After tightly binding Xun Sanlang with hemp rope, Aoto immediately escorted him back to Kita Bansho.

No sooner had he brought Xun Sanlang back to Kita Bansho than—exactly as Aoto had anticipated—he was immediately summoned to Usui’s office.

Entering Usui’s office alone, Aoto couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in surprise at the impressive gathering inside.

The assembly in Usui’s office could only be described as distinguished.

Town Magistrate Usui, two Yoriki from the Rinjikai, two Yoriki from the Teimachi squad: Arima and Tōjō… In short, all the leadership figures from Kita Bansho’s “Three Squads” had gathered together.

All of them were now looking at Aoto as he entered the room with gazes that contained… a mixture of shock, confusion, disbelief, and various other emotions.

Especially Arima.

When Arima first heard that “Aoto had solved the Kiyayanagi Town case,” his immediate reaction was to roar at the Dōshin who came to report: What nonsense are you talking!

What level of case-solving ability does Tachibana Aoto currently possess—don’t I know?

After repeatedly confirming with the reporting Dōshin that he hadn’t reported incorrectly and that he himself hadn’t misheard, Arima’s eyes—already large and round like an owl’s—widened even further.

Tachibana-kun, who had never been able to handle things independently… solved a murder case in less than two hours?

Is there something wrong with my ears, or something wrong with my head???

Upon learning that Usui intended to summon Aoto to personally hear his “work report,” Arima immediately volunteered to be present and listen, wanting to hear how this junior who had previously been rather unpromising suddenly managed to rise to the occasion.

The same went for Tōjō and the two Yoriki from the Rinjikai—they had all become extremely curious upon hearing that Idiot Aoto had unexpectedly accomplished a remarkable feat, so they requested to be present during Aoto’s “work report.”

After entering the room, Aoto followed protocol, respectfully bowing and greeting the various leaders in the room.

“Well… Tachibana-kun.” Usui, with a complex expression, hadn’t stopped scrutinizing Aoto since earlier, looking at him as if he were seeing a stranger. “You did… quite well today.”

Both Usui and Arima, among others, had urgently summoned Aoto to report on his work because they wanted to hear how the usually unpromising Aoto had managed to solve the case today.

Therefore, after briefly exchanging some official pleasantries and engaging in short small talk with Aoto, Usui got straight to the point—questioning Aoto about how he had managed to find the culprit today.

—As expected, they couldn’t possibly avoid asking how I solved the case…

Having anticipated that the Magistrate’s Office people would definitely ask him these questions, Aoto had already prepared his wording on the way back to Kita Bansho while escorting Xun Sanlang.

Aoto cleared his throat and began his half-truth, half-fabricated report.

The part about hearing about the incident in Kiyayanagi Town while drinking tea at a teahouse and immediately rushing to Kiyayanagi Town was reported truthfully.

When it came to explaining why he entered Granny Apple’s house, Aoto began to fabricate.

After all, he couldn’t openly say “I intended to steal credit.”

Although in this era, credit-stealing was quite normal, such matters ultimately couldn’t really see the light of day and couldn’t be stated explicitly.

The reason Aoto gave himself was “intending to enter the house first to check the crime scene before the Dōshin responsible for the case arrived, seeing if the scene had been damaged by the person who discovered Granny Apple’s body or something.”

“This subordinate’s original intention was simply to take a brief look at the crime scene and then leave.”

“Generally speaking, aside from extreme cases like random killings, indoor murder cases fall into only three types.”

“Revenge killing, robbery killing, or crime of passion.”

“The victim’s house was quite tidy, with no signs of rummaging through boxes or cabinets or looting of valuables, so robbery killing was first eliminated.”

“Between the remaining two options of revenge killing and crime of passion, this subordinate initially thought: Granny Apple likely died from a revenge killing.”

“After all, Granny Apple was advanced in years, nearly 70 years old, and hardly seemed like someone who could be involved in a crime of passion.”

“But after entering the house and unintentionally seeing a certain object at the crime scene, this subordinate was startled to realize: compared to revenge killing, the probability of a crime of passion seemed higher.”

“Object? What object?” Usui, who had already become somewhat engrossed, quickly pressed.

“The candle placed in the corner of the crime scene,” Aoto replied.

“Candle?” Usui was taken aback.

“Something like a candle isn’t something ordinary townspeople can casually bring out and use,” Aoto said calmly.

As if struck by lightning, Usui and the others, realizing something, had their expressions change.

