Ke Xue: I picked up a bottle of sherry at the beginning.

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do. The teacher isn't home, and the only thing on in the studio is the answering machine!" said a staff member named Tanaka.

Isn't he at Chou Ye's place? Mr. Matsushita leaned over to ask, because Chou Ye's illustration deadline was today!

"Chou Ye?" Ai asked about this name that had a certain meaning.

Oh, that's a new illustrator, and her apartment is just across the street.

I see. Quan Yi and the other two naturally turned their gaze towards the apartment building across the street.

A murder has indeed occurred

Quan Yi was looking out the window bored, but his attention was attracted by the apartment opposite.

"What are you looking at, Izumi-kun?" Xiao Ai asked curiously.

I'm looking at the balcony of that apartment building. Don't you think it's strange that the quilt is not put away when it is raining so hard?

Following the direction Quan Yi pointed, Xiao Ai and Panasonic looked towards the apartment across the street. They saw a quilt hanging on the balcony railing of the middle apartment across the street, which was very conspicuous.

Quan Yi felt a little uneasy due to his long-held intuition.

Oh, that's the room of the new illustrator. I didn't expect she'd still be sleeping so late." Matsushita said.

It was almost 6:30, and Mr. Hanaoka still hadn't shown up. Izumi looked at his watch and said, "This is ridiculously late. Sorry, we have to leave first." With that, Izumi and Ai got up and walked out. "He has no sense of time at all. He's even worse than an Indian."

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry! Please wait a moment!" Matsushita hurriedly tried to stop him.

As Quan Yi walked to the door, it opened and a man with a big beard and long hair came in. He was about 40 years old, wearing a black suit and looked extraordinary.

Mr. Hanaoka, why are you here just now?! Matsushita hurried over.

"Ouch, I'm so sorry, I overslept in the studio," the man said with an apologetic look on his face.

Studio? I called the studio several times!

"I woke up when I heard the phone ring," Hanaoka said, scratching his face with his fingers. Then he ran over and grabbed Quan Yi's shoulders with both hands. "Detective Bai, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting."

"Hey, what's wrong with your nails?" Ai asked curiously when she saw that Mr. Hanaoka's little finger nail was painted red.

Ah——oh, oh… Mr. Hanaoka squeaked and whimpered, unable to speak.

Is that nail polish? Ai is very sensitive about girls' things.

How could that be! This is the paint for illustrations. It might have been accidentally touched in the studio. Mr. Hanaoka went to the table to look for the knife.

By the way, Tanaka, Chou Ye might call later. Please answer the phone for me. I have something to say to her. After saying that, Mr. Hanaoka went to the bathroom with the knife.

Sitting on the toilet, Mr. Hanaoka scraped off the nail polish that Chono had applied and cursed: Damn, damn, stinky woman!

At this time, the phone outside rang. Tanaka picked up the phone. It was Chouno calling. He called Mr. Hanaoka to answer the phone.

Hey, how are you? Are you feeling better? What? You want to commit suicide! You want to jump off the balcony and commit suicide!

Ah——! Hearing that Chou Ye was going to commit suicide, everyone hurriedly looked towards the balcony of Chou Ye's room.

As everyone in the room looked on in shock, Miss Chou Ye fell from her balcony.

……

The deceased, Izumi Chouno, was 25 years old. Inspector Megure arrived at the scene after receiving the report.

"Mr. Hanaoka, Ms. Chouno is an illustrator affiliated with Hanaoka Company, isn't that correct?" Inspector Megure asked.

Ah, yes, yes. Although she's just debuted, she has her own style. She just said on the phone that she has no talent, feels sorry for herself, has reached an insurmountable bottleneck, and wants to commit suicide. Then she suddenly jumps from the balcony - just - Mr. Hanaoka pretends to be sad and regretful.

Well, you all witnessed the whole thing, right? Inspector Megure asked Izumi and the others, "Officer Bai, how did you move so quickly..."

