Jiang Xia asked again, "When did the Billiard Cue leave your hands?"
The manager said, "I handed the Billiard Cue to Mr. Minami the night before last."
"The night before last?!" Section Chief Yasui sprang to his feet and stared at that unassuming ordinary employee. "I remember you only gave the Billiard Cue to the manager this morning! When I pressed you yesterday, you said it still hadn't been fixed!"
With that, everything suddenly became clear.
Inspector Megure looked at Minami Satoshi. "So that exploding Billiard Cue remained in your possession for an entire day and night? What did you do to it during that time?"
Minami Satoshi's face turned exceedingly grim, but he still said nothing.
Such a taciturn suspect was rare, but even if he refused to speak, the police could not simply Take Away him.
The helpful Detective therefore spoke for him. "I remember that shortly after arriving, you made an excuse to go to the restroom, leaving the other three colleagues, all of whom ranked above you, here.
"On the surface, it looked like an entirely ordinary little interruption, but in reality, it was one carefully designed link in your plan.
"From what was said just now, the four of you often came to this Driving Range together to play golf, and your routine was fairly fixed.
"The victim held a high position. Naturally, he would not personally handle something as trivial as taking balls from the Automatic Ball Dispenser before practice began.
"So the original routine should have been that, after arriving, you—the lowest-ranking ordinary employee—would take out and place the balls for the victim, then place Section Chief Yasui's balls as well, completing this bit of menial work.
"But according to your plan, afterward you would lead the police into believing that the bomb