Conan's Corpse Picker

Hattori Shizuka calmed down gracefully, exchanged pleasantries for a while, and then began to tell her pre-rehearsed commission.

She took out a well-preserved old photo from her bag, placed it on the table, and then turned it to an angle suitable for Jiang Xia to watch.

Jiang Xia looked down for a moment, and found that it was a group photo of members of the Kendo Club.The members looked young, probably not yet in high school.A boy with thick eyebrows in the middle is holding a trophy in his hand, grinning happily, and beside him are surrounded by a circle of six members.

"I want to ask you to help find the person in the middle."

Hattori Shizuka stretched out her hand, and her light white fingertips touched the person holding the trophy slightly: "His name is Shiro Shibata." After she finished speaking, she thought for a while and added, "This photo was taken in the second year of junior high school—— That is 30 years ago. His appearance and height may have changed a lot."

Jiang Xia nodded and began to ask some routine questions, pretending that she was seriously collecting clues.

When two people communicate.

Next to him, Toru Amuro eased his movements, weakening the noise, so that he could hear every sentence of the conversation between the two people in the room.

...not interested in gossip about the wives of high-ranking police officers.Mainly because as an intelligence officer, he felt that he should be highly sensitive and vigilant to all kinds of abnormal information.

Toru Amuro listened carefully while thinking: Shibata Shiro, this is a man's name...Speaking of which, Mrs. Hattori came to Jiang Xia anonymously, perhaps not because she had heard about Jiang Xia from Hattori Heiji, but because He really came here for Jiang Xia's reputation as a detective.

This actually makes sense.First of all, judging from Hattori Heiji's performance at the gate of the detective agency last time, although he knew Jiang Xia, he was obviously not familiar with Jiang Xia.In addition, many high school students of this age are still at the end of the rebellious period, so they may not tell their parents about their situation.

Because that is to say, there is such a possibility - Hattori Jinghua didn't even know that Hattori Heiji knew Jiang Xia.To her, Jiang Xia is just a strange Tokyo detective.

If this is the case, then Mrs. Hattori did not call the police and find detectives in Osaka, but went to Tokyo on purpose, and deliberately concealed her name to release the commission. , to cover the traces of the wedding ring?

……interesting.

Toru Amuro took a sip of black tea with some interest.

A second later, he looked down at the water stains on the rim of the glass and was slightly taken aback.

...This tea seems to be specially brewed for guests.

Toru Amuro paused for a moment, put the teacup aside calmly, and washed a cup for the guest again.

He hasn't worked in his own firm for a long time, and he is not very skilled in business.

Having said that, these chores should obviously be done by Jiang Xia, a theoretical employee, but why is he doing it instead...

Amuro looked at Hattori Shizuka who was chatting happily with Jiang Xia, and thought about how she cherished words like gold before Jiang Xia appeared, and sighed inwardly.Bosses these days are really losing their human rights.

……

"A while ago, I accidentally lost the medal I won in the summer cup kendo competition when I was in the third year of junior high school. For me, apart from the medal, the only souvenir that can record that time is a photo.

"Before I graduated from junior high school, I accidentally used that photo as a bookmark and stuck it in a book I borrowed from Mr. Shibata, and forgot to take the photo out when I returned the book.

"When I think about it again, Mr. Shibata has already moved, and the contact between us has also been broken." Hattori Shizuka lowered his head slightly, looking a little embarrassed, acting very focused, "So I would like to ask Find Mr. Shibata and help me retrieve that photo."

Amuro, who was not far away, heard this, and made a new guess with great interest:

Compared with this photo, Mrs. Hattori may use the photo as an excuse to find her first love back then.

——Looking for the first love of decades ago is actually a prosperous business for the private detectives here, second only to finding cats and dogs to catch mistresses.

Chapter 312 This is too heavy for an undercover agent

In Amuro Toru's view, Mrs. Hattori is a married woman after all. She may be embarrassed to directly propose to find her first love, so she uses the excuse of looking for photos to save the country.

