My neighbor's name is Conan

Chapter 896 Killing a chicken with a butcher knife

"Because of this painting!" Qing Mu Song pointed to the scary-looking painting hanging next to the Buddha statue, and then said: "When we came here to visit, Mr. Ikutame introduced this painting and said it might be a famous painting by Yuanshan Yingquan.

If an acquaintance had broken into the house, he should have taken the painting as well, not just the statue. So the murderer was probably not an acquaintance of Mr. Ikutame, but someone who overheard Mr. Ikutame say that the statue might be a valuable antique from the Kamakura period. "

"Inspector Aoki, how many people were there at the time?" asked Detective Motobashi.

"Besides us, there was a young couple squatting there buying flowers, a middle-aged man named Zhou Ping who sold beetles to Tokyo, and a young man named A Qing who loved to play with marbles. In addition, there were a few staff members there." Aoki Matsu replied.

"We understand. We will investigate them immediately," Detective Motohashi responded.

"That's right!" Qing Musong continued, "I have two more clues here."

"please say."

"The first one is that when we came back here and saw Mr. Ikutame lying on the ground, we discovered that there were several things that looked like dog hair on his clothes. As far as I know, Mr. Ikutame doesn't have a dog at home. I think it is very likely that the dog hair on the murderer's body got on Mr. Ikutame when he committed the crime." Aoki Matsu said as he took out the photos he had taken and the dog hair wrapped in a handkerchief and showed them to the three people.

Detective Fujii took a look and said, "It does look a bit like dog hair."

"Anyway, let's hand it over to the forensic personnel first." Detective Motobashi said.

"Yes!" Detective Fujii responded.

"The second clue is that on our way down the mountain, we saw a man called 'Shuhei' by Mr. Ikutame. He came down the mountain with a flashlight and said, 'Really, Ryutaro is a guy that you can't take lightly. He always plays some tricks on me. I will never let you off this time.'"

Aoki Matsu said, "From his tone, it seems like he is here to seek revenge on Mr. Ikutame. The two of them originally had a grudge over land, and during the argument, he suddenly got emotional and attacked and injured someone. After calming down, he took the statue and put the blame on the nearby thief who stole Buddha statues. It's not impossible."

“By the way, isn’t there a mountain stag beetle right there in the rest area where that uncle is?” Yuantai added.

Hearing Genta say this, it seems to be consistent with what Ikutame Ryutaro said before he fainted.

"Zhou Ping?" Detective Motobashi frowned.

Patrolman Iwanaga at the side interrupted and said, "That should be Mr. Ikeda Shuhei who lives in this village."

"Summon him here immediately," Detective Motobashi ordered.

Soon Shuhei Ikeda was summoned.

Detective Motobashi looked at him and asked, "I heard that you and Mr. Ikutame had a dispute over the demarcation of land boundaries."

"Yes, that piece of land has belonged to our family for generations. He actually turned it into his field without permission. But it was not me who attacked him," replied Shuhei Ikeda.

Detective Motohashi then asked, "Where were you around 12 o'clock last night?"

"12 o'clock?" Ikeda Shuhei was a little nervous when he heard that.

Before he could answer, Mitsuhiko said, "You were walking on the street and angrily said, 'Ryutaro is a guy that we should never let down.'"

Yuantai, Sayuri and others on the side nodded, indicating that they also heard this.

"Well, that is..." Ikeda Shuhei suddenly hesitated.

"Is what he said true?" Detective Motohashi asked immediately.

Ikeda Shuhei explained: "When I went to inspect the fields, I found that the water in the fields had been turned off. I thought that only Ryutaro would do such a thing, so I decided to teach him a lesson if I met him next time."

"You didn't teach him a lesson last night, did you?" Detective Motohashi asked with a stern face.

"No." Ikeda Shuhei hastily denied, "I definitely didn't do what happened yesterday. Please believe me."

But... he doesn't seem worthy of trust!

Looks suspicious.

Aoki Matsu thought for a moment and asked, "Mr. Ikeda, do you know that there is a Buddha statue in the niche in Mr. Ikutame's house?"

"Ah, there is indeed an old and dirty Buddha statue there." Ikeda Shuhei thought for a moment and replied.

"It seems that the murderer who attacked Mr. Ikutame took the Buddha statue after committing the crime." Detective Fujii looked at Ikeda Shuhei and said, "Didn't you take it?"

