When the Detective Work is Done, I'll Die

Chapter 6

"Oh, here it comes. Azuma's instant deduction!"

Ignoring my anger, the young police officer said something too. It seems Azuma is genuinely trusted within the police. Yet that trust is a chain of negativity forged by the lies the detective keeps spinning.

I'll tear his reasoning apart and show everyone. I'll destroy him socially.

I steeled my resolve and braced myself for the detective's words. He doesn't have solid evidence, so I don't know how far he can argue, but I have to try.

My heart is pounding. This is the crucial duel that will decide Miiko's fate. Still, the advantage is ours. Because it's a lie, I should be able to expose it.

Under suspicion, Miiko edged toward the officer, saying, "Now I don't have to worry about running away," then provoked the detective with a straight face.

"If you're going to call me the culprit, you'll have to give me proper proof. First, please make sure even the officers can understand the outline of the case."

"Trying to crush my deduction with pressure? That's cheap and boring!"

Fired up, the young officer was again questioning people without even taking off his shoes.

One person next to Miiko, perhaps fed up, bolted outside at once. Left behind with his reasoning show, the detective scowled toward the entrance.

There, I gave his heart another jolt.

"Hurry it up. Or is it that you've got no deduction and can't say anything?"

A tongue-click only I could hear came from the detective. I put on a satisfied look, glad I'd rattled him. He glared at me, then began laying out the case summary.

"In this case, the old man named Koyama was killed by someone and buried under money. Time-wise, it was after that fellow Furudou left the house for a deal. Right?"

Mr. Furudou, summoned by the detective, rushed out of the living room first. "Yes. After I met him alive, the culprit must have been me," he agreed with the detective's story.

"The killing trick here isn't a trick at all. No, it isn't even murder."

"Eh, this isn't a murder case...? Ehh...?"

Now even the officer was flustered. Something feels staged. Apparently that officer can't stand up to the famous detective who's solved so many cases. Rather than investigate, he's focused on cheering him on and keeping the mood high.

Well, none of that matters now. The key word the detective dropped is more important.

It's not murder. Then the culprit's crime is only one.

"Actually, this case is injury resulting in death, plus a little messing up of the crime scene. Let's go there right away and take a look."

The detective tried to line everyone up at the entrance to the parlor at once. Then he shooed away the officer examining the corpse as if he were a bug.

While that was happening, Miiko compared the scene with photos she'd taken on her smartphone and murmured, "It hasn't changed at all." It seems this detective hasn't stooped to outright fabricating evidence.

I felt a bit relieved and prepared to listen to his reasoning.

"All right, all right, all right. Suspects and officers, please look at that shelf."

"The one with the antique on it?"

At the officer's confirmation the detective cursed, banged on the bookshelf, and denied it. The shelf next to the one holding the antique shook.

"I don't care about that antique, you idiot! The shelf next to it with blood on it! Can't you see it? Look at this thick blood! The victim died after hitting this corner!"

The officer clutched his head and answered, "Y-yes," and began focusing on the shelf. It's pitiful how obedient he is. And it makes me sick to my stomach.

I want this over quickly, but it's still not the moment to object. While listening to the detective's reasoning, I'm waiting, waiting for my chance to counterattack.

"So, in this situation, for a murder, it's strange for a girl to use a method where she might not even kill him. A high-school girl doesn't have much strength. In this case the victim just had the bad luck of where he was hit and died."

"S-so you're saying the high-school girl didn't intend to kill him, she just shoved him?"

"Not bad for an officer. Right. So it becomes injury resulting in death."

Should I object now or not? No, he'll explain it without me saying anything—his motive.

I was about to ask, "Does she even have a motive?" but thinking about the victim's personality he'd investigated, he could answer in a second.

In that very second the detective produced evidence: some kind of notebook.

"Detective Azuma, what's that?"

At the officer's question he answered with his nose in the air.

"A notebook I found by the living-room phone. Hey, housekeeper, did the victim have a habit of taking notes when he used the phone?"

The question turned to Mr. Hida. She had been looking down, but lifted her face, afraid of angering the detective.

"Yes. Mr. Koyama did take notes... yes, while on the phone. He wrote down important things."

"Right. Here it says 'high-school girl 4 p.m.', yet we have a high-school boy here too."

The detective pointed at me. That's right. On this point I can't refute him. Miiko had no motive to kill him, but she did have a motive to let him die.

He probably pinned it on Miiko instead of me because of the difference between a girl and a boy.

If I agree and let him keep talking, he might yell, "You're stealing my spotlight!" so I just nodded silently.

But Mr. Hida said too much.

"Ah, then, maybe that sexual-harassment old man..."

"Don't act like you figured it out! Don't steal my lines!"

"I-I'm sorry..."

"R-right, as the housekeeper just said, the victim was a horrible sexual-harasser. You two, the high-school girl and boy, probably came here for some other reason, but before you could even talk, the victim, who could think of nothing but the girl, tried to harass the girl!"

The officer kept staring at the detective.

"So..."

"To avoid the harassment she accidentally shoved the victim. That's how he hit the bookshelf and died."

"I understand that, Detective Azuma, but what about the money scattered on the floor?"

"Simple. The girl, desperate not to be caught, tried to mess up the scene. Then some evidence dropped. If that were found, it'd be bad—she'd be identified as the culprit. That's what she thought."

His logic holds. I'm starting to wonder if I can really declare our innocence. Probably my actions to wreck the scene make me an accomplice in his story.

In his reasoning I'm the friend who became involved in the crime and tried to hide evidence. Even if I tell this officer, "She's not the culprit," he'll just think I'm protecting someone important.

We're in serious trouble.

If I stay silent now, both Miiko's life and mine will change forever.

So I have to voice my objection at the perfect moment... the perfect moment!

"So, she scattered the huge sum of money she found! That would confuse the investigation. And it would let her pretend to be the first discoverer. She could dig up the money at just the right time and claim the evidence she dropped wasn't 'lost when she shoved him' but 'fell while she was digging the corpse out of the pile of money.'"

"I-I see...! With all this money lying around, people will focus on that. They won't notice whether something was dropped or not while they're digging together!"

"You catch on quick."

"I'm honored by your praise!"

The detective, praised for the officer's agreement, looked utterly sure he was delivering the final blow. His good mood was proof he thought he was about to crush us.

Any moment now he'll announce the perfect physical evidence that will finish Miiko and me...

"All right, search this room and it'll turn up. No, search that girl and the boy until they're sick of it and it'll appear! The evidence they dropped!"

Now!

If the opponent swings a huge sword down, I'll just use that power myself.

My own counter.

"Thanks for the explanation! No such evidence will ever appear!"

"Why not!? Even if you twist logic now, you can't prove that girl isn't the culprit!"

"Yeah, that's true. But your story has a contradiction!"

Actually... I couldn't find any contradiction. I bluffed, but it feels like nothing more than buying time. Still, if I give up, it's over.

I'll cling on until I die!

Behind my burning back, Miiko murmured again:

"That man... he still hasn't noticed that he's been shot with a poisoned arrow from afar."

"Eh?"