SailorStar9: With Chapter 40 uploaded, this is Chapter 41 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 the pairing.

Pairing: Established!Furuya Rei/Mizuno Ami

Chapter 41: The Comedian Who Turned Himself In, Part One


Sometime later...

"Sheesh." Mouri stalked out from the pachinko parlor. "Four-eyes," he heaved Conan up, spotting him in the nearby police box. "Did you get into trouble for doing something bad?"

"It's not like that, Mouri-san." the officer on duty refuted. "He was delivering a wallet he found on the street."

"Uh..." Dodonpa Rokusuke stumbled into the police box.

"Are you the comedian..." Mouri gawked.

"I'm Dodonpa Rokusuke." said comedian admitted.

"The lying stand-up comedian, Dodonpa-san." the officer recognized the celebrity. "Can I help you with something, Dodonpa-san?"

"My talent agency's office is right down the street." Dodonpa explained. "There I... I killed the president."


At Dodonpa's agency...

"Inspector Megure, Chiba brought the housekeeper of the building in. "I had the housekeeper Ueki-san prepare an open room for us."

"Thank you." Megure noted. "The Beika Station seems to be a mess with all the other cases. Why don't you give us a detailed account?"

"Dodonpa Rokusuke," Takagi read off his notes. "His real name is Tanigaki Rokusuke-san. He lives in Akebono City, 3-chome. The late Tendou Hideki-san operated a talent agency out of that room, which also serves as his home, but his only client was Dodonpa-san."

"He worked closely with me as my president and manager." Dodonpa added. "He was my dearest partner." he sobbed.

"And you killed your dearest partner?" Megure stated.

"Yes." Dodonpa replied. "I was coming up with new material this week, and today we were going to meet so I could show him what I had. I came to the office around 11:10. The difference in our senses of humor led to an argument and I became furious. I went to the corner of the room, picked up the bat lying there, and I... I'm sorry."

"Based on the deep remorse you're feeling, you don't seem to be lying." Mouri noted.

"Where is he?" a voice shouted in the corridor. "Is he in that room? Is it true Dodonpa Rokusuke-san murdered the president of his talent agency and turned himself in?" a reporter flung open the door to the makeshift interrogation room, with a group of cameramen snapping their cameras.

"Stay out of here." Chiba demanded, pushing the reporters out.

"We're still talking to him." Megure reminded. "We'll release a statement later."

"Let's go home." Mouri told Conan. "We'd just be wasting our time if we stayed here."

"But no matter how angry you got; would someone strike their partner with a metal bat?" Conan was puzzled.

"I'm stuck on that, too, Dodonpa-san." Megure concurred. "Go see if his story checks out."


In the surveillance room in the Beika Station...

"He arrived at Beika at 11:00." Takagi noted, he and Chiba were watching the surveillance footage.

"It's a ten-minute walk from the station to the crime scene, so he arrived at the office at around 11:10." Chiba added.

"They immediately got into an argument and he killed him." Takagi pondered. "He returned to the police box near the station and turned himself in around 11:30 or so..."


In the office building...

"The timeline of his story is consistent?" Megure confirmed.

"I'm going to hit up his entertainer friends next and ask if there was any trouble between him and the victim." Chiba responded from the other end of the line.

"I see." Megure took the second call. "Good work. That was forensics; the blood and hair on the metal bat belong to the victim, Tendou Hideki-san. They got his fingerprints off the bat, too."

"That means, it's the murder weapon, then." Mouri noted.

"I told you I hit him with that bat." Dodonpa stated, after Chiba reported back on what two entertainers from the Beika Theater told him. "Of course, I resented him. I was invited to be a regular on a famous variety program, but he turned down the offer because he didn't like the program."

"In other words, there had been friction between you and Tendou since then." 'Megure concluded.

"I think I got angry because of that, too." Dodonpa admitted. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have suddenly hit him with a bat."

"Am I making too much of this?" Megure wondered.


In the building's back entrance...

"This wasn't here when I was tidying up around the rear entrance this morning." the building housekeeper told Conan after the boy noticed his confused expression.

"A metal pipe?" Conan frowned, seeing the pipe lying against the wall near the trash bin.

"They use these kinds of things at construction sites, right?" the housekeeper reminded. "I wonder who brought it here."

"What time were you tidying this morning?" Conan asked.


In the office building...

"It's different?" Megure echoed after Takagi reported back.

"What's different, Inspector?" Mouri inquired.

"The weapon." Megure replied. "Mizuno has confirmed it isn't the metal bat. Apparently, when she compared the weapon to the victim's head injury during the autopsy, she noticed the shape did not match up. She discerned the actual weapon is a blunt cylinder, like a metal pipe.