Quan Yi could only smile awkwardly and laughed: It's just a coincidence.

Even so, Quan Yi instinctively felt that things were not that simple. He walked up to the deceased and took a closer look, only to find that the deceased was wearing contact lenses in his eyes.

I remember her being——! Quan Yi remembered that the deceased was wearing a pair of glasses when she fell from the building. Sure enough, there was a pair of broken glasses not far from the deceased's head.

Wearing contact lenses and frame glasses at the same time, hey hey... this is really interesting...

Based on the testimony of eyewitnesses, it seemed like suicide, Inspector Megure came to this conclusion.

"No, that's not right. It wasn't suicide! This person was already dead before she fell from the building, and she was pushed down. The suspect is the one who tried to stop her from committing suicide on the phone..."

While thinking, Izumi looked at Mr. Hanaoka who looked innocent.

"Could it be that Mr. Hanaoka pushed her down? But there was no one on the balcony when she fell. How did he push her down the stairs? How could he have done that from such a long distance?"

Izumi looked across at the Hanaoka Office and fell into deep thought. But before he could think, he had to first break down Inspector Megure's crude inference, which had been influenced by Mori.

Officer Megure, don't you think it's strange? Look, this person is wearing contact lenses." Quan Yi squatted down and pointed at the victim's eyes.

Inspector Megure walked over and took a look. Sure enough, he found a crystal-clear contact lens in the deceased's eye. It was indeed true. Wearing contact lenses and glasses at the same time was really out of character.

Inspector Megure touched his chin and said: So that means someone helped her put on these glasses after she fell from the building.

"It's also possible that it was put on by someone before jumping down from there..." Quan Yi said lightly.

Wait a minute, Mr. Police, Officer Bai. Mr. Hanaoka hurried over to interrupt, you saw it too, when she jumped down just now, there was no one on the balcony except her!

"No matter what, it is necessary to investigate the deceased's room, don't you think, Inspector Megure?" Izumi ignored Hanaoka, who had already revealed many flaws, and turned to Inspector Megure and said.

"Inspector Shiro is right." Inspector Megure nodded.

So, in order to clarify the case, Inspector Megure, Izumi and his team, along with Hanaoka, went to Chouno's apartment to search.

Poor acting

Upon opening the door, Inspector Megure discovered that it was not locked, while Izumi noticed a bent nail on the ground.

"Be careful, don't step on it." Quan Yi said to Xiao Ai and Xiao Ai behind him.

This must be the balcony she jumped from! Inspector Megure walked to the balcony. There were slippers, a mobile phone, and a broken flower pot... Inspector Megure squatted down to observe while talking.

Izumi also followed behind Officer Murasakibara.

On Chono's dressing table, Inspector Megure found her contact lens case again: It seems that

What matters is the pair of glasses she wore when she jumped!

"Officer Megure, is there a suicide note or something?" Ai looked around the room and said, "If it was suicide, there would definitely be something like a suicide note left behind."

"Yes, you're right. Let's search carefully to see if there's anything resembling a suicide note." Inspector Megure went to the bookshelf and searched. He pulled down a collection of photos, and almost all of the people in the photos had a butterfly-shaped pattern.

"Hey, what's going on?" Inspector Megure asked Tanaka, and Izumi and the others also leaned over to look.

Oh, this was taken when our company and I went out together last time. She likes to graffiti on other people while they are sleeping.

"These patterns all seem to be the same?" Quan Yi asked.

That's her signature, seemingly inspired by the character "蝶" (butterfly) from the Chinese character "蝶野" (butterfly) in the Japanese idiom "蝶野" (butterfly), and it's always included in her illustrations. Her illustrations have been increasingly popular lately, says Mr. Matsushita.

Izumi couldn't help but recall the collection of Mr. Hanaoka's paintings he'd been flipping through in the reception room when he was bored. Under most of the signatures, there was a small butterfly mark!