"As for the Buddha statue..." Ikeda Shuhei suddenly seemed to remember something and said, "Oh, so it was the Buddha statue thief! I know a little bit about that!"

Detective Motohashi asked in surprise, "Really?"

"It's Aqing! That guy always has rope saws, grinding wheels and other things on his truck, and he always goes out late at night. I've always thought he was suspicious." Ikeda Shuhei replied.

Hearing Ikeda Shuhei say this, Huihara Ai couldn't help but say, "Those things do exist."

"Yeah, and he was very angry that we saw those things," Yuanta agreed.

"Yes, very fierce." Ayumi also said.

"Oh, right!" Sayuri also chimed in, "The T-shirt that Mr. Qing is wearing has a large mountain stag beetle printed on it."

It seems that it coincides with Ryutaro Ikutame's "riddle" again.

Patrolman Iwanaga said at this time: "He should be Keisuke Yabe from the village."

After hearing what several people said, Mr. Motohashi decided to summon Kei Yabe.

Soon, Yabe Kei was brought over.

"Excuse me, is there anything I can help you with?" Yabe Kei said somewhat unhappily.

"We have something we want to ask you." Detective Fujii replied.

"What's going on?" Yabe Kei seemed a little nervous. "Did I do anything illegal?"

"Where were you around 12 o'clock last night?" asked Detective Motohashi.

"12 o'clock?" Yabe Kei answered without hesitation: "Of course I'm at home at that time, what else?"

"Stop lying." Ikeda Shuhei bluntly exposed Yabe Kei's lie. "I happened to pass by your house when I came back from patrolling the fields, but I didn't see your truck."

"Did you sneak into this house to steal the Buddha statue? You were discovered by Mr. Ikutame, so you hit him on the head and ran away! Is that right?" Detective Motobashi asked sternly.

"Wait a minute, please. Even if I want to steal something here, I don't need to use that truck." Yabe Kei argued, "Am I wrong? We can get there in no time if we just walk."

"So where were you at 12 o'clock last night?" Detective Motohashi continued to ask.

"Well, well, no matter what, I really didn't attack Uncle Ikutame." Yabe Yoshi said evasively.

Qing Musong thought for a moment and looked at the two and asked, "Excuse me, do you two have dogs?"

"Ah!" The two were shocked when they heard this.

Ikeda Shuhei shook his head and said, "Why would I keep that thing? I can't even support it by myself."

Upon hearing this, Yabe Kei also shook his head and said, "No, I have a cat at home."

Aoki Matsu frowned when he heard this.

There are not many people who keep dogs in this village. Anyway, when I passed by the village yesterday, I didn’t see any obvious dogs.

If you don't have a dog, you generally won't have dog hair on your body.

Neither of them has a dog at home, which means there is a high possibility that the murderer is not them.

Because Mr. Ikutame shouted "Miyazawa Kagata" at that time. If the murderer was someone he knew, why didn't he just say the names of the two people? Why bother?

But if it wasn't them, then who was it?

Suddenly I miss the “classic three-choice” method. At least I don’t have to work so hard to find the suspect.

There are only two suspects now, which cannot trigger the classic scientific law of "choose one from three"!

And Yabe Kei is still a suspect.

"Inspector Aoki, it's just as you deduced." Detective Fujii walked in and reported, "We found a Buddha statue tied to the chassis of Mr. Yabe's car. He must have stolen it from a temple last night."

"Ah!" Yabe Kei's face changed drastically when he heard this.

Upon hearing this, Detective Motobashi looked at Kei Yabe and said, "Mr. Yabe, do you have anything else to say? Come with us back to the police headquarters."

As he said this, he ordered Kei Yabe to be taken back to the Yamanashi Prefectural Police Headquarters.

Although the murderer who attacked Ryutaro Ikutame was not caught, catching the "Buddha statue thief" is also a great achievement!

Aoki Matsu did not look happy, as he was still thinking about the case of Ikutame Ryutaro.

Before he passed out, Ikutame Ryuutarou told Conan "Miyazawa-gata", which means he was not familiar with the murderer. Similarly, the murderer should not be familiar with Ikutame Ryuutarou, because the murderer did not steal the scary painting.

If you are not familiar with them...

Aoki Matsu suddenly thought of the young couple who bought flowers at the rest area.

So Aoki Matsu asked Detective Motobashi and Detective Fujii to go to the rest area together and ask the staff there.

