SailorStar9: With Chapter 96 uploaded, this is Chapter 97 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 97: The Blind Spot in the Dressing Room, Part One
Time passes...
"Could I go check out the toys?" Conan called out, Ran, Sonoko and Sera were busy discussing their summer vacation plans while trying on bikinis in an upscale apartment store.
"Sorry," Ran realized. "This can't be fun for you. You can go, but don't follow any strangers. We'll come get you once we buy our swimsuits. Then, we'll have lunch at a restaurant."
In a Shimusa Clothing shop...
"You don't remember?" Nitsuka Tomoyo demanded Nanbu Reia. "It's me, Nitsuka, the woman who collapsed in the changing room last week and was taken to the doctor."
"I remember now." Nanbu recalled. "You were feeling anemic and lost consciousness."
"It wasn't anemia." Nitsuka insisted. "It was dog allergy. Since that woman covered in dog hair used the changing room before me, I had an allergic reaction and lost consciousness. So I'm asking if that woman came here today."
"I'm not sure who you're talking about." Nanbu admitted.
"That high-handed, unpleasant looking woman with gaudy nails." Nitsuka snapped.
"Could that high-handed, unpleasant looking woman with gaudy nails you're complaining about be me?" Sashihara Ritsuko scoffed. "NItsuka-san, was it? If you hate dog hair that much, why don't you hold your breath while you use the changing room? Right, Yamaki-san? Don't you agree?"
"But madam, all allergy for dogs can be triggered not just by inhaling dog hair." Yamaki Ayami stated. "But also coming in contact with fur, dander or saliva."
"Then, you won't be able to try any clothes on without wearing socks or a wetsuit." Sashihara mocked.
"Madam, you might have gone too far." Yamaki chided.
"Are you trying to give me advice?" Sashihara sneered. "Have you forgotten that I agreed to take on your debts and even hired you to work at my company?"
"There are three changing rooms." Nanbu cut in. "Why don't you agree on a way to share them?"
"Show me some clothes." Sashihara demanded. "I'm going to another party overseas next week. Unlike you, I don't have all the time in the world."
After a while...
Ran, Sonoko and Sera were riding the escalator after the girls made their purchases when they heard a scream from Nanbu.
"Someone's dead." one of the passersby exclaimed when Conan and Sera ran into the scene.
Sera flung open the curtains in the middle changing room to find a strangled Sashihara slumped in a corner. "Have you called the police? She turned to Nanbu.
"I will." Nanbu nodded.
"Don't let anyone out of the store." Conan instructed. "She's pointing next door." he removed Sashihara's hand that was tucked into her jacket.
"Who was in the changing room to the left?" Sera asked.
"That was me." Yamaki stepped in.
"You killed her?" Nitsuka accused.
"You can't be serious." Yamaki protested. "It wasn't me."
"Who was to her right?" Sera inquired.
"Me." Nitsuka blinked.
"Who was the first one to find her?" Conan questioned.
"That employee." Nitsuka replied.
"She's holding something in her right hand." Sera noticed the deceased was clutching something in her fist. "Lipstick?" she saw the smudge on the thumb.
"Come to think of it, it looked like she wiped her lipstick off her finger." Conan noted.
"She put lipstick on her thumb and grasped it before she was killed." Sera concluded.
After Megure's team was called in...
"So, who's the victim?" Megure peered at the dead body.
"Sashihara Ritsuko-san, forty-one years old." Takagi replied. "She was the president of a cosmetics company. The cause of death is strangulation. According to Mizuno-san, the killer wrapped a rope around her neck and lifted her onto their back."
"Who found the body first?" Megure inquired.
"It was me." Nanbu spoke up. "I'm Nanbu Reia. I work here. Sashihara-sama hadn't come out of the changing room for a while. She didn't answer when I called to her, so when I opened the curtain to look inside, I found her like this."
"Was anyone using the rooms next to her at that time?" Takagi asked.
"I was using the left room." Yamaki replied. "I'm President Sashihara's employee, Yamaki. I often accompanied the president when she went shopping."
"Since I know you'll ask, I was in the right changing room." Nitsuka spoke up. "I'm Nitsuka Tomoyo. I'm just an ordinary customer who had nothing to do with that woman. It looked like someone had used the right changing room before I went in there."
"You mean you didn't see their face?" Megure echoed.
"I only saw the white sandals they left in front of the changing room." Nitsuka answered.
"I saw the sandals, too." Yamaki supplied.
"So did I." Nanbu confirmed.
"How many customers were inside the store at the time?" Takagi questioned.
"About four or five." Nanbu recalled. "They left when they heard there had been a murder since they didn't want to get involved. That boy asked me not to let anyone leave, though." she turned to Conan.
"Conan-kun, what are you doing here?" Takagi was surprised.
"I heard the scream of the employee." Conan replied. "I was at the escalator next to the store."
"Conan-kun had been telling us all about how the murdered woman and these three were arguing before the murder." Sera supplied.
"Are there any security cameras in the store?" Takagi asked Fukunishi and Izumi, the other two store clerks.
"We do have some." Fukunishi replied.
"But I don't think we have any near the changing rooms." Izumi added.
"Which leaves the victim's hands." Megure remarked. "Her left hand has the pointer finger and thumb extended. Her right hand was holding her thumb which was stained with lipstick. What is this?" he lifted Sashihara's left hand.
"You don't know?" Sera rebuked. "It's a dying message: a message from the dead."
"Maybe." Megure replied. "But the killer could've left it on purpose."
"Look again at the palms of her hands." Sera suggested. "She still has nail marks on both hands. The killer couldn't have left those marks if they'd closed her hands for her. The victim clutched her hands as hard as she could while she was being strangled, so she could tell us who killed her."
"Which way was her finger pointing when the body was discovered?" Megure asked.
"It was inside the right side of her jacket, so it was pointing left." Conan supplied.
"In other words, the woman using the left changing room..." Megure turned to Yamaki.
"I didn't do it." Yamaki protested. "If the person I killed had their hand inside the jacket, I would check to see what it was doing. I'd be worried if she hid some kind of evidence. Besides, the killer could've changed the orientation of her body after killing her."
"Maybe this is some kind of number." Conan suggested. "The victim frequently traveled aboard. She said she was going to a party overseas next week."
"Every week, she flew all over the world to expand her market." Yamaki nodded.
"Then, she must've gone to Europe often." Conan noted. "When using fingers to count numbers, Europeans generally count one with their thumb, two with the pointer finger, and three with their middle finger."
"It was strange no one heard the victim scream, though." Takagi pointed out.
"In any case, we'll like to question each of you individually in a separate room." Megure informed the three suspects.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
