Murder by Proxy

"What? Machiko Zeno? But—at the moment, we don't know what Mrs. Zeno is dressed as—" Fuji immediately got a headache upon hearing the order at the scene.

Machiko Zeno had never been a key person of interest before. No one had specifically kept an eye on her!

Munakata immediately looked at Megure and said, "Inspector Megure, have your people confirm what clothes Mrs. Zeno brought with her."

Meanwhile, Takagi and Sato asked Eita Zeno about it, but—

"? Let me think—seems like—it was a green Gothic-style dress. As for what she was dressing up as, I don't know."

Eita shook his head.

Though Gothic fashion had a dark fairy-tale feel to it, it did not necessarily mean "dressing as a nonhuman." There had to be another costume involved.

But knowing that was enough—

"The target is wearing a green Gothic dress. Find her immediately!" Munakata ordered the officers at the scene.

"Then it looks like Machiko Zeno discovered the murderer and decided to blackmail him at this costume party?" Ogino said with a frown. Something about it felt off.

—

—

"Yes, and the Gothic dress probably wasn't a coincidence. It was likely how the murderer told her to identify herself. Perhaps—

The murderer had already prepared to kill Machiko Zeno at the scene!" Munakata said gravely.

"But didn't Zeno come to the hotel with her husband and son? Could she really have wanted to bring her husband and son along—" Megure was still doubtful.

"No. Even if he wasn't working overtime, Machiko Zeno had plenty of ways to make him leave early." Munakata shook his head, though he seemed to think of something moments later without fully grasping it.

The Beika Police Station officers aboard the ship searched intensely for a "green Gothic dress," but—

The party lighting was