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The Son

By AZB of Z-4R

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Conan, Ran and Kogoro arrived home from a trip. They were all tired and were ready to settle for the night when the phone rang, much to Kogoro's annoyance.

"Who on earth could be calling this late?"

Ran took the call. After a few moments, she handed it to Kogoro.

"Otou-san, it's for you. He's your classmate."

Kogoro marched towards her and took the phone.

"Mouri-kun? It's Teiji. I need you to come at my house right now."

Kogoro's eyes lightened up. "Oh, it's nice to hear you again, Kurokawa-kun! How's life now?"

"My son was found dead in his bedroom. Please, I am counting on you to solve what happened to him. I trust you my friend. Police are already on their way, but I want you to be the one solving my son's murder."

"I'm sorry for your loss. Yes, I shall come. I would be more than glad to bring justice to your son."

Teiji replied. "Thank you my friend."

Kogoro arrived and was immediately welcomed by Inspector Megure and Detective Shiratori. Megure wasted no time.

"The victim is Kurokawa Hosui, his body was sprawled in his bedroom floor. He had a fractured skull and a stabbed chest. A golf club was found beside his body and a sword was stabbed in his chest."

Kogoro asked "Are they the murder weapons?"

Megure replied. "Probably. We haven't finished but my theory is that the golf club was used to knock him out; the killer thinks it isn't enough so he stabbed Hosui on the chest. Obviously the culprit has a lot of hatred towards Hosui. We are also looking into the possibility that his death may have a connection to the impending turn-over of his father's company to him. Our initial suspects are everyone in the house, especially his brothers."

Shiratori added. "A broken bottle of a 1945 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild Jeroboam and wine glasses were there. We still don't know how it connects."

Megure took Kogoro to the living room where the Kurokawa family was seated; Teiji, his classmate, together with his wife Mio, and his two sons Daisuke and Akira. The butler, Oki Iwamatsu, stood beside them. Upon seeing Kogoro, Teiji ran to him.

"I'm happy to see you again Mouri-kun, but I didn't expect that our reunion would be like this. Thank you for coming"

Kogoro replied. "I am too. I am sorry about your loss. I will do everything to solve this."

Ran and Conan arrived at the house, unknown to Kogoro. Kogoro turned and shouted.

"You two! I told you to stay behind!"

Ran said. "We wanted to come with you!"

Teiji asked Kogoro "Are they your children?"

"Yes, this is Ran. But he is not my son, this is Conan."

Kogoro led Ran and Conan away from Teiji. He glared at them, especially to Conan.

"Don't you dare touch anything Conan! I don't want to fail Teiji. Look after him, Ran."

"Yes, I will." Ran answered.

Conan just rolled his eyes when Kogoro turned and was thinking on how he will solve it this time.

Kogoro turned to the other two sons, who both appear dazed and shocked. "Ah! Here are the culprits!"

Daisuke snapped. "Well, the famous detective Mouri is here! Don't you know the procedure? Why are you accusing my brother and I of the murder when you just got here and haven't examined all evidences?"

Conan just sighed and thought to himself. "Well. that's Kogoro." He then thought hard. "But both of them obviously have the capacity to kill Kurokawa Hosui. They are somewhat jealous of him because he is the future heir of their father. But why do they appear dazed? They both look drunk."

Kogoro was furious and raised his fist toward Daisuke. "How dare you! You're lucky you are the son of of my classmate or else I would have given you a black eye right now."

Megure intervened, "stop it Mouri-kun. Well, he has a point. Daisuke-kun, collecting ancient swords is your hobby right?"

"Yes." Daisuke answered.

Turning to Akira, "and you are a golf player." Akira nodded.

Kogoro asked. "Did you both go to his room a while ago?" Both of them nodded.

"What happened after that?"

Daisuke answered him. "We went to his room and afterwards, Iwamatsu knocked to deliver the wine and glasses."

Kogoro asked the butler. "Are they telling the truth?"

"Yes. After delivering the wine, I immediately went back to my quarters since my chores are done." Conan stared at him.

Kogoro asked Teiji, "Kurokawa-kun, do you think these two murdered Hosui?"

"Yes." He said without hesitation. "These two have not yet proved themselves worthy to run the company."

Mio pleaded at her husband. "Please stop this."

