Ms. Moriarty wants to save Beika Town today too.

"No...I didn't kill anyone."

"It takes at least five to six minutes to make coffee in the kitchen. As long as you imprison Miss Lihua in the bathroom in advance, you can sneak into the bathroom and kill her while she's in the bathroom, and then come back as if nothing happened. Is that right, great detective?"

……

258 Sleeping Kogoro

Kogoro looked up at Mifune, then returned his gaze to the body of Yotsugu Rika.

"The murderer is definitely not Mr. Ichi. At least one or two hours have passed since the incident happened, which means that Miss Lihua should have died between five and six in the morning. So Mr. Ichi, who just went to the bathroom, couldn't have taken this opportunity to kill Miss Lihua."

"And it's impossible for Aunt Mi and Mr. Gojo to commit the crime. They followed us in the living room from four to seven o'clock, so it's impossible."

"This way, they will have an alibi and the field of suspects can be narrowed down."

"That means you two, Mr. Mifune and Mr. Rokuda, were left alone in the room on the second floor at that time."

Kogoro stood up and looked at Mifune and Rokuda Masashi with sharp eyes.

Mifune was startled at first, then he pretended to be relaxed and raised his thumb to point at Rokuda next to him.

"That's too easy. The murderer is this guy Rokuda, because it can't be me."

"You're talking nonsense. I clearly saw it. At six in the morning, I heard some noise in the corridor. I opened the door and saw you walking in the corridor. I didn't know where you went."

Rokuda Masashi hit back bluntly.

"Is this true, Mifune?"

Ichiji Takashi looked at him in disbelief.

"Yeah, because I couldn't sleep, so I went to the bathroom on the second floor to wash my face."

Mifune did not deny leaving the room.

"Really? The bathroom on the second floor? It's right next to the stairs. That way, it would be easier for you to go to the first floor and kill Miss Lihua."

Rokuda Masashi continued the pursuit.

"What did you say……"

Mifune was panicked for a moment, but quickly regained his composure.

"No, you are right. It is true that no one can prove my actions, but at the same time, you could have killed Miss Lihua! Because when I was alone in the room, I didn't see what you did in there."

"Anyway, the time of the crime was between five and six o'clock, so the most likely people were the two of you."

"Please answer me a question, what were you doing in the room at that time?"

Kogoro Mori interrupted their argument and tried to find flaws in their words by asking questions.

"Wait a moment, Mr. Maori."

Winette stood up and said to Kogoro.

"what happened?"

From Winnet's perspective, she could also observe the condition of Shioi Reika's body. The red skirt was completely fitted to her body, as if she had fallen into the water. In addition, there were traces of tape on the body, which made people think that the murderer not only tied up Shioi Reika, but also fixed her to a certain place to a certain extent.

"Mr. Maori, you said that the body had signs of being tied up, right?"

"That's true..."

"Perhaps, the murderer did not press Miss Lihua's head into the pool and suffocate her to death as in the previous two cases, but fixed Miss Lihua in the bathtub and used the water storage characteristics of the bathtub to set a timed killing program."

Winnett walked past Kogoro and Conan who was observing the corpse, and came to the edge of the bathtub. She touched the edge of the bathtub with her fingers, and there were still water stains on it.

"So... it's possible. We searched the entire villa but couldn't find Miss Lihua. If Miss Lihua has been trapped in this bath from the beginning..."

Kogoro Mouri clearly remembered that the people responsible for checking the bathroom were him, Conan and Takashi Ichieda.

"But that's not right. We looked for this bathroom at ten o'clock at night, and it was empty. There was nothing in it."

Yizhi Long interrupted.

"Yes, I feel something is very wrong. We have searched every room just now, but we didn't see any trace of Miss Lihua. Could it be that the murderer hid her in the forest?"

"No, if it was outside the villa, there is a more suitable place - the trunk of the car, which was parked outside at the time, your car. And the only two people who have time to move Miss Reika out of the car are Mifune and Mr. Rokuda. However, if the murderer used the method of delayed killing..."

