Chapter 119: Is Uesugi the Murderer?

PS: I am driving home for the New Year today, so there is only one update.

The next day at dawn, at the special investigation headquarters for the Tokyo Medical and Dental University medical building murder case, a piece of news detonated the entire conference room, giving all the detectives of the special investigation headquarters, who were originally listless, a slight shock to their souls.

Police Inspector Kashiwagi Jin, Chief of Section 3 of Investigation Division 1, formally filed an accusation.

He announced a major discovery to all the police officers at the scene.

The murderer of the medical building murder case is none other than Uesugi Muneyuki himself!

Kashiwagi Jin's announcement stirred up a thousand waves; the numerous detectives present who had discussed the case all night long were stunned by Kashiwagi Jin's judgment!

The first to object was Tanaka Laodeng. Because he had an excellent relationship with Uesugi Muneyuki and was the one who first guided Uesugi Muneyuki in performing autopsies, Tanaka Laodeng, while not good at much else, loved to brag to others about the glorious days he shared with Uesugi Muneyuki. Thus, he was the first to disbelieve: "Even for someone from the Career Track at the Metropolitan Police Department, there must be a limit! Police Inspector Kashiwagi, are you in your right mind?!"

The second to object was Kuwabara Mako, who also stood up: "Police Inspector Kashiwagi, have you made a mistake? Advisor Uesugi is also a victim!"

"A victim? I don't think so," Police Inspector Kashiwagi said coldly. "Listen to me first, then offer your opinions."

The pressure of the Career Track radiated from the face of this high-ranking Police Inspector. Seeing his confident expression, the people from the local branch offices like Otsuka Station did not dare to speak up again.

"Everyone, do you believe that a dead person can kill?" Police Inspector Kashiwagi asked first. "Do you truly believe that a corpse already declared dead could suddenly revive, hold a machete obtained from who knows where, and suddenly attack a doctor they had never met before?"

A silence fell over the room.

This was precisely the problem that had troubled many police officers for the entire night.

If they designated the corpse Nakano Toshito as the criminal suspect, they would arrive at a pile of absurd conclusions.

Looking at interpersonal relationships, Nakano Toshito had never met the other victims, including Uesugi Muneyuki.

Looking at the tracing of evidence, Nakano Toshito had already been declared dead at noon; how could a dead man revive?

Looking at the scene investigation, Nakano Toshito's movement trajectory was also very strange; at least twice, his shoe prints and footprints disappeared inexplicably in one place and reappeared in another.

"My view was the same as yours before," Police Inspector Kashiwagi Jin said, feeling confident. "If we really proceed with the assumption that Nakano Toshito might be the murderer, then we may never know the truth, and this case will become a permanent cold case resulting from a corpse killing someone!"

"However, if we cast aside this hypothesis and change our line of thinking, the key point of this case will come to light through the third victim!" Kashiwagi Jin signaled his subordinate to play the PowerPoint.

A photo of a woman appeared on the screen, with text noted below.

Saito Nanami, 21 years old, from Hokkaido, a student at Musashino Art University.

She was the third corpse discovered in the hallway.

"The key to solving the case lies precisely with this female victim." Kashiwagi Jin first presented the mobile phone found on Saito Nanami: "According to the call logs in the phone, we have discovered that a very special relationship existed between her and Uesugi Muneyuki!"

"There were over a hundred call records between the two in the past year!" Kashiwagi Jin displayed the communication records on the phone for all the police officers to see. "Moreover, according to the hotel check-in records our subordinates queried, Uesugi Muneyuki has registered at hotels in Bunkyo Ward alone over 60 times in the past year! Although the number of people was varied, many of these times were related to her."

"So, there is no need to say what kind of relationship she had with Uesugi Muneyuki, right?"

Lovers.

Everyone in the room nodded, acknowledging Police Inspector Kashiwagi's judgment.

But they still did not agree with Police Inspector Kashiwagi identifying Uesugi Muneyuki as the murderer.

"Isn't it precisely because she had a relationship with Uesugi-san that she appeared here and met with such a tragic end?" Sure enough, Police Inspector Kosaka of the First Division voiced his objection: "What can this prove?"

"Don't be impatient, this is the first piece of evidence." Kashiwagi Jin signaled everyone to listen to him again.

"The second piece of evidence concerns the corpse, Nakano Toshito."

"Nakano Toshito had stopped breathing when he was sent to the hospital in the morning and was declared dead at noon, but..." Police Inspector Kashiwagi paused. "Who was responsible for the autopsy? Who was responsible for the dissection? Who was the last person to have contact with the corpse and could freely enter and exit the morgue, utilizing the corpse for their own purposes?"

"That's right, it was Uesugi Muneyuki himself!"

