SailorStar9: With Chapter 66 uploaded, this is Chapter 67 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: Established!Furuya Rei (Amuro Tooru)/Mizuno Ami

Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and pairing.

Chapter 67: A Day Without Conan

Sometime later...

"Why do we always run into these kind of incidents, even without Conan around?" Fumio sighed, the Detective Boys, minus Conan, had found dead body inside a work-in-progress construction site.

"The victim is a serial blackmailer named Unmo Sadakazu." Mitsuhiko informed Conan over the phone, after Inspector Megure's team was called onto the scene. "There's no weapon at the scene of the crime, but he most likely died instantly when he was hit over the head with a metal pipe. They're finished. I'll call you back." he ended the call.

"So, the estimated time of death is today between 3.30 to 4.30." Inspector Megure looked at the forensics officer.

"It's four." Fumio piped in. "That's when the man with dark sunglasses and mask came out."

"And you kids were watching this construction site from across the street, then?" Inspector Megure asked.

"Yes." Mitsuhiko nodded. "We saw a woman in trouble. It was regarding her grandson who lives with her. The suspicious man came running out after five minutes. We were curious about what happened, but then, the grandson in question came out. When we followed him,we discovered he was actually working. He was working nights."

"The man you kids saw certainly sounds suspicious, but without knowing his appearance or age..." Inspector Megure noted.

"But he was really tall." Ayumi replied.

"There are a lot of men like that." Inspector Megure pointed out. "Unmo-san himself looks to be almost two meters tall."

"Inspector Megure," Takagi entered with Chiba in tow. "Is it safe to assume the suspect was being blackmailed by Unmo-san?"

"It seems Unmo-san had no relationship with his neighbors." Chiba added.

"There's something bothering me." Conan voiced over the phone. "There was no weapon at the crime scene, right?"

"Right." Mitsuhiko confirmed. "We believe the culprit took it with them."

"But the man who fled wasn't carrying a metal pipe, right?" Conan reminded.

"You're right." Mitsuhiko agreed. "Perhaps he was hiding it under his coat."

"Got it." Conan nodded. "I'll be back tomorrow afternoon. Let's find the culprit together."

The next day...

"You can't come right now?" Mitsuhiko exclaimed.

"Sorry." Conan apologized, outside the hospital. "Stick with the police and tell me everything you learn."

"Everyone they spoke to had an alibi, too." Chiba informed.

"All the suspects are innocent?" Conan echoed, still in the hospital nursing Mouri.

"We're stuck." Mitsuhiko admitted.

"Then who killed that guy with the dumb face?" Genta asked over the phone.

"Dumb face?" Conan echoed. "The victim Unmo Sadakazu didn't have a particularly dumb face.

"That's because you didn't see the body, Conan." Mitsuhiko replied.

"Hold on." Conan put the call in hold and dug out Mouri's handphone. Using his voice-changing bow-tie, he spoke into the phone. "Hello, this is Mouri. Could you put Detective Takagi on the line?"

"Very well." Takagi sighed. "I can't refuse a request from you, Mouri."

"Were his front teeth knocked out when he was hit?" Conan asked, using Mouri's voice.

"No, they weren't." Takagi replied. "They're dentures. We found them in his apartment. He was going to have them put back at the start of the week."

"So, they were out since before he arrived at the scene." Conan noted. "I was just curious. Sorry to have bothered you."

"The estimated time of death?" Fumio echoed after Conan made a call to him. "We told you it was around four."

"That's when you guys saw the tall man running away, right?" Conan reminded. "What time did the police determine it was?"

"Between 3.30 to 4.30." Fumio answered.

With that information, Conan ended the call. "Fumio, sorry." he dialed Fumio's number a while later. "I want you guys to split up and do something for me. The first is to confirm her alibi with the witness. The second is a treasure hunt."

"Roger." Fumio replied. "We'll give it a shot."

"He's ordering us around without even explaining why?" Haibara noted. "He treats us like errand boys."

"Errand boys?" Fumio deathpanned.

"We just need to solve the case, right?" Ayumi cut in.

"Why not, right?" Fumio shrugged. "It's up us to find the missing key to solving this. Guess it's up to us to speak to the witness." he blinked when the other three ran off.

