Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

……

Not long after, Officer Takagi continued to lead his team in collecting evidence.

Ryūno and the others sat in the hall, being questioned by Inspector Megure.

After Inspector Megure questioned the two men, his secretary Inaba and Daisai realized what was happening and said with dissatisfaction, "Are you treating us like criminals by questioning us like this?"

Upon hearing this, although no one spoke, everyone stared at Inspector Megure and Kogoro Mouri with interrogative intent.

Seeing this, Kogoro Mouri glanced at Inspector Megure, then said helplessly, "To be honest, there are no other footprints outside. The culprit must be among us!"

Amidst the horrified gazes of the crowd, Kogoro Mouri continued, "At the time of the incident, the masquerade hall was locked. And the east and west wing rooms could not be reached without passing through this masquerade hall."

"Therefore, the prisoners must be one of the same people in the west wing!"

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure immediately turned to the maid sisters beside him and asked, "What are your accommodation arrangements for tonight?"

Honami Shimokasa replied, "On the west side live Mr. Katagiri, Mr. Matsudaira, Ms. Nagara, my younger sister Minaho Shimokasa, and our secretary, Ms. Inaba."

Minaho Shimokasa immediately continued, "On the east side live the Mori group, my older sister Honomi Shimokasa, and Mr. Touya Aikawa."

Everyone stared in surprise at the strikingly similar maid sisters before them.

It's one thing for them to look alike, but to make matters worse, they even have similar names...

Seeing that everyone was drawn to the maid sisters, Kogoro Mouri coughed lightly: "In that case, the culprit must be one of the five people living on the west side!"

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure nodded and prepared to begin his investigation from this angle.

……

"Ah~ I'm so sleepy."

Just then, an untimely sigh rang out.

Following the sound, everyone looked at Longye, who was yawning while lying on a chair.

Uncle Mori was just about to give him a gentle reprimand, telling him to be mindful of the occasion.

But then Longye said, "Before the incident, we received a call from the perpetrator."

Why would the prisoner call us?

Upon hearing this, Uncle Mori immediately said, "Is that even a question? Of course, it's to... to issue me a challenge!"

Upon hearing his answer, Conan immediately rolled his eyes.

Longye's words caught his attention.

Yes, since the perpetrator didn't make the scene look like a suicide, and even made a special phone call to them, he must have had some purpose!

But... what is the purpose?

Just as Conan was deep in thought, Ryuno spoke up again: "The culprit called to ask for our help!"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone immediately retorted.

-

"What!? Help!?"

"Young man, what are you talking about?"

"Yeah, it's just a phone call, right?"

Although Xiaolan and the others did not speak, a hint of confusion appeared in their eyes.

Ryūno looked at the sleepy-eyed Ran and Ai Haibara and smiled indulgently.

It's no wonder Xiaolan and the others looked so tired; after all, it was three in the morning.

Let's try to resolve the case as soon as possible so they can go back to sleep.

Thinking of this, Ryuno looked at Inspector Megure: "Uncle Megure, the time of death of the deceased should be before we found her, right?"

Chapter 111 The Reason for Making the Phone Call

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure considered the forensic report for a moment, then nodded and said, "That's right, the deceased was indeed murdered shortly before you arrived."

Upon hearing this answer, Longye spoke again: "If that's the case, why did the prisoner make this call to us?"

“If the prisoner really lived in the west wing, he could have just killed Ms. Su Fanghongzi without notifying anyone.”

"Wouldn't it be better to just wait until tomorrow morning and let us find the body?"

"Anyway, he'll be suspected, won't he?"

"But if we think about it the other way around..."

Hearing this, Conan's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but say, "He made the call to get an alibi!"

Conan's words clearly caught Ai Haibara's attention.

She stared at Conan's face for a few seconds, frowned, and seemed to be recalling something.

Seemingly realizing his slip of the tongue, Conan immediately covered his head and started laughing foolishly, trying to get away with it by being cute.

However, at this moment, everyone else was absorbed in their thoughts and did not pay attention to these things.

“That’s right, Conan is right. That phone call was most likely made to establish an alibi.”

Inspector Megure interrupted Ryūno, "Ryūno, what exactly does a phone call have to do with an alibi?"

Upon hearing this, Longye smiled and said, "The prisoner made two calls specifically. This shows that he needed to notify us. Conversely, if we hadn't answered the call, it would have been very disadvantageous for the prisoner."

There are probably two reasons why this might be detrimental to the prisoner.