"He was the last person to have contact with the corpse, and he was also the only person in the entire hospital at the time who could freely enter and exit the morgue!" Police Inspector Kashiwagi continued. "Therefore, although Nakano Toshito himself had never met the other three people in this case, if we switch our perspective!"

Police Inspector Kashiwagi moved Nakano Toshito's photo away from the small blackboard and placed Uesugi Muneyuki's photo right in the center!

"Uesugi Muneyuki has an extremely close relationship with these three people!"

With black ink, three lines were drawn starting from Uesugi Muneyuki's photo.

Uesugi Muneyuki → Saito Nanami, lover relationship.

Uesugi Muneyuki → Nakano Toshito, autopsy and dissection relationship.

Uesugi Muneyuki → Tsukada Mitsunosuke, superior-subordinate relationship between Regular Employee and Guard.

After organizing it this way, the entire interpersonal relationship and logic became clear.

The noise at the scene quieted down significantly.

At this moment, some of the smarter police officers had already begun to realize some things from the interpersonal relationships centered on Uesugi Muneyuki.

Could it be?

"I presume you have all discovered it, right?" Kashiwagi Jin nodded. He took a deep breath, preparing to state the greatest and most brilliant deduction he had made since entering the police profession: "So, the matter is already very clear!"

"This is a theater-type crime meticulously planned by Uesugi Muneyuki himself!"

"Let us reconstruct the process. Uesugi Muneyuki and Ms. Saito had a rift in their relationship, which is the root of this case. Uesugi Muneyuki therefore developed the intent to kill Saito! This is the motive for the murder."

"Uesugi meticulously set up a perfect crime scene, then called Saito to come to the medical building to find him. Saito, unaware of the situation, ended up being murdered by Uesugi."

"However, Saito was noticed by the Guard when she entered the medical building. The Guard followed her and called out, so Uesugi, worried that the Guard might discover the process of him murdering Saito, dialed the Guard's phone, used his status as a Regular Employee to order him to come over, lured him to the vicinity using the dim environment in the building, and then murdered him."

"Then, Uesugi took Nakano Toshito's corpse from the morgue, disguised the scene, pretended that he was attacked by the corpse, and used a fire extinguisher to destroy all possible evidence on the surface of the corpse, feigning that he was also a victim."

Police Inspector Kashiwagi Jin shouted on the stage: "This is the truth of this case!"

"The real murderer who killed the Guard Tsukada Mitsunosuke and the female college student Saito Nanami, who used his identity as a Forensic Pathologist to frame all the crimes on the already deceased Nakano Toshito, and who disguised himself as a victim, is none other than the Forensic Pathology Department of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, and our Metropolitan Police Department Forensics Division's Field Consultant, Uesugi Muneyuki!"

A clear logical chain, a perfect hypothesis of motive, combined with the impression Uesugi Muneyuki always gave and his super-strong professional ability, paired with Kashiwagi Jin's orthodox reasoning ability.

The image of a terrifying criminal with high intelligence, high technology, and high ability leaped into the minds of every police officer present.

Could it be?

Could Advisor Uesugi really be the murderer?

After hearing the entire deduction, the people present, even Tanaka Laodeng, had their expressions become somewhat unconfident.

The main thing was that if one started from this logic, then everything made sense.

As the protagonist, Uesugi Muneyuki, had a conflict with his lover Saito. Although the specific reason was not very clear, matters of the heart are easily turned into hatred, and then Uesugi Muneyuki planned this crime relying on his super-high intelligence and super-strong professional ability.

This is the motive.

Encountering a Guard on patrol midway, Uesugi Muneyuki was terrified of being discovered, so he called the Guard over to lure him in, killed him, and then took out the corpse, pretending that everything had been done by the corpse and that he himself had been injured, leaving no witnesses to testify.

By the eight million gods and Buddhas in the heavens, Police Inspector Kashiwagi is truly the Star Inspector of our Metropolitan Police Department, hailed as the last trump card of the Metropolitan Police Department!

Truly brilliant!

Having figured all this out, the crowd below no longer made a sound.

Better the Daoist friend dies than this poor Daoist; if little brother Uesugi falls, I hope the blood doesn't splash on me.

Have we at Otsuka Station ever collaborated with little brother Uesugi? Why don't I remember?

Only Tanaka Laodeng had an uncertain expression; he truly did not believe that little brother Uesugi, who was green but dared to lock horns with him and seemed a bit neurotic in his desire to clarify the truth, was the murderer.

But things had reached this point, and there was nothing he could do; he could only say in a low voice to Uesugi Muneyuki, who was still on the line: "What should we do, little brother Uesugi? Did you hear everything he said? Was it really you?"

Uesugi Muneyuki's reply, however, was strange; he sounded somewhat dazed and somewhat sorrowful: "If you put it that way, is Nanami already dead?"

