The waiter sighed. "There were few people around at night, so it was easy to remember the guests coming and going. I don't remember seeing the deceased Ms. Usui leave, so I thought she should still have been in the hotel.
"Also, Attorney Hayashi seemed to have something important to discuss with her, so I went to her room and rang the doorbell—twice in total."
"Twice?" Officer Yokomizo looked at the waiter, instinctively feeling that she had become suspicious as well.
Fortunately, the answer hidden in his heart once again helped him avoid a detour. The officer neither doubted nor scrutinized her. Under Conan's slightly surprised gaze, he efficiently questioned and recorded her statement. "Why did you go twice? Did you notice anything strange at the time?"
Knowing the matter was serious, the waiter thought back carefully. "The first time, no one answered after I rang the doorbell, so I went back to the front desk and told Attorney Hayashi that Ms. Usui had probably already gone to bed."
"But Attorney Hayashi refused to give up. He said Ms. Usui might have been in the restroom and hadn't heard it, so he asked me to look for her again."
The waiter shook her head helplessly. "Disturbing a guest's rest late at night might get us a complaint. But if we refused a guest's friend and caused the guest to miss something important, we'd get complained about even more... So although I didn't think it was appropriate, I could only go upstairs and return to Usui's room door."
"But this time, just as I was about to ring the doorbell, I suddenly noticed a sign hanging on the door. There was also a piece of paper stuck to it, with slightly messy handwriting that said, 'Sorry, please tell him I'll pay.'"