At this time, a policeman found the nail polish bottle that had fallen to the ground.

Xiao Ai took a look and said, "This is a new nail polish that was released today. The color is very beautiful and unique."

"Then the bed sheet also has this 187 nail polish on it." Quan Yi pointed to the red mark on the bed sheet.

Yes, that’s right! Inspector Megure nodded.

But it seems that the nail polish on her hands and feet is not this color! Speaking of people who wear this kind of nail polish... Izumi, with his finger on his lips, said thoughtfully, "Mr. Hanaoka, it should be you!" Izumi suddenly turned to Mr. Hanaoka.

Ah——! Mr. Hanaoka was shocked.

Is that really the case? Inspector Megure questioned Mr. Hanaoka with a fierce look on his face.

No, no, Mr. Hanaoka shook his hands vigorously and explained, "It was just a coincidence. I accidentally got some paint of the same color on my little finger. I was working in the studio until this morning..."

Yes, this is the murderer! Such poor acting! ...But when the victim jumped from the building, the murderer was indeed in that office, and he was with us!

As Quan Yi was pondering, Xiao Ai opened the refrigerator in the apartment next to him. "It seems that putting suicide notes in the refrigerator like in the movie doesn't seem to happen in real life." Xiao Ai complained and shook her head.

As the door was closing, Quan Yi noticed a bottle of contact lens cleaning solution inside. (That was odd; there was cleaning solution, but no protective solution?)

The police did not find anything like a suicide note, so it seemed that Inspector Megure had no choice but to classify this case as suicide.

Excuse me... I'm here to pick up a package. I forgot to leave the original receipt I received. I'm sorry! A person who was collecting a package appeared at the door and was startled by the large number of police officers in the room.

"What time was it just now?" asked Inspector Megure.

Ah... around 6:30.

Around 6:30, that’s when the deceased fell from the building! Quan Yi muttered.

Did you see her in person? Inspector Megure asked the person who received the package.

"Oh, no," she said, "the manuscript is right next to the open door, so I can get it myself." Then, the man showed the receipt to Inspector Megure.

Hey, Hanaoka? Quan Yi glanced at Mr. Hanaoka beside him. "Mr. Hanaoka, you were the one who called for the delivery, right? The person who signed for the delivery was named, so why did you call for the delivery for her? The delivery arrived when she fell from the building. Tell me, what happened?"

"No, no, it's because she called me and told me her painting was finished, so I ordered it to be delivered to the editorial office. I saw she was in a bad mood, so I thought of a way to save her from having to deal with the delivery," Hanaoka explained hurriedly.

"Oh, by the way, did you notice anything strange when you came here?" Inspector Megure asked the courier, as if he suddenly remembered something.

Oh, the door opened suddenly and quickly. I just pushed it gently and the door opened by itself.

Didn’t she open the door for you? Quan Yi asked.

I thought so too, but I didn't see anyone, only nails falling to the ground.

nail?

Yes, and then there was a sound of something breaking.

Wait a minute! Quan Yi suddenly thought of something and walked towards the balcony drain. He opened the drain cover and picked up a piece of broken flower pot. He lifted it up and found a string attached to the bottom.

He has completely understood the method used by the murderer!

"Inspector Shiro? Why are you going there?" Inspector Megure looked at Izumi who suddenly walked to the balcony with a puzzled look on his face.

"It's because I suddenly understood something." Izumi turned his head and smiled, "Inspector Megure, the deceased didn't commit suicide, but was murdered! As for the murderer, Mr. Hanaoka, are you still going to continue acting?"

"No way, Inspector Bai, you should know very well. Wasn't he in the office with you when he saw the deceased jump from the building? How could he be the murderer?!" Inspector Megure was surprised.

"Inspector Megure, could you please prepare a long enough fishing line, a small soy sauce bottle, and a bottle of hot coffee for me?"

"No problem." Although Inspector Megure was confused, he still asked his men to prepare.

