The Grammatical Investigator in Conan

Detective White Horse: Is Kuroba a hidden reasoning genius?

Although Kuroba Kaito does not show any reasoning ability in his daily life, Detective Hakuba always feels that there seems to be some secret hidden in him.

Moreover, Kuroba Kaito is also the person he currently thinks is closest to Kaitou Kidd.

But having said that, this was the first time I noticed this——

That is Kuroba Kaito's face, so similar to Kudo Shinichi's face...

Detective Hakuba relayed Kuroba Kaito's reasoning to the police in Brightchester, who then notified the deceased's close relatives and friends to come over.

While waiting for the suspect to arrive, Conan conducted a second round of careful evidence collection at the scene.

Because he always felt that if the murderer had tortured the deceased, it might have been to get something from the deceased.

Taking advantage of his height advantage, Conan wandered back and forth in the office, and sure enough, he discovered something unusual.

The computer host is placed in the grid under the desk, and the dust on the base of the chassis looks like there are some scratches.

This indicates that someone has moved the chassis.

Conan ducked under the desk and looked at the side cover of the case with the light of a watch-type flashlight. He found that one of the four screws was not tightened very firmly.

Could it be...

If it were Japan, Conan would say "Ah, hey, that's really weird..."

But now in the UK, there is a mouth substitute beside me, so there is no need to pretend to be a child.

Conan climbed out of the desk, grabbed Kuroba Kaito's hand, and told him his discovery.

When Kuroba Kaito heard this, he pretended to cough slightly to attract the attention of Detective Hakuba and the police.

"Ahem..."

"Look at the mainframe of this computer. Maybe there is something missing in it."

Bai Ma Tan frowned. After hesitating for a few seconds, he motioned to the policeman next to him to do as he said.

The police took out the chassis and used a screwdriver to remove the chassis cover. They found that a key piece of hardware was missing from the host.

"The hard drive is missing..."

"Did the murderer take it away?"

The policemen murmured in confusion, and Conan raised his chin.

Is there any hidden secret in the hard drive?

Does this secret also have something to do with Kuroba Kaito's purpose of coming here?

…

After a while, a policeman came in and reported that the head of the Astronomy Institute and other researchers were here.

Conan, Kuroba Kaito, and Hakuba poked out the door and saw that there were quite a few people in the institute. There were more than a dozen people, which was far beyond the common configuration of choosing one of three.

However, according to usual practice, it should be possible to find the three most suspect people by investigating everyone's alibi...

The UK is the home ground of White Horse Detective, so he asked everyone some basic questions.

According to the answers from these people, the deceased Ingalls was 47 years old. His position was a secondary researcher at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Brightchester, and he also graduated from the school's astronomy major.

He is somewhat withdrawn, has almost no social interaction, and has no family.

In daily life, I spend most of my time commuting between the Institute of Astronomy and the campus dormitory of the University of Brightchester, living a monotonous life between two points and one line.

Therefore, these colleagues currently in the Institute of Astronomy are almost all of Ingalls's connections.

"Then what he did in the research institute yesterday, does anyone know?" Baima asked.

A somewhat bald head of the institute introduced: "Ingalls often works overtime at the institute to do research. As for what he studies..."

At this time, another brown-haired researcher raised his hand and said, "I know something about this. He is conducting unfinished research by his father..."

"Ingalls' father was also an astronomer, albeit an amateur."

"His father has always believed that the solar system is being pulled by some powerful gravitational force. He once expressed his views in newspapers, but he attracted ridicule from many people."

"So Ingalls always wanted to prove his father right."

Detective Baima turned to look at the researcher and asked with some vigilance: "Who are you?"

The researcher replied: "My name is Burt Rowan, and I share the same office as Ingalls..."

As he spoke, Burt pointed to another desk two meters away from Ingalls's desk and said, "That's my desk."

Everyone looked back and noticed another desk in the room.

However, this desk was kept very clean, with all files put into drawers. There was only a computer covered with cloth on the table, making it look like no one was using it.

Bai Ma Tan smiled slightly, "So you know that the deceased had the habit of drinking coffee?"

