SailorStar9: With Chapter 124 uploaded, I present Chapter 125 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 125: The Cursed Tears of Borgia, Part Two
In the hospital...
"Dad." Ran dashed into Mouri's hospital ward.
"Be quiet." Mouri chided. "We're in a hospital."
"I'm glad you're doing okay." Ran was relieved.
"It's just a scratch." Mouri assured.
"Inspector Megure, I'm sorry for all the trouble." Ran apologized.
"I couldn't save Mizusawa." Mouri sighed.
"Isn't he the one who found Sumire-san's grandmother?" Conan pointed out.
"He was my drinking buddy." Mouri confirmed. "He said he had something to discuss with me today. If only I'd gotten there sooner."
"About that, Mouri-kun," Megure spoke. "Mizuno-san's autopsy revealed that he hardly inhaled any smoke at all."
"So, by the time the fire started, he was already..." Mouri realized the implication.
"Excuse us." Takagi and Chiba entered the ward. "Forensics just called. They examined the victim's phone that Mouri-san saved from the fire. There wasn't a single image saved on it."
"It wasn't just the images." Chiba added. "Aside from Mouri-san's, they didn't find a single fingerprint on the phone."
"Someone erased all the images on the phone and wiped their prints off of it." Conan concluded.
"It's probably the same person who murdered Mizusawa and started the fire." Mouri added. "Takagi, what about the erased data?"
"We're having forensics restore it right now." Takagi replied.
"Mouri-kun, you were supposed to meet the victim at six, right?" Megure questioned. "Do you remember anything from when the fire started?"
"Judging from the situation, the fire was started about thirty minutes earlier." Mouri pondered. "It couldn't have been more than an hour."
"Which means Mizusawa was murdered before that, between 5 and 5:30." Megure mused. "What about his associates' alibis?"
"Nonogaki Real Estate, the site of the fire, was closed today." Chiba referred to his notes. "We haven't been able to confirm the whereabouts of President Nonogaki or any of his employees."
"The victim's friend and client, Kanoya Construction President Umeki Hiromichi..." Takagi started. "Umeki-san was with the victim when they discovered the body at the dam. He saw the news about the fire on a TV at a bar and came to talk to the police. According to him, he'd been drinking with several friends since around five."
"Oji-san, don't you want to see photos of the crime scene?" Conan suggested. "You might be able to figure something out if you saw it again."
"Bring them immediately." Megure instructed.
The next day...
"This brings back memories." Professor Agasa remarked, having driven Conan back to Kanoya's mansion.
"You remember?" Kanoya was impressed.
"I think I was in sixth grade at that time." Professor Agasa recalled, Conan was rewatching the film once more.
"Oji-san, was the window open in the final scene?" Conan asked.
"We closed it." Kanoya replied. "We didn't want to distract Nagisa-chan in the important final scene. It'd be ruined if the wind blew the curtains."
Several hours later...
Megure's team, Kanoya, Umeki, Professor Agasa and Conan were waiting in Kanoya's mansion for Mouri's arrival.
"He's here." Kanoya heard the doorbell.
Once Mouri entered the hall, Conan instantly tranquilized him.
"That was quick." Chiba gawked.
"Thanks for coming, everyone." Conan took over, using Mouri's voice. "I asked you to come here to discuss the two cases surrounding the jewel known as the Tears of Borgia. I'm sure some of you have heard that Western history scholar Senju said that the Tears of Borgia didn't actually exist and the jewel was fake. However, though the jewel itself was fake, Saeki Yuri-san who was transporting it was indeed found dead. A new incident occurred in the present. Its victim was one of the men who discovered Yuri-san, Mizusawa Sho-kun. Not only that, he was killed not by the fire, but by someone who strangled him to death. The investigation briefly proceeded under the assumption that the culprit was someone who had no alibi for when the fire started, but the crime scene suggested the existence of another culprit. Detective Takagi, the photos. The platter that should be on the shelf is on the table and the bottles are empty. It's because that's a picture of a timed ignition device made from the materials at hand. This device the culprit made to get away with his crime instead limited who the culprit could be. Whoever has an alibi for the time of the fire is the culprit. Isn't that right, Umeki-san? Takagi, the photos from the phone at the crime scene."