……

"First, pull out the fishing line. The length should be enough to go back and forth from the balcony handrail to the front door. Make it into a loop. Use one end of the loop to pass through the waist of the quilt that is assumed to be the victim. Then pass the line through the handrail of the railing and pull it inward. Then, use the loop to lift the flower pot high up and pull the line toward the front door. Hang the other end of the line on the intercom at the front door. Then, hang the victim outside the balcony along the fishing line. Of course, the victim is covered with a quilt. After going out, take down the loop of the line hanging on the intercom and put it on a nail. Use the door to clamp the nail... Izumi slowly directed the police officers to complete the arrangement. Mr. Hanaoka's face became more and more gloomy.

"So that's how it is. As long as someone comes to open the door, the other end holding up the victim will fall down!" Inspector Megure suddenly realized.

The person responsible for opening the door is of course the courier arranged by Mr. Hanaoka. As long as the time is arranged, someone will open the door for Mr. Hanaoka at the appropriate time.

What an interesting discovery! But there was no such thing as fishing line! Hanaoka is still trying to deny it.

It's actually very simple. Just use extra fishing line and a soy sauce bottle to make it disappear like magic. Just tie the extra fishing line between the victim and the flower pot, then pass the line through the inner and outer iron covers of the balcony drain and tie it to the soy sauce bottle. Then, just throw the soy sauce bottle into the drain and close the iron cover. The soy sauce bottle is just a weight, and you can use anything else as a substitute, such as the contact lens solution bottle that disappeared in the refrigerator.

Looking at the stunned Mr. Hanaoka, Izumi shrugged and said, "This is where you will inevitably fail no matter how careful you are. Okay, now you can open it. By opening the hanging door, you will also reveal the key to the mystery of this incident!"

The door opened, the quilt fell, the flowerpot broke, and the fishing line slipped into the drain.

It slipped in! Officer Megure exclaimed in surprise, "Okay, check the drain immediately!"

A policeman was already standing in front of him, holding a fishing line and protective fluid.

This is ridiculous! I was talking to her on the phone before she fell! And it was her who called. You can press the redial button on the mobile phone on the balcony. It must be the office... Mr. Hanaoka defended himself at the top of his lungs.

Of course it was in the office, because after you designed these, you should have taken the mobile phone to the office. Moreover, the call Mr. Tanaka received was probably the message she had left on the answering machine in your studio. That was only part of the message. So, before going to the office, you went back to your studio and took the recording of her voice.

Take out the tape of the phone call, and after entering the office, go to the bathroom immediately and call the office from your cell phone."

"You took the phone from Mr. Tanaka and asked everyone in the house to pay attention to her balcony. This was to prove that she had committed suicide in front of everyone. The murder weapon you used to kill her might be the glass ashtray under the table. If you take it for examination now, there should be bloodstains.

So where's the evidence you said I killed her? You can't possibly have it. This is my first time here today! Mr. Hanaoka was completely at his wit's end and could only deny it by saying he couldn't find any evidence.

At this time, a policeman brought a cup of coffee that Quan Yi ordered.

"Thank you." Quan Yi took the coffee and poured a cup on Mr. Hanaoka's feet.

"Ah! What are you doing!" Mr. Hanaoka, who was scalded, screamed in pain and quickly took off his socks.

"Mr. Hanaoka, what is this?" Izumi asked, pointing to the mark left by Chono on Hanaoka's big toe.

This, this,... Mr. Hanaoka was speechless.

"That's the signature of the deceased, Ms. Chouno!" Inspector Megure shouted, pointing at Mr. Hanaoka's feet.

Considering the nail polish on the bed sheet, and since Ms. Chouno didn't wear any nail polish, the nail polish on the bed sheet must have been rubbed off on Mr. Hanaoka's feet. And that nail polish just came on the market today. If you're innocent, answer me: when and where did you get the marks on your feet?!