Conan the Wandering Chick

Judging from their behavior, this police officer and Mori Kogoro must be old acquaintances.

She remembered that the girl named Ran had said that she looked a lot like Mrs. Mori...

Could it be that they mistook her for Mr. Mori's wife because they looked so alike?

Such a thought crossed Hattori Shizuka's mind, but she quickly dismissed it.

She glanced down at her neat kimono.

Do people really wear kimonos every day?

But after thinking about it, she felt there was some possibility.

After all, she's wearing a kimono right now...

Does Mr. Mori's wife also like to wear kimonos when she goes out?

Yes, I must meet that Madam Maori if I have the chance.

Hattori Shizuka felt as if she had met a kindred spirit.

"Am I right, Mr. Mori?"

Yokomizo Sango stood there blankly, clearly unaware of the strange expressions on everyone's faces.

It's just like asking for credit, seeking praise, or asking for recognition.

"Well... does it really look that similar?"

Mori Kogoro looked like a lovesick fool.

Fujino: "..."

Suddenly, he remembered a lovesick girl with her forehead sticking out.

So, are Uncle Mori and Sonoko actually father and daughter?

They even look so in sync when they're swooning over someone.

Could it be that the babies were switched at the hospital?

Fujino couldn't help but silently complain to himself.

"Of course."

Yokomizo Sango nods and says straightforwardly, "They look like a married couple."

"Ahem! No..."

At this moment, Hattori Shizuka couldn't stand it anymore, raised her head and coughed lightly, interrupting their conversation.

Being mistaken for someone else's wife is a very embarrassing thing.

As a responsible wife, she did not intend to let the misunderstanding continue.

Hattori Shizuka quickly organized her thoughts and politely introduced herself to Yokomizo Sango:

"My surname is Ikenami. It's a pleasure to meet you. Please give me your guidance."

"Actually, I am not Mr. Mori's wife... The reason I am here is because I asked Mr. Mori and Detective Fujino to find Mr. Shibata Shiro, who lives here, to retrieve an old photograph from thirty years ago."

"...?"

Yokomizo Sango was taken aback.

The lady before him exuded an air of nobility, which is why he subconsciously assumed that she was the wife of the esteemed, Sleeping Kogoro.

After receiving a negative answer, he felt not only embarrassed but also inexplicably disappointed.

Coming to his senses, he quickly changed the subject. "So you are just Mr. Mori's representative, not Mrs. Mori, and you came here just to ask Shibata Shiro for old photos, right?"

"That's right."

Hattori Shizuka glanced at her old classmate lying on the ground with a bloody head, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I just didn't expect something like this to happen."

She's over forty now, and her mindset has gradually calmed down; she's no longer as sentimental as a little girl.

Looking at her old classmate who was on the phone yesterday but is now a corpse, she couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions.

"Look, Mr. Shibata, who is already dead, was still clutching a photograph in his hand. I think what Sister Ikenami was referring to was that photograph!"

Conan had been secretly eavesdropping on their conversation. After hearing the key word "photo", he pointed to Shibata Shiro's corpse behind him.

"Conan!"

Ran turned around at the sound, quickly went over, and helped Conan up, her tone somewhat resentful. "Why are you at the crime scene again?"

"Because people are very curious... and maybe that photo is actually of Ms. Ikenami."

Conan smiled like a child.

In fact, he couldn't be sure whether the photo of this lying "Ms. Ikenami" was actually on the body of the already dead Shibata Shiro.

He just felt that, regardless of whether it was true or false, he should find out the truth first.

"How could such a thing happen..."

Mori Kogoro clearly did not believe it.

Fujino stepped forward and took a look.

Shibata Shiro's death was shaped like the Chinese character for "fire," with both hands raised above his head. His left hand was covered in blood, and there were bandages on his fingers. Strangely, however, there was no blood on those bandages.

He clutched the photograph tightly in his hand.

The photos were already wrinkled from being crumpled.

Fujino took the photo out through his gloves.

The photo shows a girl with a brown ponytail.

The girl was holding a medal, which looked to be gold.

But Fujino knew the nature of this group... they were most likely swindlers.

The scene in the photo is very similar to the previous photo of the summer convention.

However, at this moment, tears were faintly welling up in the corners of the girl's eyes, making her appear delicate and pitiful.

