Phantom Thief of Heart!but conan

Chapter 1260 The Master of Chicken Blood
Tang Ze ignored his feigned surprise, which was clearly an act, and turned to ask Enomoto Azusa very seriously.

"Ms. Enomoto, are he and your brother, Mr. Sugihito, on good terms?"

Even without the advantage of a script, this guy is still the most suspicious person in Tang Ze's eyes.

Generally speaking, it is a very normal reaction for a suspect's family not to believe that the suspect would commit a crime, but this reaction is rarely seen from colleagues.

Let's not even talk about workplace culture; this guy doesn't seem like the kind of friend who's really close to the suspect.

"Huh?" Enomoto Azusa paused, taken aback by his question, and turned to examine Kawase Touji's expression. "I guess so..."

It's a bit inappropriate to run away from this kind of issue in front of the person involved...

"Have we known each other for a long time?" Tang Ze changed his questioning style.

“No, not at all.” This time, Enomoto Azusa nodded much more decisively. “He was just a colleague of my brother’s, assigned to the same department last month…”

"Only a month?" Tang Ze looked at him with a meaningful gaze.

It's possible to establish a passable working relationship after a month of knowing each other, but it's unrealistic to say that it's really good, especially since they're in a Japanese workplace, where one of them seems somewhat out of place due to their personality and work style.

"...What do you mean? Are you implying that my relationship with Mr. Sugito isn't good, and therefore my visit to inquire about his situation is suspicious?" Kawase Touji frowned, looking at Tang Ze with a mixture of anger and disdain. "Speaking of which, you are...?"

"He is..." Enomoto Azusa, seeing the atmosphere of the conversation becoming somewhat disharmonious, quickly tried to say a few words on behalf of Tang Ze.

"Who I am is not important. This is a coffee shop. There's no rule that says no one can come here, right?" Tang Ze smiled, his words dripping with sarcasm. "Generally speaking, people who are involved in a case and come to the police usually have only one purpose, right? To find out about the progress of the investigation or something like that."

Even if you didn't know beforehand that the guy in front of you was the real culprit, the current situation is just too classic.

A family member of a suspect who truly believes the suspect could not have committed murder will desperately try to prove the suspect's innocence to the police, will try every means to seek help from detectives or other people, and may even take the blame themselves, but is unlikely to say something like telling the suspect to run away.

This essentially implies that the suspect cannot be cleared, cannot directly confront the police, or that there is some shady dealing involved in the case, making it impossible for the police to properly investigate.

"Are you implying that I am also a suspect?" Kawase Touji's gaze darkened almost instantly.

"I didn't say that." Tang Ze curled the corners of his mouth and turned to look at Enomoto Azusa standing behind him.

Seeing that the two of them were somewhat at odds, Enomoto Azusa couldn't help but feel nervous.

This is practically asking her outright, "Whom do you trust more?"

But after glancing at the two of them, she still looked firmly at Tang Ze.

On one side is a colleague her brother has only known for a short time, and on the other side is Tang Ze, who has lived in the coffee shop for so long. The latter is a kid who, because of the case he is involved in, probably doesn't like the trouble his brother has caused.

No matter how you look at it, Tang Ze is the one who is least likely to harm her.

“His residence is far from the company, in the city. My brother found out about this and has been letting him rest at home occasionally this month,” Enomoto Azusa replied softly. “You know, my brother rented a place near the company for work convenience and doesn’t live with me.”

"In other words, he has access to Mr. Sugito's residence and his personal belongings, including his shirts, right?" Tang Ze asked rhetorically.

What truly made the police suspect Enomoto Sugito was not the fingerprints on the murder weapon—as Kawase Touji had previously explained, several people witnessed Enomoto Sugito grabbing the gun, and the victim had given his consent at the time; this was not conclusive evidence.

What kept the police from turning their suspicions away was that shirt.

The shirt was stained with the victim's blood, and the buttons bore Enomoto Sugito's fingerprints—this was practically irrefutable evidence.

Unless it can be proven that someone else might have gotten their hands on the blood-stained garment, like right now.

