Ke Xue: Shinichi and I are childhood friends

Hattori Heiji still didn't quite believe it, so he asked again: "Uncle, did you really see it clearly? Is that a mermaid?"

After being asked this question, the uncle was a little uncertain. He hesitated and said: "It should be, right? It fell down all of a sudden. In fact, I didn't see it clearly."

"But I saw the tail very clearly. It was indeed a tail, not a human leg!"

Conan pondered and said: "Uncle, could it be that the skirt or something got wet and stuck to the body, causing it to look like a tail?" He remembered the scene of Ebihara Sumi hanging on the waterfall.

At that time, her skirt stuck to her body, and from a distance it looked like a mermaid's tail.

The uncle shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, I can still tell it apart."

Conan had nothing to say now. The uncle was so sure, and he was not the kind of person with vision problems, unless he was mentally ill...

The uncle was worried that the three young men would send him to the police station, although he did not do anything illegal. After telling what he knew, he left.

Hattori Heiji looked at his back and suddenly had an illusion - it was as if this uncle was an NPC that triggered the plot and left after telling them important information.

He shook his head and threw away this strange idea.

After the uncle left, the three stood by the pool and looked down.

The water was clear, but the pool was too deep, and it was dark and nothing could be seen below.

Hattori Heiji squatted down, picked up a few stones, and threw them in from time to time, asking: "You think the mermaid who threw Miss Sumi into the water left from here?"

"Where does this pond lead to?"

Conan shook his head: "How should I know? I have to ask the locals."

Yuya stood beside Conan, stroking his chin and said: "Maybe we can try to go down and see?"

The two friends looked at Yuya in surprise: "Isn't it inappropriate? What if the mermaid attacks you from below?"

Yuya was stunned, and he looked at his friends with strange eyes: "You... don't really believe it?"

Hattori Heiji and Conan shook their heads at the same time: "Of course not, this is definitely someone pretending to be a ghost, trying to frame the crime of murder on the mermaid, but the other party didn't expect Miss Sumi to survive."

"But the problem is that we don't know his/her motive for doing this."

Nothing could be found at the pond, and the three of them walked towards the direction of the shrine while discussing.

Conan pinched his chin and analyzed: "Generally speaking, the motives for murder can be roughly divided into love, hatred, profit, and impulse murder."

Hattori Heiji said: "Then first of all, impulse murder can be ruled out."

Conan and Yuya nodded in agreement. If it was an impulse murder, there would be no need to disguise as a mermaid.

Yuya continued: "I think it is unlikely to be a murder for money. If it is for money, shouldn't it be kidnapped for ransom? How can you get the money if the person is dead?"

Hattori Heiji speculated: "Do you think it is possible that Miss Sumi bought a huge amount of insurance?"

"Insurance?" Yuya and Conan's expressions moved. If it is insurance fraud and murder, there have been many such cases.

"If it is insurance fraud, then the scope of suspects is very small..."

If it is insurance fraud that Sumi Ebihara bought herself, then the beneficiaries are generally her husband or parents in addition to herself.

If someone else bought insurance for her, the scope is not large. Only those who have insurance obligations to the insured are eligible to buy it, usually between husband and wife, family members or companies.

Hattori Heiji continued: "For this, we just need to investigate whether Miss Sumi has bought insurance. As for the other two, love killing and revenge killing..."

The shrine is not far from the Mermaid Falls, and the three of them have already reached the door while talking.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw Shimabukuro Kimie holding a broom, sweeping the cherry blossoms that fell on the ground.

"Miss Kimie." Yuya raised his hand and greeted her.

Shimabukuro Kimie looked over when she heard the voice, a little surprised: "Why are there only a few of you?"

Yuya said: "Mio and the others are resting in the hotel, we are investigating Miss Sumi's fall into the water."

"Is that so," Shimabukuro Kimie asked with concern, "Did you find anything?"

Yuya sighed: "Nothing, it's better to say that what we found is a bit unbelievable..."

He told Shimabukuro Kimie the information he got from the uncle.

Then he asked: "Ms. Kimie, have you ever seen a mermaid?"

Shimabukuro Kimie shook her head repeatedly: "Never."

She remembered the mermaid's smile last night, and she felt a little nervous for some reason. Could that mermaid be...

Yuya and the other two looked at each other and didn't say much.

Hattori HeijiAsked: "Well, Miss Kimie and Miss Sumi are good friends?"

Shimabukuro Kimie was stunned for a moment, not knowing why she suddenly asked this question. Are they suspecting me? But she nodded and said, "That's right."

"We suspect someone deliberately murdered Miss Sumi, and we want to find you to find out some information. Is it convenient?"

Shimabukuro Kimie's heart tightened, and the hand holding the broom unconsciously clenched.

