Chapter Text
Time passes...
“Damn it.” Mouri cursed, he, Ran and Conan were on a bird-watching trip. “I can hear them, but I don't see anything.”
“Aren't you supposed to be bird-watching earlier?” Conan deathpanned. “It's already 11:30.”
“We did get lost.” Ran noted.
“Shut up.” Mouri glared and looked through his binoculars again.
“Did you see something?” Ran asked, noticing her father's expression change.
“Not exactly.” Mouri replied. “Just a suspicious person.”
Conan trained his binoculars to the direction Mouri was looking at and saw a suspicious man hurriedly climb into a delivery truck and drive off. “Look closely, ojii-san.” he pointed out, his binoculars now focused on the nearby house. “Someone's on the floor inside.”
After Megure's team arrived at the crime scene...
“According to the license on the body, the victim is Kurotaki Shiro, 29 years old.” Ami reported. “The cause of death is very likely to be blood loss from being stabbed in the chest by a knife. Judging by the body's condition, the estimated time of death should be around 9am to 10 am.”
“Inspector Megure.” Takagi came in, Ami excusing herself to allow her forensics team to prep the body for autopsy. “I've brought the victim's older brother.”
“Shiro?” Kurotaki Akihiro was shocked to see his brother's corpse. “How could this have happened?”
“You're certain this is your younger brother?” Megure inquired.
“That's definitely him.” Akihiro confirmed. “He's been living in the United States for two years. He just let me know yesterday that he'd returned.”
“Did he go to the States for work?” Megure asked.
“For music.” Akihiro replied. “He was just an amateur doing it for fun. He claimed he was going to hone his guitar skills. Some of his guitars are gone.” he noticed the missing instruments. “He had them displayed across the entire wall.”
“Inspector Megure,” Takagi got off the phone. “We've located Shoyama Electric. It's in Beika City.”
At Shoyama Electric...
“Orie is my daughter.” Shoyama Takuro spoke, after the houseowner of the building across the street confirmed his alibi.
“Why were you surprised to receive a call from your daughter?” Megure asked.
“Orie and I don't get along.” Takuro admitted. “I hadn't heard from her since she moved out six years ago. Orie has nothing to do with the case.”
“Where's Orie now?” Megure questioned.
“I don't know.” Takuro replied. “I haven't heard.”
In one of the meeting rooms in the MPD Headquarters..
“I do wonder why Shoyama is hiding the fact that he went to the crime scene.” Megure pondered.
“And his daughter, Orie said, 'Help me, dad.'” Mouri added.
“Either way, we haven't found a connection between Shoyama and the victim.” Megure concluded. “More importantly, we just learned that around 10:30, a yellow motorcycle was seen speeding away from the crime scene. Right now, tracking down that motorcycle comes first.”
Afterwards...
Mouri, Ran and Conan were staking out outside Shoyama Electric when they noticed Orie making a short visit to her father before leaving.
Following the 26-year-old woman, they found her waiting outside the Beika Station.
“That's our connection between Orie and the case.” Conan turned on his 'Telescopic Lenses' when a yellow motorcycle pulled up by the road.
Seeing Orie get on the motorcycle, Mouri wasted no time in trailing the motorcycle. “Crud.” he cursed, stopping at a red light as the yellow motorcycle weaved through the cars and sped off. “Where'd they go?” he wondered, pulling up by the curb.
Just then, the trio saw a crowd gathering outside a family's diner.
“Orie.” Ran gasped, instantly recognizing the woman who had fallen from the building's second floor.
“Shiro...” Orie choked out. “Shiro... wasn't dead...”
At the Kita-Okuho Police Station...
“Kurotaki, you're certain the body we had you identify earlier was your younger brother, Shiro?” Megure questioned.
“I'm certain.” Akihiro answered. “This is a picture we took as a family.” he pulled out a family photo from his phone.
“When your father died, we heard you fought with Shiro over your inheritance.” Megure pointed out.
“We didn't fight.” Akihiro corrected. “I simply asked him to give me his shares in the company so it would run smoothly. He turned me down, though.”
“Do you know someone named Shoyama Orie?” Megure showed Akihiro Orie's photo.
“I don't know her.” Akihiro commented.
“Inspector Megure.” Takagi ran in after Megure exited the interrogation room. “The license plates of the bike Mouri saw and the bike that left the scene are a match.”
“So, who's the owner?” Megure asked. “You're Yumemura Sosuke?” he questioned the motorcycle's owner. “Around 10:30 this morning, did you visit Kurotaki Shiro's home?”
“I did.” Yumemura replied. “Shiro asked to meet since it had been a while.”
