The Culprit Slips Up / Fierce Tiger Climbs the Mountain

"In other words, this deceased person is not related to the case four or five years ago. Instead, it seems more like someone who looks like Kogoro Mouri. Because he was short of money, he dressed up as Kogoro Mouri at someone's suggestion and successfully took the briefcase."

Jiang Hang squinted and began to make his own deductions.

As for the newspaper in the briefcase, they were probably puzzled when they opened it, wondering why it was there.

"If this newspaper wasn't replaced later, then it means that this newspaper might be a code?"

Jiang Hang's thinking gradually became clearer.

Even though he wasn't good at solving puzzles, especially Japanese-style puzzles that were combined with traditional Japan projects, it didn't stop him from reasoning and summarizing the truth of the case based on the clues he could see with his own eyes.

"Let's make this assumption for now."

Five years ago, two people acquired a large sum of money through some means. However, a disagreement arose when it came to dividing the money. Eventually, one of them, the long-haired man in red, probably sensed something was wrong and simply hid the treasure, leaving only this newspaper as the so-called Treasure Map.

"When he was storing his briefcase, he told the shopkeeper that he would come back to pick up the treasure chest within a year at the latest. He also added a condition: 'If it's not me, give that envelope to that person.' He also wrote a curse on the murderer in the letter."

"It's a pity that the long-haired man in red from five years ago was eventually murdered by the killer, and his body was not discovered until five years later."

Jiang Hang's gaze fell on Urakawa Eiji, after all, he was the one who found the corpse while digging for wild vegetables.

Urakawa Eiji quickly explained, "That was just a pure coincidence. I definitely didn't kill that person. Otherwise, after so many years, wouldn't it have been better for me to keep his body hidden? Why would I go to the trouble of finding his body and calling the police to handle it?"

Listening to Urakawa Eiji's explanation, Jiang Hang nodded noncommittally. "That's right. From this point of view, your suspicion is indeed much less than that of others. In fact, from this perspective, your suspicion is about the same as that of the hotel owner."

Toda Yoshiro heard Jiang Hang suddenly mention him, he panicked a little. "What did I do wrong? I've been carrying this briefcase for four or five years, and I was the one who took the initiative to ask Kogoro Mouri to come and investigate. If I were the murderer, I wouldn't need to go out of my way to find a fake Kogoro Mouri to act for me!"

"So you're relatively safe here with me for now." After temporarily excluding the group, Jiang Hang looked at the remaining hotel staff.

One of them was Masao Jinbo, who had parked the car for Kogoro Mouri and was mentioned by Urakawa Eiji Jimbo Masao who was in charge of the three of them going to the mountains to pick wild vegetables.

Seeing the suspicion in Jiang Hang's eyes, the staff member instinctively wanted to look away.

But he quickly realized something and immediately questioned Jiang Hang: "According to you, there's another problem here, isn't there? We can't confirm whether the long-haired man's body was a suicide four years ago or a murder five years ago with the scene staged!"

Chapter 466: Chapter 462: The Murderer Who Exposed His True Colors

Upon hearing Jimbo Masao's question, Jiang Hang's face remained expressionless, as if he had anticipated this.

Instead, under the staff member's questioning, Kogoro Mouri and Misao Yamamura, who were standing nearby, couldn't help but look at him, as if they wanted to figure out his position for asking the question.

It's not unusual to question the deductions of detectives or police officers. In fact, many times it's necessary for someone to stand up and question things in order to discover the key to the problem.

However, Jimbo Masao's attitude was a bit strange. After the hotel owner and another colleague proved that they had no motive for the crime, he seemed to be inexplicably too anxious.

Jiang Hang hadn't even asked him anything yet, and he was already bringing up the matter of the long-haired man from five years ago.

Is he genuinely trying to help the police solve the case and uncover the truth from five years ago, or is he feeling guilty and trying to find flaws in Jiang Hang's reasoning to attack him?

This matter is still unclear, but because of his actions at this moment, he has indeed been silently marked by the people present.