"Are you doubting me?" Kawase Touji's gaze was extremely cold, almost a stern interrogation.

“I’d like to say something polite, that I didn’t mean it that way, but…” Tang Ze tilted his head, looked directly into the other person’s eyes, and answered rather bluntly, “This is what I’m thinking right now. Mr. Kawase Touji, do you have an alibi for the time of the incident?”

"Karazawa-kun...!" Enomoto Azusa's eyes widened as she tried to stop him.

Saying those words in front of so many police officers is not something that can be explained away with a few words; it's a very serious accusation.

"Don't be nervous." Tang Ze patted her arm reassuringly, then turned to Conan and Kogoro Mouri, "What do you think, detectives?"

Takagi Wataru didn't just give a verbal explanation; after mentioning the shirt, he handed the photo of the blood-stained shirt to Mouri Kogoro.

Conan, sitting next to Kogoro Mouri, also saw the photo and was currently examining it closely.

Upon hearing Tang Ze's question, Conan blurted out without thinking, "This bloodstain doesn't look like it was caused by a gunshot. If it's a rifle, I remember it was a long-handled shotgun, right?"

“Yeah, it’s definitely not the kind of thing you can just pick up and shoot without even holding it.” Kogoro Mouri pulled the photo from his hand and tapped him on the head in annoyance. “Even an idiot could see that, right? Since they’ve listed it as evidence, the police must have other evidence.”

What Conan is trying to say is that if a rifle is used to fire, the perpetrator must have used his arm or underarm to hold the gun securely. The large forehand would also inevitably cover part of the clothing, so the blood on the clothes would not be completely intact and there would be some gaps.

The large area of ​​splattered blood on the front of the shirt in the photo doesn't look like the result of a close-range gunshot wound; it looks more like the result of a blunt force trauma.

Takagi Wataru was about to open his mouth without thinking when Chiba Kazuno pulled him back. Seeing that Karasawa was looking at Kawase Touji with that meaningful gaze again, he finally shut his mouth.

Tang Ze had just questioned whether this man had come to confirm the progress of the investigation; he couldn't very well continue to reveal case details in front of him.

Tang Ze raised an eyebrow, ignoring Kawase Touji's angry glare once again, and said to Enomoto Azusa very seriously, "I don't know what this person has said to you, whether he told you that Mr. Sugito is already suspected by the police, so you can't easily reveal his whereabouts or something, but you have to trust the police officers of the First Investigation Division. If you have any clues related to Mr. Sugito, you have to tell them first."

Enomoto Azusa suddenly gripped the phone tucked under her apron.

Tang Ze was absolutely right. Before she learned from the police that her brother was suspected of fleeing to avoid punishment, she received a call from Kawase Touji, who informed her of the case and repeatedly warned her not to easily reveal anything related to Sugito.

"This is a murder case. Manager Torii has never had any verbal conflicts with anyone at the company besides your brother. Revealing too many details might actually increase suspicion. For his sake, let me talk to you about what to do, okay?" Of course, Enomoto Azusa didn't immediately believe the call. Instead, she contacted her brother first to hear what Enomoto Sugito had to say…

Having thought this through, Enomoto Azusa took a deep breath.

"I didn't expect you to trust us so much, Tang Ze-kun..." Before Enomoto Azusa could say anything, Takagi Wataru was moved by Tang Ze's righteous and eloquent speech.

They all knew why Tang Ze had come to Tokyo.

"After all, this is the First Investigation Division that I know." Tang Ze didn't mind giving them a pep talk at this moment. His aggressive expression turned into a harmless smile. "Officer Sato, who can catch a suspect and then try to let him go because he wants to make it to his daughter's wedding, is different from the police I met in Kyoto."

"Tang Zejun...!"

His words stirred up not only Takagi Wataru, but also all the police officers present.

Hearing a child, who has been completely persecuted by a terrible law enforcement and judicial system, say that he believes in the police and trusts that they will not make wrongful convictions, truly inspires a sense of mission.

Without any instructions, two policemen immediately stood up and blocked the door of Polo Cafe.

