Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 296 It seems Father has solved the case.
Kogoro Mouri was fast asleep, lost in his dreams.

In my dream, guided by the Duke of Zhou, I arrived at a strange cave called the Spider Cave.

Just as they arrived at the entrance, seven stunningly beautiful women emerged from the cave.

The seven beauties saw him as if they had seen Tang Sanzang, and in an instant, they pushed aside Zhou Gong (the Duke of Zhou in Chinese mythology) and swarmed to get close to him.

"Don't rush, take it one at a time."

The seven beauties refused to listen and started arguing over who he would end up with.

At first, he was very happy, but later, as the seven beauties tore at each other, their human skin was ripped off, and long hairy spider legs emerged from their backs.

The struggle escalated into a real fight, and soon spider legs were flying everywhere, with one hairy spider leg even hitting him in the face.

The lush green juice splashed everywhere, quickly engulfing him.
"do not want!"

Kogoro Mouri suddenly leaped up from the ground, vaguely feeling something being thrown away by him, followed by Conan's scream.

"It hurts!"

Conan, clutching his buttocks, looked utterly bewildered, wishing he could smash the towel in Uncle Mori's horse-like face.

He was so kind that he helped by applying a wet towel to his face to speed up his wake-up, but the first thing Uncle Mori did when he woke up was to throw him away!
"what happened?"

At this moment, everyone gathered in the living room. Kogoro Mori looked around in bewilderment and asked, "Where's Shinichi Takeda? He ran away before he even finished his drink?"

His memory was still stuck on the moment before he fainted, and he had no idea that more than an hour had passed since the drinking party ended.

“Uncle Mori, Mr. Takeda Shinichi is dead,” Hattori replied solemnly.

"Dead? You're not kidding me, are you?"

Kogoro Mouri's already bewildered face became even more bewildered. After carefully observing Hattori's expression, he realized that Hattori's words did not seem to be faked.

Turning to look at the others, their expressions were also very serious. When they saw Conan, they even gave him an affirmative nod.

"How did I die? How long was I asleep?"

Kogoro Mouri instantly became serious, loosened his tie, and asked solemnly, "Have you called the police?"

"You slept for about an hour. Shinichi Takeda died about 45 to 50 minutes ago. The cause of death is the same as Mr. Negishi's. We have already called the police, but because of a landslide on the mountain road, the police will not be able to arrive until the road is cleared tomorrow."

Conan recounted the entire case in great detail, like pounding garlic.

"Gentlemen, where were you from when Mr. Takeda Shinichi died?"

Kogoro Mori focused his attention on the Takeda family members, including Takeda Tomoe, whom he hadn't seen all evening and who was the mother of the three Takeda brothers.

Yuzo Takeda: "After my older brother left, I went back to my room to wash my face within two minutes. When I went to the studio to look for him, I found that he was not there. I searched the whole house but couldn't find him. So I went to the living room to ask Mr. Natsukawa and the others."

Ryuji Takeda: "Yoko was taking Sae and Emi to bathe at this time, and I was adding firewood to the boiler room for them."

Kogoro Mouri turned to the housekeeper and asked, "And you?"

"Everyone had just finished eating, and I was in the kitchen cleaning up the dishes and preparing breakfast for tomorrow. If Mr. Yongsan hadn't come over to ask, I wouldn't have known that Master Xinyi was missing."

Not long after, Detective Hattori came to the kitchen and asked me to bring the old lady to the living room.

"Xiao Lan and I went to the mountains to pay our respects to Misa. We just got back not long ago. Mr. Mori should know about this." Robert Taylor had a heavy accent and a very nasal tone when he explained, but it didn't affect others' ability to understand him.

“Yes, Brother Radish was with us the whole way and even caught a bunch of fireflies for Anya! He didn’t have time to come back and commit the crime~” Anya explained.

It's all a misunderstanding. We were misled by the twins. How could Brother Carrot be a bad person?

Just for helping her catch fireflies, she deserves to help prove it.

Where is the old lady?

Kogoro Mouri had no intention of asking; it was Natsukawa who asked.

