Amidst frantic screams, Conan quickly squatted down and checked the man's carotid artery.
After finding no pulse whatsoever, he leaned closer to the man's mouth and smelled a bitter almond scent.
Conan's heart jolted. He immediately turned to Mouri Kogoro, who was still swaying his head, and shouted, "Uncle! Call the police! This man is dead from cyanide poisoning!"
"Huh? Call the police?"
Mouri Kogoro's eyes were bleary from drink, and his reaction was slow.
He fumbled blankly in his pocket for a long time, only to pull out an empty wine bottle. He looked at the bottle's opening and mumbled, "Hmm? Where's my phone... how did it turn into a bottle..."
Watching his uncle's behavior, Conan was so anxious he stomped his feet.
"Call the police? I'll do it! I'll do it!"
At this moment, a tipsy Burnice grabbed the bar's landline and clumsily dialed "110."
"Moshi moshi~ Is this Officer Uncle?"
Burnice chatted into the phone,
"Oh my, do you police officers work hard overtime at night? Would you like to come to our Three Little Pigs for a drink?
Grand opening special, free drinks! Our Nitro-Fuel here is super potent!"
Conan listened with a face full of black lines, quickly tugging at Burnice's sleeve and urging, "Burnice-neechan! Get to the point! Someone's dead! The address!"
"Oh, oh! Right!"
Burnice suddenly understood and giggled into the phone,
"Officer Uncle, it seems like someone here has fallen asleep and can't be woken up... The address is... Sixth Street, yes, the newly renamed Sixth Street, Three Little Pigs Bar... Mm-hmm, hurry and come~"
"What a mess!"
Conan held his forehead, utterly speechless at this scatterbrained bartender.
Fortunately, the police acted swiftly after receiving the call.
Before long, Inspector Megure arrived at the scene with Officer Takagi and forensic personnel.
The bar's customers had been temporarily contained, and the music had long since been turned off.
As Inspector Megure entered, his gaze swept over the scene and immediately fell on the swaying Mouri Kogoro and Conan standing beside the corpse.
A just as I expected expression appeared on his round face, and he let out a heavy sigh.
"Sigh... Brother Mouri, and Conan... why is it you two again!"
Now, whenever he saw this duo appear at a crime scene, his heart was completely unfazed, he even found it to be a matter of course.
Officer Takagi, meanwhile, muttered softly beside him, "Conan, I feel like you're about to win our Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's perfect attendance award for murder scenes..."
After initial investigations and clearing the area, unrelated individuals were evacuated. Only the police, Conan, a drunken Mouri Kogoro, Burnice as the bar's representative, and the three subordinates who had come with the deceased remained in the bar.
Officer Takagi, holding a small notebook, reported to Inspector Megure.
"Inspector, the deceased is named Hosoda Shuji, 51 years old, a department head at Hosoda Corporation. Today is his birthday, and these three are his subordinates, accompanying him to celebrate."
He pointed to the two men and one woman, "The tall, thin one is Hatsumura Kensaku, the slightly heavier one is Komure Monpei, and this lady is Kishiura Minatsu."
According to the three subordinates, they had ordered four identical cocktails. Because they had all been dancing with Burnice earlier, the drinks were not consumed immediately after being made, but were placed side by side on the bar.
Department Head Hosoda, being older, ran out of stamina first and returned to the bar, picked up one of the drinks, and after drinking it, collapsed and died shortly after.
"Inspector!" The forensic personnel approached, reporting with a grave expression, "After preliminary testing, cyanide components were detected in the three identical cocktails on the bar, as well as in the deceased's glass!"
"What? All four drinks were poisoned?!"
Hatsumura, Komure, and Kishiura exclaimed simultaneously, their faces filled with fear and shock.
Immediately, they almost simultaneously pointed their fingers at Burnice, who was standing nearby, attempting to tease Officer Takagi's hat with a cocktail shaker.
"It must be her!" Hatsumura Kensaku said sharply, "She made the drinks! She must have wanted to kill indiscriminately!"
"Right! It's this crazy bartender!" Komure Monpei echoed.
Kishiura Minatsu also nodded vigorously, looking at Burnice with fear in her eyes.
Inspector Megure found it reasonable and turned seriously to Takagi. "Takagi, bring that bartender over for questioning!"
"Yes!" Takagi turned to look for Burnice, but found that no one was at the bar.
He looked around and finally spotted Burnice at the bar's entrance.
At this moment, Burnice was tightly hugging the neck of a passing stray dog with her arm, trying to
force the unwilling, snarling dog to dance the same hypnotic dance with her.
"Burnice-san! Please come here for a moment!"
Takagi quickly ran over, and with great difficulty, rescued the poor dog from Burnice's enthusiastic embrace.
Burnice was pulled back in front of Inspector Megure by Takagi. She looked at Takagi, her eyes lit up, and she said as if realizing something, "Oh! I get it! Officer, you also want a Nitro-Fuel, right? No problem! Leave it to me!"
With that, she, with lightning speed, pulled out a can of Nitro-Fuel from who knows where, clamped Takagi's neck with her left hand, and with a pop sound, opened the can with her right hand, and without a word, poured it into Takagi's mouth.
"Mmph! Mmph mph mph!" Takagi was caught off guard and swallowed several gulps, choking and coughing.
"Burnice-san! What are you doing!"
Inspector Megure was greatly alarmed,
"Takagi! How can you drink a beverage given by a suspect! Especially at a crime scene involving cyanide poisoning! Spit it out now!"
Takagi's face turned pale with fright. He quickly used his fingers to gag himself, trying to throw up what he had drunk, and while doing so, he said with a choked voice, "I-Inspector... I didn't mean to... she forced it..."
"Inspector Megure, it's alright."
Conan stepped forward at this moment and explained,
"Cyanide is a potent poison. If Officer Takagi's drink were poisoned, he would certainly have collapsed by now like that uncle. Since he's fine, it means this can of drink is safe."
Inspector Megure thought about it, found it reasonable, and breathed a sigh of relief, but still glared at Takagi.
He turned to Burnice and asked seriously, "Burnice-san, were the four drinks ordered by the deceased Hosoda-san and his companions made by you?"
Although Burnice was tipsy, she seemed to sober up a little when her profession was mentioned. She patted her chest and guaranteed.
"I made them all! But I absolutely did not add anything bad!"
At this moment, Mouri Kogoro, who had sobered up slightly, rubbed his temples and stepped forward, burping as he spoke.
"Ugh... Inspector Megure, I don't think Burnice-san is the murderer. She's a bartender, has no grudge with that department head, so she has no motive to kill him."
"She has no motive, but neither do we!"
The tall, thin Hatsumura Kensaku immediately retorted,
"Besides, all four drinks were poisoned. How could the murderer ensure that only the department head drank it? If we had drunk it first, wouldn't that have been killing the wrong person? If it was random killing, then there's no need for a motive at all!"
Mouri Kogoro was momentarily choked. The alcohol was getting to his head again, and he argued with a stiff neck.
"Motive? All three of you have a motive! I personally saw your department head soliciting bribes from you earlier! Right over there in the booth, he was banging on the table, telling you to show your appreciation..."