Conan was led outside.
But he still felt there was something wrong with the crime scene. "I saw a bottle of liquor by the table—knowing he had to attend a birthday banquet that evening, why would Grandpa Genzaburo smoke and drink, then carelessly drop a cigarette butt onto the carpet?"
"Maybe he was trying to relieve stress, or his jet lag kept him from sleeping and he wanted a few drinks to fall asleep quickly so he'd be more alert that evening?" Professor Agasa thought of the academic fanatics he knew. "Things like smoking and drinking can happen on a whim. There's no real pattern to them."
Conan was momentarily at a loss for words.
"But, but I just think something's wrong!" He looked at Jiang Xia again. "Don't you think the victims' names are actually very telling?"
Jiang Xia nodded. He had indeed already thought of what Conan was hung up on. "Thirty years ago, when the robbers broke into the Shitara Family home to steal that Violin, Mr. Dannjirou, who was killed, had the Romanized name 'Dannjirou.'
"Mrs. Emi, who performed a violin piece at a birthday banquet two years ago and died after falling down the stairs shortly afterward, was 'emi.'
"A year ago, Miss Renki's father, who leaned against a railing after performing and fell to his death when it broke, was named Furuhito—that is, 'furuto'... Come to think of it, that gentleman's manner of death was quite similar to his name.
The topic veered off briefly before Jiang Xia quickly steered it back. "And Mr. Shitara Gensaburo, who was burned to death tonight, has the Romanized name 'gennsaburou.'"
With the Romanized names laid out together, the others finally began to notice the pattern. Professor Agasa scratched his head, feeling that something was missing. "D E