Although a seventy-year-old woman would hardly have the strength or ability to hoist someone to the beam, this is, after all, the world of science fiction, anything is possible, and caution is always a good thing.

The old woman lowered her eyes and spoke softly: "I went to bed early, so I should have been asleep by then. It was Iwatani who woke me up, and that's when I learned of Shinichi's death."

The old woman turned to look at the warehouse across the street, shook her head and smiled bitterly: "I told him not to demolish the temple back then, but he wouldn't listen. He's in his twenties now. What happened three years ago is retribution. The day before yesterday, Gen'an, who instigated him to start construction, also died. It must be the Spider Fairy's revenge."

What does "twenty-something" mean?

Xia Chuan narrowed his eyes and asked, "What happened more than twenty years ago?"

"No. Okay, I'm too old to stay up all night, I'm going back to sleep now."

The old lady glanced up at Natsukawa, then, with Iwatani's help, walked towards her room.

"Why does the old lady seem so unconcerned about her son's death?" Kogoro Mori said, sitting cross-legged with his chin in his hand. "Mr. Ryuji, Mr. Yuzo, is the old lady and Mr. Shinichi not on good terms?"

“I guess so!” Takeda Ryuji shook his head. “Back then, right after my father died, my eldest brother, who inherited the puppet-making technique, immediately prepared to take action against the temple that was originally located in the warehouse. My mother argued with him about this many times.”

The temple was eventually demolished, and from then on, the relationship between my mother and my eldest brother was not very good.

Aside from the fact that her mother gave her the name Misa, she rarely spoke to her older brother.

"What about Mr. Shinichi's wife and daughter three years ago? Was it suicide or murder?" Xia Chuan asked.

"They probably committed suicide."

"Second Brother."

Ryuji Takeda waved his hand and smiled wryly: "At this point, I won't hide it from everyone anymore."

"Actually, the reason why Misa and her sister-in-law committed suicide three years ago was largely due to my older brother! At that time, for some reason, my older brother's attitude towards Misa and her sister-in-law suddenly became very bad, and he often spoke harshly to them."

Misa was exhausted as a result, and Rob chose to leave at that time.

We can all see Misa's feelings for Rob. Perhaps it was because of the successive blows that Misa had suicidal tendencies.

Misa's death had a severe negative impact on her sister-in-law; she was absent-minded for several days and eventually hanged herself in the warehouse.

"No way," Robert Taylor said in despair. He never imagined that he was partly responsible for his lover's death.

"But Misa clearly did at the time."

"She's clearly very cheerful, right? She didn't show any of that in front of you, but perhaps it was this repression, coupled with your departure, that became the last straw that broke the camel's back."

"And there's that letter from Brother Robert."

The twin sisters exclaimed in unison, "Brother Rob wrote in his letter that Sister Misa should die!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes turned to Robert Taylor.

"???"

Rob Taylor was completely bewildered. He still remembered exactly what he had written. He was too happy to write anything so hurtful.

"That's impossible. My feelings for Misa are absolutely genuine. Otherwise, I wouldn't have needed to come back three years later. It's because I can't let go of Misa that I traveled all the way from Europe to Japan."

"But doesn't the English word 'Shi ne' mean 'go to die'?" The twins looked at each other in bewilderment.

The two children peeked at the letter while delivering it. Since it was in English, they couldn't understand most of it, but they did recognize some of the more sensitive words, including 'Shi ne'.

“No, the word is ‘shine,’ meaning to shine.” Rob Taylor went on to explain, “And I’ve written this word to Misa many times. She’s the only light in my life, the brightest light. There’s no way she wouldn’t understand the meaning of this word!”

"Did you give the envelope directly to Misa Takeda?" Natsukawa asked the twins.

"When we came back, my uncle took it away. He said he wanted to give it to my sister himself."

The twins' explanation made everyone frown; Shinichi Takeda was dead, so there was no way to ask him.

However, it is clear from this that there is a problem here.

Based on Ryuji Takeda's previous statements, it is highly likely that Shinichi Takeda was behind it.

They might have thrown the letter away, or forged a letter to torment Misa Takeda.

"But why?"

Hattori and Conan's brows were furrowed together. Despite being father and daughter, it sounded like they had a deep grudge.