"Well done, Conan-kun." Megure praised, after getting a call. "In addition to the shape, the fragments of concrete in the wound on Tendou's head match those stuck on the pipe. They found Tendou's blood in it, too."

"In other words, the metal pipe at the rear entrance was the actual weapon used to kill Tendou." Mouri stated.

"Then, what was that metal bat about?" Conan wondered.

"Tendou's hair and blood were stuck to it, even though it's not the murder weapon." Mouri agreed.

"How do you explain this, Dodonpa-san?" Megure questioned.

"In any case, I killed him." Dodonpa insisted. "I killed the president with these hands."


In the building's reception area...

"Mister Housekeeper, Inspector Megure wanted me to ask you something." Conan approached the reception box. "There should be someone coming and going around the time Dodonpa-san arrived."

"I don't remember anyone." the housekeeper replied. "There's been hardly any traffic over the long holiday. I'd remember if there had been anyone. The only people coming and going this morning were the Mori-san couple leaving for their trip, Tendou-san when he went to buy lunch and..."

"What time was it?" Takagi took over. "When did Tendou-san go to buy lunch?"


At the nearby convenience store...

"7:58." Takagi noted the time stamp on the store's surveillance footage. "Can you tell me what kind of lunch you heated up for him?"

"It's a hamburger lunch." Okamoto referred to his receipts.

"Did he put hot water in his cup noodles?" Takagi inquired.

"Tendou-san always gets his hot water at the store." Okamoto answered.


In the office building...

"By the way, Dodonpa-san." Megure started after Takagi reported back. "Where were you around 9:00 this morning?"

"Around 9:00, I was at Suda-sensei's studio." Dodonpa recalled.

"9:00?" Mouri echoed.

"Mizuno-san has concluded, based on the digestion of his stomach contents, Tendou-san was killed about an hour after he ate. He ate a hamburger lunch and cup noodles."

"He bought both of those at the convenience store at 7:58." Conan supplied. "He had his lunch heated up and he put hot water in his cup noodles at the store, so he must have eaten them as soon as he got back."

"Dodonpa-san, Tendou-san wasn't killed after 11:00 like you said, but two hours earlier at 9:00." Megure declared.

"But that that time, Dodonpa-san..." Conan trailed.

"Who is this Suda-sensei you visited?" Megure questioned.

"She's an artist who lives in Akebono City in my neighborhood." Dodonpa relented.


At Suda's place...

"Who are you?" a yawning Suda answered the door. "We met about six months ago." she related to Takagi and Chiba. "He said he was a comedian, but I don't know any performers. I don't have a TV, radio, or cellphone."

"We want to know if Dodonpa-san visited you this morning." Chiba requested.

"He did." Suda nodded. "He came to return the art books he had borrowed to help him come up with ideas. He called last night to say he'd be by at 9:00 the next day. I looked at that clock, so I'm sure."


In the office building...

"I wanted to be the murderer." Dodonpa sighed, after Takagi confirmed his alibi. "I wanted to protect Tendou-san's reputation. I owe Tendou-san for developing my talent, but he was two-faced. He had dirt on people in the industry and was extorting them for money. When I arrived after 11:00 today, Tendou-san was already dead on the floor. I can only imagine someone he was extorting killed him to silence him. I couldn't just contact the police. If they looked for the murderer, Tendou-san's foul other face will be revealed. I didn't want that to let that happen. I decided to say I did it because of the difference in our approach to entertainment. I could tell he had died to a blow to the head, but the weapon was gone. In order to make the weapon seem like the bat that happened to be in the room, I stuck my fingerprints on it and turned myself in at the police box near the station."

"Who was Tendou extorting and what was he using?" Megure questioned.

"I have no idea." Dodonpa shook his head.

"Right now, the murder investigation comes first." Megure concluded. "We'll investigate your actions after the case is solved. You can leave for today." he released Dodonpa. "Make sure we can get in touch with you."

"I wonder why the murderer took the real murder weapon out of the room." Conan mused, after Megure, Takagi and Chiba went off for further investigations.

"Their fingerprints must've been on it." Mouri scoffed.

"Then, they should have taken it all the way home but it was left beside the trash bin by the rear entrance." Conan reasoned.


At the entrance of the building...

"I'm sorry, everyone." Dodonpa bowed to the gathered press. "In order to protect the reputation of Tendou Hideki, I, Dodonpa Rokusuke, wanted to be called his murderer. What that intent, I falsely turned myself in. I'm terribly sorry."

"How did you guys know Dodonpa-san turned himself in?" Conan ran towards the leading reporter.

"Every station received an anonymous tip by phone." the reporter replied.


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