Conan, I'm an actor

“That’s right, we’ll have two or three people responsible for checking all the equipment inside the carriage.” The train conductor suddenly remembered something. “Oh, right, it seems like we’re missing one of our train conductor uniforms.”

Just then, Conan received an email. As he was about to open it, Sera suddenly leaned close to his phone, forcing him to put it away.

“Since you believe this is a homicide, let’s start looking for evidence now,” Kogoro Mouri said somewhat helplessly. “First, let’s find out about the fire. After all, this train car is closely related to the fire.”

"Then who should we ask?" the train conductor said with some concern. "These people are all VIPs of our Suzuki Express. Maybe we should wait for the police to arrive before we talk about it."

"What?! Why are you being so fussy!" Sonoko walked towards the carriage door with some annoyance, clearly intending to knock.

"Yuanzi, let Dad handle this," Xiaolan quickly stopped Yuanzi.

Seeing that his young mistress had spoken, the captain had no choice but to bite the bullet and play along with the detectives' "fooling around." Now he could only hope that this Kogoro Mouri was really as capable as the rumors suggested.

Soon, accompanied by the train conductor, they knocked on Mr. Noto's door.

“Mr. Noto, this is Kogoro Mouri,” the train commander said, looking at Noto Daisaku. “He wants to know about the fire five years ago.”

“I see, that fire five years ago.” Nodotai Saku nodded.

“You can’t say you don’t know anything.” Kogoro Mouri put his hands in his pockets. “I just confirmed the details of the incident with the police in Shizuoka Prefecture. Your name appeared among the people who were rescued, right? The former Self-Defense Force officer. Also, the sword friend of that former capitalist who died in the fire, Mr. Noto Daisaku.”

“That’s right, the scars on my face are from the fire.” Notodai pointed to the scars on his face. “I didn’t mean to hide them.”

"So, Mr. Noto, when I saw you earlier, you seemed to be carrying something on your back. Could that be a tool for creating a secret room?" Kogoro Mouri asked somewhat helplessly.

He knew he was being rude, but since he was already prepared to be a tool, he would ask for all the details and then let Conan deduce the whole process, just like before.

"No, there are only bamboo swords in here." Noto Daisaku took the bag with a wry smile, and opened it to reveal two training bamboo swords.

"Bamboo sword?"

"This is the bamboo sword I use during my training. I've already made an appointment with a friend in Nagoya to spar with him." Mr. Noto generously showed Kogoro Mouri his backpack.

Upon seeing the bamboo sword inside the package, Kogoro Mouri was speechless.

"If you don't have anything else to say..." Uncle Noto was already giving him the hint to leave.

He didn't want to talk about the fire five years ago. He showed Kogoro Mouri the contents of his bag only to prove his innocence and get rid of this annoying guy in front of him.

"Then, Uncle, can you give it a try?" Conan suddenly said.

"Try running it?" Noto was taken aback, not understanding what this kid in front of him was up to.

"Since we've already seen the killer's retreating figure, could you film me running and show it to us?"

Uncle Noto considered that this would clear his name, so he did not refuse Conan's request.

After gathering all the clues, the four of them said goodbye to Mr. Noto and went to find Mr. Anton in another room.

Unlike Mr. Noto, Anton did not shy away from the fire five years ago, directly admitting that he, like Murohashi, was a survivor rescued from that fire.

"By the way, there's a big bag in your room. What's inside?" Sera asked directly.

Kogoro Mouri breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Sera Masumi had asked. It was good that someone was sharing the burden of this kind of troublesome task.

“Oh, that’s a painting that a client asked me to take for authentication.” Mr. Anton sighed. “Unfortunately, it was just a fake.”

"May I open it and take a look?" Kogoro Mouri walked straight in.

“Um…” Mr. Anton hesitated.

"Is there a problem?" Kogoro Mouri's eyes suddenly sharpened.

“No, because this is a work of art.” Mr. Anton took out a pair of white gloves from his pocket. “We usually require people to wear gloves when appreciating paintings. Why don’t I take them out myself, or you can put on the gloves and take them out yourself?”

"Is it really necessary to make such a fuss over a fake?" Kogoro Mouri took the gloves with some displeasure.

But when he took the frame out, he noticed something was wrong because the painting was very heavy.

"Why is this painting so heavy?"

“Because the frame is made of pure gold, that’s why I always carry it with me,” Anton explained.

"I see." Kogoro Mouri put the painting back, then turned to look at Anton. "By the way, what was your relationship with the wealthy man who died in the fire?"

“Because that person was a collector of famous paintings, I introduced him to many excellent paintings for his collection.” Mr. Anton adjusted his glasses. “However, most of the paintings in his collection were burned in the fire, which is a great pity.”

