

Although this might have been recently purchased by the deceased, another set of beige bedding and pillows in the wardrobe next to the bed clearly showed signs of recent use, and there was no damage to them.

Most people don't change their pillows and blankets unless there are special circumstances. Even if they change the blankets when the seasons change, the bedding that has been used for a while and is stored away in the closet is still thicker.

It's impossible that the deceased felt hotter and hotter after sleeping in the cooler weather, so they suddenly switched to a thinner blanket.

Besides that, there were quite a few things stuffed into this wardrobe.

Besides a set of beige bedding and pillows, there was also a set of beige curtains and a calendar of the Tokyo Spirits. This team was the one that Jiang Hang had just returned to Tokyo to resolve a gun threat case a few days ago, and which ultimately won this year's Japan J1 League championship. They even gave Jiang Hang a lifetime VIP membership to watch their games.

It seems the deceased was a fan of this team, otherwise she wouldn't have had such a calendar at home.

Higashida can also attest to this. "Muranishi's favorite team is Tokyo Spirits, while I like BIG Osaka. Our conflict is partly due to this. A few days ago, the day after Tokyo Spirits won the championship, Muranishi spent the whole day mocking BIG Osaka in front of me."

Jiang Hang opened the calendar and glanced at it. The handwriting on it was dense, with various plans written from the beginning of the year to the end. It didn't look like it hadn't been used for a long time.

If Higashida wasn't lying, then this is clearly another point of suspicion—if Tokyo Spirits has been performing poorly lately, then Muranishi might put the calendar away out of disappointment.

But they just won the championship a few days ago. Tokyo Spirits fans are riding high right now and can't wait to win this championship to slap other teams' fans in the face. How could they possibly put it away and bury it at the bottom of the closet?

Chapter 414: Chapter 410: The Truth Emerging

"Didn't you notice these suspicious places during your on-site investigation?"

Holding the calendar, Jiang Hang looked at Miike Sato was frowning beside him.

Miike Sato shook her head helplessly. "We did find the bedding, but we didn't think much of it at the time. As for the calendar... we didn't know the victim liked this team, so we just ignored it during the inspection."

To be precise, given the more obvious evidence, the police first identified Higashida as the suspect, as he had slept in the victim's room for one night.

Given this preconceived notion, and the fact that Higashida himself couldn't clearly explain what happened the previous night, the police's subsequent search of the scene naturally shifted towards finding a way to prove that the deceased was indeed killed by Higashida.

This is why these seemingly insignificant places, unrelated to the case, were subconsciously overlooked by the police conducting the on-site search.

However, Jiang Hang did not come here to prove that Higashida was the murderer. On the contrary, he came to find evidence that Higashida was innocent and had been framed.

Under such circumstances, the places he noticed were naturally completely different from the places the police noticed during the day.

The bedding was suddenly changed, and the Tokyo Spirits limited edition calendar, which had just won the league championship, was buried at the very bottom of the closet.

Jiang Hang suddenly asked Higashida, "I think your own pillows, bedding, and curtains are similar in style to those in Ms. Muranishi's house, right?"

Higashida paused for a moment, then quickly nodded. "Yes, I prefer gray, so most of the things in my house are gray... But I've never been to Ms. Muranishi's house before, so I didn't know that the curtains and blankets she usually uses are so similar to my choices."

He glanced at the room's layout. "But come to think of it... the furniture arrangement in Ms. Muranishi's house looks very similar to mine. The table and sofa in my house are arranged in the same way..."

Upon hearing this, Miike Sato immediately sensed something was wrong. "Something's not right, there's definitely something wrong here."

She pointed to the overall decor of the house. "I felt something was off during the day, and now that you've mentioned it, I finally realize it."

"These pieces of furniture clearly show signs of having been moved recently," she said, pointing to some marks on the floor, some from table legs and others from when the sofa was moved. "Oh, and there too!"

As she spoke, she pointed to several round marks on the ground with traces of soil, which looked like the place where some potted plants had been placed before.

She pointed to the marks, then opened the balcony door and pointed to the cacti outside the balcony towards Jiang Hang.

"These potted plants were obviously moved here recently, but it's been getting colder lately, and it's strange to move cacti that aren't cold-hardy outdoors at this time of year."