Although the coffee shop is now filled with police officers who are keeping watch, the atmosphere is still quite imposing, almost like an interrogation of a suspect.

After calming down, Enomoto Azusa heard him say that and immediately seemed to have made up her mind.

If even Tang Ze, who was once imprisoned for false accusation, said this, what reason does she have not to trust him?

“Actually, I called my brother the following night.” Enomoto Azusa tried to keep her voice steady as she took out her phone. “I usually call my brother every night to let each other know I’m safe. Then I asked him about this…”

"How did he answer you?" Tang Ze nodded, unsurprised.

If Enomoto Azusa had cooperated with the police investigation earlier and provided them with all the clues that might be related to Enomoto Sugito's whereabouts, Kawase Touji's plot would have had no chance of succeeding.

He relied on Enomoto Sugito's easygoing and quirky personality to build a good relationship with her, gaining Enomoto Azusa's trust, and keeping it a secret from both sides to achieve the current result.

Enomoto Sugito's eccentric and optimistic personality, along with his close and loving relationship with his younger sister, saved his life. However, this is also the reason why he became Kawase Touji's scapegoat. It can only be said that this is a case of good fortune and bad fortune being intertwined.

“He said, ‘Even if I use a shotgun during a competition, I really don’t know how to use it and I’ve never even touched a rifle. I can’t be the murderer!’” Enomoto Azusa mimicked Enomoto Sugito’s words on the phone, took out her phone, and pulled up the call log as evidence. “He hasn’t contacted me since then. I guess there’s nowhere to charge his phone where he is, and it’s probably dead…”

This is also why she firmly believes that her brother did not flee to avoid punishment.

When he could still contact her, Enomoto Sugito already knew about the murder. If he really intended to escape, how could he not take any cash with him?

I wonder where my silly older brother is hiding right now...

"When was that?"

"The night before last. Uh, the day after the murder..."

"Besides this phone call, have you received any other messages from your brother?"

"That's it. I haven't been able to contact him since the call..."

"Can you let me see it?"

"Huh? Oh, okay..."

It wasn't until Enomoto Azusa handed the phone to Karasawa that Takagi Wataru and Chiba Kazunobu, who were standing to the side, showed expressions of shock.

Clearly, Enomoto Azusa did not tell the police this part of the story, and judging from the way Karasawa had previously guided her, her silence was probably inextricably linked to Kawase Touji.

That makes sense. Enomoto Azusa is just an ordinary waitress after all. It's normal for her to be at a loss when something like this happens to a family member. Unless someone specifically taught her how to deal with the police, she probably wouldn't have hidden such details.

With that thought in mind, the two of them moved with unusual speed, one on the left and one on the right, decisively trapping Kawase Touji, whose face was already looking rather unpleasant.

Whether he lived in Enomoto Sugito's apartment is something that can be easily verified.

When living in a place, even the most careful person will inevitably leave some evidence, such as fingerprints or hair. This is not something that the police will believe just by talking about it. Enomoto Azusa has no reason to lie in this place.

Then Kawase Touji is a prime suspect.

Tang Ze took Enomoto Azusa's phone, quickly checked her call history with Enomoto Sugito, and then switched to their email interface.

Sugito Enomoto is indeed a comedian who cares deeply for his younger sister. He sends her messages and photos at the slightest thing, showing that he is the kind of friend who brings joy to others.

Tang Ze pulled up an email and laughed, then turned to Takagi Wataru to confirm, "The murder happened around 11 p.m. three days ago, right?"

"Huh? How did you know? It is indeed this time."

Takagi Wataru quickly realized what was happening and leaned over to check Enomoto Azusa's phone.

The email interface showed a selfie of Sugito Enomoto grinning from ear to ear. In the photo, he was wearing a down jacket, and snowflakes could be seen falling in the background.

Because of the drop in temperature, he reminded his sister to wear more clothes, showed her his new clothes, and asked her how they looked.

And the email's information page clearly shows...

"In the CC recipient section, there's 'Touji Kawase'," Tang Ze said leisurely.

(End of this chapter)