RNP Page 24
Page 24
"Officer Matsuda, the reason I asked you out today is simply to express my gratitude for what happened last time."
Inside the restaurant, Yoko Okino said with a smile,
"Thanks to Officer Matsuda for uncovering the truth last time, otherwise I would probably be in a lot of trouble lately."
"It's alright, that's what we police should do..."
Matsuda was speaking when he suddenly noticed through the restaurant window that a large group of people were gathered at the entrance of the park not far away.
At that moment, two guests who had walked from the park entered the restaurant.
"There looks like someone died at the park entrance over there."
"She seems to be a little girl."
Upon hearing this, Matsuda immediately stood up.
"Sorry, excuse me."
Even though I've already finished get off work, if someone really dies, then of course I still have to work.
Matsuda walked out of the restaurant and quickly arrived at the park entrance.
Before even getting close, I already knew roughly what had happened from the onlookers.
The body of a little girl was found in a trash can in the park!
"Excuse me, everyone, please make way. I'm a police officer!"
Matsuda showed his police handbook and finally managed to squeeze through the crowd of onlookers.
Then he saw a half-overturned trash can with a handbag inside, and inside the bag lay a little girl curled up, her face bruised and purple.
Beside them, a sanitation worker sat frozen on the ground, terrified.
"What happened?" Matsuda asked.
"I...I don't know either,"
The sanitation worker pointed to the trash can and stammered,
"Just now, I came to clean this trash can at the park entrance. When I opened the lid, I saw a bag inside. I was curious about what was inside, so I unzipped it, and who knew it was..."
At that moment, someone in the crowd vaguely recognized Matsuda.
"Officer Matsuda, you're a detective, please solve this case as soon as possible!"
"Officer Matsuda, this kind of killer who brutally murders little girls is terrifying!"
A middle-aged woman even grabbed Matsuda's sleeve and complained.
"Officer Matsuda, my home is nearby. How can we live in peace if we don't catch this kind of person!"
……
Chapter 28 The White Bird That Gets Stubborn
Matsuda made a few perfunctory remarks, then glanced at the crowd and noticed that Yoko Okino and Terumi Hoshino had also arrived.
"Officer Matsuda, this..."
Yoko Okino stared at the little girl's corpse, her face pale.
"Don't worry, everything will be alright. The culprit will be caught soon," Matsuda reassured him.
"Catch her? As far as I know, this is the third case of a little girl being kidnapped and tortured to death recently,"
Hoshino Terumi, her face grim, snorted.
"With just you incompetent police officers, who knows when we'll be able to solve the case? We might as well hire a famous detective sooner rather than later."
Matsuda had been holding back his anger at Hoshino Terumi's insults towards the police, but now, hearing her repeat herself, he could no longer contain himself and coldly retorted...
"Since Ms. Hoshino thinks the detective can solve this case quickly, why don't you go and find him, and let us police officers see the detective's efficiency?"
“I’m sorry, Officer Matsuda,”
Seeing that the two were about to start arguing, Yoko Okino quickly pulled Matsuda aside and explained in a low voice,
“Huimei didn’t say that on purpose, actually recently…”
It turns out that the recent series of kidnappings and murders of young girls...
The first victim was the girl next door to Hoshino Terumi.
That little girl had a very good relationship with Hoshino Terumi, and they even made a promise that she would definitely watch Hoshino Terumi's new drama series when it came out.
As a result, before Hoshino Terumi's television program was even finished filming, the girl's body was discovered.
The police have been investigating this matter for over a week, but there are still no results.
That's why Hoshino Terumi harbors such resentment towards the police.
A week ago, wasn't that when I went to Moonshadow Island for those two days?
Matsuda silently calculated in his mind. No wonder he had no recollection of this case involving the kidnapping and murder of little girls.
The cases that occurred on those two days were likely taken over by other officers from the First Division.
However, even though someone else took over, I haven't heard a single word about it?
Something doesn't seem right.
Matsuda was wondering what was going on when his phone rang. When he opened it, he saw that it was Inspector Megure calling.
"What's wrong, Inspector?" Matsuda answered the phone.
