Furuya Rei: The sun falls into the arms of the moon

Chapter 121: The Tea Party with a Stifling Atmosphere - Inquiry

Inspector Megure looked at Toru Amuro and Reiko, huh, it's this detective and his girlfriend again.

"How can we secretly replace the teacups?"

"And only her teacup had a lemon slice."

"Also, please pay attention to the color of the tea you are drinking."

"Oh, oh. The colors of the three cups of tea are different. Looking from the right, are they brown, blue, and yellow?"

"The cup of tea the victim drank should be red tea."

"Indeed. In that case, there shouldn't be any mistake."

"But if the criminal poisoned the tea, then there should be a container or bag containing the poison?"

"As long as we investigate thoroughly, we should be able to find some clues in this ward."

"Yes, and it is possible that the criminal still has the container with him."

"Because of this, I would like to ask the three of you to go to another room after being searched. We will conduct relevant questioning on you separately. It should be okay."

"Uh-huh."

Lingzi followed Amuro Toru and stood behind him, resting her head on his back.

Close your eyes and rest your mind.

Miss Lingcai was the first person to be questioned.

"Yes, that's right. I made the tea that everyone drank. Although they came to see a doctor, after all, they are guests."

"But even though I say brewing tea, I just put the tea bag in the teapot and then add hot water."

"So, you were the only one who touched the teacup at that time?"

"Ah, it's not the cups we use. Happo and Beppu helped me get them from the shelf."

"So, it's normal for everyone's fingerprints to be on the victim's teacup, right?"

"It's strange though, how can there be so many different kinds of tea? Normally, we only drink the same kind of tea."

“Because everyone knows that I love herbal tea, they always bring me some tea when they come to visit.”

"Bafong brought tea here today as well. I think this is a rare opportunity, so I'll try different teas and compare them."

"I see. If that's the case, you're the one who suggested comparing different teas and even brewed the tea yourself. You're the one who has the best chance of poisoning the victim's tea among the three."

"I, I didn't do that. Besides, I added the hot water in front of everyone, and Lingcai poured it in before pouring it."

"I have already drunk nearly half of the cup of tea in my hand. Besides, if I secretly swap the cup with the poisoned one as I just said, it will be discovered immediately."

"Well, why do you say that?"

"Because at that time I was drinking a kind of herbal tea called butterfly pea, which is blue in color. Even if I wanted to switch it, it would be discovered quickly."

"Lingcai, she was drinking a kind of tea called Roselle, which is red in color."

Amuro Toru looked at her, with her hands behind her back, held by Lingzi, "Then do you also know what kind of tea the other two people drank at that time?"

"Yes, Happo drinks the brown one, a herbal tea called peppermint, and Beppu drinks the yellow herbal tea called chamomile."

Miss Happo is the second person

"Yes, I was drinking peppermint. I thought it was green tea, but it turned out to be a normal brown. I was a little surprised because I usually hear people say peppermint is green."

"Only Juri, who knew a lot about tea, chuckled at that time."

"But red is also similar to color, so you are most likely to switch it secretly."

"They are not similar at all. Mine is an obvious brown, while Lingcai's is a scary deep red. How could they be mistaken?"

Amuro Toru continued to ask a question, "So are all the teas you drink chosen by you?"

"Yes, they are all on the table. You can choose what you like to drink. After you finish drinking, you can wipe the teacup with tissue paper and drink the next kind of tea."

"Only Shuli had been drinking a blue tea before we came to see her. She said it was good for the body, but very bitter, so she didn't recommend it to us."

"I would also like to ask where the four of you are sitting. Well, counting clockwise, it should be me, Lingcai, Huayue, and Juri."

"Because at that time, Huayue and I were looking at the photos on Lingcai's phone from both sides of Lingcai."

"So who said they wanted to see those photos?"

"It's Huayue. It seems that Shuli has shown the photos before. He also said that he would let everyone look at the photos together when we go to visit the patient."

"But Lingcai didn't want to let go of her phone at all, so she asked Huayue and I to watch from both sides. She has always been like this, always likes to be all by herself, always self-centered, and easily bored with the old."

"Her current husband is actually my ex-boyfriend. He is basically stealing someone else's husband."

"Oh, even so, I won't hold a grudge against you and do anything stupid."

"But when it comes to holding a grudge, Huayue should be more serious than me. Because Lingcai caused her to lose a lot of money, he was very angry."

"Losing money?"

The third place: Miss Beppu Kazuki

"Of course I was angry about that, because the stock Lingcai recommended to me to buy plummeted and caused me to lose a lot of money."

"And she actually sold it when the price dropped a little bit and made a lot of money."

Inspector Megure and Maori Kogoro said in unison, "That, that's really sympathetic."

"I ended up in a lot of debt. If she had known the stock price was going to fall, she would have told me earlier..."

"So that's why you killed him?"

"Hmph, if she died and the money came back, then I might do that. Actually, I don't want to say bad things about someone who has passed away."

"But I think Juri is the same. He must be angry when talking about him. Because of Reina, Juri's son had problems during the college entrance examination, which ruined her son's original plan."

"What's the situation?"

"Shuri and Lingcai's sons were classmates. They were admitted to the same high school. However, the day before the exam, Lingcai's son came to Shuri's house to review."

"In fact, he had the flu and passed it on to Juri's son. His son was unable to take the exam because of his cold."

The two people said in unison, "That, that is really sympathetic."

"Before the exam, Juri was smiling and saying that I would have a good chance of getting into high school."

"Heh. In other words, each of you three had a motive to kill the victim. I think I am right in saying that."

"I just said that we really didn't do anything like murder."

"Although we do have complaints about her, Lingcai has always had that kind of personality, so we've gotten used to it and don't care about it anymore."

Conan popped up from the side and asked, "Excuse me, since you sat down to drink tea, has anyone left the ward?"

"Ah? Yes. I remember that Tokieda and I both left once."

"I went to the dressing room. Tokieda went out to buy some sweets to go with the tea, and I think Juri and Reina stayed in the room the whole time."

"Although Lingcai went out with a thermos and asked for some hot water, that was before Tokieda and I came here together."

Maori Kogoro punched him and said, "Hey, when did you come in?"

"Are those teacups also from the hospital?"

"Teacups? Those are Juri's teacups. She said she used baking soda to wash them until they were sparkling."

Xiaolan ran over and said, "Conan, what are you doing? I had to search the entire hospital."

"Sister Xiaolan?"

"Didn't you really say that you can't do it? You can't run around in the hospital."

"But……"