"Could this be...?"

Mori Kogoro and Yokomizo were taken aback.

"Yes, that's right!"

Hattori Shizuka leaned closer and said softly, "This is the photo I've been looking for."

"But why is this photo in the deceased's possession?!"

"Mr. Mori... do you think it's possible that this is a clue left behind by Mr. Shibata before he died?"

Yokomizo Sango, his face grim, turned around and exchanged a glance with Mori Kogoro, his expression somewhat frightened.

Mori Kogoro couldn't help but swallow hard, turning his head to look at the Hattori Shizuka: "Impossible, how could such a beautiful lady be a murderer... Maybe she just happened to fall on the floor where he fell?"

"Ah-le-le!"

At this moment, Conan broke free from Ran's control again, transformed into a wandering chicken, walked forward, and pointed curiously at the area under the corpse, saying, "There seems to be something under the corpse!"

"This is... a novel?"

Yokomizo Sango moved the corpse slightly aside, revealing a novel called "Gate of the Thunder God".

This is the same book that Hattori Shizuka lent to Shibata Shiro thirty years ago.

Although Yoshikawa was on the verge of being arrested, he still insisted that he had not killed anyone and cooperated with the police, providing a clue that Shibata had received a strange phone call about two days ago.

Mrs. Shibata then led everyone to the place where the book was kept, but the bookshelf there had become a mess.

Meanwhile, the Forensic Science Division team found bloodstains in the entryway and a bloodstained Wooden Sword, which belonged to the Shibata family and was usually kept on the shoe cabinet in the entryway.

"Is this Wooden Sword the murder weapon?"

Conan stood beside a bloodstained Wooden Sword, squinting at it, looking somewhat speechless.

So, Wooden Sword really can kill someone.

Conan turned his head and glanced at Fujino.

Well, it's possible that they could even shred someone's Sunflower Seeds into a pulp.

Very Ke Xue.

"You had an argument in the entryway about the photo, and then you killed Mr. Shibata with Wooden Sword. There might be some secret hidden in the photo, so you went to great lengths to bring Fujino and Detective Mouri back, and they all came to the crime scene together."

Yokomizo Sango stared at Hattori Shizuka, hands in his pockets, reasoning as he did so, before saying in a deep voice, "Ms. Ikenami, would you like to come back to the police station with us?"

Please allow me to refuse.

Hattori Shizuka's tone was calm, but her eyes gradually sharpened, and a cold aura seemed to rise around her. "If you want me to be questioned, you should apply for an arrest warrant first. However, based on the current evidence, the court will definitely not provide one... so you have no right to ask me to cooperate with the investigation."

She paused, then turned to Mrs. Shibata with a slight smile, "However, if Mrs. Shibata wants to sue us for trespassing, that's a different story."

Conan seemed to be wandering around like a chicken, strolled back at this moment and was taken aback when he saw Hattori Shizuka and composed.

Who exactly is this woman?

If it were an ordinary person, they would be terrified by now.

She even had the mood to make fun of herself and crack a joke.

"But in this situation, even if it's trespassing, it wouldn't qualify, right?"

Fujino stood to the side, glanced at Hattori Shizuka, and continued, "After all, someone died in this house. Given the circumstances, our actions could be considered legitimate entry, and we discovered the crime scene... To put it another way, we discovered something unusual inside, went in to rescue the person, but found them already dead..."

"If that's the case, then even the charge of trespassing might not be enough to convict someone."

Hattori Shizuka glanced at Fujino, then squinted and pondered, "It seems Detective Fujino has quite the talent to be a defense attorney."

Conan: "..."

You two seem pretty dangerous, like outlaws who can do anything.

"No, no, I'd rather not have a defense attorney."

Fujino modestly waved his hand, "I'm not cut out for that kind of work. Being a detective is just fine."

"That's true."

Uncle Mori, standing to the side, seemed to have a sudden realization. "Defenders are the most difficult to deal with."

After easing the tension, Fujino returned to the main topic. "However, in my opinion, the culprit in this case is unlikely to be Ms. Ikenami."

"Ah?"

Yokomizo Sango was taken aback by what he heard, and asked Fujino curiously, "Fujino- kun, how do you know that she's not the murderer?"

