SailorStar9: After three weeks with no update, I present Chapter 123 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 123: The Detective Boys' Pursuit of the Purse-snatcher
Time passes...
Ayumi walked out the Beika Bakery, disappointed that she could not find what she was looking for when she spotted a man running on the opposite sidewalk.
"Someone, help!" Kume Shosaku cried out, ten minutes later. "Thief!"
"I just saw someone in a red jacket run that way." a passerby informed Kume.
"What's wrong?" Ayumi asked.
"Someone stole a bag containing the 300,000 yen I'd withdrawn." Kume told Ayumi. "I chased after the culprit as quickly as I could, but I lost sight of them. I ended up here after asking people if they'd seen him."
"Did you call the police?" Ayumi reminded.
"I should call the police." Kume remembered.
"I'll call the others, too." Ayumi contacted the Detective Boys.
Later...
"Detective Takagi." Mitsuhiko noticed Takagi running behind them.
"I was in the area gathering information when I heard the sirens." Takagi explained.
"Someone was robbed." Conan informed.
At the crime scene...
"The culprit who stole the bag from Kume Shosaku-san apparently fled into an apartment complex." Takagi summarized.
"Maybe he ran through it to a side street." Ayumi suggested.
"Officer, help." a Cheetah Delivery employee ran downstairs, completely flustered. "There's someone on the ground over there."
In Samura Koichi's unit...
"We're almost certain it was murder." Takagi reported to Megure.
"That's my bag." Kume recognized the fallen bag beside Samura.
"That's the red jacket the culprit was wearing." Ayumi noticed the jumper lying on the ground.
"Does that mean he's the purse-snatcher?" Genta wondered.
"Not with that leg." Fumio remarked, turning to Samura's left leg that was in a cast.
"I think the culprit had longer hair." Kume added.
"Could you confirm if this is yours?" the forensics officer inquired, handing the bag over to Kume for inspection.
"The envelope containing 300,00 yen and my wallet aren't here." Kume gaped.
"Does that mean the purse-snatcher was someone else who murdered that man, abandoned his conspicuous jacket, removed the money and wallet from the bag and fled?" Mitsuhiko wondered.
Takagi spotted Conan looking intently at the calendar on the wall and moved aside to let him have a better look.
Conan read the notes written in the notes section and realized Samura had a visitor that morning.
"Samura Koichi, the resident of this apartment, appears to have several previous extortion offenses." Takagi reported to Megure who had arrived at the scene.
"How is the murder of this scoundrel connected to the purse-snatching incident?" Megure asked. "This is Megure." he took the incoming call. "In Haido City? A man's body was found nearby an izakaya in Haido City." he informed his subordinates, Chiba was also on scene. "Next to the body were an envelope containing 300,00 yen and Kume Shosuke's wallet."
At Izakaya Toriko...
"That's definitely mine." Kume confirmed after Chiba retrieved the money and envelope.
"This store is closed today, but an employee who came to get something they'd forgotten found the body." Megure stated. "Togane Katsumi." he named the victim. "This man is quite a scoundrel as well and a friend with Samura Koichi. He died after consuming a poison. Based on this note he left with the stolen money, we can guess what happened." he showed the bagged suicide note. "Togane Katsumi robbed the victim near an apartment complex in Beika City and fled. He went to his criminal friend Samura Koichi's apartment in hopes that he would harbor him. He became angry with Samura rejected his request and Togane killed Samura using a knife at the scene. He abandoned his bloody jacket, removed the envelope and wallet and came to this izakaya. Betrayed by his friend Samura Koichi and now having committed murder, he killed himself here out of desperation. Let's get this body autopsied."
In front of Kume's gates...
"I don't have any family." Kume admitted. "I lived in Tamage City forever until I moved here to Beika City five years ago. Six months ago, my wife passed away from an illness. Be careful on your way home, kids." he bade the Detective Boys farewell.
"Looks like something is bothering you two." Haibara noticed Conan and Fumio's pondering expressions.
At the crossroads...
"Why did he decide to kill himself at a closed restaurant instead of his own home?" Conan posted the question that had been buggering his and Fumio's minds.
"That poorly-written suicide note also seems rather suspicious." Fumio added.
Near the first crime scene...
