SailorStar9: With Chapter 21 uploaded, this is Chapter 22 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 22: Everyone Saw, Part Two


"What's taking Heiji so long." Kazuha whined.

"It's okay." Ran assured, forensics were already on-site gathering evidence. "You'll stay with us anyways."

"But still, that lady coroner was so young and pretty." Kazuha gushed.

"Mizuno-san?" Ran echoed.

"They're back from the questioning." Kazuha noticed the group returning. "Have you found who's the culprit yet?"

"No, but we questioned three suspects." Mouri replied.

"Everyone is suspicious." Takagi added.

"All three have a potential motive." Otaki pointed out.

"By the way, there were posters on all the floors except the second and third that said 'the elevator is under maintenance, please take the stairs.'" Takagi recalled.

"So that's how they avoided people." Otaki mused.

"If it was suicide, Fuura would put those signs up so nobody would stop him." Mouri stated. "It usually takes the two of you to do a job for one person." he cast a mocking look at Hattori and Conan.


Later...

"There was no residue on any of the three suspects?" Otaki gasped when Megure informed him of the gunshot residue results.

"There was a report from forensics." Megure confirmed.

"Is that so?" Otaki mused.

"Anyway, sorry for the delay. I'm Inspector Megure of the Tokyo Police." Megure introduced himself.

"I'm Inspector Otaki of the Osaka Police." Otaki returned. "Although I should be saying sorry; sticking my neck in another prefecture."

"No, I've heard that you've been a great help from Takagi." Megure remarked. "But, is it true that this is a murder? You saw Fuura shoot himself in the head through the window of the elevator. So, it isn't suicide?"

"These are these small details: like the security camera being blotted out by paint using their other hand, and an automatic watch stopping" Otaki spoke.

"These are strange points." Megure agreed. "But you did see the moment Fuura killed himself, though."

"I think it was like this, Inspector." Mouri declared. "The culprit threatens Fuura in the elevator and tells him something like 'keep looking out of the window if you don't wanna get shot.' Then he got shot when he passes this floor. When we saw it, it looked like a suicide. That's what happened."

"Isn't that a little farfetched?" Izutsu spoke up. "You'll be able to see the hand coming from the side. The positioning of the murderer's hand wouldn't match the position of Fuura's body."

"She's right." Yoda agreed. "If I did it, I'll never do anything like that. It's kinda of obvious for a special effect."

"If that was so, why would Fuura fight back?" Mustu wondered. "Hard to believe he'll remain calm to make it look like a suicide."

"These there are...?" Megure prompted.

"They're the residents from the apartments whom have no alibis." Otaki explained. "Why are you here, though?"

"We didn't want to be here." Izutsu protested.

"We were called here." Yoda supplied.

"We were told that we'd find the truth behind the case if we came here." Mustu added. "This kid said so."

"I brought these three here." Conan nodded. "Just like Detective Takagi and Heiji-nii-chan told me."

"Conan, where's Heiji?" Kazuha wondered. "I haven't seen him in an hour."

"He said he'd be going somewhere with Takagi." Otaki supplied. "Something about a store at the back of the block outside."

"Speaking of the back, what if the culprit hid behind Fuura and shot him?" Mouri suggested. "If he did that, the gun would look more natural."

"If that was the case, wouldn't you have seen the culprit's face the moment the bullet made an impact with his head?" Megure reminded.

"Detective Takagi." Conan suddenly pointed to the elevator going up.

"What the hell?" Megure exclaimed, the group witnessing Takagi seemingly getting shot in the head. "Takagi!"

"What we just saw..." Kazuha gaped.

"It was a lot like earlier, wasn't it?" Ran was shocked.

"So, it was two people." Mouri declared. "Takagi and the Osaka boy just showed us. It really looked natural."

"Come back down and explain, Takagi." Megure demanded, pressing the down button.

"Yes, sir." Takagi appeared at the staircase, minus his suit.

"Takagi, what was that just now?" Megure asked.

"Hattori asked me to stay here and observe everybody's reaction." Takagi replied.

"Observe?" Megure echoed. "How long were you there for?"

"Just a little before the elevator came up." Takagi answered.

"But we saw you in the elevator." Kazuha spoke.

"That was..." Takagi stammered.

"It's Detective Takagi again." Conan shouted.

"We're saying." Hattori voiced, hiding his face behind the tablet that had Takagi's face as its wallpaper. "The elaborate trick was something like this. Takagi and I get to borrow this from the electronics store at the back of the block. When I pressed the tablet against the elevator window, I played a video of Takagi's face. The elevator window is divided by the letters in the 'goodbye'. So you wouldn't be able to see it was a tablet. In a nutshell, with the tablet and my body, two people need to do one's job."

