Detective Conan: Birth of the Demon Child

Following the address he had researched beforehand, Kogoro Mouri led Seimei Suzuki and the others to a rented apartment. Seeing the names of the couple, Shibata Shiro and Shibata Kyoko, written on the doorplate, they immediately rang the doorbell.

"Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong..."

Kogoro Mori rang the doorbell several times, but no one answered. He couldn't help but say helplessly, "They don't seem to be home."

Ran Mouri said, "Dad, I think the two of them must have gone out to play. Today is Sunday, so maybe we should come over later."

"In that case, let's go have dinner first."

Kogoro Mouri interrupted mid-sentence, asking with a solicitous expression, "Miss Shizuka, what kind of food do you like to eat?"

"I prefer..."

"Who are you guys?"

Before Hattori Shizuka could finish speaking, a middle-aged man with a receding hairline suddenly walked over from around the corner of the stairwell and asked with some curiosity, "Do you gentlemen have something to discuss with Mr. Shibata?"

“That’s right, we are indeed here to see Mr. Shibata Shiro. May I ask who you are?” asked Kogoro Mori.

"My name is Yoshikawa Takezo. I am a friend of Shibata Shiro and also his neighbor."

The middle-aged man first introduced himself, then said to everyone, "If you need to see Shibata about anything, you'd better hurry up and tell him. He's coming to our house to play mahjong later!"

???

Upon hearing this, Kogoro Mouri was slightly taken aback and subconsciously replied, "But Mr. Shibata doesn't seem to be home?"

"Not home? Impossible, we already made plans, I think he must be asleep."

As Yoshikawa Takezo spoke, he walked directly to the Shibata family's door and tried turning the doorknob.

"Click!"

With a soft click, the door was opened by Yoshikawa Takezo, and the room's light shone out.

"See, I told you Shibata would be home!"

After opening the door, Yoshikawa Takezo went into the room first and called out, "Shibata, are you sleeping in again? Get up! We're one short for the three-person game, you're the only one we need."

"Now broadcasting to you..."

After Suzuki Haruaki and the others followed Yoshikawa Takezo into the hall, they discovered that the family had not only carelessly left their bedroom door open, but also had left the television in the living room open.

On the dining table in the living room, there were several plates of cold food, and next to them was today's morning newspaper.

"what!!!"

Just as everyone was curiously looking at the decorations in the living room, a scream from Yoshikawa Takezo suddenly came from the study.

"what happened?"

Upon hearing this, Conan and Kogoro Mouri rushed over immediately.

Yoshikawa Takezo was sitting on the ground, his face pale, with a blood-soaked corpse lying next to him.

"That is……"

Conan scanned the body, his gaze falling on the photograph held in the right hand. Curious, he took out a handkerchief and snatched the photograph from the deceased's hand.

Chapter 279 Conan's Daily Beatings (First Update, Please Vote)

As the wrinkled photograph was slowly unfolded, a cute girl with a ponytail, holding a trophy, appeared in Conan's sight. It was none other than Hattori Shizuka in her youth.

"Boom!"

Seeing this, Kogoro Mouri first rewarded Conan with a large red envelope, then snatched the photo from his hand, angrily shouting, "How many times have I told you not to take evidence from the scene without permission? This is..."

When Kogoro Mouri saw what the girl in the photo looked like, he froze on the spot and subconsciously glanced at Shizuka Hattori beside him.

"Who are you people, and why are you in my house?"

The apartment door opened again, and a woman dressed in sportswear and carrying a golf bag walked in.

Kyoko Shibata, the lady of the house, was quite surprised to see so many strangers in her home.

"Kyo...Kyoko, you're back. Shiro...Shiro is dead..."

Upon hearing Kyoko Shibata's voice, Takezo Yoshikawa finally snapped out of his daze and hurriedly called out to her.

"What did you say?!"

Upon hearing this, Yoshikawa Takezo's expression changed drastically.

Kogoro Mouri glanced at Shizuka Hattori, then turned to Ran Mouri and instructed, "Ran, go call the police quickly."

"Yes!"

Beep~woo~~Beep~woo~~Beep~woo~~

After receiving the emergency call, the police station responsible for maintaining public order in Shizuoka Prefecture immediately dispatched Officer Yokomizo and his team to the scene.

Inspector Yokomizo is not only Kogoro Mouri's number one fan, but also considers himself his number one disciple, so he was extremely excited when he met him.

From Kogoro Mouri, Inspector Yokomizo quickly learned what had happened since they arrived there.

“I understand the general situation. Mr. Mori and his group came to visit Mr. Shibata Shiro. Although they rang the doorbell several times, no one answered the door.”

