Hearing Tsuneo's words, Akira Morozumi began to hammer his fists against the floor with even greater ferocity.
It was a bitter pill to swallow. Truly, life was just one "surprise" after another.
So that's why she was collecting evidence to threaten me? Why she wanted a divorce? Because of that fraud?!
"You probably came up with this whole scheme after reading Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders, didn't you?" Heiji remarked, looking down at him.
"But you seem to have forgotten one thing," Heiji continued with a smirk. "No matter how meticulously a crime is designed, the one who laughs last is never the suspect. It's always the man in the novel with the 'little grey cells.'"
"Damn it all!" Akira Morozumi began to scream curses at the woman who had died in the fire—the woman who, even in death, had orchestrated his total defeat.
It wasn't some unsolvable mystery. When a culprit follows the blueprint of a famous detective novel where the detective already solved the case, getting caught is simply the natural conclusion of their own stupidity.
"Hey, Inspector," Heiji turned toward Yumiura. "Now that we've got the real culprit and the evidence is airtight, can you tell us? Why were you so certain Mr. Genda wasn't the arsonist from the start?"
"It was like this..." Inspector Yumiura stepped forward to handcuff Akira. As he led him toward the waiting patrol car, he began to recount his earlier encounter with Takanori Genda.
Back when the police first suspected Genda—this suspicious man who kept appearing at the scenes—Yumiura had gone to speak with him.
After talking for about twenty or thirty minutes, Yumiura had stood up to leave. He had only walked a few paces when he turned back and saw Genda crouching in the bushes, frantically searching for something with a look of extreme anxiety.
"What was he looking for?" Tsuneo asked, holding the desk lamp Akira had used for his trick.
Inspector Yumiura smiled and pulled a portable ashtray from his pocket.
"He probably didn't see me put it away and thought I'd tossed my cigarette butt into the grass. He stayed on the ground searching for a long time. It wasn't until a light drizzle started that he finally looked relieved."
Yumiura shook his head. "Do you really think a man that conscientiously terrified of fire would go out in the middle of the night to burn down people's homes?"
Perhaps because his father, a firefighter, had died in the line of duty, Genda's awareness of fire safety was incredibly high. To say a man like that had a "pyromaniac" streak was absurd; it was more likely he had a "fire-suppression" obsession.
"Inspector, we're taking the suspects in now!"
No one could have predicted that a single serial arson investigation would result in the arrest of three different people.
"What's going to happen to those two?" Kogoro Mori asked, standing at the door and watching the "feng shui master" and the "fortune-teller"—those two charlatans—being escorted away by the police.
These two had even gone so far as to plant wiretaps the moment a small-business owner like Genda walked through their doors. It was clearly their standard operating procedure. Since the range on those bugs was only a few hundred meters, they likely spent their free time lurking near their clients' homes with headphones on. It was undeniably perverted.
"Well, their plan to sell counterfeit goods at exorbitant prices hadn't succeeded yet. They only came here to retrieve the bugs because they were afraid of the forensics team," Yumiura explained.
"We'll give them a stern lecture first, and then we'll make sure the news of their fraudulent activities is reported to the public," the Inspector added, glancing at Tsuneo.
Normally, that last part—the public exposure—might not have happened. Wiretapping can be a minor or major offense depending on the circumstances, and given Genda's soft-hearted nature, he likely would have forgiven them.
But Tsuneo's suggestion was a good one. There was no telling how many vases and crystal balls they had already scammed people into buying. Exposing them would serve as a necessary warning to the public.
"Farewell, Mori. You've got some impressive juniors around you!" Inspector Yumiura called out as he walked away. He didn't turn back, merely offering a wave.
To some, the truth was the most important thing of all—if only because it finally allowed a man to get a good night's sleep.
Kogoro Mori stood at attention and gave the "Fire Father" a solemn salute.
The following day.
Inside an antique and craft shop in Beika-cho.
"Come on, Uncle! Give me a better price than that! I came all this way specifically to buy something and cheer you up!" Heiji was standing at the counter, aggressively haggling over a small, vintage-style clock.
"But... that was handmade by a very famous master..." Takanori Genda's eyes darted back and forth, following the clock as the dark-skinned teen swung it around. Please, stop waving it!
"I don't care how famous the master was! If you don't wind it, it doesn't move. This thing is a relic! It doesn't even fit the modern era!" Seeing that Genda wouldn't budge, Heiji grabbed a giant Maneki-neko (beckoning cat) from a nearby shelf.
"Add this in too, and how about a five-hundred-yen discount?!"
Tsuneo, Conan, and Ran stood outside the shop, watching the spectacle. They couldn't tell if Heiji actually wanted to buy the items or if he was just putting on a show.
Kazuha, on the other hand, was far more decisive. She dumped a pile of small trinkets onto the counter and waved her hand dismissively. "If we dawdle any longer, we'll miss our flight! Just wrap all of this up for us, and give us a flat rate!"
"A-Alright! Thank you so much, miss," Genda stammered, looking immensely relieved.
"Mhm! And you don't even have to give us a discount on these," Kazuha said, pointing to a gem-encrusted ring inside the glass display case. "Just give me this classic-looking ring as a free gift!"
Heiji: "..."
If I'm not mistaken, that ring Kazuha is pointing at costs two million yen...
"I... I'm afraid I can't do that..." Genda looked utterly dazed.
You picked out less than twenty thousand yen worth of trinkets and you want... you want a two-million-yen ring as a 'free gift'?!
"Hey! Time's almost up!" Tsuneo called out from Dr. Agasa's Beetle. He honked the horn twice.
Hearing the shout, the "Robber Couple" from Osaka quickly paid their bill—without the two-million-yen ring—and hopped into the car to rush toward the airport.
"That guy managed to escape three major disasters," Tsuneo remarked, glancing at the shop in the rearview mirror with a faint smile.
Akira Morozumi's frame-up was the "Great Disaster," while the two charlatans trying to bleed him dry were the "Minor Disasters."
"Heh..." Conan let out a weary smile as he watched Heiji and Kazuha divvying up their purchases in the back seat.
The two of them were purely there to play the fool. If they had told Mr. Genda who was actually responsible for solving the case, the man probably would have given them the ring for real. Their loud, ridiculous haggling was just their clumsy way of making sure the man stayed distracted and kept his spirits up.
Takanori Genda was one of the most pitiable men they had encountered in a long time—especially since he wasn't even the primary victim.
"Oh, by the way, I heard Kaito Kid already sent out a teaser notice, right?" Kazuha asked, bringing up the famous magician in white.
"Yeah, it's for next Saturday."
Ran pulled out her phone, showing a text message Sonoko had sent her earlier containing the phantom thief's latest riddle.
As Kogoro Mori would put it, the tone of the thief's message was as arrogant and self-assured as ever, as if the concept of fear didn't even exist in his vocabulary...
(End of Chapter)
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 40 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
Here's the link:
[email protected]/DaoistRoeoNQ
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"