Chapter 167 The murderer’s provocation
While Lin Xinyi and the others were busy conducting on-site investigation, the scene outside had become very lively.
The shooting was already big news, not to mention this was a TV station.
I heard that producer Suwa Michihiko, a very important senior employee, died in his company building.
While the leaders of Rimai TV were overjoyed and saddened, they also did not forget to show the professionalism of media people.
They sent reporters, hosts, lights, photographers, and cameras to block the door of the utility room where the murder occurred, hoping to broadcast the investigation process of Lin Xinyi and others live.
If this live broadcast is completed, the ratings will double again.
The idea was good, but unfortunately, these guys were scared back by Caesar before they even got close.
The scene was not being filmed, but a large black-backed dog was captured, and its mouth was getting closer, bigger, and clearer.
Caesar protected the scene well.
The reporters couldn't make trouble here, but they didn't just go back and rest.
Unable to interview Lin Xinyi, they first interviewed some people related to the case outside the scene, which heated up the atmosphere of the live broadcast.
Among those interviewed, the most photogenic is Matsuo Takashi:
"Well, speaking of dead Suwa, no one knows him better than me."
"I have a life-long friendship with him."
"."
With tears in his eyes, Matsuo Takashi mourned his friend sadly in front of the live broadcast camera:
"It can be said that Suwa entrusted his life to me."
"I will definitely inherit Suwa's will and run our crime-fighting criminal investigation program well!"
He spoke at length in front of the live camera, becoming more and more emotional as he spoke, and his voice was almost choked with sobs.
And just then.
"Woof woof woof!" A burst of barking suddenly sounded at the feet.
Matsuo Takashi lowered his head and looked:
The big black-backed dog that had been guarding the door of the scene appeared beside him at some point.
It bared its white fangs and stuck out its bright red tongue, slowly circling Matsuo Takashi, its eyes sharp and alert, like a wolf keeping an eye on its prey.
"Why did this dog come here?"
Looking at the intertwined canine teeth that were just a bite away from his legs and as sharp as knives, Matsuo Takashi couldn't help but swallow nervously.
"Yes, why did Caesar come to you?"
Lin Xinyi's voice sounded leisurely.
Amid the questioning, he took the lead and appeared at the end of the aisle with Mao Lilan and Asai Narumi.
The crowded crowd automatically separated a path for them. The three of them were wearing black formal suits of similar styles, maintaining a cold and serious professional attitude, and walked towards this side with high heads.
"We just asked Caesar to smell the murderer's body odor on the pistol, and it locked you in."
"Mr. Matsuo, do you have anything to say about this?"
"W-what?!"
The TV staff watching around were all stunned.
The photographer also promptly focused the live broadcast camera on Lin Xinyi’s face:
"Manager Lin, what do you mean?"
"Mr. Matsuo is the murderer?"
"Oh, right!"
A staff member familiar with Matsuo Takashi immediately thought of doubts:
"Mr. Matsuo seems to be a very good gun enthusiast. It is said that his shooting skills are as good as those of professional athletes!"
"Could it be that he really killed Suwa?"
"uncertain."
"There may also be errors in the police dog identification. It cannot be said that Mr. Matsuo is the murderer yet."
Lin Xinyi maintained a cautious attitude, but his tone did not soften at all:
"However, since Caesar sniffed out Mr. Matsuo from so many people."
"I think, Mr. Matsuo, you should explain this."
"Is this a mistake?"
Matsuo Takashi pretended to be wronged and said in a panic:
"How could I be a suspect?"
"Manager Lin, you also saw that I was hosting the live broadcast next to you!"
"No." Lin Xinyi shook his head: "You have never left."
"It's at 10 o'clock sharp, the three minutes when the live program goes into break."
"That's only 3 minutes!"
Matsuo Takashi said with aggrieved face:
"The studio where we live broadcast is on the 9th floor, and Suwa died on the 4th floor."
"I ran from the 9th floor to the 4th floor to kill people. After killing everyone, I had to run back to the 9th floor to continue the live broadcast."
"It's impossible to do this in just 3 minutes, right?"
Lin Xinyi did not answer directly, but gave Mr. Matsuo a meaningful look.
After pondering for a moment, he slowly said:
"It's a perfect alibi indeed."
"No wonder you have to use such a strange killing method. It turns out that you are planning this."
As soon as these words were spoken, Matsuo Takashi's heart sank, and his face suddenly froze.
He suddenly realized that his carefully designed killing method seemed to have been seen through.
How could this happen? So quickly?
Matsuo Takashi couldn't help but become nervous:
Although he also made some preparations to deal with the traces, in his opinion, this exquisite murder trick was the biggest reliance on helping him escape the crime.
Unexpectedly, the trick he had high hopes for turned out to be like the Maginot Line in France. He spent so much effort preparing it, but it had no effect at all.
"Three minutes are certainly not enough time to run from the ninth floor to the fourth floor to kill someone."
"But what if you didn't kill anyone on the fourth floor at all, but fired the gun on the ninth floor?"