"Firstly, the prisoner was not in the west wing to begin with. If we hadn't answered the phone, he wouldn't have had any way to kill the person."

"Secondly, if we discover the body tomorrow instead of today, it could very well expose the perpetrator's identity."

After listening to Longye's words, everyone lowered their heads and began to think.

Indeed, if the prisoner was the one living in the west wing, there would be no need to go to such lengths to notify Longye and the others in the east wing.

Because regardless of whether he notifies the police or not, he will eventually be suspected by them.

After all, the masquerade hall is enclosed, and if no one opens the masquerade hall, the east and west wings are completely isolated.

Since the prisoner did this, it must be because doing so would prevent him from being suspected.

Or rather, only by making this phone call could he successfully murder Ms. Su Fanghongzi, who was in the west wing.

After thinking for a long time, Kogoro Mouri still couldn't figure it out.

He scratched his head and asked directly, "Kid, just tell me, what does this mean?"

Before Ryūno could speak, Conan excitedly shouted, "So, the culprit might also be someone from the east wing!"

Upon hearing this, Uncle Mori immediately punched Conan: "How could that be? Don't interrupt me, you brat!"

Seeing Conan clutching his head, Ryūno chuckled and said, "Uncle, Conan is actually right."

"You've been so focused on the locked room that you've forgotten something else—the masquerade room!"

"The prisoner called to get us to open the masquerade room."

"In conclusion, the culprit should be someone from our east wing!"

After hearing Ryuno's conclusion, everyone turned their attention to Honomi Shimokasa and Touya Aikawa.

Uncle Mori's gaze suddenly sharpened: "Ms. Honomi Shimokasa was only woken up later by the sound of Tatsuno kicking the door. We saw her come out of the room with our own eyes, so it seems..."

After saying that, he stared at Aikawa Touya with an unfriendly gaze.

Everyone's attention turned to him.

Amidst the suspicious gazes of the crowd, Lan Chuan Dongya immediately gave a wry smile: "Don't look at me like that. I was also in the east wing on the first floor at the time!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a sleepy-eyed Ai Haibara denied it, saying, "No, we only met this older brother when we got to Suho Akako's room."

Conan nodded and said, "That's right, we didn't see this older brother before!"

After hearing what the two children said, everyone's gaze toward Aikawa Touya became noticeably more hostile.

Seeing this, Aikawa Touya hurriedly waved his hand: "You can't possibly believe what these two kids say, can you?"

"To put it simply, I had absolutely no motive to kill Teacher Su Fang!"

Upon hearing the prisoner's words, Longye immediately asked, "Are you really not at all motive?"

"Just before that, Uncle Mori received a request from Ms. Su Fang, asking him to investigate the car accident that happened to Mrs. Katagiri Masaki 20 years ago."

"You once said your mother hit someone and fled the scene. Let me guess, was it also 20 years ago?"

Upon hearing this, Aikawa Touya's pupils widened instantly.

Seeing that the conversation had turned to him, Katagiri Masaki immediately spoke up: "Could it be?! Mr. Aikawa, your mother is...?"

Under Masaki Katagiri's surprised gaze, Touya Aikawa lowered his head.

"That's right, it's the car accident that caused your wife's death 20 years ago."

Having said that, he abruptly changed his tone and growled, "However! That wasn't done by my mother at all!!!"

"What!? Could it be..."

"That's right! It was Su Fanghongzi who did it! After hitting someone and fleeing the scene, she shifted the blame to my mother!"

"Some time ago, I accidentally found the letters my mother left before she committed suicide."

"The letter contains everything related to this! The reason my mother took the blame was because she was controlled by Su Fanghongzi!"

“My mother was threatened by Su Fanghongzi. If she didn’t take the blame, Su Fanghongzi would fire my mother and use public opinion to prevent her from finding other jobs!”

"The mother had no choice but to accept the charge of hit-and-run."

After hearing this sad story, everyone's faces showed deep sorrow.

At this moment, Secretary Inaba Kazuyo loudly retorted, "You're talking nonsense! What if what your mother wrote is fake? Ms. Su Fang would never do such a thing!"

Upon hearing her words, Lan Chuan Dongya sighed and said sadly, "The day of the car accident happened on the night of October 31st."

"That day was my birthday, and my mother stayed with me the whole time..."

After hearing these words, Inaba Kazuya lowered his head and stopped talking.

After a moment, Inspector Megure spoke up: "So, you admit that you are the criminal?"