Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

Conan, while fixing his messy hair, muttered to himself, "That guy's right! I just need to figure out how to get in... Wait! Takeda! Who are you calling a cockroach?!"

Chapter 299 The Occasionally Clever Detective

Nishitama Central Police Station

With permission, Officers Sato and Chiba are investigating the car that was in the car involved in the recent cliff fall accident involving Eito Yashiro.

Although it fell off a cliff, apart from the huge dent in the front of the car, the entire vehicle was basically undamaged.

Officer Sato ignored the burn marks inside the car and instead carefully searched for the "strange" places.

Just then, a car part that had fallen onto the driver's seat caught her attention.

"Hmm? This seatbelt buckle... Chiba, come here for a second!"

"Officer Sato, have you found something?" Upon hearing Officer Sato's call, Officer Chiba immediately ran from the other side of the car to Officer Sato's side.

Officer Sato held up the seatbelt buckle in front of him and pointed to it: "Look, here on this buckle, there seems to be a rope-like scorch mark where something was used to tie it, right?"

"Really! Judging from the size of the mark, it should be about the same thickness as a kite string!" Officer Chiba said, frowning.

"Kite string..."

……

same moment

A relatively small chess and card room.

After Tatsuno met up with Ran, Sonoko, and Professor Agasa, who had just finished watching the movie, he told everyone what had happened and the current situation.

When everyone learned that the eighth chairman and his daughter had both met with misfortune, they all showed expressions of tension.

The originally joyful trip seemed to be shrouded in a thick layer of gray fog.

Just then, Mitsuhiko and his two companions discovered the blind spot.

"Speaking of which, where's Conan?"

"Yeah, where's Conan? Did he sneak off to work with the police again behind our backs?!"

"Brother Longye, do you know where Conan went?"

"..."

Seeing that the three were about to start chattering, Longye quickly changed the subject, shifting their attention to the various board games in the game room.

at the same time

Conan, hiding under the conference room table, squinted silently.

Almost half an hour had passed since Inspector Megure called the "Niimi couple" in for questioning.

The problem is that the actual effective "Q&A session" only lasted less than five minutes.

The remaining twenty-odd minutes were entirely comprised of the Shinmi couple's worthless "personal speeches."

Conan couldn't understand why these two were so talkative. Was it because they were the former prime minister and his wife?

After a while, the Shinmi couple finally stopped.

Seeing this, Inspector Megure immediately stood up and said, "Alright, thank you both very much for your cooperation!"

“Well, we’ve said most of what we needed to say. Although I don’t need to emphasize this point again, we still hope you can arrest the murderer as soon as possible,” the Niimi couple said as they slowly rose to their feet.

Memu Police Department: "Okay..."

Conan: "..."

Seeing that the two were finally about to leave, Officer Takagi immediately went to the conference room door ahead of time, opened the door for them, and bowed to the Shinmi couple to say goodbye.

Seeing that the Shinmi couple had finally left the meeting room, everyone inside breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally, the former prime minister and his wife have left...

If it weren't for concerns about the "power" behind the two, everyone would have wanted to "ask them to leave" long ago.

After letting out a silent sigh, Inspector Megure continued his analysis of the incident.

"If President Takae returned to his room after playing squash and was murdered after taking a shower, then the murderer should be the person wearing a coat who brushed past Mori."

"Assuming that this person went to the dock and pushed the pre-arranged Chairman Yatsushiro into the sea before committing this crime, the timing matches up. Therefore, it is highly likely that these two cases were committed by the same perpetrator!"

Next, with the analysis of Kogoro Mouri and Inspector Shiratori, everyone learned the criminal's approximate height and motive, as well as the details of the incident.

The perpetrator was approximately 170cm tall and was wearing a commemorative jacket issued on the ship when he committed the crime.

Furthermore, since the perpetrator did not touch the victim's wallet, jewels, or other valuables, it can be concluded that the perpetrator's motive was not money, but personal revenge.

There were no signs of forced entry on the door to President Takae's suite. If Ms. Takae herself hadn't led the culprit into the bedroom, then the culprit must have used the ship's "master key."

Furthermore, to accomplish these two events, there is a necessary condition: knowing the schedules of the eighth chairman and his daughter.

Thinking of this, everyone immediately looked at Ms. Tsujimoto standing to the side.

In addition to being a crew member on the Aphrodite, Tsujimoto Kaho is also an employee of Yatsushiro Entarō, the chairman of the Yatsushiro Group, and his daughter Yatsushiro Takae, responsible for arranging and recording their itinerary.

Noticing everyone's gaze, Ms. Tsujimoto spoke up: "I've only mentioned their itinerary to Mr. Misaki. Apart from the two of us, no one else should know about their schedule."

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure and the others frowned once again.

They thought the case had been solved, but now it seems their trail has gone cold again.

Based on the prisoner's height and build, it is highly unlikely that Tsujimoto Kaho and Misaki Nao, who are standing in front of him, are also prisoners.