"I'd better give Edogawa a piece of my mind first." Haibara stated.

Fumio just laughed nervously.

"Did I visit my neighbor Samei Rika's apartment yesterday?" Tago Kuniko echoed when faced by the two children's question. "No, I didn't."

"Then, how did you know she started working at three?" Fumio asked.

"Because she came to ask me for something yesterday." Tago replied. "She made her request and went back to her apartment around three. She was definitely working, right? Fortunately, no weirdos showed up."

"So in other words, we don't know if she was actually in her apartment after three." Conan concluded after Fumio called him to report their findings.

"Yea," Fumio nodded. "But she looks nothing like the tall man."

"That's not important anymore." Conan answered.

"I made him tell me." Haibara informed the others. "Edogowa's deduction."

"Take them back and have them examined immediately." Inspector Megure was called down upon discovery of the discarded coat.

"Conan figured it all out?" Takagi was surprised.

"Is he back?" Chiba asked.

"No." Ayumi replied.

"He figured it out based on the information we gave him." Genta added.

"Please come with us." Fumio requested. "Even though Conan isn't with us, I'll expose the culprit this time."

"I expected nothing less from the offspring of a Security Bureau officer, I suppose." Takagi relented.

"The other suspects' alibis are rock solid." Fumio began, having Takagi and Chiba bring Samei to the rooftop. "But we can't say the same for you, Samei Rika."

"My neighbor Kuniko can..." Samei started.

"Your neighbor didn't actually see you." Haibara cut her off.

"You're right." Samei agreed. "But it doesn't matter if I have an alibi. Wasn't Unmo killed by a tall man?"

"We never would've found him." Fumio declared. "Not the man we saw, that is. The reason is simple; the man..."

"He made it just in time." Haibara stated, when Conan flung the staircase door open.

"Hi, taicho." Fumio greeted.

"Kogoro-ojisan is incredibly resilient." Conan remarked.

"More importantly, why couldn't you find him?" Takagi steered the matter back.

"Fumio, go!" Conan gave the go-ahead.

"The tall man wearing sunglasses, a coat and mask was Unmo Sadakazu himself." Fumio declared.

"Hold on." Chiba voiced. "The victim Unmo..."

"Was also the culprit?" Takagi echoed.

"Not the culprit, the suspect." Conan corrected.

"Please take over, taicho." Fumio backed off. "You're the one who solve this."

"Right." Conan took center stage. "Yesterday at four, Unmo came to the construction site to blackmail someone. Since it was cold, he wore a coat. In other words, the tall man the Detective Boys saw was Unmo himself. Believing he killed them, he threw away the pipe and fled which was witnessed by the Detective Boys. Later, Unmo returned; he must've remembered that his fingerprints were on the weapon. Unmo was killed by his blackmailing victim who had only been knocked unconscious. That was around 4.30. Then the culprit removed Unmo's coat and disposed of it with the metal pipe. The reason I thought the tall man they saw might be Unmo is because I saw this photo you sent." he showed the two officers the photo. "Since it was cold, he must've been wearing a coat and if he was going to blackmail someone, he would've hidden the fact that his front teeth were missing with a mask."

"And once we eliminate the requirement of 'tall man', we should focus on the certainty of their alibi when determining the culprit." Fumio added.

"Why did the culprit fee the need to remove Unmo's coat?" Takagi asked.

"When they were fighting Unmo, it's possible their blood got on Unmo's coat." Conan reasoned.

"Forensics just reported that they found blood on the coat." Chiba confirmed. "It belongs to the victim Unmo and one other person."

"It's mine." Samei admitted. "But I didn't mean to kill him. He asked me to meet him yesterday and blackmailed me. When I asked him to stop, he told me not to underestimate him and started strangling me. In order to defend myself, I grabbed a metal pipe, but he nearly killed me. I attacked Unmo with the metal pipe when he returned because I feared he'd come to finish me off. I was caught up in the moment."

"That totally contradicts your story." Fumio was not moved by the older woman's tears. "You made the fake request to your neighbor before you went to see Unmo, right? If you hadn't planned on killing him, you wouldn't have done it in advance."

"The little brat is right." Samei snorted. "I asked that pest to meet me and killed him."

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