SailorStar9: With Chapter 30 uploaded, this is Chapter 31 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?
Pairings: Furuya Rei (Amuro Tooru)/Mizuno Ami
Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and pairing.
Chapter 31: Three First Discoverers, Part 2
"What are we going to do?" Mitsuhiko asked, Conan had rejoined the group. "We can't attend the interviews."
"That's obvious." Haibara noted.
"It's okay." Conan grinned. "I stuck a Detective Badge in Detective Takagi's pocket."
"I thought so." Inspector Megure noted. "You're the one who stole the 500,000 yen from the room."
"Sorry." Sakaba grinned nervously.
"Where did you find the money?" Takagi asked.
"Around there." Sakaba pointed. "Under the feet of her hanging body, the bills were rolling... I mean, they were scattered." he corrected himself.
"Are you sure you didn't kill her before stealing the money?" Inspector Megure pressed. "Along with her phone. There's charger, but no phone."
"Sir, could Komai-san have stood on the bills?" Takagi suggested.
"500,000 is not enough." Inspector Megure reminded. "10 million would be about 10 millimeters tall, though. Next/." he let Sakaba out. "You, the large man. Come in."
"The victim weighs approximately 47 kilos." Takagi noted. "If the culprit lifted her to hang it, then..."
"He's our prime suspect." Inspector Megure agreed once Habanaka entered.
Tape on the soles of his sandals? Conan wondered, spotting the scotch tape that was stuck on Sakaba's sandal after he sank down on the corridor, exhausted from the intense questioning.
"I told you earlier." Habanaka reiterated. "I only took the script left in the entryway."
"Was it really in the entryway?" Inspector Megure asked.
"Forensics say they found three sets of footprints." Takagi added.
"Actually..." Habanaka started. "A bag of manuscript paper was left by her feet. I felt bad, but I entered the apartment with my shoes to pick it up."
"Under her feet again." Inspector Megure sighed.
"It's unusual for someone to be using manuscript paper in this day and age, though." Takagi pointed out."
"Indeed." Habanaka agreed. "All the errors and corrections make it hard to read. I always have my AD type up the scripts before I read them."
"By the way, how many papers were there?" Takagi inquired.
"It's a two hour special, so about a hundred pages." Habanaka replied.
"They weren't rolled up or folded, were they?" Takagi pressed.
"No." Habanaka answered.
"A hundred pages of standard paper are about 1 centimeter tall." Inspector Megure mused.
"It's not enough for her to stand on, either." Takagi noted.
"Why didn't you call the police right away?" Inspector Megure questioned.
"I'd like to keep this off he record, please." Habanaka requested. "She's actually the ghostwriter of a famous scriptwriter. I thought it would cause problems if the script was made public due to the case. I wanted to send her off on her own soon, but the scriptwriter fell in love with the realistic and original crimes she wrote."
"By the way, what is the title?" Inspector Megure asked.
"It's the 'Moonlight Night Thieves' series." Habanaka supplied.
"I know that one." Takagi beamed. "They use impressive means to steal from evil wealthy individuals. But in the final episode, they killed the couple they robbed, and the group disbanded."
"That part really affected me, too." Habanaka admitted. "But in this script, they were supposed to get the group back together. The couple they thought they killed was actually alive. I never thought it would become her posthumous work, though."
"We got into a fight." Shibakaru confessed. "It was a couple of days ago at a bar."
"You mean you got into a fight with Komai-san?" Takagi asked for clarification.
"Yeah." Shibakaru nodded. "The truth is, she asked me to come here so she could apologize. The bar's owner and the other customers saw us fighting. I doubted anyone would believe me if I said I found her hanging when I got here."
"That's why you left her hanging without reporting it?" Inspector Megure inquired.
"Yeah." Shibakaru admitted. "I had no idea that boy watched me come and go."
"What caused the fight?" Takagi questioned.
"It was a stupid argument." Shibakaru assured. "We just got a bit noisy because we'd been drinking. Answer it already!" he snapped, hearing a ringtone. "Your phone's ringing."
"But that's none of our ringtones." Takagi replied.
"It's mine." Shibakaru dug out the flip-phone from his pocket. "i forgot. I changed my ringtone the other day."
"Figure anything out?" Haibara asked.
"Yeah." Conan answered. "The person who caused this incident, and that the name of that kid is Ganno Mamoru."
"How do you know that?" Haibara frowned.
"Three years ago, a group of thieves broke into a family house, killing the husband and wife and making off with a million yen in cash." Conan stated. "He's the couple's only child." he pulled out the article from his cellphone. "A quick search on the web turned him up. He happened to be on a field trip and escaped unscathed. Since the incident, the thieves have been missing. But the numbers of the cash happened to be written down."
"It's finally over." Shibakaru heaved in relief after his questioning.
"Detective Takagi..." Conan whispered. "I think you should search the room harder. There's definitely 500,000 yen in there somewhere. Also, could I borrow 200,000 yen?"
"According to eyewitness testimony, after watching the three of you come to and leave this room, the witness came here to find the dead scriptwriter Komai Yasue-san hanging." Inspector Megure summarized. "Because there is nothing to stand on near her feet, she must be murdered and made to look like she'd killed herself; by one of you three. Could you tell us the approximate times you came to the apartment?"
"I'm not so sure." Shibakaru noted. "She asked me to come after two, but I don't know the exact time."
"She told me to come around two as well." Habanaka added. "When I called her cell from a payphone, that's what she told me."
"I didn't make an appointment with her." Sakaba added.
"So, even though you all came after two, none of you ran into each other?" Inspector Megure was skeptical.
"It's a coincidence." Habanaka assured.