Due to various reasons including insufficient manufacturing techniques, during the Edo Period, candle prices had never been cheap, and the vast majority of families used lamp oil rather than candles!

“Although candles provide good illumination, they’re quite expensive, and only wealthy families can burn candles without concern.”

“Most common people can only use lamp oil, which has poorer illumination but is cheaper. Candles are something they only reluctantly bring out occasionally.”

“The victim’s family had been well-known local philanthropists for decades, charitable and kind-hearted. Because they often provided medical treatment to poor families at low cost or for free, their household certainly couldn’t be considered particularly wealthy.”

“The victim’s clothes had several patches, and the home’s furnishings were quite simple, basically just a few ordinary pieces of furniture, with no luxury items in sight.”

“When this subordinate inspected the victim’s home, I even discovered that the victim had stored large quantities of lamp oil, with only a few candles kept in reserve.”

“These various clues strongly prove that the victim’s family wasn’t the type that could casually bring out candles to burn. Usually they used lamp oil the most, only bringing out candles on special occasions.”

“The victim, who ordinarily used lamp oil, actually had a candle burned down to a small stub placed in the corner of the crime scene—no matter how you look at it, this seems abnormal.”

“The solidified wax pools at the candle’s base were quite fresh, having just solidified not long ago.”

“This indicates that this candle was brought out for use last night, and moreover was used for a long time—it must have burned for at least half an hour to accumulate such a large amount of solidified wax.”

“Aside from encountering holidays, there’s another situation where most people would be quite willing to bring out such luxury items as candles—when visitors come calling.”

“Therefore, synthesizing all the above clues, this subordinate determined: the culprit and victim knew each other, and their relationship was quite unusual, most likely very close.”

“The culprit visited the victim’s home last night and was invited inside by the victim to sit.”

“To entertain the culprit, the victim brought out candles that she normally wouldn’t readily use.”

“The candle burned for nearly half an hour, indicating that the victim and culprit spent a long time together in the same room.”

“Being able to be invited into the victim’s home late at night and spend such a long time alone with the victim—only someone with a very close relationship could receive such hospitality from the victim.”

The Edo Period wasn’t like modern times.

Still in ancient society, this era wasn’t as open as modern times.

A recently widowed woman willing to invite someone into her home late at night and spend such a long time alone with him… just as Aoto had said earlier, only someone with a very close relationship could receive such enthusiastic hospitality.

“But then a new problem emerged,” Aoto’s report continued. “If the victim and culprit really had such an intimate relationship… then why would she so formally bring out candles to entertain him?”

“If it were someone extremely close or who frequently visited, generally they would be relatively relaxed and wouldn’t make such a big production. Just bringing out lamp oil as usual would suffice.”

“The victim’s mouth showed traces where the culprit had pressed hard to keep her from making noise.”

“Based on the size of the pressing marks and the culprit’s strength—being able to hold the victim’s mouth with one hand while wielding a knife with the other—it could be determined that the culprit was male.”

“Male, with a relationship close enough to be invited into the victim’s home at night and spend such a long time alone with her, but the victim wasn’t casual with him, very formally bringing out candles to entertain him.”

“From this, it can be deduced that the relationship between victim and culprit must not have been ordinary.”

“Although close, they maintained some distance between them.”

“The two might have been childhood friends, or had some special relationship in the past.”

“With such a special relationship existing, compared to revenge killing, the possibility of a crime of passion actually became greater.”

“So, holding such conjecture, this subordinate went to question the victim’s neighbors and close friends, successfully identifying a highly suspicious suspect—Xun Sanlang.”

“After rushing to Xun Sanlang’s residence, I fortunately caught him just as he was about to flee, successfully apprehending him and bringing him to justice.”

Silence…

After Aoto concluded his report, deathly silence fell over the office.

Usui, Arima, and the others, their faces filled with astonishment and various emotions, looked at each other, exchanging glances…

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This author mentioned earlier that Granny Apple’s case has a real-life prototype.

Aoto’s entire report is basically copied from the police reasoning in the prototype case. So don’t argue with me about Aoto’s reasoning being unreasonable. In the prototype case, this is exactly how the police reasoned—because the victim and culprit spent too long together in the same room late at night, they must have known each other, and compared to revenge killing, it was more likely a crime of passion, dramatically narrowing the search scope.

Regarding the prototype case of Granny Apple’s murder, this author has posted it in the “Author’s Words” below. Those interested can go take a look.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep