SailorStar9: So with Chapter 74 uploaded, this is Chapter 75 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 75: The Dangerous Fossil Finding Trip

Time passes...

"I had no idea ammonites were so pretty." Ayumi gushed, the Detective Boys were visiting the Oninohamura Lodge Fossil Mansion.

"I thought fossils looked more like rocks." Mitsuhiko noted.

"Your typical fossil is much more plain-looking." Professor Agasa explained.

"Then, why is this one so sparkly?" Genta asked.

"Because it's made differently." Conan answered. "Typically, fossils are made when the matter that comprises bones and shells are replaced by minerals."

"That sparkly one is sparkly because it is replaced with a gemstone like opal." Haibara took over.

"You kids sure are knowledgeable." Ogami Akira stated.

"You've got quite a number of rare fossils." Fumio informed the museum owner.

"You've got a keen eye." Ogami praised. "They were purchases overseas. I'm proud of my collection. I'll be going to America next month to buy more. The world largest mineral fair is held in Tucson, Arizona." he led the group into his office. "Hello." he took the call when his cellphone rang. "You've arrived. I'll be right there."

"Let's find an ammonite." Genta declared, the group were now at the excavation site.

"Genta, you're not going to find ammonite." Conan pointed out.

"But why?" Genta whined.

"Different types of fossils are found in different layers of earth." Haibara explained. "All you'll find here are either clam or oyster fossils."

"Although, ornithomimus dinosaur bones and footprints have also been found before." Fumio slid on his safety goggles.

"Ayumi, what's wrong?" Conan hurried to the toilet when the group heard Ayumi's horrified scream. "Ogami!" he gasped, seeing the dead museum owner on the floor, both hands around his neck. This smell... he frowned.

"I see." Inspector Yamamura peered at the crime scene. "The victim is Oninohamura Lodge and Fossil museum owner, Ogami Akira, and the cause of death is cyanide poisoning. The victim didn't eat or drink anything during the fossil excavation tour. Which means someone poisoned the bathroom beforehand and made the victim touch it."

"Do you think we did it?" Nakatani Sogen, the mayor realized the Inspector's implication.

"We'd never do that." Miyashita Umika, a freelance journalist who had been visiting the lodge, protested.

"That's right." Nakatani agreed. "Besides, why would someone choose to kill him like that? These children could have been harmed. I don't think this is a criminal case. Ogami seemed worried about something for a few days now. He said he couldn't sleep and wanted to die."

"Maybe it was because of the moon's droppings." Miyashita reasoned. "The truth is, I came here to expose that that fossil's origins were faked. I believe the moon's droppings were found at a different excavation site."

"So Ogami killed himself because he thought he'd be discovered?" Inspector Yamamura pressed.

"Yes," Miyashita nodded. "He said there was something he wanted to confess to me. Perhaps he couldn't bear the guilt any longer."

"This looks like suicide." Inspector Yamamura declared.

"But Ogami was excited about his trip next month." Conan piped in. "He said he was planning to go to America. There was a plane ticket on his table. Would someone considering suicide buy plane tickets?"

"It's not too late to decide that until we determine if there's poison present or not." Professor Agasa pointed out. "We haven't searched everyone yet, either."

"That mayor is definitely the culprit." Conan's brain went into overdrive once he heard the forensics personnel report that Ogami's sanitary wipes were more acidic than normal. "But there's no proof."

"Why are all of them dead?" Genta's surprised question sounded from the back of the toilet. "There's lots of dead bugs." he informed Conan who had dashed to the back of the toilet.

"Could it be..." Fumio turned to the group of bugs fluttering around the toilet's ventilation window.

"Don't touch those." Conan warned.

"It wasn't a suicide." Professor Agasa cut in on Inspector Yamamura. "It's a murder. I finally found out how the culprit killed Ogami. Ogami didn't consume the poison. Aren't there other methods in taking in poisons besides swallowing or licking them?"

"The victim inhaled the poison." Miyashita realized.

"Inhaled?" Inspector Yamamura echoed. "How?"

"People say cyanide compounds kill when they're swallowed." Professor Agasa stated. "But actually, the compound itself is not poisonous. However, once it enters your body, it reacts with your stomach acid, creating a poisonous gas. In other words, adding acid to a cyanide compound creates a poisonous gas. The culprit probably dissolved the cyanide compound in the toilet bowl. Once the acid is added, the poisonous gas will be released. The acid was added not by the culprit, but Ogami himself."

"When he wiped his hands on this sanitary wipe and tossed it," Conan popped in, handing over a used wipe.

"The culprit added diluted hydrochloic acid to the sanitary wipes." Professor Agasa continued. "With this method, even if someone entered the bathroom before him, the cyanide compound would be harmlessly flushed away. The culprit most likely told Ogami they hid something valuable in the bathroom so he'd search for it. The clean-freak Ogami used the sanitary wipes to wipe his hands and threw it into the toilet. The poisonous gas was formed and Ogami died."

"So, who did it?" Inspector Yamamura asked.

"The only one who knew Ogami was a clean-freak who carried sanitary wipes with him," Professor Agasa turned to Nakatani. "Nakatani, you're the only one."

"That's just your theory." Nakatani objected. "What about evidence? Do you have any proof that Ogami inhaled a poisonous gas?"

"There is one piece of solid evidence." Professor Agasa declared.

"There are just dead bugs." Nakatani retorted, the group were now led to the back of the toilet. "What's so important about those?"

"We examined them at Agasa's request." the forensics officer reported. "Like the victim, these bugs were poisoned with cyanide."

"There." Fumio pointed to the ventilation window. "This spot is right beneath the ventilation fan."

"The bugs gathered around the fan must have inhaled the poisonous gas." Professor Agasa pointed out. "Fearing the poisonous gas would remain inside the bathroom, you must have left the fan on, but it backfired."

"That's right." Nakatani confessed. "I killed Ogami."

"You're the one who lied about the moon's droppings coming from this village, too." Inspector Yamamura accused.

"No, they were accomplices." Conan corrected.

"That's right." Nakatani admitted. "We came up with the idea together, but he tried to place all the blame on me. So I told him I had a tape of evidence and told him to come to the bathroom. If I didn't kill him, my political career would've been over."

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