SailorStar9: With Chapter 63 uploaded, this is Chapter 64 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 64: Conan and Ebizo's Kabuki Jūhachiban Mystery, Part Two
"Mouri-kun." Megure spotted Mouri arriving at the crime scene.
"I asked him to come." Hosoo supplied.
"Why did Takahashi-san commit suicide?" Mouri inquired.
"Ami says she isn't sure it's suicide yet, Mouri-sensei." Amuro interjected.
"Amuro-kun." Mouri blinked. "What are you doing here?"
"Inspector Megure called Ami down yesterday morning." Amuro replied. "It took us about a day to get here from Teitan Shrine."
"I see." Mouri nodded.
"Excuse me." Mouri entered the condoned-off area. "I heard you're not sure if it's a suicide. Did you find something?"
"This is it." Takagi pointed to the wire entangled with the radiator's electric fan. "It was wrapped around the radiator's electric fan. As you can see, it's cut. It was wrapped around Takahashi-san's neck."
"That's awful." Mouri took a look at the body. "If the string hadn't snapped..."
"From here, he passed it through the driver seat's headrest and wrapped it around his neck." Ami took over the explanation, using the tail end of her bell-point pen to trail the wire's path. "The end was then tied to the steering wheel."
"So, when the engine started, the string would be wound in and strangled him." Mouri reasoned. "I'm amazed he managed to start the car."
"It doesn't look like he was strangled right away." Amuro cut in. "The radiator's electric fan for this model doesn't start right after the engine; it takes time for the coolant to heat up and trigger the sensor. Especially during this season when it gets cold."
"It's murder." Mouri agreed with the younger man. "You don't need a time lag to kill yourself. First, we need to determine the cause of death. If we're not careful, something weird might come out of his stomach."
"You boys can go fanboy over cars on the side; just let me do my job." Ami shooed the two detectives aside.
"How long have you been here?" Mouri picked up the eavesdropping Conan at the can's side. "This happens every time. Children shouldn't be seeing this kind of stuff. Amuro-kun, take care of him." he thrust Conan to Amuro.
"Wasn't the mask in that case?" Conan inquired.
"Mask?" Amuro echoed, bringing Conan outside.
"We work in the same company." Shioji Yukari was trying to get into the theater.
"You can't get in right now." the officer guarding the crime scene stopped her.
Aside...
"Here." Amuro offered a packet of tissues to the weeping Shioji. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah." Shioji wiped her tears.
"Shioji-kun." Hosoo found his accounting secretary.
"Sir." Shioji turned to the president. "Is Takahashi-san really... I see." she muttered, seeing Hosoo's stern expression.
In the Kabuki Theater's locker room...
"Good morning, Detective Shiratori." Conan piped in after forensics cleared the scene. "The mask is missing?"
"You're always quick to figure things out." Shiratori noted.
"Conan-kun noticed the two-faced mask missing from the carrier case." Amuro supplied. "What's the matter?" he noticed Minowa wiping his fingers with tissue.
"They took my fingerprints." Minowa stated. "Do they think I did it?"
"It's standard procedure." Amuro assured. "They take the prints from everyone who entered this room; if they find anyone else's fingerprints, it would greatly advance the investigation. Although, if the thief was smart, he'd use gloves to commit the theft."
"Amuro-san is indeed correct." Shiratori concurred. "Apparently, the culprit wore vinyl gloves. According to Tome-san, if they were leather, they would have left behind a print of their texture."
"Vinyl gloves, huh?" Amuro mused. "Was the mask in there?"
"It's Yabusaki-san's locker." Shiratori informed. "He discovered it was missing this morning."
"Mister, can I ask you a question?" Conan turned to Minowa.
In the Kabuki Theater's carpark...
"Hey, you two." Ebizo called out to Amuro and Conan.
"Ebizo-dono." Amuro greeted.
"Have you two figured anything out?" Ebizo asked. "Mouri-san is saying Takahashi-san didn't commit suicide." he started, the two younger males were in the passenger seat. Not only is there a theft, but now there's a murder."
"We're not sure yet." Conan admitted. "But if it's a suicide..."
"It would be strange for the two-faced mask to be missing from the case left in the car." Amuro finished.
"If Takahashi stole it himself, it would have to be in there." Ebizo agreed. "A third party clearly took it from the scene. Did they want to sell it or keep it for themselves?"
"It has to be someone who knows the value of the two-faced mask." Conan pondered.
"And someone who knew the mask was in the president's locker." Ebizo added. "That narrows it quite a bit."
"Excuse me." Amuro heard a call coming in and exited the convertible. "Kazami? Ebizo-dono." he returned to the van. "Kazami ran into some trouble. Can I trouble you to look after Conan-kun?"
"Of course, Furuya-kun." Ebizo nodded. "Is something bothering you?" he noticed Conan's silence.
"The locker was opened quite violently, but all the other locks are pristine." Conan pondered. "Minowa-san left last night at 23:30. The entire building's security system was activated, and the front door was locked at the same time. Plenty of people have cards, but if only Minowa-san and the receptionist have keys to the lock beyond that..."
"They're a master lock picker?" Ebizo frowned.
"They entered without damaging a modern cylinder lock, so why would they pry open such a simple locker with a crow bar?" Conan posted another question.
"So, it was someone able to acquire the key." Ebizo mused.
"Apparently, they know where the security cameras are located, too." Conan added.
"That's right." Ebizo realized. "You and Furuya-kun have been searching for that route."
"There's cameras in here, and while the security is tight around the dressing rooms, Amuro-san and I could make it to the room with the locker without being seen as long as we didn't use the elevator." Conan nodded. "Do you know what this is?" he handed Ebizo a folded piece of paper.
"What do this numbers mean?" Ebizo took a look.
"Minowa-san said it was the code to the front door." Conan replied. "This morning, Amuro-san accidentally stepped on it on the floor of the locker room."
"Look on the back." Ebizo handed the paper back to Conan. "It's the script from our previous performance." he strapped himself in. "Cutting up scripts we don't need and using them as notepaper; the playwright Iwami did that." with Conan strapped in as well, he drove out of the carpark.
On the road...
"Detective, is Iwami your prime suspect?" Ebizo asked.
"Not if he was acting alone." Conan admitted. "The case started when somebody manipulated the brakes on Hosoo-san's car. Next came the secretary Takahashi-san, again manipulating the car in a complicated way. And if the bar used to destroy the locker was a wheel spanner that you'd find in an onboard toolkit: it's hard to imagine Iwami-san did it since he didn't have a driver's license."
"When did you find out Iwami-san didn't have a driver's license?" Ebizo was impressed.
"Amuro-san looked it up." Conan fibbed.
In Hoaji Hospital...
"Iwami!" Ebizo flung open Iwami's room door just in time to stop the playwright from jumping out of the room's window. "What are you doing?" he pulled the suicidal man back. "What do you think you're doing, Iwami?"
"He's such a difficult patient." Sakaguchi Harumi sighed. "I don't know what to do."
"Again?" Dr. Kikuchi Shota arrived.
After parting ways with Ebizo at the hospital, Conan tracked down Kaneko Eiji's phone down in an alleyway and ended up ambushed from the back by the culprit and tasered.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
