69novels Chapter 110 Evidence Hidden in the Painting
Chapter 110 Evidence Hidden in the Painting
As a great artist, Aya probably didn't have much experience of being caught for committing crimes. Under the detective's sudden attack, he was immediately thrown into disarray.
After a moment of surprise, the dojo leader asked the detective a series of questions—
"Hey, you in the white coat, what are you talking about? Wasn't I sketching and painting right in front of you forty minutes before the incident? How could I possibly sneak into the art museum and vandalize it? Besides, there were people monitoring the museum at the time. What makes you think I vandalized the artwork?"
The more eager one is to defend oneself, the more mistakes one will expose. The Bug-type Gym Leader clearly showed his weakness.
Hearing these incredibly naive explanations, even Sera, who had initially been somewhat skeptical of Hugo's actions, became alert.
“Oh?” Hugo, who was standing in front, raised an eyebrow. “Your first reaction was this… Considering your own position, this testimony is a bit strange.”
He gestured to Miss Sera with his hand hidden behind his back.
Sera's interrogation experience was no less than that of Officer Jenny, who was on leave. She instantly understood the detective's meaning and took immediate action.
She swiftly pulled out her police handbook and demanded sharply:
"Mr. Artie, I am Detective Sera from the Feiyun Police Department, and I am investigating the serious vandalism incident at the Feiyun City Art Museum. Please answer my questions truthfully!"
The black-haired, bespectacled policewoman stepped past the detective and said with an air of menace, "As the party who suffered the greatest loss in the case, you have the least reason to damage your own painting—that's a fact everyone knows. But why didn't you point that out immediately? Is there some hidden story behind this?"
"No... there's no hidden reason, I just suddenly forgot."
In a society governed by the rule of law, the word "police" carries immense deterrent power. Even the powerful dojo leader tensed up upon seeing the badge in the policewoman's hand. Mr. Yati smoothed his curly hair to conceal his embarrassment.
"Even if you forget, there are reasons for forgetting. What factors made you overlook your own position?"
Like a hyena that has spotted its wounded prey, Sera displayed the efficiency of a detective, relentlessly pressing for answers with her questions.
“What kind of question is this? I refuse to answer!” Yati finally came to her senses and became more sober. “I don’t want to be involved in this case and I will not accept any irrelevant questions.”
Mr. Yati has realized that he is not currently a suspect in the legal sense, and therefore has the right to remain silent about issues he does not like.
Sometimes silence is the safest option.
"Alright, alright, there's no need to be so tense."
At this moment, Detective Hugo spoke in a gentle tone.
“Sera, we’re here to uncover the truth, not to resort to the tricks of criminal interrogation. Besides, this isn’t some serious case with a terrible impact. With proper communication, we can resolve it peacefully.”
Upon hearing this, the policewoman nodded slightly, her aggressive aura dissipating. She sensibly stepped aside, handing the spotlight to the detective, and even secretly pursed her lips—
It's the "good cop, bad cop" formula, everyone knows that, right?
Hugo strode into the center of the arena and shook hands with the Gym Leader standing there. It was as if a Gym Challenge with badges as stakes was about to begin.
"Let me introduce myself again. My name is Hugo, and I'm a detective. This is my business card."
"Are you a detective?"
Does this kind of profession actually exist? Could someone you randomly pick on the street turn out to be a detective?
Holding a business card that read "Hugo Detective Agency," the world-renowned insect artist seemed to be in a mystery story, even questioning the reality of the world.
"This is not a dream you created because you're constantly devising alibis tricks. My firm and I are real. If you don't believe me, pinch the back of your hand and see if it hurts."
Hugo saw through the other person's thoughts and said without any politeness.
The Bug-type gym was completely silent. Light reflected off the six yellow walls and onto the faces of the three people, making their expressions appear particularly exaggerated.
