"The murderer had no reason to answer the phone and expose himself," Hattori Heiji murmured to Conan. "Unless he wanted to use it to establish an alibi. But if that was the case, the body was soaked in the sea the whole time—what kind of mechanism could withstand the constant impact of the waves on a soft beach?"
That was exactly what Conan had been about to say. Picking up where Hattori Heiji left off, he said, "And if the victim was attacked, suddenly noticed an incoming call, and hurriedly answered it to ask for help, the person on the other end should have heard him shouting or struggling—not nothing but ordinary wave sounds... No matter how you look at it, it doesn't quite add up."
That was exactly what Hattori Heiji had been about to say.
Without discussing it beforehand, faced with the same evidence, the two had reached exactly the same conclusion at nearly the same time.
Thinking of this, the two High School Detectives from Kansai and Kanto looked at each other, each feeling as though they had met a kindred spirit—and a worthy rival at the peak of their craft.
They were just about to smile at each other and say, "Just wait, I'll definitely find the murderer before you do," when someone else beside them joined the conversation. "So that call was actually..."
Hattori Heiji: "!!!"
Conan: "!!!"
The elementary school student swiftly pulled out his Soundproof Earmuffs.
Hattori Heiji was clearly more decisive. With lightning-fast reflexes, he clamped a hand over Jiang Xia's mouth. "You are not allowed to talk!"
Jiang Xia: "..."
That was fast. Was that Kendo training really for this sort of thing?
Hattori Heiji had instinctively suppressed the answer first, but once he came back to his senses, his conscience