"Why is there a violin here?" Inspector Megure examined the floor of the old woman's bedroom. "And it's been smashed to pieces like this..."
Professor Agasa stood beside him, equally stunned. "Could this be like thirty years ago? Robbers broke in, tried to steal the old woman's violin, and during the struggle, the two of them smashed it?"
Officer Sato flipped through the information gathered from various places and reminded them, "But weren't both doors to this bedroom locked from the inside? There are no pry marks on the windows either, and there aren't any signs of a struggle in the room..."
Looking at the battered violin on the floor, the housekeeper thought for a moment. "Could someone have smashed the violin beforehand, then casually hidden it in the case? Then, when the old woman went to bed as usual and opened the piano lid to sleep with the violin in her arms, she found it shattered like this. Unable to bear the blow, she jumped from the building and killed herself."
Inspector Megure scratched his head, feeling that this housekeeper still lacked a bit of polish. He refuted her speechlessly, "She was already so old. Why would she want to die over a violin? If it broke, just buy another one. What's the big deal?"
"..."
The room suddenly fell silent.
Inspector Megure looked doubtfully at everyone's shocked faces. "What's wrong? Why are you all looking at me like that?"
Professor Agasa quietly reminded his police buddy, "That violin was made by Antonio Stradivari."
"Antonio... what?" Inspector Megure mulled over the long name. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember it.
Professor Agasa had no choice but to put it more bluntly. "It's worth over a million dollars. In yen, that would be one or two hundred million."
Inspector