Conan noticed it keenly, but didn't think much about it. He just thought he was nervous because he heard someone was going to kill his friend.

"Okay, let's sit inside and talk."

The four came to the room where the shrine entertained guests.

Shimabukuro Kimie prepared some tea and desserts, and the four sat around the table.

"What do you want to ask?" Shimabukuro Kimie asked while pouring tea.

Yuya spoke first: "We don't know who wants to kill Miss Sumi and for what purpose, so if Miss Kimie knows anything, please tell us as much as possible so that we can find out the truth as soon as possible."

Shimabukuro Kimie nodded seriously. She suddenly realized that in addition to killing people, she might also be able to use the hands of these three detectives to reveal what happened that year.

So she said: "You can ask."

Yuya asked: "What is Miss Sumi's family situation?"

Shimabukuro Kimie was stunned, thought for a while and said: "Her father is the owner of a ship, and he also donates money to the shrine every year. I think he can be considered a rich man, right?"

"Did she buy insurance with a very large amount of insurance?"

"Insurance?" Shimabukuro Kimie was a little confused. Why did she ask these questions? "As you know, fishing at sea all year round is bound to encounter shipwrecks and so on, so most people in our village will buy an insurance policy, and everyone in Sumi's family has one. However, it is purchased by the village chief from an insurance company. They are all ordinary personal accident insurance, and the amount of insurance is not particularly large."

"Is that so." The three nodded thoughtfully. If it was just ordinary insurance, the possibility of killing for the premium would be relatively low.

Conan looked up and asked, "Sister Kimie, I think Sister Sumi and that big brother seem to have an unusual relationship. What is their relationship?"

Shimabukuro Kimie smiled and said, "They are engaged!"

"Huh? It doesn't look like it!" Conan was a little surprised and couldn't help but glance at Yuya. The relationship between the two did not seem as close as Yuya and Frankenstein. Are they really an engaged couple?

Shimabukuro Kimie smiled helplessly: "Actually, it was arranged by their parents when they were young, so it can be considered a child marriage. However, Rokuro is not very satisfied with this matter, and because his parents have long passed away, he has been thinking about canceling the engagement."

"But Sumi seems to be interested in Rokuro, and has never agreed."

"Is that so." Hattori Heiji and Conan looked at each other.

One is interested, and the other wants to get rid of the other.

Isn't this the motive for murder?

Fukuyama Rokuro has a certain suspicion, but as a detective, he obviously cannot be so arbitrary.

Hattori Heiji continued to ask about the third possible motive for murder: "Does Miss Sumi have a bad relationship with anyone on weekdays?"

Shimabukuro Kimie frowned slightly, and muttered involuntarily: "Bad relationship..."

After a while, she shook her head: "Of course she can't have a good relationship with everyone, but it can't be said to be bad, at most she doesn't have much contact with them."

"Is that so." Hattori Heiji was a little disappointed.

Seeing that there was no more information, the three said goodbye to Shimabukuro Kimie and found Fukuyama Rokuro.

Fukuyama Rokuro was about to go to the hospital to visit Ebihara Sumi.

Today, the sea suddenly had a strong wind, and it would be dangerous to sail out to sea, so Ebihara Sumi stayed in the hospital.

Fukuyama Rokuro said that although he did not want to marry the other party, they were friends who grew up together after all, and it was reasonable to visit the other party when he was hospitalized.

As for last night, he had a clear alibi at the time of the crime, so it was not Fukuyama Rokuro who pretended to be a mermaid.

The clue was cut off all of a sudden.

There was no way, they had to come to the hospital again to see if they could get any more clues from Ebihara Sumi.

In the ward, they met Ebihara father and daughter and Kuroe Naoko.

Fukuyama Rokuro casually put the fruit on the table, looked at his other friend and said, "Naoko, you are here too."

Kuroe Naoko smiled and didn't say much.

"Did you find the mermaid?" Sumi Ebihara asked Yuya and the other two expectantly.

Yuya shook his head: "No."

"Is that so..." Sumi Ebihara lowered her head in disappointment and muttered a few words.

"Huh?" Hattori Heiji stood closer and moved his ears. He seemed to hear something. The mermaid...Survived?

What does it mean?

Hattori Heiji winked at his friends, and the three of them left the ward.

"What's wrong, Hattori, what did you find?" Conan asked with his head tilted up.

Hattori Heiji whispered, "I just heard Miss Sumi say that the mermaid is resurrected."

"Mermaid resurrected? What does that mean?" Conan was stunned.

Yuya seemed to have thought of something, pinching his chin and said, "In fact, I have been wondering why the murderer went to such great lengths to pretend to be a mermaid, and left such obvious traces by the river, as if telling others that Miss Sumi was killed by a mermaid."

"Now that I hear this sentence 'The mermaid is resurrected', I seem to understand something."