"Matsuda, something's happened. A little girl's body has been found abandoned in Beika Park. Shiratori has already passed away, and so have you..." Inspector Megure said from the other end of the line.
“I’m already on the scene, Inspector.”
After briefly explaining the situation, Matsuda hung up the phone.
At that moment, accompanied by the wailing of sirens, the officers from the Metropolitan Police Department's First Division finally arrived.
The one leading the group was Shiratori.
When he saw Matsuda, his expression immediately turned grim: "What are you doing here?"
"You're in charge of this case?" Matsuda asked rhetorically.
“That’s right,” Shiratori said with a dark expression, “You still haven’t answered my question: Why are you here?”
“It was just a coincidence,” Matsuda pointed to a restaurant not far away. “I was eating there when I noticed something unusual here, so I came over.”
Upon hearing that Matsuda had only come here by chance, Shiratori's expression immediately improved.
"This case is under my jurisdiction, and I will personally take responsibility for catching the culprit. Since Officer Matsuda has already finished get off work, please go home and rest."
"Are you sure?" Matsuda pointed to the crowd of onlookers. "As far as I know, this is the third similar case in the past week!"
"Just now these people were aggressively demanding that I catch the murderer immediately!"
"Because of these three recent cases, I was even called an incompetent cop while I was eating just now..."
"That's enough. I've said it before, I'll handle the rest of the cases myself!" Shiratori said, his face dark, enunciating each word clearly.
He's been having a tough time lately. He was originally in the Third Division of the First Investigation Department. He comes from a wealthy family and entered the Metropolitan Police Department through the National Civil Service Examination. He had a bright future ahead of him.
Shiratori was quite proud of this.
But ever since he lost to Matsuda in the Sato matter three years ago, Shiratori has harbored a grudge.
Recently, as Matsuda has regained consciousness, he has solved more and more cases. Whether in the Metropolitan Police Department or in society, when people mention famous detectives, they will think of Matsuda Jinpei first!
All of this undoubtedly put enormous pressure on Shiratori.
Especially now that Matsuda has also been promoted to Assistant Inspector, and the two are now at the same rank, Shiratori often hears people comparing him to Matsuda.
However, when people talk about him, they usually talk about his family background, but when they talk about Matsuda, they always talk about his abilities!
Shiratori is not a rich young master who is content with mediocrity and only knows how to rely on his family background; otherwise, he would not have chosen the arduous profession of a criminal police officer.
Shiratori also wanted to prove himself, showing that he was no less capable than Matsuda.
So a week ago, when Matsuda accompanied Megure to Tsukikage Island, and after the little girl kidnapping incident in Tokyo, Shiratori thought his chance had come.
If he can solve the case quickly, he can defeat Matsuda not only in the Metropolitan Police Department, but also perhaps in Sato's.
In order to solve the case on his own, he even asked Inspector Megure not to reveal any information related to the case to Matsuda.
Unfortunately, ideals are beautiful, but reality is cruel.
A week has passed, and not only is there no progress in the case, but two more victims have been added.
Many newspapers have already begun reporting on this series of kidnapping and murder cases involving young girls.
If it weren't for the Shiratori family's extensive connections and their extensive network in the media, the newspapers would probably have already dragged out the main person in charge of the Shiratori case and severely criticized them!
Matsuda had no idea there were so many reasons behind this.
After hearing Shiratori say that he would handle it himself.
Matsuda smiled and gestured for Shiratori to follow him.
Once they reached a secluded spot, seeing Shiratori following them, Matsuda immediately raised his arm and punched him in the face!
"You!" Shiratori collapsed to the ground, staring blankly at Matsuda.
"Are you awake now?" Matsuda said coldly. "What do you mean you can handle this yourself? Don't forget who we are!"
"Now that three cases have occurred, you still have this attitude. Do you want to sacrifice a few more little girls?"
"I...I..." Bai Niao gritted her teeth, her face full of resentment.
"Someone just told me that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department officers are all useless, and that it's better to just find a detective than to use the police to solve a case."
Matsuda looked at Shiratori: "So, how do you feel after hearing that?"
"Think back to what you just said. Do you think you're worthy of the cherry blossom badge on your chest?"
Cherry blossom badge...
The white bird lowered its head, looking at its chest.