"No Okaa-san." Akira pointed a finger to his father. "When did he ever care about Daisuke and I? All he cares about is the company, you and Hosui."

"How dare you talk about me that way!" Teiji was fuming.

"Why it's true father! Or should I even call you that?" Daisuke snapped.

Teiji punched him. Daisuke's mouth bled. Teiji was subdued by Kogoro, Shiratori and Megure.

After the tension mellowed, Megure announced that the preliminary evidences clearly point to Daisuke and Akira as the murderers. Both of them became aghast.

Akira said, "We did not kill him! You didn't even let us finish our side of the story!"

Daisuke added. "We went to his room so we could talk things over before the company's turn-over. We wanted to say sorry for all the insults he got from us. We both acknowledge him being the heir. We drank wine while talking. We stayed for a few minutes then went back to our own rooms. I felt dizzy after that.

Akira nodded. "I also felt dizzy."

Conan caught that statement. "Why were they dizzy? Aren't these men used to drinking wines? That may explain why they appear somewhat dazed."

Conan stared at the dead body. He paced around the room, looking for other evidences while thinking hard about his initial deductions. He then noticed something in the sword. Its handle was elaborately decorated with jewels. A part of it was broken, and a piece of white cloth was caught in it.

"Maybe this cloth is a part of something the killer used to cover his hand. I wonder what happened to to the missing piece in the sword? Maybe Hosui fought back, giving the killer a hard time that the culprit may have used all his strength." Conan was thinking hard when Kogoro pulled him away from the crime scene.

"I told you not to play here! Ran!"

Ran came toward them, exhausted. "Conan-kun! I've been looking everywhere! Come along."

Conan and Ran arrived at the living room just as Kurokawa Teiji sent the butler for an errand in the kitchen. Unknown to the butler, Conan followed him.

In the kitchen, Conan came towards him and asked for juice. The butler gave him one but scolded him, saying that the kitchen is off-limits. The butler then turned and a glinting object fell out of his pocket. Conan gave it to him, Iwamatsu stopped for a moment and took it. He then went outside and turned left. The butler walked briskly, and Conan heard something shaking, like pills in a bottle. Conan also thought "Why did he turn left? The living room is at the right."

There was no one. The end of the corridor leads to the servant's quarters. Conan went to the room of Iwamatsu and perused the contents of his drawer. After which he then went to the gallery where the swords of Daisuke were kept. Every sword had a corresponding photograph attached outside of their glass cases.

"It's time." Conan said.

Conan went back to the living room and aimed his wristwatch at Kogoro's neck. Kogoro then fell into a chair. Conan hid behind it.

"Inspector, I know who is the killer. They are not the brothers. It is the butler, Oki Iwamatsu!" All of the people gasped. Iwamatsu asked "Huh? Why me?"

"First, being the butler, you have access to all the rooms. You also wear your gloves all the time, you used that to cover any possible fingerprints you might leave while committing the crime. You went to get the murder weapons from the sword gallery and Akira's room. You used these to make the brothers look guilty. Unknowingly, you did not notice that part of your gloves caught in the jagged part of the sword where the jewel broke off.

Secondly, when Akira and Daisuke instructed you to prepare the wine that they will drink in Hosui's room; you used that opportunity to mix some sleeping pills in the wine. I think this explains why the brothers were more drowsy than usual after drinking."

Megure said "How will you prove it?"

Kogoro said "That's easy. The missing jewel from the sword is in his pocket together with the sleeping pills."

True enough, the butler brought them out. He also showed them his bloody gloves with a torn part.

"Yes, I killed him. I am the true firstborn."

Teiji was shocked. "What? Then you are…"

Iwamatsu continued with fire raging in his eyes "Yes! I am your illegitimate son and I know you did your best to forget about me! You have no idea how much mother and I yearned for you. Do you remember? Ten years ago I went out to find you because mother was dying. I asked you for help, but you just disowned me. I just changed my hair and my name. The mere fact you did not recognized me means that I was insignificant to you. I just want to avenge mother and humiliate you in front of your entire family for you were not honest to them about us. I want you to suffer and regret what you did to us forever!"

END

Author's Note: This was based on the movies "Skyscraper on a Timer" and "Countdown to Heaven" of Detective Conan.