"Sir, your refreshments."

In her prime, Teshiro-san bowed to Nishino and took off the plate of glutinous rice dumplings on the tea tray in her palm.

"Thank you for your hard work."

Nishino put his hands on his legs and nodded solemnly to express his thanks.

"Ah, you're welcome."

Nishino's seriousness made Ms. Teshiro feel flattered.

She quickly returned the gift, then hurriedly left holding the tea tray.

Nishino picked up a bunch of glutinous rice dumplings and bit off one - his demeanor was straight and upright, which can be said to be the truest portrayal of "only the tip of the tachyon is wet when eating".

——Ahhh... so delicious...

The soft and sticky flour crust is very elastic, and the sweet taste will spread in your mouth with every bite. Not to mention the rich taste, and the aftertaste is mellow.

After eating his favorite food, a sense of happiness spread in Nishino's heart.

In order to keep this happy moment with him for a while, Nishino deliberately slowed down his chewing speed, and the cold lines on his face relaxed unconsciously.

Suddenly, as if he suddenly remembered something terrible, his expression suddenly changed.

——Ah, no, no, no!

——As a child of the Wu family, you should set an example for all people, how could you show such an unseemly appearance?

Nishino took a deep breath, and his expression changed back to this serious look (￣︿￣).

At this time, a gust of cold wind passed through the cracks in the window and made a hoarse whistle, sending chills straight into people's bones.

The wind played with Nishino's hair and also played with his thoughts.

——There is still no movement at all today...

Nishino raised his teacup and pretended to drink tea. In fact, he used the teacup as a cover and quietly glanced toward the distance outside the window.

His gaze, without sadness or joy, cut a straight and transparent track in mid-air, and finally landed on an unremarkable river embankment.

Almost all passers-by passing by this river embankment hurried to the left and right as if they were avoiding the god of plague.

No wonder they reacted this way.

After all, someone died here not long ago.

And the people who died here were not ordinary people.

The river embankment that Nishino was staring at was the place where the captain of the Fire Bandits Kai 2nd Squadron, Kanazawa Chusuke, and his sister Kanazawa Qin died.

The murder case was already beyond the scope of its own capabilities, and at the same time, a case of this level was not qualified for the fire thieves to take action, so the "Kanazawa brother and sister were murdered" was naturally handed over to the "Three Chapters" of the execution office.

This month is the month when Hoban took charge of Edo.

The deceased was not an ordinary civilian, but an active officer of the shogunate army. Chujiro Usui (the mayor of the town of Kitabansho), who was well aware of the serious stakes involved in this matter, did not dare to neglect, and directly revealed his trump card... and sent Nishino to take action!

Therefore, Nishino took charge and took full responsibility for investigating the incident.

To become a man who is more worthy of the name of "samurai" than anyone else - this is Nishino's ideal and his life creed.

Indolence in government and dereliction of duty...this is not what a samurai does.

Therefore, after being ordered to do something in danger, he did not care about Hu.

He rushed to the scene of the crime and immediately started investigating.

With many years of criminal investigation experience, he immediately determined that the Kanazawa brother and sister were killed a few hours before their bodies were found, and it was still night.

The murderer was very skilled. Although Nishino didn't know Kanazawa Chusuke, he had heard of the name "The Dog of Fire".

Judging from the death conditions of Kanazawa Chusuke and Kanazawa Qin, both brothers and sisters were killed by the murderer with one blow before they even had time to draw their swords.

In addition, the murderer was very cunning and did not leave any valuable clues at the crime scene.

At the same time, because the eucalyptus occurred in a quiet night, there were no witnesses.

There were no witnesses, and there were no useful clues at the scene... If it were an average police officer, he would probably be blinded after encountering this kind of situation.

But after all, Hosejiro Nishino is "the trump card of the "Three Chapters" of Kitabansuo".

This level of predicament did not make him feel helpless.

He immediately resorted to a unique trick that was time-consuming and labor-intensive but had proven to be successful - monitoring the discovery scene.