Jiang Hang's gaze swept over the cacti, while Miike Sato continued to express her views.

"And why would Miss Ms. Muranishi's home be decorated mostly in beige? Tableware, towels, bath towels, and even beige clothes take up a third of the wardrobe. Why would she choose gray for the most eye-catching curtains and quilts, especially since there are just some beige curtains and quilts that she changed out of in the wardrobe?"

"And coincidentally, the curtains and blankets in Higashida's house are gray, which is hard to imagine is just a coincidence," Jiang Hang added, then took the calendar in his hand and hung it on a slightly marked spot next to the bed.

"Look, here are the marks left by the sun after this calendar was hung on the wall. This means that it has been hanging here for at least half of the year. The schedule written on it also shows that Ms. Muranishi has been using it. Even a few days ago, when the Tokyo Spirits confirmed that they had won the league championship, she put a big exclamation mark on that day."

At this point, a shocking fact that the police had not previously noticed gradually came to light—the murderer in this case was probably not Higashida, but someone who was very familiar with Higashida and the deceased Muranishi, who then framed Higashida for killing Muranishi!

Of course, it's also possible that this was a deliberate disguise by Higashida, an attempt to evade responsibility. However, this tightrope-walking disguise would have been completely meaningless if he hadn't encountered the responsible and kind-hearted Miike Sato Takagi Wataru.

"Then, please think carefully about who among the people you know is familiar with both of you and has a motive to murder Ms. Muranishi and then frame you?"

As Jiang Hang said this, he seemed to have thought of something else and asked Higashida, "Speaking of which, weren't you drunk last night? Given how drunk you were, you shouldn't have walked back by yourself, right? Who took you home?"

Upon hearing Jiang Hang's question, Higashida paused for a moment, then said another name with some disbelief, "Kitagawa... I work for the same company as him. To be precise, Ms. Muranishi is also Kitagawa's boss, and the three of us live in this building. Usually, after work, the two of us would go out for a few drinks in the evening and then go home together."

"Because my daughter is getting married, I drank quite a bit with him last night, and he's the one who brought me home..."

Hearing this, Miike Sato frowned and added to Jiang Hang Kitagawa, "I remember Kitagawa because he was the first eyewitness to discover the body."

"According to him, he discovered this morning that Higashida and Ms. Muranishi had not come to work, so he went home and asked the landlord to help open the door to check the situation. As a result, he found Higashida sleeping on Ms. Muranishi's bed and Ms. Muranishi dead in the bathroom."

She rested her chin on her hand. At this moment, this guy named Kitagawa was very familiar with both the deceased and Higashida. He had taken Higashida home last night and was the first person to discover the body this morning. Previously, because all the clues pointed to Higashida, she hadn't thought too much about it.

But now that these unusual phenomena are put together, Kitagawa is gradually becoming more and more suspicious.

Chapter 415: Chapter 411: The Suspect Betrayed by a Friend

Although Jiang Hang and Miike Sato's analysis has finally revealed a second suspect in this case, and based on the current situation, it is highly likely that Kitagawa murdered Muranishi and then framed the drunken Higashida.

But this was far from enough to dispel suspicion about Higashida, and there was not enough evidence to prove that it was all Kitagawa's conspiracy. Higashida even stammered for a long time but could not say whether there was any conflict between Kitagawa and the deceased.

"When we're at the company, I really don't sense any conflict between them. In fact, their relationship seems pretty good. Whenever I have a disagreement with Ms. Muranishi, he's usually the one who tries to mediate between us," Higashida shook his head. He racked his brains but couldn't figure out why Kitagawa, who was usually so close to him, would kill Muranishi and then frame him.

Even with this thought, despite still not being able to recall any details from last night, he couldn't help but wonder if he had accidentally killed her after returning home drunk and then breaking into her house in the Muranishi.

Jiang Hang noticed the hesitation that flashed across Higashida's face. He coughed lightly and said, "Let's continue the investigation."

The police's daytime search was clearly negligent. Jiang Hang kept using the Revealing Eagle Vision to check if there was anything else suspicious in the room.

After Revealing Eagle Vision's ability to see through the entire map and auto-aim, Jiang Hang quickly found a new clue behind the sofa.

"This is... a matchbox?"

