Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko said, "That suspicious Uncle Kamekura must be the thief who stole 300 million yen worth of jewels from the Jewelry Store five years ago! He knew that if he sold the gems immediately after getting them, the police could easily trace them. But if he kept the stolen goods on him, he could easily be exposed too.
"So after stealing the gems that year, he found somewhere to bury and hide them—the burial site was the foundation of the reconstruction project at Rintaro's house!
"Five years later, the Jewelry Thief changed his identity and infiltrated Rintaro's home. He wanted to lift the Tatami in the corresponding room and quietly dig the gems out of the ground to Take Away.
"However, Rintaro's family restaurant was doing so poorly that his family wasn't busy in the front shop at all. They were always resting in the back room. That left him with no opportunity to make his move.
"So the Jewelry Thief could only teach them his cooking skills and pay out of pocket to renovate the restaurant, making it lively and prosperous. Then Rintaro's whole family would be busy in the front shop, giving him time to dig up the jewels he'd hidden!"
After saying that, he looked at Jiang Xia with both anxiety and anticipation, as though nervously waiting for a strict teacher to grade his answer.
Jiang Xia nodded. "That makes sense."
"How does that make sense?" Conan sighed. "If he wanted to avoid an investigation, he only needed to wait a year or so. Why wait a full five years?"
Having just received Jiang Xia's support, Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko immediately stopped taking Conan, their little leader, seriously. He raised his chin.
"You don't even know that? Obviously, he was waiting for the Statute of Limitations to expire!