SailorStar9: With Chapter 196 uploaded, I present Chapter 197 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 197: Detectives Don't Sleep

Time passes...

"Someone occasionally sneaks into my apartment while I'm at work." Nishiwaki Kae informed Mouri one afternoon in the Mouri Detective Agency.

"And they steal something every time?" Mouri asked.

"it's the opposite." Nishiwaki corrected. "It started about a month ago. When I came back from work, the item that wasn't there when I left that morning was a box of Masakariya chocolate. The next time it happened was a week after. It was a Skeleton V album. The third time was a bouquet of roses. They're all things I love."

"So, rather than sneaking into your apartment to steal something..." Mouri trailed.

"They're leaving behind what seem to be gifts." Nishiwaki stated.

"Have you contacted the police?" Mouri inquired.

"I didn't think they would believe such a strange story." Nishiwaki admitted.

On the road...

"Since you're locking the door when you leave, whoever it is must have a spare key." Mouri concluded.

"Have you thought of changing your locks?" Conan suggested.

"I was going to, but then I remembered you." Nishiwaki remarked. "I thought I'd ask for your help first."

"If they're leaving gifts, perhaps they are trying to tell you that you have a secret admirer." Mouri noted.

At Nishiwaki's apartment...

Nishiwaki opened her door to let her guests in. "What is this suitcase?" she gaped. "It's not mine." she declared, shocked to see a suitcase at the entryway. "This isn't here when I left."

"If there's a ribbon on it..." Conan pointed out.

"It must be the fourth gift from whoever's sneaking into your apartment." Mouri said. "It's pretty heavy." he moved the suitcase into the living room. "What did they give you this time?" he opened the suitcase and Nishiwaki let out a startled gasp to see Kusakabe Ryuko, her superior's dead body stuffed inside.

"What's my manager doing in there?" Nishiwaki was stunned. "That's my manager, Kusakabe Ryuko." she informed. "She's my direct supervisor at work."

After Megure's team was called in...

"So, you didn't like Kusakabe-san because she was a strict boss?" Megure questioned Nishiwaki.

"Honestly, I even hated her a little." Nishiwaki admitted.

"I'm telling you, Inspector, this is another gift for Nishiwaki Kae-san." Mouri insisted. "The sender got rid of the person their beloved hated."

"I never asked for this." Nishiwaki snapped.

"Why did they bother to bring the body here?" Conan wondered. "Nobody enjoys receiving a dead body."

"Inspector." Ami looked up from her clipboard. "The victim was immediately killed by being hit with a blunt object on the head. I estimate the time of death to be around 1am last night. She was immediately stuffed into this suitcase after her death."

"Inspector." one of Ami's forensics subordinates detected a listening device by the air-conditioner socket.

"Can you think of any clues that would help us determine their identity?" Megure inquired.

"They always snuck into my apartment on Thursday." Nishiwaki recalled.

In the nearby park...

"In the middle of the night?" Megure echoed after Takagi and Chiba returned from interviewing the neighbors.

"It was apparently around 2am." Takagi reported. "When she got up to use the bathroom and was having a cigarette, she saw someone carrying into this apartment building a large suitcase they presumably had loaded into a car."

"It wasn't brought into my room at night." Nishiwaki pointed out.

"They brought it to this apartment building with the intention of waiting until you left today to sneak into your room." Mouri decided. "They temporarily hid it in the building, but where?"

"What about inside their own apartment unit?" Conan suggested.

"Maybe it's them." Nishiwaki wondered. "I once dropped my apartment keys about a month ago. I wondered where I'd lost them and came home. One of the residents must have found it." she recalled seeing the keys hung from the bulletin board. "I was grateful at that time."

"It's possible whoever found her keys made a spare." Mouri concluded.

"The question is who are they and how do we find them." Conan pointed out.

"Maybe Kinoshita-san saw them." Nishiwaki mused.

In the lobby...

