In Detective Conan: Intercepting Miwako Sato at the Start

Page 66

Yuki Takada put down his briefcase, took a deep breath, and began to review the backlog of work.

"Inspector Takada, you're finally back." Sato Miwako greeted him, "By the way, how are you feeling now?"

"Since I heard you had a bad cold, I was thinking of visiting you, Inspector Takada," Sato Miwako said casually. "However... I've been busy lately, so I've put it off. I'm sorry, Inspector Takada."

"Inspector Takada, Section Chief Matsumoto wants you to go to the conference room right away," the young assistant officer Yamaguchi announced, poking his head in.

"Go right away."

Yuki Takada straightened his tie and walked towards the conference room.

After straightening his police uniform and tie, Yuuki Takada took a deep breath and pushed open the conference room door.

The meeting room was already full of people. Apart from one new face, the rest of the people were people that Takada Yuuki knew very well.

Amidst the swirling smoke, Inspector Megure frowned as he studied the documents in his hands, while Section Chief Matsumoto stood in front of the whiteboard, unconsciously twirling a marker between his fingers.

“Takada, you’ve come at the right time.” Section Chief Matsumoto tapped the whiteboard with his pen without looking up. “Close the door. It’s getting late. We should probably start.”

Yuuki Takada quickly sat down in the empty seat next to Inspector Megure, glancing at the scattered documents on the table—the photos of the scene were shocking; a middle-aged man lay in a pool of blood, his suit soaked in blood, his right hand still clutching a broken cell phone.

"This is a murder case that happened three days ago. The victim was Yoshihiro Nakamura, the financial director of Mishima Corporation."

Inspector Megure said in a deep voice, pushing another set of photos next to Yuki Takada, saying, "The crime scene was his private apartment in Minato Ward. It was initially disguised as a home invasion robbery, but after investigation, it was found that the safe had not been forcibly opened, but the documents inside had been stolen."

Section Chief Matsumoto continued, "After two days of investigation, we found this in a hidden compartment in Nakamura's office."

He held up an enlarged photograph of a black-covered ledger, "which detailed the Mishima family's illegal transactions, bribery lists, and fund flows over the years, as well as tax evasion ledgers."

Yuuki Takada leaned forward slightly: "Section Chief, what does this have to do with our First Investigation Division? It looks like the work of the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department."

“Good question.” Section Chief Matsumoto said in a serious voice, “Because two more murders occurred last night—Detective Kobayashi Kazuya, who was in charge of the case, died in a ‘car accident’ on his way home, and his direct superior, Inspector Nakano, was found dead at home two hours ago, officially said to have suffered a heart attack.”

The conference room fell silent.

Yuki Takada felt a chill run down his spine—the successive deaths of people within the police force had gone far beyond the scope of ordinary yakuza cases.

Inspector Megure added, "More importantly, the original of that crucial ledger disappeared from Officer Kobayashi's office, leaving only these photo copies."

"The higher-ups believe that this case is no longer suitable to be handled by the Team Task Force alone, and have decided to establish a joint task force, led by our First Investigation Division."

Section Chief Matsumoto turned on the projector, and a huge family tree immediately appeared on the wall: "The Mishima family, on the surface, is a regular conglomerate, but in reality, it controls one of the largest yakuza organizations in Tokyo—the Mishima family."

"The head of the Mishima family, Ryuichi Mishima, is 68 years old. He is low-key but extremely ruthless."

Yuuki Takada carefully studied the diagrams and noticed a familiar name—Ryunosuke Mishima, the current chairman of Mishima Corporation, the eldest son of Ryuichi Mishima. On the surface, he serves as the vice president of Mishima Corporation, but in reality, he controls the organization's illegal operations.

Thinking back to several cases I've handled recently, they seem to have a close relationship with the Mishima family, and some of the murders were even caused by them.

However, within the Black Organization, Yuuki Takada recalled a brief encounter with him last year at a charity gala jointly hosted by politicians and businessmen.

The fact that the polite and elegant man was actually the leader of a yakuza group made him secretly marvel.

“Chief, now that we have photos of the ledgers, why can’t we just use that to arrest Ryuichi Mishima?” asked the young, new-faced officer, Yokokawa.

