Professor Agasa recalled the dense crowd of onlookers from earlier. "But even under normal duty conditions, with so many people rushing this way, the roads could easily get jammed—if the postal truck was seven or eight minutes late, we'd miss it completely."
Haibara Ai glanced at the old professor, who was often late himself, and said helplessly, "A postal truck isn't like you driving your own car. According to regulations, even if it's delayed, it can't be more than five minutes late.
"Besides, the roads weren't congested today. There were even traffic police strictly on duty, and Officer Takagi nearly got ticketed without mercy—no matter how you look at it, this late... or rather, completely absent postal truck is extremely suspicious."
Yoshida Ayumi held her little head, feeling as though everything was a mess. "But wasn't the one who stole Mitsuhiko's camcorder that Bomb Maniac? What does that have to do with the late postal truck?"
Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko nodded along. "And he specifically stole my camcorder too. If he hadn't taken it, nobody would've thought there were clues on my videotape—but by taking it, he practically handed us the clue. Isn't that like lifting a stone only to drop it on his own foot?"
Conan looked around, casting approving glances at Haibara Ai and Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko. He said to Mitsuhiko, "You're right—the bomber probably hadn't intended to steal your Video Camera at first, because at a glance, we just looked like a group of ordinary kids who'd come to join the fun.
"But then we ran into Officer Sato, and right afterward, Officer Yumi's patrol car stopped to talk as well—with such a conspicuous police car parked nearby, when the culprit saw us standing by the Mailbox and constantly talking to the police, what would he think?"
Officer Takagi suddenly