Under the guise of watching the first snowfall, Ruri Ujo nonchalantly ushered the group outdoors.
Then, seizing a moment when no one was looking, she slipped away and quietly returned to the villa.
There was a glass pane set into the middle of the door that the staff had left open. It was through this very glass that she had previously caught a glimpse of the hallway on the other side. She had seen Nagumo Akira emerging from a room with a grim, heavy expression, only to retreat hastily the moment he realized someone was passing by.
That room was the one Kazami Yoshiki was using for his temporary rest.
Earlier, while Ruri had been wandering through the villa with Mouri and his daughter, she had seen Kazami through the doorway, fast asleep and snoring loudly.
"Phew..."
Taking a deep breath to steady her fluttering heart, she reached out and pushed the door open.
As she feared, disaster had struck.
"AAAHHHHH—!"
A blood-curdling, high-decibel scream ripped through the air, and the filming location instantly descended into chaos.
Kazami Yoshiki—the son of the project's primary investor—lay dead in the lounge.
The one who had discovered the body was Ruri Ujo.
"He's already gone," Kogoro Mouri muttered, shaking his head after a cursory examination of the wound and the victim's state.
It had been a single, fatal blow. There was no point in even attempting resuscitation.
Conan, who had been wandering around with Tsuneo, came rushing over the moment he heard the commotion. His first instinct was to shoot a sharp look at the handyman. His small, searching eyes seemed to ask: What exactly happened here?
"Everyone, stay back. Contact the police immediately," Mouri commanded, stretching out his arms to keep the onlookers outside the room.
"Who... who would do something like this?" Nagumo Shinmei asked, his voice trembling with a panicked edge.
Tsuneo couldn't help but take two steps away from him.
This spineless coward is nothing but bad luck, Tsuneo thought.
The man had been trampled on and insulted by the victim earlier, yet he didn't even have the courage to clap his hands in private; instead, he was here feigning shock and asking who the killer was.
"Who knows? The list of people who saw him as an enemy is endless," Nagumo Akira said, patting his son on the shoulder while shaking his head.
Because the victim had never learned how to hold his tongue, he had managed to offend practically everyone—both inside and outside the industry.
"But, if we're being honest, isn't the person who finds the body usually the prime suspect?"
As it turned out, there was often a strange, competitive psychology between women. Kasumi Namihara, who had just been subjected to Kazami's cold mockery and insults a short while ago, was now glaring at Ruri Ujo, ready to point the finger.
"I didn't kill him! I just saw that the break was almost over and came to wake him up. I had no idea he..." Ruri cast a pleading, desperate look toward "Mouri-chan."
"I believe you," Mouri nodded firmly.
No matter the circumstances, he simply could not bring himself to believe that the little Ruri he had known all those years ago could be a murderer.
"Mouri-sensei, since this Mr. Kazami made so many enemies during his life, the workload for screening suspects is going to be massive, isn't it?" Tsuneo interjected, his voice tinged with feigned hesitation.
"This kid really was a magnet for trouble," Mouri replied, his face twisting into an expression of sheer exasperation.
From their earlier conversations, it was clear that as the son of a major newspaper mogul, Kazami had maintained his "relevance" through toxic exposure and acerbic commentary. His enemies likely numbered in the hundreds. From fellow artists to managers, and even small-scale production companies, he had burned every bridge he crossed.
"A-le-le? Not many people should have known the location and time of this shoot, right?" Conan asked with forced innocence.
Sure enough, Conan thought, this guy Tsuneo is starting to talk nonsense again. He's trying to mislead the old man and lead him straight into a ditch.
This is definitely a trap!
"No, I'm afraid quite a few people knew," the director said as he hurried over. He wore glasses and had a deceptively honest face, but he shook his head grimly. "There's no such thing as absolute secrecy when filming a TV drama. With so many staff members involved, word that we were filming at a villa here near Mt. Fuji was bound to leak out."
He paused, then added, "Besides, certain... recently deceased actors... were very fond of leaking 'insider info' themselves."
In short, the location wasn't a secret at all.
"..." Conan found himself speechless for a moment, deciding he would have to continue his own investigation later.
Meanwhile, a faint smile played at the corners of Tsuneo's mouth. His posture was relaxed, almost as if he were about to hum a cheerful tune.
"The deceased is Kazami Yoshiki, twenty-eight years old. The cause of death was blood loss resulting from a ruptured left carotid artery."
Inspector Yokomizo of the Shizuoka Prefectural Police—the man with the distinctive "coral-shaped" hair—had finally made his entrance.
"Looking at the scene, it appears he was caught off guard while sleeping on this sofa, and the culprit used a sharp blade to end his life!" Yokomizo declared, scribbling furiously in his notebook.
"The estimated time of death is within the thirty-minute window between 7:50 PM, when the victim left the dining area, and 8:20 PM, when the body was discovered."
"I think the window should be even shorter than that!" Conan popped up out of nowhere yet again, giving Inspector Yokomizo a start.
"Conan?!"
"What are you doing here?" The inspector blinked in surprise.
Wait, if the kid is here, then that means...
Sure enough, Yokomizo looked at the crowd outside the room and spotted several very familiar faces.
"Mr. Mouri! You're here as well!"
To be honest, the inspector didn't have much interest in anyone else; he held a fanatical, almost worshipful admiration for a certain "muddled" detective.
Conan: "..."
I had to ask several people for information before I came over to give you a lead, and you just run off to him? What gives?
"My younger brother really put you through a lot of trouble last time," Inspector Yokomizo said by way of greeting, thanking Mouri on behalf of his sibling.
"Oh, it was nothing. I didn't really help that much," Mouri replied, clearing his throat and striking a dignified pose.
"And this must be Mrs. Mouri! Truly, seeing you in person is better than a hundred reports!" Yokomizo exclaimed, noticing the woman standing behind the detective.
"Hehehe..."
Mouri broke into a silly grin, but Ran quickly stepped between the two of them to cut the conversation short.
Honestly! Stop trying to play matchmaker with the wrong people!
"And Mr. Tsuneo! Your reasoning back at the villa last time was truly brilliant. As expected of Mr. Mouri's top disciple!" Yokomizo was an earnest man; he grabbed the handyman's hand and shook it vigorously.
"It was nothing..." Tsuneo laughed softly.
Regardless of anything else, an officer who knew how to recognize talent and greet people with a smile was far easier to deal with.
"Wait a moment, these people..." Yokomizo looked at the others gathered by the door, a sense of recognition dawning on him.
What's going on? All these faces look like they belong on a TV screen!
Looking closer, he realized the woman he had mistaken for Mouri's wife was actually... Ruri Ujo?
"You're all gathered here... Don't tell me you're filming a drama right now?" Yokomizo finally put the pieces together.
"..." Conan's small face crumpled into a frown.
One of the actors is dead! Why do you sound so excited?!
"Oh, right. Conan-kun, what did you mean by what you said earlier?" the inspector asked, turning back to the boy. "Something about the time of death?"
"I heard Ran-neechan say that they passed by this room around 8:00 PM and took a look inside," Conan explained.
"Yes, Mr. Kazami was lying on the sofa snoring quite loudly at the time," Ran confirmed with a nod.
"In other words, the window for the crime has been narrowed down to twenty minutes—between 8:00 PM and 8:20 PM." Inspector Yokomizo pondered this for a moment, then turned his gaze toward Mouri, eager to hear his brilliant insight.
"Ahem!"
Mouri's expression turned solemn. He cleared his throat and stepped out in front of the crowd.
Step aside, everyone. It's my time to shine!
-------------------------------
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