On the other side, Kudo Shin hurriedly walked into the department store next to him.

Ishikawa and Moriran followed him closely, and with Kudo leading them, they soon reached the rooftop of the sixth-story building.

There was nothing on the rooftop, just a few construction wastes piled up haphazardly.

Kudo Shinichi walked over to the pile of construction waste and crouched down, picked up a random brick, and put it in front of his eyes to take a closer look.

Seeing this scene, Ishikawa's breathing became a little short.

But Kudo Shinichi quickly stood up:

"Let's go, let's go downstairs and take a look at the surveillance."

He had been to this mall with Xiaolan before, and knew that there was surveillance installed here.

And at this moment, hearing that Kudo Shinichi was going to check the surveillance, Ishikawa's expression became relaxed:

"Yes, the mall is monitored."

"So we can see if Uchida is 'alone' to jump off the building."

He bit the word "one person" very hard, quite a bit of silver here.

"yes, just look at the surveillance."

Kudo Shinichi replied noncommittally, and then took the lead and walked off the rooftop.

Soon, they returned to the first floor of the mall and came to the monitoring room.

Surveillance footage is generally not shown casually.

But Shinichi Kudo, a high school student detective, is even better than a police officer.

After revealing the name of "Heisei Holmes", the security personnel of the mall immediately showed the appearance of fanatical fans, and respectfully invited Kudo Shinichi into the monitoring room he was responsible for.

In this way, Kudo Shinichi easily saw the surveillance footage of all the entrances and exits of the mall.

And after some accelerated viewing, in the surveillance video about 5 minutes ago...

"Look, Uchida came in alone!"

Pointing to the figure that appeared on the surveillance video, Ishikawa couldn't wait to say:

"And Aoki and I haven't even been in this mall today."

"If you don't believe it, you can continue to look forward, this surveillance definitely didn't capture the two of us."

“.......”

Shinichi Kudo didn't speak.

He just stared carefully at the "Uchida" on the surveillance screen:

Because of the shooting angle and the baseball cap obscuration, this "Uchida" can't see his face at all.

But Kudo Shinichi's face showed no emotion.

He just turned around and said to Xiaolan in a calm tone:

"Let's go straight back."

"There's nothing to look up here."

"Oh?"

Before Mao Lilan could speak, Ishikawa couldn't wait to ask:

"You didn't check?"

"Uchida's suicide, there's really nothing wrong with it..."

“......”

Kudo Shinichi glanced at Ishikawa deeply:

"It's really no problem, we can go back to the scene."

"When the police come, I'll explain the situation to them as an eyewitness."

"Oh, that's it..."

Hearing this, Ishikawa immediately let out a long sigh of relief.

"Then, let's go straight back, shall we?"

As if he wanted Kudo to get out of here, he hurriedly walked back with his head in tow.

And Ishikawa took the lead in the lead, and Mao Lilan leaned over to Kudo Shinichi with some concern and asked softly:

"Shinichi, are you telling the truth?"

"Was this just a suicide?"

"No, that's just a lie to keep him steady."

Kudo Shinichi walked casually, and said to Mao Lilan in a low voice:

"I haven't found conclusive evidence to prove their guilt."

"But I'm pretty much sure it's a homicide."

"Is it still murderous..."

Maolilan was a little puzzled:

"But when Uchida appeared on the rooftop, Ishikawa and Aoki were clearly with us."

"Also, Uchida is also in the surveillance."

"It's simple."

Kudo Shinichi said in a calm tone:

"Lan, think about it, when 'Uchida' stood on the edge of the rooftop, could any of us see his face clearly?"

"The surveillance of the mall only captured him, and his face was blocked by a baseball cap."

"Since you can't see your face clearly from beginning to end, how can you be sure that guy is Uchida?"

"Uh..."

Mao Lilan was slightly stunned and asked in surprise:

"You're saying that the Uchida we saw was actually a murderer pretending?"

"Ishikawa and Aoki, they also have an accomplice?"

"That's right."

Kudo Shinichi nodded:

"The real Uchida should have died by then."

"And the third murderer pretended to be him and walked into the mall, climbed to the rooftop of the sixth floor, and deliberately appeared in front of everyone."

"At the same time, after he was in place, Ishikawa and Aoki deliberately shouted across the road to attract attention."

"When passers-by knew that there was a guy named Uchida who was going to jump off the building, the third person on the rooftop made Uchida's body fall to the ground from a height, camouflaging the scene of the suicide by jumping off the building."

"In this way, the police will treat this case as a simple suicide case."

"Suicide is never taken seriously..."

"It's very likely that the investigation will be hastily concluded."

"I see."

Maolilan roughly understood the truth.

But she soon discovered a huge loophole:

"But there's still something wrong, right?"

"In the surveillance, only 'Uchida' was filmed coming in alone."

"If this Uchida is a murderer pretending, and the real Uchida is thrown down by the murderer after death..."

"And how did the murderer bring Uchida's body to the rooftop?"

