"I just can't wrap my head around it," Hattori muttered, standing outside Mr. Takai's bedroom with a deep furrow in his brow.
"Yeah, you're talking about the killer's method, right?" Conan's expression was equally clouded with doubt. "How exactly did they manage to throw Mr. Takai out of that window?"
The suspects' actions earlier didn't seem to offer an obvious answer. Ms. Shimada, who had been taking photos outside the apartment building, had used a camera with the flash on at most. The text message sent by Mr. Nakamachi showed nothing out of the ordinary. Finally, there was Mr. Kawakami, whose phone call had been the most aggressive; he admitted to unleashing a verbal assault on Mr. Takai, even telling him to go die.
But people didn't usually just drop dead—or jump—simply because someone told them to.
"When Mr. Takai was grabbing the curtains, he should have had his phone in his hand. So why did he go out of his way to throw it back into the room?" Hattori struggled to understand the victim's logic.
It wasn't as if his moral compass was so high that he feared hitting a pedestrian with a falling phone. Or perhaps he was trying to protect his property even in his final moments?
"The only possibility is that Mr. Takai might have left some kind of clue during the call and didn't want the phone to be destroyed in the fall," Conan suggested, lost in thought.
"A clue?"
Hattori nodded. "We'll have to get our hands on that phone and take another look in a bit."
Ring, ring, ring!
A phone suddenly blared. Hattori picked it up. "Hello, who is this?"
"What time do you think it is?"
A woman's voice came from the other end, her tone deceptively calm.
"Eh?" Hattori blinked. "Why are you asking that?"
The voice sounded suspiciously familiar.
"You idiot! Exactly what time do you think it is right now?!"
Even through the speaker, Conan felt like he could see Kazuha's fuming face.
"..." Hattori stared at the phone, a flash of panic crossing his features.
Crap. He had completely forgotten about his evening plans to meet Kazuha. He had intended to head back in the afternoon, but then this whole mess happened…
"Heiji! Are you even listening?!"
"Why is the signal so bad?"
Hattori looked down at the screen. The signal was indeed down to a single bar, and Kazuha's voice was cutting in and out.
"I'm over in Beika-cho right now. I might not be able to make it back tonight," Hattori said, pacing toward the French windows in the living room and stepping out onto the balcony. There was no telling when this case would be solved.
"What? This isn't the first time! You have such a terrible habit of—" Kazuha launched into a relentless tirade.
She had no idea that her audience had already stopped listening.
The moment they heard the word "habit," Conan and Hattori exchanged a sharp, knowing look. Their eyes sparkled with sudden realization as they sprinted toward the adjacent window.
The balconies for the living room and the bedroom were connected.
That window!
That habit!
A moment later, the two of them reached the tightly shut bedroom window and tapped on the glass.
"???"
Inspector Megure pulled back the indoor curtains himself, only to find the familiar duo of the high school detective and the elementary school kid staring back at him.
"You two again?"
"Inspector Megure, what is Brother Tsuneo looking at over there?" Conan asked with a face of feigned innocence.
"Him? He… he says the floorboards need replacing…" Megure turned to look at Tsuneo, a look of weary helplessness on his face.
"The floorboards, huh?" Hattori and Conan grinned simultaneously.
It seemed the "handyman" had noticed it too.
Outside in the living room, Ms. Jodie stood by the window, pretending to admire the night view. She held her camera backward, a subtle smile on her lips as she snapped a series of photos of the group.
Another new character has appeared...
"An experiment?"
Inspector Megure looked skeptical when Hattori claimed that a simple experiment would solve the mystery.
"That's right. We just need to recreate exactly what those three suspects did before Mr. Takai fell. That will break this 'locked room' mystery," Hattori explained with a confident nod.
"Hmm… but looking back at what they did, none of it seems capable of killing a person," Megure said, shaking his head as he reviewed the facts in his mind.
Even if it were a homicide, those three hardly seemed like killers. One was taking photos downstairs, one was sending a text from home, and the other was just making a phone call from his own house.
"We'll know once we try. Right, Tsuneo?" Hattori said, clapping Tsuneo on the shoulder.
"Try what? Can't you just explain it?"
The handyman checked his watch. It was past eight o'clock. Eating dinner this late wasn't good for one's health.
"Well, it'll be hard to believe without seeing it. But we're missing something for this experiment," Hattori mused.
"Just say what you need," Megure replied. Seeing how confident they were, he didn't object. The forensic work was done, and the scene was empty; there was no risk of compromising evidence now.
"Hattori-niichan, are we missing the alcohol?" Conan looked up and asked with a grin.
At the time of death, Mr. Takai had been stark raving drunk. That state had to be simulated for the experiment to be accurate.
"But even if we have the alcohol, who's going to drink it?" Takagi asked, his eyes instinctively drifting toward Tsuneo.
"Watch it. I might go on a drunken rampage," Tsuneo warned, casually flashing a heavy wrench from his tool bag.
"..."
"Anyway, you police officers can't drink while on duty, can you? It seems the only person who can play this role is…" Hattori turned his gaze toward Jodie.
"Me?!" Jodie felt the plot was taking a rather ridiculous turn.
"If Brother Tsuneo won't drink, then you're the only one left, Teacher," Hattori said, clearly having already cast the roles in his head.
"Okay! But in exchange, you have to help me find my favorite brand!"
Jodie agreed with surprising bluntness, even going so far as to specify the exact type and brand of liquor she wanted.
"I say, Tsuneo-kun, is this really going to be alright?"
Inspector Megure watched as the young master from Osaka carried a bottle of alcohol into the bedroom. He couldn't help but whisper his concerns to the handyman standing beside him.
"Drinking on an empty stomach makes you get drunk faster," Tsuneo noted with a nod.
"I-is that so…" Megure stammered, looking into the room where the drinking had already commenced.
"Good!" Jodie exclaimed. With a wine glass in one hand and the bottle in the other, she wore a look of pure bliss, looking every bit like a seasoned lush.
The "favorite brand" she had requested was Sherry.
"I'm glad you like it," Hattori said with a strained laugh. He hadn't expected her to actually down glass after glass without stopping.
Conan, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes as he stared intensely at the bottle of Sherry.
"No problem! I can drink as much as you need!" Jodie chirped, finishing another half-glass.
Under the watchful eyes of the group, Jodie quickly polished off nearly the entire bottle.
"Whew~"
"I'm feeling a little lightheaded. Can I just lie down on the bed and sleep now?" the English teacher asked, her face flushed as she let out a yawn.
"That should be enough. Let's begin," Hattori said to the group as he watched her drift off into a peaceful sleep on the bed.
"Doing strange things while the police are watching will get you arrested," Tsuneo reminded them helpfully, his eyes lingering for a moment on the teacher's rather prominent features as she lay there.
What a strange plot...
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