"Karasuma-chan, have you ever seen a tree with only a trunk and no branches?"

Turning his head to look out the window at the dark street, the boy called Karasuma's last name very rarely.

"A tree without branches?" Kokarsuma was stunned for a moment, although she didn't know that the boy suddenly asked this, but she still thought about it seriously, and then replied:

"I don't know, but I don't think so, right?"

After all, normal growth trees need branches to support and spread more leaves for photosynthesis and respiration, even if the climate is different, the branches should only be large or small, there is no such thing as a big tree with a trunk and no branches.

"Unless it's been trimmed." Kokarasuma added.

In the past, when she was in the United States, she would occasionally see some sanitation workers manually pruning the redundant and useless branches of the big trees on the side of the road.

"yes, unless it's been trimmed." And the boy nodded lightly with her words.

“…… Huh? ”

The boy obviously had something to say, and Karasuma was stunned when he heard this.

Artificially trimmed? What does this wooden man mean? What the hell is he trying to say?

Wait a minute!

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and Kokarsuma suddenly realized.

"Wooden man, do you want to say that someone has been manipulated behind this case, and the information we have investigated now is deliberately guided by the people behind the scenes?!"

"I do think so." The boy nodded slightly.

"One of the two important nodes in this case, the student from another school who is said to have invited the deceased Kyoko-san to spend the night at his house last night, except for hearing about it from the mouth of the Muraki couple, we still have no clues related to it.

But even the Muraki couple only heard about it from the mouth of the deceased, and they did not know the specific situation of this so-called 'student from another school', and the teachers and classmates of the deceased in the school, they did not know anything about it, and it was completely alone.

Not to mention, the fact that the deceased had friends from other schools was a rumor spread falsely.

From these perspectives, the credibility of the Muraki couple's claim that the deceased had spent the night at a friend's house at another school is extremely low, and we cannot even falsify this information because there is no other source of information.

This is the first point that makes me suspicious, and the second point is Mr. Hanada, although Karasuma's reasoning just now is very good, but there are too many places to link by coincidence.

Mr. Hanada has an honest and cowardly personality, although he had gone to Muraki's house to ask for an explanation after his daughter's death, but after being warned by the police, he quickly lost his voice, and he was just drunk at home alone, and he didn't even go to Muraki's house for any trouble.

A person with such a personality is unlikely to commit murder even if he is drunk, unless he is suddenly greatly stimulated.

According to the neighbors around Hanada's house, Mr. Hanada didn't have much emotional fluctuation when he came home from work last night, and he was as low as before.

Judging from the fact that he is still in the mood to cook for himself and keep his home clean, these neighbors should be right. ”

"Then, could it be that after Mr. Hanada got drunk at home last night, someone suddenly instigated and stimulated him, so he ......?"

"Doesn't this prove that there are other masterminds behind the murder of Apricot this time?" The boy interrupted Karasuma's words and asked rhetorically.

"Yes, too......"

"If my guess is correct, we may never find this missing Mr. Hanada......" The boy said suddenly, looking out of the dark car window again.

"Huh?"

"After all, if there are really other murderers behind this case, then Mr. Hanada can only be a poor person who is used to take the blame.

If he can be found by the police, the drama of the murderer behind the scenes will be completely exposed, so a man who absconded and disappeared in fear of crime is the best.

This can not only attract the attention of the police to him and protect the real murderer behind the scenes, but also make the police never catch the murderer, unable to solve the case, and turn this case into an unsolved case over time. ”

As the boy just gave in this example, this case is like a "man-pruned tree" with a protruding trunk but no branches.

From the moment the investigation began, the police were like walking into the road that had been paved by the murderer behind the scenes, and all the "branches" that could be used for verification were cut clean, and they could only passively follow the only "trunk" to the established end point that would never be found.

"So what do we do next?" Karasuma asked, having participated in this kind of investigation for the first time, and had no experience in dealing with such a situation.

"Just keep investigating." The boy didn't hesitate, and said: "No matter how clever the plan is, there will definitely be flaws, don't stop the search for Mr. Hanada, issue a wanted warrant, and search as much as possible." ”

The last sentence was apparently said by the boy to the two detectives in the car.

"Yes."

"What about me? What about me? Kokumara pointed at himself and asked quickly.

"It's getting late, go back to bed." The boy glanced at her and replied.

"Huh?!" She was suddenly upset, "Didn't you say that you wanted me to investigate together?!" ”

"I'll let you know when there's progress, and tomorrow you go to class normally, and if you feel very idle, I'll take the school to investigate the information of the deceased's 'friend from another school'."

"I always feel like I've been sent away casually by someone...... "Karasuma pouted suddenly, but he didn't dwell on it anymore.

"Stop."

The boy didn't say anything more, and shouted at the detective who was driving.

The police car suddenly stopped, and not far in front of it happened to be the cemetery where the deceased Kyoko-chan was found this morning.

The boy picked up the flashlight from the car, opened the door, and said, "I'll go to the first scene to take a look, and you will send Miss Karasuma home." ”

"Yes."

"I ...... too"

"Go home and sleep."

"Hey?!"

Without giving Karasuma any chance to speak at all, the boy closed the car door directly, and the police car suddenly accelerated and sped out.

Seeing the police car move away, looking at the angry expression of Karasuma in the back window, the corners of the boy's mouth rose slightly.

Immediately, he shook his head, turned on his flashlight, and walked towards the cemetery not far away.

He had always felt that there was something strange about this cemetery that he had thought about this morning, but he hadn't remembered it since he was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Karasuma.

Now is the right time to come back and have a look.

(˙ー˙)

(End of chapter)