My neighbor's name is Conan

Why add a tray to cover up the traces?

As the saying goes: When something is abnormal, there must be something wrong!

Perhaps by solving this mystery, we can deduce the truth.

Realizing this, Aoki Matsu perked up and checked carefully.

Then Aoki Matsu discovered that when the coffee liquid flowed out of the coffee cup, most of it flowed down the table, but there was no trace of flowing water on the ground. Instead, there were traces of coffee liquid on the chair that was pulled open.

In addition, there were traces of coffee on the floor from the chair legs, and the left and right chair legs did not align.

This situation indicates that the chair was moved before it was dry, which means that someone was sitting on the chair at the time of the incident.

This……

Aoki Matsu realized that something was wrong, and quickly looked at Maori Kogoro and Somei Shogo and asked, "Did you move anything in the living room when you came in here?"

"No!" Kogoro Mori answered subconsciously.

Although his reasoning ability is not strong, he still has the basic qualities of a detective and a criminal and knows how to protect the scene.

Somei Shogo also shook his head and said, "Neither did I. When I walked into the living room, I found Nakame lying on the ground. I immediately knelt down and called him to check what happened to him."

"Oh! That's strange." Aoki Matsu frowned.

"What's wrong?" asked Kogoro Mouri curiously.

Aoki Song glanced at Conan, then pointed at the table and the chair. "Look at the floor and this chair. The left front leg of the chair is a little farther from the table than the right front leg. There is a circular gap in the trace of coffee left by the left front leg on the floor.

This should be when the coffee was left, the right front leg of the chair should be in that place. That is to say, when the coffee liquid was not dry, the left front leg of the chair was moved. The chair will not move by itself, and the distance of the coffee cup is not in front of the chair. Therefore, someone was sitting on this chair when the coffee was flowing, and it was not the victim. "

"That's right." Kogoro Mori nodded subconsciously.

But Maruta Ayumi had already reacted by then, with a look of shock on her face. "Ah, so, if the door to the entrance of this house is locked and has an anti-theft chain, and there is indeed only the body in this room... it is impossible to commit a crime! Doesn't this make it a closed-room murder case!"

Maori Kogoro thought for a moment and said seriously, "Is it possible that when we entered the house, the murderer was hiding somewhere in the house, and then took advantage of the chaos to escape? That's possible."

"I think that's unlikely." It was Mori Ran who refuted Kogoro Mori's reasoning.

"Ah!" Maori Kogoro looked at Maori Ran "Why?"

Mao Lilan, who had been standing nearby, walked over and said, "Because at that time, Conan asked me to stand at the door, and I didn't leave at all. I was sure that no one had gone out before the police came."

"What did you say!" Kogoro Mouri was shocked. Ran Mouri's confession completely overturned his reasoning.

Aoki Matsu lowered his eyelids.

This is where he realized something was wrong. Judging from the traces at the scene, this was another difficult closed-room murder case.

Of course, as an old criminal scientist, Aoki Matsu knew that there was no such thing as a murder in a closed room, but only the murderer's bizarre method of committing the crime.

But this kind of case is much more difficult than everyday cases in the scientific world.

It was precisely because he realized this that Aoki Matsu directly told Conan the clues he had found just now, just in case... just in case he didn't have a flash of inspiration to figure out the modus operandi, he had to at least let Conan protect him.

"That being said, the murderer might be hiding somewhere in this house, so every corner must be searched thoroughly." Aoki Matsu ordered.

"Yes!" Maruta Ayumi and others responded.

When the police officers went to search according to Aoki Song's request, Aoki Song said, "Maruta, come here."

"Yes!" Maruta Ayumi responded even though he was confused.

Aoki Matsu called Maruta Ayumi aside and whispered, "The murderer who planned this closed-room murder case is most likely President Somei. He was probably the first to enter this room and destroy the traces of the special method of committing the crime. Is he really unwell and asked for leave from the company to rest at home? Go and check it out."

"Yes!" Maruda Ayumi responded.

Then Aoki Matsu continued to search the scene. Because it was a murder in a closed room, Aoki Matsu first checked the door locks and windows.

