After locking the two of them up in two different rooms, Fangzheng didn't interrogate them immediately. Instead, he first found the old lady and asked her about the two people's situation and their accommodation records. Then, he brought Xiaolan to the room.
"Okay, Mira, go wait for me outside that room."
"Understood."
Mira nodded and ran to the door of the other prisoner's room with a smile. Lan watched her leave and suddenly understood.
"Mr. Fangzheng, you're going to use that trick, right?!"
"What trick?"
"That trick. Make the two prisoners suspect each other and suspect that the other confessed first …."
"You mean the prisoner's dilemma?"
Fangzheng thought for a moment and nodded.
"Indeed, the prisoner's dilemma is quite useful in certain situations, but it's not suitable for this kind of situation."
"Is that so?"
Lan was somewhat surprised to hear Fangzheng's answer.
"Yes, we all know that these two people's reactions are abnormal, which means that they must have some kind of connection with the victim, but they certainly didn't kill anyone. Because of this, they don't need to care whether the other party will confess any secrets or not. On the contrary, if you use this trick to trick them after you go in, as long as they're not stupid, they'll know that you're just fooling around. "
"Is that so …."
"Come with me. I'll show you how the police interrogate prisoners."
Fangzheng gestured to Lan, then pushed open the door and walked into the room.
The one locked in this room was the short and fat man. He was handcuffed to a chair at the moment and was obviously very uncomfortable. When he saw Fangzheng and Lan come in, the short and fat man showed a look of displeasure on his face.
"Hey, why are you handcuffing me here? I'm going to sue you!"
"It's only natural for a criminal to be handcuffed. Okay, please wait a moment."
Fangzheng moved the table and placed it in front of him. Then, he took two chairs for himself. He placed one in front of Xiaolan and sat down on the other. Then, he took out the camera and the blank videotape he had obtained from the deceased and placed them on the table. Seeing this scene, the short and fat man could not help but feel a little nervous.
"What, what are you doing?"
"Interrogation."
Fangzheng pointed at the table and gestured for Xiao Lan to sit down. Then, he turned to the short fatty with a smile.
"You haven't been through an interrogation before, right? Let me tell you. This is a standard procedure. This lady will be here to take notes — that is, to record what you and I say. The camera will record the whole interrogation process. That way, when we get to court, there will be enough evidence to prove the prosecution's proposal.... Do you understand?"
"Don't scare me! What court! I won't fall for it! "
Although the pudgy man also shouted, his expression became much more nervous as he looked at the camera. Fangzheng just shrugged his shoulders, not intending to argue with him. He just fiddled with the camera and pressed the start button.
"Alright, then.... let's begin. First, your name, gender, occupation, and age."
The pudgy man was obviously not willing to answer, but the documents in Fangzheng's hand made him a little nervous. In the end, he hesitated for a long time, but in the end, he still answered Fangzheng's question. Xiao Lan also carefully noted down his answer.
"Now, my next question is, why did you break into someone else's room and commit a theft?"
"Didn't I tell you that we were only looking for evidence of that woman's murder?!"
"Interesting."
Although the pudgy man's answer was stiff, Fangzheng still had a smile on his face.
"You're not the police, nor do you have the relevant qualifications, yet you went to someone else's room and rummaged through the boxes.... To be honest, I don't think this reason of yours will be accepted in court. Of course, if you ask me, you're not looking for evidence, but destroying it."
"What are you talking about!!"
Hearing this, the pudgy man suddenly roared.
"Why would we do such a thing? Do you suspect that we killed that person? "
"It's not impossible, isn't it?"
Fangzheng was still smiling, as if he was not affected by the pudgy man's words at all.
"You've seen the photos. Judging from the last photo with a drop of blood, the time of death should be during the day before it snowed...."
"That's right, I had just arrived at the hotel at that time!"
"Then do you have an alibi?"
".... Huh?"
"According to the testimony of the hotel owner...."
Fangzheng flipped through the notebook in his hand.
"She said that after you arrived at the hotel, you rested for a while, then went hunting in the forest. After that, Mr. Niigaki left to film the Yuki Onna, so it's very likely that you and your friend worked together to kill Mr. Niigaki.... "
"Nonsense!!!"
At this time, the pudgy man finally could not sit still anymore. He shouted.
"I was hunting at that time, I didn't kill anyone at all. Besides, what about the chocolate? By the way, what about the chocolate that was placed next to the corpse? When you were making the chocolate, I went to the forest and never came back! Since the chocolate was placed next to the corpse, it must have been placed there by the murderer, right? How could we do that? "
"Oh, about that...."
