SailorStar9: With Chapter 17 uploaded, this is Chapter 18 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?
Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and potential pairing.
Pending pairing: Furuya Rei/Mizuno Ami
Chapter 18: The Jet-Black Mystery Train: Tunnel
In Murobashi's room...
"Murder?" Sonoko gaped. "It's really murder?"
"Yeah." Sera confirmed. "Someone shot this guy in the head."
"But the door was chained-locked and you had to break through the door to get in." Ran pointed out. "So wouldn't this be a suicide?"
"I haven't figured out how the door was locked yet." Sera admitted. "But there's no burn mark around the gunshot wound. That proves he was shot from a distance. Since if you were shooting yourself in the head, you'd have to hold the gun right next to you."
"But maybe he got scared right before shooting and pulled away unintentionally?" Sonoko suggested.
"I don't think so." Conan corrected. "There's a silencer attached to the gun. Do you really think it's possible to hold something that long at a distance from you head and still fire it? On the sofa opposite, there's a mark from something like a gunshot."
"The killer probably made the victim hold the gun and shoot an extra round, in order to leave gunshot residue on their hand and make it look like a suicide." Sera surmised. "Of course gunshot residue would've landed on the killer, too. But they probably washed it off their hands and threw their clothes out of the window. But the killer must still be on this train. They won't get away."
"Anyway, you guys go back to your room with Ran-nee-chan for now." Conan informed the Detective Bots after receiving an email.
"But we want to help, too." Mitsuhiko protested.
"Don't be reckless." Conan snapped. "Until I come back, lock your room door and don't open it for anyone at all."
"What's with you, all of the sudden..." even Haibara was taken aback.
"I mean..." Conan stammered. "Isn't it dangerous since there's a murderer lurking around?"
"Then, I'm counting on you to take care of the kids." Sera requested.
"I should call Dad and have him come here, just in case." Ran noted.
In the corridor...
"Excuse me." the conductor of Car 8 started.
"What's the commotion all about?" Ando inquired.
"Don' tell me the deduction quiz already started?" Idenami wondered.
"It's not the quiz." Ran corrected. "There was a real murder."
"An actual murder?" Noto echoed.
"How dreadful." Sumitomo added.
"I can't deal with an actual murder." Komino stated. "Too gory for my taste."
"And here I thought I'd have the weekend off." Ami sighed. "Excuse me grandaunt, but duty calls. Conductor, I'm a coroner with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Division." she flashed her identification to the conductor.
"Anyway, stop the train and tell the passengers not to leave their rooms until the police arrive." Sera instructed.
"May I have you attention please." the Car 8 conductor voiced over the intercom. "In light of an accident that just took place on the train, we are considering changing our course and stopping at the nearest station. We apologize for the inconvenience, but please remain in your rooms until further notice and refrain from leaving them if at all possible."
"You're on this train, too Amuro?" Ran was surprised to find the older man.
"I managed to get myself a ticket." Amuro replied. "I just met Mouri-sensei in the dining car, too."
"Ran, who's this hot guy?" Sonoko whispered.
"He's the detective I told you about the other day, the one who wanted to be Dad's apprentice." Ran answered.
"This is him?" Sonoko flushed. "Nice to meet you, I'm Suzuki Sonoko."
"A pleasure..." Amuro blinked. "Anyway, it seems some sort of accident happened. Do you know anything about it?"
"It seems there's been a murder." Ran responded. "Sera and Conan are still at the scene. "Also, Mizuno-san has already taken the body to perform an autopsy."
"Then it might be wise to have Mouri-sensei handle this." Amuro noted.
"You're not going to stop until you reach Nagoya?" Sera exclaimed after the conductor informed her. "Didn't I tell you to stop at the nearest station?"
"The owner of the train, Advisor Suzuki Jirokichi said..." the Car 8 conductor stammered. "And so he's waiting to ambush the killer in Nagoya."
"No need to worry." Mouri cut in. "Before we reach Nagoya Station, I, the great detective, Poirot Mouri, shall reveal the truth of this murder on the Bell Tree Express for all to see."
"I'm counting on you." the conductor gushed.
"So, Conductor, when did you last see the victim, Murobashi?" Mouri cut to the chase.
"When I was in front of Room A, Noto-sama's room." the conductor recalled. "I heard the bell ring, so I went to Room A, only to be scolded by Noto-sama, saying he hadn't called me. At the same time, Murobashi-sama opened the door of Room B and peeked out at me."
"Was that really Murobashi?" Conan inquired.
"He seemed to be on the phone." the conductor remembered.
"Then, how about we ask Noto about this, Poirot?" Sera snarked.
"I heard Murobashi's voice from beyond the door as well back then." Noto confirmed. "I never thought he'd be next door. I was quite surprised."
"Still, why did you lie about having rung the bell and say you hadn't?" Mouri questioned.
"Like I said, I never rang the bell." Noto insisted. "The conductor came on his own."
"But when you ring the bell, the light above the door comes on, so I doubt he'd make a mistake." Conan pointed out.
"Actually, though the rest work, Room A's light is burnt out." the conductor revealed. "So when I heard a bell ring and didn't see any of the lights on, I thought it must've been Noto-sama's room, so I knocked on his door."
"And after that?" Mouri pressed.
"Just after the doors of Rooms A and B shut, a bell rang." the conductor replied. "I saw the light of Idenami-sama's room, Room E, was lit and went to check it out."
"I did ring to call the conductor." Idenami affirmed. "I was hearing strange noises in my room. They turned out to be this wristwatch's alarm. I found it stuck down the back of the sofa. It must've been left behind by someone, maybe one of the cleaners."
