Chapter 2: The Case of the Murdered Husband

Conan, Ran, Kogoro, and Ayumi were riding with Inspector Meguri. Both Ayumi and Kogoro had their arms crossed and were sulking childishly about missing the Yoko concert on t.v.

"And we think it was either the neighbor or the wife who killed him and...hey, are you paying attention?"

"She was going to sing a song from her latest album, the one that's not even in stores yet." Kogoro pouted.

"Yeah!" Ayumi pouted too, glaring at the inspector.

"Look Mouri, they'll probably show it again. And I'll buy you a copy of the album alright?"

He saw Ayumi looking at him forlornly.

"Okay, okay, you get one too. Now pay attention Mouri, this is what we think happened..."

Conan listened, eagerly digesting everything the inspector said. The victim had been stabbed repeatedly with what appeared to be a butcher knife, judging by the size and shape of the wounds, and then dismembered with an unknown implement, most likely a saw. Afterwards the body had been tossed in a dumpster behind the building that contained both their flats, where it was found 2 hours ago by a trash collector. All of the body parts were accounted for, with the exeption of two fingers. Time of death was estimated to be that morning.

The victim was a man, age 31, married, no children. He had been involved with the neighbor's wife, giving both the neighbor and his own wife motive for murder. Both owned a butcher knife, and tests on them would be pointless, since of course the killer would wash the blood off. Also, they could not be tested for blood chemically, since as butcher knives they came into regular contact with blood and flesh.

In addition, only the neighbor's wife had a solid alibi. She was at her job at a bank, and he was at home with a bad cold. The victim's wife was unemployed, and usually stayed home when she wasn't shopping, which she claimed she was all morning.

When they arrived at the crime scene, they got out and went into the victim's living room, where his neighbor, his wife, and his neighbor's wife were gathered. They were all yelling and accusing each other.

After about twenty minutes, during which Kogoro bopped Conan on the head for getting in the way and Ayumi and Ran yelled at him for being mean to Conan, Conan could see that it was the wife who was the killer. He hid behind a recliner and prepared to sedate Kogoro.

"What are you doing Conan?" Ayumi looked at him quizically as she sat down with him.

"Nothing." Thinking fast, he made a decision.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked, pointing behind her.

"What's what?" she turned around. In moments Conan had aimed his watch and pressed the trigger.

The needle shot into Ayumi's neck. She yawned softly before curling up on the floor.

"Sorry about this." he told the sleeping girl. He quickly fired another needle into Kogoro's neck and adjusted his bowtie's settings as the detective fell unconsious into the chair.

"I know you are the murderer." he said to the victim's wife in Kogoro's voice. "And I can prove it."

He waited for things to become quite again, then continued.

"After you stabbed your husband to death, you dismembered him in the bath tub. Next, you washed the knife and put it back in it's holder. Then you smuggled the remains and the saw out to your car in plastic bags hidden under your clothes and in your purse. You would have had to make several trips. You were trying to decide where to get rid of you husbands remains, and you wanted to look like everything was normal. So you went shopping, just as you said. You probably put the saw in a trash can somewhere, and we will find it eventually. But you didn't find a place you thought was good for hiding a body, so you brought the remains back with you. By then you were panicing, and in an act of desperation you simply threw the remains in the dumpster."

The woman chuckled.

"Well detective, that's a good theory, but there is no proof I did anything."

"Yes there is, right in the kitchen. All of your husbands body parts were accounted for, with the exeption of two fingers. That's because you tried to feed the body down the garbage disposal, but I assume it didn't work like you wanted it to on his hand, what with the bones and all. Inspector, if you look in the garbage disposal, more then likely you will find several badly scratched up human fingers. Also I'm sure that there will be blood inside the spaces where the saw blade meets the handle, inside the cracks. Judging by how sloppy the rest of this was, I'm guessing we'll find your fingerprints on it to."

The killer just glared at Kogoro, her eyes filled with hate.

"Well, am I right?"

"Alright, I admit it! I killed him! He deserved it! I gave him my youth, my life, everything I had, and it still wasn't enough! He had to go and get with her!" She gestured towards the neighbor's wife. "He told me everything this morning! And as if that wasn't enough, he was planning to leave me and marry her! I couldn't take it, so I grabbed the knife and made sure they would never be together! The rest happened just as you said! Except you forgot the part where I kill her too!"

With that she elbowed an officer in the stomach and grabbed his gun. She quickly pointed it at the terrified neighbor's wife, an insane rage eminating from her.

"Die!"

To be continued.

I know the crime doesn't make too much sense. All I really know about police investigations is what I've seen on Court t.v., so cut me some slack. Please review.