There was no clue on the door lock, and no signs of tape. The windows were also locked, but the curtains on the left side of the living room, the second layer of lace curtains, were wet.

Strange!

It is indeed raining today, but since the windows are closed, why are the curtains wet?

Aoki Matsu made a note of this and then opened the window to check the balcony.

Because the murderer might have escaped to the balcony next door.

But Aoki Matsu found this impossible, as the balcony here was separated from the balcony next door by a wall, and the escape ladder leading to the balcony downstairs, which was unique to Neon apartments, had never been used.

Moreover, this is the 20th floor. Even if there is no one in the parking lot below, if someone uses a rope to slowly climb down, they will definitely be discovered along the way.

Unless it’s Kaito Kidd!

But this case was obviously not done by Kaito Kid.

At this time, Maruta Ayumi came over to reply. He had already found out that Somei Shogo had indeed been in poor health in the past two or three days and did not go to work at the company today.

But employees in his company said that Somei Shogo did not seem to be really sick, and it was because of work. It seemed that the special program that had close contact with Kogoro Mori was suddenly cancelled.

The employee also revealed that the meeting between Somei Shogo and Nakame Raisaku was cancelled because of this. He said Somei Shogo wanted to personally apologize to Mori Kogoro, but he didn't know if he did.

From this perspective, Somei Shogo is even more suspicious.

But it was also this employee who provided evidence to prove Somei Shogo's alibi: he saw Somei Shogo at a nearby pharmacy at 6:30 this afternoon.

What the other party said was true, and Maruta Ayumi had already confirmed this with the pharmacy. The clerk still remembered that Somei Shogo went there to buy stomach medicine.

This is a perfect alibi because Somei Shogo's company is some distance away from the victim's home.

but……

Somei Shogo fits all the criteria for being the murderer.

Moreover, he did not tell Kogoro Mori that he went to the pharmacy to buy medicine, nor did he tell him that the meeting between him and Mr. Nakame was cancelled. Instead, he came here with the Mori trio.

After listening to Maruta Ayumi's report, Aoki Matsu frowned.

This case is so strange.

In addition, the clerk at the pharmacy provided a new clue. When Somei Shogo went to the pharmacy to buy medicine, he received two phone calls.

During a phone call, the clerk heard Somei Shogo mention Detective Mori.

In another phone call, although the clerk did not hear clearly what was said, he thought it should be a woman because Somei Shogo called the other party "Maiko".

Aoki Matsu thought about it and asked someone to check the communication records between Somei Shogo and Nakame Raisaku, and also check the call records of that "Maiko".

There are now more doubts than clues in this case, and we need to continue looking for clues.

Aoki Matsu searched the house carefully again and found that the piece of cake on the table was made up of two pieces put together.

This further proves that there was another person in the room at the time.

In addition, the potted plants placed by Qingmu Song in the living room and the pen holder on the coffee table both smelled of coffee, and coffee liquid was detected on them.

All kinds of strange liquids were poured into the potted plants at the crime scene, which did not surprise Aoki Matsu.

But there was coffee liquid in the pen holder, which was very strange.

"How could there be coffee liquid in the pen holder? No one deliberately poured coffee liquid into the pen holder!" Aoki Matsu said with a frown.

If it was not poured in intentionally, then there is only one possibility - the pen holder was on the table at the time, and when the coffee cup fell over, the splashed coffee liquid got into the pen holder.

In this case, the things on the table at the time of the crime might not have been placed as they are now.

Aoki Matsu brought the pen holder to the table, but just as he put it there, Conan discovered the problem: "Brother Aoki, how come this pen holder looks exactly like a coffee cup!"

When Qing Musong heard this, he looked down and found that the pen holder looked exactly like the coffee cup.

Although many people like to use cups as pen holders, this is obviously not the case in the current situation!

But...

The victim was entertaining the murderer at the time!

That coffee cup tray is not for coffee cups, but for slices of cake!

"Someone deliberately rearranged the positions of things on the table after the victim was killed!" said Aoki Matsu.

Then he took the pen out of the pen holder and placed it on the table next to the chair, then picked up a piece of cake with a fork and placed it on the tray where everyone thought it was a coffee cup.

