Inspector Juzo Megure was on an external assignment on Tsukikage Island and hadn't brought his capable subordinates like Detective Takagi.
Tokyo needed personnel to hold the fort. It would be disastrous if a serious crime occurred with no one to handle it.
Of course, "capable" was relative to other detectives.
Hoshimiya Yuu and Ran spotted Inspector Megure, and he quickly noticed the two of them.
Seeing Ran and Hoshimiya Yuu, his eyes lit up.
He rushed over with his large belly leading the way and his short legs churning, looking as if he had spotted a savior.
"Hoshimiya, my boy, Ran!" Juzo Megure smiled and asked excitedly, "What are you doing here? Did Kudou, my boy, come with you?"
Inspector Megure's intentions were all too obvious. At least half of the credit for Shinichi Kudou becoming the "Savior of the Tokyo Police" belonged to Inspector Megure.
Hoshimiya Yuu rolled his eyes, too lazy to even comment.
"Inspector Megure, good afternoon." Ran smiled and greeted him. She looked calm, but in reality, she was very nervous.
After dealing with Inspector Megure and other detectives so many times, this was the first time Ran had felt guilty facing the police, so tension was inevitable.
On the other side, Asai Narumi was no better than Ran.
However, both of them maintained their composure perfectly, looking innocently curious at Inspector Megure and the other detectives, feigning ignorance of the situation.
The saying "women are born actresses" was certainly true.
If Hoshimiya Yuu's thigh wasn't hurting so much from their pinching under the table, he wouldn't have been able to tell how nervous they were.
"Inspector Megure, what brings you here?"
To spare his thigh some pain, Hoshimiya Yuu took the initiative to engage.
Juzo Megure took off his hat and wiped the nervous sweat from his forehead.
"A heinous series of murders has occurred here."
"Tsukikage Island is part of the Tokyo Metropolitan area, so I'm responsible for it."
He didn't even mention the fire.
The Community Hall was almost completely burned to ruins, and nothing could be investigated. Since there were no casualties, they could just treat it as an accident.
No one was more skilled at that than he was.
The current trouble was the three lost lives.
Among them were the current village chief and a strong candidate for the next chief. The villagers of Tsukikage Island wouldn't easily let the matter rest without some answers.
After explaining, Inspector Megure asked again, "Hoshimiya-san, is it just you and Ran? Didn't Kudou-kun come?"
"No, Ran and I are here because Uncle Mouri received a strange request…"
Hoshimiya Yuu briefly explained the case and pulled out the letter.
"Because the client couldn't be found, Uncle Mouri thought it was a prank and went back. Ran and I figured since we were already here, we might as well stay and play for a few days."
Inspector Megure took the letter, nodding as he read it. "Hmm, Tsukikage Island is indeed suitable for a vacation…"
He read the letter several times. Aside from the signature being Kenzo Aso, who had died over a decade ago, Juzo Megure found no other suspicious details.
"Hoshimiya, my boy, thank you."
Inspector Megure patted Hoshimiya Yuu on the shoulder and said sincerely, "I think the person impersonating Kenzo Aso is most likely the killer of Village Chief Kuroiwa and the other two."
Juzo Megure had initially just intended to put on a show, partly to divert the villagers' attention so the police would have time to minimize the issue.
But he hadn't expected his casual guess to be so close to the truth.
Hoshimiya Yuu looked surprised at the portly middle-aged police officer. He had to admit that being a Police Inspector meant he had something going for him.
He didn't know that Juzo Megure was purely guessing, with no evidence or deduction.
He had assumed the police had discovered something from the victims' personal relationships.
"Inspector Megure, the police were very fast this time. You actually found out so quickly about the relationship between Kenzo Aso and the three victims."
Hoshimiya Yuu pretended to be astonished, but his real goal was to probe how far the police investigation had gone and whether they had found any evidence at the crime scenes.
"Huh?" Juzo Megure's fat face suddenly changed. He grabbed Hoshimiya Yuu, shocked. "What? Kenzo Aso was connected to all three dead men?"
The police had just finished examining the three crime scenes and hadn't had time to investigate personal relationships. How could they have discovered that Kenzo Aso and the three victims were childhood friends who grew up together?
Now it was Hoshimiya Yuu's turn to be bewildered. Why is he so shocked? Didn't you already kno…
But he quickly realized that he had overestimated the Tokyo detectives.
He nodded, feeling slightly amused and annoyed, and whispered, "Inspector, this isn't the place to talk. Let's move somewhere else."
Inspector Megure looked around and saw everyone in the restaurant staring at him, including the detectives he had brought.
"All of you… are you done registering everyone?"
Inspector Megure looked sternly at his subordinates.
After the detectives quickly averted their gazes, he awkwardly let go of Hoshimiya Yuu, placing a fist in front of his mouth and coughing twice. "Hoshimiya, my boy, let's go chat over there."
To cooperate with the police, the restaurant had cleared out a private room to serve as a temporary interrogation room.
With Inspector Megure's special permission, Hoshimiya Yuu's trio didn't need to register or wait in line to be questioned.
As soon as the person being interviewed left the room, the three of them went in.
Being detained by the police and unable to do anything must be boring. Anyone would want to get it over with quickly and leave.
When some of the people in line saw that Hoshimiya Yuu's trio didn't have to wait, they were annoyed. One of them was Reiko Kuroiwa.
Having been pleasured all night, she was satisfied and had intended to come to the restaurant to refuel. She hadn't expected the police to arrive so soon.
This prevented her from eating, which already annoyed her, and seeing Hoshimiya Yuu being intimate with the two girls, Asai Narumi and Ran, made her even more irritated.
Looking at Hoshimiya Yuu's handsome face and tall, strong physique.
Then thinking of her fat secretary and her skinny fiancé…
Reiko Kuroiwa suddenly felt that last night hadn't been so enjoyable after all.
No matter how much she tried to convince herself, inferior was inferior.
Quantity would never surpass quality!
As the daughter of the village chief, Reiko Kuroiwa didn't have much respect for the police.
She slammed her hand on the table, stood up, and glared at the detective guarding the door, shouting, "I'm the Village Chief's daughter, and I have to wait in line? Why do those three get to cut in line?"
In Japan, the status of a politician was far higher than that of a police officer.
Japanese politicians were generally more afraid of private detectives than the police.
Few Japanese politicians have clean hands, and the appearance of a detective often meant their transgressions were about to be exposed.
Even if they weren't exposed, they feared a detective might uncover something.
The police's incompetence was famous, after all, but to become a detective, one usually had to have some ability.
Kogoro Mouri, that bumbling detective, was an exception.
More than a detective, he was more like a handyman running an odd-job service.
If it weren't for Eri Kisaki's consistent financial support and Ran constantly taking care of his daily life, Kogoro Mouri's detective agency wouldn't be able to stay open.
Reiko Kuroiwa, of course, knew about her father's past misdeeds, but she didn't think the police would find out, especially since her father hadn't dealt drugs for many years.