"If you called to have the conductor search your room, then that may be the time the killer entered the victim's room." Sera surmised. "Since the conductor wouldn't be watching over the passageway as usual."
"I only called him here to complain." Idenami snapped. "I found this thing myself. I can't stand the thought of others invading my territory."
"Then, even though you were in the passageway the whole time, you didn't see anyone suspicious enter the victim's Room B, conductor?" Mouri turned to the bespectacled conductor.
"That reminds me, when I was listening to Idenami-sama, the door to the room farthest to me opened." the conductor recalled. "And I had a feeling somebody was peeping over here from beyond the door."
"The farthest room from you would be Room A." Mouri pondered.
"Just before I spotted that suspicious person, Komino-sama was wheeled out of Room D by her maid and headed to that direction." the conductor continued. "So, those two might have seen something."
"The Room A door?" Komino echoed. "That door wasn't open when I passed by. And of course, I didn't see anyone suspicious standing by the door. Isn't that right, Sumitomo?"
"Yes, mistress." Sumitomo nodded. "The only open door was the one to Room E, from which we heard Idenami-sama complaining."
"Then, maybe it opened after Komino-sama passed by." the conductor reasoned.
"But we passed by the two ladies at the entrance to Carriage 8 when we were heading to Room B." Conan reminded. "And we didn't see the Room A door open either."
"Come to think of it, before the kids came over, Ando-sama from Room C came over to check on things." the conductor related. "So maybe..."
"I can hear Idenami shouting even in my room." Ando confirmed. "So I left my room to find out what was going on. I thought something might've happened. But I can't say whether the door to Room A was open or not, since I went the opposite direction, to Room E. Not to mention, at that time, the train was passing through a tunnel, so there wasn't any light shining through the windows and the passageway was pretty dark. Didn't you see anything?" he looked at Conan. "You arrived just after I left my room."
"We didn't see anything." Conan shook his head.
"By the way, you Carriage 8 passengers all seem to be quite sure of each other's names and rooms." Mouri noticed. "You know each other?"
"More or less." Ando admitted. "We board the Mystery Train together every year."
"They're our regular guests who always makes reservations in this first-class car before anybody else, every year." the conductor supplied. "And they always chose the same rooms, too."
"So basically, Conductor, it was all in your imagination." Mouri declared.
"No, I'm confident I saw it." the conductor protested.
"Now I see it." Mouri smirked. "You were the one who secretly let the killer into Room B. you said it was a sealed room, but there's actually some sort of hidden door leading to the next room."
"There's nothing like that in this train." the conductor insisted.
"So, you gathered all the passengers from Rooms A, B, C, D and E into the Room B,and they each fired a bullet into the victim's body, one by one." Mouri prowled on.
"Isn't that the plot of Orient Express?" Sera twitched.
"Anyway, since the room of the deceased, Murobashi, was chained-locked shut, and our conductor here never left the passageway at the time, and he didn't see anyone suspicious entering or leaving it, isn't it obvious it's suicide?" Mouri concluded.
"But there weren't any burn marks around the bullet wound in his head." Sera reminded.
"There was a gunshot mark on the sofa opposite, too." Conan added.
"Everybody aboard this train is a mystery fan." Mouri started. "If he was planning to die, then he probably left red herrings to make it look like a murder, to make his death into a mystery."
"Still, that Murobashi guy swapped rooms with Ran and seemed really eager to help with the whole mystery quiz." Sera remarked. "I can't imagine somebody like that committing suicide."
"And it seems the cue card for the mystery quiz is a fake, too." Conan handed over the envelope.
"Though it looks like our usual cue cards, the contents don't match with the trick we were expecting." the conductor agreed.
"Is there anything special about this carriage?" Sera thought to ask. "Rooms A to E always have the same people booking into them, year after year, right?"
"The Bell Tree Express was finished five years ago." the conductor related. "But I heard that this first-class carriage was created on special request by a wealthy friend of Advisor Suzuki Jirokichi. Apparently, that friend was a huge fan of the Orient Express and the rooms in this carriage were made especially large so a family could comfortably fit in one."
"Then, are any of the passengers here part of that magnate's family?" Mouri asked.
"Almost all of the family died in a huge fire a month before the maiden trip." the conductor shook his head. "Only one member of the family is aboard; Komino-sama in Room D. If I recall correctly, she was the aunt of the magnate who died."
"That case was on the Internet." Sera referred to her smartphone. "A fire broke out during the magnate's birthday party and said magnate's family died along with twelve other attendees. The only survivors were Komino, who was just mentioned, her maid Sumitomo and four other attendees."
"Could those four attendees now be the other passengers?" Mouri wondered.
"The cause of the fire was put down to a problem with an electric cable." Sera continued reading the article. "But no clear reason was found."
"If our murder here is a revenge drama connected to the fire in some way, then this is looking more and more like the Murder on the Orient Express." Mouri grinned. "Let's go talk to the passengers again."
"Speaking of electricity, why didn't you change the dead light bulb over Room A?" Conan was puzzled.
"Beyond the first carriage is the luggage car and we usually keep spare bulbs there." the conductor replied. "But today, we couldn't find any."
"So the people making all the final checks before departing were the conductors, right?" Conan asked.
"Two or three of us go around the rooms, making sure the water works and so on." the conductor nodded. "Actually, I heard a conductor's uniform went missing."
"Anyway," Conan started." How about we wait for Mizuno-san to finish the autopsy?"
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