After saying these words, Jimbo Masao seemed to realize that he might have been a bit too sensitive, and quickly began to explain, "I just want to clarify one thing. After all, this detective from Tokyo has been saying from the beginning that the case five years ago and this case were committed by the same person. But what if the man from five years ago really committed suicide? If that's the case, then the reasoning has been wrong from the start, hasn't it?"

Sensing Jimbo Masao's somewhat tense tone, Jiang Hang waved his hand at him, telling him not to be so sensitive.

"Your doubts are indeed valid. Although there are many suspicious points about the recently discovered body, I cannot completely prove it right now. So let's take a complete look at the items on that body."

Jiang Hang said this, then looked at Misao Yamamura beside him. "Officer Yamamura, I remember you came here to revisit and confirm with Mr. Urakawa Eiji, who discovered the body, so you should have a fairly complete record on you now, right?"

"And Mr. Urakawa Eiji, you should still remember the location of the body and the items on his body, right?"

The two people Jiang Hang asked nodded at the same time.

Misao Yamamura felt a sense of accomplishment in being able to assist Jiang Hang, while Urakawa Eiji simply wanted to get rid of the suspicion against him as soon as possible.

"I happen to have some photos with me. If that's not enough, I can have someone take pictures of the records and send them to you directly." As Misao Yamamura said this, he took out a stack of photos from his person.

There weren't many photos, only about a dozen.

Each image contains only a single object.

A bottle of milk that's half-finished—of course, so many years have passed that even if the milk hasn't completely evaporated, the rest has probably long since spoiled into who knows what.

A pack of cigarettes that had been smoked a few times, a completely rotten loaf of bread, car keys, the sweater the deceased was wearing, a wallet, and some items inside the wallet.

The most crucial thing here is a convenience store receipt.

The date and year are clearly marked on it—the time is the morning of July 10th, four years ago.

Below are the items the deceased purchased: a serving of fresh milk, a piece of red bean bread, and a pack of cigarettes, which correspond perfectly to the items found on the deceased's person.

Looking at these things, Jiang Hang, who had initially only felt something was wrong, was now almost certain that the deceased had not committed suicide.

"The murderer left too many clues, or rather, he never expected that the police would care so much about this suicide case."

Jiang Hang began to count the problems on his fingers.

"First of all, the date on the shopping receipt on the deceased is July, which is already summer, but the deceased was wearing a sweater that was worn in spring or autumn. Even if someone wanted to commit suicide, they wouldn't choose to hang themselves in the forest in the middle of summer while wearing a sweater. This is illogical."

"Then he brought a pack of cigarettes that he had already smoked a few times but no lighter, which could be considered an extension of the shopping receipt."

"If the deceased didn't want others to know his identity, so it's normal for him to bring his car keys but not his driver's license or anything that could prove his identity, then it's very suspicious that a smoker bought a pack of cigarettes but didn't bring his lighter. It can't be that the deceased committed suicide and a passerby found him and deliberately came to pick up his lighter."

"Of course, there is another issue that is equally crucial." Jiang Hang pulled out the photo of the carton of milk.

"The carton of milk was opened and placed in the deceased's backpack, but no straw was found in the backpack. So who would put an opened carton of milk in a backpack without taking any precautions?"

"There are clear problems with the body, and the deceased had just deposited a briefcase and made so many instructions before his death. Yet, a year later, when he was supposed to come back to retrieve the briefcase, he suddenly committed suicide. There's something wrong with this."

"Therefore, I can now say with considerable certainty that the deceased's time of death was much earlier than this date, and it is even very likely that he was murdered by the killer shortly after he left the briefcase at the hotel."

At this point, Kogoro Mouri recalled what the innkeeper had mentioned when he received the request, "Speaking of which, someone came to claim the briefcase the day after it was stored at the inn."

In the end, the person didn't get the briefcase, but left with a letter that read "May you die." After that, he disappeared without a trace.

"If we consider it this way, then the person who came to pick up the briefcase is the murderer. It's even possible that the long-haired man was already killed by him at that time. But after a while, he was worried that the victim's body would be discovered and he would be suspected, so he secretly went over to prepare a disguise and took away the driver's license that could prove the victim's identity. That's why the police have been unable to find out the man's identity."

As Jiang Hang said this, he then looked at Jimbo Masao forehead was slightly covered in a fine layer of sweat.

