Note: This story was originally published in my other account, Gernika, but for commodity reasons, I decided to move it to my regular account.

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"It is actually very simple," Near said, playing with his hair like he was used to do whenever he was thinking over a case."The killer is none other than Mr. Arakama" He alleged with an indifferent and somewhat bored face, as if he was saying'two plus two equals four'.

"But that's impossible!" one of the police officers exclaimed, surprised by Near's verdict. "He has an alibi, he was with his wife the whole time, and he couldn't possibly be in two places at the same time. Also, it was already proven that, besides the fact that her husband was a suspect, she is not related in any way to the case!"

Near shook his head from one side to the other in disapproval "You are not thinking." He simply said without a smile or giving any other signal of emotion. "Read the wife's testimony again." He ordered with an authoritarian tone to another officer sitting beside him.

"Uh…yes, sir." He responded, searching for the right document in a huge pile of papers. After what could easily be a whole minute, the document was found and the officer started to read it "'Mrs. Arakawa spent the entire day in the house. She woke up at 9:12am to feed the dog and was bitten by it while doing so; the marks in her hand proved positive to belong to a dog. At 1:31pm, a friend of her came over and they had lunch together; Mrs. Ryona, the friend in question, was interrogated and she claimed that it was true…'" The officer removed the paper from in front his face "It is also important to note this woman is the one Mr. Arakawa was having an affair with; of course, his wife wasn't aware of it at that time"

"It's ok, just continue" Near ordered, looking at the desk in front of him with lost eyes and still playing with his hair.

"'…She did housework from 3:11pm to an unknown hour, when she fell asleep. By the time Mrs. Arakawa woke up, his husband was already back from work and it was 11:54pm'." The officer looked at his co-workers again "Do note that the autopsy revealed that the time of death of the victim was at 11:57pm at the 'Amada' park, which is located 20 minutes away from the Arakawa residence, and that's by car. They watched a movie together and then went to sleep again."

Near, and probably everybody present, noticed that the officer was presenting that last piece of evidence as if wanting to prove the "L" successor wrong; but why, nobody could tell.

"But that only proves you wrong." the first officer said, and he seemed confident of his statement. "Sure, that nap does sound suspicious, but does it matter? This proves both of them were at the house during the killing"

"You are wrong." Near said with an indifferent smile "What this proves is that, by the time Mrs. Arakawa woke up, all the clocks in the house marked 11:54pm."

"Yes, and that means that…" the officer started, but suddenly he realized what Near was getting at and suddenly shut up.

"It seems you realized too;" Near said "clocks are very easy to use, anyone can change them and adjust them to the right time in about 5 seconds. Since Mrs. Arakawa was sleeping, it was more than easy for Mr. Arakawa to adjust the time so that it seemed he was at home at the moment of the victim's death, that way, he could have an alibi in case he was found as a suspect."

The young boy's thesis surprised the entire police department present, certainly, none of them had thought of that. "Wait a minute!" the same stubborn officer said, not willing to give up "The wife should know that was the wrong time, I don't know, by instinct or by looking out at the sky. And even if she couldn't guess as far, it said they watched a movie together, and the satellite counts with a clock, so she should see the right time when they watched the movie."

"He is right with the TV, they did watch a movie from a satellite channel." Another officer ventured, but his expression revealed he was more objective than any other so far.

"It could have been taped by Mr. Arakawa so that it would ultimately convince his wife what the right time was without raising any suspicions; he is an expert with computers so I'm sure he would be able to edit the video so that it seemed like a live projection." Near explained, then looked away from the officers and concentrated on a toy on the desk in front of him. "Of course, he would definitely dispose of the tape afterwards by burning it or throwing it away somewhere we would never be able to find it. And about Mrs. Arakawa being able to tell the right time by instinct, I find it unlikely, since there were no reasons for her to suspect from her husband, and the sky looks the same at 12:00am or 3:00am."

Everyone present was speechless, including the stubborn officer, who had no argument for the thesis. As true as it may be that there was no evidence for everything Near said, the possibility did exist, and the police department had no reason to refuse an investigation on such basis.

"We are grateful for your assumptions, Near;" the chief officer said with a serious expression "We will investigate on the matter as soon as possible."

"There is one more thing you should know:" Near added while playing with a lot of wooden blocks, building a tower. "Mrs. Ryona is most likely not Mr. Arakawa's lover."

"What…?" the chief of the police department exclaimed, sitting down on his seat again.

"Mr. Arakawa's plan was counting on his wife to fall asleep at some point so that he had time to kill the victim and change the clocks, but just hoping for her to take a nap is not the smartest thing to do;" Near explained as it was obvious "that's why she had to be drugged, and during lunch would be the perfect moment to do so, when Mrs. Ryona went to give her company. By saying they were lovers there would be an explanation to their constant meetings which were probably used to plan out the killing. However, they may as well have a romantic relationship, but one thing for sure is she contributed to the assassination."