At this, Attorney Saku recalled something and explained apologetically, "Actually, I'm not afraid of becoming a criminal. I killed Attorney Usui so the villagers could win the Factory Sewage Case—if the Presiding Judge learned about this, he might form a negative impression of the villagers and affect the verdict... Once a factory is built, it will not easily relocate. I absolutely did not want to affect the residents there for generations to come."
A lawyer had killed another lawyer for the sake of winning a case, and both sides of the incident were fairly well-known successful figures in their respective fields—once word got out, everyone involved would certainly hear the gossip, and the Presiding Judge would soon learn of it as well.
Attorney Saku said, "So I planned to frame Mr. Jiang Xia first, then use that time to bring about a settlement between the two sides as quickly as possible, and afterward confess and surrender to the police. But I didn't expect..."
Hearing this, Kisaki Eri seized the chance while he was still willing to talk and interjected with a crucial question. "Even if you surrender, you cannot do so without evidence. If you truly planned to turn yourself in after the sewage case ended, how were you going to prove that you, rather than Jiang Xia, killed Ms. Usui?"
Attorney Saku smiled. "By asking that, you must already have the answer—the pliers I used to cut the Door Chain.
"Since I rehearsed several times beforehand, the pliers inevitably bore some wear marks. And the pattern of wear on every pair of pliers is unique. They could prove that I was the one who created the locked room."
Inspector Yokomizo joined the conversation without revealing anything in his expression. "Where did you buy those pliers?"
Attorney Saku looked somewhat