บท 18: Chapter 18: The Real Culprit
"Is that detective pretending to be a Snorlax?" The development of the case was so absurd that Green couldn't help but question it.
"Not at all. Detective Hugo ended up solving the entire case beautifully," Hilda, wiggled her finger like a Togepi, speaking mysteriously.
Green rested her arms on the table, pressing her index finger to her head as she thought for a long time. Eventually, she gave up and turned to the young girl in front of her for guidance. "I really can't figure it out. Please tell me."
"Hehe, let me explain!"
Though she wasn't the detective who cracked the case, the ponytailed girl was brimming with pride. She downed the rest of her fruit tea in one go and continued recounting the story.
It turned out that after giving up his commission fee, the detective immediately began investigating his client. What he uncovered was startling.
"What was it?" Green leaned forward, curiosity piqued, waiting eagerly for Hilda to continue.
"The Pokémon that the wealthy man adored so much was actually a Salamence from the Hoenn region!"
It was fortunate that Green wasn't drinking coffee at the time, or she would have spat it out.
"I had assumed that the kidnapped Pokémon would be something small and cute, like a Jigglypuff or Bonsly... I never imagined it'd be a Salamence, infamous for its aggressive nature." She was dumbfounded.
"Isn't it amazing how withholding a little information about an event can completely flip the narrative? In some novels, this is called a 'narrative trick,' where the storyteller manipulates the audience's blind spots with clever wordplay."
Hilda smugly used a term she'd picked up somewhere, delighted to have tricked Green.
But under Green's glare, Hilda eventually relented and added, "This trick didn't just fool you, Green. Even the initial information the detective received, and the first impressions I got when I entered the manor, were consistent with the story I told earlier."
"The wealthy man deliberately withheld information?"
"Exactly. The detective gradually uncovered clues during the investigation. That's why he pretended to admit defeat and returned the commission fee, so he could start investigating the wealthy man as a neutral party."
"I see..."
Like the case's unexpected twists and turns, Green's impression of the detective began to shift. The memory of the man walking out of a room carrying a fire extinguisher seemed more composed and suave than before.
"But the best part was yet to come. Within days, the detective pieced all the information together. In that countryside manor, he first presented some airline travel records, questioning the wealthy man about his repeated trips to Hoenn. Then he produced a recording pen, which contained a confession from a bodyguard hired by the wealthy man. The recording revealed that the man's trips to Hoenn were for poaching a large Pokémon."
"Poaching!" Green was stunned by this revelation. "Was the Salamence the target of the poaching?"
"Exactly." Hilda snapped her fingers dramatically. "The wealthy man hadn't officially caught the Salamence but kept it locked in a cage as a trophy. He displayed it in a grand, hidden room of his manor where it would never see the light of day. The man later admitted that he believed nothing could top the interior design of a live, powerful Dragon-type Pokémon. So, with his bodyguards, he went to Hoenn and captured one, locking it up as his prized possession."
Recalling the despicable acts of Team Rocket members who once terrorized Kanto, Green couldn't suppress her anger and muttered, "Scum."
Hilda nodded empathetically and resumed her story: "Then the detective started piecing everything together in front of the wealthy man and me. It was just like the climactic deduction scene from a crime thriller!"
"The wealthy man didn't kick you out?"
"He did, but I sneaked back into the conference room," Hilda replied with a mischievous grin.
Green took a deep breath, choosing to hold back her comments on her junior's behavior. Instead, she asked, "What did the detective say at that time?"
"The detective said he had understood the whole case from the moment he saw the first ransom note."
The true story was this: a young man who lived near the wealthy man's manor had witnessed the cruel treatment of Salamence. After the wealthy man left the property, the young man sneaked into the house, found the key to Salamence's cage, and released the Pokémon.
Salamence, finally free, shattered the window and flew away, never to return.
At that point, the young man's noble act should have concluded. But upon seeing the luxurious decor of the wealthy man's manor, he was tempted by greed.
He found pen and paper in the study, wrote the ransom note, and left it in the now-empty Salamence cage.
The detective explained: "The first ransom note demanded only one million, which might seem like a fortune to an ordinary person. But to a wealthy real estate tycoon, it's mere pocket change. A seasoned kidnapper wouldn't make such a small demand without understanding the financial situation of their target. This suggests that the note was written by an amateur, possibly someone acting on impulse."
The detective added that he had subtly questioned the wealthy man during their conversations and eventually became certain that the client had something to hide. The man hired a detective instead of contacting the police because he feared exposing his own poaching crimes.
"So, what could an amateur kidnapper and a poached Pokémon possibly have in common?"
At that point, Hugo wasn't entirely sure. He didn't know whether the person involved was skilled enough as a Trainer to take a Salamence by force.
"So that's why the detective watched the park bench that day?" Green asked.
"Exactly. The detective later revealed that he hadn't missed the moment the briefcase disappeared. The instant a small claw emerged from the ground using Dig, he identified the Pokémon as a Sandile. That confirmed the ransom writer was an amateur."
Hilda narrated the story with dramatic flair, as if she were directing a movie. The image of the detective confidently explaining everything felt vivid.
"A Trainer with just a Sandile couldn't possibly kidnap a Salamence. The detective immediately concluded that the person who released the Pokémon wasn't inherently bad. Letting the poaching tycoon suffer a little seemed like a fitting twist of justice."
"So, the detective allowed the ransom to be taken?" Green asked, wide-eyed in disbelief.
"This is also why the detective returned the commission fee. Hugo once said: a detective's job isn't just solving cases but deciding when and how to solve them."
"So, when he said, 'The real criminal has been punished,' he meant?" Green thought of a detail and cautiously asked.
"As you guessed, the real criminal wasn't the young man who wrote the ransom note but the real estate tycoon who poached wild Pokémon!"
Green finally understood Hilda's admiration for the detective. "I suppose that detective is actually quite dependable..."
"Then, when the young man sent the second ransom note, the detective realized it was time to intervene. The amateur criminal hadn't grasped the detective's mercy and grew greedier. If left unchecked, he might walk further down the path of crime."
"So, the detective met with the tycoon and confessed the earlier events, hoping the tycoon would punish the young man appropriately. I assume the detective used the poaching secret as leverage?" Green speculated.
"Exactly, Green! No wonder you're so sharp!" Hilda praised.
"You've said that a dozen times today," Green replied with a wry smile. She then gazed out at Feather Roost Manor, where she was about to stay. Thinking of the detective's story, she couldn't help but look forward to her time in the Unova region.
Perhaps, it wouldn't be boring.
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