Hattori Shizuka was also somewhat curious and looked at Fujino.

"Because of time."

Fujino said briefly, then took out his phone. "Mr. Shibata's time of death was 8 a. m. this morning, am I right?"

That's right.

Yokomizo Sango frowned. "But what does this have to do with this case?"

Fujino: "..."

Fujino glanced at Yokomizo Sango speechlessly.

Some people couldn't figure out if this guy was genuinely feigning ignorance, pretending to be confused, or perhaps, the intelligence of local Japan police had deteriorated to this extent.

Fujino sighed helplessly, "Officer Yokomizo, how long does it take you to drive from Shizuoka to Tokyo?"

"From Tokyo to Shizuoka..."

After thinking for a moment, Yokomizo replied, "It will probably take more than four hours, almost five hours. If the road conditions are better, it can be faster."

"That's right, almost five hours."

Fujino chimed in, "It takes at least four hours to drive from Tokyo to Shizuoka. We triggered the alarm around 7 p. m. and after a bumpy ride, we finally arrived here around 7 p. m.

At this point, he pulled up the clock on his phone and showed it to everyone. "When Miss Ikenami came to see me, it was a little before 11 or 12 o'clock in the morning... If it took more than four hours, she wouldn't have had time to kill anyone and get here, not to mention the traffic jams in the city."

"Yes, just like Detective Fujino said, I did encounter traffic jams on my way to the detective agency."

Hattori Shizuka nodded upon hearing this and calmly responded.

She was feeling somewhat annoyed at the moment.

The death of her friend and the fact that she had inexplicably become a murderer were things that made it hard for her to accept.

Although she didn't take it to heart, she couldn't help but feel a little bothered by it...

If she wanted to clear herself of suspicion, it would be very simple; she could just call her son over to testify. After all, she came with her son, Hattori Heiji Toyama Kazuha, during the day.

With those two children as witnesses, everything falls apart on its own... It's just a pity that a showdown won't work.

However, she never expected that her suspicion would be dispelled by just one sentence from Fujino...

She was somewhat eager to see the play continue, to see what other surprises awaited her.

Hattori Shizuka stared at Fujino, her eyes slightly narrowed and upturned like a fox's.

"That's certainly true..."

Mori Kogoro, standing to the side, rubbed his chin. "If she was committing murder at the time, she wouldn't have had enough time, and given the road conditions, it's impossible to maintain top speed all the time. So, Ms. Ikenami's suspicion would not exist... As expected, I told you Ms. Ikenami wouldn't be the murderer."

Conan pondered for a moment upon hearing this and felt that Fujino's idea was quite good.

He felt that Fujino's idea was indeed simple and effective, but to put it another way, it was not perfect.

By this time, he had already seen through the truth of the case, and if he were to deduce it, he would definitely be better than Fujino.

But he was too short to kick it away at the last hurdle.

With Uncle Mori's help, and Fujino present, he wouldn't dare to recklessly use Tranquilizer Dart to shoot Uncle Mori's neck repeatedly...

"Am I the only one who can remind Fujino?"

Conan sighed and pursed his lips.

Having seen through the truth, he was unable to deduce it and could only give it to Fujino in vain.

He felt somewhat resentful.

However, given the current situation, we have no choice but to give this case to Fujino.

Although the Sleeping Kogoro is not Kudo Shinichi.

But after so much time has passed, seeing the 'Sleeping Kogoro' always brings him a tiny bit of morbid joy...

Fujino's voice suddenly interrupted Conan's thoughts. He looked up and saw Fujino suddenly turn her gaze to Shibata Kyoko, and say in a deep voice, "Ms. Shibata Kyoko, the culprit must be you, right?"

"Well?!"

Shibata Kyoko was taken aback by what she heard.

Meanwhile, Yokomizo Sango in confusion, "But Fujino- kun, Mrs. Shibata had no opportunity to commit the crime, since she left home before five in the morning."

Conan was surprised that Fujino also knew that Mrs. Shibata was the murderer.

But on second thought, it makes sense. After all, that's a man even he can't easily deal with. It seems like there's nothing wrong with working with him to uncover the truth of the case.

He was just a little curious; Fujino hadn't been wandering around the crime scene like he had, so how had she discovered the evidence...?