Why did Shinichi Takeda suddenly change his personality and treat his own daughter this way?

"Assuming that the deaths of Miss Misa and Mrs. Kinuyo were related to Mr. Shinichi, could this murder be an act of revenge for the two of them?" Natsukawa put forward a very bold hypothesis.

Upon hearing this, everyone in the Takeda family tensed up.

The meaning of this statement is quite clear: in this way, the murderer can only be among the members of the Takeda family.

"Isn't this guess a bit untenable?"

Conan and Hattori shook their heads slightly, finding the guess too bold and lacking any basis for argument.

Although they had this suspicion, they didn't voice it. The reason was simple: before finding evidence, all speculation was baseless and unfounded.

“It’s not impossible!” Kogoro Mouri glanced at everyone. “After all, there are different degrees of closeness in relationships. I think the old lady is the most suspicious. As the saying goes, grandparents are more affectionate towards their grandchildren. I think the old lady must have discovered that her granddaughter’s death was related to her son, which is why she committed the murder.”

"."

Xia Chuan rolled his eyes. He thought Uncle Mori had discovered something, but it turned out that he just had a richer imagination than him.

Even if a 70-year-old grandmother could kill Shinichi Takeda, how could she possibly hang him nearly two meters off the ground? An old woman simply couldn't do that!

"In short, to prevent the same tragedy from happening again, it's best if everyone stays put tonight. I'll go check the body first, and we'll deal with the rest after the police arrive tomorrow."

After everyone returned to their rooms, Kogoro Mouri went to the second floor of the warehouse to examine the body.

Upon seeing Shinichi Takeda's dead body, the famous detective unconsciously recalled the scene from his dream and suddenly shivered.

"Who on earth designed the room as a secret room, yet made it look like a murder?"

Kogoro Mouri was thinking when suddenly his eyes lit up: "Could it be suicide? After all, his wife and daughter committed suicide here. Maybe he just wanted to die with his wife and daughter."

"Uncle Mori."

Conan was speechless. "If he wanted to commit suicide, what would be the reason? Besides, Mr. Shinichi just invited you here to solve the mystery of Mr. Negishi's death a few days ago, and then he died. It's very suspicious."

“That’s right!” Hattori nodded, went around to the back of the body, climbed the ladder and came to the back of the deceased: “There are signs of a heavy blow to the back of the head. The murderer first knocked Mr. Shinichi unconscious and then hanged him.”

Kogoro Mouri pursed his lips and paced around the room, bored.

The room was very clean, and besides, Conan and Hattori had already searched it once, but found no useful clues.

To solve this case, we may need to start by investigating the alibis of the Takeda family members.

Natsukawa didn't join in Kogoro Mouri's fun and acted alone.

In fact, he already had someone in mind to be the murderer.

Once you have a suspect in mind, it becomes much easier to work backwards to deduce the modus operandi and timing of the crime.

From his perspective, he knew that Misa was actually Ryuji Takeda's daughter. If Misa was indeed driven to her death by Shinichi Takeda, then the murderer was most likely either Ryuji Takeda or Robert Taylor.

Robert Taylor has an alibi, so the only remaining suspect is Ryuji Takeda.

It's normal for a father to avenge his own daughter.

Judging from the time of Negishi's death, it seems that Negishi accidentally revealed something about Misa to Takeda Ryuji, which led to the latter's sudden murder.

However, at the time of Shinichi Takeda's death, Ryuji Takeda was boiling water in the boiler room.

Boiling water in a bathtub is a very demanding task, as the water temperature can easily become too hot or too cold if you are not careful.

He had just taken the opportunity to secretly ask the twins, and they said the water temperature had been very stable. So the question is, how did Ryuji Takeda manage to commit the crime while boiling water, and how did he turn that room into a locked room?

One is the key to an alibi, and the other is the key to the method of committing the crime.

"It smells terrible."

As soon as Xia Chuan arrived at the water boiler room, he smelled a burnt industrial waste odor.

The smell permeated the entire room, and even though the door to the water boiler room was open, the smell did not dissipate.

"Father, there seems to be something in here."