"Isn't that unrealistic, though?" Otaki pointed out. "Hei-chan only pretended to shoot Takagi. But we saw the moment he shot himself in the head. If you're right, the murderer would have to shoot the gun right in front of their face. That's risky. Plus, how would the movie work out with the movement? Also, you'd find traces of the gunshot on the wall of the elevator."

"We only used one tablet because we had little time." Hattori explained. "The actual trick utilizes four tablets. That way, the timing would be correct, no matter what."

"So, you're saying it was all a video we saw?" Mouri gaped.

"Yup, all the movies were the murderer wearing the same suit as Fuura, except the one of his face" Hattori nodded.

"Is that really true?" Ran wondered. "Is it possible to hold four tablets up?"

"The murderer probably stuck them on a board." Hattori explained. "Then all they had to do was push the board against the window. Aren't I right? Trying to hide the fact that you have four tablets. The mangaka, of course, Izutsu Naoko? You're the murderer."

"Wait a second." Izutsu protested. "Anybody who has four tablets could've done this, and suddenly, I'm the murderer?"

"You hid your tablets, after all." Hattori answered. "That gadget next to your tracing pad's a router. Having a router to use the Internet, without a PC or a tablet? Now, that's just plain stupid."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Izutsu objected. "Maybe my colleagues left it behind? I'm terrible with technology. I don't even own a PC."

"You know, mangaka are pretty cool." Conan spoke. "You draw a detective series. But you only have a few manga on your shelf. You can draw all of that straight from your head? That is awesome."

"He brings to light a good point." Takagi mused. "If it's a detective manga, it's grounded in reality; I'm talking about settings, weapons, and crime scenes."

"It'd be a daunting task to draw without some sort of resource." Megure agreed.

"Now that I think of it, didn't you say you had three assistants?" Otaki reminded.

"And if each of them has a tablet and you have a tablet, that makes four." Megure added.

"But still, how did she make the movie of Fuura look like he shot himself?" Mouri wondered. "It's not like she asked him to pretend to be shot."

"That's an easy one." Conan held up his smartphone. 'When you're making a movie, shake the camera a bit. See?" he swiped his smartphone to the side. "It looks like you got shot. Also, a bullet would be almost invisible to this, anyway. The only problem is the motion blur in the background. However, since it's an elevator, the background is static anyway."

"But we only happened to be waiting in the elevator at that time." Mouri pointed out.

"It wasn't intended for us." Hattori corrected. "It really was for Nanami; she goes to the salon every week. Izutsu would've seen Fuura and asked him to meet a new client in a nearby shop. Then, she'll wait at the elevator. She'd make sure he was wearing the same suit. Izutsu would spray the security camera, then write 'goodbye' on the door. With the notes on every other floor, nobody would call the elevator. You shot Fuura once he was stunned by the 'goodbye' on the window, then all you had to do was wait until Nanami left for the salon. You pressed the button to your floor, above Nanami's and kept the elevator open. When Nanami would use the elevator, you propped up the board with the four tablets attached. Then you played the videos while passing the third floor."

"Then all she'd have to do is get off on her own floor, then take the board away." Megure concluded. "The perfect crime."

"Perfect crimes don't exist." Hattori chided. "You can easily see all of her mistakes. For starters, she put out her left hand when the police asked to check for gunpowder residue. You held your towel, book and lighter in your right hand. No matter how you slice it, you're right-handed. You shot Fuura with your left hand, because Fuura was left-handed. After all, if you shot him with your right hand, traces of residue on the piece would be different. Another mistake is winding the automatic watch. You gave him this watch because he was wearing a different one, and in an attempt to make it match, you shook it a little to make it tick. Those two wear their watches all the time: they could tell you that a little shake won't go a long way, it's stop pretty fast. The murderer won't know that, so..."

"The watch wasn't mine." Izutsu cut in. "I got a lady's watch from Fuura; it was slim. That watch was Mizuki-sensei's. You know, the old man who hung himself. He was my homeroom teacher in school. I didn't know we lived in the same block until I bumped into him in the elevator."

"So, the murder was to get revenge for the man who pushed your former teacher to suicide?" Takagi blinked.

"There's revenge, but I was sad." Izutsu admitted. "After Sensei killed himself, I remembered he didn't return something to me, so when I asked the superintendent to go to his room, I realized he made his suicide look like murder. Don't you think it's sad? If this was my manga, a detective would've worked it out. But in this case, it was pardoned as a suicide right away. I wanted his last thoughts to be recognized. Otherwise, his mystery would never had been allowed to rest."


SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.