"Yes." Bert nodded, "Drinking coffee should be Ingalls' only hobby besides research, but he doesn't pursue the ultimate taste of coffee. Instant coffee will do..."

Detective Bai Ma continued to ask: "Excuse me, where were you between 6 and 9 o'clock this morning? What were you doing?"

"I……"

Just as Bert was about to answer, he realized that he had been regarded as a suspect, and quickly defended: "Hey! I'm not the person who killed Ingalls!"

"And I stayed at home today until work time, and my wife is my witness!"

According to the law, if it is a major case, it is difficult for family members to testify.

But seeing Bert's shocked eyes, Detective White Horse already believed his statement.

Baima Tan smiled, patted Bert's shoulder, and comforted: "Please don't think too much, I'm just making a routine inquiry..."

"In fact, after investigating the death scene of the deceased, we believe that the only people who can commit crimes here are people who are familiar with the deceased, especially people from the research institute..."

"So now, please ask the police to ask about your alibi during this time in the morning, and please cooperate with the investigation."

At Detective Baima's greeting, the police began to interrogate people from the institute one-on-one.

Conan, on the other hand, held his chin up, reasoning through the clues he had so far in his mind.

At present, the murderer's method is very clear, which is to take advantage of the deceased's love for drinking coffee and put sleeping pills in the pure water area of ​​the coffee machine.

After the deceased was stunned, he went to the second floor to tie him up, tortured him about the contents, and then killed him with poison.

The only people who can realize this technique are those who know that the deceased loved to drink coffee and have the key to the astronomy.

Judging from these two points, the murderer should be someone within the institute.

As for the motive for the murder, the deceased seemed to be conducting major research on some earth-shattering motive.

If it can be proven that the solar system is indeed pulled by some kind of gravity, it should shock the world and even leave its name in history.

Maybe someone coveted the deceased's research results, so he tortured him and took the results away.

This motive makes sense...

But the problem is that since it is a research result that shocks the world, it will be published in public sooner or later.

If he published it, wouldn't that expose him as the murderer?

But if this is not the motive, is there any other reason for someone to kill an astronomy researcher who lives a monotonous life?

While Detective Hakuba and the police were interrogating people in the institute and Conan was reasoning alone, Kuroba Kaito on the other side was not idle either.

Reasoning is not his strong point, but pulling people off the page is his area of ​​expertise.

Since this person also has the habit of checking calculations with papyrus, he might record important research results somewhere...

Kuroba Kaito thought so.

So he quietly walked over to Ingalls' desk, slowly opened the drawer, and examined the contents.

There weren't many things in the drawers on the first floor, just a few chocolate candies, a few bags of instant coffee, and small tools like scissors and tape.

He gently closed the first drawer and opened the second drawer.

There were very few things in the drawer on the second floor. There was a diary that looked a bit old, with a newspaper underneath.

Kuroba Kaito's right hand turned into a black shadow, and he put the diary into his arms at lightning speed. Then, pretending that nothing happened, he took out the newspaper lying underneath and read it.

This is a yellowed old newspaper. The news summary of the front page news reads like this -

"Is the Solar System Being Towed?" 》

Six months ago, an amateur astronomer wrote us a warning letter about a planet that might be dangerously close to Earth.

The Astronomer Royal’s evaluation of this is this-

"Nonsense."

Now, the world's top astronomers are ready to agree to a public debate with the amateur astronomer.

Today we will tell you what the debate is about.

…

The newspaper excerpt appears to be related to a debate, and judging from the publication date in the upper right corner of the paper, it was about 30 years ago.

The words below were hard to make out, so Kuroba Kaito could only put the newspaper back into the drawer.

At this moment, Conan walked up behind Kuroba Kaito and asked quietly.

"What did you find?"

Kuroba Kaito's shoulders shook as if he had been caught as a thief, and he quickly smiled and scratched his head, "Haha, how is that possible?"

Conan squinted his eyes slightly, looking at "himself" with a playful smile in front of him, and he also had some doubts in his mind.

Not only does this guy's face look like mine, his voice sounds like mine, his reaction to being caught is also similar to mine.

Is this guy deliberately imitating himself, or is he just like this?