Kogoro Mouri also walked to the edge of the bathtub. He turned on the faucet right above the bathtub, but what came out from it was not a thick stream of water, but the shower spray from above.

"Use this showerhead and fix Miss Lihua in this bathtub, slowly fill the bathtub with water, passing over Miss Lihua's mouth and nose. Just as Miss Winnett said, as long as this method of delayed killing is used, anyone can commit the crime."

"I think the murderer may have taken advantage of the time when we were attracted by the broken window. He not only planned to attack Miss Kuba Masumi, as well as Miss Winette and my daughter in the banquet hall, but also used this time to move Miss Shii Reika, who was trapped in the trunk of the car, to this bathroom, and then set up this delay device. In this way, even if the murderer stayed in the banquet hall with us, he could still kill Miss Reika."

"However, the time to complete all of this is quite tight. Therefore, the two most suspicious people are still you two."

Kogoro Mori looked at Mifune and Rokuda with burning eyes.

Conan, who was watching from the side, thought that Uncle Kogoro had performed quite reliably this time. However, even if it was as Winette said, the whole case still lacked a key piece of evidence.

However, this method of delayed killing alone is enough to make people understand many things.

If the murderer had placed Miss Reika in the trunk of the car at the beginning, he could have pressed Miss Reika into the fountain in front of the villa just like he did when he killed Nikaidou, but he didn't do that, which means he had a reason to let people find Miss Reika at this time. The attack on Kuba Masumi, Winette, and Xiaolan, who had nothing to do with her, seemed like an indiscriminate killing move at first glance, but it was probably a misguided thought.

If someone kills someone in the same way twice in a row, the third time will naturally be considered to be a similar method.

But the evidence...

Conan climbed to the edge of the pool, wanting to see what else he could find, but the edge was full of water stains and very slippery. He lost his balance and was grabbed by Kogoro by the scruff of the neck before he fell into the water.

"What the hell are you doing all of a sudden, getting yourself so wet."

"what!"

Conan suddenly had an idea and thought, NICE uncle!

Just get wet!

After going around in circles, Kogoro still didn't figure out who the murderer was, so he looked at everyone.

"Let me tell you what to do, everyone. Let's wait in the living room until the car comes to pick us up. I'm a little worried about Xiaolan being there alone."

"It seems that your reminder alone is not enough."

Ai gently grabbed Winnet's waist from behind.

"However, I am only suspicious and cannot be sure of the murderer's true identity... In other words, there is no evidence, and for a detective, this is the most important thing."

Winnet was not surprised by this result. Instead, her suggestion expanded the scope of suspects.

Just as she was about to grab Xiao Ai's hand and leave——

"Wait a moment!"

Kogoro's deep voice came from behind.

"What's going on?"

Mifune, who was regarded as a key suspect, looked at Kogoro with some impatience.

"No, no, I didn't say anything..."

Kogoro shook his hands, trying to deny it.

But his actions soon froze and stopped, and Conan used the method he had recently become proficient in - using a watch-shaped anesthetic gun to stab Kogoro's neck, and then using a voice-changing bow to imitate Kogoro's voice after he fell asleep.

After being stabbed by the anesthetic needle, Kogoro stumbled back and sat on the edge of the bathtub.

This relatively unusual scene also attracted Winnet's attention. Although she often heard the legend of the sleeping detective Maori Kogoro, this was the first time she saw it with her own eyes.

The moment he fell, she clearly heard a subtle sound like a firing, and the target of the firing was Kogoro Mori in front of him.

"It's actually like this..."

Winnet couldn't help but sigh.

"Are you shocked? The great detective on the surface is actually a confused detective, and there is someone else behind the scenes. This feeling is very similar to the style of the organization, right?"

Xiao Ai, with her arms crossed, looked like she was enjoying the show, and was proud of Winnet's surprised expression.