"A murder?" the apartment management company employee was stunned by the news. "I might have to reduce the rent on Building B Room 301 because of it."
"Are you from the management company?" Conan realized who the agent was.
"You were supposed to visit Samura-san in Building B Room 301, right?" Mitsuhiko asked.
"I wasn't planning on doing that." the employee was confused.
"Someone pretended to be from the management company and contacted Samura-san." Haibara realized what was going on.
"Samura Koichi-san was murdered." Conan added. "This case didn't just happen. It was a premeditated murder."
At the police station...
"I suppose that's possible." Megure conceded after the Detective Boys related their suspicions. "This is Megure." he took the call. "According to the autopsy, Tagane's time of death was one hour earlier than Samura's." he informed upon receiving the coroner's verbal report.
"Then Togane didn't kill Samura." Chiba noted.
"So, who killed Samura-san?" Takagi wondered.
"Then, what about the note Tagane-san wrote?" Fumio pointed out.
"It said he was killing himself because he killed Samura. Megure recalled.
"So, that's how it is." both Conan and Megure came to the same conclusion.
"Togane didn't kill himself." Megure declared. "He was killed. Samura's death as a premeditated murder. Togane's death was a murder made to look like a suicide. Both deaths need to be re-investigated."
After getting information from Takagi about Setoguchi Asako...
Conan and Fumio found out the deceased had lived in Tamage City five years ago before committing suicide and realized Kume must have had known the deceased.
The two boys headed off toe Tamage City and after interviewing Setoguchi Sakie, Asako's mother and the other neighbors, they started to piece together what happened.
After returning to Beika City...
The reunited Detective Boys retraced the culprit's route and found themselves outside an abandoned house.
"Guys, I found something." Fumio shouted from the yard.
"A fresh mound." Conan instantly spotted the freshly dug dirt. "They used this to bury it." he saw the shovel Fumio pulled out from under the engawa.
"The culprit's jacket?" Ayumi blinked after the mound of dug out. "Is that Kume-san's bag?"
"But aren't they in the possession of the police as evidence?" Mitsuhiko wondered. "Why is there another set here?"
"Call Detective Takagi and explain the situation here." Conan instructed, already knowing who the culprit was. "Fumio and I have somewhere to go. Fumio, let's go."
In Kume's yard...
"What is it you figured out?" Kume asked.
"The culprit had to kill Togane-san before Samura-san." Conan stated. "If they waited until after they were robbed and called the police, they'd be stuck with the police and wouldn't be able to do anything. They'd have to explain how they were robbed as well and once the bag was found, they'd be asked to confirm if it was theirs."
"Pretending to be a victim must be really hard." Fumio noted. "In reality, there was never a robbery. We went to Tamage City to confirm."
"Having decided to kill the two of them, you took Togane Katsumi-san to that restaurant so the body would be discovered the next day by saying something to lure him there." Conan concluded. "Then, you poisoned him. You wedged an envelope containing 300,000 yen, your wallet, and a suicide note beneath the body and left the place. Then you pretended to be with the management company and killed Samura Koichi-san. You left a bag and jacket there. Then, you donned on a second matching jacket, wig and mask and carried a second bag to disguise yourself as a purse-snatcher. You ran into the apartment complex as though fleeing a robbery, ran through the complex and onto the side street and buried the things you'd used in an abandoned house. Then you showed up as a robbery victim, chasing after the thief and reentered the apartment complex."
"But what is your motive?" Fumio was puzzled. "Is it related to the Setoguchi Asako-san's incident?"
"Five years ago, my wife and I saw Asako-chan arguing with a man." Kume confessed. "My wife was concerned but I figured it was just an argument between a married couple. Several days later, Asako-chan killed herself. When I heard from her parents that she was being blackmailed, I regretted not intervening. If I'd noticed then, she wouldn't have died. Just the other day, I saw that man, Samura Koichi; he was planning something evil with Togane Katsumi, who seemed to be his friend. They were planning on how to take advantage of the young woman who was their next target. I thought more victims would appear if they were allowed to live."
"Even so, you shouldn't have killed them." Fumio insisted.
"We've collected the evidence of buried in the abandoned house." Takagi walked in with the Detective Boys. "Kume-san, would you accompany me to the station?"
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.