A/N: This is my first real try at writing a murder mystery...the idea came to me in a roleplay. Enjoy another small chapter-fic while I'm too lazy to update my fics. XD
Summary: While the Detective Boys are with Ran at the Ice Cream Parlor happily eating away at their ice cream, the one in charge gets murdered!
Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan...*sigh*
The Ice Cream Murder Case
Chapter 1: The Ice Cream Man
It was just your ordinary Summer day, right? Ayumi Yoshida, Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya, Genta Kojima, Ai Haibara, along with Conan Edogawa and Ran Mouri were all at an Ice Cream Parlor that weekend. Ran promised to take them since they did so well helping the police solve the last case that occurred.
Conan and Ai were sitting at a table beside Genta, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Ran. The detective's daughter was curious why they were sitting alone, but Mitsuhiko pointed out that they were always like this, talking about stuff in secret when they thought others weren't looking. Ran simply giggled and figured they were just some sort of couple. It was cute...but they both looked so serious. All the time. Not normal for a child.
It was nearing the ice cream parlor's closing time. Everything was quiet, only two or three people left other than their small group. Ran was surely going to be low on money when they were all done, but that didn't really matter to her.
That was when they heard it. A scream. Ran jumped up, but it was already too late. Conan had rushed towards the scene. She sighed.
"Mou...Conan-kun, wait up!"
"Conan-kun!" the three children exclaimed before taking off after him. Ai sighed and got down from her chair, following them as well.
"...It's too late, this man's already dead," said Conan, the first one to approach the body. The scream had come from the kitchen, and upon running in, they'd found the man in charge of the store, dead. There were no visible wounds or blood, so cause of death was probably poison, Conan figured.
"Ran, call the police!" he turned towards the horror-stricken girl, who blinked in slight surprise when he hadn't called her -neechan.
"Ran!"
"H-Hai!" she said in reply before immediately taking out her cellphone, her heart beat starting to speed up when he said Ran instead of Ran-neechan. So much like Shinichi...
The man was lying on the floor. Ice cream ingredients were scattered all about on the counters, but there was a half-eaten ice cream cone laying beside the victim. Perhaps he was eating it when he died? His head was turned to the side away from it, and Conan noticed a small amount of white ice cream not too far away from the man's face.
'Was the ice cream poisoned?' Conan thought. 'Or was it the cone? One of the ingredients...something he ate...'
"Conan-kun!"
"Ack! Ran-neechan!"
"You're calling me -neechan again, hm?" Ran asked, picking up a struggling Conan. She'd seen him at the body while calling the police, who were on their way. "You should know better than anyone else, Conan-kun, to not disturb the crime scene until the police arrive." Of course he shouldn't even be near the body at all, but that never stopped him before.
"I-I wasn't! I was just looking!"
She sighed. "What am I going to do with you, Conan-kun?"
"Look, the ice cream man was murdered!" Ayumi said with a look of fright on her face. Mitsuhiko and Genta gasped.
"It's true!"
"Kids, stay at the door there," she told them as she lifted Conan up into her arms. His face turned a bright red, which it seemed to do every time she did this, and that left her puzzled.
"The name of the victim is Toshiro Kazaki," Megure said once he, a few police officers along with Wataru Takagi had arrived. Said man and Megure were at the scene of the crime, while the police men were locking the doors and forcing everyone to stay inside the restaurant for questioning. "Age 39...cause of death is most likely poison in his food."
"He's the ice cream man!" said Mitsuhiko.
"Eh?" Megure turned to look at them and sweatdropped. "Oh... it's you guys again, and Ran-chan."
"H-Hai," Ran said, holding a no longer struggling Conan. "I promised to take the kids out for some ice cream today."
'I think it's Conan-kun who attracts the bodies, not Mouri-kun,' thought Takagi as he watched the kids.
Well... it was true.
"What do you mean by the 'ice cream man'?" Megure asked.
"He's the one who gave us our ice cream," Ran explained. "He made it for us, we paid him and ate it here."
"Souka...and excluding you six, we have only three suspects," said Megure, standing back up.
"How come you're excluding them as suspects?" an angry voice exclaimed. The kids jumped and turned towards a woman in her early thirties, with long dark black hair and just as dark eyes. She had a thin figure, red lipstick on her lips, and wore a purple outfit. She didn't look too impressed at being kept here. "I can understand the brats, but what about her?" she pointed a finger at Ran, who looked surprised.
Conan got angry at that. "She'd never kill anyone!"
Ran looked down at him as he was held in her arms, surprised. "C-Conan-kun..."
"Conan-kun's right!" Ayumi said with a nod, the others nodding as well, even Ai. "We know Ran-neechan, she'd never hurt a fly!"
Though she might give a man deserving of it a real good karate kick.
Ran smiled as they defended her and looked down at Conan. He'd gotten angrier than the rest of them for her saying that.
Why?
A/N: Haha, you meet the suspects next chapter. The final chapter is mystery solved! :D Where do you think the poison was?