The First Investigation of Rookie Career Police Officer Akechi - Chapter 9
Chapter 9 : Strategy Meeting
“Phew, I’m worn out, so tired.”
After coming back to the document storage room, Kobayashi, with a can of coffee in one hand, sat down on a pipe chair with a sigh.
Opposite Kobayashi, both Akechi and Nakamura took their seats. Akechi had strawberry milk, while Nakamura had a sports drink in their hands.
On the long desk, there are files like investigation records, as well as snacks that Nakamura brought from her own seat.
After putting a canned coffee on the long desk, Kobayashi started talking to the two of them.
“There’s one more hour until we finish for the day. For now, should we organize what we’ve learned so far? Akechi-kun, can you summarize it briefly on that whiteboard over there?”
“Understood !”
Placing a strawberry milk on the desk, Akechi pulled out the whiteboard that had been placed in the back of the room. He started writing neatly, referencing the files as well.
[Things we’ve figured out until now (including speculation)]
?On March 24th, around midnight, Mr. Yoshida parted ways with his colleagues at an izakaya near Akabane Station’s east exit.
?During the period from midnight to 1:00 AM on that same day, someone, for some reason, by some means, caused Mr. Yoshida fell from the stairs in the park, resulting in his death due to a brain contusion.
?Yoshida-san had something stuck to the bottom of his shoes, perhaps plum blossoms from the park. There were also signs of an occipital bone fracture and clothing abrasions, possibly from a collision with a stairwell corner.
?Between midnight and 3:10 AM on the same day, two or more individuals moved Mr. Yoshida, who had collapsed on the stairs, to the front road of the park in order to conceal ?, and they escaped after running over Mr. Yoshida’s neck with a motorcycle.
?The condition of tire marks on clothing (Did they run over slowly and carefully?), the heels and sides of the shoes, and the absence of scratches or dirt on the pants hem (Did two or more people move Mr. Yoshida’s body?).
“If we were to summarize it, would it be something like this?”
After finishing writing on the whiteboard, Akechi turned towards Kobayashi and asked.
“Thanks, I think you’ve captured the key points, and it’s well-organized.”
“Thank you so much! However, when you look at it this way, there are still many things we don’t understand, right?”
“You’re right. Well, I suppose just knowing that there are so many things we don’t understand is a step forward, I guess.”
Kobayashi crossed his arms. He thinks for a moment before speaking.
“As for how to proceed from now on, there is a possibility that this case is not a traffic accident, but a murder or injury resulting in death.At this stage, we could hand it over to the Criminal Division and withdraw from the case. What do both of you want to do?”
“If possible, the three of us would like to investigate and find out the truth!”
“I want to investigate and uncover every detail of Akechi-kyun… I mean, Assistant Inspector Akechi, even more!”
Both Akechi and Nakamura replied at the same time. It seemed like Nakamura had said something strange, but Kobayashi nodded vigorously.
“That’s the spirit! Well, at this stage, even if we report it to the detective division, they’ll likely say ‘it’s just speculation’ and leave it at that. Let’s go as far as we can on our own.”
Akechi and Nakamura nodded in agreement to Kobayashi’s words.
†?†?†
“Now then, as for the analysis of the substance on Mr. Yoshida’s shoe soles, I’ll ask Mr. Shige from the forensics department to handle that. What do you think we should investigate next?”
While opening the chocolate wrapper, Kobayashi asked Akechi.
“Yes, I want to find out ‘who’ and ‘why’ someone harmed Mr. Yoshida, so it might be helpful to investigate if there were any troubles around Mr. Yoshida.”
Puzzled by the stick-shaped lollipop candy forcefully handed to him by Nakamura, Akechi replied.
“I agree with that. Let’s look into Mr. Yoshida’s workplace and family relationships. Wasn’t Mr. Yoshida a public servant? Does he have only a wife as his only family?”
“Yes, he was a member of the Facilities Engineering Division at the Ministry of Defense’s Planning and Development Bureau. His family consists of his wife, Sachiko-san. It seems they don’t have any children. Additionally, he has a mother living in Kyoto,”
Akechi responded while looking at the files.
“The Ministry of Defense, huh? Sounds quite secure. Where is his wife now?”
“She’s in Kyoto City. It appears she’s living with Mr. Yoshida’s mother. It’s not too far from my hometown,”
“Kyoto, huh? Quite a distance. By the way, was Mr. Yoshida’s mobile phone found at the crime scene? We should check the call records for that day,”
“It’s not listed among the evidence, and it doesn’t appear to have been returned either,”
Akechi licked the stick-shaped lollipop candy while flipping through the list. Nakamura grinned mischievously at Akechi’s face.
“I wonder if they returned it to his wife without submitting it as evidence. It might be difficult to contact the phone company at this point,”
Kobayashi looked up at the ceiling, crossed his arms, and after a moment of contemplation, he turned towards Akechi and Nakamura.
“Alright, let’s go to Kyoto at the beginning of next week!”
“Yes !”
“Alright !”
In response to Kobayashi’s exclamation, Akechi and Nakamura answered at the same time.
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Translated by : Cutae30