Everyone in this hotel had gathered in the theater tonight to watch magic, which meant...
Officer Takagi turned to look at Jiang Xia as though he were a lifeline. "Um..." He humbly raised a hand and made a small gesture. "Could you narrow it down a little more?"
Fortunately, the reliable Great Detective was as reliable as ever this time.
Jiang Xia thought for a moment. "There was no Timer Device on the ceiling. That means that when the corpse fell, the murderer was on this stage—the lights only went out for a few seconds when the corpse and puppet were switched. That wasn't enough time for a spectator to reach the stage and climb up to the ceiling. So..."
He looked toward the group nearby, who were also listening intently. "The murderer should be among these members of the Magic Troupe."
The magicians: "?!"
A panicked silence fell. Several seconds later, the "clown" Magician forced a smile. "Haha, isn't that conclusion a little too hasty? You may not know this from below the stage, but backstage, all of us have perfect alibis."
"Alibis?" Officer Sato looked at him. "Explain in detail."
The "Clown" raised one finger and pointed upward with a smile. "It does take a long time to get from the audience seats to the ceiling, but in fact, getting from the stage to the ceiling takes even longer—and the same goes in reverse."
He then pointed at the Magic Troupe members. "After seeing Yurama's corpse, everyone immediately rushed onto the stage. That proves none of us were on the ceiling at the time. If so, how could we be the murderer?"
Jiang Xia shook his head. "Getting from the stage to the ceiling does take time, but getting from the ceiling to the stage only requires jumping