Genda Takanori finished speaking earnestly, tears welling in his eyes as he looked at the three high school students and waited for them to call the police.
However, Mouri Ran and Toyama Kazuha, who looked easygoing enough, merely turned to glance at the certain-looking Jiang Xia. Then they turned back, rubbing their chins as though infected by the detective's habits, and said awkwardly:
"But in the end, this is only your speculation, isn't it? You don't seem to have any grudge against your neighbor, and you got along quite well. Why would you burn down his house? And when 4-Chome burned just now, it wasn't even bedtime. Why would you suddenly start sleepwalking? What about 2-Chome and 3-Chome? You shouldn't know those people at all, right?"
"..."
Genda Takanori was stumped by their questions. After a pause, he hesitantly said, "Maybe my sleepwalking has developed into dissociative identity disorder, and it was another personality of mine who set the fires..."
As he spoke, he became less certain. Thinking carefully, when Mrs. Morozumi's house had caught fire that afternoon, he had been conscious the entire time. There seemed to be no gap in his memory, yet he had no recollection whatsoever of how he could have started the fire.
Hearing that he had finally stopped stubbornly arguing, Jiang Xia nodded in satisfaction. "Have you read any mystery novels by Agatha Christie?"
Genda Takanori froze, then shook his head. "I'm usually too busy. I rarely read novels."
"No wonder." Jiang Xia seemed to have expected that answer. "Then I suggest you read more, so people can't frame you with common tricks—one of her famous novels, The A.B.C. Murders, has a supporting character in a situation similar to yours.
"The murderer hid the person they truly wanted to kill among a series of