SailorStar9: With Chapter 73 uploaded, this is Chapter 74 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 74: The Beauty, The Lies, and The Secrets


Time passes...

Takizawa Misaki walked out of the elevator towards her red Chevrolet Corvette Stingray parked in the multi-story carpark.

Leaning against a nearby pillar, Yaginuma Takeshi lit up his cigarette and walked towards her.


Meanwhile...

"It's completely dark out." Conan commented, he, Mouri and Ran stepped out of the restaurant they had dinner in.

"It's your fault for taking forever eating dessert." Mouri chided.

"You're the one to talk." Ran retorted. "It's your fault for chatting with the pretty waitress forever."

Just then, a high-pitched scream was heard and the trio hurried to the carpark.


By the carpark sidewalk...

"Ran, call an ambulance." Mouri shouted, he and Conan found Yaginuma on the pavement. "And the police."

"Ojii-san." Conan looked up and saw Misaki on the staircase.


At the police headquarters later...

"So, that man suddenly attacked you?" Megure summarized after Misaki recounted what had happened.

"I ran towards the emergency staircase, but..." Misaki nodded, remembering she had ducked out of the way and caused Yaginuma to go over the railing. "I was so frightened. I thought he was trying to kill me."

"Are you sure that's the man you saw during that case?" Megure pressed.

"That's definitely him." Misaki confirmed.

"Inspector, what case are you referring to?" Mouri wondered.

"A robbery murder." Megure replied. "One week ago, a robber broke into Takizawa Misaki-san's house through the second-floor balcony in the middle of the night. He threatened her husband, Takizawa Akira-san into opening the safe in the study and stole precious stones worth 100 million yen. Then, he murdered Takizawa."

"I awoke when I heard the sound of the glass table shattering and rushed to my husband's study, but..." Misaki related.

"The man who just attacked Misaki-san is the culprit?" Ran gasped.

"His name is Yaginuma Takeshi." Megure supplied. "A bartender at a jazz café. The late Takizawa visited the shop several times. He was one of our suspects and we were going to bring Misaki-san in for a line-up."

"So, he tried to beat you to the punch by silencing Misaki-san." Mouri concluded.

"Inspector." Takagi entered the interrogation room. "While searching Yaginuma's shop, we found this in the storage area under the floor."

"Look closely." Megure gestured, Takagi presented the stolen jewelry. "Were these stolen from the safe in your home?"

"Definitely." Misaki nodded.

"It's unfortunate we weren't able to arrest the culprit." Megure stated. "But once we submit the case to the prosecutor with a dead suspect, that should close it."

"Misaki-san, why did you park your car there?" Conan wondered. "The first and second floors of the parking lot were empty. There wasn't any reason for you to go to the third floor. I thought you might've had some reason to..."

"Kid, what are you pestering her for?" Mouri snapped, grabbing Conan by the collar. "Did you take a good look at Misaki-san's car? If she parked a car that nice somewhere obvious, it'd get stolen."

"Conan-kun, right?" Misaki noted. "Shall we go for a drive right now?"


Meanwhile...

"You know, funnily enough," Ami remarked, four halved peaches were tenderizing in her skillet. "Bourbon is on the top twelve best liquors for flambéing."

"Is that a crack at my codename?" Amuro teased, scooping out vanilla ice cream from Ami's Ben & Jerry's tub.

"Whatever do you mean?" Ami grinned, covering up the pan with a glass lid after seconds of igniting the bourbon she poured over the peaches.


In Misaki's house...

"You shouldn't enter any rooms without permission, Conan-kun." Misaki chided, having changed out into a bathrobe and finding Conan in the study room.

"Sorry." Conan smiled. "There are lots of old records, so I couldn't help myself."

"Takizawa loved jazz." Misaki noted. "Would you like something to drink? All I have is orange juice, though. He said listening to jazz at a high volume helped eliminate his stress."

"So that's why this room has a soundproof door." Conan looked around. "When I came in, I noticed the door was really thick and heavy, that's how I knew. But, it's weird. Didn't the sound of the glass shattering wake you up? And if the soundproof door was closed, you wouldn't have been able to hear that."

"It was open, then." Misaki refuted, chipping away ice with an ice pick.

"That's not possible." Conan corrected. "If Takizawa-san was murdered while listening to his records, the door would've been closed. There's still a record on the turntable. Since he took such great care of his records, he wouldn't have left a record out if he wasn't listening to it."

"Then, it could've been Yaginuma who opened the door." Misaki reasoned. "After stealing the jewels, maybe Yaginuma tried to take Takizawa to my room so he could silence the both of us."

"Even though you were asleep?" Conan was skeptical.

"I'm not Yaginuma." Misaki shrugged. "So I wouldn't know. Here's your orange juice." she placed the glass on the counter.

"Then, I have one more question." Conan voiced. "When you ran here after hearing the glass table shatter, the jewels had already been stolen, right? Look closely, behind the cabinet door, where the safe is." he pulled the door open. "There are shards of glass from the table behind it. The cabinet door had to have been closed for shards from the table to get there. If the doors were closed, the safe couldn't have been opened. In other words, the safe was opened after the table was shattered; after Takizawa-san was murdered."

"Then, how did Yaginuma open the safe?" Misaki questioned.

"Wasn't it you?" Conan fired back. "Didn't you open the safe?"

"I wasn't expecting that." Misaki laughed. "Are you accusing me of lying?"

"That's not the only lie you told." Conan tsked. "You said you saw the culprit's face as he escaped through the balcony when you came to this room, but that's not possible. The pool's mercury lamps would've back lit anyone standing on the balcony." he pulled the curtains apart. "You didn't actually see the culprit. You were only able to say Yaginuma-san committed the crime because you were his accomplice. You instructed Yaginuma-san to steal the jewels and murder your husband. Then, you called him to the parking lot, murdered him there, and pushed all the blame on him." just then his phone rang and Conan took the call, with Mouri screaming down the phone.

"How long have you thought I killed Yaginuma?" Misaki inquired.

"From the beginning." Conan admitted. "The palms on Yaginuma's hands were spotless. Anyone would try to grab onto something if they were falling down some stairs: the stairs were pretty dirty, so his hands would've gotten dirty if he tried to grab onto something. Yaginuma-san's hands were clean, though. But he had cigarette ashes on his chest. Yaginuma-san was smoking until just before he fell. That points to only one conclusion: Yaginuma-san approached you while he was smoking and..." he surmised Misaki had sprayed insecticide on Yaginuma's eyes, blinding him. "Bug spray causes unbearable pain when sprayed from a close distance. While he was covering his eyes with his hands, you pushed him from behind."

"Impressive." Misaki praised. "If you're right, that means you're standing in front of a murderer right now. Not only that, you're alone with her."

"You would kill me?" Conan wondered. "If I don't go home now, you'd be the prime suspect. When I put my phone in my pocket earlier, I pushed the callback button."

"Misaki-san, don't do anything stupid." Mouri barked down the phone. "I've already called the police. They'll be arriving soon. Give yourself up."


Back at the police headquarters...

"According to her statement, Yaginuma and Takizawa Misaki were old friends and had been planning this murder since before she got married." Takagi stated.

"Conan-kun, you were a big help again this time." Megure praised.


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