Once it was determined to be a homicide, handling the case obviously became more complicated.
The biggest suspects were naturally the other members of the tour group staying in nearby rooms. The Shizuoka Prefecture police began separating and questioning them, asking where they had been at the time of the victim's death and first ruling out those with alibis.
Aside from the Criminal group of Mouri Group, old man Genichiro Kinjo and his female butler had been on the first floor at the time, near the front. A waiter remembered the two of them clearly, so they were ruled out first.
Hideko Kamijo had been in her own room at the time, and Xu Yue could provide her with an alibi, so she was ruled out as well.
Shiro Konno, that skinny shut-in who treated his computer like a wife, had been surfing the internet in his room and had no alibi.
After being driven away by Akiko Sayama, Satoshi Maeda had been at the observation deck on the top floor with Ran Mouri and Conan. Unfortunately, he himself had been the one checking the time and announcing it, which could have been misleading, so the alibi did not hold.
His girlfriend, Akiko Sayama, had been watching videotapes alone in her room and likewise had no alibi.
"That leaves three people without alibis. It seems we'll need to continue investigating."
Inspector Yokomizo spoke thoughtfully.
"That's right. But the people in the tour group merely have the highest likelihood of being involved. After the preliminary investigation, we must also consider whether an outsider did it. I know Jian Yuan Shilang. He's registered with the Metropolitan Police Department—a hacker who illegally steals other people's confidential information. He should have plenty of enemies."
As Inspector Yokomizo pondered, Xu Yue's voice chimed in at