SailorStar9: With Chapter 134 posted, I present Chapter 135 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 135: Stakeout 3

Time passes...

"The victim is Fujino Miki-san, 26 years old." Chiba reported to Takagi. "She was a city official."

"So, she was bludgeoned and strangled." Takagi noted.

"The victim had a good reputation at work and we found no issues in her personal relationships." Chiba continued. "It looks like she was attacked on her way home from work."

"A stamp card?" Takagi noticed a Café Wheat and Beans stamp card beside the victim. "The victim's card is here." he pulled out Fujino's stamp card from her purse.

"Since it was on top of the pool of blood, it must be..." Chiba realized.

"The culprit left it behind." Takagi confirmed.

The next day...

"So, that's why you're watching that cafe." Mitsuhiko noted, as somehow, the Detective Boys managed to get themselves involved in Takagi's and Chiba's stakeout.

"I know that place." Ayumi stated. "Their homemade bread is really good."

"You kids again?" Takagi twitched.

"Sorry." Chiba chuckled nervously. "They spotted me at the convenience store."

"So, you couldn't identify the owner from their stamp card?" Haibara asked.

"We did determine they're a regular based on the number of stamps." Takagi explained. "We asked the owners about it, but they have too many regulars. They couldn't identify the owner."

"In other words, even if the culprit showed up, you won't know it's them." Fumio sighed.

"There's another clue." Conan corrected. "What are you guys eating right now?"

"I'm impressed you noticed, Conan." Takagi chuckled.

"The truth is..." Chiba started when Mayuzumi Kayo entered the room.

"So, there is a witness, huh?" Fumio mused.

"Mayuzumi Kayo lives alone in a house near the crime scene." Takagi introduced.

"I came running when I heard a scream and I found that girl on the ground." Mayuzumi revealed. "That's not all. On my way there, I saw the culprit's face with my own eyes."

"How did you know they're the culprit?" Conan inquired.

"It's the only road to the park." Takagi explained. "The culprit had to have passed that way to leave."

"We tried to create a sketch based on her testimony, but..." Chiba offered.

"Would the culprit come to the cafe as normal the day after they committed a crime?" Haibara wondered.

"That's a good point." Fumio agreed. "Especially after they realized they dropped their stamp card."

"They might show up." Conan corrected. "Culprits often act normally to avoid suspicion. Unlike a wallet or phone, it's difficult to notice a lost stamp card. People often visit shops without realizing they've lost theirs and only notice when they are at the register. So, even if Kayo-san doesn't recognize the culprit's face, if a customer panics because they can't find their stamp card at the register, they might be the culprit."

"Not bad, kid." Mayuzumi was impressed. "But, there's no way I'd miss the culprit. I don't see them yet." she peered through the blinders. "That man..." she instantly noticed a masked customer. "The culprit's build was like his, too."

"Those kids." Takagi choked, spotting the Detective Kids running over through his binoculars.

After Haibara snapped a photo of the suspect with her camera-phone, Mayuzumi confirmed he was not the culprit.

As evening set in...

"Is it hard for you to read that?" Haibara noticed Mayuzumi squinting her eyes to look at her smartphone.

"My eyesight's getting worse with age." Mayuzumi sighed. "I just can't see things up close. I can see things at a distance just fine."

"Kayo-san." Conan alerted, upon spotting a suspicious man looking around before entering the cafe.

"He doesn't have his stamp card." Mitsuhiko realized.

"We'll use the same method as earlier." Fumio informed and the Detective Boys took off, only to find that their suspect was actually the famous actor, Naruoka Ryo, in disguise.

After night fell, the stakeout group called it a night.

"Kayo-san?" Ayumi wondered, she, Fumio, Genta and Mitsuhiko spotted Mayuzumi squatting beside the cafe.

"Detective Takagi, head back to the cafe right away." Conan made a call to Takagi as he and Haibara headed back. "I know who the culprit is."

"What do you mean?" Haibara demanded.

"Think of how Kayo-san reacted when she saw the second suspect." Conan explained. "She wasn't shocked because it was Naruoka-san. She's farsighted; she couldn't have identified him when he was right in front of her. Kayo-san was looking at the person behind him. She saw it back then; the true culprit's face behind Naruoka-san."

"That woman." behind the cafe register, Ando Kazuya noticed Mayuzumi peering in through the glass door. Prying open the doors, he was tripped over by the trip rope held by the four kids.

"Is he the person you saw?" Chiba asked, he and Takagi apprehended Ando in the nick of time.

"It's definitely his face." Mayuzumi confirmed.

"Sounds like the only evidence you have is that woman's testimony and a stamp card." Ando mocked. "Even if you find my fingerprints on the stamp card, I work here. I work the register when the cafe is crowded. So naturally, I touch our customers' cards. The same goes for your testimony. You only passed by the culprit on a dark road at night. Not only that, you're farsighted. Can you really be certain that I'm the culprit?"

"That's obviously wrong." Conan cut in. "You just confirmed for me that you're the culprit. It's true the only physical evidence we have is the stamp card that was left behind. But, how do you know about that?"

"Only the police, the witness and these kids know about that." Takagi agreed.

"And the cafe owner we questioned." Chiba added. "We told him not to tell anyone about it, so anyone else who knows must be..."

"The culprit who dropped the card in the first place." Conan nodded.

"Didn't you also say that Kayo-san passed by the culprit on a dark road at night?" Fumio pressed. "While Kayo-san saw the culprit, there were plenty of other ways she could've seen him; like for example from a window or behind an object. So, how did you know she passed by him on the road? Besides, farsightedness only makes it difficult for people to see things up close. She can see people even better than normal if they pass by her at a distance."

"How did it come to this?" Ando whined. "I used to watch her from the kitchen. I just wanted to tell her how I felt. Because she had to scream..."

"Isn't it normal for a woman to scream when she was approached by a strange man in a deserted area in the middle of the night?" Fumio deathpanned.

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