Miike Sato looked at the matchbox, which was about half the size of her palm, in Jiang Hang's hand with some confusion.

"This must have been something the murderer accidentally dropped on the floor while moving furniture around the room, but the contents of this box are not simple," Jiang Hang said, opening the box of matches to reveal a carefully folded piece of paper inside.

Miike Sato took the paper, and after just one glance, her eyes widened in surprise. "This is... a marriage registration form, and Ms. Muranishi's name is written on it."

Jiang Hang added, "The date filled in on it is yesterday. That is to say, if nothing unexpected had happened, Ms. Muranishi should have gone to register her marriage with her fiancé yesterday. It's just a pity that she was killed by the murderer before she could take out the marriage registration form."

Miike Sato wasn't stupid; she understood Jiang Hang's meaning perfectly. "You mean the murderer is likely Ms. Muranishi's boyfriend?"

"Love turning into hate can happen anytime, anywhere," Jiang Hang nodded to Miike Sato, then asked Higashida about Ms. Muranishi's love life, "Do you know about Ms. Muranishi's boyfriend or fiancé? Is it Kitagawa, whom you just mentioned?"

Higashida shook his head vigorously, like a rattle drum.

"I've never had a good relationship with Muranishi. All I know is that Muranishi has never gotten married. As for Kitagawa... he's known for his womanizing ways, but I have no idea whether he's dating Muranishi."

Hearing that Higashida was also unaware of the matter, Jiang Hang pondered for a moment, stroking his chin. "Then it seems that starting from this point won't be so easy. The murderer probably deleted the chat history on the phone after committing the crime, and the call records don't mean anything... This clue can only be considered a motive at most."

"Let's take a quick look at the suspicious points in the case now," Jiang Hang said, and after confirming that there were no other clues in the room, he began to analyze the case with Miike Sato and Higashida.

"First, there were fingerprints in the room. You were drunk last night, and then Kitagawa brought you back."

"This isn't too difficult to explain. If the murderer really is Kitagawa, he could have simply killed Ms. Muranishi beforehand, then gone to the bar to drink with you, and finally, while you were drunk, deliberately sent you to this room."

"He even specially altered the room layout to make the interiors of the two rooms look more similar, so that when you're drunk, you won't realize that this isn't actually your room."

As for the fingerprints on the murder weapon...

Jiang Hang looked at Miike Sato beside him. "If I remember correctly, your police identified Higashida as the murderer because they found Higashida's fingerprints on the murder weapon, right?"

Miike Sato nodded, and then explained the murder weapon to Jiang Hang.

The real murder weapon has naturally been sent to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, but that does not prevent Miike Sato from explaining the details of the murder weapon.

"The murder weapon was the video camera's power cord, and Higashida's fingerprints were indeed found on it. However, Higashida himself had no recollection of anything about the power cord."

Jiang Hang nodded, then walked behind the television. Video recorders were indeed very common in conservative Japan, but Jiang Hang himself had never really used one and had no idea how to use it.

After all, he didn't have any programs that needed to be recorded, and most programs broadcast on television in this era can be easily found online.

However, he could still clearly see the power cords plugged into the VCR.

He frowned after just one glance. "Did you check which TV the power cord came from during your investigation?"

The power cord on the VCR in the house in the Muranishi was intact, with no signs of tampering, so it was clear that the murderer did not use the power cord from that VCR.

This question left Miike Sato speechless.

Because the murder weapon was discovered by the police at the crime scene immediately, and after confirming that the wire was the murder weapon used to kill Muranishi, and then finding Higashida's fingerprints on the wire, the police seemed to no longer care where the wire came from.

Although the police later investigated Higashida's home, they ultimately failed to find any important clues.

Ultimately, however, the police were somewhat complacent when faced with a case where all the evidence was presented right away, and they never considered the possibility that someone was framing them behind the scenes.

Seeing Miike Sato's expression, Jiang Hang pretty much knew the answer.

He turned to look at Higashida: "You should have been at the scene when the police came to search, right? Was the power cord used to kill Ms. Muranishi from your house?"

Higashida wasn't very confident about this either, and could only shake his head to indicate that he didn't know either. "My head has been in a mess all day since Kitagawa and the landlord woke me up and I found Muranishi's body in the bathroom. I haven't noticed anything... But my house is upstairs, and I can take you there now."

