Everyone entered the villa.
Yokomizo did the same thing Ritsu had done the night before, pressing the button to replay the answering machine messages. Only this time, the focus was on the contents of the recordings rather than retrieving phone numbers.
Ritsu hadn't expected one of the messages to involve Taichi. If he had known Taichi had deliberately recorded a message to create an alibi, he would have found a way to track him down last night.
"There are currently two messages on the machine…"
The first message had been left by Yuzo at 3:10 PM, but it contained nothing useful. The second message, however, was far more interesting. Whoever made it had obviously gone out of their way to fabricate an alibi.
[Hey, Dad, it's Taichi. Great news, Dad, the Sora-to-Sora team finally won! Thanks to Kogure's hit in the bottom of the sixth inning, and that home run he blasted into right field. Kogure's really an incredible batter.]
[Recording time: 11:34 PM.]
After hearing the contents of the recording, Ritsu was basically certain that the murderer was Taichi. Now all he needed was decisive evidence.
"11:34 PM… which means it lines up with the time of the murder. The actual crime happened around 11:30, correct?" Yokomizo asked.
"That's right. We happened to look at the clock right before we saw the killer, so we can be sure of it," Shinichi replied.
Tatsuji laughed openly upon hearing that.
"No matter how you look at it, my older brother couldn't be the killer. That game was only being broadcast live on satellite TV, and it ended around 11:25 PM. If you didn't watch the game, there's no way you'd know the result."
The calm and composed Taichi glanced at Tatsuji meaningfully.
"If the killer isn't me, then it must be one of you two. Right now, the one acting the most suspicious and the one with the easiest opportunity to commit the crime, is you, Yuzo."
"Big brother, what are you talking about?! There's no way I'd kill Father!"
Yuzo looked utterly disbelieving. The older brother who had always treated him kindly was suddenly accusing him. A bitter ache rose in his chest, along with a sense of betrayal.
Feeling everyone's suspicious gazes fall upon him, Yuzo turned pleading eyes toward Ritsu. At a time like this, he could only hope the man would quickly clear his name.
Yet Ritsu acted as though he hadn't noticed. Without saying a word, he stepped in front of Yuzo protectively, pushed up his glasses, and smiled.
"Taichi-san, I have a question for you."
"Oh? Go ahead."
"Did you actually watch that game?"
A trace of doubt crossed Taichi's face, though he still maintained his smile. "Of course I did. Didn't I mention it in the message—"
Ritsu had no interest in listening to lies. He cut him off immediately. "The only home run hit last night wasn't to right field."
"I… heh, so I still got exposed in the end."
Hearing that, Yokomizo exclaimed in shock, "Exposed?! So you really are the one who attacked Tomizawa Tetsuji?!"
Taichi hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no, that's not what I meant. What I meant was, I didn't actually watch the game on TV yesterday. I listened to it on the radio while playing pachinko."
"On the radio?"
"Yeah. I live in Osaka, and broadcasts of that game can be picked up there by radio."
Taichi paused before continuing confidently,
"And besides, at the time of the murder, I left a message on the answering machine here. If I were the killer, that would've been impossible, right?"
"Of course it was possible."
"?!"
"When you make up lies, at least spend some time checking Yahoo first."
As Yahoo's unofficial spokesperson, Ritsu strolled up to Taichi. Raising his chin slightly with clear disdain, he said slowly,
"You really are ignorant. Kudo, you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
"Yeah, of course."
Shinichi often walked his childhood friend home, so he was well aware that Ran's father's three favorite things were Yoko Okino, horse racing, and pachinko.
Looking at the visibly uneasy Taichi, he smiled. "Taichi-san, were you really playing pachinko at 11:30 PM?"
"Of course I was."
"Heh. Looks like you really didn't know. By regulation, pachinko parlors aren't allowed to operate past 11 PM. So where exactly were you playing pachinko?"
"!!"
Taichi, who had clearly never stayed at a pachinko parlor that late before, instantly realized there was a flaw in the carefully woven lie he had prepared. Seeing everyone's suspicious gazes focus on him, he quickly explained,
"I-I got mixed up! Actually, I heard the broadcast while riding in a taxi home after I finished playing pachinko."
Yokomizo strode up to him and frowned. "Really?"
"Oh, come on, Detective. I just got confused, that's all. Besides, I already left a message during the time the murder occurred. How do you explain that?"
"That's easy. Don't tell me you actually thought your plan was flawless?"