“This… is so heavy.” Conan looked up and made the same request as before, asking Mr. Anton to run in the corridor.

Conan then coaxed the other two suspects, who were still able to stand, out to take photos in the corridor.

"Honestly, Miss Jasmine was clearly unhappy by the end, and you brat still managed to coax her out for photos." Kogoro Mouri looked at Conan with great displeasure, especially after learning that this guy might become his son-in-law. "Does this method really lead to the culprit?"

Conan took out his phone and pressed play. Soon, the call bell rang in the carriage.

The conductor instinctively turned around to look, only to find that none of the answering lights in the corridor were on. Then he looked at Conan and said, "Little brother, I can still tell the difference between the recording and the original voice."

“This is me pressing the call button in compartment B, recording the call button's sound, and then playing it back,” Conan said coldly. “The culprit probably played the original call button audio, which is why they were able to fool the conductor.”

"So what if you managed to hide it from the commander..." Kogoro Mouri looked towards Room A. "Because the light bulb in Room A was broken, you heard the call bell and saw that no light was on, so you went to Room A immediately, right?"

"That's right, that's correct." The conductor scratched his head somewhat awkwardly, then realized something. "You mean the prisoner entered cell B while Mr. Noto and I were arguing?"

“That’s right!” Sera opened the door to compartment B. “This train carriage has been specially modified and widened. The aisles are extremely narrow. Once you open a door, your field of vision will be extremely narrow. Even if a prisoner walks in, you won’t be able to see him.”

“That’s right, the culprit must have been asking Mr. Murohashi what was happening outside on the phone, right?” Kogoro Mouri suddenly realized. “And the train had just entered the tunnel at that time. As long as the call was made before entering the tunnel, even if the culprit went to Room B in person, he could pretend that the signal was bad inside the tunnel, and Mr. Murohashi wouldn’t find it strange.”

“But what do the prisoners want to talk about when they look for Murohashi?” Noto lit a cigarette.

"Mr. Noto, smoking is not allowed in the carriage," the conductor said somewhat flustered.

"The train has already pulled into the station," Noto said, somewhat exasperated. "There's no smoking room here, and you won't let me smoke, this..."

The train conductor was speechless for a moment, seemingly realizing that he was indeed in the wrong.

"Besides, didn't that detective just say that the culprit entered Murohashi's room while you and I were arguing? So, both of us are no longer suspects. Mr. Mori, since you're so clever, then tell me what the culprit and Murohashi were talking about on the phone."

“I think it must be the content of the mystery on the train.” Conan took out the card he had obtained. “Ran, the victim, Mr. Murohashi, and I all received fake cards.”

“I think this crime could only have been committed in compartment B.” Kogoro Mouri took a deep breath. “Because Mr. Murohashi orders compartment B of this train car every year, the perpetrator would have made arrangements specifically for compartment B. These cards were probably made to deal with unexpected situations, such as if Mr. Murohashi did not have a reservation in compartment B, then he could use these cards to get Mr. Murohashi back to this car.”

Chapter 323 The Train (Proof)

“All of this is to prove that there is indeed a culprit.” Kogoro Mouri stroked his chin. “It seems we can now confirm that this is not a suicide case.”

"I thought you had already solved the case and figured out the killer's modus operandi." Just then, a familiar voice rang out behind them, "Brother Mori, you've really regressed now."

The person who arrived was Inspector Megure, followed by Takagi and Sato. They had gotten off the train and were keeping watch at both ends of the carriage after learning about the murder that had occurred on the train.

After all, the train hadn't stopped at Nagoya station when the incident occurred, so theoretically the case should still be handled by the Metropolitan Police Department.

After getting into the car, Inspector Megure quickly saw the scene and looked at Kogoro Mouri with some helplessness, "You, how did you bring all this bad luck here?"

Kogoro Mouri reluctantly accepted the blame, though he wanted to say that the incident had nothing to do with him, as he was enjoying his lunch in the dining car when it happened.

However, he also understood Megure's thoughts. He didn't want Conan to be exposed as Kudo, and the title of famous detective should still be borne by him.

"Right now, we can only confirm that it was murder," Kogoro Mouri sighed. "But there's no direct evidence."

What do you mean by "no direct evidence"?

"The card might be a prank by one of the passengers on the train, and the ringtone might also be..."

"We can't be sure that all of these were done by the murderer, right?"

“Yes.” Kogoro Mouri thought about it seriously for a moment and gave his answer.

Conan said, "I think I've figured out the culprit's method. I just need some props to create this scene. Inspector Megure, could you move this train car into an indoor environment? I want to simulate the environment inside a tunnel. Also, I need three pieces of glass, about the same size as Mr. Anton's painting, and fishing line."