"Yeah, how do you explain that?"
Hearing this, Lan also raised her head and looked at Fangzheng curiously. In fact, this question was also on her mind, but Fangzheng's answer was even more surprising.
"I don't need an explanation."
".... Huh?"
"There's no direct evidence to prove whether the chocolate appeared next to the corpse has anything to do with the murderer."
Fangzheng spread out his hands with a smile on his face.
"Mr. Niigaki did not die from poisoning, but from a blow to the head. Unless you think that the chocolate is hard enough to kill someone, that's another matter."
"...."
Is that even possible?
Lan and the pudgy man stared at Fangzheng, dumbfounded. For a moment, they did not know what to say.
"But, but that piece of chocolate was indeed made by you at that time! Since it was placed next to the corpse, it means that someone must have found the corpse! Since that person found the corpse, why didn't he tell you? Doesn't that mean he's the murderer?! "
The pudgy man was speechless, but Fangzheng just shrugged his shoulders.
"Indeed, what you said makes sense."
"Then...."
"But there's no evidence to prove your inference. Sir, you have to know that in court, we look at evidence, not just reasoning. Otherwise, there's no need for the Metropolitan Police Department to exist. Everyone can just change their profession and become detectives. Indeed, it's strange that the chocolate appeared next to the corpse, but there's no evidence to prove that the chocolate is directly related to the corpse's death.... So, we can always find the answer to this question later. For now, let's get back to the topic at hand. "
Fangzheng crossed his fingers and leaned back in his chair.
"Okay, let's get back to the topic at hand. Please answer my question. Since your purpose was not to steal, why did you go to Mr. Niigaki's room and rummage through his and his girlfriend's suitcases? What were you looking for? "
"...."
The pudgy man was sweating profusely. His eyes were staring at the ground.
"We, we really just passed by and went in to have a look. We didn't look for anything...."
"Since you won't tell me, I can only make a reasonable speculation. Mr. Niigaki has some evidence against you, so you wanted to get it back, but Mr. Niigaki refused to give it to you. Maybe the two of you did not come to an agreement, or maybe for some other reason, so you killed him, and then came to find what you're worried about."
"That's all nonsense. We didn't kill anyone!"
The pudgy man shouted again, but Fangzheng just chuckled.
"So I'm asking you, why did you rummage through Mr. Niigaki and his girlfriend's suitcases? If you can't give me a reasonable answer, then I'll have to go to court and explain it to the judge. At least, judging from your actions, my inference has a certain degree of credibility. Unless you can find a perfect reason for your inexplicable behavior, I think the two of you should have something to do with Mr. Erigaki's death. "
Speaking of this, Fangzheng stood up.
"We still have to make a statement for the other person. You can take advantage of this time to think about it. Okay, Xiao Lan, let's go."
"Ah, um..."
Xiao Lan was obviously a little stunned, but she still nodded obediently. Then, she put away the statement and left the room with Fangzheng.
"Mr. Fangzheng, is that okay?"
When they came to the corridor, Xiao Lan also asked doubtfully, and Fangzheng nodded.
"Of course, interrogation is also an art. You've been following Mouri Kogoro and Kudo Shinichi for too long. In fact, the practice of these detectives is not standard. They are just detectives, and they have no law enforcement power. Unless the police ask for their assistance, they have no right to interrogate the prisoner. But in fact, most of the time, confronting the prisoner directly gives no less clues than detectives searching — haven't you noticed? When the pudgy man answered my question just now, he only said that he did not kill anyone. The other meaning of this sentence is that he admitted that he was looking for something. "
"I see..."
Hearing this, Xiao Lan suddenly understood.
Indeed, when she followed Kudo Shinichi to solve cases, she often encountered situations where the prisoner was silent, and at that time, Shinichi could always use evidence to make the other party talk. Now it seemed that if there was no evidence, Kudo Shinichi did not have the right to make the prisoner talk...
Strictly speaking, even if there was evidence, it was useless. Detectives did not have law enforcement power. If the evidence they found was not admitted by the police, it would be useless in court.
"Okay, now we have half of the clues. Next is the other half."
"Half?"
"Yes, now we know that they are looking for something in Mr. Niigaki's room, but we don't know what it is. This is the other half..."
Speaking of this, Fangzheng walked forward.
"And we'll get the answer from another person."
(End of this chapter)
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