Kuroba Kaito, who are you?

At this time, Conan's phone suddenly vibrated.

Buzz——

Conan subconsciously took out his phone, looked at the number, and found that it was Xiaolan calling.

Why are you calling yourself at this time? Have you found any clues to cracking the code in London?

"Moxi moxi."

"Shinichi? It's me, Xiaolan..."

Conan's face was shocked, and then he realized that Xiaolan was calling his other mobile phone.

Conan has two phones, one is dedicated to Conan and the other is dedicated to Kudo Shinichi.

However, since the two mobile phones are of the same model and the ringtones vibrate, it is still possible to get them confused if you are not careful.

not good!

Conan reacted and was about to use the bow-tie voice changer to find a secluded place to talk when a big hand stretched out from beside him.

Turning around, he saw that the owner of the big hand was none other than Kuroba Kaito.

I saw a kind smile on Kuroba Kaito's face, and asked in a low voice: "Is it the call from that young lady?"

Conan nodded twice.

Kuroba Kaito: "So, do you need me to answer the call?"

Conan thought for a moment and decided that it would be okay to let this person answer the phone. Anyway, he was currently playing himself.

"Don't talk nonsense..."

"Do not worry."

Kuroba Kaito picked up the phone and coughed lightly, "Cough... hello, Ran."

"It's me, Kudo Shinichi..."

On the other side of the phone, Mao Lilan was wondering because he heard Conan's voice on Shinichi's phone.

But then I thought about it, now that these two people were acting together, it wouldn't be strange to hear them.

"Shinichi, is Conan with you? How are you doing there?"

"Well, the kid is right next to me. Our side... is going smoothly."

Kuroba Kaito glanced down at Conan, with a happy smile on his lips.

Conan could only roll his eyes at him, feeling unhappy about why he was called a kid even though he was obviously a little older than him.

"Xiaolan, why did you call me?" Kuroba Kaito asked.

"That's right, my father, doctor, and Zhenzun and I are currently at the London City Hall..."

On the other side, in front of the London City Hall, Mao Lilan was holding a phone in one hand and a scary skull toy in the other.

"City Hall? What are you doing there?" came a voice on the phone.

She said to "Kudo Shinichi" on the other side of the phone: "It was Zhenzun's mother who figured out the meaning of the codes. Those codes did not refer to a certain place, but each line represented a place."

"The 'boiled egg' mentioned in the third line is one of London's landmark buildings, the London City Hall that looks like an egg."

"When we got here, we found some skull toys on nearby benches and grass."

"The toy also says Mazarin Stone...'

Kuroba Kaito on the other side of the phone repeated doubtfully, "Mazarin Stone?"

Since Mazarin is a personal name, Kuroba Kaito doesn't know Sherlock Holmes well, so he doesn't understand the meaning.

When Conan next to him heard this, his eyes lit up and he immediately became alert.

"It's the Crown Jewels case..."

Kuroba Kaito glanced sideways at Conan, and at the same time, Maori Lan on the phone also said.

"Shinichi, I remember you told me about this case before, called the 'Crown Jewel Case'."

"Did the prisoner want to express something by writing this case on the toy?"

When Kuroba Kaito heard this, his mind was filled with questions.

What Crown Jewel case?

I'm pretty good at stealing a crown jewel...

As soon as the short Conan heard about Sherlock Holmes, he couldn't control his mood. He asked Kuroba Kaito for the phone back and used a bow-tie voice changer to change his voice.

"Xiaolan, can the head of that toy be detached?"

"Huh? I don't know..."

"You can give it a try, because Holmes said a very famous saying in this case - my mind is everything to me, and everything else is just an accessory."

Mao Lilan listened to this suggestion, twisted it a little with his hand, and sure enough, he pulled off the head of the toy skeleton.

Under the skull's head and inserted into the body's neck, a letter "T" suddenly appeared.

"ah!"

Mao Lilan exclaimed happily, "It's really opened!"

Next to them, Mouri Kogoro and others also looked at the toy in Mao Lilan's hand in disbelief.

Not far away, a figure hidden behind the wall was quietly watching them.