Lin Xinyi asked in a calm tone.
Then, without waiting for Matsuo Takashi to respond, he turned to Maori Lan and said:
"Ms. Mori, show Mr. Matsuo the evidence you found!"
As he said this, Lin Xinyi naturally stepped aside and gave his students the chance to shine.
And this time, Mao Lilan's imagination and insight did play a decisive role in being able to spot the murderer so quickly this time:
"This is your discovery, and it's up to you to explain it."
"Yeah." Mao Lilan nodded slightly.
She stepped forward and showed a clear plastic evidence bag.
The evidence bag contained a warhead, a warhead that was deformed by impact and stained with blood.
"I found this bullet hole in a bullet hole on the sidewalk right below the window at the scene."
After realizing that the deceased might have had his head sticking out of the window and was shot from upstairs, Mao Lilan quickly went downstairs to look for traces and verify his guess.
With her keen and careful eyes, she didn't spend much effort to find evidence from the ground outside the building:
"Yes, there is a bullet hole on the sidewalk outside the building, a bullet hole made by shooting from top to bottom."
"And the bullet found in the bullet hole had blood on it—"
"As expected, this is Mr. Suwa's blood!"
Mao Lilan held up the evidence bag and told about his findings, with a different look in his eyes.
Facing her confident gaze, Matsuo Takashi could only pretend to be stupid with an ugly expression:
"W-what do you mean? I don't understand."
"It's very simple."
Mao Lilan explained calmly:
"The blood-stained bullet found on the sidewalk can prove that the deceased was shot from upstairs with a gun after sticking his head out of the window."
"The deceased put his head out of the window and looked upwards."
"The bullet pierced his forehead from top to bottom, shot out from the back of his head, and then penetrated the window glass further downward, eventually forming a bullet hole in the ground."
"In other words, the murderer did not shoot and kill people in the utility room on the fourth floor."
"He stuck his head out of the window upstairs and shot Mr. Suwa who also stuck his head out downstairs."
"This way, you don't have to spend time going downstairs at all—"
"As long as your marksmanship is good enough, even if the murderer is on the ninth floor, he can still kill Mr. Suwa on the fourth floor."
"This" Matsuo Takashi's tone became more and more uneasy: "Is there still a problem?"
"Suwa is fine, why did he stick his head out of the window and let the murderer upstairs shoot him?"
"Because of that phone call!"
As if he had become a famous detective like Kudo Shinichi, under the light and lens, Mao Lilan confidently said the answer:
"Mr. Suwa received a phone call before he died, and then hurriedly left the office and went to the utility room."
"The call was obviously made to him by the murderer."
"And the murderer just needs to find a reason to deceive Mr. Suwa on the phone, for example, pretending that he is going to jump from the building."
"When Mr. Suwa is in a hurry, he will stick his head out of the window of the utility room and look up."
"In this way, the murderer can wait and shoot Mr. Suwa to death with one shot from upstairs."
With that said, Mao Lilan took out another transparent evidence bag.
This evidence bag contains a mobile phone stained with blood:
"This is Mr. Suwa's mobile phone found next to the body at the scene."
"The last phone call he made before his death, which was the call the murderer made to him, started at 10:00:23 and lasted for one and a half minutes."
"Based on the circumstances of the case, plus the estimated time of death based on the autopsy results and the coagulation of blood stains at the scene."
"We can basically confirm that Mr. Suwa's death time was at the end of the call, around 10:02!"
"And this time, Mr. Matsuo"
"It happened to be during the three minutes when you took advantage of the live broadcast to take a break and disappeared!"
At this moment, Mao Lilan seemed to have transformed into her invincible mother in court.
She laid out all the evidence in front of the "defendant" and then concluded confidently:
"Mr. Matsuo, your alibi is completely invalid!"
"."
Matsuo Takashi was silent for a while.
But in this silence, his expression changed from panic to stiffness to despair.
In the end, despair gave birth to a kind of madness:
"Hahaha, Miss Maori, you are absolutely right!"
"Since you have proven that Suwa died through this method of murder, my alibi is useless."
"However, this can only prove that I am suspected, but it cannot prove that I am the person who killed him, right?"
"If you want to prove that I committed murder, you have to provide evidence!"
"Police dog identification alone is not enough. I know that the identification results of police dogs can only be used as a reference in court and cannot be decisive evidence for conviction."
Matsuo Takashi insisted and shouted loudly.
And Miss Maori is still a novice after all.
Facing the suspect who suddenly became arrogant, she couldn't help but be a little confused:
"Of course there is evidence."
"I, I will definitely find it!"
"Then you can find it." Matsuo Takashi sneered:
"You want to check my call history?"
"Or do you want to test my gun smoke reaction?"
"Or do you want to find my fingerprints on the gun?"
He suppressed his anxiety and uttered a series of question marks in a sharp tone, stealing all the lines that Mao Lilan wanted to say:
"Are there any other tricks?"
"If you want to use it, just use it!"