Ritsu had always enjoyed crushing criminals who thought they were clever. With his hands in his pockets, he slowly circled around Taichi, every step pressing down on the man's nerves. He thoroughly enjoyed watching killers desperately try to maintain their composure.
"You were at the scene last night too, so you should know this already."
"Know what?"
Kudo cooperated immediately. "There was a ten-minute blackout after 11:30 last night. Don't tell me you didn't know about that."
A blackout!
"Because of the blackout, the answering machine couldn't possibly have been operating. So how could your message have been recorded during those ten minutes?"
Ritsu asked with great interest, staring at the killer who had tried to frame his younger brother. He wanted to see what other desperate lies the man could invent to patch up the cracks in his failed scheme.
"I… Someone must be trying to frame me! That's right! I'm being set up!"
'How boring. Looks like this was as far as it would go.'
"I thought a novelist would be able to come up with more interesting lies. Your father made the right choice. Someone like you, whose brain is clogged with mud, has no talent for being a writer."
Ritsu raised his left hand and gestured toward the wristwatch on it. "Where's your father's watch? You know where it is, don't you?"
Before Taichi could argue, Ritsu coldly continued, already out of patience.
"I'm not interested in hearing your cheap excuses. You installed a listening device in the watch before giving it away, which is how you knew the result of the game. Am I wrong?"
"…"
Realizing he had no way to explain himself and that he still hadn't disposed of the watch, which was hidden in his car, Taichi gave a bitter smile.
"I lost."
"Big brother! Why would you try to kill Dad?!"
"I'm not as great as you all imagine me to be." Taichi lowered his head and laughed bitterly.
"It was for the money. I'm just another person who wanted Father's inheritance… so I could keep being a novelist."
Listening to Taichi's complaints, Shinichi frowned, unable to bear it any longer. At his age, full of youthful passion and righteousness, he snapped angrily,
"You tried to kill your own father just because he opposed your dream? Did you hit your head as a baby or what?!"
"Heh. A kid still in school could never understand the hardships adults face."
"I think you're worse than a minor."
Expressionless, Ritsu looked at the completely unrepentant man. After reading the message on his phone, he slipped it back into his pocket.
In a cold voice, he said,
"You grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth. You probably have no idea how many people in this world struggle just to afford a single meal. They work hard to survive too. Your father never abandoned you, he was trying to give you a better environment. Why not accept that and chase your dream once the time was right?"
"He never once gave up on you. You should understand that better than anyone."
Taichi shook his head frantically.
"That's impossible! Dad denied everything about me! He said the novels I wrote were garbage… worthless trash nobody would ever read!"
"The watch you gave him wasn't even an expensive brand, yet he wore it all the time. He even bragged about it to me, a complete stranger he had just met."
Ritsu narrowed his eyes and spoke in a low voice. "He bragged that it was a gift from his son."
"!!"
Only then did Taichi, trapped within his own self-centered world, finally realize the truth.
His father had merely regretted that his son stubbornly insisted on pursuing something unsuited to him. He had never denied Taichi as a person or considered him a failure.
It was Taichi himself who had become obsessed, convincing himself that his father wanted to destroy him.
"Dad…"
"You can save that 'Dad' for the hospital."
Taichi abruptly lifted his head, eyes red. "W-What do you mean by that?"
Ritsu pulled out his phone and opened the email Sonoko had sent him.
"Emergency treatment was successful. Tomizawa-san regained consciousness not long ago and is now out of danger."
Looking toward Yokomizo, who was already taking out his handcuffs, Ritsu said,
"Detective Yokomizo, give him a chance to apologize face-to-face at the hospital. As for what comes afterward, he'll have to pay for his foolish actions and spend some time in prison thinking about what path he should take next."
"Come with us, Taichi-san."
Watching Taichi get into the police car, Shinichi couldn't help but sigh.
"Sensei, you figured out Taichi was the killer pretty early on, didn't you? Can I ask when you first… huh? Where'd he go?"
Shinichi looked around and discovered that Ritsu had somehow slipped over ten meters away and was already smoking a cigarette. Pinching his nose, he walked over and lectured him.
"Sensei, you should smoke less. It's bad for your health."
Now even minors were lecturing him about smoking less?
He had simply felt like smoking one all of a sudden. Ritsu realized that he had let too much of his own emotions influence his investigation.
He really couldn't stand it… Couldn't stand people who had happy families yet failed to cherish them.
"Kudo."
"Hmm?"
"Worry about yourself."
"…"