Chapter 3: Conan Doesn’t Seem to Be Doing Well

“I am Kiichi Higashino,” Kiichi introduced himself briefly.

“Oh! The so-called ace detective of the Metropolitan Police Department!” Ran Mori’s reaction triggered the classic effect of the Conan universe, where everyone instantly recognizes a key character.

Kiichi said no more. Though he had plenty of witty remarks in his mind, he preferred not to speak unnecessarily. Before crossing over, his familiar friends often called him reserved yet intriguingly charming.

He knew many veteran crossovers, especially those who became police officers, liked to play the “protect the crime scene” card or the “a detective can also be the murderer” gambit, reminiscent of the Death God Trio’s style. But Kiichi couldn’t be bothered.

In this world, the court didn’t care much, so why bother? A detective should simply do what a detective does best. As for saying things like “a detective has never been excluded from being a murderer, so Kogoro Mori is no exception,” Kiichi couldn’t care less. Whether other detectives are culprits or not was none of his concern. For now, it was enough that Kogoro Mori and his family weren’t suspects—why waste effort on unnecessary theatrics?

And regarding procedural justice: when it came to finding defense lawyers for criminals, no one was happy. Defense attorneys were painted as ruthless villains beyond redemption. Suddenly, everyone remembered procedural justice again? If you want to criticize roles, say it outright instead of sneaking around with disdain.

Kiichi never wasted time on meaningless, valueless acts.

Besides, it would only be the usual routine: interrogate Mori a bit, exchange some banter, Inspector Megure smoothing things over, everyone expressing their insights and feeling superior, and then the chapter ends with filler content. Was that really what the readers came for?

“Junior Mori says the victim went out midway to meet a guest, and Conan mentioned seeing a suspicious visitor,” Megure said.

“Did you see the visitor’s appearance, young master Conan?” Kiichi crouched to meet Conan’s gaze.

“No, I was by the pond, surrounded by dense trees, so I only saw the feet. But after the murdered uncle and that person went into the room, they never came out. The back door was open, so I think the culprit was that person, who escaped through the back door after the attack,” Conan explained in one breath.

“You’re quite impressive, young master,” Kiichi replied with a smile, then took the chance to ruffle Conan’s hair.

“Oh no…” Conan felt uneasy looking at Kiichi’s cheerful face. “Too much…”

But seeing Kiichi didn’t press further, he relaxed.

“That means the murderer must be someone who had an appointment with the victim and is skilled in kendo,” Megure pondered. Suddenly, someone reported finding a notebook on the victim.

Kiichi took it and flipped through it, finding the names of four visitors for the day.

They were Kogoro Mori, Yuji Suwa, Keno Hatano, and Makoto Akutsu.

Kogoro Mori confirmed the victim had mentioned inviting others as well.

Though other acquaintances were not ruled out, these four who were scheduled definitely had stronger suspicions…

Before Kiichi could speak, an officer ushered in a timid-looking man.

“Mr. Hatano!” Maru Inako recognized him immediately, explaining he was the doctor who came weekly to check on her husband’s diabetes.

Meanwhile, another commotion broke out.

“Don’t you know who I am? I am the master sculptor Makoto Akutsu!”

“I get it! Since the murderer has already come, they won’t come again, so the culprit must be Yuji Suwa, who isn’t here now!” Kogoro Mori immediately made his guess. But before he finished, a man with a small mustache appeared behind him.

“What’s all the noise here?” It was Yuji Suwa.

“Sir…” Conan suddenly approached and grasped Suwa’s hand, “You practice kendo, right?”

What followed was an extended Holmes-style deductive performance.

“I see! You must have murdered because you wanted to evade repayment!” Mori concluded again.

Kiichi glanced at the ransacked cabinet at the scene, then instructed several officers before stepping aside, watching the noisy yard. He found it strange—where was Mori’s methodical elimination?

Megure then led everyone to examine the scene. Unintentionally, Mori revealed he was investigating Maru Inako’s alleged affair.

Ran pointed out the victim’s incorrect grip on the knife. Inspector Megure checked alibis over the phone, and Conan deduced from the scent of perfume on one person that Dr. Hatano and his wife were having an affair.

It was typical Hatano, fitting the stereotype perfectly.

Of course, an affair couldn’t genuinely serve as an alibi.

Finally, since several people said they had called and left messages, Megure started checking the phone records.

Dr. Hatano’s message was simple: he had an appointment at five, but when he called at 4:38, the other party was absent, which was odd. Next was Suwa’s call, moving a scheduled 6 o’clock meeting to 5, timestamped 4:41.

Only Makoto Akutsu left no recording.

Akutsu naturally denied any wrongdoing and rambled on about calling to promise repayment and redeeming his precious sculpture.

That dragon carving was the only item in the room without a single scratch.

“The murderer is you!”

Kiichi was tired of watching Mori’s wild guesses and interrupted, “Mr. Akutsu, when you called, did you notice anything unusual?”

“Well, the phone rang for a long time before it connected, but it was just a voicemail,” Akutsu replied.

“Ah, could it be that phone call that rang for so long? Dad, you seemed quite annoyed…” Ran stepped up as a sort of witness.

Megure confirmed with Mrs. Maru that the phone would ring for a while before forwarding to voicemail if unanswered.

“Why ‘that’ call rang so long,” Kiichi asked, ignoring Megure who was re-listening to the recordings, turning instead to the Mori family.

“Because the last two calls rang briefly and then disconnected,” Ran recalled.

Meanwhile, they argued over not finding Akutsu’s voicemail, even forcing him to admit on the recording that there had been “death threats.”

Then there was the farce of Mrs. Maru losing the key to a cabinet drawer, which turned out to be misplaced in another drawer.

Kiichi, ever the spectator, noticed Conan’s “I’ve got it” expression as he went to borrow a Polaroid camera from a servant.

At that moment, several officers Kiichi had sent out finally returned carrying something.

Kiichi yawned—finally, time to clock out.

“Conan, can you handle it? After all this time, how can I count on you to slack off and still get results?”

Conan, meanwhile, was cozying up to the guard, using his charm to sneak in and take Polaroid photos of the cabinet.

“All right, enough noise. Let’s solve the case quickly, wrap up, and go home,” Kiichi said, stepping forward and pointing at Yuji Suwa. “Take him away.”

Conan suddenly turned his head, realizing he forgot to take any photos.