"Hey, hey, you're at least one of the suspects, why so listless?" Conan poked Kazawa, who was leaning against the wall, with his elbow.
Kazawa sighed deeply. "Because this case is really boring."
"You already figured out who the killer is?" Conan frowned, scanning the faces of the suspects. "Then why don't you point it out?"
"I don't have any evidence." Kazawa shrugged, unenthusiastically muttering toward Denyama Jūzō, "Actually, once the police investigate the victim's social circle, the killer will be found pretty quickly."
Conan was a little surprised. In the previous art gallery case, Kazawa showed detailed and careful observation skills at the scene. Conan had categorized Kazawa as a classic-style detective like himself — focused on solid evidence and reasoning. Hearing Kazawa say "no evidence" yet identify the killer was unexpected.
"How can you tell without evidence? Intuition? Experience?" Conan pressed.
"This is most likely a crime of passion." Kazawa's words shocked.
"On what basis do you judge that?" Fuyuri Eri, who had been observing Kazawa closely, finished the police questioning and approached them, overhearing the latter half of their conversation.
Kazawa politely nodded to her and answered first: "You might have heard of criminal psychology? It's a branch of psychology that focuses on criminals' behavior and psychological traits, analyzing possible patterns and factors in crimes to assist judicial and criminal investigations."
"So you reached your conclusion from a criminal psychology perspective?" Fuyuri, a lawyer, looked curiously at Kazawa. She rarely heard such an angle, since criminal trials mainly rely on established chains of evidence, and rarely use auxiliary disciplines for indirect arguments.
Kazawa had recently settled on this direction after learning about the professions of the Kazawa couple — so even if he accidentally leaked spoilers, he could just brush it off by citing psychology.
Don't ask, it's psychology.
After all, in the Conan world, victims can leave flashy death clues, killers can pull off methods defying classical physics, detectives can have sudden flashes of insight solving methods, so it's not strange if a psychologist there can solve the truth like mind reading.
Strictly speaking, this isn't wrong either — the Phantom Thief of Hearts solves psychological problems with physics, so as long as you solve psychology problems, you're a psychologist. Makes sense.
"Killing with a sharp weapon — like this case's killer," Kazawa gestured as if stabbing downward, "is a type of injury with a sexual undertone in criminal psychology. Using this to kill a woman, in some serial murder cases, can even profile the killer as having sexual dysfunction. The killer likely had a romantic relationship with the victim. Moreover—"
Kazawa pointed to the door he had completely removed and was now leaning desolately against the wall. This time, Conan didn't need to climb up to inspect; the blood spots on the top were clear.
"If the killer and victim have no direct relationship, there's no need to stage the scene as a robbery-murder. Identifying the killer wouldn't be difficult."
Kazawa turned to look at Denyama Jūzō, who had started sweating.
Four people had been in the restroom. Excluding the long-haired man who ran out screaming after Kazawa startled him, only three could be considered suspects.
Kazawa, still a high schooler, and the scruffy, thesis-battered graduate student Kō Yūichi didn't seem likely to have any emotional dispute with the victim.
"Speak responsibly, kid." Denyama Jūzō said in a rough voice. "I'm a regular here, just came to chat with the shop owner. I don't even know this woman! And given my build, I couldn't have climbed in there. No way it's me!"
Compared to the skinny Kō Yūichi and the slender, paper-thin Kazawa, Denyama Jūzō was burly and was the only one who couldn't have squeezed through from above.
But Conan, after spotting the small bloodstains Kazawa pointed out, started calculating rapidly and ignored Denyama Jūzō's protests, loudly declaring, "The one who climbed through the door isn't the killer! It's the corpse!"
After that, he glanced at Fuyuri Eri and Mōri Ran, adding, "Right, Kazawa-nii?"
Conan's awareness meant it wasn't surprising that Mōri Ran quickly started suspecting his identity. Kazawa gave him a sidelong glance and casually nodded: "That's right. So, Mr. Denyama, you also could have committed the crime. Considering the killer's strength was enough to throw an adult woman through the door, you're even more likely the culprit than Mr. Kō."
Fuyuri Eri took the evidence bag with the murder weapon from the officer, flipping it around. "The weapon's condition is strange. If the killer held it during the attack, the handle shouldn't have blood on it like this."
"The bottom of the blade has a strange blank spot. Seems like it was covered before." Conan also looked at it.
"So the killer stabbed the victim first, then shoved her through the door…"
"…having tied a rope or something to the knife beforehand, pulling it from outside to spray the blood inside the room."
The two started to piece together the method in agreement. Kazawa didn't interfere with their deduction and stood by the restroom door, anticipating what would happen next.
When Conan, in an innocent tone, pointed at the bandage wrapped on Kazawa's hand and asked why he'd taken off his wedding ring but wrapped the middle finger instead, Denyama Jūzō finally lost it.
His expression twisted savagely, pushing past Fuyuri Eri who blocked him, attempting to flee.
"Just what we were waiting for!"
Kazawa snapped to attention, set his stance, and threw a punch at Denyama Jūzō's face.
Behind Kazawa, watching Denyama Jūzō's fierce expression, Mōri Ran let out a short scream and kicked at Denyama's abdomen.
Behind Denyama Jūzō, Fuyuri Eri struck his back with an elbow, trying to knock him down and pin him.
Standing to the side, Conan watched in horror as Denyama Jūzō was caught in the pincer attack, letting out a painfully agonized scream as his body bent unnaturally, then collapsed quietly, looking very grim.
Ouch… Kazawa instinctively pressed his hand to his face and abdomen, feeling phantom pain.
That hit must feel about the same as getting caught in the middle of a wave…