The famous criminal in the world of Conan

Chapter 320: The Secret Room in the Underground Wine Cellar

"With a famous detective like me, the case here will be solved soon!"

Kogoro Mori made a boast with his beard puffed out and his eyes glared.

Listening to Uncle Maori's bragging, Conan laughed in his heart. If I hadn't given you an injection every day, you would still be catching cats, pigs and dogs.

Hattori Heiji even responded directly,

"Uncle Maori, if you were going to solve the case, you wouldn't have invited us here!"

Seeing Hattori Heiji expose him like this, Maori Kogoro blushed and said with a stiff face,

"Humph!"

"I just want to give you youngsters some opportunities to practice!"

Hakuba Matsu couldn't help but find it funny that Kogoro Mori, at his age, was still competing with a high school student.

But, business is more important.

Bai Masong coughed twice and reminded Hattori Heiji,

"Hattori, take care of the case first."

Upon hearing this, Hattori Heiji immediately calmed down.

When Hakuba Song saw that Hattori Heiji had stopped bickering, he turned around and looked at Inspector Megure.

"Officer, what's the situation here now?"

Seeing this, Officer Megure said to Takagi Wataru,

"Takagi, explain the situation to Inspector Hakuba."

"Yes."

Takagi Shigeru responded, then took out his police handbook and read the records on it,

"The deceased is Mr. Kusaka Shohei, 52 years old, the owner of this villa. He currently runs a large financial company in Beika Town. He likes fine wine and making friends."

"The crime scene is the underground wine cellar of this villa, which is right here."

"According to our on-site investigation, the victim died of suffocation due to a rope being tied around his neck."

"The first people to discover the body were Mr. Maori and Mr. Kusaka Shohei's wife, Ms. Kusaka Yoshiko. Through the glass of the wine cellar door, they saw that Mr. Kusaka Shohei had leaned against the wine rack and had fallen into a coma. There were also some broken bottles and some spilled red wine on the ground."

When Takagi Wataru said this, Maori Kogoro quickly took over the conversation and said,

"Yes, at that time, Mrs. Kusaka and I saw that Mr. Kusaka had not returned for a long time, so Mrs. Kusaka suggested that she go and call Mr. Kusaka. I was afraid that something bad might happen, so I followed him."

"As a result, Mr. Kusaka's body was discovered."

"Ah."

Bai Masong listened to the two people's introductions and nodded slightly.

Then, remembering what Inspector Megure had said before, he asked again,

"Is this a secret room?"

"Ah, yes."

Gao Mushi was stunned for a moment, and then immediately confirmed,

"According to Mr. Maori, when he and Mrs. Kusaka arrived at this underground wine cellar, it was still locked."

"The door of the wine cellar is automatically locked, and the key is only owned by Mr. Kusaka and Mrs. Kusaka. At that time, Mr. Kusaka's key happened to be on his person."

"Then is the other key that Mrs. Kusaka has in her possession now?"

Bai Masong asked Takagi Wataru.

"Ah."

Takagi Shigeru nodded. They had already investigated all these matters.

"Yes, the key was in Mrs. Kusaka's possession at the time."

"Also, after Mr. Kusaka left, it was Mrs. Kusaka who entertained Mr. Maori and his family in the living room, so she did not have the time to commit the crime."

"That's right,"

Maori Kogoro also nodded.

"Although Mr. Kusaka went to the underground wine cellar by himself and the other three guests left the restaurant, Mrs. Kusaka stayed here to take care of us. Xiaolan and Kazuha also watched over us."

Listening to what Kogoro Mouri said, Xiaolan and Kazuha Toyama nodded at the same time.

At this point, Bai Masong finally understood that it was because the door of the underground wine cellar was always locked, and there were two keys, one was in the hands of Kusaka Shengping who died in the wine cellar, and the owner of the other key had a perfect alibi, that Inspector Megure judged this case as a closed-room murder case and found it very difficult.

Bai Masong was thinking this and saw a window.

This window is located near the ceiling on the left side of the underground wine cellar.

“Is there something wrong with this window?”

Bai Masong asked casually.

The current closed-room techniques either involve creating a closed room through certain means, or the murderer is outside the closed room and uses some mechanism to kill the victim.

This time, since the door is difficult to open, the windows are extremely important.

“There was no sign that the only window in the wine cellar had been pried open.”

This time, Inspector Megure took the initiative to answer.

"Moreover, the door locks and windows used by Mr. Kusaka Shohei are very advanced products."

"The door lock uses an automatic electronic lock, and its key is very difficult to match. Even if someone takes Mr. Kusaka Shohei's key to match it, it won't work. Only after getting the original manufacturer's backup identity can a new key be matched."

"The same is true for this window. It is easy to open from the inside, but very difficult to push open from the outside, unless the person is incredibly strong and has practiced martial arts for many years."

"Also, there is an alarm system on the inside of this window. Once it is violently opened, the alarm system will be triggered immediately, and the alarm will spread throughout the villa in the first place."

"Brother Maori and his friends didn't hear the alarm at the time. In addition, there was a thick layer of dust on the wine cabinet under the window, with no signs of being touched. Therefore, it should be impossible to open this window."

Bai Masong listened to Officer Megure's story, nodded slightly, and then asked,

"Is the alarm system of this window always on?"

“Basically.”

Officer Megure replied,

"The key button to disarm the alarm system is also in Mr. Kusaka Shohei's key bunch. Once this window is closed, the alarm will automatically activate."

Will it turn off the alarm system after opening it?

In other words, if someone could get Kusaka Shohei to open the window himself, he could use this window to kill people.

Bai Masong thought so. If he had the key, it would be very simple. As long as Kusaka Shengping opened the window, he could just throw a noose around Kusaka Shengping's neck and strangle him to death.

However, not everyone can do the same as him.

The murderer should have used some relatively simple and easy-to-operate methods.

"Inspector Megure, what do you think?"

Bai Masong asked Inspector Megure about his ideas for solving the case. Although Inspector Megure's abilities were limited, he knew better by listening closely.

"That's what we thought,"

When Officer Megure saw Hakuba Matsu asking for his opinion, he did not hesitate and immediately said,