The detective began to narrate his reasoning with ease—
"To be honest, from the moment you approached me, Mr. Yati, I sensed there might be something more to it. Although I have only a superficial understanding of art, I do know some basic common sense—"
"For example, a painter who goes out to sketch normally wouldn't carry such a large canvas with him; that size is only used when working in a studio for extended periods. Even if your silk art can be completed quickly in a short time, you don't need to paint such a large painting for a stranger; the cost is too high."
"Moreover, the larger the painting, the more inspiration and deliberation are required, and the more the balance of the composition must be considered. But this morning, you didn't think about it for long when conceiving the idea. You only made a simple draft and started creating. The process was very fast. Although you hesitated occasionally, you didn't stop to adjust the layout at all. It was as if you had prepared in advance. Isn't that strange?"
"How I paint is my personal freedom. These are just your side of the story and have nothing to do with the case."
Yati firmly denied it, but did not forcibly interrupt the detective's reasoning. He simply listened as Yati revealed the many strange occurrences that occurred on the morning of the incident.
"Speaking of one side of the story, our words when we first met were also full of strangeness."
Hugo skillfully steered the conversation, firmly controlling its direction.
"Leaving aside the extremely bizarre suggestion of giving the painting to the model, the time setting of forty minutes itself seems both accurate and crude. It is neither an hour nor thirty minutes, and it also has slight differences compared to the fifteen-minute quarter-hour unit of the United States."
Afterwards, when the forty-minute time limit ended, your painting was still in its final stages. This indicates that the forty-minute time limit was not a general rule you derived from your creative experience, and you weren't entirely confident that you could finish the painting within forty minutes. So, what was the rationale behind this time limit?
“It was just a casual remark,” Yati shrugged. “You guys really know how to make a big deal out of the smallest details in verbal expressions.”
“The details in the words are just hints; the key is that these anomalies always lead us to new evidence.” Hugo looked at the Insect-type Gym Leader with a provocative gaze.
"Mr. Attendant, could you show us some of your sketches?"
“A sketch?” Sera, who had been listening attentively, couldn’t keep up with the detective’s train of thought for a moment.
"Anyway, we're here to pick up the painting, so it wouldn't be a problem to take a look beforehand, would it?" Hugo said casually.
Yati gritted her teeth and pointed to a space behind the battle space, which was covered by layers of insect silk, resembling a giant cocoon: "There, that's my private studio."
The detective and the policewoman followed the curator to the gap in the cocoon. That was the entrance to the studio, and from the outside, one could see its colorful interior, where iridescent silk transformed the area into a dreamlike scene.
In the center of the studio, there is a large painting depicting Hugo and the three members of the Big Three resting on a bench.
The artwork, composed of colorful silk threads, was exquisite, but the detective frowned as he looked at his own face in the painting.
"Just as I thought," Hugo sighed.
"You must have rehearsed sketching this landscape many times, right? That's why you were able to confidently say you could complete the painting in less than an hour. The so-called forty minutes is actually made up of thirty minutes plus ten minutes. The former is used to quickly depict the complex background scenery, and the last ten minutes are used to add figures to the painting. That's why you couldn't manage the latter part of the time well."
"The truth of the matter is very simple. It wasn't because I was sitting on that bench that you decided to sketch here, Mr. Artis; rather, you had already chosen that scene as your subject, and I just happened to be sitting there. You already knew the scene you wanted to depict by heart, you just added a person and three Pokémon to it."
"As for the evidence I need, it is hidden at the very bottom of this painting, in those few original brownish-red threads."
Upon hearing Hugo's words, Aydi, like a defeated mantis in a duel, wryly scratched his curly hair, yet seemed to have let go of a heavy burden in his heart.
"I never expected that's where we slipped up."
On the canvas, although the scene of the detective in the white coat playing with the elves is lifelike, there is a fundamental contradiction—
In the finished artwork, the poses of the three Pokémon—Turtle, Chimchar, and Piplup—are completely different from the initial sketches shown to Hugo!