Then the fat officer turned to Dr. Tanaka and gestured toward Jiang Xia. "I don't know whether doctors follow the news, but this is Tokyo's famous High School Detective. He's solved plenty of difficult cases. Leave this one to him, and it'll definitely be fine!"
Once the introductions were over, the fat officer looked back and forth between the two heavyweights and said in a low, embarrassed voice, "To be honest, things like this rarely happen around here, so I'm not really sure how to handle it... I'll have to rely on you two!"
When Dr. Tanaka saw Jiang Xia, he resumed that aloof demeanor.
He met the detective's gaze challengingly for a moment, then prepared to examine the body. "I'll inspect her first."
The instant he turned around, he suddenly met a vicious glare.
—High Ponytail Woman was glaring ferociously at him, as though she had already decided he was the murderer.
"..." Dr. Tanaka spat and skirted around her, heading over to the corpse. Frowning, he complained, "How rude."
On the beach.
Dr. Tanaka crouched beside the corpse, lowered his head to observe it for a moment, then spoke to the officer in a relaxed tone:
"The details will have to wait until we examine her at the hospital. Once we have data from the equipment, I can issue a report.
"But don't worry. From what I can see, this was probably suicide—you see, the victim has no defensive wounds at all. I'd guess she took a boat out to sea herself, tied stones around her ankles, and then jumped in."
The fat officer nodded repeatedly. "So that's how it was."
Nearby, Dr. Utsumi stood among the onlookers and silently turned his face away.
After all, he lived in Tokyo and had seen far more of the