"That's right. The culprit is indeed the person staying in Room 304."
"Mr. Tahara!"
The murder weapon had been found by the police, and the identity of the true killer was now all but confirmed.
"But what about the timing of the crime?" Inspector Yokomizo looked at Tsuneo.
"Do you remember? Around 7:50 PM, he entered the villa once to help us get some beer and soda," Tsuneo asked.
"I do recall that. He even ordered two dishes from me," the villa owner nodded.
The time he ordered the food was roughly around eight o'clock, because the call from the TV station came through shortly after.
"It seems that's the case. Just before he ordered food from you, he had just come downstairs after killing someone upstairs." Tsuneo smiled wryly.
This owner really had rotten luck today.
"That gunshot sound, the recording of Mr. Sunaoka's lines, and that phone call to me?" Kogoro Mouri looked at the scriptwriter.
No wonder the man had been wearing a gloomy expression all day, only to return with a smile after fetching the beer.
"After he returned to the garden restaurant, he used the excuse of sudden inspiration and needing to write it down immediately to sit at the corner table."
"He waited for the right moment, dialed Uncle's number using his mobile phone, and played that recording." Tsuneo paused for a moment.
Since Tahara wrote the script, he was intimately familiar with the lines in the drama series. The idea to use the recording for the call likely sparked after he met the four of them that afternoon.
"As for the gunshot, I'm afraid that after the call ended, he took advantage of our distraction to throw a firecracker or something similar into the valley to create the noise," Mouri deduced, having figured it out.
It wouldn't be hard to find firecrackers with a satisfyingly loud report if one looked around the market and tested them in a secluded spot.
Moreover, the villa was right next to a hunting ground. When everyone heard the sound echoing through the valley, their first reaction was naturally that someone was hunting.
"Hmph. What kind of famous detectives are you? Even if the weapon really appeared in my room, that doesn't mean it's definitely mine."
"I believe this is a conspiracy by the real culprit to frame me." Toshiaki Tahara stood up, looking accusingly at the producer and the manager.
"Is that what you thought, and is that why you didn't throw it away?" Tsuneo nodded.
Framing someone... it wasn't an impossible angle.
Scriptwriters often had very convoluted minds.
"Huh? That's straaaange. Uncle Mouri, I remember Mr. Sunaoka's mobile phone was left inside Room 301, right?"
"Then what did Mr. Tahara use to call you?"
"It's really weird, isn't it?"
Conan tilted his head back, firing off a triple combo of questions.
The famous detective's line of questioning instantly turned Toshiaki Tahara's face the color of a pig's liver.
"Exactly. The idea to drag us in as witnesses was only born after he met us this afternoon. I'm afraid he didn't have the time, nor the means, to tamper with the phone records."
Tsuneo patted the shoulder of a confused-looking Mouri.
To prove that Sunaoka was killed after the phone call in his room, Tahara didn't dare take the phone from the victim's room.
It was a risky move.
If one were to carefully check the call logs, there would almost certainly be discrepancies.
"Additionally, Inspector Yokomizo, could you please remove Mr. Tahara's shoes? There is one more piece of decisive evidence underneath."
Inspector Yokomizo nodded and, without further discussion, pulled Toshiaki Tahara's shoe right off in front of everyone.
"Inside the tread of his right shoe, there's a tiny shard of glass!" Inspector Yokomizo displayed it to the group.
"A glass shard?"
"Could it be... from inside Room 301?" Mouri recalled the bullet hole in the french door.
"Yes. As we said before, after he fired the bullet to create the hole, he returned to Room 301, drew the curtains, and collected the glass shards and the bullet."
"This shard on his shoe must have been picked up when he was holding the crossbow to shoot Mr. Sunaoka and staging the scene," Tsuneo said, looking at the now-panicked Tahara.
The microscopic scratches on the floorboards leading all the way to Room 304 were caused by this very shard of glass.
Since discovering Sunaoka's body, no one else had entered that room. A simple forensic trace comparison would leave no doubt about this murder case.
"I admit defeat." Tahara hung his head at these words, though his face still held a look of unwillingness.
"Mr. Tahara, why did you do this?" Noe Tanigawa couldn't help but ask.
"Hmph. That guy actually looked down on my scripts. He picked apart everything, and whenever he wasn't popular, he blamed it all on me. I couldn't stand it anymore!"
"Actually, I also hoped to orchestrate a perfect crime that no one—not the producer, the actors, the police, or even a real famous detective—could solve."
"As for my prey... naturally, it had to be 'Ban-nai Sabu'. Sunaoka was the ideal candidate."
Tahara revealed his motive.
Standing at a distance, Conan couldn't help but shake his head.
Actually, if you had just adapted tonight's case into a drama series, it might have been a huge hit.
To kill someone over this... it's simply unreasonable.
"You went out this afternoon to test the sound of the firecrackers, didn't you?" Tsuneo asked the final question.
Earlier, during Inspector Yokomizo's questioning, Tahara had told a small lie, claiming he had stayed in his room all afternoon.
In reality, Tsuneo and the others had seen him when they arrived at the villa to check in.
"Yes. I was a bit anxious, so I wanted to test it one last time." Now wearing handcuffs, Tahara let out a long sigh.
Gunshots were constant in the hunting ground, so mixing his chosen firecracker sound in with them didn't make much of a difference.
With the case solved that same night, Inspector Yokomizo happily grasped the repairman's hands.
"Truly worthy of being Mr. Mouri's disciple!"
How did the saying go?
A brilliant teacher produces a high-achieving student!
Although, it was a pity he didn't get to see the 'Sleeping Kogoro' tonight.
"Disciple???" Tsuneo turned to look at Kogoro Mouri.
When did I become this guy's disciple...
"Isn't that the case? Everyone says so." Inspector Yokomizo looked at the two of them in confusion.
"I need to clarify this." The repairman quickly shook his head.
He was definitely not the disciple of any Sleeping Detective.
"What is there to clarify about something like this!" Mouri laughed boisterously and threw his arm around Tsuneo's shoulders.
Kid, don't forget, I'm the one paying for your lodging tonight!
"I knew it!" Inspector Yokomizo nodded as he watched the two of them.
"They look so close!"
"For a disciple of mine, Kogoro Mouri, solving a case like this is naturally a piece of cake!" The uncle laughed with a bit too much exaggeration.
"Ugh..."
Conan looked up at them, unsure of what to say.
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