SailorStar9: With Chapter 86 uploaded, this is Chapter 87 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 87: The Shifting Mystery of Beika City, Part One
Time passes...
A dead Amagi Tatsuya was found floating in a stone pool, the arriving police were condoning off the crime scene.
"The victim is Amagi Tatsuya-san, a resident in a nearby apartment building." Takagi informed his superior. "Fukuda Tameo-san, who discovered the body, found it when he happened to pass through this area."
"I was shocked and called the police." Fukuda admitted.
"According to Mizuno-san, based on the body's condition, she estimated he was killed around 9pm last night." Takagi reported. "He seems to have been stabbed in the torso several times by an awl-like object. Since the wallet full of money was left on the body, and due to the reckless nature of the murder, it's likely..."
"A murder motivated by hatred." Conan cut in. "I saw some police cars and followed them here." he beamed.
"What kind of hatred would drive a person to do something like this?" Mouri wondered. "Anyway..." he looked at the gathering crowd, most of them having smug expressions on their faces.
"Inspector," Chiba ran in. "The victim Amagi-san seems to have been disliked by his neighbors. Amagi Tatsuya-san, who was living off his inheritance from his parents, moved to this town about three months ago." he continued, the coroner assistants taking the dead body to the autopsy theater. "He rode his motorcycle at all hours. Its deafening roar bothered all the residents of this quiet neighborhood."
"They should've asked him to keep it down." Conan pointed out.
"We tried, but..." Fukuda defended, recalling how he and a couple of neighbors had approached Amagi, only to have the overbearing man poke his spanner repeatedly into Fukuda's stomach, making him fall to the ground. "He was horrifyingly crude."
"In other words, the victim Amagi Tatsuya-san was a massive nuisance." Megure concluded. "And including you, Fukuda Tameo-san, who discovered the body."
"Everyone in the neighborhood had motive to kill him." Mouri stated.
"We wouldn't kill someone over that." Fukuda insisted. "We asked the neighborhood association president, Bando-san, to make him stop.
"Are you referring to Bando Hikoichi-san?" Megure echoed. "We found Bando-san's medical examination card next to the body."
"Maybe neighborhood association president, Bando-san invited Amagi Tatsuya-san out last night so he could ask him to stop, but..." Takagi suggested.
"Amagi-san wouldn't listen to him, so he stabbed him in a rage." Chiba concluded.
"Let's visit Bando-san next." Megure instructed. "The local authorities can handle things here."
"Ojii-san, don't you think it's too sloppy to leave personally identifiable evidence at a crime scene?" Conan wondered.
"He got what was coming." Fukuda snarled. "Amagi got what was coming to him."
In Bando's house...
"Bando-san!" Megure exclaimed, the police finding the poisoned man in his house. "It's no use." he felt for a pulse. "He's dead. Judging by his condition, he must've died last night."
"He poisoned himself with alcohol and pesticide." Mouri spotted the brandy bottle and pesticide container on the coffee table.
"This is blood, isn't it?" Conan looked at the bloodied awl on the table.
"It's probably the weapon used to kill Amagi Tatsuya-san." Mouri remarked.
"Get forensics down here." Megure instructed.
"Yes." Takagi nodded. "Looks like Mizuno-san will be pulling another all-nighter tonight."
"Bando Hikoichi-san seems to be a pleasant but unreliable man." Takagi informed Megure, Bando's body was also delivered to the autopsy theater.
"He was forced to become the neighborhood association president." Chiba supplied. "Apparently, more than half of the neighborhood's property belongs to the Bando family."
"If the neighbors were pestering him, he couldn't have avoided talking to Amagi-san." Takagi added.
"Of course, he couldn't." Ezaki Hiro piped in from behind the police tape. "We were paying dues to the neighborhood association."
"Since he was so unreliable, he may have bought the awl for self-defense." Takagi guessed. "The panicked Bando-san ended up stabbing him. Believing that he couldn't escape his crime..."
"He killed himself." Chiba concluded.
"Don't rush to conclusions." Megure warned.
"I don't think that's what happened, detectives." Kanemitsu Toyoko spoke up. "Bando-san couldn't have committed a crime. Bando-san wasn't that worried about Amagi-san, either. He was just laughing yesterday. My name is Kanemitsu Toyoko. Why don't we go to my place to talk?"
In Kanemitsu's café...
"When did Bando-san stop by yesterday?" Kanemitsu asked Gamo Koyuki, the waitress working at her café.
"I think it was past noon." Gamo recalled.
"He came with his friend, Chino Yosuke-sensei who teaches Japanese history at Haido College." Kanemitsu added.
"That was yesterday afternoon?" Megure inquired.
"So, it's hard to imagine Bando-san went to talk to Amagi-san last night." Kanemitsu related.
"You're right." Conan agreed. "It's hard to imagine he did."
"Did Bando Hikoichi-san really kill himself?" now Mouri was skeptical.
"There was something strange about the lock on his front door." Megure stated. "It was unlocked when we arrived. Normally, you'd lock it if you want to kill yourself."
"So, no one can interfere." Conan sipped his black tea.
"This is Megure." Megure took the incoming call. "Got it, Mizuno. That's Mizuno; she'd confirmed Bando-san was indeed poisoned with pesticide, but Tox discovered the poison was mixed into the alcohol in the bottle."
"If he killed himself, he would've poured it into a glass." Mouri reasoned. "Putting in the bottle would dilute it: sounds like a murder disguised as a suicide."
"The culprit must be absent-minded." Conan piped in. "The method they used is easily discovered and they didn't even lock the front door."
