Tokyo Mystery Writers

Chapter 110 The Most Important Evidence

As Otto Penzel plucked grapes from the table and popped them into his mouth, he watched "The Mystery of the Death Row Inmates," his eyes shining with delight.

Because that's so true!

This tastes just right!

Isn't this just like the novels of Ellery Queen, the "King of Logic"?

Moreover, this is an early work by Ellery Queen, which was praised by Borges as the most perfect "Tragedy of X" in the world, and it has that unique flavor!

A bizarre poisoning, numerous suspects, a meticulous investigation and evidence gathering, a suspicious detective, a conviction without false clues, and a killer who might change his modus operandi depending on the circumstances of the crime scene!

This classic mystery-solving style delighted Otto Penzel!

Because that's the essence of detective novels!

This is the purest form of "logic flow"!

The purest form of classic mystery!

Otto Penzel hasn't seen this kind of writing style and work structure in nearly thirty years!

Otto Penzel thought that this writing style and logical structure had been completely lost to the world after Ellery Queen!

But unexpectedly, this kind of logical structure actually crossed the ocean and appeared in Japan, where social reasoning is prevalent!

Great! That's fantastic! The logic-based approach—Ellery Queen has a worthy successor!

Otto Penzel wiped away a few tears that had welled up in his eyes from the emotion.

He opened the manuscript, eager to see what surprises Maijo Kyosuke could bring him next!

Rintaro Hozuki pondered the clues in the case.

Most of the questions focused on: Who entered the torture chamber? When did they enter? Did they touch the thermos? And when did they leave?

Although Rintaro Hozuki had already drawn up a schedule for everyone's actions in his mind.

But all of this seems like Sisyphus wasting his time.

Because as timelines and testimonies increase, the events only become more ambiguous and the procedures more complicated!

All eighteen suspects had access to the thermos flask and had all left the execution ground for various reasons.

In other words, everyone had the opportunity to poison someone and also the opportunity to dispose of the container containing nicotine outside the execution ground.

Most importantly, no one witnessed the perpetrator's suspicious actions; the perpetrator orchestrated the entire case very well!

Rintaro Hozuki held his head in his hands, extremely anxious and distressed.

Because the trail went cold!

After investigating for most of the day, not only was it of no use, but there was also a high probability that my reasoning was completely wrong!

Just as Rintaro Hozuki was in distress.

The instructor, Mihara, who had been silent all along, began to speak, rubbing the prayer beads in his hands: "Mr. Hogetsu, although I am a novice, I feel that this kind of investigation and questioning is meaningless."

"The motive for this case is too bizarre—why would someone risk everything to kill a prisoner who was about to be executed?"

"Whether it's anger or hatred, a person who is determined to do this cannot hide their inner impulses, and for the murderer, it is a torment."

"Therefore, I still insist on starting with the criminal's motive!"

The instructor Mihara's words were accepted by everyone. After all, the bizarre nature of this senseless killing was almost unprecedented in the history of crime!

Rintaro Hozuki insisted that the criminal motive did not help the case in any way and presented conclusive evidence to support his claim.

"The murderer poisoned the death row inmate before he was hanged simply because he didn't want the execution ceremony to be completed, or because he had to poison the inmate for some special reason."

"Or? To put it more simply..."

"The murderer either harbored deep hatred for Ariake Shoji and felt that hanging Ariake Shoji was too lenient for him, so he had to give Ariake Shoji an unexpected death and unexpected suffering."

"Or perhaps the murderer, driven by faith or some unspeakable ideology, felt compelled to kill Ariake no Shoji before he was hanged!"

The instructor, Mihara, thought Rintaro Hozuki's idea was too absurd and was about to refute it when...

But then came good news from Inspector Fa Yue.

"Rintaro, you guessed right! We found what you were looking for!"

A syringe about the size of an index finger, and a used test tube of the same size, with brown nicotine liquid still remaining on the test tube.

Police inspector Fa Yue attempted to extract fingerprints from the syringe and test tube using fingerprint powder, but unfortunately, no fingerprints were found on them.

"Where was this thing found?"

Rintaro Hozuki raised a question with his father.

Inspector Fa Yue pulled out a wad of old newspaper and said, "The syringe and test tubes were wrapped in newspaper and thrown into the trash heap in the main trash can on the first floor."

