Ke Xue: Shinichi and I are childhood friends.

Chapter 1085 Three Meanings of Hand Gestures

Soon, Inspector Megure, the hard-working model worker in Beika Town, arrived with his subordinates.

"Brother Kamiya..." Inspector Megure had already guessed who would be at the scene when he received the call.

But he didn't expect that in addition to Yuya and Miyano Shiho, Conan, Mouri Ran, Sera Masumi and Suzuki Sonoko were also there.

It seems that, except for Kogoro Mori, all the regulars at the crime scene are here?

After sighing, Inspector Megure began to direct his subordinates to inspect the scene and investigate the identity of the deceased.

Preliminary results were soon available.

The deceased's name was Ritsuko Sashihara, 41 years old, the president of a cosmetics company. The cause of death was suffocation caused by compression of the neck. According to the forensic officer, a rope was wrapped around the neck and the victim was strangled to death by holding the rope tightly from behind.

The first witness was the female clerk.

At the time of the incident, the person using the fitting room on the right was Asayo Futsuka; the one on the left was Yamazaki Ayami.

In addition, according to Asayo Nitsuka, before she entered the fitting room, there was another person inside, and a pair of white sandals were seen at the door.

The female clerk also said that she saw it.

When he heard the name Yamaki Ayami, Yuya subconsciously glanced at her, but the latter's face only showed fear of seeing a corpse, with no other unnecessary expressions.

Not her? Youye frowned slightly. It was possible. Generally, death messages needed to be decrypted to prevent the murderer from discovering and destroying them. It shouldn't be so straightforward.

And in this case, the clue about the right thumb would be useless.

"Were there any other customers in the store besides you at that time?" asked Inspector Megure.

The female clerk recalled: "Except for the three people in the fitting room, the other customers left immediately after hearing about the murder case and worried about being involved."

"There are only three people left in the fitting room?" Inspector Megure was stunned. He turned to look at Yuya and the other group of people, "Weren't you in the store from the beginning?"

Yuya explained, "We came to check the situation because we heard screaming, right, Sera?"

"That's right," Sera Masumi showed a meaningful smile, "Conan and Yuya also told us that the three people other than the deceased had a big dispute with the deceased at that time."

"Oh?" Inspector Megure glanced at the three of them with an inquiring look.

Takagi Shigeru said in a deep voice: "In this case, the only one left is the customer wearing white sandals." He asked the female clerk, "Excuse me, are there any surveillance cameras installed in the store?"

The female clerk replied: "Yes, but in order to protect the privacy of customers, there is no cover in the fitting room."

"Oh, I see." Takagi Wataru was a little disappointed, but this was expected.

Inspector Megure squatted down, looked at the body and said, "In this case, the only useful information is the dead man's hand in a strange position."

"The left hand is clenched into a fist, with the index finger and thumb extended; the right hand is clenched into a thumb stained with lipstick."

He turned to look at Yuya: "Brother Kamiya, is this a death message left by the deceased?"

Yuya nodded: "Yes, there are nail marks on the palm of the deceased, which means that the deceased clenched his fist tightly when he was killed, leaving marks to tell us who the murderer is."

Inspector Megure nodded after thinking for a moment. He looked at his left hand and asked, "Which direction was it pointing to?"

Yuya explained that his left hand was under the clothes on the right, so the direction he was pointing to was the fitting room on the left.

Inspector Megure immediately looked at Yamaki Ayami and said, "The one using the fitting room on the left is Miss Yamaki, right?"

Yamaki Ayami panicked and said, "No, it wasn't me! And if I were the murderer, I would definitely take it out and check it if I saw the left hand inserted into the clothes. Maybe there is evidence to identify me."

Inspector Megure pondered for a moment, and realized that what she said did make sense.

At this time, Conan said innocently: "Is it possible that this gesture refers to a number?"

"Numbers?" Inspector Megure looked at Conan in confusion.

Conan explained: "The president just said that he wanted to attend a dance party abroad, right?" He and Yuya heard this while watching the fun.

Yamaki Ayami nodded: "Yes, in order to expand the market, the president goes to various parts of the world every week to attend dances and other activities."

Conan: "So she goes to Europe often, too?"

After receiving a positive answer from Yamaki Ayami, he continued, "When people in Europe use gestures to express numbers, they generally follow the order of counting with their thumbs. The thumb is 1, plus the index finger is 2, plus the middle finger is 3... in this order."

"Huh?" Youye was stunned. This gesture doesn't represent 8, but 2?

"I see." Takagi Shigeru suddenly realized and stretched out his left hand to imitate the hand gesture made by the deceased. "So, the death message left by the deceased is... 2? That is Miss Nitsuka?!"

Everyone's eyes suddenly focused on Asayo Futsuka.

Nitsuka Asayo's face suddenly changed: "Kai, are you kidding me! Why would I kill this woman who has nothing to do with me?"

"This, this..." Takagi Wataru was speechless.

Yuya sighed and asked Conan, "Is this how they count in Europe?"

Sera Masumi agreed, "Yeah, when I went abroad to study, the hand gestures they used to indicate numbers were the same as those used for neon."

Conan tilted his head and said with a smile: "I saw on TV that it's like this in Germany and France. By the way, Sister Sera is studying abroad in Emilia, right? They use the same hand gestures as Neon."

"Oh, so that's it." Sera Masumi laughed dryly. She had not been to the United States at all, so how could she know these things? She could only respond vaguely.

"But," Sera Masumi touched his chin, "that hand gesture not only represents a number, but also looks like the shape of something."

Takagi Wataru looked at the gesture and suddenly realized that it was very similar to a pistol.

The model of pistol used by the Neon police is Shin-Nanbu, which matches the name of the female clerk, Nanbu Suzuya.

Naturally, the female clerk tried desperately to explain that she was not the criminal.

Takagi Shigeru has not investigated further for the time being, and everything is just speculation now.

Yuya pinched his chin and pondered. In this way, the gesture of his left hand alone could refer to the three suspects present according to different meanings.

All that remains is to decipher the code represented by the right hand, and then we will know who the murderer is.

Thinking of this, Youya's gaze fell on the dead man's right hand.

The thumb was stained with lipstick and was held tightly in the palm of the hand.

What does this mean?