"Perhaps they agreed beforehand," Fumio suggested. "Not to reveal when she asked them to come."
"After all, they seem to know each other." Conan added. "When the old man lit his lighter, it made a huge unwavering flame despite the wind. It's because the big man was standing next to him to block the wind from him, right?"
"But the smoke was making him cough." Ayumi pointed out.
"He probably doesn't like cigarettes." Genta remarked.
"Why would he do that?" Mitsuhiko wondered.
"It just means the old man is just that important to him." Fumio explained.
"I see." Haibara realized. "That's why he approached him to block the wind. Since he was outside, as long as he didn't get too close, the smoke wouldn't bother him."
"And then, when the long-haired man borrowed the lighter, he turned down the flame." Conan added.
"So, how do you know the old man keeps the flame strong on his lighter before lighting it?" Fumio posted the question. "Not only that, while he was smoking, the big man approached him to glare at him; like he was telling him not to smoke. After that, the long-haired man got scared and put out the barely-smoked cigarette. So, these three must know each other."
"So what if we do?" Sakaba snapped.
"Didn't Fumio tell you earlier?" Conan reminded. "By agreeing with your stories, you're trying to hide when you came here. If all of you say the lady was already dead when you arrived, then that would mean the first person who killed her and was lying. That's why the old man stole her phone, right? You didn't want the police to know in which order you came. She probably emailed you asking you to come. By emailing instead of calling, she could give you precise time right down to the minute. That's why none of you ran into each other, even though you were summoned at the same time."
"But how do you know he took her phone?" Inspector Megure asked.
"It took a while for the old man to notice his phone was ringing, right?" Conan reminded. "And he hung up without answering it. That's because it's the lady's phone. The picture he showed us was probably on her phone, too."
"How do you know about the call?" Inspector Megure's suspicions were perked.
"I heard it through the wall." Conan answered. "I've got good ears."
"Shibakaru-san, may we examine your phone?" Inspector Megure turned back to the three suspects.
"It doesn't matter if the phone tells us in what order they arrived." Conan stated. "Detective Takagi, did you get it?" he heard Takagi's footsteps.
"Yeah." Takagi held out the bag. "A notebook, tape and 200,000 yen in thousand yen notes. What are you going to do with this stuff?"
"I want to perform an experiment." Conan replied. "Can I use the room? Give me a hand, you guys." he winked.
"Okay, it's done." Conan declared, the kids having rolled up the thousand yen notes into cylinders and used the tape to secure the edges. "We're all set." he declared. "I bet the long-haired man has seen these tubes before. You almost said the money was rolling around under the dead woman's feet. You put the notebook on top of the bills." he rested the notebook on dollar bill tubes to make a standing platform. "And if you carefully get on..." he got on the platform. "You can stand on top of it."
"Why, though?" Mitsuhiko asked.
"Conan weighs about 18 kilograms." Fumio went into physics professor mode. "Each tube can support around 1 kilogram, so..."
"That's it." Takagi also came to the same conclusion. "Komai-san stood on this. Komai-san weighs roughly 47 kilograms. By putting a hundred sheets of manuscript paper in an envelope and placing over 500 thousand yen's worth of rolled up bills, she created a stand that would support her weight."
"I see." Inspector Megure noted. "After kicking the stand aside and hanging herself, Sakaba-san pocketed the rolled-up bills and Habanaka-san took the envelope of manuscript paper, which got rid of the stand that made it look like a murder. By having Shibakaru-san take the phone, we wouldn't know she invited the three of them within minutes of each other. If anyone saw you coming or going, we would suspect you murdered her."
"But there is no proof." Takagi reminded.
"The proof is stuck on the sole of the long-haired man's sandal." Conan interjected. "It's the tape the lady used to roll up the bills."
"Seriously?" Sakaba lifted a foot to reveal the tape still stuck on his sandal.
"It took a long time to get to the bank's ATM because you were removing 500,000 yen's worth of tape, right?." Conan added.
"The lady's fingerprints should also be on the tape." Fumio commented. "Traces of the tape should also be on the 500,000 that was deposited at the ATM."
"Go to the bank at the ATM and confirm this immediately." Inspector Megure instructed.
"Does this mean we're free to go?" Shibakaru headed for the door.
"We still need to ask why she did this." Inspector Megure reminded.
"I should return this phone." Shibakaru took out Komai's phone.
"This leaves a bad taste in my mouth, though." Haibara noted. "She gave her life trying to frame that shady trio, and you two exposed the trick so easily."
"To be honest, her real aim was..." Fumio grinned.
"Director Habanaka." one of the reporters thrust a microphone in front of the three suspects, once Shibakaru opened the door to reveal a wave of reporters and flashing cameras. "Are the contents of the confession true? It was written in Komai Yasue-san's script that you gave your AD. Along with Habanaka Kuramichi, Shibakaru Denji and Sakaba Ronpei, she was a member of a gang of thieves that performed a series of robberies. She also wrote the photo, proving it is on her phone and the money you stole is inside a Tohto Bank ATM."
"This must be some kind of mistake." Habanaka stammered.
"Why don't we have a long chat at the station about whether or not it was a mistake?" Inspector Megure cut in.
Later that night...
"Rum?" Amuro echoed, after Fumio informed him of the hushed conversation he and the other Detective Boys overheard Conan and Haibara whispering about. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah." Fumio nodded. "Tou-san, do you know what they mean?"
"Nothing that concerns you." Amuro flicked his son on the forehead with his finger. Is the Organization's Number Two already on the move? He frowned. Then, what's Conan-kun's exact connection with the Organization, that has him so involved?
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.