03

"You just mentioned that at 20: 00, two police officers went to the warehouse to confirm the situation of 'Rose', right?" Tai Zai ignored Akutagawa's worsening expression and walked to Akutagawa. "Who are they?"

"Tachihara and I," Tanizaki Junichiro, who had been silent all this time, raised his hand.

"Where's Tachihara?" Taizai looked around and asked.

"Tachihara was found locked in the men's washroom on the first floor of the new building at 21: 42 last night. He just regained consciousness this morning."

Tanizaki Junichiro looked troubled. "When he was found, his ID card had already been stolen. So we deduced that Strange Thief N used some method to knock Tachihara out last night, locked him in a cubicle in the washroom, and pretended to be Tachihara."

"It was an intravenous general anesthetic, and the dosage was not low."

Akiko Yosano, who was wearing glasses and standing on the side with his arms crossed, added, "It was a very professional dosage, no more, no less."

"It was an injection …" Atsushi Nakajima thought for a moment. "In the detective novels I've read before, the criminals usually use a handkerchief with anesthetic to cover the victim's mouth and nose to knock them out …"

"Yes, inhalation anesthesia." Akiko nodded. "So the criminals this time are very professional.

Although inhalation anesthesia is easy to operate, in practice, the anesthetic effect is very limited, and it can't guarantee that the victim will be unconscious for such a long time. "

"This is going to be troublesome …" Although the Prime Minister said that it was going to be troublesome, there was a hint of excitement on his face. "Then, did Tanisaki and Tachihara, who were selected at the last minute to go to the warehouse yesterday, or did the two of you complete the final confirmation work beforehand?"

"Let me think …" Tanizaki lowered his head. "There were six people in the command room yesterday. They were not assigned before, so it should be a last-minute assignment."

Taizai turned to Akutagawa, and Akutagawa nodded silently, confirming Tanizaki's statement.

"I see. Did Tachihara act strangely in the command room yesterday?" Taizai asked again.

"No …" Tanizaki frowned. "When Tachihara was found in the washroom yesterday, everyone was shocked.

Tachihara didn't ask to go to the warehouse to confirm the situation, so I really couldn't think of anything unusual. "

"That's cautious …" Taizai lowered his head and thought. "When you and Tachihara went to confirm the warehouse, did he do anything unusual?"

"No."

Tanizaki thought for a moment. "I was the one with the key at that time. After we unlocked the door, Rihara stood at the door and entered the collection room to open the safe to confirm that 'Rose' was still there."

"Key and lock, safe?" Taizai grasped the key words.

"This time, we put 'Rose' in the safe in the old warehouse of the National Museum of Western Art. The old warehouse itself is locked with a special bronze lock, and outside the old warehouse, there is a glass door that requires a password to enter and the corresponding laser infrared device," Akutagawa replied.

"What about the key?"

"The bronze lock and key are both special, and there is only one key. Before the theft, only Tanizaki and Tachihara left the command room when they went to confirm it. The rest of the time, it was kept in the command room."

"Akutagawa is right," Kokida interjected.

Guo Mutian interjected. "The key has always been placed in a glass case on the table in the command room. Everyone in the command room can testify to that."

"Then is it possible that Thief N made the key in advance? After all, if he could get the police's information, he could sneak in and get the key in advance." Atsushi Nakajima couldn't help but ask.

"Impossible."

Akutagawa didn't even look at Atsushi Nakajima and denied it. "This set of keys and lock was specially made in Germany, and we only officially received it from the countermeasure team the day before the theft.

Because it was made with special technology, it is impossible to make the corresponding key in Japan. "

"Then is it possible that 'Tachihara' secretly swapped the key when he went to the warehouse with Tanizaki -san? The key that was taken back to the command room was fake, and the real key was already in Tachihara's hands.

After all, the other party is Thief N, so this is possible, "Atsushi Nakajima thought and asked again.

"Impossible."

Tanizaki hurriedly waved his hand. "The key has always been with me, and I didn't give Tachihara any chance."

"Then …" The curious Atsushi Nakajima raised his head and was about to say something, but when he saw Tanizaki, he looked at Osamu Dazai for help.

Taizai nodded and said, "If you think of anything, just say it."

"If Mr. Tanizaki is Thief N, swapping the key …" Atsushi Nakajima thought for a moment.

"I didn't."

Tanizaki immediately waved his hand. "Why would I do such a thing …" He saw the suspicious eyes around him and hurriedly said loudly, "After I handed in the key, I kept it in the countermeasure team. After that, this key also opened the lock, which means that the key must have been real when it was handed in."

