Riding a bicycle.
Upon hearing Senichi's words, almost everyone echoed in unison with Senichi.
Because by riding a bicycle, one only needed to place the camera in the basket, making filming smooth. Similarly, riding a bicycle allowed for quick movement in narrow alleys without arousing suspicion.
"That's right, it's a bicycle," Senichi said with a smile. "So, if we can find the same bicycle in the footage from various surveillance cameras around the crime scenes, there's a good chance that it belongs to the clown's cameraman."
"Megure, lead the team, immediately retrieve the footage from the surroundings of the crime scenes, and find the bicycle appearing at each scene!"
Toshiro Odagiri looked at the people below and spoke sternly, "The rest of you, spread out like a carpet, ensuring that the public will no longer fall victim to the clown!! Dismissed!"
"Yes!"
In the largest conference room, everyone stood up together and dispersed shortly after.
Inspector Megure led Senichi and others to retrieve surveillance footage, and everyone began systematically checking the videos around the crime scenes.
Watching videos was undoubtedly a tedious task. Amid the constant flow of pedestrians and vehicles, selecting and comparing the same target was a boring job.
However, due to Senichi's enhanced reflexes, operating at sixteen times the normal speed made the process remarkably efficient.
But luck played a significant role in this. You could watch a lot and still not find the right person.
"Hey! Have any of you seen this bicycle?"
Just as Senichi was about to switch to the next video, Miwako Sato pointed at a person riding a bicycle in the video and suddenly asked.
Upon hearing Miwako Sato's words, everyone stood up and gathered around her computer.
"Look, although the hat or clothing of this bicyclist is a bit different, this sports bicycle looks like the one I saw in a previous video."
In the video, a man was wearing a mask making his face unclear, riding a bicycle that was fully exposed.
Miwako Sato pointed at the bicycle and said, "What caught my attention is that this is clearly a sports mountain bike, but it has a basket attached to the front."
"Oh, I've seen this one too!" Officer Takagi, upon seeing this distinctive bicycle, was taken aback and quickly ran back to his seat to grab the mouse.
After some operations, Takagi pulled up a video. In the footage, although the man wore a knit hat, and his clothing was entirely different, the bicycle he rode was the same as the one in Miwako Sato's video – a sports mountain bike with a basket.
"Find this bicycle!" After reporting this news, Toshiro Odagiri immediately issued orders, "Once found, don't alert the snake; first confirm the owner's identity!"
Upon receiving this news, all the detectives involved in the case went crazy, systematically checking various bicycle storage locations in Tokyo with the photos in hand.
Although this carpet-style search was like finding a needle in a haystack, when an organization as massive as the police department went into full operation, finding a bicycle wasn't that difficult.
Good news soon came in. A detective happened to see the suspect parking the bike and, incidentally, confirmed the suspect's workplace.
With this breakthrough, information about the suspected clown cameraman was quickly and thoroughly investigated.
Sugi Matsuki, 25 years old, a convenience store employee.
Once this information was confirmed, Matsuki enjoyed 24-hour "personal protection," a privilege not even ordinary bureaucrats received, and without any repetition.
Upon learning this news, Ran and Makoto Kyogoku abandoned the idea of personally apprehending the suspect, waiting for the authorities to capture the clown.
However, the suspect seemed to sense the detectives' movements. After the incidents of attacking detectives, there had been no further actions. Every day was the routine of going to work and returning home, a monotonous and uneventful life.
This routine persisted until the next Friday.
As the weekend approached, Sonoko's injuries had mostly healed, but the case still had yielded no results.
"Why is it like this?" After coming to the police department and receiving answers, a somewhat disheartened Ran said, "Could they have found out?"
"That's a possibility." Senichi shook his head helplessly.
"Darn it! Are we just going to keep this standoff?" Makoto Kyogoku, filled with anger, said, "If they stop committing crimes, are we just going to watch them go free?"
For the two of them, when they learned that the police had already investigated one of the accomplices, although they were somewhat regretful that they couldn't take revenge personally, they were more relieved.
After all, the person who had harmed Sonoko was about to be arrested soon.
However, the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. They had identified an accomplice but hadn't found the mastermind, causing the investigation to stall and fall into a dilemma.
This left the originally hopeful duo extremely disappointed.
Unwilling!
Faced with this result, they were unwilling, but... everyone at the police department responsible for this case was even more unwilling!!
The perpetrator had been freely injuring people on the streets, and even harmed their colleagues. Finally, when they had a lead and identified one of the accomplices, preparing to follow that lead, the other party seemed to sense something and disappeared without a trace.
Even if they could obtain a search warrant for a temporary arrest, they couldn't convict the suspect solely based on Sugi Matsuki's presence at the crime scene. It would just end up alerting the suspect for no reason.
Seemingly to taunt them, the suspect even uploaded an image on their personal page of the clown patting their buttocks.
It was as if they were saying: I'll drag this out with you, but be careful. Whenever you let your guard down, I'll come back.
I can make the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department unable to carry on in a hundred different ways, and you'll be helpless.
Yeah, that's roughly the idea.
Faced with this predicament, it was impossible not to feel anxious, but impatience wouldn't solve anything. If rushing could solve problems, life wouldn't be so troublesome.
Dilemma.
It was truly a dilemma, and even Conan couldn't help but frown at the current situation.
The previous clues had already been analyzed to the extreme, and now the other party had gone into hiding. Without new leads, there wasn't much they could do.
Senichi naturally understood the awkward situation they were in. As he looked at the dissatisfied expressions of Ran and the others, he felt the same dissatisfaction within himself.
He slowly pulled out a cigarette.