Chapter 910

At 2:17 a. m., a black Toyota Crown drove out of the Kobe exit on the Meishin Expressway, heading toward Kobe Port along the coastline. Kashiwagi Jin sat in the front passenger seat, the street scenery outside the window blurred into a grayish-white, boundaryless outline by the winter night fog. He wore a dark gray woolen overcoat, a black shirt underneath, no tie, his face alternating between light and shadow under the intermittent streetlights, like a rapidly flipped book where each page is different.

Beside him, Kashiwagi Misa gripped the steering wheel, her eyes fixed on the road ahead, her fingers lightly tapping twice on the wheel to keep herself awake. Kashiwagi Misa could feel her husband had become serious.

Many years ago, when Kashiwagi Jin investigated cases seriously, he was just like this—charming.

He still is.

It's a pity that after getting along with him for so long, Kashiwagi Misa has seen through her husband's arrogance and obstinacy beneath this layer of confidence, but it doesn't stop her from feeling excited at the thought of her husband joining forces with Uesugi Muneyuki and Sugihara in a mahāvira manner, making her face flush, her boots pressing the accelerator as she personally drove Old Ren to Kansai.

Kashiwagi Jin did not sleep.

He leaned back in his seat, eyes half-closed, but his brain was running at the speed of several hundred kilometers per hour.

He had already finished reading the materials sent by Uesugi Muneyuki in the car: the three key pieces of evidence were like three nails driven into his brain:

Surveillance footage showed Souda Sosuke entering Yamada Rinka's apartment.

Transfer records showed Yamada Rinka sending out tens of millions of yen in multiple installments after Souda Sosuke's visit.

After Souda Sosuke left, a man of similar build repeatedly carried large luggage in and out of the apartment.

These three nails formed a complete, self-sufficient evidence chain in the eyes of the Hyogo Prefectural Police, but in Kashiwagi Jin's mind, they spun, collided, and emitted sharp, discordant sounds.

Kashiwagi Misa parked the car in the underground parking lot of Hotel Okura.

The two got out of the car and entered the elevator. Kashiwagi Misa pressed the floor where Uesugi Muneyuki lived, the elevator doors closed, and the car began to rise slowly. Kashiwagi Jin stood behind her, watching his own face reflected on the elevator door—expressionless, but with a fire burning in his eyes. Heart-machine frog, always feeling your belly!

The elevator doors opened, and Uesugi Muneyuki stood in the hallway, already waiting for a long time.

"You came?"

"I came." Kashiwagi Jin looked at Uesugi Muneyuki with a half-smile: "It seems you've run into trouble?"

………… Uesugi Muneyuki's gaze swept from Kashiwagi Jin's face to Kashiwagi Misa's face, then back to Kashiwagi Jin's face: "Indeed, there are some minor troubles, you know—autopsy lacks valuable clues, you've seen the materials, right?"

"Of course I have." Kashiwagi Jin raised his chin: "To be honest, Uesugi, I truly can't do without you, just as I occasionally need you too." "Perhaps that's why I didn't have Minami find Misa-jie?" Uesugi Muneyuki nodded.

"Hmm, what if I'm in a bad mood and don't intend to help?" Kashiwagi Jin lifted his chin even higher.

Uesugi Muneyuki: …. 」

"Ren!" Kashiwagi Misa, seeing the atmosphere freeze, could only anxiously say one sentence.

The three stood in the hallway, no one speaking.

After ten seconds, Old Ren had shown enough of his superiority, and then he said: "Well, I'm not unreasonable—Uesugi, you've helped me many times, so naturally I must return the favor, after all, this is us, the Absolute Dual Pride, joining forces! The Metropolitan Police Department's last card and the Metropolitan Police Department's Ultimate Weapon!" Uesugi Muneyuki stepped aside, making way for the room's door: "Good, come on—let the storm beat against our chests!"

Inside the room, there was no one else—Minami, Ikeda, Okada, and Nanxiang had already rested, leaving only Uesugi Muneyuki full of energy. After entering, Uesugi Muneyuki took out his autopsy report and book: "Note, we haven't yet applied to the National Police Agency for your assistance, so your situation remains an illegal search—just take a quick look, don't speak of it outside."

Kashiwagi Jin clearly didn't care about Uesugi Muneyuki's warning that this was an illegal search; he took it, glanced at it a few times, and due to academic reasons, some key terms were hard to understand, but enough for solving the case: "Hmm… so brutal, it feels less like deep hatred and grudge, and more like some kind of perverted killer."

"So use your method to re-examine it. Don't let the Hyogo Prefectral Police's conclusion influence you. Pretend this case happened in Tokyo, and pretend you're the first detective to arrive at the scene." Uesugi Muneyuki nodded.

Kashiwagi Jin's lips curled slightly upward as he sat on the sofa, crossed his legs, sank into the soft cushion, crossed his hands on his abdomen, and closed his eyes.

