The Murderer's Trick

Meanwhile, Kudo Shinichi hurried into the adjacent Department Store.

Ishikawa and Mouri Ran followed closely behind him. Led by Kudo, they quickly arrived at the rooftop terrace on the sixth floor.

There was nothing on the rooftop terrace, only some construction debris piled carelessly about.

Kudo Shinichi walked over to the pile of debris and crouched down. He casually picked up a brick and examined it closely before his eyes.

Seeing this, Ishikawa's breathing became somewhat hurried.

But Kudo Shinichi quickly stood up.

"Let's go. We'll check the surveillance footage downstairs."

He had been to this mall with Ran before and knew that it had surveillance cameras installed.

Just then, hearing that Kudo Shinichi wanted to check the surveillance footage, Ishikawa's expression instead relaxed.

"Right, this mall has surveillance cameras."

"That way, we can see whether Uchida came here to jump off the building 'alone.'"

He heavily emphasized the word "alone," making it sound rather like a guilty overexplanation.

"Yes. We'll know once we check the footage."

Kudo Shinichi replied noncommittally, then took the lead down from the rooftop terrace.

Soon, they returned to the first floor of the mall and arrived at the surveillance room.

Surveillance footage was not normally shown to just anyone.

But Kudo Shinichi's title as a famous high school detective was even more useful than the police.

After he revealed the title of "Heisei Holmes," the mall security staff immediately looked like an obsessed fan and respectfully invited Kudo Shinichi into the surveillance room under his charge.

Just like that, Kudo Shinichi easily gained access to the footage from every entrance and exit of the mall.

After speeding through the recordings, they found footage from around five minutes earlier.

"Look, Uchida came in alone!"

Pointing at the figure appearing in the surveillance footage, Ishikawa said impatiently.

"Besides, Aoki and I never entered this mall today."

"If you don't believe me, keep watching. The cameras definitely didn't capture either of us."

Kudo Shinichi said nothing.

He merely stared intently at the "Uchida" in the surveillance footage.

Because of the camera angle and the baseball cap blocking the view, that "Uchida's" face could not be seen at all.

Yet Kudo Shinichi's face showed no emotion whatsoever.

He simply turned around and calmly said to Ran.

"Let's head back directly."

"There's nothing more to investigate here."

"Oh?"

Before Mouri Ran could speak, Ishikawa eagerly asked.

"You're not investigating anymore?"

"Uchida's suicide really wasn't suspicious after all, was it?"

Kudo Shinichi gave Ishikawa a deep look.

"Indeed, there isn't any problem. We can return to the scene now."

"When the police arrive, I'll explain the situation to them as a witness."

"Oh, I see."

Hearing that, Ishikawa immediately let out a long sigh of relief.

"Then, then let's go back right away?"

As though he could not wait for Kudo to leave this place, he hurriedly took the lead back.

As Ishikawa strode ahead, Mouri Ran moved closer to Kudo Shinichi with some concern and asked softly.

"Shinichi, was that true?"

"Was this really just a suicide?"

"No, that was just a lie to keep him calm."

As Kudo Shinichi walked as though nothing had happened, he lowered his voice and said to Mouri Ran.

"I still haven't found conclusive evidence, so I can't prove that they're guilty."

"But I can already be basically certain that this was murder."

"So it really was murder..."

Mouri Ran was somewhat confused.

"But when Uchida appeared on the rooftop terrace, Ishikawa and Aoki were clearly with us."

"And Uchida also appeared in the surveillance footage."

"That's simple."

Kudo Shinichi said calmly.

"Ran, think carefully. When 'Uchida' stood at the edge of the rooftop terrace, could any of us see his face clearly?"

"The mall surveillance footage only captured his figure too. His face was hidden by the baseball cap."

"If no one could see his face clearly from beginning to end, how could we be sure that guy was Uchida?"

"Uh..."

Mouri Ran froze slightly, then asked in surprise.

"You mean the Uchida we saw was actually one of the murderers in disguise?"

"Ishikawa and Aoki had an accomplice?"

"That's right."

Kudo Shinichi nodded.

"The real Uchida should have already been dead by then."

"Then the third murderer disguised himself as Uchida, entered the mall, climbed to the rooftop terrace on the sixth floor, and deliberately showed himself to everyone."

"At the same time, after he got into position, Ishikawa and Aoki deliberately shouted across the street to attract attention."

"Once the passersby knew that someone named Uchida was going to jump off the building, the third person on the rooftop dropped Uchida's body from above, staging a scene of suicide by jumping."

"That way, the police would treat this as a simple suicide."

"Suicide cases were never taken seriously."

"The investigation would likely be wrapped up carelessly and ended."

"I see."

Mouri Ran roughly understood the truth.

But she quickly noticed a huge flaw.

"Still, isn't something wrong?"

"The surveillance footage only captured 'Uchida' entering alone."

"If that Uchida was a murderer in disguise, and the real Uchida was thrown down after he died..."

"Then how did the murderer bring Uchida's body up to the rooftop terrace?"

