Chapter 51: Falling from the Building

With everything that needed to be done for Tatsuya Nagai's case already handled, Kiichi could now only quietly wait for the trial to begin.

After finishing a long day of work, returning home, and playing with his cat for a while, Kiichi washed up and went to bed.

However, no sooner had he lain down than his phone rang.

You inherently wicked people of Beika, why must you make me work overtime in the middle of the night?

I literally just got back from a business trip in Yokohama after catching a serial killer. Couldn't you let Megure put his lazy days to use for once?

Inspector Hakuba, must you always shear the same sheep over and over again?

Yet there was no escape; this was simply the life of a corporate beast.

Kiichi got out of bed, dressed at lightning speed, dropped by the convenience store downstairs to buy a can of coffee, and drove out to the crime scene.

Upon arrival, he discovered that Matsumoto Kiyonaga was already there.

This was genuinely terrifying—what kind of case could possibly warrant Matsumoto Kiyonaga turning out in person in the middle of the night?

"Superintendent Matsumoto," Kiichi walked over to greet him.

"The victim is Sayo Katase," Matsumoto Kiyonaga said, looking down at the corpse on the ground. "That Katase."

"..."

Kiichi understood why he had been drafted in the middle of the night.

Although in the manga, the most famous conglomerates in the Conan universe were undoubtedly the Suzuki and Ooka groups, in reality, powerful consortiums were by no means limited to just those two. The Katase family was among them. Katase Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. was a traditional Japanese drug research and manufacturing enterprise, dominating the markets for psychiatric medications, antibiotics, and cold remedies, while recently making inroads into anti-cancer drugs, OTC products, and health supplements.

In short, within this timeline, they were roughly comparable to Johnson & Johnson from his past life.

Currently, the head of the Katase family had only one son and one daughter, and the victim, Sayo Katase, happened to be his younger daughter.

How should he put it? To put it colloquially, this was a case with an impact second only to Sonoko Suzuki ending up in the morgue.

Could Megure possibly handle this?

Therefore, it simply had to be him...

"Understood," Kiichi sighed inwardly.

This kind of trouble was prone to inviting disaster, but what could be done? You were the strongest, so you had to take the lead—no room for negotiation.

Better not to overthink it; just quietly do the work expected of a corporate beast and solve the case.

Kiichi walked over to examine the body.

At a preliminary glance, it appeared to be a death by falling from a height, but whether anything had occurred prior to the fall would have to await the detailed autopsy report.

Kiichi glanced at the upscale apartment building in front of him.

It was the kind of place where, living on his police salary alone, he wouldn't even dare dream of affording rent until he was promoted at least two more ranks.

"I can confirm that no outsiders who weren't residents came to visit," the security guard at the entrance was explaining to the patrol officer while pulling out the visitor log. "Every single person who visited was recorded."

"What's going on?" Kiichi walked over, taking the log to flip through it.

"Inspector, this is Mamoru Imamura, the apartment's security guard," the patrol officer replied. "We're asking him about outsiders entering and leaving the apartment tonight."

According to the log, there had been no visitor records whatsoever after 9:00 PM tonight.

The emergency call reporting someone falling from the building had come in at 12:14 AM.

"Did you leave your post at any point?" Kiichi asked.

"Absolutely not!" Mamoru Imamura replied immediately, his tone resolute.

"Please relax, I'm not accusing you of anything. I just want to verify whether you stepped away for things like using the restroom or boiling water for tea."

"Absolutely not! We have strict regulations! Besides, we can boil water right inside the security booth," Imamura answered. "The only time I left was when I heard the sound of the fall and went outside to check."

"I see..." Kiichi nodded. "Then, while you were checking Miss Katase's body, did anyone leave the building?"

"This..." Imamura hesitated. "I was so shocked at the time that I didn't pay attention..."

Kiichi nodded.

This was indeed the normal reaction for an ordinary person.

In other words, even if the killer had managed to slip away while Imamura was distracted by checking the body, the only people capable of doing so would have been those who entered the apartment before 9:00 PM or the residents of the building itself.

Of course, the possibility of suicide could not be ruled out just yet.

The victim's apartment was on the top floor, the 23rd floor, and directly above that were outdoor facilities like the swimming pool.

The forensics team was already inspecting the interior of the apartment.

The living room lights were blazing. A fashion magazine lay open on the coffee table next to a glass containing whiskey.

A cashmere vest and several dresses were tossed casually onto the sofa.

The balcony door stood wide open, the curtains fluttering in the draft, repeatedly slapping against the wall beside the door before blowing back out.

Kiichi walked over to the edge of the balcony and looked down.

Even though he was not afraid of heights, the dizzying drop from the 23rd floor still induced a faint sense of unease in the pit of his stomach.

"Inspector, there are no signs of a struggle, but no suicide note has been found either."

This could not possibly be suicide; no one drank whiskey and perused a fashion magazine right before taking their own life.

There were no signs of a struggle, nor any trace of guests being formally entertained.

The midnight visitor seemed intimately familiar with the victim—so familiar that ceremonial hospitality was entirely unnecessary.

Yet, had the intruder really lingered in the apartment from 9:00 PM until now?

Was this a premeditated murder?

No, impossible. A meticulously prepared killer would never pin their hopes of escaping the scene on a security guard failing to look back, even if reacting to a body was human nature.

A carefully prepared murderer would never be so careless; they would meticulously eliminate every single possibility.

The complete absence of dragging marks or signs of a struggle meant the victim had walked out onto the balcony of her own accord.

That was understandable—perhaps for some fresh air, or simply out of personal habit.

And then the killer seized the opportunity to push her over?

Yet pushing someone to their death from a height was never a foolproof method; this bore all the hallmarks of a crime of passion.

Could it be an impulsive crime of passion, then?

If so, what on earth could have triggered a murderous impulse after the two of them had already spent such a long time together?

A killer acting in the heat of passion would not deliberately wait for the victim to walk out onto a balcony before striking; the various household ornaments scattered around the room would all have served as readily available lethal weapons.

As he was deep in thought, a patrol officer approached him.

"Inspector, the victim's father has arrived..."

Kiichi snapped back to reality.

The elevator doors opened. Matsumoto Kiyonaga led an elderly man wearing a gray tweed overcoat and glasses at the front, flanked by an assistant and a lawyer.

Shingo Katase stopped at the doorway.

He stared at the police officers bustling back and forth inside for a moment before speaking, "What is the police's current assessment?"

His voice was not loud, yet it caused the officers inside the room to pause momentarily.

No one answered.

He gazed at the wide-open balcony doors. "Was it... suicide?"

Matsumoto Kiyonaga turned his gaze toward Kiichi.

Kiichi hesitated for a moment.

Even though he was entirely certain, he really didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet, but circumstances dictated that he could not evade it.

"Based on our preliminary investigation, it is not suicide," Kiichi ultimately offered his judgment.

Shingo Katase turned his head to look at him, letting out two words after a brief pause, "Evidence?"

"No one drinks whiskey and reads fashion magazines right before they die," Kiichi replied.