"Hello, what is it? Huh, you're asking about Sonia? You know her situation... Yeah, I took her to the service center, then we parted ways. Me? I'm in Mr. Amuro's car right now. Did something happen?"
Tangze's voice on the other end of the phone was as steady as ever, but Conan's attention immediately went not to his answer.
He listened closely, carefully noting the background noise of the call.
The low hum of an engine, the faint static of the call—everything matched the characteristics of someone talking on the phone inside a car. It sounded as though Tangze really was in a vehicle.
Conan glanced at his wristwatch.
"There was a brief power outage at the aquarium. I was a little worried. Did you leave the aquarium before the outage?"
"I had already reached the park entrance when the power went out. Don't worry, I'm fine."
Tangze's tone remained gentle and even, as though this were just another ordinary day.
"I see..."
Conan opened his mouth, but quickly swallowed the rest of his words.
At this moment, Sonia's—or rather, Curacao's—death was not something that should be brought up over the phone.
If that person really was Tangze, or a killer currently acting under Tangze's identity, then bringing up Curacao's death on his own initiative would be equivalent to revealing that he had also been at the scene. Asking about it would be courting death.
And if Tangze truly had been as he said, merely walking with Curacao for a stretch, making his stance clear, and parting ways with her, then learning that the living person he had interacted with only a short while ago had likely now sunk to the bottom of the sea would probably worsen Tangze's already unstable psychological condition.
"What's wrong? You don't sound like you're