"Masutaka Shirokuchi committed suicide?"
The moment Ran Mouri returned home after school and heard the news, she was so startled that she nearly dropped her bag. She looked up in disbelief toward Mori Kogoro.
"Yeah, that's what the police say." Mori Kogoro flipped through the newspaper, his expression relatively calm. "I thought he'd at least struggle a little longer. After all, the police had already released him."
Strictly speaking, this meant another one of his clients had died, but given the man's truly vile conduct, Mori Kogoro did not feel much about it.
That day, the testimonies of two detectives and many witnesses present had led to Masutaka Shirokuchi being taken away by the police for questioning.
However vile the man was, he had not directly murdered Editor Akiba. Establishing a complete chain of evidence would still be quite difficult.
Still, Kakuji Ideda had handed Akiba's belongings over to the police, while Harue Anabuki had organized some of Akiba's work records and delivered them as well. Combined with the traces discovered in Masutaka Shirokuchi's home, it was only a matter of time before the investigation progressed far enough to convict him.
"Because of the enormous compensation he was facing? I heard the publishing house was preparing to sue him, demanding that he cover the losses the books suffered due to the damage to their reputations. Editor Akiba's family, apart from the criminal case, was also seeking a huge amount in damages..." Ran Mouri shook her head, unable to understand it. "If he couldn't bear the consequences at all, why would he do something so terrible?"
Just as Akechi Goro had suggested at the time, the lawyer Editor Akiba's family hired was naturally Eri Kisaki.
So, of course, they knew perfectly well just how staggering the compensation Masutaka Shirokuchi would soon