Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 371 Chiba: He looks like Officer Matsuda

An apartment building a little distance from the Metropolitan Police Department.

Chiba yawned as he faced Sato's question.

“Since the incident occurred between 7 and 7:30, it couldn’t have been Kato’s doing. Didn’t I say that he woke me up at 7 a.m. and we watched TV together in the living room until 8 a.m.?”

“But now someone saw him at the victim’s apartment,” Sato said seriously, looking at Coral Head, who was wearing a vest next to Chiba, “and it happened right before the time of the incident.”

As he spoke, Sato glanced at the police handbook.

“Most importantly, the victim’s fiancée was your ex-girlfriend. You went abroad for a year, and when you came back, your girlfriend was taken away… Your motive for the crime was quite sufficient.”

"Stop joking, officer," Coral Head grumbled. "I'm sure I'm upset that he stole my girlfriend, but is it really necessary to kill someone? Besides, I didn't even leave the house today. Someone must have been confused this morning and made a mistake!"

It's definitely you!

Hondo Eisuke squeezed into the entrance hall from the outside, adjusting his glasses to carefully examine Coral Head.

“I could see it very clearly at that time because you were wearing a coat and a hat, which was very suspicious!”

"suspicious?"

Coral Head's face twitched.

Who would consider whether a random stranger they encounter is suspicious?
This guy is the one with a problem, isn't he?
However, it seems that he encountered the other person at that time.

Although he was too nervous to pay much attention at the time, Hondo Eisuke's distinctive cat-like eyes still left an impression on him because they resembled his favorite MC, Mizunashi Rena.

Coral Head narrowed her eyes slightly, then forced a smile and replied, "There are so many people who look alike, and besides, your eyesight isn't very good, so it's normal to make a mistake. I really have been with Chiba from this morning until now."

"Sure?"

Gao Mo looked up at the clock in the entryway.

"Why is there a clock here?"

"This one……"

Chiba scratched his head awkwardly.

"Because I'm always late, I put a clock in almost every room."

"It's 5 minutes faster."

"This way, it's less likely to be late."

“But you’re still often late,” Sato bluntly exposed. “I think you should just move up an hour.”

"How can it be so exaggerated?"

Coral Head suddenly trembled slightly, looking at Gao Mo with an unusual expression, and inexplicably felt a strong threat: "Who... is this person?"

“I am Kido Takamori, and I can be considered the patriarch of this kid.”

Gao Mo restrained Hondo Eisuke, who wanted to challenge Coral Head.

"I heard that you came to stay in Chiba as soon as you returned to China."

"Yes, yes," Coral Head swallowed hard, "because my girlfriend dumped me and I had nowhere to stay, so..."

Strange, what is he afraid of?
He's just an ordinary parent.

However, they don't look like parents at all, and the age gap doesn't seem that big either.

Brother?
"Anyway, he must have seen it wrong," Coral Head said, forcing himself to remain calm as he turned to Sato. "When I woke Chiba up this morning, the TV was showing Yoko's 7 o'clock live broadcast. Chiba always records it, so you can check it out if you don't believe me."

"I did record it."

Chiba stared blankly at Gao Mo.

Although it wasn't the first time they had met, I only now realized that the detective agency owner and Shinichi Matsuda gave me a very similar feeling.

In a daze, I seemed to see Officer Matsuda again.

I remember last time...

"Chiba?" Sato called out, "Is there a problem?"

"No, no, I'll show you right away."

Chiba snapped out of her reverie and hurriedly ran into the living room to search for the videotapes.

We'll never see Officer Matsuda again.

That man seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving behind his legend at the Metropolitan Police Department before disappearing without a trace.

He should have known better.

When we were working on a case together before, I felt that Officer Matsuda was like a fleeting visitor, as if he didn't belong to this world.

At that time, Inspector Matsuda probably didn't plan to stay with the Metropolitan Police Department, right? "That's it, I record it every time."

In the living room, Chiba, with a heavy heart, inserted and played a videotape.

Yoko Okino's image appeared on the television screen, which was covered with various notes.

"This is Yoko Okino's 4-minute cooking time. Today's menu features autumn mushrooms..."

“Right?” Chiba pointed to the time displayed in the upper left corner. “It’s exactly 7:34. This place isn’t close to the murder scene you mentioned. Even if it’s not rush hour, there’s no way to drive back in half an hour.”

Sato still felt there was a big problem: "But why was it Mr. Kato who woke you up today? You can't possibly oversleep over this too, can you?"

"Because I was drinking with Kato while watching a rented videotape last night, I slept in this living room and forgot to set the time. But I did record the videotape myself, so it's impossible for me to have done anything wrong."

"What's with all these notes?" Gao Mo noticed the notes plastered all over the edge of the screen.

These are all the program's broadcast times.

"Because I often forget to write down my favorite shows, I put them on here to remind myself."

"What happens after the 7 o'clock live broadcast?" Gao Mo touched the TV screen.

Although it wasn't very obvious, he still noticed traces of the note being removed.

It was right where the video recording showed the time.

"After that, I kept watching that," Chiba said somewhat embarrassedly, but still subconsciously answered Gao Mo, "It's Kamen Rider. Because I'm a tokusatsu fan, Kato gave me the first Kamen Rider video as a thank you gift for letting me stay here."

The show lasted about 6 hours. I took a shower in the middle, which was less than half an hour, and then I continued watching. Just as I finished watching, a professional baseball game was being broadcast live, and then Officer Sato came looking for me. I was only away from Kato for the half hour I was showering.

"Oh?" Gao Mo's voice trailed off slightly, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Coral Head feel a little guilty.

However, he does what is appropriate for his identity, and generally he doesn't like to use his real identity to solve cases.

Especially now that there are familiar police officers present.

Chiba's gaze towards him was somewhat strange.

Speaking of which, it was indeed a bit unethical of Matsuda Shinichi not to say goodbye to Chiba when he left the stage.

After all, they were partners during that period.

Gao Mo glanced at Chiba, who was still testifying for Coral Head, and secretly shook his head.

It must feel terrible to be used by a friend, right?

Chiba trusted his friend so much, but little did he know that he had become a tool for proving the other's alibi.

It sounds like Coral Head deliberately kept Chiba up all night last night, and then used Chiba's fuzzy sense of time to create a time difference today.

The other party knew the police would come, and stayed with Chiba to prevent her from discovering that she had been robbed for two hours.

Yes, two hours.

Gao Mo's gaze swept over the living room clock.

It was 5 minutes slower than the time at the entrance, which means the time had probably been changed and then adjusted back.

The timing should have been during the half hour that Chiba went to the restroom.

However, the other party did not notice that Chiba had deliberately sped up the time, so they switched it back to the correct time.

"Are you sure you didn't go out today?" Gao Mo turned to Coral Head, who had regained his composure.

"Huh? Yes, yes." Coral Head tensed up again.

"But I just looked in the entryway and there was a pair of shoes with wet shoelaces. It looked like they were washed and dried with a hairdryer, but the shoelaces were forgotten."

Gao Mo picked up the program guide covered in markings next to the television.

"The cable TV station even has a rebroadcast of the 7 PM live broadcast..."

“I’m saying,” Coral Head couldn’t stand it anymore, “didn’t the recording just show the time? If it’s a replay, it can’t be 7 o’clock, right?”

What if it was recorded twice?

Gao Mo turned to Chiba.

Did you pay attention to the time when you looked at it?

"This one……"

Chiba couldn't explain it.

"Let's put that aside for now," Gao Mo turned to Bentang, who was deep in thought. "What have you discovered?"

(End of this chapter)