"Of course!" Seeing Kashiwagi Jin begin to take action, Tanaka Laodeng immediately shouted into the phone: "Listen, little brother Uesugi, I can only help you this much. I don't care if you did it or not, in any case, Kashiwagi Jin is already heading your way."

"Understood."

Uesugi Muneyuki had just hung up the phone and waited for three minutes when he saw Police Inspector Kashiwagi enter through the door.

"Uesugi Muneyuki, we are arresting you on suspicion of multiple murders." Police Inspector Kashiwagi Jin took out a pair of beautiful silver bracelets.

The other Detectives who followed him in changed color abruptly when they saw Kashiwagi Jin pull out the handcuffs.

But Uesugi Muneyuki did not care in the slightest; he looked coldly at Police Inspector Kashiwagi, whose face was filled with uncontrollable smugness and triumph, thinking that this guy had probably been looking forward to this day for a long time.

"Police Inspector Kashiwagi, are you sure?" Uesugi Muneyuki said calmly: "If you cuff me, it won't be so easy for you to take them off!"

"Heh, you've got that backward, haven't you, Advisor Uesugi?" Kashiwagi Jin thought this was some nonsensical statement; could it be that the decision to remove the handcuffs was up to him? "In any case, if you have anything to say, come back to the main headquarters with us."

Having said that, Kashiwagi Jin ruthlessly cuffed the pair of silver bracelets on him.

Click~

After speaking, Police Inspector Kashiwagi flicked his wrist, revealing the gold watch inside his sleeve: "December 3rd, Inpatient Department of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 4:58 AM, suspect Uesugi Muneyuki arrested!"

Just like that, Uesugi Muneyuki, still nursing his injuries, was hoisted off the bed by two Detectives, prepared to be taken back to the Metropolitan Police Department for interrogation.

Uesugi Muneyuki did not resist; he let the two Detectives support him, his gaze somewhat unfocused, unable to describe the feeling—like wind, like rain, and like thunder. After a long silence, he finally said: "Is Nanami really dead?"

"Don't you know what you did yourself?" Police Inspector Kashiwagi felt it was a bit strange; judging by Uesugi Muneyuki's tone, did he really not know?

Hmph~ just a high-IQ criminal. Someone like him could probably lie calmly even while facing a polygraph!

Kashiwagi Jin had great confidence in himself.

However, just as Kashiwagi Jin was preparing to take Uesugi Muneyuki out of the Inpatient Department building and back to the Metropolitan Police Department for strict interrogation, several police cars were already blocking the entrance.

It was Mouri Takayoshi, Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Metropolitan Police Department, the Face of the Metropolitan Police Department Watanabe Minami, the Chief Driver Okada Masayoshi, and Police Sergeant Ikeda Erena from the Criminal Investigation Division of Otsuka Station!

"Kashiwagi! You are completely mistaken!" Seeing the handcuffs on Uesugi Muneyuki, Mouri Takayoshi was both angry and anxious: "Uesugi Muneyuki is not the culprit!"

"Eh?" Kashiwagi Jin was a bit unconvinced when he saw this; who didn't know that Uesugi Muneyuki had a close relationship with you people: "But, he is a suspect!"

"Wrong, all wrong!" Mouri Takayoshi was about to say more, but Watanabe Minami had already signaled for him to shut up. The Face of the Metropolitan Police Department's gaze toward Police Inspector Kashiwagi was as cold as ice at this moment. She took a document from Okada Masayoshi's hand, took it out, and inside were color surveillance photos.

Although almost all the lights in the medical building were turned off that day, and although the front line had already seen that most of the surveillance footage was dark and unclear, the surveillance photos in Watanabe Minami's hand were frozen on a few frames illuminated by the faint light of the emergency exit.

After high-definition processing, one could see the scene of Nakano Toshito passing by in front of the surveillance camera holding a machete under the green light of the emergency exit, his hollow eyes, his ferocious smile, and his open mouth.

"Eh?" Kashiwagi Jin froze.

This, this isn't right, is it?

Just at this moment, Uesugi Muneyuki spoke up.

"A very brilliant piece of orthodox reasoning, a very complete logical chain, a very clean and decisive presumption of guilt. Mr. Kashiwagi Jin, you are indeed a capable police inspector."

"But, there is surveillance, you idiot!"

"Do you know why our hospital installs so many surveillance cameras? Do you know why I knew this position would be captured by surveillance?" Uesugi Muneyuki raised his hands: "It was precisely because I was afraid of this situation happening, Inspector."

"All I have to do is clarify the facts."

The corners of Uesugi Muneyuki's mouth curled up, his gaze indifferent, as if he were looking at a dead man.

You have made me angry.

(End of this chapter)