Akutagawa thought for a moment, and his face softened. "Yes, the key is indeed real."

Atsushi Nakajima still couldn't be convinced. "Then if there is a mole in the police …" Seeing Akutagawa's bad expression, he immediately added, "I'm not suspecting Mr. Akutagawa, but … since Thief N can know the battle plan in advance, it means that he must have inside information. Then, could there be someone in the countermeasure team helping him?"

"Impossible."

Akutagawa said firmly. "Everyone on that day is trustworthy, and no one acted alone. We have also reviewed the surveillance video of the whole process, and no one acted alone."

Atsushi Nakajima still wanted to say something, but Taizai waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about this anymore."

"When we went to the warehouse later, the lock was still on the warehouse door. At that time, we thought …" Akutagawa glanced coldly at Atsushi Nakajima, who was deep in thought. "We used the key from the command room to open the lock. It was not until we entered the warehouse to check the collection that we found that Rose had been stolen."

"What …" Atsushi Nakajima was shocked. "Then, is it possible that Thief N used a tool to open the lock?"

"This possibility is very slim."

Akutagawa was still not in a good mood. "The manufacturing principle of this lock is very complicated. The company that makes the lock has publicly tested it. Even the world's best locksmith needs at least four minutes and ten seconds to open the same series of locks."

"Four minutes and ten seconds?"

Atsushi Nakajima thought for a moment and asked, "Let's assume that Thief N can also open the lock, but is slower than the locksmith … Hmm, let's say five minutes. Isn't that enough time?"

"Not enough."

Kokida opened her laptop. "Because the whole crime took about six minutes. If close to five minutes were spent on opening the lock, it would be impossible to complete the crime."

"Six minutes, how is that possible …" Atsushi Nakajima gasped and muttered to himself.

"How did you come up with the six-minute estimate?"

Taizai glanced at Nakahara Chūya, who rolled her eyes at him and allowed him to look at her as if it had nothing to do with her.

"Last night, at 20: 30, the entire National Museum of Western Art's power was cut off. At the same time, the enemy used a lot of smoke devices, and the surveillance cameras were also interfered with and turned black.

It took a total of three minutes to switch to the backup power, but it took six minutes for the smoke to dissipate. "

Kokida checked the time on the notebook. "We arrived at the scene six minutes later … But it doesn't matter. Even if we saw 'Tachihara' at that time, we didn't react in time."

"In other words, there was a total of six minutes under the circumstances where there was no electronic monitoring at all, and no one was watching.

Where did Thief N go after six minutes? "Taizai thought for a moment and asked.

"The next time Thief N was found was in the curator's office on the top floor."

Kokida turned a page of her notebook. "The staff in the museum heard a gunshot and ran over to find the curator shot dead in his office with the windows wide open."

"Do you have an exact time?" Taizai asked.

"I can only say that it was between 20: 40 and 21: 03."

Kokida pondered for a moment and said, "Because the staff heard the gunshot and took some time to confirm the direction of the sound. When they arrived at the curator's office, the clock in the room showed that the time was 21: 03."

"The autopsy matched the time described," Akiko Yosano added.

"However, from this description, the staff who first found the body didn't see Thief N," Taizai caught the loophole in the description.

"No."

Kokida pushed her glasses. "But the staff on the next floor can testify that a black shadow flashed outside his window at around 20: 55. According to the description, it looked like Thief N's black cloak."

"Is that so …" Taizai held his chin with his hand. "How did he determine the time?"

"He was responsible for the recording of the museum's collections. At the time, he was registering the museum's collection restoration catalog on the computer. There was a time display in the lower right corner of the computer."

"Hmm … That makes sense," Taizai said. "So now that the timeline is strung together, it should be like this:

Thief N knocked Tachihara out by injecting anesthesia before the operation last night. After stealing his ID card, he dressed as Tachihara and entered the command room.

At 20: 00, he entered the warehouse with Tanizaki to inspect 'Rose'.

He committed the theft at around 20: 30 and 20: 36.

He killed the curator and escaped from the window at around 20: 40 and 21: 03. "

"That's right."

Kokida nodded. "That's the timeline. Taizai, where do you plan to start the investigation?"

"What does Dunjun think?" Taizai turned to look at Atsushi Nakajima, who had a mixture of confusion and excitement on his face.

"I still can't figure out how Thief N stole 'Rose' from the warehouse within six minutes."

"What does the Central Plains Police think?

How did Thief N do it? "Taizai asked.

"I don't know. I'm curious too," Chūya answered simply.