Inspector Megure shook his head: "This evidence is insufficient to convict him."

“The ledger records use a lot of codes and aliases, and we need to decipher these codes and match them with specific criminal acts.”

"Furthermore..." He paused, his tone heavy, and said, "The organization may have been infiltrated. We cannot act rashly before we purge its ranks."

Yuki Takada nodded in agreement: "The Mishima family has been able to stand strong in Tokyo for decades, which must mean they have a huge network of protection within the police, prosecutors and politicians."

“Yoshihiro Nakamura may have been silenced for trying to cooperate with the police, while the cases of Inspector Kobayashi and Inspector Nakano were clearly internal purges.”

Section Chief Matsumoto gave Takada Yuki a satisfied look: "Your analysis is spot on."

“Therefore, the top secret level for this operation is A. Only the people in this room know all the details.” His gaze swept across the room, and he said solemnly, “From now on, all participants must operate in pairs, change the security password every day, and all communications must be encrypted.”

The meeting lasted for three hours, during which key information in the ledger, potential breakthroughs, and preliminary action plans were discussed in detail.

Yuki Takada was appointed as the head of the on-site reconnaissance team, while Juzo Megure was appointed as the deputy leader of the team.

"Takada, you've just come back and you're already given such a heavy task. Can your body handle it?" After the meeting, Section Chief Matsumoto kept him behind and asked him with concern.

“No problem at all, Section Chief. It’s just a small matter, no problem at all. I’m fully recovered now.” Takada Yuki tried his best to make his expression look natural.

……

After leaving the conference room.

Back at his desk, Yuki Takada began to carefully study the case files that had been distributed to him.

The cipher system in the ledger photos is very complex, involving numerical codes, business terms, and seemingly ordinary everyday language.

As someone who had received professional cryptographic training within the organization, he quickly noticed some patterns—certain codes resembled transactional ciphers occasionally used by the organization.

This discovery sent chills down his spine.

Does the Mishima Group have business dealings with the organization?

This is highly likely, as the organization has always maintained connections with various underground forces, both utilizing and controlling them.

"Brother Takada, have you found anything?" Inspector Megure walked over with two cups of coffee and handed him one.

Yuuki Takada quickly composed himself and pointed to a line of code in the ledger: "Here, 'NT-114-3-27,' I think NT probably represents New Tokyo Port, and 114 is the warehouse number, locker number 27 on the 3rd floor. We should start our investigation from here."

Megure Juzo stared in astonishment, "I spent ages figuring out that NT might refer to New Tokyo Port, and you've already deduced the whole meaning? As expected of Takada!"

Yuki Takada smiled bitterly to himself—this wasn't a police skill; it was clearly a code-deciphering technique he had learned in the organization.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Takada and Sato arrived at New Tokyo Port with a team of men.

As shown in the ledger, there is indeed locker number 27 on the third floor of warehouse number 114.

Technicians easily opened the electronic lock, revealing dozens of ledgers and multiple hard drives neatly arranged inside.

"Now we've got something on them," Inspector Megure said excitedly, but Yuuki Takada's expression grew increasingly serious.

“Too easy,” Yuuki Takada said in a low voice. “Why would a cautious criminal organization like the Mishima family keep such important evidence in an ordinary storage locker? Unless it was intentional…”

Before he could finish speaking, his phone rang—it was Section Chief Matsumoto.

"Takada, hurry!"

"Evacuate immediately! There's no time to hesitate! We've received intelligence that there might be explosives!" Section Chief Matsumoto's voice was urgent and tense.

Upon hearing this, Yuuki Takada immediately ordered, "Everyone evacuate! There might be a bomb!"

The group quickly but orderly withdrew from the warehouse, just reaching a safe distance.

A loud bang shook the entire port—thick smoke billowed from the top floor of warehouse 114, right where they had just been standing.

"Could this be a diversionary tactic..." Takada Yuuki muttered to himself, then suddenly realized something, his expression changed drastically, and he anxiously asked, "Section Chief Matsumoto! Where did you get this information?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone: "It was an anonymous tip, called directly to my personal cell phone..."