Conan didn't hide his words from others, so immediately everyone's eyes turned to Ando Yu, which was clearly indicating that he was the murderer.

If it were before, Anton Yu might have panicked, but now he was invincible. He had already thrown the mirror inside the picture frame into the river under the railway bridge he was passing by, and he had also dismantled the wooden picture frame and thrown it in as well. There was no way the Metropolitan Police Department could find these things.

Without such decisive evidence, even if the detective in front of him could replicate his methods, he would not be able to identify himself as the murderer.

"Anton, Murohashi, did you really kill him?" Noto grabbed Anton's collar.

“Although that guy almost got us all killed, I have no intention of killing him.” Anton adjusted his glasses. “I’m not going to dirty my hands by killing such a scoundrel.”

"What did you say? Murohashi almost killed us?" Izumi Mari immediately grasped the key point.

“Yes, I attended an auction in Tokyo a couple of days ago. The paintings on display were those that were destroyed in the fire,” Murohashi said coldly. “Those paintings all passed through my hands. Afterwards, I investigated the person who sold those paintings, and that person was Murohashi.”

"You mean, Murohashi set a fire to monopolize those paintings, killing all the guests at the banquet and the entire wealthy family?" Conan walked up to Mr. Anton. "If I remember correctly, Mrs. Anton was also in the fire..."

The next second, Conan was slapped away.

"You bastard..." Kogoro Mouri saw Conan being slapped down by Anton and was about to go up and teach Anton a lesson, but Noto blocked him from the side.

“If your parents didn’t teach you how to speak properly, you’d better go back and learn, you ill-mannered brat.” Anton withdrew his hand. “If there weren’t police here, I would have slapped you twice more.”

"Ouch, that hurts." Conan stood up, clutching his face. "It seems my guess was right; you really do hate that guy named Murohashi."

"Kid, I admit you're smart, but everything needs evidence. If you want to pin the crime of killing that scumbag Etsuto Murohashi on me, you'd better produce enough evidence."

A dozen minutes later, as the scene was completed, everyone's eyes were on Mr. Anton, because he was the only one with a motive for committing the crime.

“I’ve said before, if you’re going to pin the crime on me, please provide evidence,” An Dongyu said with a hint of helplessness. “I must say, you detectives really do have the potential to be criminals. I could never have come up with such an ingenious method of committing a crime.”

“The evidence is right here. Just take the painting apart, and you'll see that there’s nothing between the canvases…” Sera was stunned, because there was nothing between the canvases at all.

“I’ve already said that the frame of this painting is made of pure gold. If you put three pieces of glass that heavy inside…” An Dongyu shook his head, “You can try it, but I certainly can’t carry it.”

For a moment, Conan and Sera's expressions turned extremely ugly.

“By the way, officer, may we leave now?” Noto asked, frowning. “I still need to catch the train to Nagoya tonight.”

“Me too,” An Dongyu said with some helplessness. “The frame of this fake painting is a hot potato. I have to hand it over to the employer as soon as possible. If you want to keep it and continue playing house with the children, then go and inform the employer yourselves. I have no objection. I just don’t know if those Aichi Prefecture councilors will have any objections.”

Inspector Megure's face instantly turned sour. He trusted Kudo's judgment, but he couldn't detain these passengers here now. The connections of these people were extraordinary; any one of them could cause the Metropolitan Police Department a major headache.

And just as Anton Yu said, if you want to frame him, you have to produce evidence, and it has to be decisive evidence.

Conan asked with a dark expression, "If it's convenient, could you reveal some information about your employer?"

"Is it your Metropolitan Police Department's usual practice to let an ill-mannered brat disrupt the investigation process?" An Dongyu's face turned ashen. "If a police officer asked me about this, I could accept it, but this detective... excuse me, I need to take this call."

Soon, An Dongyu walked over from behind, without saying a word, and did not answer anyone who asked him.

A few minutes later, a commotion was heard outside, and soon Officer Takagi got into the car with a well-dressed middle-aged man.

"Brother Takagi, why did you bring unrelated people on the bus?" Inspector Megure asked, somewhat annoyed.

“I am not an outsider. My name is Morishita Masazo, and I am a lawyer. Mr. Anton is my employer’s guest. I came here specifically to pick him up. My employer has been waiting for a long time.” The middle-aged man said with a smile, “I will handle Mr. Anton’s affairs from now on. If anyone in the Metropolitan Police Department has any needs, please let me know and I will relay Mr. Anton’s message.”

Conan tried to say something, but Kogoro Mouri and Inspector Megure held him down by the shoulders. Finally, after inspection, Yuto Anto and his backpack disembarked from the train.