"Right below here..."
After spending a few minutes getting a grasp of the block's layout, Conan used the convenience store's lights to sketch a simple map in his notebook. He looked down at the road below and rubbed his chin.
There was some distance between Ye Ban Jiadai's beauty salon and the crime scene below, but just as they had initially deduced, the loud noises had most likely been made when the victim was thrown down.
Although the victim was still undergoing emergency treatment, his injuries had indirectly confirmed that.
Aside from the trauma to his throat, Eisaku Shirou had fractures in his legs and shoulders. Fortunately, it was not yet time to collect recyclable garbage, and the trash bags in the pile had provided excellent cushioning, preventing his fractures from becoming too severe. Even if he recovered, though, he definitely would not be returning to the fighting ring anytime in the next few months.
If he had been thrown from close range, he would not have suffered fractures shaped by such an impact.
From that perspective, the alley behind the beauty salon faced almost directly toward where the victim had been found below. It was downhill, too.
To use a somewhat inappropriate comparison, if Conan were facing an emergency situation, this place, with a little more slope, would have been a perfect skateboard runway—accelerate all the way down, then jump and land below.
Having confirmed the terrain, Conan no longer had any doubts. He decided that Ye Ban Jiadai was the culprit.
Given the interpersonal connections involved, along with this terrain advantage that only required the method to be considered, no one looked more like a suspect than her.
But as Conan wrote that down, he recalled touching Eisaku Shirou's blood-soaked neck and could not stop the corner of