"I told you Bando-san didn't do it." Kanemitsu insisted. "After all, I heard Amagi-san was stabbed to death with an awl."
"That's impossible." Gamo protested. "Because..."
"Bando-san had a fear of needles." Kanemitsu supplied.
"He couldn't stand pointed objects." Gamo explained. "He would start shaking if he just saw one."
"This must be the work of the real culprit, X." Mouri declared.
"X probably murdered Amagi Tatsuya-san." Megure followed Mouri's line of thought. "In order to make it look like Bando Hikoichi-san did it, he murdered Bando-san and made it look like a suicide."
"So, these kinds of things really do happen." Kanemitsu mused. "I read about a few of them in those." she turned to her bookshelf.
"Kanemitsu-san, do you enjoy mysteries?" Megure saw the mystery novels all lined in on the bookshelf.
"She even has professional journals." Conan was impressed. "They're not new, and there's only one volume of each."
"She probably only bought them when her favorite authors were featured." Mouri guessed.
"More importantly, the question is who X is." Megure went back to the main subject.
"Our chief told me to bring you this, Inspector." one of the local forensic officers entered. "It was found under the sofa at the crime scene." he dropped the evidence bag containing the lighter into Megure's hand. "The housekeeper showed up, so we had her confirm what it was." he recollected that Hayama Eiko had said that the lighter was not Bando's since he did not smoke and said lighter was not where it was the last time she was there, aka the previous evening.
"if that housekeeper is right, then it must've been left by someone who visited after dusk," Megure concluded.
"Isn't that lighter..." Kanemitsu blinked.
"That's Chino-sensei's." Gamo recalled.
"Chino-san and Bando met at this café, right?" Megure questioned.
"I saw him using it then." Gamo nodded.
"It would mean he visited him again after dusk when they meet during the afternoon." Conan noted.
"Excuse me." Megure stood up, returning to Bando's house to question the housekeeper.
In Bando's house...
"Do you really think Chino-sensei did it?" Kanemitsu asked after Megure confirmed Hayama's testimony.
"Since his belongings were found at the crime scene, that makes him a suspect." Megure replied.
"The culprit killed Amagi-san, and tried to make it look like Bando-san did it, right?" Kanemitsu pressed. "But Chino-sensei doesn't live in this neighborhood, so it wasn't as though Amagi-san was bothering him. In other words, Chino-sensei had no motive to kill Amagi-san. With no motive, it doesn't make sense."
"It's the other way around." Chiba declared.
"Bando Hikoichi-san was the person Chino wanted to eliminate." Takagi guessed.
"To avoid the police's suspicion, he decided to make it look like suicide." Chiba added. "But a suicide needs motive."
"So, Chino used the fact that the neighborhood association was pestering him to talk to Amagi Tatsuya-san." Takagi concluded. "He killed Amagi-san. By making it look like Bando-san had done it, he created a motive for suicide. If you assume that Bando-san was killed only to make Amagi-san's death look like a suicide..."
"Then, it's no wonder we can't find a motive." Chiba remarked.
"Then, why would Chino-sensei kill Bando-san?" Kanemitsu posted a question.
"Looks like we're back to square one." Conan sighed.
"What did he stand to gain from killing his friend?" Kanemitsu tsked. "It would be a different story if he had some kind of treasure."
"There was one." Chiba exclaimed. "While examining the warehouse, Chino found an unbelievable treasure. He killed Bando-san so that he could steal it from him."
"They said they didn't find any treasure." Kanemitsu reminded.
"Chino lied." Takagi insisted.
"When you think of it that way, it does make sense." Mouri agreed.
"So, this was a kind of ABC Murder." Kanemitsu mused. "It's a coincidence, but their names..."
"Their initials are A, B, and C." Conan realized.
"Are you saying Chino-san might have already been murdered?" Megure exclaimed.
"I am kind of curious." Conan admitted, the three police officers rushing off.
In Chino's office...
"Could we ask you a few questions about Amagi-san and Bando-san's murder?" Takagi asked, flashing his badge.
"Bando was murdered?" Chino was shocked. "Your suspicions are groundless." he insisted. "I never even met Amagi. The last time I saw Bando was at the café that afternoon. I never went to his home."
"We found this." Megure showed Chino the lighter.
"It's mine, but I lost it somewhere." Chino admitted. "There isn't really wasn't a single treasure worth stealing from that warehouse. I was at home yesterday."
"Was anyone with you?" Takagi asked.
"I was alone." Chino replied. "I was judging submissions for the New Writer of the Year award. Sometimes I'm asked to judge submissions for a mystery magazine. I was the president of the mystery club in college, so I'm contracted by various mystery magazines. I'm not strapped for cash, so there's no need for me to steal."
"You can tell us more about the situation at the station." Chiba insisted.
"Inspector, you think it's strange, too, right?" Conan asked as Takagi and Chiba dragged Chino off. "It's hard to imagine someone who likes mysteries making basic mistakes, like putting poison in a bottle or leaving the front door unlocked."
"He must also know of all kinds of ways to fabricate an alibi." Megure agreed. "But he didn't make on single attempt."
"Which means Chino-san isn't X." Conan concluded.
"He could've been set up. "Megure concurred.
"That's impossible." Mouri refuted. "I came to get a look at Chino Yosuke-san. If someone else killed Amagi-san and Bando-san and tried to pin the murders on Chino-san, then they would've killed Chino-san, too. They would've made that death look like suicide. Everything would've made sense that way. The fact that he's alive is definitive proof that Chino Yosuke did it."
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