Anya, who had always been with her father, immediately thought of the kiln in front of her when she noticed the unusual smell.

He then picked up the fire tongs from the ground, pinched his nose, and used the tongs to turn the fire back and forth in the kiln.

"Children shouldn't play with fire, I'll do it."

Xia Chuan pulled his daughter aside and scooped out several bowls of water to extinguish the fire.

After the flames were extinguished, the smell of industrial waste instantly became much stronger, and then a lot of black smoke could be seen flying around.

After a few quick rummages, Xia Chuan found the source of the stench.

A metal can was pulled out.

The tin can was cylindrical, only about ten centimeters tall, and covered with a layer of blue paper film. At this point, the paper film had been burned beyond recognition, and most of the blue color had turned black.

After the metal can was removed, the smell of industrial waste in the room became even stronger.

Xia Chuan frowned and examined the kiln for a long time, trying to find other clues.

However, apart from the iron can, there were obviously no other foreign objects in the kiln.

"What is this?" Anya tilted her head and looked at it for a long time, but still couldn't figure out what the iron can was.

Xia Chuan did not answer, but poked open the completely melted lid on the iron can.

boo——

The moment the plastic cap was punctured, a burst of hot air shot out, followed by a strong smell of glue.

"Industrial glue cans"

Xia Chuan's eyes lit up, and he closed his eyes to recall the smell of the room on the second floor of the warehouse.

I didn't pay much attention at the time, as most of the smell was masked by the stench of decay, but upon closer reflection, it does seem to have that smell, albeit a very faint one.

"I see!"

Having confirmed the locked-room method, only one question remains: how did he manage to add firewood while committing the crime?
Once this question is resolved, it can be definitively confirmed that Ryuji Takeda is the murderer.

The boiler room smelled terrible; the fumes from this industrial glue were quite harmful to the lungs. Xia Chuan carried Anya away, pondering one last question the whole way.

"Father, have a peanut to refresh your mind."

"So nice."

The Takeda family is a family of puppeteers; could they really use puppets to add firewood?
Natsukawa couldn't help but think of the doll at the Origami Onsen B&B that could automatically deliver water.

"What am I thinking? That puppet is just a simple wind-up puppet. The distances between the mechanisms are all calculated. It's completely different from the others."

Xia Chuan shook his head to clear his mind of these chaotic thoughts and headed towards the warehouse.

"Madam, it's so late, you should go to sleep."

Suddenly, Iwatani's voice came from the walkway ahead.

Natsukawa looked up and saw that it was the housekeeper Iwatani helping the old lady Takeda walk back.

Judging from the direction he was heading, he had clearly gone to the warehouse to check on his son's body.

"Hey, it's all Xin Yi's fault. He didn't listen to the elders, and now he's suffering the consequences."

The old lady was clearly not in good condition; she accidentally bumped into Xia Chuan as she passed by.

Fortunately, Xia Chuan dodged in time and only got a slight scratch on his clothes.

"Father, this old lady is so strange."

After watching the other person leave, Anya finally spoke, "Even though Uncle Takeda is dead, she doesn't seem to care much."

"Didn't Ryuji Takeda say before that the two of them haven't had a good relationship because of the temple issue?"

As he spoke, Xia Chuan reached out and touched Anya's pink hair, then suddenly froze, staring blankly at the cuff of his left sleeve.

There was a grayish-black stain on the cuff.

"That's strange, I was definitely operating the kiln with my right hand just now."

The next moment, Xia Chuan suddenly turned his head and looked at the old lady who was walking away.

"Grayish-black marks, an old woman."

Xia Chuan's eyes suddenly lit up. "I see. If that's how it is, I understand!"

"Hehe, it must be because Anya mentioned the old lady that Father was able to come up with the method!"

The notification indicated success, and a smile appeared on Anya's face.

She breathed a sigh of relief, thankfully she hadn't lost face in front of the Takeda sisters. Her father was reliable after all, and through her tireless efforts, he discovered the truth of the case!

"Father, should I go and call Uncle Mori and the others?"

Xia Chuan raised an eyebrow. "Did Anya figure it out?"

"I can tell, it seems Father has solved the case."

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(End of this chapter)