"I believe my reasoning is quite sound and well-founded, and it should no longer be considered mere delusion. So, Mr. Jinbo, do you have any further questions?"

Before Jimbo Masao could speak, Jiang Hang suddenly turned to Toda Yoshiro and asked, "Boss, I'd like to ask, when did Mr. Jinbo start working at your hotel?"

When asked this question, Toda Yoshiro paused for a moment, but quickly answered, "It should be more than four years now. It was about a month after that long-haired man came to my place to deposit his briefcase."

At this point, Toda Yoshiro seemed to sense that something was amiss.

He paused for a moment, then looked at Jimbo Masao with some disbelief.

He hadn't thought too much about it before, but now that Jiang Hang had brought it up so deliberately, he didn't know why, but when he looked at Jimbo Masao, he sensed a hint of panic in the other man's expression.

"Yafu, could it really be you?" he asked somewhat uncertainly.

Of course, Jimbo Masao couldn't possibly choose to answer such a potentially disastrous question.

He quickly waved his hand. "It was just a coincidence. Boss, didn't I tell you before? I used to work in Tokyo, but I couldn't get used to the fast pace of the city, so I specifically found a sparsely populated place to recuperate here. I knew nothing about that long-haired man. I only overheard you mentioning it a few times later."

"Is it a coincidence?" Jiang Hang said noncommittally, then decided to put pressure on the "murderer" who was starting to lose his composure.

"So, is it also a coincidence that your footprints are on this table?"

Jiang Hang suddenly pointed to the table next to him and said a fact that shocked everyone.

Even Conan couldn't help but glance at Jiang Hang again.

"He truly is a monster. I couldn't even see anything on the table, yet Jiang Hang found someone else's footprints right there on it. Is he playing with people's eyes using a magnifying glass?"

Under normal circumstances, there would be no effect to bringing up evidence or clues in this situation. However, since the prisoner is currently in a state of tension and confusion, bringing up this evidence at this moment might have a surprising effect.

As expected, under Jiang Hang's relentless pressure, the murderer, upon realizing that his plan had encountered so many problems from the very beginning, panicked and blurted out, "I... I'm an employee of this hotel. Sometimes when the lights in the rooms break, I have to come and fix them."

"These footprints are probably from when I was fixing the light bulb. They have absolutely no connection to this case. If you really have any doubts, you can investigate the light bulb in the room. I think you can definitely find my fingerprints on it."

Judging from his appearance, there are probably really his fingerprints on the light bulb in the room; he must have actually been here to change a light bulb.

Jiang Hang couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"You seem quite confident, but are you sure there's nothing wrong with what you just said?"

Seeing Jiang Hang's appearance, Jimbo Masao suddenly became hesitant again.

But he remembered that he had indeed changed light bulbs in this room before and cleaned it many times. Jiang Hang shouldn't be able to find any problems, right?

But faced with Jiang Hang's overwhelming offensive, he was indeed tempted to back down.

Seeing that Jimbo Masao was too afraid to speak, Jiang Hang continued to explain to the somewhat confused Misao Yamamura and Kogoro Mouri.

"The body of the deceased we saw today was hung from a beam to create the illusion of suicide. To pick up the body of an adult male and put him in a pre-prepared knot to make it look like suicide is no ordinary feat."

"In other words, the murderer must have needed a high enough place to support himself when he did all this, and this table was a good choice."

"Similarly, this table also reveals your biggest weakness."

He pointed to the barely noticeable footprints on the table. "You said these footprints were left when you were repairing the lights. Does that mean your hotel doesn't clean for months at a time?"

Fearing that the goodwill his hotel had worked so hard to build up would be instantly tarnished by Jimbo Masao, a high-probability criminal, Toda Yoshiro quickly explained to Jiang Hang, "Our hotel is extremely clean, and there will absolutely be no hygiene problems. You can rest assured about that. If there are footprints on this table, they must have been left by him in the last couple of days!"

At this point, Toda Yoshiro seemed to realize that he could not save Jimbo Masao, so he decisively abandoned this long-time employee who had worked for him for several years.

However, he remained calm: this guy probably got the job at his hotel just for this briefcase.

