SailorStar9: With Chapter 58 uploaded, this is Chapter 59 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 do not own Sailor Moon or Detective Conan, I only own this plotline and the pairing.

Pairing: Established!Furuya Rei/Mizuno Ami

Chapter 59: Three First Discoverers, Part Two


"What are we going to do?" Mitsuhiko complained. "We can't attend the interviews."

"It's okay." Conan smirked. "I snuck a Detective Boys Badge in Detective Takagi's pocket."


In Komai's apartment...

"I thought so." Megure noted. "You're the one who stole the 500,000 from the room."

"Where did you find the money?" Takagi asked.

"Around there." Sakaba pointed. "Under the feet of her hanging body, the bills were rolling. I mean, they were scattered." he quickly amended.

"Are you sure you didn't kill her before stealing the money?" Megure pressed. "Along with her phone. There's a charger, but no phone."

"Sir, could Kamai-san have stood on the bills?" Takagi wondered.

"500,000 is not enough." Megure pointed out. "10 million would be about 10 centimeters tall, though. Next." he called Habanaka in.

"I told you earlier." Habanaka spoke. "I only took the script left in the entryway.

"Was it really in the entryway?" Megure pressed.

"Forensics said they found three sets of footprints." Takagi stated.

"A bag of manuscripts paper was left at her feet." Habanaka explained. "I felt bad, so I entered the apartment in my shoes to pick it up. All the errors and corrections made it hard to read. I aways have my AD type up the scripts before I read them."

"By the way, how many pagers were there?" Takagi inquired.

"It's a two hour special, so about a hundred pages." Habanaka answered.

"They weren't folded or rolled up, were they?" Takagi pressed.

"No." Habanaka blinked.

"A hundred pages of standard paper are about 1 centimeter's tall." Megure pondered.

"It's not tall enough for her to stand on, either." Takagi stated.

"Why didn't you call the police right away?" Megure asked.

"I'd like to keep this off the record, please." Habanaka requested. "She's actually the ghostwriter of a famous scriptwriter. I thought it'd cause problems if the script was made public as part of the case. I wanted to send her off on her own soon, but the scriptwriter fell in love with the realistic and original crimes she wrote."

"What's the title?" Megure inquired.

"It's the 'Moonless Night Thieves' series." Habanaka answered.

"I know that." Takagi gushed. "They use impressive means to steal from evil, wealthy individuals. But in the final episode, they killed the couple they robbed and the group disbanded."

"That part really affected me." Habanaka admitted. "But in this script, they were supposed to get the group back together. The couple they thought they killed was actually alive. I never thought it would become her posthumous work."

"We got into a fight." it was Shibakaru's turn. "It was a couple of days ago at a bar. The truth is, she asked me to come here so she could apologize. The bar's owner and other customers saw us fighting. I doubted anyone would believe me if I said io found her hanging when I got here. I had no idea that boy watched me come and go."

"What caused the fight?" Takagi asked.

"It was a stupid argument."Shibakaru assured. "We just got a little noisy because we'd been drinking. Your phone's ringing." he pointed out.

"But that's not our ring tones." Takagi blinked.

"It's mine." Shibakaru pulled out the phone in his back pocket. "I forgot I changed the ringtone the other day. It's from a bar hostess." he pressed the 'end call' button.


Outside...

"Figure anything out?" Haibara asked.

"Yeah." Conan replied. "The person who caused this incident and that the name of that kid is Ganno Mamoru. Three years ago, a group of thieves broke into a family home, killing the wife and husband and making off with two million yen on cash. He's the couple's only child. A quick search on the net turned him up. He happened to be on a field trip and escaped unscathed. Since the incident, the culprits have been missing. But the numbers on the cash happened to be written down."

"It's finally over." Shibakaru heave in relief, exiting the unit.

"I need to go back to the station." Habanaka reminded.

"Detective Takagi." Conan caught the detective's attention. "I think you should search the room harder. There's definitely 500,000 yen in there somewhere. Also, could I borrow 20,000 yen?"

"According to eyewitness testimony, after watching the three of you come to and leave this room, the witness came here to find the dead scriptwriter Komai Yasue-san hanging." Megure summarized. Because there was nothing to stand on near her feet, she must have been murdered and made to look like she'd killed herself. By one of you three. Could you tell us the approximate times you came to the apartment?"

"She asked me to come after two, but I don't know the exact time." Shibakaru replied.