With a new breakthrough, Rintaro Hozuki and his group arrived at the main garbage bin and began investigating and collecting evidence.

Ultimately, a crucial clue was discovered.

The facility has one trash can on each floor except the basement. All the trash is eventually collected in the main garbage dump on the first floor and then disposed of in the incinerator inside.

Rintaro Hozuki was delighted to have obtained this clue: "In any case, it is something to be happy about to find the most crucial evidence in a large amount of garbage. If it had been any later, this evidence would likely have been disposed of in the incinerator."

Upon hearing what Rintaro Hozuki said, Director Matsuyama replied, "Actually—that's not the case—"

"Because the incinerator in our facility was old and in disrepair, we replaced it with a new one this month. The old incinerator was placed next to the main garbage bin, but in reality, the garbage in our facility cannot be incinerated."

"When the incinerator is unavailable, I will send trucks to collect the waste from the facility on Mondays and Thursdays."

"Today is Tuesday, which means that if the murderer wants the evidence to disappear completely, they will have to wait three days."

Upon hearing Director Matsuyama's words, Rintaro Hozuki's eyes suddenly widened: "Director Matsuyama? You mean—the garbage in the station can't be disposed of?"

Director Matsuyama was startled by Rintaro Hozuki's wide-eyed expression: "That's true, is it really that important?"

Rintaro Hozuki nodded solemnly: "It's very important. There's nothing more important than this clue!"

Rintaro Hozuki looked at the syringe and test tube in his hand and noticed that both of them were extremely small.

Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he asked Director Matsuyama, "Director Matsuyama, when I was questioning the internal affairs officer Minami earlier, he mentioned that he had to process some discarded documents. Could you please tell me what exactly that work entailed?"

Director Matsuyama did not answer immediately, but instead led the father and son, Hozuki, from the main garbage bin to the end of the first-floor corridor.

There was an old-fashioned box-shaped machine there.

In Fūzuki Rintaro's view, the main garbage bin is less than 100 meters away from here, which can be described as very close.

Director Songshan pressed the switch on the box-shaped machine, and a clicking metallic sound came from inside, clearly indicating that it was a large paper shredder.

Rintaro Hozuki approached the shredder and discovered that the slots inside were about five centimeters wide, easily shredding even thick books!

Rintaro Hozuki raised an eyebrow and waved the syringe and test tube in his hand at Director Matsuyama: "Director Matsuyama, what would happen if we threw these two things in?"

Director Matsuyama shrugged and said nonchalantly, "It'll be fine. Don't let the fact that this shredder is an old model fool you; it can easily shred documents five centimeters thick in ten seconds!"

"The syringe and test tube in your hand are only the size of an index finger. If you throw them in, they will definitely be crushed into a pile of powder."

Upon hearing Director Matsuyama's words, Rintaro Hozuki continued to press, "Director Matsuyama, is this paper shredder usable by anyone?"

Director Songshan nodded: "Of course, this machine is right here, and anyone can use it freely."

Upon hearing Chief Matsuyama's words, Rintaro Hozuki's previously troubled face lit up with joy. He then addressed the crowd, saying, "Please gather back in the interrogation room. Now—we're just one step away from solving this case!"

Chief Matsuyama, Inspector Fujishiro, and Head of the Security Division Yamazaki all looked at Inspector Hozuki with incredulous expressions.

"Law and Moon Guardian, could it be that—"

When Inspector Fa Yue saw everyone looking at him, he also had an expression that said, "I don't know either." He replied, "Don't all look at me. I have absolutely no clue either."

"However, this does not prevent my son from solving the mystery of the case."

"Because my son is able to solve cases by finding the strongest evidence from a complex web of clues!"

Although Mikoshiba Kyoko had already learned from her father and Kenzaki Mitsuki that everything that happened between Maijo Kyosuke and her at the hot spring was a misunderstanding.

However, this did not prevent Mikoshiba Kyoko from harboring resentment towards Maijo Kyosuke.

After all, she was a former Tokyo Women's Karate Champion.

The scene of being forced into the hot spring by Maijo Kyosuke was a very shameful thing for Mikoshiba Kyoko!

However, despite her reservations, Kyoko Mikoshiba remained curious about the mysteries in the story of "The Mystery of the Death Row Inmate".

Because the mystery novel has reached its final resolution.

That's the most exciting part of a mystery novel!

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