Conan: I'm Really Not the Manipulator

The babysitter chased after her son who did not go to kindergarten today, laughing as they both rushed out of the living room. Mrs. Kawajiri watched them run away with a smile on her face.

"what!"

The five-year-old boy suddenly bumped into someone and fell on his butt.

Mrs. Kawajiri was startled. She slowly sat up straight and saw the two people who strode into the living room.

The woman in the lead was in her early forties, wearing a professional dress. Her high heels made loud tapping sounds on the ground. Her long hair was tied up at the back of her head, without a single strand of hair out of place on her temples.

Following behind her was the butler, who came in and said to Mrs. Kawajiri, "Madam, the second young lady is here."

Even though the mansion has a new male owner, the loyal old butler who has worked here for 30 years still likes to call the woman next to him like this.

"Where's my nephew?"

The former Mrs. Kawajiri's sister, the second eldest daughter of the Kawajiri family, looked down at Mrs. Kawajiri who was sitting on the sofa.

The look in her eyes frightened her so much that she trembled with fear. Now Mrs. Kawajiri didn't even have the courage to answer, let alone accuse her of breaking into someone else's home.

"His high school teacher called me and said he didn't go to school yesterday and today. What happened?"

Ms. Kawajiri, who loved her nephew like her own son after her sister passed away, glared at the woman on the sofa.

"he……"

Mrs. Kawajiri was speechless and suddenly began to panic. She realized that things might be developing in a direction she didn't expect.

"Ring-ling——"

Just then, the phone rang again.

Mrs. Kawajiri knew that it might have been opened by the kidnapper, but just as she was about to stand up, she shrank back at a glare from Miss Kawajiri, and she could only watch her walk over and answer the phone.

"This is the Kawajiri family, may I ask..."

"——There is only one hour left until the agreed time. Is the 10 billion yen ready?"

……

Twenty minutes later, the police who received the call hurried over.

They first observed the surroundings to see if there were any suspicious persons. After making sure that there was no problem, they disguised themselves as couriers delivering home appliances and knocked on Kawajiri's door.

It was Miss Kawajiri who opened the door, followed by the housekeeper.

Her expression was serious, and she seemed to be trying hard to suppress some kind of anger. She saw the police ID under the receipt and said, "Please help me move my things in."

The leading police officer from the Investigation Section 1, Special Criminal Investigation Division gestured backwards, and several people quickly carried the things into the house.

They took off their shoes at the entrance and came to the living room one after another. One of the policemen took out a device and searched for any eavesdropping devices nearby. After checking everything was OK, he nodded to his superior.

The leading police officer looked at Miss Kawajiri who brought them in, and then looked at Mrs. Kawajiri who was holding her little son on the sofa.

"Excuse me, who is the child's mother?"

Mrs. Kawajiri is only 25 years old this year. She lowered her head and said nothing.

Ms. Kawajiri, who is over 40 years old, said, "The child's mother passed away. I am his aunt, and this is his stepmother."

"He's so young, yet he married a woman with such a huge age difference..." muttered a policeman accompanying the team.

The leading police officer turned around and glanced at his men. He didn't care about these trivial matters and went straight to the point: "Who was the first to receive the kidnapper's call? Please describe the process in detail."

Ms. Kawajiri glanced at the clock, her face full of anxiety: "Are we going to take this long? The kidnappers set the payment time at noon, and there are only forty minutes left."

Hearing this, the leading police officer was stunned: "So urgent?!"

"Yes."

Miss Kawajiri glared at Mrs. Kawajiri: "The kidnappers called yesterday at noon and gave the family one day to raise the money, but this woman did not call the police after receiving the call!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's eyes turned to Mrs. Kawajiri, and the policeman noticed the snacks and tea cups on the table.

The leading police officer frowned and said, "Excuse me, why didn't you call the police yesterday? If you had called the police yesterday, the police would have had more time to rescue you. Do you... not trust the police?"

"No, I..."

Mrs. Kawajiri was completely panicked.

Not only did the situation deviate from her expectations, it even developed in a very bad direction.

She felt that everyone was looking at her. The woman beside her had eyes full of hatred, the loyal housekeeper had a blank expression, the timid servant stared at her secretly, the policeman opposite had a frown on his face, and the boy in her arms also raised his head curiously.

"Yes, Mom. My brother disappeared yesterday. Why didn't you call the police?"

"Didn't you always tell me that if there is any trouble, I should go to the police immediately?"

"I……"

Mrs. Kawajiri, who had never experienced any major storms in the past, had a blank mind.

The young male policeman who was chattering before started mumbling again.

