Outside the late Mr. Takai's bedroom, Inspector Megure was doing his best to placate the suspects, who were becoming increasingly restless and irritable.
Just then, Tsuneo, the boys, and Officer Takagi emerged from the bedroom, cutting the tense conversation short.
"Are you all ready?" Megure asked, letting out a sigh of relief. He glanced at his watch; only about ten minutes had passed.
"Yeah... Ms. Jodie has fallen fast asleep. I've placed my phone right next to her pillow," Takagi reported with a nod.
The preparations had gone incredibly smoothly, largely thanks to Ms. Jodie's impressive drinking speed. Glass after glass, she hadn't hesitated for a second.
"Now, as long as we don't wake her up, we just need to make a few 'adjustments' to the room," Hattori said, a confident smirk playing on his lips.
Tsuneo shook his head silently.
He would bet anything that the FBI agent was having the time of her life pretending to be unconscious.
Inspector Megure turned to the three suspects. "Can we begin then?"
"No problem. First, Mr. Nakamachi sent a text message to Mr. Takai, right?" Hattori said. He pulled out his own phone, tapped out a message, and hit send.
Tsuneo's hearing was sharp; even with the bedroom door tightly shut, he could hear the faint, muffled chime of a notification from inside.
"Teacher, did you receive a message?" Hattori called out toward the bedroom, his voice raised but cheerful.
Inside the room, Jodie looked at the text on the screen. For a split second, a look of genuine surprise crossed her face before she laughed and shouted back, "Oh, yes!"
"This text is quite the bombshell!"
The message was simple and direct—something she hadn't quite expected: [Who are you?]
"Is that so?" Hattori chuckled.
Conan, hearing the exchange, froze for a moment. What on earth did that guy send her?
"Next up is Ms. Shimada, who was downstairs taking photos with the flash on," Hattori said, looking at Megure.
Megure took the cue and radioed Officer Chiba, instructing him to stand below and mimic Ms. Shimada's actions by snapping photos toward the window.
"Is this really going to work?" Megure asked, still skeptical. Could a camera and a mobile phone really be used as murder weapons?
"With a scheme like this, it's a win if it works, and no loss if it doesn't," Tsuneo remarked dryly.
"Well, now for the final step: simulating the call Mr. Kawakami made to the deceased," Hattori said. He dialed the number of the phone Takagi had left in the room.
Inside, the phone began to ring. Jodie picked it up.
"Hello!"
"Teacher, let's just have a casual chat," Hattori said into his receiver.
"OK, so what do you want to talk about?" Jodie replied with a smile.
"How about... the answer to that text message I just sent?" Hattori's expression grew a fraction more serious.
"Hey, he didn't do something weird, did he?" Conan whispered, glancing at Tsuneo. Giving the hot-headed detective from Osaka the lead on this seemed like a questionable decision.
"He was born weird," Tsuneo whispered back with a nod. The "Black Chicken" of Osaka was far more prone to reckless behavior than most.
"OK," Jodie's voice came through the line. "But before that, may I ask you a few questions?"
"Just who are you, exactly?"
"You're not a mere boy, are you?"
"Your background isn't exactly simple either..."
Jodie's words were distorted by static, cutting in and out, making them difficult to hear clearly.
"Yes, yes, I'm just an ordinary high school student," Hattori replied, though he too was starting to lose the thread of what she was saying as the signal degraded.
Inside the bedroom, Jodie spoke as if to herself. "Since we're up so high, this always happens whenever I try to make a call."
"Wait a moment, I'm going to move!"
Recognizing the situation, Jodie stood up from the bed in the pitch-black room. She reached out, pulled back the curtains, and slid the window open. Without hesitation, she lifted a leg and began to climb onto the windowsill.
The night wind whipped against her face, and the flash of a camera pulsed from below. A faint smile touched Jodie's lips as she continued into the phone:
"I'm heading out to the balcony now. You should be able to hear me better then."
"What?!"
"Help!"
"Help me!"
The moment the screams for help erupted from the bedroom, Officer Takagi charged through the door.
"What happened?!" Megure yelled, right on his heels.
It was just a phone call! Did we actually just kill someone?!
The lights flickered on. Takagi was already there, firmly hauling back Ms. Jodie, who was securely fastened to a safety rope around her waist.
"Thank you, Officer Takagi," Jodie said with a bright, unfazed smile.
"H-how did this happen?" Megure stammered, looking at the layout of the room.
It looked completely different from when they were drinking earlier.
"Exactly. The bed was moved, and the curtains on both windows were drawn tight," Hattori explained, walking over to the other window and pulling the curtain back.
That window led to the balcony.
But the window Jodie had just stepped out of... led to a straight drop into the abyss.
"Because of the signal issues, Ms. Jodie—acting as a resident of this building—knew in her mind that she had to go to the balcony to continue the call," Hattori continued.
"In that state, she would naturally pull back the curtain, open the window, and step out without a second thought."
"I imagine that once a habit like that is formed, one wouldn't even bother to look, right?" Hattori looked toward Jodie.
"Correct," Jodie nodded, showing no signs of fear. In fact, she looked quite relaxed. "In my own bedroom, the window to the balcony is right next to the bed. I wouldn't have hesitated at all."
"I remember now," Takagi added, recalling a small detail. "While the lights were still on and Ms. Jodie was drinking, Conan was standing right in front of the balcony window, talking the whole time."
Hattori smiled. During the drinking phase, the bed hadn't been moved yet. Conan had stayed by the real balcony window to anchor that location in her mind.
"Oh! I see," Jodie said, putting on a look of sudden realization. "He was trying to make sure I noticed where the window and balcony were. He wanted me to be certain that in this room, the window by the bed led to the balcony. It was a setup!"
"Hehe, Brother Tsuneo told me to do it!" Conan rubbed the back of his head, offering a sweet, innocent smile.
Tsuneo: "..."
As long as the lead actor is having fun, I suppose it doesn't matter what the 'extra' does, he thought.
"Mr. Kawakami," Hattori turned his gaze toward the man who had made the fatal call. "I assume you saw Mr. Takai do this during a previous visit, and that's how you came up with this method?"
"I see," Megure mused. "By exploiting that habit, moving the bed, and calling after you got home... you knew that a half-drunk Mr. Takai would encounter signal interference, roll out of bed, and step through the window on his right."
Megure stood by the window and looked down.
Below, Chiba was still dutifully snapping away with the camera flash...
The uncertainty of this method was immense. If Mr. Takai had spared even a single glance at the view outside the window, the plan would have failed.
But tonight, the trap had been perfect.
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