"There are a lot of people on the street, there are surveillance cameras in the mall, if you walk around with a corpse... Anyway, someone will find out, right? ”

Maolilan began to think carefully:

"Could it be... Uchida's body was already in this department store? ”

"That's where he was killed?"

"It still doesn't seem right..."

"'Uchida' has only been photographed once in the surveillance, and Ishikawa and Aoki have not yet been photographed entering the mall."

"And there are so many people in this department store, it should be difficult to kill people in it without being discovered."

"Haha."

Kudo Shinichi smiled slightly and replied:

"That's the little trick Ishikawa and they played."

"Because the entrance to the mall is monitored, they use this to create evidence for themselves:"

"The surveillance can prove that 'Uchida' only came in once today, and Ishikawa and Aoki never entered the mall at all."

"If I'm not mistaken, I'm afraid I can't see the third person entering the mall in the surveillance - because the third person came in disguised as Uchida, and he has already been photographed as 'Uchida'."

"In that case, using surveillance footage..."

He lowered his voice and elaborated on the murderer's thoughts:

"All three of them have alibi certificates of 'never been to the mall'."

"In that case, it is impossible for the police to suspect that they killed Uchida in the mall."

"As for killing Uchida outside the mall and then bringing the body into the department store in full view, it's even more impossible."

"And after both of these possibilities have been ruled out..."

"Most people would only think that Uchida walked into the mall by himself, ran to the roof and jumped off the building to commit suicide."

"But the question is..."

Kudo paused slightly, and continued to explain:

"Who said Uchida's body must have fallen from the roof of a department store?"

"If you think about it, why didn't 'Uchida' just jump there after he appeared on the edge of the rooftop?"

"There was no one on the sidewalk below him at the time, and jumping off would not hurt anyone."

"If you want to jump off a building, you can just jump from the side facing the road."

"Why bother to run to the side of the rooftop and jump into that alley?"

"yes...."

Maolilan nodded thoughtfully.

"I've had strange things ever since."

"If you think of this as a suicide, then Uchida's behavior is somewhat illogical."

Kudo Shinichi said methodically:

"But if 'Uchida' is seen as a murderer in disguise, his strange behavior is completely understandable."

"He walked to the side facing the road to play the role of an eyewitness."

"And he later let Uchida's body fall into the alley from the side..."

"It's because the murderer has no other choice but to let the deceased 'fall' in that alley."

"Because..."

"The truth of the matter is..."

"Uchida's body never entered the mall, let alone been transported to the rooftop."

"The body was always hidden in that alley and never left."

"Huh?"

Maolilan heard it in a fog:

"The corpse was in that alley all along?"

"But... We heard the sound of heavy objects falling. ”

"And as you just said, Uchida's body fell from a height."

"It's simple."

Kudo Shinichi spoke out in detail:

"The murderer used that fire ladder."

"If I'm not mistaken, this uninhabited alley is the scene of the first crime, and it's also the place where they bullied Uchida."

"Because the alley is outside the road where people come and go, after finding out that they accidentally killed Uchida, the three bullies couldn't take the body out of the alley."

"So, they thought of using the only thing in the alley that could be utilized—"

"The fire ladder."

"The top of the fire ladder is four stories high, and the guardrail is extremely weak."

"So, the murderer carried the body directly to the top of the iron ladder and leaned against the rusty guardrail."

"Then, they came out of the alley."

"Ishikawa and Aoki were in charge of waiting across the road, while the third murderer walked into the mall disguised as Uchida."

"This third person stepped onto the rooftop and first acted in a drama of 'Uchida jumping off the building'."

"Then, the false Uchida retreated from the edge of the roof and walked to the side of the roof facing the alley..."

Eventually, he picked up a few bricks from the construction waste piled up on the roof and threw them down to the fire ladder directly below him.

"I see!"

Hearing this, Mao Lilan finally figured out the final answer:

"Bricks fell from the roof of the 6th floor and hit the corpse leaning on the railing of the iron ladder on the outside of the 4th floor."

"Because the guardrail on which the corpse was leaning was not strong in the first place, after being hit by a few heavy bricks..."

"The guardrail broke, and the body fell from the fire ladder on the fourth floor."

"In this way, Uchida was disguised as a suicide by jumping off a building."

"Ishikawa and Aoki, on the other hand, can use surveillance video to prove that they have never entered a department store, ruling out their criminal suspicions and making investigators more convinced that Uchida died by suicide."

"That's right."

Kudo Shinichi nodded:

"Moreover, at that time, Ishikawa and Aoki deliberately talked about their bullying in front of the vending machine."

"It's actually trying to turn a few of us into witnesses to them."

"On the one hand, it is proved that they were not at the scene at the time of the crime, and on the other hand, it can be indirectly proved through our mouths that they once bullied the deceased-"

"That way, even if traces are found on the deceased's body, they can use physical contact as a result of bullying as an excuse so that the evidence cannot point to the killing."

"It's just a pity..."

As he spoke, the corners of the detective's mouth couldn't help but smile:

"Pick a few of us as witnesses..."

"The murderer's luck is really good."