After pressing the doorbell at the courtyard gate, a white-haired old butler came out of the house, crossed the spacious yard, and came to greet them.
Kisaki Eri habitually took out her business card, but after thinking it over, she put it away and said seriously, "I'm Detective Mouri's representative—he had something come up at the last minute, so he asked me to come take a look in his place."
"Detective Mouri?" The old butler thought for a moment, then remembered the mustached detective who had visited not long ago. He let them into the courtyard and briefly introduced himself. "My name is Ueki Kusahachi. I have served the Fujieda Family as their butler for fifty years."
Standing behind her mother, Mouri Ran looked at the proud old man. "..." Ueki Kusahachi... That really was a very butler-like name. He sounded more like a decent gardener.
The old butler was clearly somewhat puzzled by this "detective representative" bringing along an elementary school student and a female high schooler, but he had not been the one to hire Mouri Kogoro. The current lady of the house had.
So he said nothing more and led the three through the beautiful, tidy garden to the Main House.
The moment they entered, they saw a potbellied man in his sixties descending the stairs in the banquet-hall-sized foyer, apparently heading for a bedroom on the 1st Floor.
Seeing the guests enter, he stopped and frowned at them.
The butler noticed him and gestured toward the visitors. "These are the detectives Mrs. Suwa hired."
Then he introduced the man to the three of them. "This is Mr. Fujieda Mikio, the recipient of the threatening letter."
"Oh? Detectives?" Fujieda Mikio lumbered over with his heavy body. He looked the three of them over and sneered. "That so-called