"It can fulfill my dream of being a detective, but it won't be discovered that it was done by Kudo Shinichi..."

"He seemed to hope to get involved in cases that might be related to the organization in this way."

"But this is a little too obvious. Seeing that the great detective looks like he's asleep, doesn't anyone want to investigate?"

"This is the 'rule' in Japan, and... it's like an adult suddenly turning into a child. No one would expect it so easily."

"Well, but I found it anyway."

Winnie looked at Ai meaningfully and smiled.

"loquacious."

Xiao Ai muttered something.

"What on earth have you done, Mr. Maori?"

Like Mifune, Rokuda Masashi also expressed slight dissatisfaction to Mori Kogoro.

"I already know who the murderer is."

Conan said this in a decisive tone using the voice of Kogoro Mouri.

"what?"

"You knew already?"

"Who is the murderer?"

Faced with a series of questions, Conan did not answer directly, but made a request.

"Now, would you please take off your coats, gentlemen? Just throw your coats here, and the truth will come out."

"Are you done yet?!"

Mifune showed his impatience again.

"Okay, let's do what he says. It would be nice if we could find out who the murderer is by taking off his clothes."

Ichieda Takashi tried to comfort Mifune and started taking off his coat first.

His words seemed to convince everyone, and they cooperated with Kogoro and threw their coats on the ground.

"Well, then you should just look quickly. Didn't you know it by looking at the coat?"

Mifune asked.

After they took off their coats, Conan, hiding behind the curtains, glanced at their shirts out of the corner of his eye.

There are water stains on the collar of Mifune, on the wrist of Gojo Osamu, and on the elbow of Ichijo Takashi.

Conan's glasses lenses began to reflect light.

"I was right. It was you. You were the one who caused what happened in the villa..."

"Yes, he first drowned Nikaidou in the fountain, then drugged Xiaolan's coffee to attack Miss Jiuye, Miss Winnett, and Xiaolan, and then a few minutes ago, he drowned Miss Lihua in this bathtub. The real murderer is you, Mr. Ichieda Takashi!"

After hearing what Conan said, everyone looked at Ichieda Takashi.

"Yizhi, did you really do this?"

Mifune asked in shock.

"Please stop joking, Detective... Do I look like a murderer?"

Yizhi Long still acted a bit like a weak scholar. He pointed at his face and asked back.

"Early before the first case, when Nikaidou was killed, Miss Reika was missing and we went to the woods to look for him. At that time, the people with Nikaidou were Aunt Yone and Mr. Kazue, right?"

"Yes."

Aunt Mi replied.

"However, not long after entering the forest, you all started to disperse and look for people. I think that at that time, Aunt Mi should have run to remind others not to go deep into the forest, and after leaving them, you followed Nikaidou and took him to the fountain. I think you should have told him that you saw Miss Reika at the fountain, so after he arrived at the fountain, you attacked him from behind and drowned him."

"That's just your imagination. The same thing could have been done by someone else. There shouldn't have been more than just the three of us who were scattered to look for people, right? And attacking Nikaidou and Miss Reika isn't strange, but why did I attack Miss Jiuye, as well as Miss Moriarty and Xiaolan, friends I had never met before? This is the first time I've met them! Moreover, when the murderer tried to attack them and turned off the lights, I was with you. How could I have had the opportunity to turn off the lights at that time? According to what you said, could it be that I have an accomplice?"

The nervous Ichiji Takashi uttered a long series of rebuttals.

"No, you don't have any accomplices. Because all the lights were turned off automatically. The method was very simple. You had already set all the air conditioners in the villa to start at the same time using the remote control. Then, you set the same time on the microwave oven in the kitchen. When that time came, the power load would be overloaded, so the main switch was turned off at that time. The best evidence is that the time when all electrical appliances stopped working is still recorded on the remote control."

"When the power went out, you might have heard a strange noise. Isn't that right, Conan?"

As soon as Kogoro finished speaking, Conan jumped out from behind the curtains.