Chapter 93: Uncle Mouri Gets His Comeuppance
As time passed, the search across Tsukikage Island came to an end.
Thirty police officers plus island volunteers still couldn't find any trace of the murderer.
Anya and Natsukawa returned to the guesthouse during the day to catch up on sleep. When they woke, it was already dinner time.
"Natsukawa-san, I heard there were two more murders last night. Is that true?" Yor asked curiously.
Her eyes flashed with a strange light, which Natsukawa interpreted as simple feminine curiosity about gossip. He replied without much thought:
"That's right. Apparently all three victims were involved in drug trafficking—they deserved what they got."
"Do you really think so? Don't you find the murderer's methods rather cruel?" Yor pressed.
"Not particularly."
Having witnessed death many times throughout his career, Natsukawa could accept such execution-style murders, especially when the victims were genuinely unforgivable criminals.
In a more just world, such people would deserve even worse fates.
"What surprised me most was Dr. Asai," Ran interjected. "He's actually a man! That was really shocking."
She'd had such a pleasant conversation with him yesterday at lunch, and had even been considering asking him to show her the special hot springs on Tsukikage Island. Thankfully, the case intervened before that could happen.
Otherwise...
"By the way, where are Uncle Mouri and Conan?"
Natsukawa had been meaning to ask since the beginning, especially since Conan had disappeared after the early morning deduction and hadn't resurfaced. Could the case's complexity have overwhelmed him?
Then again, shouldn't it be Uncle Mouri who was devastated? He'd been used as a puppet without even being conscious for it—what did he have to feel depressed about?
Ran shook her head. "I'm not sure. Conan hasn't come back all day, but he did call the guesthouse saying he'd made friends on the island and was having dinner at their place."
Natsukawa shrugged.
Undoubtedly lying.
The kid was clearly still investigating—quite the dedicated little detective.
After dinner, the four of them headed to the community center.
Today was originally the anniversary of Kameyama Isamu's death, but due to the murder case, three additional memorial tablets had been added.
The tablets for Kameyama Isamu, Kuroiwa Tatsuji, Kawashima Hideo, and Nishimoto Ken were arranged in orderly fashion. These four accomplices might not have all died together, but at least they could share the memorial offerings.
A family should be complete, after all.
Natsukawa immediately spotted Inspector Megure. The man had dark circles under his eyes and looked utterly exhausted—clearly having gotten zero sleep since yesterday.
"Inspector Megure, any progress?"
Inspector Megure yawned deeply. "Thirty officers plus the island's residents searched all day, but we still haven't found the suspected killer."
"What about Shimizu Masato? Didn't you have his computer investigated?"
"He actually hasn't turned on his computer since going home."
Without it being powered on, they couldn't remotely access it, and therefore couldn't obtain evidence.
Without evidence, they had no legal grounds to seize Shimizu Masato's computer.
The situation was stuck in a vicious cycle. The only solution now was to find the killer. Once the assassin was caught, regardless of whether Shimizu Masato was involved, the case could be resolved.
"Conan! You finally showed up! Anya's been looking everywhere for you!"
Anya had been crouched by the door waiting for Conan to arrive. Her expression was deadly serious as she put her hands on her hips. "I still haven't received my assistant's fee for helping Uncle Mouri!"
Conan rolled his eyes internally.
It's surprising Anya remembered such a trivial detail so clearly. If he weren't worried about her interfering with his deductions, he'd usually handle these tasks himself.
However, to avoid being disturbed, Conan produced the payment—a lollipop.
Come to think of it, Uncle Natsukawa gave this to me yesterday. Now I can pass it along to Anya as her fee.
The little girl happily accepted the lollipop and scampered off to enjoy it.
Because of the full moon tonight, her telepathy was temporarily disabled. Otherwise, if she'd heard Conan's thoughts, she definitely wouldn't have let him off so easily.
Natsukawa observed the two children's covert transaction but didn't intervene. He was curious to learn what new discoveries Conan had made.
Under Natsukawa's watchful eye, Conan crept up behind Kogoro Mouri.
Kogoro was dozing at that moment. The revelation that Asai Narumi was actually a man had hit him hard, draining all his energy.
He sat with eyes half-closed, oblivious to everything around him, completely unaware of Conan's approach.
Conan positioned himself behind Kogoro, pulled out his watch-shaped tranquilizer gun, took aim, and pressed the trigger.
Click—
Nothing happened.
Oh no!
Conan suddenly remembered Professor Agasa mentioning there was only one tranquilizer dart loaded.
To fire again, he'd have to return to Tokyo to get it refitted.
What do I do now?
The previously confident detective suddenly felt embarrassed.
He'd already identified the culprit and gathered the evidence.
Damn it!
Suddenly, Conan spotted the glass ashtray to his right.
→_→
Uncle Mouri, I'm really sorry. I'll have to use the old-fashioned method from before.
Who told you to hit me on the head so many times yesterday? Consider this payback.
After confirming everyone's attention was focused on the memorial altar, Conan raised the glass ashtray.
Forgive me, Uncle Mouri!
CLANG!!
The sound made several people turn to look.
"Strange, wasn't there a noise just now?"
"You must have heard wrong."
"Could it be one of those four men's spirits manifesting? Or perhaps Aso Keiji's ghost appeared?"
"Don't be ridiculous! The police already confirmed there's a culprit—how could it be a ghost?"
While everyone debated, Conan had already adjusted his voice-changing bowtie and began speaking.
"Since everyone is gathered here, I should continue the unfinished deduction from this morning."
"Oh?" Inspector Megure's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected Mouri-kun to deliver a sequel performance.
Anya, seemingly from nowhere, pulled up a small stool and sat down beside Natsukawa, adjusting her camera with a mischievous smile on her lips.
Yor looked curiously toward Kogoro Mouri and whispered to Natsukawa, "Just now, Conan hit Uncle Mouri on the head with that ashtray, didn't he?"
"Huh?" Σ(⊙▽⊙"a
Conan actually got caught?
"Maybe he's getting revenge for Uncle Mouri hitting him so much yesterday," Natsukawa offered diplomatically.
"I see."
Yor pondered this for a moment, then let it go. It didn't really matter—Uncle Mouri didn't seem injured anyway, just asleep.
Though it's strange... where did Conan disappear to after hitting him?
No one answered Yor's unspoken question. Everyone's eyes remained fixed on the unconscious Kogoro Mouri, their expressions peculiar.
This guy failed his deduction yesterday morning, and now he's trying again?
"Inspector Megure, please bring Asai Narumi here."
"Right away!"
The case was stuck in limbo, and the Sleeping Kogoro was Inspector Megure's only lifeline—even if the morning deduction had been incomplete.
It hadn't been a total failure, though. At least they'd discovered Asai Narumi was a man disguised as a woman.
Asai Narumi was quickly escorted in.
Since being detained that morning, Asai Narumi hadn't changed out of his women's clothing. He still wore the feminine attire, making everyone present feel distinctly uncomfortable.
These people already knew Asai Narumi's true gender.
Yet standing before them now, they still found it hard to believe such a feminine-looking person was actually a man.
"Now that everyone's assembled, let the deduction begin!"
Kogoro Mouri's voice commanded absolute silence as anticipation reached its peak!
(End of Chapter 93)
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