Ch2.

Seek for the Clues

Conan's thoughts

Kogoro's thoughts.

All the members walked in, still horrified from the tragedy. The sleeping detective closed the door afterwards to check the room's conditions. The curtains swung at an open window. The rain had stopped. The dewdrops can still be seen on the evenly cut lawn. The clouds still hung over making the inside light seem extra strong. A few books were stacked in front that still marked his hard work from last night

"Go call the police!" announced the great detective.

"Huh, Hai!" She replied strongly.

"I think it was just a thief." Said Kogoro, "1. The open window. 2. The wound on the dead man's head. My guess is that a thief snuck in here last night when Mr. Harimoto went out to perhaps go to the washroom or something. However, when Mr. Harimoto came back sooner then the thief had expected, he got into a struggle and killed him. The weapon I believe is that paper weight."

"Your saying that a thief killed my father!" Kousuke yelled out in rage.

"I doubt that uncle!" a young boy called out jumping on to the windowsill, "Look, it just rained last night and not a single foot step can be seen on the garden dirt. This type of dirt become mud very easily when water goes on it. If he stood here to wait for Harimoto-san to leave the room then that makes it even more suspicious."

"But that means that things all leads to the people inside. Meaning one of you three excluding my daughter and Conan." Kogoro spoke looking sharply into the crowed. They stepped backwards in surprise. "Also, the fact that there was no foot step makes this a impossible crime, Secret Room Murder (Misshitsu Satsujin, not quite sure how to put in English.)"

Kosuke was silent. His fist clenched in a fist. His eyes drew in anger. He did not say anything much from that point on.

"Aleeeeh, Look at that! The struggle must have all took around the chair." Conan pronounced.

"Huh, what are you talking about?" asked back the detective.

"Well, look! All the blood that came from the wound on his head is lined up in this neat little area. Theres not a spot of blood that can be seen anywhere else in the room. If I were in a struggle from the murderer I would atleast be moving all around the room trying to dodge, fight, and stuff." The little boy put his hands to his back and remarked, looking up innocently while giving in a few blinks for added effects.

"Hmmm, Interesting." The great detective thought for a while, then quickly realizing his been out staged by a grade six kid he yelled back, "I knew that from the start you little brat. Now stop bothering me and go play somewhere else."

Kids these days. The sight of a dead man is more attractive then women and beer.

Turning back to his audience Kogoro continued, "That could only mean that he was either asleep during the crime, or was already dead."

This smell I've smelled. What is it? I know I've smelt it before somewhere. Dismissing the thought for the moment he searched the room for clues.

--Thud—

They turned around and found Kazuko had fallen heavily against the large door recovering from her fall. She rubbed the area of pain then suddenly pointed to the dead man with open eyes. "Hey isn't that the key under his hand?" she asked.

Huh something didn't feel right when she fell.

"Huh?" Kogoro lifted the man's head. The key lay neatly under the hand as though he had it in his hand all the time. "That's not possible! Seki-san are you sure that there is no other key to this room of the house?"

"Uhh, yes like I said before, this was his private room so non of us had the key to this room." Mr. Seki replied.

That's impossible, the only key to this room is in the murdered man's hands. There's no footprint below the window in the garden. The door tightly locked from the inside. The window on the top opens but because of the wooden bars no one can get through.

"Dad, I brought the police officer! I had to run down to the village because the phone line wasn't working." Ran came running and breathing heavily with a middle-aged officer.

"WOW! Its really true." The officer responded in excitement, "this is so cool, my first murder case."

Is that right… he..he Is this all they have to offer? Sigh…

"I'm sorry. My name is Hakumo, This place gets boring because it's a small town and I have next to nothing to do but give occasional speeding tickets to tourists. So when I heard murder…"

Oh really…good to know you enjoy other people's miseries.

While Moori explained the situation and introduced himself proudly, Conan decided to take a more thorough search he walked to all the different areas of suspicion.

Lets see, first is this window. Why was it open? Was it only to imitate this like a low life criminal? Huh whats this, its small but it looks like a string ran through here? He rubbed his finger up and down on the mark and turned to the old man that past away. The key was under his hand when we arrived. How did the murderer do this? Was he really able to come through the window with out leaving any footprints? And finally that window, something's different on that window and I just can't quite tell who it was.

A frame caught the corner of the four-eyed little boy and he walked over. He looked on the photo and his eyes opened slightly. This picture, the lady in it looks almost like…

A good while had past, the death time was determined to be around 2:00am-3:00am. No alibi was found on any three that night. Kazuko-san had said that she went to bed and so did kousuke-san. The only person that was up during the crime was Seki-san but that alone cannot determine him as the killer.

"Hey, Seki-san. Did you hear anything last night?" the little boy asked in a childish tone.

"Huh, what do you Mean." He answered in a question.

"I mean during the time of the murder. Like a scream or foot steps, anything at all." Conan specified slightly.

"Hmm," thinking hard back to the time he looked diagonally upwards searching for an answer in his mind, "Oh! There was something. I remember there being a clank sound in the kitchen. But when I got there nothing seemed to have changed."

"A Clank sound?" Conan continued his interview.

"Yea, you know like dishes colliding with each other. I figured it was just something losing balance because of my foot steps, it happens once in a while so I didn't really think of it too much." The man explained.

A clank sound in the kitchen?Conan immediately ran to the sink. He turned and asked the mid-aged butler, "Did you do your dishes today morning?"

"Huh, no. We haven't even had breakfast yet."

Aha! Conan ran down to the study room with great excitement. That sink was still wet. The murderer must have washed something, and if my deduction is correct, it was a coffee mug. That clank just jolted something in my mind as well, and if I'm right on this one as well I should be able to find that there.

He checked on the forced open door. Just as I thought, there are two spots on this door where the color's slightly lighter. He ran inside. The dead man was now laid on the floor. A white sheet covered his horrifying face. The little boy looked around. His eyes were caught on a beautifully carved lamp with a wooden shaft located right beside the bookshelf just to the left of the entrance. There it is, another scratch mark made from a string just like on the window. I've found it, the trick to this whole crime. The open window, the two marks on the door, the string marks made on the two places and finally, what those words that was said. There's no mistake, the Murder is that person!

End…

For all the readers, if you think you know who murdered Mr. Harimoto. Submit it in the review. Give a reason but if you figured out the trick, please don't write it in. It will spoil the story for the others.

Regular reviews are still well appreciated. :-p