Takato and Hirata Naeko were in Officer Takagi Wataru's car, heading to Komura Masatake's apartment. Along the way, Officer Takagi Wataru couldn't help but ask Takato about Komura Masatake's alibi, and Takato quickly provided an answer.
"This method is actually very simple."
Takato said, "You just need to set Koyama Ayumi's watch and the clock in Komura Masatake's house forward by about an hour."
"Huh? But the watch is Koyama Ayumi's personal item..."
Officer Takagi Wataru asked, puzzled, but Takato quickly explained.
"Didn't they go to the public bath together earlier? Nobody would wear a watch while bathing, and besides, Koyama Ayumi fell asleep for a while after bathing."
"But even if you set Koyama Ayumi's watch and his own clock forward by about an hour, it would only confuse Koyama Ayumi's time. There are still the convenience store where he bought shower gel and the ramen shop's times as reference. Komura Masatake couldn't possibly make the shopkeepers record the wrong time, and besides, the convenience store has surveillance footage with clear timestamps."
Officer Takagi Wataru continued to ask.
"Then let's look at what happened that night from the beginning, and apply my premise. Let's assume the time was set forward by an hour. Don't you think things would be different?"
Takato suggested, so Officer Takagi Wataru began to think and speak.
"Let me think. If we look at it with that premise, Koyama Ayumi said he and Komura Masatake arrived at Komura's house close to nine o'clock. So the actual situation is — they actually arrived at Komura's house just before ten o'clock!"
At this point, Officer Takagi Wataru seemed to have a sudden realization.
"Exactly. When they arrived at Komura's house that night, it was already past nine, almost ten o'clock. Before that, they were bathing and resting at the public bath, and Koyama Ayumi even fell asleep during that time. So Komura Masatake had enough time to slip out of the bath around nine o'clock, go to the convenience store to buy shower gel, and thus leave surveillance evidence!"
Takato explained.
"But even so, how do you explain the ramen shop's time? The staff did deliver the takeout to Komura's house around nine o'clock, and if the previous premise is true, then the actual delivery time for the ramen should have been past ten o'clock at night, right?"
Officer Takagi Wataru raised a new question, and Takato smiled.
"That's even simpler to explain. The ramen shop did deliver takeout to Komura's house around nine o'clock, but you should remember, when I asked the ramen shop staff earlier, they said that Komura Masatake's wife opened the door to receive the takeout that night! In other words, the staff didn't see whether Komura Masatake and Koyama Ayumi were home at the time."
"So that's what happened! I understand!"
Officer Takagi Wataru finally understood, "So Mr. Komura's wife had ordered the takeout ramen in advance!"
Then, Officer Takagi Wataru paused, feeling some doubt: "But, that's not right! Koyama Ayumi's testimony said that he heard someone knocking at the door at the time, and then Mrs. Komura went to open it and brought in the takeout ramen! Besides, ramen, if left for an hour, would already be soggy!"
"What's so difficult about that?"
Takato, somewhat helplessly, continued to speak about Officer Takagi Wataru's reaction, "Just order another ramen delivery before ten o'clock!"
"But, if you ordered again, the ramen shop staff should remember, right?"
Officer Takagi Wataru felt like he was about to be convinced, but still voiced his remaining doubt.
"Idiot!"
Takato sighed, holding his forehead, "Do you have to order takeout from the same shop!"
"Oh! You can do that!"
Officer Takagi Wataru suddenly realized, "In that case, all the points can be explained. If we follow this logic, then the testimony that Komura Masatake went out to buy shower gel from home around nine o'clock, was actually around ten o'clock in real time! And he wasn't going to buy shower gel then, but to commit murder! But, when was Koyama Ayumi's watch time reset?"
Officer Takagi Wataru stated the key point, but his last sentence still left Takato speechless.
"Did you forget what they were doing that night? They were drinking and chatting until late at night! Late at night, after drinking so much alcohol, Koyama Ayumi must not have been sober then, right? In that state, it wouldn't be difficult to reset his watch."
"So, to pull off this trick, Mrs. Komura must have been an accomplice. And there must also have been another ramen shop that delivered ramen takeout to the Komura house after ten o'clock at night!"
Officer Takagi Wataru summarized, then looked at Takato, "Thank you so much, Detective Akechi. I will thoroughly investigate this."
Soon, Officer Takagi Wataru brought the two to the underground parking garage of Komura Masatake's apartment.
At this time, many Police Officers had already cordoned off the area, and the leading female officer was Miwako Sato, an Inspector in First Investigation Division.
Officer Takagi parked the car in a nearby parking space, told the two to wait in the car, and then got out and walked towards Officer Sato.
However, Takato still got out of the car, while only Hirata Naeko obediently stayed in the car.
"Officer Sato, what happened?"
Officer Takagi stepped forward and greeted her.
"Oh, Takagi, you're here. And who is this?"
Looking at Takato behind Officer Takagi, Officer Sato asked.
"Huh? Detective Akechi, how did you..."
"Detective Akechi?"
Officer Takagi's surprised words were cut short, but Officer Sato, after hearing the title, realized who Takato was, "Oh, you're the Detective who lives next door to Shinichi Kudo. What, Takagi, are you investigating alone today and still need a Detective's help?"
"No, it's actually..."
Officer Takagi began to explain the situation to Officer Sato, appearing very submissive, while Takato looked at the area where the Police Officers were investigating.
It was a parking space in a corner, currently occupied by a black, left-hand drive Audi sedan. The right side of the sedan was parked against the wall, and the driver's side door was ajar.
Takato noticed some dark spots on the driver's door and the nearby ground, resembling splattered blood, and the Police Officers were collecting these traces near the sedan.
At this point, Officer Takagi finally finished explaining the whole story to Officer Sato. After listening, Officer Sato didn't press further, but said:
"But now, even if Komura Masatake's alibi is broken, he has already disappeared. And judging by the traces at the scene, he might have been murdered!"
Meanwhile, Inspector Megure led his team to Fifteen Nights Village, located deep in the mountains. The crime scene was the village shrine—the "Mozu Shrine."
This shrine was built within a cave in the mountain. Passing through the cave, one arrived at the very center of the shrine, an open-air clearing surrounded by mountains on all sides, and in the center of the clearing was a tall, ancient tree.
Several sharpened branches on the ancient tree stood out prominently, and on one of them, a bloody corpse was hanging, impaled by the branches!
Seeing this somewhat shocking scene, Inspector Megure instructed the Police Officers to begin their work, then looked at the first discoverers of the case who were still present, and couldn't help but be surprised.
"Isn't that Kudo!"