"These two photos were restored from the phone's deleted data." Conan continued after Takagi pulled out two photos. "They show the glovebox of the car Yuri-san was riding. Look at the time the photos were taken: the first was taken at 09:41, while the second was taken at 09:51."
"The glovebox that was closed in the first photo is open in the second." Saeki noticed the discrepancy.
"Chiba, what time was the body reported?" Conan asked.
"09:45am." Chiba answered.
"Mizusawa-san photographed the car at 09:41, then he switched with Umeki-san and reported the body at 09:45." Conan related. "He then returned to the car and photographed it at 09:51. Umeki-san, while Mizusawa-kun was away from the car for ten minutes, you're the only one who've opened the glovebox. When Mizusawa-kun noticed the opened glovebox later, he suspected you took something from the car. He tried to discuss it with you, but you killed him."
"Ridiculous." Umeki snorted. "Are you saying the Tears of Borgia was inside the glovebox? Why would I know that ancient history?"
"I'm disappointed, Hiromichi." Kanoya chided. "I told you about the Tears of Borgia countless times when you were a boy."
"For this..." Umeki snarled, pulled out the ring box. "For this damn fake..."
"No." Saeki grabbed Umeki's arm before he could smash the box on the floor. "Even if it's fake, my grandmother risked her life for this. So, who stabbed my grandmother?" she wondered after Umeki was taken into custody.
"Allow me to take over from Mouri-kun." Professor Agasa cut in. "It happened over forty years ago, after all. It's more speculation more than anything. Kanoya-san, can you prepare the kine? Kanoya-san preserved the last scene of the forty-year-old film 'I Killed Them' on 16mm film." he related after Kanoya played the film. The maid played by Nagisa-san calls over her boyfriend, the butler: this is the scene suggested by Yuri-san in which she begins peeling apples, right?"
"Yes, but..." Kanoya started, the reel showing Asahina picking up an apple and finding a warning note from 'Red Hood'.
"Could you pause it here?" Professor Agasa requested, the reel continuing on until Asahina pulled the breaker. "I'd like to present my theory to you now. While the drama was being filmed at the studio, Nagisa-san waited on location for her scene to start and for Yuri-san to arrive with the Tears of Borgia. However, she never arrived. Nagisa-san must've panicked. Yuri-san had been convinced by Professor Senju not to embarrass the family with a fake. They were both desperate. Yuri-san had no time to explain and Nagisa-san had a 40-degree fever." he then related how Asahina had accidentally stabbed Saeki with the fruit knife in her hand. "Yuri-san tried to get away as far away from the location as she could, so Nagisa-san wouldn't be blamed and so the fake Tears of Borgia wouldn't appear in the drama." he then concluded that after Saeki fell over the cliff, she struggled to her car and drove off, eventually driving into the dam. "At the studio, the stand-in maid stabbed Red Hood to death. All that remained was Nagisa-san's final shot. "That's what I imagined happened behind the camera."
"it's true your story explains the fallen car and fruit knife." Megure agreed.
"Nagisa-san's current condition, too..." Ran nodded.
"It's too bad it's only speculation." Megure mused.
"Didn't you say you had them close the window for the final scene?" Conan reminded. "If the window was open, doesn't that prove that Yuri-san came? I saw something shiny when you showed us this film on the editor this afternoon. Just before the words 'The End' appear onscreen, when Nagisa-san disappears from the shot. Right there." he paused the film. "Can't you see something shiny through the lace curtains?"
"That proves the professor's story." Ran was relieved. "I wonder what that was. Was it plane lights?"
"I see." Kanoya realized. "This is..."
"Probably the now demolished Beika City aerial lighthouse." Conan nodded.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