Then he rearranged the items on the table.

"I think this is the correct position!" said Aoki Matsu.

Mao Lilan exclaimed when she saw this: "It's become two portions!"

"So that's how it is. Move the cake to the same plate, and then put the empty plate under the coffee cup, disguising it as a tray for the coffee cup. Then pour the coffee in another coffee cup into the plant pot, and then insert a pen into the empty cup, disguising it as a pen holder. This is all for the purpose of deceiving people, because there was no one else in the room when Mr. Nakame was poisoned." Kogoro Mouri said with sudden realization.

Aihara Yoji asked with a frown, "But who did these things?"

"It must be the murderer! The murderer's purpose is to make people think that Mr. Nakame committed suicide..."

"So, who is the murderer?" Yoji Aihara asked unhappily, feeling that Kogoro Mouri had just talked nonsense.

But Aoki Matsu had another doubt in his mind - why did the murderer deliberately rearrange it?

Aoki Matsu didn't mean that there was something wrong with the murderer pretending to be Mr. Nakame and committing suicide.

Rather, the murderer had so much time to disguise all of this, so why didn't he just take another approach - take the things away!

Wouldn't it be better to find a plastic bag, take all of this away, and then find a place to throw it away?

After all, there is a risk that disguise may be noticed by the criminal and then seen through. After the things are taken away, even if the criminal still feels something is wrong, he will not be able to see through it since the things are missing.

Also, you can drink the coffee liquid in the cup in one gulp, so why pour it into the plant pot?

How strange!

In this case, Aoki Matsu felt that some of the murderer's behaviors were very strange. It seemed that he had both plenty of time and a tight time schedule.

Aoki Matsu frowned and looked at the things on the table in thought.

He suddenly realized that if there were two portions of food on the table, one thing was missing - a fork for eating the cake.

There was only one fork on the table.

This is even more strange!

Why is there only one fork missing!

"There's a fork missing from the table that came with the plate." Aoki Matsu said, looking at the table.

Upon hearing this, Aihara Yoji immediately said, "Could it be hidden somewhere in this room?"

"Is it the kitchen?" Kogoro Mouri guessed.

At this time, Somei Shogo suddenly said in the living room, "No, if I had time to hide it in the kitchen, I would have put the coffee cup in the sink as well."

Ah!

What does Somei Shogo mean by this?

Self-destruction? Surrender?

But Somei Shogo clearly has a perfect alibi!

Aoki Matsu subconsciously opened his eyes wide and looked at Somei Shogo. Aoki Matsu had never encountered such a situation before.

Then Somei Shogo took out a fork from his pocket, which was exactly the same as the one on the table.

"Because I don't have time, I hide it on my body." Somei Shogo said.

Ah!

Really surrendering?

Everyone was shocked.

Qing Musong suddenly thought of another possibility!

Somei Shogo wants to protect the murderer! Or Somei Shogo wants to take the blame for the murderer!

Somei Shogo held a fork and said sadly, "If you don't shout for help right away when you see Mr. Nakame's body, you'll be suspected."

"Did you kill Mr. Nakame?" Aoki Matsu asked hesitantly.

Somei Shogo put down the fork in his hand in response to Aoki Matsu's words, then looked at Aoki Matsu and confessed calmly, "Yes, because this person made things difficult for me at work and made me suffer, the way I killed him was what the criminal said before.

I first brought a cake to visit him, mixed poison into his coffee, and suddenly said I had something urgent to do and had to leave first. Before leaving, I specifically told him to be careful and asked him to put up the anti-theft chain. At that time, I noticed that my coffee and cake were still on the table, and I was a little worried.

I had planned to clean it up before I left, but Mr. Nakame said that if you were in a hurry, you should leave first and he would take care of the rest. So in order to hide the coffee and cake, I asked Detective Maori to come here. Now it seems that I have done something unnecessary. "

After hearing this, Maruta Ayumi immediately retorted, "But you were clearly seen in a drugstore near the company at around 6:30, the time of the incident!"

PS: Thanks to [book friend 121230233010486] for the reward, muah~