Just then, Conan crawled out from under the conference room table and shouted, "Big sister, I have something to ask you~ Did you mention today's schedule in Chairman Yashiro's room last night?"

Seeing this, Kogoro Mouri immediately rolled up his sleeves and stormed towards Conan, ready to teach this disobedient brat who had secretly stayed in the meeting room a lesson.

Although somewhat puzzled as to why Conan had suddenly appeared, Ms. Tsujimoto replied, "Yes, he did. After dinner, I took them back to their room and confirmed today's itinerary with them."

"Was there anyone in the president's room yesterday?" Conan dodged Kogoro Mouri's "iron fist" and ran to Ms. Tsujimoto's side.

"Let me think... The president didn't seem to be feeling well yesterday. Apart from dinner, they stayed in their room the whole time."

Shortly after, Conan inquired with Mr. Misaki Naoya about the attendance rate at dinner and learned that all the guests had attended.

At that moment, Kogoro Mouri slowly walked towards Conan.

Just as he was about to teach Conan a lesson, he suddenly remembered something, and his fist stopped in mid-air.

"Inspector Megure, the reason the criminal knew about Chairman Yashiro's and his companion's itinerary is because he overheard Ms. Tsujimoto's conversation with the two of them last night!"

"What? Mori, you mean the criminals broke into their room last night?" Inspector Megure stroked his chin in confusion.

“No, Inspector. The criminal might have planted a listening device in the room!” Officer Shiratori said, deep in thought.

"That's it! This is it!" Kogoro Mouri's eyes lit up instantly.

Chapter 300 Kogoro Mouri fell into thought.

Inspector Megure, Officer Takagi, and the others then understood what Kogoro Mouri meant.

The perpetrator most likely planted the listening device in the room when Chairman Yatsushiro and his daughter were not home.

After that, he only needed to use a bug to listen to the conversation between Ms. Tsujimoto and Chairman Yashiro and his daughter to know their schedule for the day, and then he could figure out how to take action based on their schedule.

However, there is still a problem.

Even if the culprit really found out about Chairman Yatsushiro and his daughter's schedule in this way, how did he sneak into the room?

According to the investigation, there were no signs of forced entry on the door of the suite belonging to the eighth chairman and his daughter.

In other words, no matter what, the prisoner must have a "master key" to the cruise ship's cabin!

Seeing everyone's silence, Conan stepped forward and asked, "Big sister, have you been interviewed by Mr. Kusaka before?"

"Yes, Mr. Hiroshige Kusaka did interview me before."

"Did you lose the master key after the interview?" Conan pressed.

Kaho Tsujimoto and Naoya Misaki beside her exchanged a glance, their brows furrowing slightly.

"We did indeed lose a master key three weeks ago. And just like Conan said, the key was lost right after our interview with Mr. Kusaka..."

Upon hearing this, Conan's face revealed a "I knew it" smile.

Kogoro Mouri, Inspector Megure, and the others looked at Conan and asked, "Conan, why do you ask that? Do you think there's something wrong with Mr. Kusaka?"

"Yes, he said he was feeling a bit seasick halfway through dinner and went back to his room first," Conan nodded.

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure and Officer Takagi exchanged a glance, nodded, and then looked at Kogoro Mouri standing to the side.

"Mouri, how is Mr. Kusaka's physique?"

"Come to think of it, his build is indeed very similar to the prisoners I've seen, and his height seems to be about the same too," Kogoro Mouri recalled.

“Alright! In that case, let’s go see this Mr. Kusaka!” Inspector Megure stood up and said.

Shortly after

Inspector Megure and his team arrived at Hironari Kusaka's room, explained the murder of Chairman Yatsushiro and his daughter, and questioned him.

To everyone's surprise, Mr. Kusaka had a solid alibi.

Kogoro Mouri encountered the "culprit" in the corridor in front of President Takae's room at around 10:15.

At that moment, Mr. Kusaka said he was in his room, using the landline to call Minako Akiyoshi to discuss work matters.

He said he started making calls around 10 a.m. and talked until around 10:30 p.m.

Based on his testimony, Inspector Megure instructed Officer Takagi to check the ship's communication records while leading everyone to Akiyoshi Minami's room to continue the investigation.

As the group walked down the corridor, they ran into a couple.

Just as Kogoro Mouri brushed past the couple, he suddenly remembered something, turned around to look at the couple behind him, and froze on the spot.

Inspector Megure and Officer Shiratori, who were ahead, noticed that he hadn't followed and stopped, looking behind them.

"What's wrong, Mr. Mori?" Officer Shiratori asked softly.

"He must have been captivated by that girl from earlier, right? Because she's a beauty~" Inspector Megure squinted and muttered.

"Hehehe, no way~" Kogoro Mouri chuckled sheepishly and scratched his head.

Soon after, the group arrived at Miss Akiyoshi's room.

According to her, Mr. Kusaka did not seem to be lying; the two did indeed talk on the phone for about half an hour around 10 o'clock.