After a day full of unexpected events, and with Jiang Hang's investigation, suspicion is gradually shifting from him to his friend. Higashida's feelings are also somewhat complicated; he doesn't know whether to be happy or frustrated.

Regardless of whether he committed the crime while drunk or was framed by his friends, he now only wants to help the police find out the truth as soon as possible.

"Then let's go and see just how similar the furnishings of your two houses are."

Chapter 416: Chapter 412: An Ingenious Criminal Method

Upon arriving at Higashida's room, Jiang Hang immediately noticed the similarities and differences between the two rooms.

To be honest, the two rooms have completely different decorating styles and furniture types. Even the gray curtains and bedding are clearly different styles.

In addition, the smells in the rooms were completely different. As a divorced middle-aged man whose children were not around, Higashida's lifestyle was obviously somewhat sloppy. Perhaps because Muranishi's room had been cleaned up, there was no smell of women's perfume, but there was also no smell of sweat in Higashida's room.

If the lights are on, it's almost impossible to mix up the two rooms.

Perhaps for this reason, the police did not notice that the furnishings of the two rooms were almost identical during their search earlier today.

But it's already night, and if you turn off the lights and rely solely on the moonlight outside the window, it's really hard to tell the difference between the two rooms.

Moreover, Higashida was drunk last night and had to be helped home. He himself only vaguely remembered how he got home and how he got to bed.

According to Higashida himself, he usually enjoys drinking, and when he drinks with Kitagawa, he probably gets drunk more than half the time and then asks Kitagawa to take him home.

In other words, Kitagawa only needs to observe for a little while to figure out Higashida's reaction when he's drunk.

"You probably don't shower after you're drunk, right?" Although Jiang Hang was already 90% sure based on the situation in the room, he still needed to confirm this with the person involved again.

Seeing that Higashida nodded somewhat embarrassedly and seemed to want to explain himself a little, Jiang Hang waved his hand at him, indicating that there was no need to explain.

So, was it because they knew Higashida's usual personality and his habit of not taking a bath when he was drunk that the body was found in the bathroom?

After learning all this, Jiang Hang began to check the electrical wiring in Higashida's room.

After a search, it was found that no electrical wires were missing from Higashida's room; all the wires were intact and in their original positions. So, the origin of the extra wire that was used as the murder weapon was highly suspicious.

Since Kitagawa is now the most suspected criminal besides Higashida, Jiang Hang directly asked Higashida if he had ever helped Kitagawa repair televisions or anything like that.

Upon hearing Jiang Hang's question, Higashida suddenly recalled what had happened a few days ago, "Come to think of it, something similar did happen..."

"Last week, Kitagawa told me that his TV at home couldn't record programs and asked me to check it for him. Since I often tinker with these things and have helped many people in the company before, I didn't think too much about it... As for electrical wires, I should have had some experience with them at that time."

In addition, Higashida had mentioned to Kitagawa a few days ago that his daughter was getting married and that he wanted to celebrate properly.

At this point, Jiang Hang was almost able to reconstruct the truth of the case in his mind:

Kitagawa could have planned everything in advance.

He probably planned to frame Higashida a long time ago.

First, I found an opportunity to leave Higashida's fingerprints, and then, knowing that Higashida had some good news recently, I made an appointment to go out for drinks with him last night.

Before heading to the bar to drink with Higashida, he rushed to the victim, Ms. Muranishi's, house, murdered her, hid her in the bathroom, and arranged the scene so that the room wouldn't look strange to the drunk Higashida at night.

Finally, he went to drink with Higashida again, got Higashida drunk, and then took the opportunity to send the drunk Higashida to Ms. Muranishi's house under the pretext of taking him home.

During this process, he also had to personally confirm that he saw Higashida enter the room and lock the door, ensuring that Higashida's fingerprints were left in all the necessary places.

All he had to do was wait until the next morning to go to the landlord and personally enter the "secret room" that the drunken Higashida had created to catch Higashida on the spot.

To be honest, if Kitagawa really is the murderer, then his method of committing the crime is indeed quite ingenious.

After all, such a method is full of unpredictability. If Higashida had been even slightly more alert, or hadn't been so drunk, Higashida might have been able to discover the body in the bathroom earlier.