At this moment, Mr. Yoshikawa, who had made an appointment with Mr. Shibata to play mahjong together that day, arrived.

When Mr. Yoshikawa tried to turn the doorknob, he discovered that Mr. Shibata's door was not locked at all, so they went inside together and found Mr. Shibata's body.

Shortly after you discovered the body, Mrs. Shibata returned home, and then Ran called the police. That should be correct, right?

"That's right, that's exactly it."

Hearing what Officer Yokomizo said, everyone nodded in agreement.

After finishing his sentence, Inspector Yokomizo turned to the coroner and asked, "Can you determine the time of death?"

The coroner replied, "Based on my estimation, the deceased's time of death should be sometime between dawn and morning today."

Upon hearing this, Inspector Yokomizo nodded knowingly, then turned to Kyoko Shibata and asked, "Mrs. Shibata, where were you at the time?"

"Well... because I had made plans to play golf with a friend today, she picked me up in her car at five o'clock this morning."

Kyoko Shibata thought for a moment and said, "After preparing breakfast for my husband, I went to play golf with my friends."

"Was Mr. Shibata at home at that time?"

“He’s at home. My husband played mahjong with Mr. Yoshikawa and the others last night and didn’t get home until 3:30 this morning, so he was still sleeping at that time.”

"If that's the case, Mr. Shibata should not have been murdered before five o'clock."

Officer Yokomizo nodded thoughtfully, then pointed to the newspaper on the table and asked, "By the way, when is your morning paper usually delivered?"

Mrs. Shibata said, "The morning paper is usually delivered at six o'clock in the morning and is generally placed in the mailbox at the door."

"I see. In that case, Mr. Shibata must have gotten up this morning, picked up the morning paper, and was eating breakfast when he was suddenly attacked by the thugs. That's why he didn't finish his breakfast."

"Ahhhhhh~~"

Upon hearing this, Suzuki Haruaki deliberately spoke in an innocent tone, "That's really strange!"

"Seimei, have you noticed anything wrong?" Ai Haibara asked instinctively.

"Based on the conversation between Inspector Yokomizo and Mrs. Shibata just now, Mr. Shibata must have been killed after six o'clock."

Suzuki Seimei glanced at Shibata Kyoko and said in a somewhat meaningful tone, "After six o'clock, it's already broad daylight."

I don't think Mr. Shibata would deliberately turn on the lights at home when he's having breakfast at this time.

But when we came in, all the lights in the house were on!

(?｀?Д?′)!!

When Conan and his friends heard this, they were first slightly taken aback, and then their expressions changed drastically.

It's clear they understand what this means!

If Mr. Shibata was indeed killed after 6 o'clock, the lights in the room would definitely have been off, and when Suzuki Seimei and the others entered the room, it would have been completely dark.

There are only two possibilities for why this situation would occur.

The first possibility is that after killing Mr. Shibata, the murderer returned to the apartment after dark for some reason and forgot to turn off the lights before leaving.

The second possibility is...

"I understand! Mrs. Shibata, you're the murderer!"

After realizing what had happened, Kogoro Mouri pointed at Kyoko Shibata and said, "I think Mr. Shibata was killed by you before 5 o'clock. You went to play golf with your friends after you killed Mr. Shibata."

You mentioned earlier that Mr. Shibata didn't get home until 3:30 this morning, when it was still dark, so it's normal that the lights were on in his room.

I think the breakfast on the table must have been prepared by you back then!

Moreover, as far as I know, Mr. Shibata is also a master of swordsmanship, and it would be very difficult for an ordinary person to ambush and kill him.

Only you, his wife, could kill him when he was completely off guard.

"You...you can't talk nonsense! Why would I kill my husband?"

Faced with Kogoro Mouri's reasoning, Kyoko Shibata retorted angrily, "If I really killed my husband before five o'clock, how do you explain the morning paper on the table?"

"This...this..."

Upon hearing this, Kogoro Mouri's expression turned somewhat embarrassed.

Why the morning newspapers published after 6 o'clock would appear on the dining table was something Kogoro Mouri really didn't understand.

Just as Kogoro Mouri was at a loss for what to do, Conan suddenly spoke up, saying, "I think it's probably for gambling!"

?)?Д?(

Upon hearing Conan's words, Kyoko Shibata's pupils suddenly contracted.

Chapter 280 Small bets are fun, big bets are harmful (Second update, please vote)

"Didn't Mrs. Shibata just say that Mr. Shibata played mahjong last night and didn't get home until 3:30 this morning?"

Mr. Shibata has made plans to play mahjong with Mr. Yoshikawa and the others again tonight, so I think he must really enjoy playing mahjong, right?