"She told me to come around two, as well." Habanaka supplied. "When I called her cell from a pay phone, that's what she told me."

"I didn't make an appointment with her." Sakaba spoke.

"Even though you all came after two, none of you ran into each other?" Megure was skeptical.

"It's coincidence." Habanaka replied.

"Maybe they agreed beforehand not to reveal when she asked them to come." Conan reasoned. "After all, they seem to know each other. When the old man lit his lighter, it made a huge unwavering flame despite the wind. It's because the big man was standing next to him to block the wind for him. It means the old man is just important to him. And when the long-haired man borrowed the lighter, he turned down the flame. How do you know the old man keeps his flame strong on his lighter before using it? Besides, while he was smoking, the big guy approached him to glare at him: like he's telling him not to smoke. The long-haired man got scared and put out his barely-smoked cigarette. These three must know each other. By agreeing with your stories, you're trying to hide when you come here. If all of you say the obaa-san was already dead when you arrived, then that would mean the first person killed her and was lying. That's why the old man stole her phone. You didn't want the police to know in which order you came. She probably emailed asking you to come. By emailing instead of calling, she could give you precise times right down to the minute. That's why none of you ran into each other, even though you were summoned at around the same time."

"How did you know he took her phone?" Megure was surprised.

"It took the old man a while to notice it was his phone that was ringing." Conan explained. "And he hung up without answering it. That's because it's the obaa-san's phone. The picture he showed us was probably on her phone."

"Shibakaru-san, may we examine your phone?" Megure requested.

"It doesn't matter if that phone tells us which order they arrived." Conan shrugged. "Detective Takagi, did you get it?" he spotted Takagi returning.

"A notebook, tape and 20,000 yen in thousand-yen notes." Takagi brought back a plastic bag.

"I want to perform an experiment." Conan took the items. "Give me a hand, guys." he called the Detective Boys into the apartment. "It's done." he had the others roll up the notes in cylinder form, securing them with scotch tape and placed the rolled-up notes on the floor in a diamond formation. "I bet the long-haired man has seen these tubes before. You almost said the money was rolling under the dead obaa-san's feet. You put the notebook on top of the bills. And if you carefully get on..." he stood on the makeshift stool. "I weigh 18 kilograms. Each tube can support about 1 kilogram, so..."

"Komai-san stood on this." Takagi realized. "Komai weighs roughly 47 kilograms. By putting a hundred sheets of manuscript paper on an envelope and placing that over 500 thousand yen's worth of rolled up bills, she created a stand that would support her weight."

"After kicking the stand aside and hanging herself, Sakaba-san pocketed the rolled-up bills and Habanaka-san took the envelope of manuscript paper which got rid of the stand and made it look like a murder. By having Shibakaru-san take the phone, we wouldn't know she invited the three of them within minutes of each other. If anyone saw you coming or going, we would suspect you murdered her."

"But there's still no proof." Takagi reminded.

"The proof is stuck on the sole of the long-haired man's sandal." Conan spoke up. "It's the tape the obaa-san used to roll up the bills. It took a long time to get to the bank's ATM because you were removing 500,000 yen's worth of tape. The obaa-san's fingerprints should be on the tape and traces of tape should be on the 500,000 he deposited at the ATM."

"Go to the bank at the ATM and confirm this immediately." Megure instructed.

"Does this mean we're free to go?" Shibakaru was ready to leave. "I should return this phone." he pulled out Komai's phone.

"This leaves a bad taste in my mouth, though." Haibara complained. "She gave her life to frame that shady trio, but you exposed the trick so easily."

"Actually, her true aim was..." Conan grinned as Shibakaru opened the door.

"Director Habanaka," a reporter thrust his microphone into the trio's faces as cameras flashed around them. "Are the contents of the confession true? It was written in Komai Yasue-san's script you gave to your AD. Along with Habanaka Kuramichi, Shibakaru Denji and Sakaba Ronpei, she was a member of a gang of thieves that performed a series of robberies. She also wrote the photo, proving it is on her phone and the money you stole is inside a Tohto Bank ATM."

"Why don't we have a long chat at the station about this?" Megure spoke up.


Later that evening...

"You sound unusually pleased." Amuro noted amusedly, hearing Ami hum an upbeat tune as she buckled up in the passenger seat of his car.

"Remember the Ganno robbery-murder case from three years back?" Ami grinned. "We got the gang members."

"Well, that calls for a celebration." Amuro remarked.


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