Nishino has a very good habit, that is, every time he handles a case, he will review it secretly and think about whether there is anything that needs to be improved in handling the case.

At the same time, in his spare time, he would often go in and out of the execution office's document library, read through past case files, and learn from the methods and experiences of his predecessors.

While "swimming" in the vast ocean of files, Nishino discovered a very interesting phenomenon: whether they are murderers or thieves, all criminals particularly like to return to the scene of their crime.

After detailed investigation, Nishino discovered that the main reason why criminals frequently performed such abnormal actions was to collect intelligence.

Has Eucalyptus been discovered?

Did I leave any evidence?

Did officials intervene?

How far did they search?

How much do they value this eucalyptus?

Do they have any speculations?

Should I go back, pack my things and run for my life?

Many criminals will always return to the crime scene to collect more information when they think they can ensure their own safety, that is, their identity has not been exposed.

There are even some prisoners who will try to get acquainted with the official who is handling the case to get to the bottom of it.

Of course, the above are all based on "rational" considerations.

There are also some prisoners with brain problems who will also repeatedly return to the place where the corpse was abandoned or committed. This is not for the purpose of collecting intelligence, but to satisfy their own desires, re-experience the pleasure of committing the crime, and pursue spirituality.

joy and transcendence.

Nishino has encountered such a pervert before.

It was a case that occurred two years ago in the sixth year of Anzheng (1859).

The prisoner brutally murdered the proprietress of a wagashi shop over a trivial matter.

On the way home, the victim was put around the neck with a hemp rope from behind and strangled to death.

Due to the scarcity of clues, the search progress was stalled.

Even three co-workers at the detention center were unable to find out the murderer.

It was not until the fourth concentric...that is, after Nishino went into battle that the situation changed dramatically.

Only a week after taking over the project, Nishino discovered that a middle-aged man was wandering near the discovery site almost every day, and would eat at least one wagashi every time he showed up.

Nishino felt that this middle-aged man was very suspicious and immediately took him back to the prison for interrogation.

Although it is far inferior to the fire-fighting thief reform, the "three rounds" of interrogation at the execution center also have more tricks.

How could ordinary people without any professional training withstand an interrogation attack that reveals the weaknesses of human nature?

After just one night in the interrogation room, the middle-aged man was convinced that he was the murderer of the boss's wife.

Afterwards, the confession he described was both funny and downright creepy.

This is what he said: When he strangled the landlady to death, he smelled the wonderful scent of wagashi from her body. From then on, he discovered that as long as he went to the murder scene and ate a wagashi, he could recall the original time.

The scene of killing the landlady made me feel uncontrollably excited.

Gradually, he developed the habit of eating a wagashi near the murder scene every day. Otherwise, he would feel extremely uncomfortable all over his body.

After this incident, "Undecided in case of trouble, monitor the scene of the incident" became Nishino's unique trick.

Although not all criminals like to return to the crime scene, it can be a good way to break the situation when nothing can be done.

The tea house that Nishino is currently in is only average in terms of size, and the tea and food are not that good, but it has the same advantage that is particularly outstanding for a "criminal policeman" like Nishino - vision.

Very good.

The town where this tea house is located has a relatively high terrain.

There aren't any tall buildings or lush woods around.

When the weather is nice, just sit by the window on the second floor of the tea house and you can have a panoramic view of everything within a 10-machi radius. (1 machi = 109 meters)

Along with where Nishino was sitting at this time, if you extend your sight to the southwest, you can clearly see the place where the Kanazawa brothers and sisters were killed.

These days, Nishino and his subordinates have been closely monitoring the river embankment stained with Zhongliang's blood.

Or they squatted near the river embankment pretending to check the eucalyptus.

Or disguised as a peddler and sitting on the street where the murder scene can be seen.

Or like now, pretending to be drinking tea in this tea house, but in fact, his eyes never leave the window.

Whether it is people or things, "monitoring" is an extremely tiring job.
To be continued...