After all, according to the clues provided by Mrs. Hattori, if Jiang Xia really intends to help her find the photos, then on the way to find the photos, she must first go to Mr. Shibata... Worried.

But Toru Amuro quickly thought, based on his experience, after finding his first love, it is often difficult for the client and the target to develop further.As the saying goes, time is like a butcher's knife, and the human brain likes to constantly beautify what it thinks is beautiful. There is inevitably a huge gap between ideals and reality.

……

At this time, Jiang Xia didn't know that an ethical drama had already started playing in Amuro Tou's mind.

He was sitting opposite Hattori Shizuka, and he had already decided to accept this out-of-the-box commission - he remembered that there might be ghosts who could pick it up in this matter.

All the information that should be asked has been asked, and Hattori Jinghua has also finished explaining her half-made and half-true antecedents, Jiang Xia feels that it is almost time to start the topic.

He picked up the photo and thought for a while, then suggested:

"You have been out of touch for many years, and now there are very few effective clues. Apart from the place of residence back then, the clearer and easier to use clues seem to be the way of the sword... Why don't you start here first. If you are lucky, Mr. Shibata may now He is still active in the kendo world. If he wins an award, he should be able to find some follow-up trends."

Hattori Shizuka nodded, seeming to agree with this entry point.

Jiang Xia immediately searched for the list of competition groups in various places and printed them out.

Then he fell into contemplation of the one-meter-long list.

After a while, Jiang Xia silently turned her head and looked at Toru Amuro who was sitting a little far away.

Since the boss didn't leave, it means that he has some interest in this matter... Thinking of this, Jiang Xia folded and tore the long list in half, and walked over to share half of it with Amuro Toru.

Toru Amuro was holding the long piece of paper, his eyes twitched, and he had the urge to go to the Metropolitan Police Department to urge his subordinates to check their household registration.

But in the end, he suppressed this lazy and risky thought with reason.

Amuro glanced at Jiang Xia who was already dialing, fell silent for a moment, took out his mobile phone, and started calling in order to ask about "Shibata Shiro".

……

It was not until the evening that Jiang Xia finally found a competition in which "Shibata Shiro" participated.

——It was somewhat different from the position in his impression.Currently, Shibata Shiro actually lives in Tokyo, not too far from here.

"Shibata has always participated in the competition every year. He is a high school physical education teacher. He usually has many opportunities to exercise and likes to exercise." The staff on the other side of the phone was very talkative, "Let's see, champion, champion, runner-up, third runner-up... …Haha, maybe it’s because he’s getting older, and he’s gone downhill recently. But his skills haven’t faded at all, and he’s always been an eye-catching sight in our game!”

"Huh? His contact information? Wait a moment..."

Five minutes later, with the sound of flipping paper, Jiang Xia not only successfully asked for Shiro Shibata's current phone number, but was also given Shibata's detailed address.

The staff has a thin sense of secrecy and is very friendly to detectives.

Jiang Xia took a careful note of the situation, breathed a sigh of relief, then mercilessly threw the rest of the list into the shredder, watching them be shredded into pieces with relief.

Seeing this, Amuro Toru also came over, put the list into the shredder with eyes similar to Jiang Xia's, and watched it turn into powder.

Hattori Shizuka next to her was a little moved when she heard that she had found Shibata Shiro - when she made the investigation plan, she really didn't expect the list to be so long, so she could only put it straight in the detective agency. Sitting for several hours, waiting for Jiang Xia and Amuro to finish their investigation.

At this moment, there was finally a result, and her sense of relief was no less than that of the two migrant workers...

After Jiang Xia got the information about the next step, she called Shibata's home first.But no one answered.

So he turned to Hattori Shizuka and asked for his opinion: "Do you want to go directly to have a look?"

Hattori Shizuka stood up and calmly stretched her stiff back.

Then he nodded reservedly: "I'm sorry to bother you."

……

Although Hattori Shizuka came to Tokyo by car, she didn't drive the car to the detective agency - the license plate would reveal her identity from Osaka.

And Jiang Xia's motorcycle was obviously not suitable for sending her to see Shibata Shiro. In the end, the three of them got into Amuro Toru's car.

