SailorStar9: With Chapter 130 posted, I present Chapter 131 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 131: The True Culprit is On the Run

Time passes...

The Detective Boys were having soccer practice when Genta accidentally kicked the soccer ball into a nearby bush.

"Found it." Ayumi located the mislaid ball, only to find a bludgeoned Takamatsu Jiro lying in the clearing. Her horrified scream alerted the others of her discovery.

"Stay back and call the police." Conan instructed.

After Megure's team was called in...

"So, while kicking around a ball, you happened to discover a man on the ground." Megure addressed the kids.

"inspector, we identified the victim." Takagi reported. "The deceased is Takamatsu Jiro-san, 50 years old. He ran a financial business out of a nearby building. He issued loans with illegal interest rates. In other words, he was a loan shark."

"It's sounding like this case might be related to financial issues." Megure concluded.

"The victim's notable valuables, such as his wallet and watch, are missing." Takagi continued. "Perhaps, he was robbed and murdered in a random attack."

"It seems safe to assume the murder weapon is the rock that is found near the body." Megure added.

"Judging by the wound on the victim's head, that rock is almost certainly the weapon." Takagi agreed. "We believe the estimated time of death is between 3:00PM and 3:25PM when the kids found the body."

"Based on the state of the crime scene, the culprit must've gotten a lot of blood on them." Megure noted. "Did you kids see anyone suspicious?" he turned to the Detective Boys.

"We didn't see anyone." Mitsuhiko answered.

"We'd been playing in the park since around two." Conan supplied. "But I don't think anyone passed through the plaza."

"It's possible the culprit fled away from the plaza." Fumio pointed out. "Look over there." he pointed to the trail of footprints near the victim's head. "Footprints."

"Their shape doesn't match the soles of the victim's shoes." Mitsuhiko remarked. "Those footprints must belong to the culprit."

"So, we can catch the culprit by following those footprints?" Genta beamed.

"It's actually not that simple." Takagi corrected. "it seems the culprit noticed the blood on their shoes." he led the Detective Boys to the park entrance. "They washed them using the spigot near the park entrance."

"Takagi, call the local jurisdiction for assistance." Megure instructed.

"Conan-kun, what do you think about this case?" Mitsuhiko asked, everyone returning to report they had found no additional clues.

"The rock used as the murder weapon came from this park." Conan started.

"In other words, this crime wasn't premeditated." Fumio frowned.

"Did someone get angry with him and killed him?" Genta suggested.

"Or it could be a robbery gone wrong." Fumio pointed out.

"What was the victim doing in this park, anyway?" Mitsuhiko wondered.

"Good question." Fumio admitted.

"I know a special route we can take." Genta led the Detective Boys through the bushes after the police left.

"Is anyone injured?" Conan asked, climbing out from the hole in the fence and noticed the blood on a grass shrub.

"I don't think anyone is." Fumio replied.

"There's fresh blood over there." Conan pointed to the bloody grass.

"But if it isn't from any of us..." Fumio blinked.

"Then it came from the culprit." Conan finished. "Because they were covered in blood, the culprit probably fled along a deserted route to avoid being seen."

"Let's search for other clues the culprit may have left behind." Mitsuhiko suggested.

"I found something." Ayumi called out

"This is blood." Mitsuhiko instantly noticed the blood smear on the wall.

"There's blood here." Genta noticed the blood trail at the other end of the wall and the Detective Boys continued following the blood trail through the carpark and into the sewers.

"Why do I get the feeling the culprit is fleeing at random?" Fumio wondered, the blood trail ending near a police checkpoint.

"Did the culprit really come this way?" Mitsuhiko was skeptical.

"Mitsuhiko does have a point." Fumio conceded. "This is a high traffic area. Considering the incredible high chance of the culprit being seen, it doesn't seem likely that they would choose to cross such a big thoroughfare."

"Conan-kun, what do we do?" Mitsuhiko asked, both Takagi and Chiba urging the kids to go back home.

"This is as far as we go." Conan replied. "Let's go home.

"Did something happen here?" Mitsuhiko ran up to a woman who was sweeping up the road at a T-junction.

"A bicycle crashed into this utility pole a little while ago." the woman replied.

"Looks like it's quite a crash." Fumio gawked at the debris. "Was the victim alright?"

"He was taken away in an ambulance since he was bleeding so much." the woman answered.

"Conan-kun?" Mitsuhiko blinked when Conan ran off, having pieced together what happened.

"I figured how the culprit slipped past the police." Conan informed, having led the group back to where the blood trail ended. "There should be evidence of it nearby."

"Found it." Fumio called out, locating a torn-out warning slip tucked in a bush.

"Good work." Conan beamed and made a call to Takagi.

At the Beika Central Hospital...

"Excuse us." Mitsuhiko voiced, the Detective Boys paying the injured Sakaguchi Kanta a visit.

"You're the man who injured himself crashing into a utility pole, right?" Conan went straight to the point.

"Yes." Sakaguchi answered.

"Why did you crash into the utility pole?" Mitsuhiko questioned.

"I made a mistake steering my bike." Sakaguchi replied.

"You're saying this was an accident, then." Mitsuhiko pressed.

"That's right." Sakaguchi confirmed.

"That's strange." Conan cut in. "If you accidentally steered into a utility pole, wouldn't you have braked to avoid a crash? There are no skid marks at the scene."

"Are you completely sure you didn't crash on purpose?" Fumio insisted.

"What kind of idiot injures himself?" Sakaguchi snapped.

"'The best place to hide a tree is in a forest.'" Haibara quoted.

"You were trying to hide something by incurring a bloody injury." Conan clarified. "You're the man who murdered Takamatsu Jiro-san in the park. I can guess what happened: you killed Takamatsu-san and fled the park. Since you had blood on you, you were forced to find deserted paths to flee along. There was a limit to how far you could get using that method. And the police were increasing their patrols. With the net closing in, you came up with one last resort of being so badly injured that you'd be taken away in an ambulance. That way, you could hide the victim's blood and slip away from the police. You did something to hide the blood; like cover it with dirt from the park."

"Do you have proof, then?" Sakaguchi demanded.

"This." Fumio showed him the warning slip they found. "You threw this piece of paper away when you stole the abandoned bike. There are traces of blood on this sheet. I'm sure the police will find the victim's blood and your fingerprints on it."

"Now your precious evidence is gone." Sakaguchi sneered, snatching the paper slip and swallowing it.

"Oh, we don't need that evidence." Conan grinned, the ward door opened to reveal Megure, Takagi and Chiba outside.

"Sakaguchi Kanta-san, you're suspected of murdering Takamatsu Jiro-san." Takagi stepped in. "Could you come down to the station with us?"

"I didn't kill anyone." Sakaguchi insisted. "Since you keep insisting I did it, do you have the evidence to back it up?"

"Recognize this?" Chiba held up the bagged bloodied shirt. "We acquired the clothes the hospital took from you when they treated you."

"We examined the blood on these clothes." Takagi added. "In addition to yours, we found Takamatsu Jiro-san's blood."

"I did it on a whim." Sakaguchi admitted. "I saw someone sleeping on a bench and he was wearing a nice watch. So, I thought he'd have a bunch of money in his wallet. But then, he woke up. We got into a fight and then..."

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