Although many people come to Yamanashi Prefecture for tourism, the incident yesterday involved several children. The staff still have some impression of Aoki Matsu and others, but they don't remember anything strange.

However, Aoki Matsu still found a clue from the aunt who sold potted plants.

"Mrs. Otsuka, do you remember the young couple who bought potted plants from you when we came here yesterday?" asked Aoki Matsu.

"I remember they bought a pot of 'Deep Mountain Spade Shape' from me, and they also brought a very cute Maltese puppy with them," Mrs. Otsuka replied.

Qing Musong was stunned when he heard this, and then asked: "You mean 'deep mountain stag beetle'? That's a potted plant, not a deep mountain stag beetle?"

Mrs. Otsuka pointed to the flower in front of her and said, "The product name of this flower is 'Miyazan Spade Shape'. It's an interesting name, isn't it?"

"So that's it!" Qing Musong suddenly realized.

Without Aoki Matsu saying anything, Detective Motobashi and Detective Fujimaki also understood.

It seems that the burglars must be that young couple!

Detective Motobashi immediately ordered his men to search for the whereabouts of the two men, with a focus on nearby hotels that allowed dogs.

It didn't take long to find out the identity of the couple, but unfortunately they had already rushed back to Tokyo overnight.

After receiving the news, Aoki Matsu immediately contacted the Metropolitan Police Department and searched all dog owners in Tokyo based on the name of the couple registered at the hotel and the breed of the dog.

Fortunately, Tokyo has strict regulations on dog ownership, because unregistered dogs will be captured and euthanized. It didn't take long for the Metropolitan Police Department to find the other party's address and arrest him.

After interrogation, it was found that the two men had heard Mr. Ikutame mention the Buddha statue from the Kamakura period, and thought that they could sell it for a high price, so they followed the car that Aoki Matsu and others got in, and sneaked into Mr. Ikutame's house at night to steal.

However, when they took it to an antique shop for appraisal, they found that the Buddha statue was not a work from the Kamakura period at all and was worth only 5,000 yen at most.

Then they were caught red-handed by the detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department.

Fortunately, Mr. Ikutame was discharged from the hospital safely and did not die, otherwise the couple would have committed intentional homicide.

After the case was concluded, Aoki Matsu felt a little upset.

Does this case require Conan to personally take action?

This is too childish!

It's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut!

Speechless!

Fortunately, the capture of rhinoceros beetles and stag beetles was very successful.

The little ones all got a lot of rewards, and Shinname Kaori didn't feel bored. Instead, she was very curious about how Conan knew that using banana pieces soaked in wine could attract rhinoceros beetles and stag beetles.

Of course Conan is from Hawaii... Oh, wrong, Kudo Shinichi did this when he was a child.

After visiting Ryutaro Ikutame in the hospital and learning that his life was not in danger but just needed to be well taken care of, Aoki Matsu and his group said goodbye and left.

After returning to Tokyo, Aoki Matsu hurriedly took Shinna Kaori away as he didn't want to work overtime anymore.

The two of them finally had some free time, and it was the "sage time" after the case, so there would be no more accidents. So Aoki Matsu took Shinna Kaori on a date.

After the candlelight dinner, they returned home and spent a hot night together.

Aoki Matsu was satisfied both physically and mentally.

Early the next morning, Genta and Mitsuhiko confidently took the rhinoceros beetle and stag beetle to school, ready to show off to their classmates.

Unexpectedly, after walking into the classroom, they found that everyone ignored them and gathered around the area where things were displayed at the back of the classroom.

What could be more attractive than the beetles on their bodies?

Yuanta and Mitsuhiko walked over and took a look, only to find that it was a pot of flowers.

"The name of this word is actually 'Deep Mountain Spade Shape'." A little boy said in surprise.

"Yes!" Ayumi replied with a smile.

"Is it really a gift for our class?" asked another little girl.

Sayuri replied, "Well, my brother said that this is a rare flower and asked me to bring it to class so that we can observe it together."

The children were all delighted. "Then let's decide on the duty of watering the flowers!"

"Okay, I'll be the first one!"

Yuanta and Mitsuhiko were extremely disappointed when they saw that everyone was discussing enthusiastically and not even looking at them.

Huihara Ai silently added, "You don't have a chance to show off, what a pity!"

"Thank you for your hard work." Conan also joked.

"Sigh..." Yuantai and Mitsuhiko immediately sighed like two defeated dogs.