"It was Tsukumo-san who lives on the third floor who left the keys on the bulletin board." Kinoshita looked up from her knitting.

"I know him." Nishiwaki blinked. "He looks at me meaningfully. Honestly, it creeps me out."

"Tsukumo-san's probably at home." Kinoshita supplied. "I just saw him.

After confirming that Tsukumo had an alibi...

"I'll be right there." Megure took the incoming call. "We've determined where she was killed; in Hidora City where the victim was from."

After making several inquiries...

Using Mouri's voice, Conan pieced together what had happened and gathered everyone in the park. He fired his tranquilizer dart at Mouri, only to have a waylaid baseball deflect the shot. "Maybe we should have this conversation some other time." he suggested. "He doesn't seem well."

"The trick he used to fake his alibi was..." Mouri started. "You've got an identical twin brother." he turned to Tsukumo. Then you hired your doppelganger to stand in for you."

"I was drinking with my best friend." Tsukumo pointed out. "He'd know if I used a substitute."

Left with no choice, Conan tried a new tactic. "If the great detective like him can't figure it out, then maybe he didn't use a trick. Which also means Tsukumo-san does have an alibi. If that's so, then why was his lighter at the crime scene?"

"He was framed by the real culprit." Mouri realized.

"Didn't you say there were too many clues pointing to Tsukumo-san?" Conan reminded.

"The culprit needed a spare key to bring that suitcase into her apartment." Megure stated. "How did the true culprit get that?"

"Did the culprit really use a spare key?" Conan posted a question. "Didn't you say something about two birds with one stone, ojii-san?" he asked.

"So, that's how it is." Mouri realized. "We should be focusing our attention on only two things. Who benefits from Kusakabe Ryuko-san's death and who benefits from framing Tsukumo-kun? When it comes to who found the two of them disagreeable, it truly is two birds with one stone. Nishiwaki Kae-san, you are the real culprit. You wanted to kill the boss you hated. Naturally, you didn't want to get caught. While coming up with a plan, you happened to lose your keys. The moment you learned they were found by Tsukumo-kun, whom you also found unpleasant, you came up with this plan. You'd kill Kusakabe-san and frame Tsukumo-kun for her murder. Naturally, Tsukumo-kun has no motive to kill her, but you just needed to fake one. You would make us believe he killed the boss you hated because he loved you. You used his numerous break-ins against him."

"I didn't break into anyone's apartment." Tsukumo protested.

"What he's trying to say is that's what the culprit wanted us to believe." Conan explained. "No one actually snuck into her apartment every Thursday."

"That was a lie told in order to frame you." Mouri agreed. "The culprit needed a spare key to sneak into her apartment and you were the only one who had the opportunity to make one. She knew Kinoshita-san's testimony would support that. She even bugged her own apartment to make us believe someone was breaking in. Last night, she carried out her plan. She knew Kusakabe-san had the habit of coming home late on nights before her days off, so she waited for her. She killed her, stuffed her in the suitcase and left Tsukumo-kun's lighter she'd acquired beforehand at the scene. She brought the suitcase into her apartment and tied a ribbon on it so it'd look like a gift. Her one miscalculation was assuming Tsukumo-kun wouldn't have an alibi for the middle of the night when he did. Because we insisted his alibi was a fake, she hoped we'd scrape something together."

"Do you have any proof that I did it?" Nishiwaki demanded.

"If we search your car, I'm sure we'll find signs that you used it to transport that suitcase." Mouri stated.

"I despised you." Nishiwaki burst out laughing after Chiba was sent to search her car. "You apparently fell in love at first sight with me; how dare someone as gloomy as you develop feelings for me. What Kusakabe did was even worse."

That evening...

"'Sleeping Kogoro' didn't make an appearance?" Amuro was surprised as he plated the Italian Chicken. "Interesting."

"I'm quite surprised, too." Ami admitted, setting a bottle of unopened riesling on the wine rack and a pair of wine glasses on the coasters.

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