how'd you all like the chapter so far?

CH 2

Some minutes later, 3 suspects stood in front of Mouri and Inspector Megure.

Takagi pointed to a tall, slim woman about 30, wearing a red evening dress fiddling with her purse. She wore a mask covering her mouth.

"This is Tsuke Minami-san. She works as a secretary in a small transporting company 3 blocks from here. Witnesses say she was having a heated argument with the victim just yesterday. It seems…"

Mouri raised a hand. "Hold on Takagi. You haven't told us anything about the victim at all. How can you expect me to solve this case if you don't do your job properly."

"uh.. hai! My apologies. The victim is 43 year old Toyama Akai-san. He works as a writer here in Beika district. His work involves writing scripts for a small TV company and was recently asked to write a script for a special on Nichiuri TV. Minami-san owed the victim 3 million yen and was told to pay by today or lose her house. At the time of death, she was waiting for a friend in a restaurant but was gone for 10 min or so and does not have a solid alibi for the whole time."

"I keep telling you it was 1 million! That bastard added a hefty interest for no reason at all. I was just telling him that I would only pay him 1 million and that's it! I had no reason to kill him!" Minami yelled at Takagi.

"And now you won't even have to pay him a cent. How lucky for you that he suddenly turns up dead." Mouri replied smugly.

"What did you say?" She yelled back at him.

"Anyways, this is Marafushi Kogorou-san. He is the producer for the special Toyama-san was writing for. They were often seen arguing about the script. Marafushi-san felt it was too explicit for the viewers and did not like the way the characters were depicted."

Marafushi was a short, bald man about the same height as Minami. He wore a blue vest over gray pants and was smoking an imported Cuban cigar.

"How can that man expect me to shoot something like what he wrote? It was absolutely unacceptable." Marafushi retorted.

"He does not have an alibi. He claims that he was at home alone smoking from 7 pm until now."

The last suspect was a tall, young man wearing green jogging clothes. He seemed to enjoy what was happening around him.

"This is Yamada Keiji-san. He is an actor who was supposed to be in the special. However, he was dropped out at the last minute due to conflicts with the victim. He was jogging in the area around the time of death but again there are no witnesses who saw him for the entire time span."

"Why are you wearing the same clothes as the victim?" Megure asked curiously.

Yamada intertwined his fingers through his hair. "I suppose there is no harm in telling you. I was flattering the man, that's all. I wanted to let him think his taste in clothes was exquisite, which as you can see it was not. I even went to the trouble of jogging with him every night. That's all for naught. I should have just waited for him to die." He laughed.

"Oh? Jogging with him every night?" Mouri repeated just to make sure he heard clearly.

"Yes. Is there a problem with that?" Yamada answered practically laughing.

"You'd know his routine pretty well, wouldn't you?"

"I suppose you. Easy for me to kill him, is that what you're saying?"

Mouri said nothing but stood silent for a minute thinking it out before turning to Inspector Megure and blurting out "I know who did it!"

"Really Mouri-kun? You aren't sleeping yet. Are you sure this isn't one of those hack deductions you come up with at the beginning before completely changing?" Megure asked suspiciously as he'd been through it a bit too much for his tastes.

"No, no. The killer is none other than Minami-san! Don't you find it odd, Inspector that she seems dressed to go out but is wearing a sick mask? Shouldn't she be in bed resting? Perhaps that mask is only to hide any blood that spurted on her."

"You're crazy! Who the hell are you? Stop pretending to be a detective which you clearly are not! Are you telling me that you've never been out while sick?" Minami yelled in an outrage.

Mouri just walked over to her and pulled out her mask only to find it completely clean. In spite, she coughed on him hard.

"You fool! I'll have you taken to court for that! If you're going to make me out to be the murderer, at least have some proof!" Minami grabbed her mask back and put it back on.

Clearly ashamed of Mouri's actions, Megure pulled him aside.

"You shouldn't have done that. But what's done is done. Anyway, for my money, I think its that Yamada-san. He knows the victim's routine by heart and seems very happy by the death of Toyama-san. Of course, we don't have any proof but we'll have to keep a close eye on him. Maybe he'll be caught discarding any leftover evidence."

Takagi spoke up. "I think it could be Marafushi-san. We've just received a report that around the time of death, he emailed another script writer congratulating him on getting the job. It seems he was aware of the death of Toyama-san."

"Have any of the suspects been seen close to the scene?" Megure asked.

"Hai. All 3 were seen within a one-mile radius of here but neither was seen talking to each other and neither have a solid alibi."

"I still think that Minami is suspicious."

A forensics man came up to Megure and spoke to him.

When he left, Megure addressed the group "Alright, forensics say that judging by the bullet entry it was done by someone at least 178 cm (5ft 8 in). However, it would be quite easy to mask that in this open. In short, we can't rule out any one of them. It looks like we'll have to let them go for now and take them down to the station tomorrow."

Quick challenge! See if you can name the true culprit and why. The answer might surprise you!

ps: doesn't it always seem like out of hundreds/thousands of people, the police always end up with 3 suspects to choose from.