"There were so many people on the street, and the mall had surveillance cameras. Carrying a corpse around would have been discovered no matter what, wouldn't it?"

Mouri Ran began thinking carefully.

"Could Uchida's body have already been inside this Department Store?"

"Was he killed inside the mall?"

"That still doesn't seem right..."

"The surveillance footage only captured 'Uchida' once, and it didn't capture Ishikawa or Aoki entering the mall."

"And there were so many people in this Department Store. Killing someone inside without being discovered should have been very difficult."

"Haha."

Kudo Shinichi smiled faintly and answered.

"That was the little trick Ishikawa and the others used."

"Because the mall entrance had surveillance cameras, they used them to manufacture evidence for themselves."

"The footage could prove that 'Uchida' only entered once today, while Ishikawa and Aoki never entered the mall at all."

"If I'm not mistaken, the footage probably didn't capture the third person entering the mall either—because he entered disguised as Uchida. He had already been recorded under Uchida's identity."

"In that case, by using the surveillance footage..."

He lowered his voice and carefully explained the murderers' plan.

"All three of them had alibis proving that they had 'never entered the mall.'"

"With that, the police would never suspect that they killed Uchida inside the mall."

"As for killing Uchida outside the mall and then carrying the body into the Department Store in full view of everyone, that would have been even more impossible."

"Once both of those possibilities were ruled out..."

"Most people would only conclude that Uchida entered the mall himself, ran to the rooftop, and jumped to his death."

"But the problem was..."

Kudo paused slightly before continuing his explanation.

"Who said Uchida's body had to have fallen from the rooftop of the Department Store?"

"Think back carefully. After 'Uchida' appeared at the edge of the rooftop terrace, why didn't he jump from there directly?"

"There was no one on the sidewalk beneath him at the time, so he wouldn't have hurt anyone by jumping."

"If he wanted to jump, couldn't he have simply jumped from the side facing the road?"

"Why go out of his way to run to the side of the rooftop and jump into that alley?"

"Right..."

Mouri Ran nodded thoughtfully.

"I found that strange from the beginning."

"If this was viewed as a suicide, Uchida's behavior was somewhat illogical."

Kudo Shinichi said methodically.

"But if 'Uchida' was viewed as a murderer in disguise, his strange actions became completely understandable."

"He walked to the side facing the road so that the witnesses could see his performance."

"And later, he let Uchida's body fall into the alley from the side..."

"Because the murderer had no other choice. He could only make the victim 'fall' into that alley."

"Because..."

"The truth was..."

"Uchida's body never entered this Department Store from beginning to end, much less was it carried up to the rooftop terrace."

"The body had been hidden in that alley all along and had never left."

"Huh?"

Mouri Ran was completely confused.

"The body had been in that alley the whole time?"

"But we clearly heard something heavy falling."

"And you just said that Uchida's body fell from a high place."

"Very simple."

Kudo Shinichi carefully laid out his thoughts.

"The murderer used that fire escape."

"If I'm not mistaken, that deserted alley was the primary crime scene, and it was also where they bullied Uchida."

"Because the busy road was right outside the alley, after realizing they had accidentally killed Uchida, the three bullies had no way to carry the body out of the alley."

"So they thought of using the only thing available in the alley—"

"That fire escape."

"The top of the fire escape was as high as four floors, and its railing was extremely unstable."

"So the murderers carried the body directly to the top of the fire escape and leaned it against that rusted railing."

"Then they left the alley."

"Ishikawa and Aoki waited across the street, while the third murderer entered the mall disguised as Uchida."

"The third person went up to the rooftop terrace and first put on a performance of 'Uchida jumping off the building.'"

"Then that fake Uchida stepped back from the edge of the rooftop terrace and walked to the side facing the alley."

"Finally, he used materials at hand, picking up several bricks from the construction debris piled on the rooftop and throwing them at the fire escape directly below him."

"I see!"

Hearing this, Mouri Ran finally figured out the answer.

"The bricks fell from the rooftop terrace on the sixth floor and struck the body leaning against the fire escape railing on the outside of the fourth floor."

"Because the railing supporting the body was already unstable, after several heavy bricks struck it..."

"The railing broke, and the body fell from the fourth-floor fire escape."

"That way, Uchida was disguised as having committed suicide by jumping off the building."

"And Ishikawa and Aoki could use the surveillance footage to prove that they had never entered the Department Store, eliminating suspicion from themselves and making investigators believe even more that Uchida died by suicide."

"That's right."

Kudo Shinichi nodded.

"Also, Ishikawa and Aoki deliberately talked about their bullying in front of the vending machine at the time."

"They were actually trying to turn all of us into their witnesses."

"On one hand, it proved they weren't at the scene when the crime occurred. On the other, they could use our words to indirectly prove that they had bullied the victim—"

"That way, even if traces they left behind were found on the victim, they could claim the contact happened because of the bullying, making it impossible for the evidence to point to murder."

"What a pity."

As he spoke, the great detective's lips curled into a smile:

"They chose us as their witnesses."

"The murderer really was lucky."

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