"This kidnapping is so strange. In the cases I've seen before, if the target's family has several children, the kidnappers will tend to kidnap younger targets. Children are easier to kidnap and move, and they don't have the ability to save themselves."

The Kawajiri family has two children.

Both were boys, one eighteen years old, the other five years old - in this case, the missing one was the eldest son.

"This time they kidnapped the older one. Who are the kidnappers..."

Mrs. Kawajiri was furious when she heard this. She shouted angrily, "What do you mean? Are you doubting me?!"

She was very scared.

Because following this line of thought, in the eyes of the police and outsiders, she is very likely... no, she is the biggest suspect in the crime!

The leading police officer glared at his talkative subordinate and quickly said, "No, that's not what we meant. The most important thing now is to save people - are you two planning to pay a ransom of 10 billion?"

Miss Kawajiri nodded and looked at Mrs. Kawajiri coldly: "You haven't squandered all the inheritance my sister left for this family, have you?"

"……No."

Mrs. Kawajiri bit her lip. She knew her husband had about 12 billion yen in Teito Bank, and there happened to be a Teito Bank not far from their home.

Time is urgent now, so we have to rush there.

----

11:30, Haido-cho Teito Bank.

The bank manager who stayed in the office looked at the clock anxiously, then looked at the vault door not far away, his heart beating wildly.

He has been living in torment these days and can't sleep well every night.

He originally thought it was safe to mix the counterfeit and real bills together and put them there - when there were no machines, he was the only one who had the ability to identify them at a glance - but the bank president had a sudden idea a few days ago and installed more surveillance cameras in the vault.

To make matters worse, it is already the middle of the month, which is the time when Didu Bank transports cash to the head office on a regular basis every month, and the money inside can be withdrawn at any time.

Once the counterfeit banknotes were sent to the head office, his actions would be exposed. He didn't want to be cleared out by the organization, so he quickly informed a big shot who had the power to make the decision.

The big shot didn't respond to him for several days, until the night before yesterday, when a female voice suddenly called him.

——"Don't worry, we will use a more normal method to withdraw a large amount of cash at one time."

When the manager heard the organization members talk about the normal way, his first reaction was bank robbery.

So he had prepared himself mentally, hoping that the other party would not arrange for the robbers to make a mistake and kill him...

While the manager was praying in his heart, there were suddenly several frantic knocks on the door, and then a teller pushed the door open and rushed in.

"Manager!"

Seeing the teller's reaction, the manager stood up and said calmly, "What happened? Why are you so panicked?"

"There are two customers outside who want to withdraw 10 billion yen in cash!"

"?!" The manager was stunned. "Why does it cost so much?"

"It's a ransom." The teller said, his face full of disbelief, "Their child has been kidnapped, and the kidnappers are demanding a ransom of 10 billion yen!"

The manager was completely stunned.

Could it be that the normal method of the organization this time is not to rob banks, but to kidnap and extort ransom? !

Chapter 70: Do bad things and find someone to take the blame

An unknown street in Beido-cho.

In the Porsche parked on the street, Gin had a laptop on his lap.

It showed a scene from the second floor of an abandoned warehouse, where a teenager in school uniform was tied to a chair, his chest rising and falling faintly.

Apart from being stabbed by Long Tequila when he was kidnapped, he suffered no other physical injuries. But after being tied up like this for a whole day, the mental torture still made him dying.

The picture was very clear, capturing the boy's pale and weak face clearly.

Vodka was sitting next to Gin. Since he was not driving at the moment, he also glanced at the screen with the same cold and sarcastic smile on his face.

Not only are they watching this picture, this image will also be transmitted to Congressman Kawajiri in prison.

This is one of the organization's common tactics.

When faced with people who are restless but somewhat useful and cannot be killed immediately, the organization will kill their relatives as a warning.

Vodka looked at the bomb at the foot of the chair. There was a countdown on it. As soon as the time was up, the unfortunate hostage and the entire warehouse would be blown to pieces.

"That guy will have to wait half an hour and watch his son being torn to pieces."

Gin was about to say something but Vodka interrupted him, but he didn't get angry. He just took out a cigarette.

Just as he was about to get the cigarette lighter, he suddenly heard noise coming from another place through his headphones.

——"It's a ransom. Their child was kidnapped, and the kidnappers demanded a ransom of 10 billion yen!"

——"Have you verified their identity? ... If there is no problem, then go out first and try to calm the customer down and tell them that the money will be ready soon!"

Through the bug installed in the office, Gin heard an event taking place inside the Teito Bank.

"...Humph, it's amazing that she could come up with such an idea."

Gin quickly understood. He chuckled, took out the cigarette lighter and lit his own cigarette.

……