In the face of the strong rebuttals from these two individuals, Senichi smiled faintly and showed no concern.
No matter how you two criticize, it cannot conceal the envy, jealousy, and hatred in your eyes and the futile reality of this situation.
Isn't it just a futile effort? We worked hard all day and wasted the beautiful holiday day. In the end... it was of no use at all.
Well, you can't say that, at least this surveillance allowed Senichi and the various law enforcement officers to understand the grudges and conflicts within the Morozumi family, and also revealed the motives behind the culprit's actions.
Actions cannot be forgiven, but motives can be understood.
This is more or less the common feeling of everyone present.
After all, when someone is cuckolded, shouldn't they be allowed to retaliate against the person causing their suffering?
Exactly, this time the culprit is the most unfortunate among the characters introduced, namely Akira Morozumi, the husband of Ryoko Morozumi.
With such a big commotion in the backyard, it was impossible to keep it hidden from those inside the house, and soon Ryoko Morozumi rushed over with the feng shui master.
Although initially Ryoko Morozumi questioned everyone with enthusiasm, upon learning that her husband had poured gasoline into the house, she wore an incredulous expression, "Husband... why?"
"Why!?"
As if ignited by the other's words, Akira Morozumi looked at Ryoko Morozumi with an incredibly fierce expression, "Of course, it's to kill you, you slut!!"
With Akira Morozumi's "self-explosion," in the subsequent questioning, combining the information previously investigated by the law enforcement officers, and after some deduction, everyone finally understood the truth of the matter.
This was a case that was accidentally and maliciously exploited.
The initial fire in Rika Town was not caused by Akira Morozumi.
It just so happened that this fire coincided with the salesperson Takanori Genda, leading to the subsequent series of events.
The family where the fire occurred happened to be Mr. Genda's client, and during the day, he had gone to deliver the Guan Yu keychain riding on a Red Hare horse.
However, Takanori Genda placed the keychain in a box, and the recipients did not open it after receiving the gift. The subsequent fire burned the box along with the Guan Yu statue, leaving only the Red horse.
But coincidentally, the term "Red horse" in criminal jargon also carries the meaning of an "arsonist," so the media began to report it extensively.
On the other hand, Mr. Genda, upon seeing the newspaper reports, vividly remembered giving the pendant to the client. However, when he called to inquire, he received the response that the client had not received it.
So, a clever misunderstanding arose.
The reason for this is that Takanori Genda had a connection with the previous fire; his father died in a fire caused by a cigarette butt.
This made him begin to suspect whether his childhood sleepwalking had recurred, so he sought treatment from a psychiatrist.
And that psychiatrist happened to be Akira Morozumi.
Knowing that his wife and good friend Misao Soga had an affair, Akira Morozumi had long harbored murderous intent.
When he learned from Takanori Genda that the origin of the "Red Horse" in the fire was a Keychain made by him and saw Takanori Genda blaming himself for sleepwalking that caused the fire, Akira Morozumi schemed to use him.
He made Takanori Genda believe that he had switched to being a sleepwalking patient with a fire fetish and, starting with the first arson in 1-Chome, systematically set fire one after another.
The goal was his own home in 4-chome, intending to kill his wife and frame Takanori Genda.
As for Takanori Genda, he became a complete puppet on Akira Morozumi's strings. After all, as Takanori Genda's doctor, it was easy for Akira Morozumi to manipulate him and administer sedatives.
He even got the keys to Takanori Genda's home and installed a bug in his house.
The purpose was to know Takanori Genda's whereabouts, making it easier for him to commit the crime and making Takanori Genda firmly believe in his sleepwalking arson.
As for the alibi he was preparing for himself, it was a straightforward method.
He wrapped several layers of very thin paper around the light bulb outside the gasoline-filled warehouse, then taped matches to the outside, fixing them between the light bulb and the paper.
With a 100-watt bulb indicating 218 degrees, as soon as the bulb heated to a certain level, it would ignite the matches and the outer paper. Adding a delayed ignition device with gasoline completed the setup.
His plan after burning his wife to death was also cunning. He intended to take the insurance money from the burnt house and wife to build his own clinic on top of his residence.
In response to this, Senichi could only chuckle and express that this guy was purely indulging in fanciful thoughts.
Later on, Takanori Genda was also summoned by Inspector Yuminaga, who explained everything. This man, who was full of guilt, finally breathed a sigh of relief and tears started streaming down his face as he thanked everyone.
Subsequently, Inspector Yuminaga had forensic personnel go to Takanori Genda's home to dismantle the listening devices for evidence. Just to be safe, Senichi also instructed the forensic team, providing them with equipment to inspect for listening devices.
Because Senichi noticed a blind spot – why would Takanori Genda, who lived alone, expose his whereabouts in the listening devices? He wasn't mentally ill, and adults wouldn't have the habit of talking to themselves and planning their movements for the next day.
So, after questioning Takanori Genda, Senichi received a somewhat surprising answer.
It turned out that not only did Takanori Genda have contact with the feng shui master Misao Soga, but he also had connections with the fortune teller sister of Ryoko Morozumi, named Keiko Gondo.
He would often call her to inquire about which areas had better luck or ask Keiko Gondo to fortune-tell about his own luck.
After asking around, it was discovered that these two individuals were considered genuinely skilled in Takanori Genda's eyes, often predicting things that happened around him.
This made Senichi somewhat suspicious, and his initial reaction was 'fraud!'.
Considering Akira Morozumi's act of installing listening devices in the house, and recalling the common suspicion that suspects usually share some common points, Senichi casually asked the forensic team for assistance.
After all, it's better to be safe. Because if this detail is overlooked, it could cost Senichi the reward, and he would have nowhere to cry.
To his relief, this deduction was surprisingly accurate!
After a thorough search, the forensic team found listening devices in the two items sold to Takanori Genda.
Now, Senichi genuinely felt a bit sympathetic towards this guy, Takanori Genda. Not only did he narrowly escape being wrongly accused by Akira Morozumi, but there were also three eavesdropping devices in his house.
However, now both individuals naturally had to pay the price for their actions.
And with that, this series of consecutive arson cases was finally completely resolved. Senichi's panel had also begun the highly anticipated reward settlement phase!