Chapter 359: Evil Little Hands~

Inside the room, forensic personnel were constantly coming and going.

Conan seized an opportunity to signal Senichi, and the two quickly moved to a corner.

"What's wrong? Is it about Detective Mouri's missing investigation records?"

Senichi looked at Conan and said, "If that's the case, you don't need to worry. With our previous arrangements, the investigators won't find any clues."

Although Senichi was somewhat surprised that the investigation dossier was only now missing, it was also within expectations and reasonable. After all, with his involvement, it could be said to have attracted a significant amount of attention from both sides.

So, Vermouth's delay due to investigating him and then coming to steal the dossier was somewhat understandable.

However, Vermouth's investigation was destined to be in vain. With his participation, many cases were solved by him, and some in collaboration with Kogoro Mouri, making the situation even more chaotic.

To some extent, his legitimate involvement in cases diluted Kogoro Mouri's presence, making the smoke screen even thicker.

"I'm not worried about that."

Because preventive measures against the investigation of the dossier had been discussed long ago, Conan wasn't too flustered by Senichi's foresight. "I'm just wondering who the investigator is. I suspect it's the knitted hat man who has been making frequent appearances lately."

After the bus incident, Conan saw the man driving past them in the James case, and since then, he began to suspect him.

"But these are all baseless speculations. I'll be careful about this matter later."

Conan shook his head, ending the topic. "Enough about that; let's focus on resolving the current case as the top priority.

Actually, the reason why I, along with Haibara and the others, came to Morita's apartment is because there's something I'm concerned about.

Back then, when Uncle Mouri heard Mr. Morita asked him to find the watch at his apartment, and he got very angry. At that moment, Mr. Morita's expression turned ugly upon hearing Uncle Mouri's name.

Even though Uncle Mori agreed to his request afterward, he still chose to refuse it directly.

The watch we were looking for is an old-fashioned wind-up watch. Mr. Morita said the watch had been missing for three weeks, but it still had kept time very accurately.

However, this is impossible. After all, after a wind-up watch is wound, it could only last for around fifty hours at most..."

Speaking of this, Conan stared sharply at Hideo Morita, who was standing to the side, and said, "I'm afraid that the incident of looking for the watch was just an excuse he wanted to create to provide an alibi!"

Senichi nodded on the surface, but inwardly rolled his eyes.

Do you still need evidence for such a situation?

In a room with only your group of people, one dead person, and one stranger, the killer must be this stranger!

As for an outsider? That's not possible; it must be a trick caused by the modus operandi.

The culprit had already been targeted by him the moment he entered the room to understand the situation!

Now it's time to focus on the culprit's modus operandi.

Since there are no outsiders, using a mechanism to fatally strike Eiko Idetsuki would be required.

With this in mind, Senichi went straight to the audio room where the deceased was. After the forensic personnel collected evidence from the body, he went to the location where the deceased was found.

On the wall where the deceased fell, there was a large-screen television on the lower cabinet, and above it was covered by a curtain, appearing to be a place for placing equipment such as a VCR and videotapes.

But since they had already ruled out the deceptive tactics designed by the culprit, and considering that a vase wouldn't appear out of thin air, it was reasonable to assume that the mechanism using the vase as a weapon was set in the upper cabinet.

After opening the upper cabinet, numerous old-fashioned VCRs were revealed behind the curtain.

"It seems the modus operandi has been deciphered." Conan, who had also climbed up to the wall cabinet with Senichi's help, manipulated the timer. Immediately, a timed pattern appeared on the black projector nearby.

Beneath this projector, there was a not-too-thick small box that looked like the packaging of a certain movie.

"Now, it's time to solve the mystery of the disappearing vase."

Senichi smiled and said, "How about leaving this puzzle to you? I'll set up a mechanism for the culprit to be forced to confess."

With a simple modus operandi and a single suspect without multiple choice, looking at the situation, the reward for the case would probably be just a participation prize. Senichi felt that since it had come to this, he might as well let the pawn help out a bit.

"Is this even a puzzle?" After hearing Senichi's words, Conan, who had been growing through hard work and perseverance under Senichi's encouragement, smiled disdainfully. "If you want to take it easy, just say so. I'll handle that side."

Although they said they were going to act separately, in reality, it took them only about five minutes in total.

After exchanging a glance to signal that they were ready, Senichi clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention. "If the evidence collection is complete, let's reenact the case. Maybe we'll discover something new."

"No problem. I'll play the role of the fake murderer, okay?" Takagi volunteered with a smile, pointing to himself.

"Then, I'll leave it to you," Senichi nodded, then turned to Hideo Morita on the side. "As for the victim, Mr. Morita, please play the role."

"Huh? Me!?" Hideo Morita exclaimed, pointing at himself in panic. "Why me?"

"Because you are the most familiar with Mrs. Idetsuki, right?" Senichi smiled and said, "Mrs. Idetsuki seems to often watch video tapes at your apartment, and this is your home, so you're more familiar with the environment. Any problem?"

"Uh...no...not at all..." Seeing the sharp gaze of this young detective in front of him, Hideo Morita stammered in response.

"Well, no time to lose. Let's head to the audio room quickly," Senichi opened the door and walked in first, with the others following closely.

Later, Senichi placed the videotape into the projector below the television while directing Hideo Morita to sit in a chair.

"We'll skip the part of watching the movie," Senichi said to Hideo Morita with a smile. "Now, please rewind."

"Oh..."

Although reluctant, under Senichi's urging gaze, Hideo Morita reluctantly clicked the rewind button.

"Now, Mr. Morita, please take out the videotape," Senichi continued to direct.

Hesitating for a moment upon hearing this, Hideo Morita finally bent down to the projector to prepare to press the eject button. After all, the current scene was exactly the same as the trick he used to kill Eiko Idetsuki, which made him somewhat uneasy.

Just as he was about to press the eject button on the projector, a pair of evil little hands reached straight over from the side.

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