“What time did you hear from him?” Megure pressed.
“Around 8:30am.” Yumemura answered. “i came about an hour later and Orie came rushing out of the door. We ran into each other, and there happened to be a lucky cat statue where I fell. I hit my head and lost consciousness for a while.”
“So, it was your blood on the statue.” Megure noted.
“When I came to, Orie was gone.” Yumemura continued. “I went inside the house and Shiro was dead. I should've called the police right away, but I panicked and fled.”
“What did you do after that?” Megure asked.
“I went to the hospital.” Yumemura replied. “After they finished treating me, Orie contacted me and said she wanted to talk. I was scared to meet her after what happened to Shiro, but I wanted to know what happened. Orie said she accidentally killed Shiro due to their strained relationship. I suggested Orie turn herself in. She agreed and I drove her to the police station, but on the way there, she said she had something to do and asked to be dropped off.”
“Inspector Megure.” Takagi brought Takuro in. “Shoyama insisted on telling you something.”
“I'd like to the rest of you to hear this, too.” Takuro admitted. “The truth is, it was Orie who killed Kurotaki. This morning, he broke up with her over the phone and told her to never come to his home again. She went to his house to ask why and they got into an argument and then she accidentally killed him. She said she dropped the key to her apartment then, so I went to go get it. That's when you saw me.”
“Ojii-san,” Conan voiced out. “What happened to the guitars that were missing from Kurotaki's house?”
“Shiro must have sold them or given them to someone.” Mouri reasoned.
“Then what about what Orie said?” Conan reminded. “What did she mean by that? Shoyama, where was Orie's key?” he turned to Takuro.
“In the entryway.” Takuro answered.
“You didn't look inside the house?” Conan inquired.
“No.” Takuro replied. “Orie said she dropped it in the entryway.”
“Yumemura,” Conan went over to Yumemura. “Was the injury on your head bad?”
“It wasn't that bad, but it's a head injury.” Yumemura pointed out. “I went to the hospital just to be safe.”
“Which hospital?” Conan inquired.
“Beika General Hospital.” Yumemura replied.
“That's the same hospital where Orie is staying.” Conan remembered, laying the final stage of his trap.
That night...
“What's the matter?” Megure drew the partition curtain in Orie's ward room. “Why did you come to this hospital room? Yumemura Sosuke.”
“I heard Orie was staying here, so I came to see her.” Yumemura stammered.
“Don't bother playing dumb.” Conan took on Mouri's voice using the 'Voice-Changing Bowtie' as Takagi walked in, blocking off Yumemura's escape. “Kurotaki Shiro.”
“While tracking down the guitars that went missing after the incident, we were informed someone purchased several at once last fall.” Megure supplied. “They were bought by someone named Kurotaki Shiro.”
“Then, they didn't go missing.” Yumemura remarked. “Shiro sold them.”
“That's impossible.” Akihiro snapped. “At that time, Shiro was in a hospital in the United States due to a traffic accident.”
“We showed the store employee a photo of your face to confirm and they testified that you came to sell the guitars.” Megure added.
“I can't believe Orie, either.” Takuro sighed. “How could she let this man's lies fool her?”
“This is probably what led to the murder.” Conan continued. “The real Shiro, who returned after two years aboard, realized his precious guitars were missing and called to meet you. However, whether you planned or was it an accident during the argument, you killed Shiro. While fleeing, you met Orie in the entryway. You were pushed while fighting to keep her out of the house, hit your head on the lucky cat in the entrance and lost consciousness. Orie saw the bloodstains from Shiro on your clothes and thought she'd killed you. She became distraught and fled. Later, you regained consciousness and fled on your motorcycle. You changed clothes, got treated at the hospital and contacted Orie. She felt obligated to meet you because she thought she had killed you, and she didn't know a murder had taken place in that house. You took advantage of that and pushed Orie from the terrace in an attempt to frame her.”
“We examined Orie's phone and found that she began dating someone named Kurotaki Shiro a year ago.” Megure presented the evidence. “After the real Shiro began living in the United States, Orie had no motiv to kill Shiro, whom she had never met.”
“Yumemura, why did Orie say she dropped her keys in the entryway?” Conan posted a question. “Because she couldn't imagine dropping them anywhere else. Orie never entered the house.”
“Orie isn't dead.” Takagi informed, cutting off Yumemura's insistence on pushing the blame onto Orie.
“After falling from the terrace, she went into cardiac arrest, but swift measures from Mouri and his family saved her life.” Megure confirmed.
“Inspector Megure.” Takagi reported. “Orie just regained consciousness.”