If he hadn't kept the briefcase so carefully, and if no one else had known where it was, he probably would have been killed by Jimbo Masao and run away with the briefcase.

As for Jiang Hang, he wasn't interested in dwelling on this issue too much. After all, things had progressed to this point, and the suspect had already emerged: there might be Jimbo Masao's fingerprints on the lampshade, but Jiang Hang only glanced at it from afar and knew that the lamp, which no one could usually touch, probably hadn't been cleaned for a month or two. Even if fingerprints were left on it, the footprints on the table that were only a few days old were not so easy to explain either.

As long as Jimbo Masao cannot explain how the footprint appeared there, he is the prime suspect in this case.

By this point, Jimbo Masao was already sweating profusely.

He even blamed himself for speaking out of turn.

Originally, Jiang Hang had only slightly doubted his identity after ruling out the other employees as suspects.

However, his talkativeness may have drawn everyone's attention to him, and after gradually taking control of the situation in Jiang Hang, he unknowingly became the prime suspect in the case.

He doesn't even know how to explain himself to clear his name of suspicion.

Chapter 467: Chapter 463: The Fierce Tiger Climbs the Mountain

After realizing that everyone's eyes were on him, Jimbo Masao was already sweating profusely.

Even so, he still had no intention of confessing. In fact, the more dangerous the situation, the clearer his mind became.

Although things have come to this point, it is not a dead end.

After all, all Jiang Hang has said so far is just speculation, and cannot prove that he killed the man who died in the room, let alone prove that he also killed the long-haired man from five years ago.

Specifically, Jiang Hang currently lacks any "ironclad evidence" to prove that he is the murderer in these two cases.

Even if it was just a footprint, it only proves that he had entered the room in the past two days; it doesn't necessarily mean that he killed the person.

Jimbo Masao's mind raced. His previous self-righteous actions had increased others' suspicions of him, but that was all they had to do with it.

Without evidence, even if the police take him back for questioning, they can only detain him for a few days at most if they can't produce any evidence.

"As long as I refuse to admit it to the death, they can't do anything to me," Jimbo Masao thought to himself.

"I was hoping to use these detectives to find out what that despicable guy meant by leaving behind this newspaper, but now it seems I have no choice but to give up on this matter," Jimbo Masao thought to himself.

Despite having killed two people in an attempt to keep the money for himself, he still couldn't get what he wanted. Now, for the sake of his freedom, it seems he has no choice but to give up for now.

Moreover, at least he now has a clue. As long as others can't figure out the answer, he will still have a sliver of a chance after escaping this crisis!

Jimbo Masao spread his hands toward Jiang Hang, still indicating that he did not kill anyone and that the footprint was probably just an accident.

"I genuinely had never met any of the guests in this room before today, and I knew absolutely nothing about the long-haired man from five years ago. I suspect that this is a frame-up attempt by the real murderer. If you don't believe me, then there's nothing I can do!"

Seeing the murderer still stubbornly denying his crimes, Jiang Hang rubbed his head and shook his head.

His verbal skills were indeed ineffective. He had already said so much, but the other party was still unwilling to admit their guilt and was still trying to put up a stubborn resistance.

If it were Conan, he might already be in the classic scene of crying, kneeling, and confessing his sins.

To be honest, this kind of resistance might be useful for ordinary people, but for Jiang Hang, it just adds a few more steps.

While the motive for the crime cannot be analyzed at the moment, evidence of the crime is arguably the easiest thing to find in his Eagle Eye.

Jimbo Masao might have felt that while his methods left many problems, he had managed to conceal the identity of the deceased well, without revealing their communication.

This afternoon, Jimbo Masao killed the imposter Kogoro Mouri. He most likely took a cell phone from the imposter, then went to the women's bathroom to find some long hair to put in his briefcase to fool people. After that, to avoid suspicion, he worked in other places and didn't have much time to deal with the cell phone.

Therefore, the phone was either thrown into some corner where it wouldn't be easily discovered, or it's still in his room and hasn't been disposed of yet.

According to feedback from Altair, since their arrival, Jimbo Masao has not left the hotel except for the time he spent parking for Kogoro Mouri and his group.