Hattori Heiji and Conan were puzzled and asked, "What do you understand?"

Yuya glanced at the two of them and said slowly, "The mermaid is resurrected. Didn't you associate anything with this sentence?"

Hattori Heiji and Conan frowned and thought for a while, and suddenly looked at each other, strange They all said to Yuya at the same time: "The body in the warehouse three years ago?!"

"That's right!" Yuya nodded, "The person who burned to death in the warehouse three years ago, although the police said it was a middle-aged woman, many people thought it was a mermaid, and there were even grave diggers who stole the body."

"Ms. Sumi, including Ms. Naoko, all thought it was the body of a mermaid, so it was reasonable for her to say that the mermaid had resurrected."

"But what I care about more is why she said it as expected?"

"Could it be that..."

Yuya didn't finish his words, but the meaning was already very clear, and Hattori Heiji and Conan understood it.

The three of them pinched their chins in the same action, and finally said: "It seems that we need to investigate what happened three years ago. Miss Sumi may have something to do with the fire."

···

There is only a small police station on Mermaid Island, and only one old policeman is stationed in it.

The old policeman was a little surprised to see three young people coming, and even more surprised to hear that they were detectives.

"There was a case on the island?!" The old policeman narrowed his eyes, and his eyesight seemed to be not very good.

The three looked at each other. No wonder they didn't call the police last night. It would be useless to arrive at the scene like this. It's better to have new police officers who just graduated. At least they can run errands.

Hattori Heiji's expression was a little subtle, and he couldn't help asking: "Uncle, you are so old and still working as a policeman here?"

The old policeman's face changed slightly when he heard it, and he said unhappily: "Why, do you look down on me, an old man? Don't look at me now. I caught a lot of criminals when I was young!"

Hattori Heiji was speechless, saying that who didn't catch criminals when they were young, this detective caught murderers!

"Um cough!" Youya pretended to cough and gave Hattori Heiji a look.

Hattori Heiji understood, and didn't bother about the old policeman not retiring at such an old age. He changed the subject and said: "Mr. Policeman, are there any files about the fire in the shrine three years ago?"

The old policeman narrowed his eyes and didn't move.

Hattori Heiji waited for a while, almost doubting whether the old man was asleep.

Only to hear the old policeman ask: "Why are you looking for that file?"

Hattori Heiji did not hesitate and told his and others' reasoning.

The old policeman's squinting eyes suddenly widened, and he looked up and down at Yuya and the others, and slowly said: "Do you think that the fire was not an accident, but there is another hidden story?"

Hattori Heiji nodded and shook his head: "We are not sure, but the only clue now is the fire three years ago. Maybe we can find something from it."

The old policeman was silent for a while, sighed and said: "Three years have passed, even the grave has been moved, how can there be anything left..."

Hattori Heiji was stunned. Is he talking about the mermaid tomb? I couldn't help asking, "Do you know where the tomb was reburied?"

The old policeman's eyes flickered, as if he realized that he had said something wrong, and waved his hand and said, "This is not a secret. Everyone on the island knows that the mermaid tomb has been dug up, and then the longevity woman asked someone to move it to another place."

"Is that so." Hattori Heiji didn't think too much about it. This statement was exactly the same as Shimabukuro Kimie's.

It can't be that they colluded to say this, right?

"Wait a minute, I'll get the file." The old policeman said, and got up and walked into the archive room at the back.

After a while, the old policeman came out with a thick leather file bag in his hand.

He handed the thing to Hattori Heiji and said, "You can only look at it here, you can't take it away."

The three responded, found a place to sit down, opened the file bag, each of them took a few pages and looked down.

Soon, they raised their heads.

Yuya pointed to the photos inside and said:"The most special thing here is this photo of the body. It is just as they said. The bones below the waist are all smashed, and there are no broken bones at the feet."

Conan came over to take a look and complained: "It does look a bit like the body of a mermaid. It can't be that person has no feet?"

Hattori Heiji was speechless: "How did this person get into the warehouse without feet? Who took her in?"

The old policeman sighed with a little disappointment on his face: "The warehouse was completely burned and nothing was left. The bones were severely burned and even DNA could not be detected to confirm the identity. It can only be roughly determined that it was a middle-aged woman."

"Plus, no one came to claim the body later, and the case was left unresolved."

Yuya and the other two fell silent and did not refute anything.

There are actually many cases like this that cannot be solved. This fire is just a drop in the ocean.

Conan pointed to a record in the file and said, "Look, the lock left at the scene was confirmed to be the lock used in the warehouse, and it was locked."

Yuya took over the conversation and said, "In other words, when the fire broke out, the people inside were locked in and had no way to escape, so they were burned to death?"

"Huh?"

The three of them suddenly looked at each other, their eyes slightly widened.

"In that case, this is not an accident, but..."

"Murder?"