Jiang Xia opened the door and sat in the familiar passenger seat, feeling a little pity in her heart.

Shiro Shibata's home is in Tokyo, which means that they will not pass through suburbs without signal on the way.

That is to say, even if Toru Amuro blows out again, they can immediately call for a tow truck, or the three of them can transfer to another vehicle... It seems that this time, there is no way to expect a surprise on the way.

While Jiang Xia was regretting, Toru Amuro, who sat in the driver's seat, suddenly remembered something, and couldn't help but glance at Jiang Xia.

Then he comforted himself in his heart: It's okay, the last time I gave Jiang Xia a ride, didn't something happen.Although that time, his trunk was smashed into a hole by a new era elementary school student, but he could barely open it...

And from this point of view, even if there is a metaphysics of flat tires, the problem is still with the elementary school student wearing glasses, and has nothing to do with Jiang Xia.

——Think about before, when Conan was sitting in his car, he immediately had a puncture + the spare tire was gnawed.Conan chases the car, the trunk of the car he is driving will be smashed...

As for the last time I had a flat tire near Shanni Temple with Jiang Xia, maybe it was because Jiang Xia was contaminated with Conan's aura.Toru Amuro remembered that Jiang Xia would occasionally help friends with children.

After barely finding out the culprit, Toru Amuro saw Jiang Xia in the co-pilot again, and felt more at ease than before.

……

We arrived at the residence of Shiro Shibata without a flat tire along the way.The three of them got out of the car with different moods.

In front of me is an apartment building with nearly ten floors. There is no unit door in the building, but there is an elevator.

The three of them followed the address given by the staff to the sixth floor and found the door plate with the word "Shibata" on it.

As soon as he got off the elevator, Jiang Xia felt the ghosts around him react.

——There is a breath of shikigami nearby.

It seems that this trip was not in vain.

While thinking about it, Jiang Xia raised her hand calmly and rang the doorbell of Shibata's house.

The doorbell rang for a long time, but no one answered.

Hattori Shizuka frowned, feeling something was wrong.

——She didn't actually lose contact with Shibata Shiro.In fact, before coming to Tokyo, Hattori Shizuka had already greeted this classmate, saying that he would come to pick up photos today.

But now, no one answered the door...

Just as he was thinking, a majestic voice of inquiry came from behind:

"Are you here to look for Shibata?"

Chapter 313 The Hattori Family's Murderer

Jiang Xia looked back and saw a middle-aged man with a tall hairline.

The man had a short nose, a mustache under his lips, and was dressed in homely clothes. He looked like a neighbor who came to visit from the same building.

Hattori Shizuka sized him up secretly, then nodded: "We are indeed here to find Mr. Shibata, are you his neighbor?"

"Yeah." The middle-aged man also came to Chai Tian for something. He crossed Jiang Xia and the three of them to the door of Chai Tian's house. If he does, act quickly."

Jiang Xia also hoped that he would move quickly, and hinted quietly: "Mr. Shibata seems to be not at home. We rang the doorbell just now, but no one opened the door."

Neighbor Yoshikawa Takezo shook his head: "I must have fallen asleep and didn't hear it. After all, last night we..." He was halfway through talking when he suddenly remembered something, cleared his throat, and swallowed the rest of the words.

Toru Amuro smelled a suspicious atmosphere and took a careful look at him.

Jiang Xia is not very interested in Yoshikawa Bamboo Works.After all, there is no ghost on this person's legs, and there is no murderous aura on his body at present-he knows that the reason why Yoshikawa Takezo is evasive when speaking is because Shibata Shiro and several others often gamble at Yoshikawa's house.Yesterday, Shibata Shiro also played mahjong all night at his house, so Yoshikawa Takezo thought that Shibata might have fallen asleep because of sleepiness and did not hear the doorbell.

This group of cronies got along very well with each other. After ringing the doorbell, Takezo Yoshikawa found that no one answered, so he reached out to twist the doorknob.

The door was just closed, not locked.