Uesugi Muneyuki spread the materials he brought on the coffee table; Kashiwagi Misa stood by the window, watching the two backs, silent, and voluntarily brewed them a pot of loose-leaf Lipton milk tea.

The room remained quiet for a long time.

Kashiwagi Jin finally opened his eyes: "First, the surveillance showed Souda Sosuke entering Yamada Rinka's apartment, but not his departure time. The Hyogo Prefectural Police assumed he was the killer, so they equated his departure time with the crime time. But if he wasn't the killer, there would still be a long time window between his departure and the discovery of the body. Who entered or exited the apartment during that window? Did the surveillance capture it? The Hyogo Prefectural Police didn't check—because they already assumed he was the killer, so no need to."

Kashiwagi Jin stood up from the sofa, walked to the coffee table, bent down, and pointed his finger at the transfer record: "Second, Yamada Rinka's transfer records show she sent out tens of millions of yen in multiple installments over several days after Souda Sosuke's visit. If Souda Sosuke were the killer, why wouldn't he transfer all the money at once? Why split it? Why risk transferring money after already being caught on surveillance? That's unreasonable. The reasonable explanation is that these transfers weren't made by Souda Sosuke, but by Yamada Rinka herself. She was still alive after Souda Sosuke left, still using her phone or computer to transfer money. Souda Sosuke left, she was alive—so Souda Sosuke couldn't be the killer."

Kashiwagi Jin's gaze lifted from the paper to Uesugi Muneyuki's eyes: "Third, that large piece of luggage. The Hyogo Prefectural Police say it was used to transport the body. But when Yamada Rinka's corpse was found, there were no signs of packaging. If it had been packed in large luggage and transported out, why was there no packaging when it was discarded? The killer took the body out of the luggage, dumped it beside the Comprehensive Sports Park, then took the luggage away? Unreasonable. The reasonable explanation is that the large luggage didn't contain Yamada Rinka's corpse, but something else. Possibly four children. Four children were packed separately into that box and transported out one after another. Yamada Rinka's body was transported another way, or not transported at all—she was killed right outside her own home."

Kashiwagi Jin flipped to the last page, his finger moving back and forth between Eto Miyabi, Yamada Rinka's ex-husband, and a nameless question mark.

Uesugi Muneyuki leaned against the table edge, arms crossed over his chest: "Do you have a target in mind?"

Kashiwagi Jin raised his head to look at him: "Three options. Not multiple choice—single choice. If the killer isn't Souda Sosuke, then the three most suspicious people are these."

He wrote down three names.

Uesugi Muneyuki's gaze swept over those three names.

"First, Yamada Rinka's ex-husband. Divorced, property division, child custody. He had motive, opportunity, and access to the children. Four children missing—if he were the killer, the children might be in his hands. Motive is the greatest. In method, if he hated Yamada Rinka, he could easily abuse her, ultimately kill her, and even take her heart. In divorce cases, a husband's hatred toward his wife is the most easily underestimated murder motive in this world."

"And if what you say is true—that Yamada Rinka's son is Souda's child, and possibly a daughter too—then for us East Asians…"

"To avenge one's father, to seize one's wife's hatred." Uesugi Muneyuki nodded, then suddenly glanced at Kashiwagi Misa.

Kashiwagi Misa's body trembled, and she quickly looked away.

Kashiwagi Jin, unaware, had already immersed himself in the case: "Second, someone close to Souda Sosuke. Someone very familiar with him. Someone who knows his schedule, his relationship with Yamada Rinka, his build, clothing, habits. This person could, after Souda Sosuke left, appear in surveillance with a similar build, similar clothing, wearing a hat and mask, making police think the person carrying large luggage in and out was still Souda Sosuke. This isn't a spur-of-the-moment frame-up—it's a carefully planned scheme requiring long-term observation and preparation."

"Hmm, but why would someone close to Souda Sosuke harbor such deep hatred and grudge? And there's something illogical: such a solitary woman and her family would certainly be very wary of strangers—if he weren't Souda Sosuke, how would he trick her into opening the door?" Uesugi Muneyuki asked. "Eh, who knows?" Kashiwagi Jin thought: this has nothing to do with本格推理—we're just assuming first, then finding evidence to rationalize, right? "What about the third?" Uesugi Muneyuki temporarily had no answer.

"The third person most likely to be the killer is none other than Eto Miyabi!"

The air in the room froze at that moment. Kashiwagi Misa turned from the window, and Uesugi Muneyuki's fingers stopped on the table edge. "Eto, Miyabi???"

"Alwaysthehusband isn't bad, but why can't it be alwaysthewife?" Kashiwagi Jin said excitedly: "According to the principle of maximum benefit, Uesugi, think—Souda Sosuke did all this, who benefited the most?"

"Isn't it just his wife? Forced to split his three billion yen salary, driven to borrow money from a lover, ultimately reduced to this state—the mastermind, Eto Miyabi?"

Uesugi Muneyuki: "???"

」ⅠⅠ」