"We've fallen for their trap!" Yuuki Takada almost shouted. "This is a ploy to confirm who's in charge of the task force! Your phone has likely been tapped!"

At that very moment, Yuki Takada's police cell phone received a message from an unknown number:

"It seems you're in trouble. Do you need any help? —O"

Yuuki Takada felt a chill rise up his spine.

Although he didn't know who sent the text message, judging from the current situation, it was likely that the sender was the criminal that the police wanted to arrest.

The organization not only knew he was in charge of the case, but also kept a close watch on his every move.

This message serves as both a reminder and a warning.

Yuuki Takada quickly deleted the message and turned to Juzo Megure: "Megure-kun, immediately notify the technical department to conduct anti-eavesdropping tests on the cell phones of the section chief and all relevant personnel. From now on, all communications must be conducted in the most traditional way—face-to-face conversations."

Back at the Metropolitan Police Department, the tense atmosphere was almost palpable.

Section Chief Matsumoto's phone was indeed implanted with advanced eavesdropping software. What's even more worrying is that this software requires physical contact to install, indicating that there is indeed a mole within the police force.

……

Inside the meeting room, Inspector Megure's face was ashen: "From now on, the task force will move to the third safe house to begin its work. No one is allowed to act alone, and no one is allowed to use any electronic devices to discuss the case."

Yuki Takada suggested, "Since the other side already knows we are investigating, why not feign an attack while secretly advancing our own?"

"On the surface, we continue to investigate the ledger and locker explosion case, but in reality, we are approaching it from another angle—Yoshihiro Nakamura's family."

"What do you mean?" Section Chief Matsumoto asked.

“If Nakamura intends to cooperate with the police, he will definitely leave more backup evidence, and may have revealed something to his family.”

"His wife and daughter were 'protected' by the Mishima family after the incident; I believe this is effectively house arrest. If we could get in touch with them..."

“No…” Inspector Megure shook his head: “It’s too dangerous. The Mishima family is definitely on high alert right now.”

"That's why they didn't expect us to dare to make direct contact."

Yuki Takada persisted, thought for a moment, and then blurted out:

“I can pose as an insurance company employee and request a meeting under the pretext of a claims investigation. To avoid arousing suspicion, the Mishima family will likely agree to this routine meeting, which would make everything seem more reasonable.”

After intense discussions, the plan was finally approved.

Yuki Takada quickly obtained the necessary disguise documents and equipment, and went to the Nakamura family's mansion in Denenchofu early the next morning.

As expected, there were several men, clearly members of the group, guarding the mansion.

Yuki Takada presented a forged insurance company document to the police, and after going through several levels of approval, he was finally allowed to enter the house to meet with Mrs. Nakamura for 15 minutes.

Masako Nakamura was an elegant woman with a melancholy expression, around 40 years old, with tear stains at the corners of her eyes.

Two members of the Mishima family were "accompanying" them in a corner of the living room, clearly monitoring the conversation.

Yuki Takada expressed his condolences in a formulaic manner, then began asking some standard questions about insurance claims, while discreetly observing his surroundings.

When he asked Yoshihiro Nakamura if he had any particularly valuable personal items that required additional insurance coverage, he noticed that Mrs. Nakamura's fingers trembled slightly.

“My husband…he loved that Montblanc pen in his study the most; it was our 15th wedding anniversary gift…” she said, choking back tears, her voice breaking with sadness. “But the police said they didn’t find the pen at the crime scene…”

Yuuki Takada keenly realized this might be a clue: "Could you describe exactly what the pen looks like? Perhaps I can contact the police station's lost and found office to inquire."

As Mrs. Nakamura described the characteristics of the fountain pen, her fingers unconsciously tapped a rhythmic pattern on the sofa armrest.

Yuki Takada immediately recognized it as a simple cipher rhythm, a non-verbal communication method included in the organization's basic training.

She repeatedly tapped the same rhythm: 3 short-1 long-2 short.

In passwords, this usually means "danger" or "warning".

Yuuki Takada understood, and while outwardly continuing to ask about the insurance issue, he lightly tapped his finger on the notebook to respond: 1 long - 2 short - 1 long - "Understood".